Well, dear readers, here we are, beginning a brand spanking new week. And they say we never have any up to the minute news here at haineshisway.com. I tell you, you are in the know, you are with it, you are happening, you are now. But let me just say this: Yesterday was 110 degrees in the City of Studio. Yes, you heard that right – 110 degrees. Thankfully, I didn’t even venture out of the house until four-thirty but it was like walking into a sauna bath. Even then, I only went to get a submarine sandwich at a submarine sandwich place, and came directly home to eat said submarine sandwich.
But I’m rather getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? I got carried away, didn’t I? I jumped the gun or the shark or the filet o’ fish, didn’t I? I did, and there are no two ways about it, although there may be four ways about it. I slept till noon, which may seem excessive except for the small fact that I didn’t fall asleep until four. So, I got eight hours of sleep. I got up, answered e-mails, did a little this’a and a little that’a, with an emphasis on the latter. Then I got ready for the arrival of Kay Cole, her ever-lovin’ Michael Lamont, and our musical maven, John Boswell. We spent two hours going through the material we’d chosen. Spending two hours listening to Kay Cole sing is quite a nice way to spend a Sunday. As I knew would happen, a couple of songs went by the wayside right away. But mostly we were happy with the choices and we even did some arranging. And, as sometimes happens, one great song choice just came up out of the blue because someone said something and whatever they said led me to starting to jokingly sing a song and as soon as I did it was like a light bulb went off, so we added that immediately to the mix. It’s going to be a very nice album, and we really only have about two songs left to choose. Then they left, and I had a brief visit with Robert Yacko, then I went to get my sandwich. The jernt is called Jersey Mike’s, which I gather is a chain of sorts. I got the classic Eyetalian, a big ol’ sandwich. I wasn’t that impressed by it, however, so I don’t know that I need to return there.
Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and finished watching the little extra on The Prowler Blu-ray, then began watching another new Twilight Time Blu-ray entitled The Hound of the Baskervilles, the Hammer version. I’ve never gotten past fifteen minutes trying to watch it in the past – don’t know why, really. But the transfer is quite nice and I’m already past the fifteen minute mark and enjoying it, and I’ll say more when I’ve finished. I did have to laugh when I heard the main title music. James Bernard, a wonderful film composer, was one of many who always based the main part of his main title around the number of syllables in the title – in other words, for Hammer’s Dracula – he uses three notes. For Baskervilles it’s seven – The Hound of the Bask-er-villes. It’s funny to hear when you’re on to his secret. Mr. Bernard was a lovely man and we recorded a piece from this film, I think, on my Sherlock Holmes album – he gave me the score, which, when we were through, he signed to me.
And speaking of that kind of thing, I am making it my mission this week to go through everything I have in terms of art, memorabilia, whatever – it’s all in different places and I want to gather it all together, get it all listed, and have it where I can get to it. Every time I walk into the book room closet I find stuff I had no idea I had – original comic art, original cels from Kiki’s Delivery Service, two paperback book paintings, framed, just sitting there, and tons of other stuff. And that’s just in the closet. I have tons of art things in the garage, some hidden behind scores of boxes, and it’s just time to organize all this, as I may want to put some stuff up for auction.
After that, I saw that the CD master had been uploaded so I got that into iTunes and listened for the next ninety minutes. It sounds really good – I asked him to keep the sound very punchy and dynamic, which he did. I only had a couple of nits to pick, which he’ll address in the morning, and then that goes off to the pressing plant.
Today, I am casting Kritzerland, three people to go, plus a guest star, I’ll assign songs, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and catching up on stuff. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Sherlock Holmes films and stories? When did you read your very first Sherlock Holmes story? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping we don’t have another day of 110 in the Shade.