Well, dear readers, let me just say this about that: It is July. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is July. A time of fireworks and wieners on the barbecue and festively festive days and nights wearing colored tights and pantaloons and eating cheese slices and ham chunks whilst dancing the night away doing the Lambada (The Forbidden Dance). And it is my fervent hope and prayer that July will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. It’s time for the stars to align, and we’ve all had enough of this Mercury in Retrograde in Pluto in Uranus malarkey – we need good times, baby, and the good times are hopefully a’comin’. There, I’ve said it and I’m glad and I’m glad I’ve said it there.
Yesterday, the final day of June, was fine – nothing more, nothing less, not necessarily in that order. I was up by nine-thirty after about seven hours of sleep. I went and did some banking at the bank, which is where I like to do my banking. Then I came home and tuned in to day two of this auction thing. Friend Nick Redman was bound and determined to get two items and I was his back up in case the phone-bidding people didn’t connect with him in time. But even though they moved faster in the early part of the day, eventually things slowed to a crawl and in the end session two ran two-and-a-half HOURS longer than the interminable session one. It was excruciating and can all be blamed on their truly awful auctioneer, who was not beyond banging the gavel to close a lot, only to then take another bid after that. Note to awful auctioneer: No, that’s not the way it works. There was one item, and I can’t even remember which, that had no bids and was about to close, I mean like two seconds to closing, and I came in for the opening bid, as it was pretty inexpensive. There were no other bids, and on my screen I saw five “final warnings” go by and still this jerk would not bring down the gavel. More final warnings went by, and he just kept looking around and looking around and finally someone on the Internet came in for another fifty bucks. I couldn’t believe it. I went one more, and then suddenly a few people started upping it and it was just a joke and I’m going to be writing a scathing letter to these people because an auction is an auction and needs to play fair – it was, in fact, almost like he knew someone would finally come in – it smelled bad to me and it’s very unprofessional. I didn’t really care about the item enough to get really angry, or I would have called them right then and there.
At two-thirty, I had a two-hour meeting with Michael Sterling and Richard Allen about Michael’s ten-year anniversary evening he’s doing at The Federal – he’s had one cabaret room or another for ten years now and he wanted to do a tribute to Rosemary Clooney, someone he worked closely with for several years. So, we talked through the show and it should all go pretty smoothly. I’ll oversee everything and work with our two wonderful gals, Kerry O’Malley and Mary Callanan. We have a nice trio of piano, bass, and drums, and the players of those instruments are all of the L.A. Now and Then musicians. It was a fun meeting and as they were leaving, the helper pulled up with a box of the L.A. show CDs so Richard, who was our musical director, got to get one and I gave one to Sterling, too. Richard later wrote me and told me he thought it was really great – he’s kind of the first person who’s heard it all the way through, so that was nice to hear. Just prior to the meeting, I’d made myself a cheeseburger. Then I did a jog.
Nick’s first item didn’t come up until almost seven, I think, but he was the one and only bidder and got it for the opening price because the jerk did the right thing and brought down the gavel. And then Nick lucked out with the second item, which came up two hours later – same story – he got it for the opening bid and I think the jerk was so tired by then he was just bringing down that gavel a little more swiftly. I made myself a second cheeseburger for a total of eight hundred calories, so I did pretty well for the day, calorie-wise. Then I had a telephonic conversation, then listened to music, since I’d picked up about five Ned Rorem CDs at the mail place. I’m really enjoying discovering his music and I’ll talk about that when I’ve finished listening.
Today, which is the first day of July, I shall be up by nine-thirty and then I have a conference call at ten for thirty minutes. Once that’s done, it’s back to the Kritzerland show and casting our final guy and getting all the music out to everyone – we’re still way ahead of where we usually are. We got a couple more people for the ALS show, but not the big names we need – we’re still working on that part. I’ll eat something light, I’ll jog, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, and then I’ll relax and definitely watch a motion picture of some sort.
Tomorrow I’ll just relax until it’s time to go see Mary Poppins with Richard and Elizabeth Sherman. That should be fun and the food is quite good in this theater and they have chicken and fish dishes that are calorie friendly. I will, of course, have a full report. Sunday I have some writing to do, and then Monday I think I have a partay to go to although I’m not sure I’ve received the invite yet – if I don’t, I’ll just hang out here and eat some low-fat, low-cal wieners on low-cal buns. Then the rest of the week is meetings and meals and a lot of stuff to do.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a conference call, eat, hopefully pick up packages, cast our final guy, jog, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start: CD, a whole slew of Ned Rorem CDs. Blu and Ray – something from the big ol’ pile. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where it is my fervent hope and prayer that July will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.