Well, dear readers, the fourth of July is done, which must mean it’s the fifth of July. I must say, it was certainly the quietest fourth I’ve had yet and that was fine by me. Other than the jog, I did not leave the home environment. I woke up at eleven after eight hours of sleep, answered e-mails and puttered around the house aimlessly. I did a little work on the computer and then at about two I made myself some fourth of July hot dogs – low-cal dogs, low-cal buns, with some red cabbage on them. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and ate them all up and they were quite yummilicious.
I decided to space out by watching a motion picture on the Flix of Net, something called Life, starring people I’ve never heard of, save for Mr. Ben Kingsley who was playing Jack Warner, head of Warner Bros. The film is about the photographer who shot those wonderful, candid James Dean shots in the issue that came out just before East of Eden. First of all, Mr. Screenwriter, they did not say “On Set” in 1955, nor ever up until the 90s or even the 2000s. They either said they were filming, they were on location, on THE set or soundstage, but never EVER “on set.” How hard is that to understand? Do your damn job. In the do your damn job, if you’re recreating the premiere of A Star is Born at the Pantages, great. It’s still there. But put up a box-office in the center of the entrance because that’s where it was – it wasn’t on the side like it is now because, you know, it was a MOVIE THEATER. Or just CGI it in. However, even if those things had been accurate, it couldn’t help this awful mess of a movie. First of all, come on – no actor today can play Mr. Dean because Mr. Dean was one-off and unique, and the actor here just doesn’t cut the mustard or even the ketchup. The actor playing the photographer is so filled with angst and actorisms that I couldn’t figure out WHAT his deal was, and that’s not good acting. He wasn’t helped, of course, by the bad script. The director, who is also a still photographer, I gather, is also not very good, at least in this film. It has not an ounce of pace or even clear storytelling, but he does like to dwell on shots for about five seconds past their expiry point. Kingsley is Kingsley – unfortunately he’s playing Jack Warner. None of the other players makes much of an impression, and at an hour and fifty-one minutes it just goes on forever and then it’s over and we get the usual cliché text telling us what we already know.
After that, I did a jog (I am now back to my routine of jogging every day – at least I have for the last entire week), then watched a little bit of the other half of the Blu-ray that has Circus of Fear – this one’s called Five Golden Dragons, a typical C-movie from the 60s, this one starring Bob Cummings and some old-timers like George Raft. It’s really quite bad, but somehow watchable. Bob Cummings – certainly at this stage of his career he was one of the oddest actors ever – he’s chomping gum constantly, clearly making up his lines and bits as he goes along, and seems completely hyperactive. I couldn’t believe it, really, so I read up on Mr. Cummings, who, it seems, especially at this point, was a methamphetamine addict. I haven’t gotten to the old-timers yet because I switched over to the San Francisco Opera production of Porgy and Bess, which seems to be set in an industrial warehouse worthy of Sweeney Todd. This is directed by Francesca Zambello, who everyone seems to love, but the set alone makes me question her sanity. She’s also the woman who directed The Little Mermaid on Broadway to little acclaim. This is a very loud production of Porgy, with little nuance but a lot of faux choreography. But that set – holy moley on rye, it’s just so wrong. When the lady singing Summertime never once actually looks at the baby she’s singing it to, but rather looks out to the back of the theater and sings to some unknown person out there really loud, well, not for me. The Porgy was fine, everyone sang well, but I got absolutely no emotional punch from it, and one really should. I have arriving on Wednesday a DVD of the film of Trevor Nunn’s production and I’m hoping that has the emotion that this one lacks.
After that, I made an additional hot dog, as I’d only had about six hundred calories, so that was a nice snack. Then I listened to some music. I put on Appalachian Spring, which really got me craving other Copland, but unfortunately six years ago when I moved all the classical CDs to the hall closet, I can’t actually get to the Copland CDs because they’re all buried in back of tons of others. I have to do something about it because I really want to revisit those CDs and many others back in that part of the alphabet. So, instead, I went to my stack of Bay Cities CDs – I have listened to very few of them since we issued them back in the late 1980s, save for Robert Ward and a few other things. We were, of course, known as the keepers of 20th Century American classical music. So, I pulled out three CDs to revisit and whilst I’m writing these here notes I’m listening to the first of them – a three composer CD including Alan Hovaness, Quincy Porter, and Homer Keller. Amazingly, a lot of these people were still alive back then, like Robert Ward, with whom I became very friendly with – so this CD booklet is signed to me with a very sweet inscription by Homer Keller. I began with his Symphony No. 3 and the minute it started I remembered every second of it. It’s quite marvelously marvelous – Mr. Keller studied with the amazing Howard Hanson, so he was taught well. The Quincy Porter piece, New England Episodes is really beautiful, and the Hovaness will begin shortly. Most astonishing about this release is the sound – it’s absolutely stellar – clear and clean and airy and stunning. There are copies to be found on eBay and Amazon – snap one up if you can.
I did hear some fireworks around eight-thirty but they didn’t last very long. I didn’t even bother going outside to watch them.
Today, I’ll be up by ten if not earlier, then I’ll wait to hear if I’m making a drive with our very own Mr. Nick Redman – if not today, it will probably be tomorrow. Otherwise, it’s finishing assigning songs and getting the singers their music, and doing stuff for the ALS benefit, I’ll eat something at some point, hopefully pick up packages, jog, and I’ve got to figure out a plan to get the LA show CDs to our cast and musicians – I’d prefer not to have to mail that many CDs. I may try to meet or have a meal with a few of the cast and let them get them to their fellow cast mates.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, but tomorrow the people who are trimming all the shrubbery are coming at nine and I have to be here while they’re here to make sure everything gets done. I also have to see a couple of things, have a couple of work sessions, and other stuff.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, make a drive or not, assign songs, get music to people, hopefully pick up packages, eat, jog, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is your favorite version of Porgy and Bess, and if you’ve seen it or seen a video, which of those productions did you enjoy most? And then, what is your favorite music by Aaron Copland? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a restful and uneventful fourth of July and that it is now the fifth of July.