Well, dear readers, we’ve replaced the singer – I ultimately had to go to someone I knew was fearless and who could learn the songs instantly – Jenna Lea Rosen. She hasn’t been with us for many months, so it will be nice to have her back. I had to cut the one age-inappropriate song, which is a shame because Hart’s lyric is really funny, but she’ll do the other two wonderfully. And I’m not really losing a third song as Bill Hayes agreed to do another song, so that’s great. Bill has also agreed to do the ALS show, and I think I’ve convinced him to do Put on a Happy Face – he did the national tour of Bye Bye Birdie.
Otherwise, yesterday was a mixed bag. I don’t know about you, but I like a bag without any mix in it. I was up at four for some unknown reason, after about three hours of sleep. I just played on the computer until six, when we announced the new Kritzerland release. Then I went back to bed, fell asleep around seven and slept until noon, so I suppose I did get eight hours of sleep but it sure didn’t feel like it. I got up, printed out some orders, the helper came by, and I spent many hours trying to figure out the singer replacement. I did a two-and-a-half mile jog, too. Then we had our ALS meeting.
That took place at Jerry’s Deli – I had my usual chopped Eyetalian salad with a little ham and avocado, and since I hadn’t eaten anything prior to that, I had a bagel with cream cheese, so all in all that came out to about 800 to 1000 calories, and factoring in the jog, I think that’s a good day’s count. We discussed a lot of stuff, there’s some potential stuff that if worked out could be really fun, so send excellent vibes and xylophones for all that to work. But the show is finally taking shape and I’m just trying to figure out the best structure and order for it, which is always tricky and sometimes daunting. After that, I came home to some disturbing news, which I won’t be able to find out about until I’m up this morning. I then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I needed to zone out a bit, so I began watching the new Netflix series, Stranger Things. Set in the early 80s, it’s a lot of Stephen King/Stephen Spielberg, some John Carpenter (including the score), The Goonies. The amusing thing is that the Duffer Brothers, who wrote and directed, were born a year later than when this film takes place, which means their love of all things 80s happened in the late 80s and seeing the films on video, because they weren’t even born when Poltergeist and ET came out. Such is the world of today’s show business. It’s an interesting show and enjoyable, but it is what it is – homage. I read an interview with the brothers – the person who did the interview is apparently yet another brainwashed young’un because all you get are stupid “now” expressions like “the DNA of the show” “on-set” and other inane stuff – stop with the clichés, boys, it’s a real bore. The kid stuff has the same kind of bad dialogue that many of the 80s films with kids had. Winona Ryder is the mom of one of the boys and it’s fun to see her again. The style is strictly from Spielberg, and the writers obviously idolize Stephen King. I’ll finish it, of course, but knowing it’s season one means they’re gonna string this thing out beyond endurance, which is what always happens.
Then I relaxed, listened to music and that was my day and that was my evening.
Today, I’ll jog, eat, and then we have an ALS rehearsal with one performer, followed by a very short work session with Bill Hayes for the ALS show, followed by his Kritzerland rehearsal and the rest of the Kritzerland rehearsal – that goes until six-thirty. Depending on what I’ve eaten, I may or may not have something else after that.
Tomorrow will be an all ALS day, finishing the show order, the structure and doing a running script for all of that. That will take most of the day. Saturday, we have our stumble-through at three and then I’m sure some of us will get a bite to eat afterwards. Sunday is sound check and show, and then Monday we are in the home stretch to the ALS benefit a week later. But I also have to finish casting the anniversary Kritzerland show and choose its songs – I have some of the cast and some of the songs chosen already. And I’m also trying to figure out my ideal Brain from Planet X cast, too.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, have an ALS rehearsal, and then have our second Kritzerland rehearsal, and then maybe eat something light depending on what I’ve eaten earlier. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of the 1980s? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping for a day that isn’t such a mixed bag as yesterday was.