Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle having an affair with a hepcat. You do know that thanks to the hipster the hepcat has made a comeback, don’t you? I guess the gazelle is enamored of the hipster hepcat. I myself have never been a hepcat, have any of you dear readers been a hepcat? Of course, I’m surprised that American International Pictures didn’t make a movie entitled I Was a Teenage Hepcat. I have not a clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about, and I’m jiggy with that.
Yesterday was a day that ran the full gamut, from fun to incredibly irritating. But let’s start with the fun, shall we? I got up. That’s always fun. Once up, I did the usual morning things – answered e-mails, printed out more Amazon orders (today alone kept pace with the first two days), and then I remembered I had a lunch thing, so I got ready and then moseyed on over to the Grove and a restaurant called Maggiano’s for a fun lunch with raconteur and bright Mark Evanier. He was a big fan of my production of Li’l Abner, and also of L.A. Now and Then. He’s worked with many of the great classic funny people over the last forty years, so there were lots of great stories. I had a very good small Caesar sandwich, and a weird grilled cheese with crispy prosciutto. It resembled no grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever seen, but it was okay tasting. Lunch lasted about ninety minutes or so, then I had to quickly be on my way to LACC for a production meeting. I had twenty minutes to get there – it should have taken no more than ten, but as I turned onto Beverly Blvd. I could not believe how slow it was. When I finally passed La Brea it got a little better, and then, just before Vine it came to a complete standstill. I did a U-turn and went back a few blocks and headed up to Melrose. Melrose at Vine was insane, so I turned left at Vine and headed up to Santa Monica Blvd., which, thankfully, was better. I got to the meeting ten minutes late – a ten-minute ride taking thirty minutes. I gotta tell you.
The meeting was really just about tech needs for the benefit in November – nice lighting, maybe some costumes and props, and the band on risers splitting center. It went quickly. I brought some L.A. Now and Then CDs to give out. I got on the freeway to go home by about three-twenty – and the freeway was utter madness until I passed Lankershim, at which point there was no traffic at all. Where all those cars suddenly went is not known to me. I stopped at the mail place and picked up one tiny package, then came home.
Once inside, I printed out more Amazon orders, then buckled down, Winsocki and did all the major prep work for the Indiegogo campaign – the copy, the perks (some really fun ones, and I’ll be adding to them all during the campaign), and all the stuff one needs to do. Meanwhile, this nice gal was editing a little video for the campaign – I’m hoping she’ll be through with it today and we can launch tomorrow. Then I have to get the word out because the first two days are the key days in terms of contributions and setting the tone for the rest of the campaign. We’re trying to raise $3,500 for the band and the sound package and rental. I’m hoping we can do it quickly and maybe even go above that figure – if we do, all that extra dough goes directly to the LACC Theatre Academy.
That took most of the evening, and then I relaxed, listened to music, including the new recording of the original Godzilla score, which sounds pretty terrific.
Oh, I promised more videos from the Sunday Kritzerland show, so here we go. First up, the deliciously demented put-together of I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane – basically the same arrangement I did for the Jeepers Creepers CD with a couple of adjustments, one of which gets a huge laugh, as you’ll see. The young gal is ten-year-old Hayley Shukiar and of course the other person is the one and only Sharon McNight.
Wasn’t that demented? Next up, we have Sami Staitman’s solo number. She really wanted to do the opening number from A Broadway Love Story and I wasn’t sure about it at all, but I said yes – and we worked on the emotional beats of the song so that she’d really understand them, and she got better at each rehearsal, we worked a bit more after the stumble-through, and then, for me, she simply hit it out of the park. I was very proud of her and you’ll hear the audience reaction after and when you do watch her face, because she kind of lights up and knows she nailed it.
And finally for today, we have li’l ol’ me doing The Maladjusted Jester from The Court Jester. I was very happy to have not forgotten any of it, and that I didn’t fumfer one time. Best of all, you’ll hear why Guy Haines was a no-show.
I’ll have more videos in tomorrow’s notes.
Today, I have a lot of stuff to do, and I’ll hopefully see the video, give any notes if I have any, then we can lock that and I can get it uploaded and launch the campaign. I’ll eat something at some point, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, I’ll jog (I had to take yesterday off), and I’ll continue casting and choosing songs for the next Kritzerland show.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals and going and doing and doing and going and maybe seeing a show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do stuff, hopefully see a video, eat, hopefully pick up packages, jog, cast, choose songs and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the hipsters have brought back the hepcat.