Well, dear readers, it was another night of little sleep – first about two hours, then I got another ninety minutes, then had to get up to let the fence people do their measuring, but I went right back to bed, fell asleep at ten and didn’t get up until about one-thirty. So, I suppose if you add all that up you get six-and-a-half hours of sleep, but it sure didn’t feel like that much, it felt more like four. It kind of threw the day out of whack, but I was out of whack so what cared I? Once up, I had orders to print, and phone calls to make, and e-mails to answer. We continue to struggle with trying to make the Kritzerland rehearsal schedule work, but it’s just not going to be optimal because of the way The Brain has to be scheduled. It’s just nutty and I’m quite bored of it, frankly.
At some point I went and had an omelet with bacon and cheese, and a bagel, then picked up a couple of packages, then came home. Then I had the home environment power washed. The outside was filled with dirt and cobwebs and it was very unseemly, so everyone agreed we needed to do it and we found a company that was very reasonable. So, they came and the helper came to supervise, and two hours later the house looked like new. So, that was very nice. Meanwhile, I continued to print out orders as they came in. I had a long telephonic call, then did a two-and-a-half mile jog, then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Mickey One, starring Mr. Warren Beatty, directed by Arthur Penn. I remember seeing the previews for it back in 1965 – this came out just as I was starting LACC – it looked very weird but it seemed like something I would enjoy and yet I never saw it. I did have the soundtrack LP, which I liked. I don’t actually think I saw it in its entirety until 2007 – actually I know that’s when I saw it because I bought a home-grown DVD of it and wrote about it right here in these here notes. Here’s what I said: (The second motion picture) was entitled Mickey One, starring Mr. Warren Beatty as a paranoid comic who thinks the mob is out to kill him. I will say without fear of contradiction that Mickey One is perhaps the strangest mainstream studio film ever made. This was the film Arthur Penn directed right after The Miracle Worker. He’d obviously seen and loved Fellini’s 8 1/2, and I think he was also probably a fan of Orson Welles’ The Trial. It’s a fascinating film – completely surreal, Kafkaesque, Felliniesque, with scenes that make no sense whatsoever, but that are so strikingly filmed that one is mesmerized anyway. There is very odd work from Franchot Tone, Hurd Hatfield, and Jeff Corey. Its final scene is, fittingly, as strange as everything that’s gone before it, and then the film just ends with a shot that is baffling but nice. The film has a really good and interesting score by Eddie Sauter, not only a terrific composer, but a great orchestrator (he did the Broadway orchestrations of 1776). The transfer on the DVDR is spectacularly good.
Now, this thing I watched was also a DVDR but one released officially by Sony back in 2011 – it also looks spectacularly good for a DVD. I can’t find the other one for comparison. Anyway, if you like a little something different you might enjoy this.
Then I went to Gelson’s and got a little salad with red wine vinegar – no calories. Then I did some work on the computer, ate my salad and had a few little no-fat licorice type treats, nothing major. I listened to more music that I’ve been uploading. Some of the ones I was really looking forward to were so terrible-sounding I nuked them. They’re mostly from one label and one conductor and it’s that distant miking that makes it sound like it was recorded five blocks away – no orchestral detail, no crispness, and dynamics so wide that you literally cannot hear the quiet bits and the loud bits don’t really make any impact – it’s inept recording and inept mastering and it just ruins the great music. I also listened to another wonderful second symphony, this by Randall Thompson – we issued it on Bay Cites in sketchy mono but a really good performance. The recording I uploaded was by Leonard Bernstein on Sony. But Mr. Bernstein was just off – with no feel for feel the music should have, surprisingly ragged playing by the New York Philharmonic, and sonics that aren’t quite up to the usual Columbia standards. I felt the same about the performances of the other two pieces – a Roy Harris symphony and a David Diamond symphony. Sketchy as the Bay Cities mono sound is, that performance, for me, remains definitive. There’s also a recording on the same label I spoke of earlier with the same conductor, so I have no doubt that sounds bad, too. I was happy to hear a flute and orchestra piece by Jerome Moross that I really love, and the Jean-Michel Damase flute and harp sonata that is simply glorious. Also the wonderful English composer Gerald Finzi – what a melodist he was.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep. I’ll jog, hopefully pick up packages, and then I may or may not meet some folks for some food. We shall see. Otherwise, I’m just relaxing and listening and viewing.
Tomorrow will be more of the same. I’ve decided not to see a show. Monday I have a work session for the Kritzerland show, Tuesday is a production meeting for The Brain, and the rest of the week is all Brain work and finessing the Kritzerland commentary and meetings and meals and hopefully avoiding any irritations.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, hopefully pick up packages, maybe meet some folks for dinner, and then relax, listen, and view, not necessarily in that order. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite movies of Mr. Warren Beatty? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I will hopefully be in and not out of whack.