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October 26, 2016:

PLAY ON

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am so enjoying my little trip down a musical lane and I hope I haven’t been boring you with my thoughts and comments about all this music I’ve been rediscovering. In fact, I would venture to say that listening and revisiting all these mostly wonderful pieces has kept me sane during this incredibly busy and a bit stressful time, what with trying to do two back-to-back shows, coordinate everything, try to avoid all irritants (and please come those most excellent vibes and xylophones to keep avoiding all irritants – so far it’s been working like a charm), and get all the other stuff done that I need to get done. After long days, for me there is nothing better than to begin listening to great music – for now, it’s better than watching motion pictures, and it enables me to also sit at the computer and do work whilst listening. As someone named Shakespeare once said, “If music be the food of love, play on.”

Yesterday, for example, I finished with all the William Alwyn music, which I just really liked even better than I remembered. The first volume of film music on Chandos was a total winner – conducted by Richard Hickox and sounding great – and that disc has the great scores to Odd Man Out and Fallen Idol. But the two subsequent volumes are, for me, a complete bust thanks to the conductor and the far-off sound, which I hate. I then moved on to another William, this one Wordsworth. I had no memories at all of his symphonies, and I enjoyed them very much. Then I moved on to another William, this one Walton. His first symphony is quite wonderful, especially the mid-1960s RCA recording conducted by Andre Previn, which is amazing. I moved on to the Walton Violin Concerto in the mono recording by Jascha Heifitz, who commissioned it. It’s fantastic and the mono sound is fine and the performance simply can’t be beat – it’s just incredible music. Then I took a Walton break to listen to the other half of that CD – Heifitz doing the Elgar Violin Concerto – another wonderful work brilliantly played by Heifitz. I think you can get that CD for about twenty-five cents and it’s well worth getting.

Prior to all that, it was another night of seven hours of sleep. Once up, I did all the usual things – answered e-mails, printed a few orders, took care of some necessary business, had some telephonic calls, and then got ready to mosey on over to LACC for a production meeting.

The meeting was short – I’ve asked for a few props for the show, and I think we’ll get what we get, but hopefully the most important of them will be there because each of those are visual gags and get big laughs. I forgot to put one important one on there, but I called my set designer of Welcome to My World and Inside Out and he said he’d do that one as a favor for me, so that’s now taken care of. We also have a costume coordinator who will find as many of the costumes from our production there and so everyone will at least be in a period outfit of some sort.

Then I met with the sound gal and she scoped out everything and I think we’re all set on her end, so that’s good. Then I came home, picked up no packages, then went to Hugo’s and had my small Caesar and pasta papa, both excellent. After that filling meal, I came home. I had lots of e-mails to answer, a few orders to print, and a lot of Brain work to do, mostly with scheduling and the daunting task of finding and locking in our ensemble. Just as I began writing these here notes I got word that we only need one more gal and two guys and we’ll have our ensemble. So, hoping today finds us fully cast. Then I did a two-and-a-half mile jog, then listened to more beautiful music.

Today will be more Brain work, writing some liner notes, then I’ll eat, hopefully pick up packages, and, at some point, relax. I have to start being relentless about The Brain and ticket sales. As always, no one wants to commit, no one wants to book until three seconds before the show, and it’s just crazy making, I must say. We really have to fill the house and we don’t have all that much time. Thankfully, a couple of people are really helping now to push the concert and hopefully we’ll see some good sales. The pity of it is the alumni of the department, who always seem to love to post about how much the department meant to them and yet other than posting, can’t be bothered to actually support the department that gave so much to them. Give back, folks, it feels nice, and it’s not like you’re attending some bleak thing, you’re seeing a fun show. I’ll just never ever understand it, frankly.

Tomorrow is more of the same then I’m attending a little belated birthday dinner for a friend. Friday and the weekend are unknown to me, although I think I’ll be seeing a show on Sunday afternoon. Then we begin the crazy week. I am trying to be as prepared and ready for that as humanly possible. We have our two Kritzerland rehearsals and we have to do an addition hour on a separate day for performer reasons, then we have our Brain rehearsals on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and on Saturday I go directly from the Brain rehearsal to our stumble-through. And then I will be ready for a nice dinner or the insane asylum. Sunday is of course sound check and show, and Monday is the long LACC day – run-through and then show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do Brain work, write, eat, hopefully pick up packages, jog, 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 music is the food of something Shakespearean, so play on.

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