Well, dear readers, this month is flying by, like a gazelle eating schmaltz herring. Does anyone still eat schmaltz herring? Does anyone still eat herring? Does anyone still eat schmaltz? And what is schmaltz anyway? Well, the colloquial schmaltz is – something excessively tragic or romantic or sentimental, you know, that is exaggerated – like that movie was schmaltzy. But schmaltz herring is neither sentimental, romantic, or tragic unless perhaps you’re the herring. Schmaltz herring is herring caught before spawning, when the fat in the fish is at a maximum, which usually results in an elderly Jew saying, “What is it, fish?” But then there’s just plain old schmaltz, which is rendered animal fat, usually chicken fat – that schmaltz, for example, is used to make matzo balls. Well, as long as we’re going on about schmaltz of all kinds, may I just wish our Jewish dear readers the happiest on New Years, for this evening begins Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The holiday is actually tomorrow but Jews love to start the damn party at sundown the night before – this I have never understood so I, in fact, will be celebrating at The Federal with the latest Kritzerland show – there will be schmaltz herring for anyone who desires it, because I’m told that herring caught before spawning can be very special to pre-spawning herring enthusiasts. What the HELL am I talking about?
Yesterday was a day. I was up early, I answered e-mails then she of the Evil Eye arrived and I went and did various and sundried errands, picked up a package, came home and got everything ready for our stumble-through. Hadley Miller came early and ran her song, then everyone else arrived. And then we had a really good stumble-through – just a wonderful cast doing wonderful songs. Hearing it in show order with its structure made the songs even better – there is some powerful emotion in these songs, and a lot of humor, too. We didn’t have Cathy Rigby and company with us, but her number is in the perfect place in the show order and I saw a little video of their rehearsal and it’s really fun. After that, Hadley and her folks and I went and had some food – I had a pastrami sandwich on the rye bread and a small order of sweet potato fries, which I shared with everyone and only ate about half of. Then I had a little sweet potato fries guilt, so I didn’t do a three-and-a-half mile jog, I got adventurous and did a four-and-a-half mile jog. Then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
The idea was to watch a little of a new Twilight Time Blu and Ray entitled Murphy’s Law. I put it on and promptly fell asleep. When I finally woke up, the movie had long since finished and I was still zonked – and it was evening and I missed my window of going to a housewarming thing – but that’s what happens when you’ve averaged four to six hours of sleep every night. I did end up watching Murphy’s Law, starring Charles Bronson and Kathleen Wilhoit. It’s a standard issue piece of Cannon cheese, you know, the Golan and Globus boys. The script is really horrible, but Ms. Wilhoit kind of makes it worth watching and I do like Mr. Bronson. There are several stories being told, which is one of the problems, but it’s basically one of those clichéd crazy woman who cop Bronson put away in a mental institution getting out and seeking revenge – that nutcase is played by Carrie Snodgrass. Wilhoit’s endless barrage of one-liners is really funny at first, then it becomes repetitious, then not that funny, but she’s just delightful and fun. The transfer looks pretty terrific, I thought, considering the way these theatrical prints looked back in the day – which wasn’t stellar.
After that, I just rested, fell asleep again, took a shower, and thought about schmaltz herring for no reason whatsoever.
Today, I will relax, do a jog, and them I’ll mosey on over to The Federal around three-fifteen to see the Cathy Rigby number and figure out the entrances and stuff. Then we’ll get her into her head mic and we’ll run that first at sound check. Then we’ll run the other numbers – we probably won’t get to do all of them all the way through, but we’ll be fine. Then I’ll have my artichoke, and then we’ll do our show. I’m sure some of us will go out afterwards for a bite to eat.
Tomorrow I have a lot of stuff to do, then we have a little vocal rehearsal at five. Tuesday we record the three vocals for the Unsung Sherman Brothers CD and then that goes directly to the mastering guy and then to the pressing plant. The packaging should be there already, so it’s just however long it takes to press. The rest of the week is meetings and meals and going and doing, finishing casting the November show and especially get tickets up for sale for The Brain and start organizing all that stuff. Oh, and with seven full days to go we’re at 111% of our goal and I’m hoping we can just keep going higher to cover all the fees, including Paypal.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, relax, do a jog, do a sound check, and do a show. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where my dreams will hopefully not be too schmaltz or filled with pre-spawned schmaltz herring.