Well, dear readers, I am streaming as I write these here notes. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am streaming as I write these here notes. I don’t mean streaming a motion picture on the Flix of Net or online, I mean someone recommended an album to me so I went to Amazon to listen to samples and it said that I, as a Prime member, can stream the damn thing for free. And so I’m streaming the damn thing for free. And I am jiggy with that. It’s an interesting album by Bill Frisell, a jazz guy, but I don’t know that I would call this jazz at all. It’s kind of a hybrid thing – movie themes, with viola, vocal, rhythm and, of course, guitars. Some very interesting choices here including Psycho, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Bad and the Beautiful, Once Upon a Time in the West and other more popular stuff like Moon River, You Only Live Twice, The Shadow of Your Smile, and then the out of left field Bonanza and Happy Trails. I don’t know that it’s something I’d need to own, but I’m enjoying streaming it for free and if I do end up wanting it the CD is only eleven bucks. I’ll have to see what other goodies I can stream. In other Amazon news, I’m going to put Unsung Sherman Brothers on there as a third-party seller. Why not?
Yesterday I mostly dodged irritants, in fact it was a pleasantly pleasant day all told. I had a phone meeting with my choreographer that went very well, then I did some work on the computer, then had an egg salad sandwich and a few onion rings for my meal o’ the day. Then I picked up one package and came home. Once home, I did more work on the computer and thank goodness cast our final Kritzerland performer, chose two of her songs, and will now figure out her final solo and then one other solo for one other singer. I had a few telephonic calls, then unfortunately for the caller I got one too many of those “Microsoft tech support people” calls, telling me my computer was infected. I let him babble on and then I let forth with a boatload of invective, telling him he and his ilk are morons and that we’ve all seen this crap on the Internet and that they’re fooling no one anymore, then I hung up. There are a bunch of really funny videos on You Tube – of tech people who are really savvy and give these jerks a run for their money. One guy actually managed to infect the caller’s computer – it’s hilarious to see the tables turned. Just search Microsoft tech scam and you’ll find them. They’re very entertaining and a lot funnier than any comedy shows on TV.
Then I did a two-and-a-half mile jog. I came back to an e-mail saying the Indiegogo funds had been sent, only they hadn’t shown up so I e-mailed their support team. But about thirty minutes later the Paypal contributions showed up, but seemed way less than they should have been even with the Paypal fees. So, I called Paypal and the guy I got added them up pre Paypal fees and sure enough they were four hundred bucks less than the e-mail said had been sent. So, I wrote again with that information. Of course, Indiegogo has no way to call, so you just have to wait for a response, which is maddening. The credit card contributions, which go to my bank, hadn’t shown up and probably won’t until this morning, and I have to make sure I haven’t been shorted there. Hopefully I’ll hear from them and they can fix whatever happened and send me the four hundred bucks they owe me. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on a home grown Warner Archive DVD entitled A Return to Salem’s Lot, written and directed by Larry Cohen, who has certainly made some of the strangest movies ever made. I’m a fan of a lot of his work, especially the outré God Told Me To, Q, The Winged Serpent, and The Stuff – I even like the first It’s Alive. Sadly, A Return to Salem’s Lot is not good, in fact, it’s just weird and kind of incomprehensible from first scene to last. It plays more like Night of the Living Dead. Of course, it’s not a sequel to Salem’s Lot in any way, shape, or form, so that’s a problem, and despite the credits saying “Based on Characters from Stephen King’s novel” there are no characters from the novel or miniseries in Cohen’s film. None. Michael Moriarty gives his usual wacky performance (he’s been in several Larry Cohen movies), and the film also features June Havoc, Andrew Duggan, and, crazily, Sam Fuller, the director, who plays a Nazi Hunter. I’m not making any of this up.
After that, I went to Gelson’s and got four ounces of prosciutto and some melon balls for my snack, so pretty low calories for that. I came home, ate that, and did more work on the computer, and e-mailed in the packaging for our next release for approval.
Today, I shall hopefully have an answer from Indiegogo along with the missing money – I hope they see their error and just fix it rather than me having to jump through hoops by giving them the list of what actually came in, although that’s really only about fourteen transactions or thereabouts. I’ll eat, jog, write liner notes, figure out the final two songs for the Kritzerland show and get that music to the singers, hopefully pick up packages, and then relax.
Tomorrow she of the Evil Eye will be here, I’ll do an early jog, then the helper is coming with some additional helpers and we’re going to begin the long cleaning of the garage. There are about forty boxes of stuff there, maybe more, and my intention is, as we did with storage, to rid myself of as many of those forty boxes as possible. I know five of the boxes are VHS and Beta tapes, and while I’ll probably keep three or four things, I will absolutely trash the rest. I’d like to have no more than five to ten boxes when all is said and done, and I think there are some treasures to be found and things hidden behind the boxes, including some art. I may see a show in the evening, or I may sup somewhere fun. Or I’ll see the show on Sunday. Then next week is very busy and then we record the Kay Cole CD.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully get the missing money, eat, jog, choose two songs, write, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, revisiting some Robert Ward Bay Cities CDs, the ones I haven’t played in over twenty-five years. Blu-ray, The Blue Dahlia and The Glass Key, both region B imports from the UK. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as soon as I’m through being the streaming me.