Well, dear readers, I am fighting tooth and nail to not get sick and by all that’s good and reasonable I will not give in – damn them, damn them all to hell. I have been fighting all week, and I am still winning, I think. I have been taking my preventatives for six days in a row and I’ve done Ny-Quil the last three, although I really don’t like doing Ny-Quil as it makes me so dry and groggy when I get up. So, I may lay off that one tonight and see how I do. Everyone’s sick in LA or trying not to be. I am in the latter category and I simply cannot go into the former category as we’ve got us a show to do. So we will fight the good fight, we will fight tooth and nail as well as nail and tooth, and I will continue my regimen of preventatives. There, I’ve said it and I’m glad.
Yesterday was quite a weird day. I slept nine hours, maybe even a bit more. I awoke very congested and full of guck and it took almost two hours to get all that out of my system. I then made the decision not to attend the Sandy Bainum show, as I didn’t think being out in the very cold air in a cold nightclub was the best thing for me – that and the fact that the show wasn’t even starting until nine. I ate whatever I could find here in the home environment – silly stuff but it was all fine and I think all in it may have stretched to about 1200 calories. Two no-fat low-cal hot dogs, a few tiny tortilla things with a bit of cheese inside, and an Uncle Ben’s Spanish rice thing that was actually horrible. I like all the others I’ve had, but this was just yuckilicious.
Whilst eating, I did a lot of work on the computer and just tried to relax. Then John Boswell came over – he’s just getting over his cold, and we had a very quick and very good work session and I even ran the two songs I’ll have to sing should Guy Haines be a no-show. One of them I know by heart, as I did it last year at one of our shows, but the other was new to me and there’s no way for me to get it fully memorized by show time, so that one I’ll have a cheat sheet for. After John left, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the first half of a motion picture on DVD, one I’d never seen – Street of No Return, starring Keith Carradine, the final film of director/writer Sam Fuller. Now, I’m a big fan of Mr. Fuller – he’s made some seriously great movies (Pickup on South Street, Park Row) and some seriously wacky movies (Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss), some seriously underrated movies (White Dog), and some truly awful movies. I’m afraid Street of No Return is in the latter category. And yet the auteurist hipster know-it-alls love it even though they know it’s bad (some actually don’t know it’s bad), just because it’s Fuller. Now, if someone else’s name were on this same film and they didn’t know it was Fuller they would hate every second of it. Of course, being Fuller, it does have its completely and endearingly wacky pure Fuller moments, but it’s so poorly done and the budget was obviously so low that it just really doesn’t work at all. It’s based on a novel by the very good pulp writer David Goodis. But the movie is completely surreal – everyone speaks English but the movie is set in some completely alien netherworld (it was shot in Portugal and most of the actors are dubbed). I’ll try to slog it out to the end today.
After that, I shaved, since I hadn’t shaved in almost six days, and I took a hot shower, and listened to some Sibelius, since my ear is almost completely better now – that was very pleasurable, I must say. I had two CDs sitting here that I hadn’t put into iTunes yet and those are what I listened to.
Today, if I’m feeling okay enough, I may venture out at noon-thirty to an impromptu lunch with my brother and cousins – he’s in town just for one day. I’ll have to drive to Woodland Hills and I probably won’t eat or if I do it will just be something very light, and I won’t stay all that long. After that, I’ll come right home and rest. However, if I’m not feeling up to it, I’ll cancel.
Tomorrow is an all-resting day, and then, of course, our Annual Oscar Bash. Then we head into our busy Kritzerland rehearsal week, which also includes some meetings and meals and other stuff that will need doing. Do send your strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones for a healthy me, and also send them for Richard Sherman, who is in a rehab center resting and healing – he’s been in terrible back pain and it turns out he lightly and very mildly cracked to vertebrae – that heals naturally by itself, but they’ll keep him there while it does. I know he hates that sort of thing so we want him healed and out of there as soon as possible.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, go to a lunch if I’m feeling up to it, hopefully pick up packages, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your predictions for the Oscars? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall continue fighting the good fight and taking my preventatives.