Well, dear readers, I have to say it once again – whenever days get weird or off-putting or plain intolerable there is one thing that can always take the weird and off-putting and plain intolerable and give those occasionally irritating things a swift uppercut to the chin and knock those suckers to the ground where they belong. And what is that one thing? Music. Plain and simple, music can basically make everything feel ever so much better, can restore balance, can lift the spirits, can heal. Such is the power of music. I’ve always been fortunate enough to not only get to listen to music but to write it and I’ve also been lucky enough to have people tell me that my songs have touched them in some way, and there’s no better feeling than that, and it’s how I feel whenever I hear a gorgeous piece of music. It’s not that yesterday was all that weird or off-putting or plain intolerable, but there were moments when it was teetering on the edge. But a little dose of music and voila. So, here’s how it all went.
I only got about seven hours of sleep, maybe even a bit less. Once up, I answered e-mails, found out that Charlie Brown, amazingly, is pressed and coming in today and will ship today, a very fast turnaround for us. I also got a wonderfully sweet e-mail from the writers of the musical I’m directing, and they professed to love my notes and, if I read the e-mail correctly, were conferring on how to address every note I had, which shows to me that this is going to be a really nice collaborative show. And they told me that one idea of mine in particular delighted them and was a done deal – removing the intermission, cutting ten minutes from the show, and doing it in one act. So, that was very nice. There were no new orders for almost the entirety of the day, and I found that very odd. But in the early hours of the evening we got about six, so that was good.
At eleven o’clock, my set designer arrived and we spent an hour talking about the style of the show. I’m not much help at this stage – I’m one of those guys who has to see things to be able to offer opinions about what I respond to and don’t respond to. But we discussed general things, mostly that I didn’t want heavy, literal sets – I want it light and sparse and constantly flowing. He’ll have some things to show me next week – I like him very much.
After that, I went and had a Chinese chicken salad and a bagel for luncheon. Then I picked up no packages and came home. Then it was time for a work session with John Boswell – that was quick and easy – this show has no put-togethers at all, which may well be a first for us. So, we just went through each number, switched up some intros and outros, decided where we’d have musical interludes, and stuff like that. It’s always very easy with John.
Then came some irritating stuff that had to do with a Facebook group, and I’m really thinking that other than announcements and work stuff, I’m staying off of all groups and far away from people posting stupid crap. And believe me, it was stupid crap. People get irritated with me because I just tell the truth and say it like it is and there are people who just can’t abide that, and to them I say, tough beans, baby, tough beans. The helper came by and got invoices, I did some work on the computer, and then made about four or five ounces of pasta with a bit of butter and cheese – it was good, but I have to stop eating this much food. I put on a bit of weight when writing the book – not as much as usual – and then I lost some of that, but in the past three weeks I’ve been eating way too much and the pants are getting too tight again, so starting tomorrow I mend my overeating ways and I mean seriously mend them until I’m at least back where I was at the beginning of the year. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I wasn’t in the mood for anything good and so I watched yet another terrible movie on the Flix of Net, this one from 2016 and entitled Come and Find Me. Now, that title alone should give you a clew that the writer has no talent. That is just a terrible title. It’s the standard thriller about a happy couple, whose female half just disappears one day. The rest of the movie is the husband looking for her and finding out the why and wherefore of it all, but interspersed through all that are annoying flashbacks to happier times. The ending is stupid and unresolved, the acting is the usual mumbling – I also didn’t know one person, not one actor in this movie, even though the two leads are some kind of names – he from Breaking Bad and she from The Tudors, but neither of them can do a thing with a script like this and a director who seemingly encourages all that stupid mumbling. And the score – literally nothing but synth pads that we’ve heard a thousand times before. It wasn’t interesting the first time, and it certainly isn’t interesting the ten-thousandth time. I give it my highest blechhh.
After that, I listened to lots of music and that made everything all right and perked me right up – first some John Williams, then some Charles Gerhardt-conducted assorted movie themes.
Today, I’ll be up by nine-thirty, and then I’ll mosey on over to Nick Redman’s home environment for a visit. I’ll be back on the freeway by one or one-thirty at the latest. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, we’ll get all the Charlie Brown CDs shipped, and then I head over to the Music Center to see a musical entitled Fun Home, which I’m looking forward to. I will, of course, have a full report for you.
Tomorrow I’m lunching with our very own Sandy Bainum and the weekend is unknown to me, but I’m hoping it can be relaxing with reasonable meals so I can lose some damn weight before the Kritzerland show. Next week is very busy with Kritzerland rehearsals, meetings and meals, stumble-through, and then sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, visit Nick Redman, hopefully pick up some packages, eat something light down at the Music Center, then see a musical. Today’s topic of discussion: Which music or composer can calm you down and make everything feel better? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to feel calmer and happier now – such is the power of music.