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August 24, 2017:

COVERING THE BASES

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I must say, yesterday’s notes were very long. They went on and on but I thought it was an interesting story to tell so I hope it wasn’t too much of an endurance test. I feel I should do that from time to time but not two days in a row. So today we will have shorter notes. Today brevity will be the soul of wit and wit will be the soul of brevity, not to mention that soul will be the brevity of wit. I think we’ve covered all the bases, don’t you. And now that the bases are covered how exactly are we supposed to see the damn bases. I mean they’re covered for crying out loud. I do have to confess something right now, oh, yes, I do have to confess something right now. I have killed. Yes, I, BK, have committed a murder right here in the home environment. The victim had been irritating me for about four hours and I have no idea how said victim even got in the house. Last Saturday she of the Evil Eye also caused me to kill even then – because she let in two flies. They were not long for this world for I cannot abide flies buzzing around and irritating me no end. And let’s face it, flies are not the brightest stars in the firmament and I give them every opportunity to get out of the home environment. I yell at them, I cajole them, I try everything but they won’t leave. Therefore I believe they WANT to die and die they do because they cannot escape my fly wrath. I just let them do their thing and eventually they get tired and light somewhere and I am there and swatting instantly with a magazine of my own choosing. And so it was tonight – after three hours of this irritant the fly, the stupid fly, actually landed on my head – my reflexes were instant and that fly was dead, that fly was no more, that fly was bereft of life, that fly was squashed, that fly went to its maker, that fly wasn’t going to fly no mo. Note to flies: Come in the house, and then stay when you’re given every reasonable opportunity to get out, then you will perish. Learn from this. What the HELL am I talking about? I don’t think I would have such a long paragraph if the bases hadn’t been covered and I could find them.

Yesterday was a funny old day. I got seven hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails and did some work on the computer, then made myself two hamburgers on low-calorie buns with my new-fangled Big Mac sauce, tomato, lettuce, and onion. It was faboo (oobaf, spelled backwards). Then I picked up some packages, did more work on the computer and at the piano, and then sat on my couch like so much fish, where I caught up on some SACD listening, most specifically SACDs of Henry Mancini’s Hatari and Peter Gunn albums. This company, Acoustic Sounds, tends to favor a slightly brighter mastering, which I wish they didn’t. It’s slight, but it would be better with some of that dialed back. Now, these aren’t like the three-track RCA Living Stereo SACDs, these are from the two-track album masters so we are getting, of course, the original mixes in sterling sound. And they do sound great. But boy what a missed opportunity to not give us the original three-track recording as a bonus. First off, the Peter Gunn album mix has always been loaded and I mean loaded with reverb. Since we have that wouldn’t it have been swell to give us the sound as it went to tape, perhaps with a little extra ambience if it was too dry – but I’ve heard all these RCA three-track SACD releases and none of them are too dry. A missed opportunity, but it really is the best these have sounded. Then I watched half a motion picture on Blu and Ray, entitled How to Steal a Million, starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole, and directed by William Wyler. This is the first time I’ll have actually made it through the film and I’ll have more to say when I’ve finished today.

After that, I buckled down, Winsocki and began preparing what will be the next Kritzerland release – a two-CD set that I’m going to love issuing. So, I did all the track titles and inlay card information as well as all the credits. The master is being created in the next few days, and today I’ll start writing the liner notes. And after that I treated myself to a shower then listened to the Randall Thompson symphonies, which I pretty much adore, whilst doing a first pass show order for the Kritzerland anniversary show.

Today, I shall begin liner notes, but also begin writing the Kritzerland show commentary, which I’d like to get finished by tomorrow at the latest so I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll eat (another burger day), I’ll hopefully pick up packages, I’ll try to do a jog, and then I’ll relax.

Tomorrow I think I have a meeting or a meal and hopefully whoever it’s with will remind me. Oh, now I remember – it’s not confirmed and it’s totally up in the air, but if it happens it will be at the Smoke House. I’m not sure what the weekend holds at this point – I probably will sup out on one of the weekend nights, just because I can. Then we begin our crazy busy Kritzerland rehearsal week.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must for example, write liner notes, write commentary, eat, hopefully pick up packages, call the piano tuner, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Mr. Peter O’Toole? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that I have covered all the bases, but of course now I can’t see them. Such are the occasional conundrums of the notes.

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