Well, dear readers, it is late and therefore I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I must get some semblance of beauty sleep before said arrival. It shouldn’t be a problem writing notes in a hurry because not that much happened yesterday. In fact, it was a perfectly okay day with some minor irritants attached. I tried to detach the attached minor irritants, but the minor irritants weren’t having it. And to them I say phut and having said phut I say phut again.
I did get eight hours of sleep although the phone did ring at eight in the morning as it has done every day for the past four weeks. I’ve heard the message they leave and they keep talking about some lease back inspection I need to do. So, when I got up yesterday the first telephonic call I made was to that company. I got a human on the phone and I asked her why I was getting these calls at eight in the morning every day for a month. She told me it was because I needed to have an inspection done on my lease back vehicle. I said, “That’s wonderful, except I don’t lease a car – I have never leased a car.” She then looked up the account and realized they’d been given an incorrect number – either that or they wrote it incorrectly. The human apologized profusely and assured me the calls would stop immediately. So, that’s one less minor irritant.
Then I did the usual morning stuff, had some clarification on the Equity guest artist contract – I must say, this particular union makes it VERY difficult to even want to USE an Equity actor. When all is said and done, in addition to his salary, we are paying fifty PERCENT on TOP of that for health, pension, and payroll – I shouldn’t have thought that was legal and I’m going to make sure that it IS legal because that just seems outrageous to me and no other union that I know of has anyone paying fifty percent on TOP of a union person’s salary. That’s just a little insane. But Equity has always been a union that simply doesn’t understand the times in which we live, which is why there are so many non-union tours now. I mean, if I didn’t like the actor involved or didn’t think he was perfect for the role I would use a non-Equity actor instantly. And the fact that this is being done in a SCHOOL just adds salt to the wound – and they do not care. There merely think all producers are greedy and making huge amounts of money on the backs of their actors. Well, no. There would be no way for this show to actually make money given its cost. Yes, the school will get the box-office, but without the Indiegogo campaign we wouldn’t even be doing the show. I’ll just stop there.
Then I moseyed on out to Calabasas to lend my eyes and ears to some college audition tapes that Sami has to submit. They’d sent me their first attempts, but I felt that the three songs were all being done exactly the same, which is not what you want. Since Sami and I have developed a real and easy shorthand, all I had to say to her were a few words here and a few words there, a movement here, no movement there, and it made all the difference in the world.
Then I drove back home and thankfully the traffic at three o’clock actually wasn’t bad at all, which was amazing. I picked up no mail and one little package, then came home. Once here I had to answer e-mails, and I got several notes of interest for the adult role I’m still trying to cast, and I’m waiting to hear back about the male kid I want – if that doesn’t work out, I have a backup who will.
I then wrote the blurb for the important release, which we will indeed announce on Monday, and got the packaging, which looks absolutely fantastic. I found a few typos here and there, and made some adjustments but basically it was easy fixes so that will go into the printer tomorrow. I love when we don’t need any approvals at all. If only ALL projects were this easy. I had a very long and fun conversation with Elizabeth Sherman and got the latest updates on Richard. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched the first half of a documentary about Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – it’s kind of interesting but really half-ASSed because there’s no music from the album and no interviews with the surviving Beatles – that makes it all talking heads from people who were around but who weren’t key players. And it’s long – two hours. After that I went to the Coral Café to meet friends for a late-night snack. That was fun, as always, and then I came home and the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up early and we’re doing a Costco run, although I’m only buying Diet Coke – I would rarely go for just one thing but it’s just so much cheaper to buy there than at a market. Then I’ll come back home and I promised our very own Nick Redman that I’d bid on an auction item in the Debbie Reynolds/Carrie Fisher auction. That begins at eleven in the morning but his item won’t come up for at least an hour, no matter how quickly they move. After that, I’ll eat, hopefully pick up packages and I could really use an important piece of mail right about now – or a miracle, always a miracle – or three. The rest of the day will be getting my stage manager everyone’s e-mail addresses, getting the Dropbox folder ready for our cast, and at some point the musical director and I will lay down some tracks for them to hear so they can get familiar with the songs.
Tomorrow I hope to relax a little and get ready for the very busy week ahead, my final week before we begin rehearsals for Levi. We also have the Richard Sherman event on Wednesday, and a lot of other stuff that needs attending to.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a Costco run, bid on an item, do prep work on Levi, finish casting Kritzerland, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Beatles albums and songs? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping I don’t have to say phut to anything today.