Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for not only is she of the Evil Eye arriving bright and early, but I must be at LACC soon thereafter to fix a few Levi problems with a flute and a violin and a couple of performers. We’re pretty much replacing the flute and violin on everything but I’m hoping it goes quickly – they’ve had the music for over a week now and our MD has had the actual live recording to hear so he can conduct it easily. And so, the notes.
Yesterday I’m afraid to say did have some irritants, most especially not receiving one damn CD order at all. None. Not a one. That makes me want to vomit on the ground, frankly. I did get about nine hours of sleep, which I needed, so I got a late start to the day, which was fine by me, since there were no damn orders to print. I did some work on the computer, then I got one of the two charts I’m having done for the Kritzerland show (both are songs by my very own self), so I fixed some errors and now that chart’s done and off to the boy who’ll be singing it.
Then I picked up some packages – two screeners, two CDs, my Christmas cards and a partridge in a pear tree, which came via Fed Ex – happy to report that the partridge and the pear tree came through just fine. The two DGA screeners were The Post and Dunkirk. Well, I couldn’t resist so I began watching The Post right away. I got through the first hour, then had to get ready and be on my way to the old-fashioned Valley Inn for my belated birthday dinner with David Wechter. I hadn’t seen him since before summer, so we had a lot of catching up to do, which we did. It was nice to see the Valley Inn packed to the rafters and we were there pretty early, at six. Our waitress was new so there were some flubs, but I just love jernts like this so I was delighted by our dining adventure. I had a small Caesar salad, which wasn’t really great, and then the prime rib (only about an eight-ounce piece), a baked potato, some vegetables, and we shared a tiny side of mac-and-cheese. It was all very yummilicious, as was their version of garlic cheese bread, which is the polar opposite of the Smoke House garlic cheese bread.
After that, I came directly home and finished watching The Post, a film of Steven Spielberg, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks and a lot of other terrific actors. About the Pentagon Papers and the struggling Washington Post, it’s a wonderful motion picture entertainment with great performances by both Ms. Streep and Mr. Hanks. Mr. Spielberg is, of course, the real deal. He knows how to tell as story for the screen, he knows how to pace a film, and it’s so much fun to see a real movie for a change. It’s not that other movies I’ve seen haven’t been excellent, but a Spielberg movie is just real moviemaking in the classic sense. It has on old-fashioned score by John Williams and by old-fashioned I mean a score that actually functions as film music should rather than a bunch of meandering pad and thumping. This score actually supports the story and characters – how refreshing. So far, my favorite scores of 2017 are The Post, The Shape of Water, and Wonderstruck. In any case, The Post is highly recommended by the likes of me.
Then I found that the main bathroom’s toilet is stopped up – why I have no idea but no amount of plunging helped, so Grant will have a plumber here tomorrow to fix it. In my old house I would have had to pay for that and to take care of it, or it would have taken three months. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted out of there so badly. Here if there’s a problem, it’s dealt with instantly and I’m down with that, I’m jiggy with that. Then I listened to the two CDs – the soundtracks to The Shape of Water and Wonderstruck. Of the two, The Shape of Water plays better away from the film it was composed for, although I certainly enjoyed hearing Wonderstruck.
Today, I’ll be up early and then I’ll be on my way to LACC around 10:15 or thereabouts. Our downbeat is at eleven-thirty and I’m hoping we can get through everything in ninety minutes, which will leave us thirty minutes to do the three performers’ stuff – those are simple – literally a line or two or verse or two. Then I’m sure I’ll eat something – if not I’ll come home and eat something. Once home, I’ll watch Dunkirk and relax, as well as getting the rest of the music to our young performers.
Tomorrow, I’ll relax until it’s time to go to Doug Haverty’s Christmas partay. Next week I have a few things to deal with and deal with them I must. And please send some excellent vibes and xylophones for miracles and a lot more orders.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, fix some stuff for the Levi recording, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films dealing with absolutely true real-life events? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had yet another lovely belated birthday meal.