Well, dear readers, I will write these here notes in a hurry not because it is late, not because she of the Evil Eye will be here, but because at around seven-thirty this evening I began watching a documentary on the Flix of Net entitled The Staircase and it is so riveting that there is no way I can’t finish it this very evening. I don’t want to say anything about it, other than there’s never quite been anything like it, at least that I’ve seen – I’m on episode seven and am thinking that it goes to eight – and you know I usually get bored or there’s a ton of repetition in these stretched-out multi-part Netflix things, but that is not the case here.
Yesterday was a day and neither interesting nor uninteresting. I got eight hours of sleep, I’ve been very congested and my voice is feeling trashed and I suspect that has to do with allergies or dry, hot air. But I had to get ready and mosey on over to the House of Pies to meet with the wonderful Tesshi, my set designer on Levi, L.A. Now and Then, and Li’l Abner. I am thrilled to say that I convinced him to do the new musical for me at the Group Rep, and best of all, he’ll find me a good lighting designer, too. Musicals have their own set of needs and this one is fairly large, so I’m sure everyone will be more comfy not having to deal with those two areas on a show like this. I do fear we’re going to have to do an Indiegogo campaign to raise the extra dough for the musical director, the tracks, and a fee for Tesshi and the lighting guy, but most importantly for the sound – a board op, a designer, and a rental package that includes good speakers. I’m also going to do a one-night fundraiser for our show, but they only seat 99 folks there and realistically you can only charge a certain amount of dough. I really didn’t want to do Indiegogo this year at all, but I really see no other way to deal with it. We do have a budget for the show, but it won’t cover everything we need or even be in the ballpark. I am trying to ascertain what exactly that budget is, which will tell me how much we need to raise, but it should be less than the usual amount.
Then I came back to the Valley, picked up some packages, then came home. Once home, I caught up on e-mails, had some good news that what was supposed to arrive had, in fact, arrived, listened to some music – Stan Getz and the Boston Pops – an incredible live album, more Wes Montgomery, more Jean-Michel Damase, whose music I love, and I began listening to the infamous Porgy and Bess with Mel Torme and other jazz artists of all colors, and orchestrations by the wonderful Russ Garcia (he wrote the soundtrack to The Time Machine). It’s pretty great so far. Then I made a tuna sandwich for my evening thing, and then sat on my couch like so much fish and began watching The Staircase, intending only to watch a couple of episodes, but, as mentioned above, it’s just so riveting and addictive that I cannot stop.
Today, I shall hopefully get a really good night’s beauty sleep, hopefully be less congested, and then I’ll work on casting the Kritzerland show and assigning its songs – we’re waiting to hear from a couple of people. Then Grant and his family and I are going to have a celebration dinner in honor of him finishing his massive six hundred-page tome. You will all want this book – the images are stunning, and there’s a ton of rare stuff that few people have seen.
Tomorrow I shall have a ME day, and then next week is busy with all the usual stuff and prepping our next release announcement for Thursday or thereabouts.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get a good night’s sleep, hopefully be less congested, cast, hopefully pick up packages, jog, and then have a celebratory dinner. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite jazz artists and what are your favorite jazz albums? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as I go back to being riveted.