Well, dear readers, I am quite overtired from not nearly enough sleep, so these will be, I’m afraid, sleepy time notes. I fell asleep around three-thirty and for some unknown reason woke up at six-thirty. I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I got up and did some stuff on the computer, then got back in bed at seven-thirty and slept until ten-thirty, so that’s six hours – I needed at least two more than that, but alas and alack, such things happen, sleep-wise.
Once up, I did the usual morning things like answer various and sundried e-mails, printed various and sundried orders, and then I went and had a pastrami sandwich and no fries or onion rings for my main meal o’ the day. It honestly wasn’t all that good. Then I went to the mail place and picked up a few packages, then came home.
I sat on the couch for a few minutes and dozed off for about twenty. Then I had a couple of telephonic conversations and did more work on the computer until it was time to get ready and mosey on over to the Group Rep to see a Monday night presentation on Monday night. They do these projects that members would like to potentially do for real. Normally it’s just members who attend, but this had a full house of everyone’s nearest and dearest in addition to the members. So, lots of whooping and hollering. Now, the presentation was of Avenue Q, a musical I know nothing about other than a couple of songs that are sung all the time. I always felt I’d find the show smart-assy in that way I don’t care for, but I also heard it had tremendous “heart” because its producers insisted the writers add that element as the show developed. The presentation consisted of no real book scenes, just some lead-ins to the sixteen songs presented (out of twenty-one). That’s a lot o’ songs without the book to help them along, but it moved pretty quickly. Doug Haverty’s very own daughter Hartley was in it (and co-directed) and she’s been getting back to acting stuff this past year. She was a kid actor (she played Billy Crystal’s daughter in Mr. Saturday Night), but then she got out of that and has done a whole slew of other things. But she’s very talented and it’s nice to see her warming up her chops again. The other cast members were fine.
But here’s the thing – I did find it smart-assy, and I assume the “heart” is in the book scenes. Some of the songs are funny in that South Park kind of way, and There’s a Fine, Fine Line is an enjoyable ballad. The fellow who’s ides this was to do the presentation made all the puppets. This was well rehearsed, everyone was off book and there was even some staging. The audience of friends ate it all up – I’m not sure how the Group Rep’s regular crowd would react. I sat with our very own Kay Cole. Leslie Young and both daughters were there, and of course I knew some of the cast members and the other Group Rep members who were in attendance.
After that, I stopped at Gelson’s and went to their seafood bar and got some no-calorie seafood things for my evening snack, along with about two ounces of mac-and-cheese. I came home and ate them all up, whilst finishing up listening to the piano concertos of Darius Milhaud, a French composer from France who I’m very fond of. The piano concertos were a serious hole in my Milhaud education so it was fun to hear them (there are a few other piano and orchestra selections, too). I found them a mixed bag and none of them blew me away. I liked the final concerto, the fifth, the best. Next on the iTunes playlist were his symphonies, which I hadn’t listened to in a while – those are just marvelous, filled with his unique musical style and language – just very enjoyable stuff.
I also listened to a Blu Spec CD of Bridge Over Troubled Water, the classic Simon and Garfunkel album from 1970. Because Bookends had become one of my all-time favorite albums ever, I bought Bridge the day it was released and I thought it was one of the greatest pop records I’d ever heard. I still love it. The title track that opens the album doesn’t sound very good – but researching it, apparently the album master had been used so many times over the years that some of the oxide has come off the tape, which might account for the frankly sketchy sound of that track – the drums are hugely distorted, for example. But once past that track, everything else sounds pretty good and certainly better than the regular CD release. While I prefer Bookends overall, I dearly love So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright and The Only Living Boy in New York, along with the title tune, just great stuff. They’ve actually issued a box set of these Blu Spec masters in those mini-LP jackets from Japan – I’m looking to see if I can trade something for it.
Today, I must sleep in, then I’m eating in, planning the July Kritzerland, hopefully picking up some packages and then relaxing.
Tomorrow I have a noon-thirty lunch meeting at a favorite restaurant, then more of the same, which includes proofing new charts and tracks for the musical. I also have a lunch meeting on Thursday. Not sure what the weekend holds but I suppose we shall find out.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in, eat in, plan the Kritzerland show, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite songs of Simon and Garfunkel and your favorite albums, plus your favorites of each when they were on their own. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have finished the sleepy time notes.