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August 8, 2018:

THE STAY-AT-HOME

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I just realized that I did not leave the home environment at all yesterday.  I was a shut-in, a stay-at-home, a homebody.  I could have gone out, I could have eaten out, I could have picked up a package, I could have done a merry dance in the street, and yet I did none of those things.  Not that I did much that was interesting in the home environment, but that is the stuff notes are made of, so let’s figure out what yesterday was all about.

I only got seven hours of sleep, arising at ten-thirty or thereabouts.  I answered e-mails, had a telephonic call, did some work on the computer and at the piano, and then I made a batch of Wacky Noodles – about five or six ounces I’d guess.  I ate them all up.  I listened to some music whilst doing stuff on the computer.  I’m sure I did other things, but I can’t remember what those things might have been.  I did put up two videos from our show last Sunday.  As you know, I don’t post a lot of those videos anymore because it made people get lazy about coming to the shows.  But here’s Grant Geissman doing You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To – an amazing performance, as you’ll see and hear. 

And here’s Sami and I doing her send off number, You’re the Top.  We had so much fun doing this.  We did it four years ago and she hadn’t quite learned how to have this kind of fun, but she’s got it down now and is quite at ease.

At some point, I do believe I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Model Shop, un film de Jacques Demy starring Gary Lockwood, Anouk Aimee, and Alexandra Hay. Now, no one loves Jacques Demy more than I, but let’s face it, he’s made some fairly wacky movies in addition to his great ones, this being one of the wacky ones, his first and only film in English. Shot in Los Angeles, some proclaim it to be a love letter to the city – the Kritzer books and most of my other books are love letters to the city.  This film is a love letter to a few streets and locations.  I’m sure Los Angeles fascinated Mr. Demy as it has fascinated any number of foreign directors, but that doesn’t somehow make them poets about a city they’re not really a part of.  Gary Lockwood is fine in an annoying role, Anouk Aimee reprises her role in Demy’s Lola in halting and whispery English, and Alexandra Hay, while cute as a button, gives one of the worst performances in the history of performances on the screen.  But the locations are fun if you know the city.  Aside from the location in Venice that opens and recurs in the film, the first great driving shot is Lockwood driving north on La Cienega approaching Pico. Readers of the Kritzer books will immediately know that that was where I grew up.  You see Gaby’s coffee shop, where we ate quite often, and you see the Rip Van Winkle Motel, where we stayed during the incident of the mouse in the house. Had they panned left you would have seen the miniature golf course, and had they gotten to Pico you would have seen the Lido Theater and Big Town market. But there’s an edit and then he’s just past Pico driving towards Olympic.  But that shot doesn’t last long enough to pass Temple Beth Am, where I had my Bar Mitzvah.  That’s about it for La Cienega, save for one more shot at the very north end, where Lockwood turns left onto Sunset and we see the Tiffany Theatre, and then several other buildings still there.  We also get Santa Monica Blvd. near La Brea (where the titular Model Shop is), and when Lockwood visits the underground newspaper, that’s just three doors south of Heliotrope on Melrose, just steps from LACC.  There’s also quite a bit of smog to be seen, and the amusing gas prices of thirty-four cents.  But this is all about the transfer and it’s spectacular – could not be better.  Bravo Sony and Twilight Time for this deliriously gorgeous disc – the perfect color, sharp as a tack, great contrast – fantastic. Highly recommended for the location shots and transfer.

I also watched some of The Revolt of Mamie Stover and Hilda Crane, just to check out the transfers – they both look fantastic and I’ll probably watch one or both tonight.  After that, I listened to more music, banged my head but good on the corner of a cupboard because I wasn’t paying any attention – I now have a nice little bump there and it still hurts and the resultant headache is still there.

Today, I’m honestly not sure what the HELL is happening.  I have to get the Kritzerland show cast in terms of our two females – one person has not gotten back to me in two days, so I’m moving on from her, but we just have to settle it so I can figure out the songs.  I do know a couple I want to do, but it all depends on the talent. I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then, at some point, relax.

The rest of the week is more of the same and getting ready for our first day of casting for A Carol Christmas.  And Sunday I’m supping with the Pearls at Ruth’s Chris, so that will be fun.  They wanted to take me there for some time and this is finally the time.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, cast, choose songs, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like.  So, let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have been a stay-at-home, I guess.

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