Well, dear readers, I’ve been told that today we are finally rid of what seems like a year-long dose of Mercury in retrograde. I sincerely hope this is true so that I can survive this weekend and have a nice birthday. I gotta tell you. As I sit and write these here notes I am listening to the master for one of the two soundtrack releases we’ll be announcing on midnight on Sunday. It’s quite wonderful. I just finished that set of liner notes, so that packaging can be completed, but that still leaves me four sets of liners to go. I’ll try to get at least two of those done today. And that, my friends, is what we at haineshisway.com like to call an opening paragraph.
Yesterday was an okay day until the very end, when I had to deal with an annoying e-mail string – unbelievable really – some person who thinks I care about what he has to say. But this person went to some incredibly stupid places and I actually had to threaten him that if he continued being stupid I would send the entire thing to my attorney, and believe me since what he was saying was completely outrageous and wrong, it would not go well for him. But he would not stop and I finally just stopped responding. If you knew what it all stemmed from, some Facebook comments that merely presented an easy-to-understand FACT, your jaw would be on the floor. That took up an hour of my time. I was not quite successful in the laying low department, but hopefully I dealt with it and can get through this weekend. I got six hours of sleep – I think I might be changing my idea for the book I’ll start on January 1, although I may decide to do two books in 2019, one fiction, one non-fiction. I’ve been furiously making notes for both. I’m thinking the non-fiction book I’ll do slowly over a few months, because it requires me to start digging through boxes for stuff. Anyway, the fiction book I think will be fun to do. But we’ll see how it all plays out.
I had a Cobb salad and a bagel for my meal o’ the day, then picked up a couple of packages, once of which was a screener for something called The Favorite, which I’ve never heard of – then again, I’ve never heard of 90% of what I’m sent. Once back home, I began the liner notes, I listened to some great recordings – a box set of British music conducted by Sir Charles Groves, a conductor I was a fan of in the 1970s when I purchased a lot of his EMI albums, my favorite of which was a pairing of Arthur Bliss’ A Colour Symphony with a great suite from the film Things to Come. I played that LP to death. This is a 24-CD set, and is priced quite cheaply at about two bucks a CD. The first six discs are all Elgar, including a lot of stuff I didn’t have. There’s quite a bit of Delius, there’s the Bliss two-fer, Holst, Vaughan Williams and lots of other goodies. The sound on these is fantastic. I had the dumb e-mail exchange, and then Hartley Powers, my leading lady for A Carol Christmas, called and read me the new speech we’re putting in the show tonight. I still didn’t feel it was quite right, so we made one little cut and then just talked about what it really needed to say, so it’s perfectly plain to the audience why the character is turning around. We cobbled it together, she read it and it seemed to work, so I sent that version to Doug and talked him through the reasoning behind the tiny bit of rewording, and he was totally fine with it. So, tonight we’ll hear how it works in the show. After that, I did an hour-long interview on the telephonic device – this for an upcoming book on David Cassidy. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched a DGA screener entitled Mary Poppins Returns. It’s a fascinating movie on many levels. I always enjoy Emily Blunt, and while her performance will not make me forget the sublime Julie Andrews, it’s a fine performance nonetheless, and she has quite a nice way with a song and dance. For me, the emotional moments were the handful of times that Marc Shaiman used the Mary Poppins Sherman Brothers songs in his underscore. Lin-Manuel Miranda is fine – not Dick Van Dyke, but who is? I have to say I didn’t love the Michael Banks but did love the Jane Banks – and the three kids are really cute. All the big numbers are counterparts to numbers in the original film. There’s a Step in Time number, a Let’s Go Fly a Kite number, a I Love to Laugh number. Best of all, there’s Dick Van Dyke in a fun cameo and after him a fun Angela Lansbury cameo. One of the interesting things for me is that the original film didn’t really have a villain plot, which was kind of refreshing. This one does – I’m guessing they thought that it needed something for suspense purposes. I won’t reveal who the villain is, of course. The supporting players are all fine. The film looks good, too.
After that, I listened to the master, finished the liner notes, and began writing these here notes.
Today, I’ll sleep in, then write liner notes, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, write more liner notes, then I’ll finally mosey on over to the theater. From what I understand, tonight’s house may be on the light side, although who knows – all the half-price tickets sold out on Gold Star so I’m hoping we have more than a light house. We’re fine for tomorrow night, and Sunday could be another sold out house. I have a couple of little sound notes to give, otherwise I’ll just watch the show and see how our new speech works.
Tomorrow is, of course, my very own self’s birthday. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I will be even older than I am now. I’ll try to have a nice day doing whatever – if I’m not finished with liner notes I will have to do that. Then I’ll attend our evening show, which will be a nice way to have a birthday evening and I think maybe we’ll go out after for a nice meal or something. We shall see. I accidentally tyed “We shall wee” but that’s what a slip of the finger will get you. Sunday I’ll be at our matinee, as we have a talkback after the show. I do enjoy those. Then Monday we’ll announce our two soundtrack titles.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, for today is the birthday of our very own and much beloved dear reader Jane, who I’ve known since she was fifteen years of age. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own and much beloved dear reader Jane. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN AND MUCH BELOVED DEAR READER JANE!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in, write, eat, hopefully pick up packages, write, and attend our show. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, 24 CDs of British music. DVD, more screeners. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, praying that today is the beginning of no more Mercury in Retrograde and happier times.