Well, dear readers, I got through yesterday without nuking 11,000 iTunes tracks, so that was a plus. But I’m here to talk about fruitcake. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I’m here to talk about fruitcake. When I was knee high to a sprinkler I quite liked fruitcake. I think we had it in the house every holiday season and I think I mostly ate any red cherry I could find and left the green ones for others to deal with. But I liked the taste – the nuts and fruits and in those days we didn’t have liquors in them, at least not in our house. For me, a fruitcake with rum or any other liquor is disgusting and makes me want to vomit on the ground. In any case, of late I’ve been thinking of fruitcake. One night at Gelson’s, I looked at theirs. A small fruitcake loaf, and I do mean small, was twenty bucks. The larger one was thirty bucks. Why? Are they rare? It’s just cake and dried fruit and nuts, what can the real cost be? So, I passed.
Then the other night I remembered something called Harry and David so I went to their site and lo and behold and also behold and lo, fruitcakes galore. Theirs too started at twenty bucks but looked much larger, were round, and came in a nice Harry and David tin. And they had a handy-dandy discount code, too, which save five buck and it was free shipping with a different code. They identified one of the fruitcakes as having rum, so I presumed the one that wasn’t so identified was fine. And so I ordered it and it arrived yesterday, two days after I placed the order. The box it came in was really small and when I got it home and opened it I was rather surprised to see how tiny this was and nothing like the photo, which made it look MUCH bigger. I had two small pieces and I have to say it was quite good – very rich, and yes I had two of the red cherries and left the green. But has the price of fruitcake always been so fruity and nutty? And, if so, why?
Yesterday was an okay day. I didn’t get to sleep until after four, and woke up at twelve-thirty, so I got eight hours of sleep, maybe a bit more. Once up, I answered e-mails, had a couple of telephonic calls and someone was supposed to come and purchase some CDs around two-thirty. So, I went to Gelson’s, got some carved turkey from the carved turkey bar – it had just come out of the oven – some sandwich rolls, some chopped lettuce, some Newman’s Own oil and vinegar dressing, and some provolone. I came home and made two sandwiches – very calorie friendly since I’d gotten the low-cal version of provolone. I put a little of the dressing on the bread, then lettuce, pickles, onion, provolone, and turkey. It was REALLY good. Right after I finished eating, Robert Yacko texted me – he was treating himself to a birthday lunch at Jerry’s and asked if I’d join him. Of course I said yes, and then the person who was supposed to come get CDs finished their meeting later than they thought, so we postponed that until today. I went and picked up some packages, then went to Jerry’s Deli.
We had a fun lunch. He likes their quesadilla and I was full from the sandwiches so I just had a cup of their soup special, creamy tomato bisque, which was not so creamy and very thin and water but still okay. So, that wasn’t many calories. After lunch I came right home, had my bit of fruitcake, chose more songs, listened to music, had more telephonic calls, and then at seven-thirty sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture entitled The Mule, directed by and starring eighty-eight-year-old Clint Eastwood. I’d read a pretty bad review, which had tempered my enthusiasm for seeing it, which is why you should never pay any attention to the idiot reviewers of today. Because guess what? It’s terrific – it’s always great seeing Clint, it has some funny bits, some tense bits, and it’s very touching at the end. It’s based on a real-life story of a “mule” – someone who drives and delivers drugs for a drug cartel. The real-life man was ninety. It’s a fascinating premise, and Eastwood is just about the only filmmaker left who actually makes real movies, i.e. there is not a single CGI credit anywhere, because there is none. They’re not sitting in post-production making overweight actors look thinner, removing every blemish and wrinkle – which is what they do now. There are no fake sunsets or night skies or anything. It’s just a movie movie and I enjoyed it very much because seeing that kind of craft is always pleasurable. It’s gotten several deadly reviews from young critics who scream out that the film is racist in its portrayal of the Mexican cartel located in Mexico – really? What are they supposed to do, rewrite it so it’s a cartel of nuns? But those same young reviewers have no problem being ageist about Mr. Eastwood – but that’s what we have today – idiots as reviewers. I don’t know if it’s a great movie or classic, but it’s sure an excellent movie and I recommend it.
After that, it was more music and then it was time to write these here notes or have more fruitcake. I opted for the notes.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, and then I have to do this interview via Skype for a film music podcast. They’d like to know my feelings about Jerry Goldsmith and his music and our Goldsmith releases. After that, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, hopefully the CD purchase will go without incident, and then I’ll get ready and mosey on over to the theater at seven. I’m reworking an entrance so that the entering person is actually in better light, then slightly restaging the end of that person’s song so that she has a little cross during the ending vamp. I know a lot of folks coming to the show, so that will be fun, and I know it’s already two-thirds full and we’ve always had healthy walk-ups, so I suspect both it and tomorrow night’s crowd will be fine and close to full. Sunday’s already just about full. After the show, I’ll be supping with friends and friends I’ll be supping with, not necessarily in that order.
Tomorrow, I’m really going to try and brave Costco and get all that done so I don’t have to worry about it. I don’t really need all that much stuff – mostly waters and liquid refreshments. Then I’ll attend our show as I also know folks coming. Same thing applies to the matinee. As soon as I’m done with that I’ll come home and make the tuna pasta salad and get all the chopping and slicing and dicing done. And then Monday we have our Annual Christmas Eve Do – thirty years we’ve been doing this and I don’t believe I’ve missed any years, although it’s been in any number of residences, starting in my apartment at the Shores back in 1988.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a Skype interview, have a visit from a CD purchaser/dealer, hopefully pick up packages, do a tiny bit of staging adjustment at seven, and then see our show, after which I shall sup. 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, the Previn box and a Malcolm Sargent box. DVD, many screeners. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall once again ponder the price of fruitcake.