Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to music and relaxing. I am still very full from the celebratory dinner at the Smoke House. We got there at five-thirty – Sami, her mom, and li’l ol’ me – and were seated quickly. As I was about to sit down at our booth, I noticed that right across from us were sitting my friends Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill. We all chatted for a while, then we ordered our celebratory dinner. Sami had chicken piccata fries, her mom had a Caesar salad and a baked potato, while I had a Caesar salad and their seven-ounce filet, butterflied with some Bernaise on the side and a baked potato with butter, sour cream, and chives. Oh, and of course the garlic cheese bread. As always, it was great food. When our waiter first came, Sami’s mom told him we were celebrating my nineteenth book being finished. After we finished, he brought a piece of cake over, a free celebratory dessert. It was all grand fun.
The day began with about six-and-a-half hours of sleep during which I slept for six-and-a-half hours. Once up, I had a nice chat with my publishing folks and so that’s all set now. I had a long hold waiting to talk to someone at UPS about the Kritzerland account. Apparently we had five outstanding invoices, not adding up to very much. I had to patiently explain to them that I would have been happy to have paid them had I actually received them. But, they were going to the helper’s e-mail and he was under the impression they were actually sending me paper bills. So, we got all that straightened out. There were no packages to pick up, so I did an errand, did some banking and came home.
My intention for yesterday was just to have a nice day and do no work, and I succeeded very well in that intention. At some point I did sit on my couch like so much fish and dozed off for a few minutes. I shaved and showered, and then watched about thirty minutes of a Blu and Ray from far-off Japan, said Blu-ray containing a Japanese production of the musical Grand Hotel. This was a revival of a production that was done a few years ago. Now, there are several interesting points of interest with this Blu-ray. The cast is played entirely by women – the men’s and women’s roles, and I must say they’re quite good. It’s all in Japanese with no subtitles, but I know the show very well. It’s also a tab version of the show, running around an hour or so, because this troupe also does a musical revue as the second half of their evening. But here’s why I really got it: it has the original Tony Walton set design, the original costumes, and the original staging – in fact, the entire thing was supervised by someone named Tommy Tune. So far, I’m really enjoying it.
Then I showered, Sami and mom arrived, and we were on our way to our celebratory dinner.
After that, I came right home and did some more relaxing. I printed out something I’ll need for this morning, but really didn’t do much beyond that other than listen to some beautiful music. And that was pretty much my day and pretty much my evening.
Today, I have to be out the door by nine-thirty for what is going to be much too long of a rehearsal, but one I must attend. I’ll arrive at ten and we don’t wrap until around three. They’ll have food there for us, but since the Autry Café is right there, I might go have that delicious pulled pork sandwich again. Or I might wait until after to eat. We shall see. I’ll hopefully pick up packages, and then I’ll come home and work on a set of liner notes, and also write the new bits for the commentary. And I’ll finish Grand Hotel and then watch the Japanese revue companion piece.
Tomorrow I can sleep in, I’ll finish whatever writing I have, I’ll print out my proofing copy of the new book for proofing, and once that’s done off it will go to the other proofers. I’d like to get all that done within a week, if possible so that Grant can start the design process. The rest of the week is relaxing, writing, proofing, rehearsing, and then we do the concert, a two-show day on Sunday, both shows sold out. Then on Monday, I’ll finish casting the Kritzerland show – only two more folks to go.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, attend a long rehearsal, hopefully pick up packages, eat, write some commentary and liner notes, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the best set for a play or musical you’ve ever seen? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a lovelier than lovely celebratory dinner.