Well, dear readers, we’re in a bit of turmoil here, but hopefully it won’t be too difficult and we’ll get through it all okay. The current helper informed me last night that the two weeks’ notice he gave me is up on Sunday, but that he can pick up CDs and ship on Monday. That’s fine, of course, only I knew nothing about any two weeks’ notice and this was the first I was hearing about it. Not the first time I haven’t received e-mails from him – in fact, he’d forwarded me two on Monday that I’d never seen and apparently at that time forwarded me the resignation e-mail – but I never got it. Logic would dictate that had I ever gotten such a thing I would have instantly had a conversation about it, about a timeline, and most importantly, about a replacement. So, you’d think that not hearing a peep from me, especially after our history with e-mails not getting to me, that something would have been said earlier, especially since there was a ticking clock. Anyway, I have the replacement, so that part is good, I just want her to have enough time to learn the new postage system and printing, which is the most important part. I think she’s able to shadow him on Monday and watch the shipping of the Kurt Weill CDs, but then she leaves town for five or six days, and I’m hoping he can work that period of time for whatever needs shipping (including the new book), and then can spend a day with her when she returns, so she can get keys, passwords, and whatever else she needs. He’s told me he’ll call today and I hope that call happens sooner than later so I’m not worried about this stuff.
Otherwise, yesterday was a reasonably okay day. I got about seven hours of sleep, did the usual morning stuff, then went and had a fun lunch meeting with two Brits. I had a chili, cheese, and onion omelet, a few fries, and an English muffin. It was fun. I also finally talked to my gal at the publisher, because just before the lunch I’d picked up the softcovers, which, of course, had gone to the bad printer location and had matte covers rather than glossy (same thing happened last year), so she’s replacing those and everything went off to the good printing location including my real order. So, they’re overnighting everything to me once it’s all printed and the hope is I’ll have them by the end of next week.
After the lunch, I came home, did some work on the computer, prepped the new release announcement – which is another fun Ben Bagley album, Jerome Kern Revisited. This is a really good one, with Barbara Cook, Bobby Short, Kaye Ballard, and other excellent folks. Here’s the cover.
I did some looking for things in the garage, Grant came by and hung the three paintings that have been sitting here for a year, so everything is finally up on the walls and looks great. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched this weird French Blu and Ray of a concert version of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I know I’d begun it once before, but it was so bad I’d shut it off, I think. Well, here’s what I wrote back in 2015: After that, I watched the first ten minutes of a rather horrifyingly staged concert version of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, done in France. The staging is so ham-fisted and awful it was making me want to vomit on the ground. And the leads all have those hideous mics that run down the side of the cheed and practically embed themselves in the singers’ mouths. The leading guy, rather than the charming innocence of the film’s leading man, is more like a strutting peacock. The Catherine Deneuve gal is pretty and sings well, but they’ve also cast Madeline as a blonde and they look too much like each other.
So, I slogged my way through it and the staging got no better. But it’s Michel Legrand conducting a huge orchestra, so the music sounds grandly Legrand, so that part was nice. I kept thinking of all the really creative and lovely things you could do with a staged concert version – alas, they did none of those things.
After that, I found out about the resignation, so I spent the rest of the evening dealing with that.
Today, I suppose I’ll have the phone conversation, and sooner than later, then I’ll hopefully pick up packages, eat, hopefully print out a LOT of orders, and choose the last of the songs, then I can relax.
Tomorrow I’m not sure what’s the haps, nor am I sure what the haps is for the weekend, but I’m sure there’ll be haps galore.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a phone conversation and hope the transition can be a smooth one, eat, hopefully pick up packages, hopefully print out a LOT of orders, choose songs, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are the best concerts you’ve ever seen live? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that the bit of turmoil will be brief and handled well.