Well, dear readers, it’s not that late but tonight I do have to get in bed by about twelve-thirty at the latest, as I must be up by eight, so I’ll endeavor to write these here notes in a hurry, which shouldn’t be difficult as not that much happened yesterday, at least that I remember.
So, to begin at the beginning, I got seven-and-a-half hours of sleep. Once up, I answered e-mails, printed out a small number of orders (we need lots more), and then had a long telephonic conversation with the best of the Adriana candidates, we came to terms, and she’s it. I had to go to the acx site and officially make the offer, she accepted, I uploaded the book for her, put the cover art up, and we talked about the third person narration and I told her I’d send her an mp3 of me reading a bit of Patrick Bronstein, as he’s the hardest to get right, if you don’t understand that kind of Mel Brooks/Garry Marshall rhythm. This will at least guide her. Her name is Moira Todd and I like her very much and if this works out and we sell a couple, then I’ll have her do another and eventually the entire series, although I will go back to the first book and make a couple of small adjustments to it. When I wrote that one, I wasn’t at all sure who the audience would be – adults or young folks and I sort of tried to make it work for both, but there’s one speech at the end that’s just too much now that I know how much the young teens love Adriana, so I’m going to just soften that speech just a bit – not what it’s about, but the way in which the character says the speech. And there’s a couple of “f” bombs, although I think maybe those can stay. Anyway, it’s nice to have both books in the works now.
After that, I did some work on the computer, had more telephonic conversations, including a long one with a very helpful person at acx, who explained a lot of stuff. Then it was already mid-afternoon, so I went to the mail place and picked up on tiny package, then went to Taco Bell for the meal o’ the day, brought that home, ate it all up (1,000 calories exactly), and somehow managed not to eat anything else in the evening, so that was really good. I listened to a lot of music – six CDs in the first Hindemith box – very interesting music, much of which is new to me and much of which I enjoyed. Then I took a Hindemith break to musically cleanse the palate, so to speak. I listened to some John Barry, Joe Hisaishi, Elmer Bernstein, and Jerry Goldsmith. Then I shaved so I wouldn’t have to do that in the morning.
Today, I’ll be up by eight and on the road no later than nine if not a little before that. It’s a forty-minute drive out to Thousand Oaks and hopefully at that hour there won’t be too much traffic. I’ve printed out directions. At ten, the Bat Mitzvah begins – I’m sure that goes an hour or so, maybe two, then there’s what they call a Kiddish lunch, which apparently means a bit of wine and noshing foodstuffs, but that’s just what someone told me – I actually don’t know from a Kiddish lunch. Interestingly, this will be only the second time I’ll have been in a temple since 1961. The time before this was in the late 90s, maybe 1997 or thereabouts, when I went to the Bar Mitzvah of the son of a long-time friend of mine. And the irony of that was that it was the same temple from which I’d been Bar Mitzvahed, and it was, rather unbelievably, the same rabbi, Rabbi Pressman. Go know. After that’s done, I’ll stop at Sami’s on the way home, just to say hi and visit for a bit, then I’ll check to see if there are any packages and if there are I’ll go gather them up, then I’ll come home and I will damn well relax for the rest of the evening.
Tomorrow, I will definitely sleep in, then I’m seeing a new musical in a small theater, then I’m sure I’ll sup somewhere, then come home and relax. Monday, we begin our Kritzerland rehearsals, and I have a dinner meeting after that at eight, then the rest of the week is meetings and meals, our second Kritzerland rehearsal, our stumble-through, and then sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up early, be on my way early, go to a Bat Mitzvah, have a small Kiddish lunch, visit Sami, hopefully pick up packages, then come home and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite film scores or shows by Mr. John Barry? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have the Adriana book cast and in the works.