Well, dear readers, today is Friday – the thirteenth – so, perhaps these should be scary notes. I wonder when this old saw of Friday the thirteenth became a thing? There’s a name for fear of Friday the thirteenth – triskaidekaphobia, which is also what I had for lunch yesterday, but more about that in a minute. On Friday the thirteenth of October in a little year I like to call 1307, Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of the Knights Templar, so that wasn’t a good day at all. In Italy, Friday the thirteenth is just fine, but Friday the seventeenth is the equivalent of our Friday the thirteenth. Did you know that 17 to 20 million people in the United States are affected by fear of this day, making it the most feared day and date in history? I personally give Friday the thirteenth no thought whatsoever, as you can tell by this paragraph. I refused to let this date cause me any irrational fear, but, if I discover when I arise this morning, for example, that I have an ingrown toenail, only THEN will I have an irrational fear of this day, because who wouldn’t? What the HELL am I talking about? These truly are Friday the thirteenth notes, as there is an irrational amount of drivel thus far.
Speaking of drivel, yesterday was kind of a Friday the thirteenth day. I got seven hours of sleep, had a morning visitor and then another morning visitor, so, for those who aren’t good at math, two morning visitors for the price of one. Then friend Marshall Harvey arrived, and we moseyed on over to Corky’s for one last Trousdale sandwich (grilled). As I predicted, it was jammed. And I said to the manager, “Manager, I’m thinking that 90% of the people here have never stepped foot inside this place before.” He agreed with me completely. We got the last booth and had our sandwich, which was great – they were out of Diet Coke due to the crowds.
Then I came home, and then drove directly to the mail place, where I picked up some packages, including more DGA screeners, and then came home again, from the film of the same name. Once home, I did some work at the computer, and then we had our second Kritzerland rehearsal, which was fun. I wrapped us in time for me to get to the theater for the put in. But that did not go well and turned into a rather unfortunate bit of drama, so I left and came home and sat on my couch like so much fish, which is what I really needed to do, frankly.
Last night, I watched a DGA screener entitled Richard Jewell, the story of Richard Jewell, who was the security guard who discovered a bomb and who helped save many lives, only to have the FBI make him a suspect (never charged), leaking that news to the Atlanta Journal (and maybe elsewhere), and having his life ruined, going from hero to an alleged terrorist with not a shred of evidence against him and clear evidence he could not have done it, due to the timeline. Clint Eastwood directed perfectly, and the actors are all great, and it will, at times, make you want to hurl your shoe at the TV. I’m sure some of it is fictionalized – there’s currently a brouhaha about the film making it seem like the female reporter traded sex for the scoop – but that isn’t the issue – the issue is she ran with the story without any facts and ruined someone’s life, she and some overzealous FBI people – and it all turned into a very unfortunate media circus. This is the first time I’ve liked Sam Rockwell on screen. Also excellent is Kathy Bates as Richard’s mom, and the actor who plays Richard, Paul Walter Houser, is fantastic. Also good in that you hate them are Jon Hamm and Olivia Wilde, and, in a smaller role, Nina Arianda. For me, at eighty-nine, Mr. Eastwood still has it as a director.
After that, I listened to some music, then went to Ralph’s and got some bagels and English muffins. Then I had a telephonic conversation and cleared the air about the bad business at the theater, so that was a good thing.
Today, baby, I am sleeping in, Friday the thirteenth notwithstanding. Once up, I’ll do the usual things, but mostly finish the two sets of liner notes and get audio samples and release information where they need to go so we can announce our final three titles of 2019 on Sunday at midnight. I also have to finalize the Kritzerland show order and send that to everyone, and then we have a couple of people coming to audition at five. When that’s done, I’ll go down the street to the Chinese jernt and have some wor wonton soup and perhaps some fried rice of some sort, or perhaps some noodle dish. Then I’ll attend the evening performance to show my support for our new Banjo.
Tomorrow, we have a noon o’clock stumble-through, and then I’ll eat something, and then I’m relaxing and watching screeners all day and all evening. Sunday, I’ll relax until it’s time to mosey on over to Vitello’s for our sound check. I’m hoping attendance will go up – pretty light at the moment for a holiday show. Then we do our show, and I’m sure some of us will eat afterwards. Then things finally lighten up for the rest of the year.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in, hopefully pick up packages, prepare our three releases and finish liner notes, do the show order, audition, then see our evening performance. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday the thirteenth – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, more musical discoveries. DVD, DGA screeners. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, and hoping no one hear will suffer from triskaidekaphobia.