Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish listening to the complete orchestral works of Jerry Lewis – sorry – Claude Debussy. Can you imagine the complete orchestral works of Jerry Lewis? All songs with “lady” in the title. But, in reality, something unknown in the world of Facebook, I am listening to the complete orchestral works of Claude Debussy. In addition to the war horses, we have all the orchestrated by others, too, which, for me, are the reason to own this. Ravel, Marius Constant and many others, taking piano pieces and making them orchestral. I first made the acquaintance of Claude Debussy back when an album called The Impressionists was released in Phase 4 stereophonic sound on London Records, conducted by the one and only Bernard Herrmann. I played that record to death and beyond – I was completely addicted to it. In fact, I made many composer discoveries thanks to that album. Mr. Debussy had Claire de Lune (orchestrated) and La Plus Que Lente, stunning they were, too. But ironically, my favorite Debussy piece on the album was composed by Mr. Erik Satie – Debussy’s incandescent and brilliant orchestrations of the first and third Gymnopedies. Why he didn’t orchestrate the second is anyone’s guess, but many years later composer David Diamond would. But I also made the acquaintance of Mr. Maurice Ravel, whose other works I immediately sought out, Mr. Gabriel Faure – his stunning Pavane – and Arthur Honegger and his gorgeous Pastoral d’Ete. Annoyingly, this album has never been released on CD, either as a single album or in any of the large Phase 4 sets. It’s an enigma. Fortunately, in the last few months someone uploaded it to the Tube of You in very excellent quality, so I have it now. But we’re talkin’ about Debussy here and what wonderful music he created. This Naxos box set is nine CDs and can probably be had for the cost of one regularly priced CD. Although I’ve never heard of the band or conductor, they do just fine – nothing definitive here in terms of the well-known stuff, but it’s all very well done. Impressionism in music was quite a thing back in the day and I’m very fond of most who practiced it. And speaking of impressionism, I shall now do my impression of paragraph two.
Yesterday was an interior kind of day. I slept until around eleven-thirty or thereabouts – seven-and-a-half hours of sleep, I think. Once up, I ascertained that it was pouring rain outside, which it continued to do for most of the day and into the evening, quite vociferously so at times. I answered e-mails, did some work on the computer, did some work at the piano, Grant stopped by for a short visit, and then I went to the mail place and picked up a couple of small packages.
Once home, I decided to stay off the Book of Face because people are posting such irrational stuff – basically anything they see – be it real or conjecture or downright fake – post it they do as if it was all real. The smell of panic and hysteria nauseates me, and I am done trying to keep it real. And you know what – it felt so nice not to have to see that junk. I may check my page from time to time and wish people happy birthday, but until this subsides, which it WILL and hopefully sooner than later, I’m just done with the feeding frenzy on Facebook. After a while, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I decided to watch a movie I’d enjoyed a few years ago entitled Love Crime, a French movie from France. This film got a surprising number of poor reviews – well, it’s really good and I enjoyed it all over again, sorry critics. The acting is terrific, and I didn’t remember all the twisty stuff. This was, of course, remade by Brian de Palma the same year the French film came out – his version was called Passion and THAT movie was truly horrible.
After the movie, I listened to music, played on the Tube of You watching some What’s My Line celebrity compilations that were fun and funny. And then it was time to write these here notes.
Today, I’ll sleep in (why not), I’m told the galley is ready but we’re just waiting on the cover proofs to go with it, so hopefully that will happen today. The three Kritzerland releases may end up shipping a little late due to people not working – we’ll have to see. I’ll hopefully pick up packages should there actually be any, I’ll eat, probably here, perhaps another batch of Wacky Noodles before some of the ingredients turn bad, and then I’ll do some work on the computer, then watch movies or read.
The rest of the week is, sadly, more of the same. We really all must send our patented most excellent vibes and xylophones into the universe for this madness to end sooner than later.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in (why not), I must hopefully get the galley and cover proofs and hopefully approve them, I must hopefully pick up packages should there be any, I’ll eat, and then watch stuff. Today’s topic of discussion: Anything positive. That’s the way we get to the light, dear readers. So, let’s hear positive things.