Well, dear readers, we’ve tested, we’ve prepared, we’ve rehearsed, we’ve done all that we can do and today is the day of the big show, Kritzerland 105. It’s been a bit of a journey, it has, and I’ve definitely learned a few things along the way, which is always fun and interesting and occasionally frustrating and irritating. And so, at 5:00 Pacific Daylight Time and 8:00 Eastern Daylight Time (7:00 Central Time) we do our show, on both Facebook and YouTube Live. I’m going to plant the two links right here in these here notes for all to see. Here they are.
https://www.facebook.com/KritzerlandUpstairsatVitellos/
https://www.youtube.com/user/haineshisway
We’ve found on Facebook Live, those with slower Internet connections and such things as that may experience hiccups – simply refresh the page if that happens. On YouTube, after the first test night, things have been very smooth. I do want to give a big shout out to our wonderful cast: Daniel Bellusci, Brittney Bertier, Liz Callaway, Kerry O’Malley, Sami Staitman, Adrienne Stiefel, Sal Viviano, and Robert Yacko, along with our main musical director, Richard Allen. They all put in a huge amount of effort and believe me, it was a learning curve for all of us. And especially Hartley Powers, who made all the technical stuff work, who did a ton of research into how to make this happen and then made it happen. This simply could not have happened without her. And so, we hope you’ll join us for the show and then, of course, post about it here.
Yesterday, I got eight hours of sleep, got up, and then most of the day was spent doing all our final testing and stuff. I had two tuna sandwiches for the main meal. And then it was back to work. After all that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and watched a motion picture on DVD, a Warner Archive thing, You’re a Big Boy Now, Francis Ford Coppola’s first film for a major studio and, I believe, his thesis film for UCLA. I saw the film many times when it was released and loved it. It was definitely in the style of the freewheeling Richard Lester films, but it had its own quirky personality and I found it very funny. Seeing it again, I still find it funny and fun to watch. It’s an incredible time capsule of New York in 1966, when the film was shot (released in 1967). Times Square gets a lot of coverage and it just makes you weep seeing all those movie palaces on Broadway, one after another, marquees ablaze, and every single one demolished with not a single movie theater in Times Square on Broadway. Visible are marquees for Cast a Giant Shadow, Khartoum, and The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming. The cast is fantastic: Peter Kastner, who I would later work with in 1971 on a Universal TV movie called If I Had a Million – we bonded, became pals for about a year and then we never saw him again, Elizabeth Hartman (who was the reason I went to see the movie, as I’d loved her in A Patch of Blue – what a different character she plays here – long before the word bi-polar was a word, she completely embodies that rather incredibly), Geraldine Page (nominated for an Oscar for this), Rip Torn, Karen Black, Tony Bill, Julie Harris, Dolph Sweet, all doing great work. It was made on the cheap ($800,000, but of course being Coppola, it went $200,000 over budget. The transfer on the DVD is barely acceptable and one hopes that the Warner Archive will do the film justice on Blu-ray one of these fine days.
After the movie, I took a drive, stopped at Jerry’s Deli for the first time since the stay at home stuff began – I was the only one there – very sad to see – I got some fries for my evening snack and some lox and cream cheese for today’s food (I already had bagels). Then I came home, ate about half the fries, which is all I had room for, and then sat on my couch like so much fish again.
I watched the Broadway’s Lost Treasures DVD, which is always enjoyable. I can’t remember if they did a subsequent volume. The highlights, for me, were My One and Only, Cabaret, and Annie, but I actually hate the way they’re presented on this DVD. Quality is what you’d expect – not much.
After that, I listened to music and have been cleaning things off the computer to free up space, but no matter how much I transfer to my back-up drive, it clears up very little. I got all the larger files off. And I nuked stuff from iTunes but that hasn’t really made much of a dent. I have to figure out a way to see what’s actually taking up all the room. I deleted about two hundred photos from photos but that didn’t even register.
Today, I’ll be up by noon at the latest, and then I’ll relax for a few hours, then get ready for the big show. Then we’ll do the show, and then hopefully there will be something to celebrate.
Tomorrow, I will unwind and relax, and then attend to some stuff I’ve neglected for the past week. I’ll try to eat reasonable meals, but sometimes it really does feel like all there is to really do is to eat. I’ll continue watching motion pictures and listening to music and trying to free up more space on the computer. I’ll hopefully pick up packages and mail and pray for some miracles because as you all know this has been a very tough time. We haven’t been able to announce a new CD in eight weeks now and that’s just played havoc with everything. So, send some most excellent vibes and xylophones for a modern major miracle.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by noon, relax, get ready, and then do a show, and hopefully have something to celebrate. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we get ready for the day of the big show.