Haines Logo Text
Column Archive
May 23, 2020:

ZOOM MANIA

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, how did it happen? Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, how did it happen?  How did Zoom kill Skype and Face Time and everything else?  And what will come along in six months to kill Zoom.  I have never seen so many people jump on a bandwagon in my life.  Well, yes I have – the migration from MySpace to Facebook once Mr. Zuckerberg understood that young college kids were never going to make his little site into anything that could generate dollars.  But eight weeks ago, I don’t think hardly anyone had heard of Zoom and then when the keep your butt cheeks in the house thing began, suddenly every day in every way everyone was Zooming.  I’m not sure how many people you can Skype with at one time, so maybe that’s why it zoomed so much.  But I think you can do multiple people in Google Meet.  Now you see Zoom crud everywhere – you cannot escape the Zoom mania.  I refused to even know what the HELL it was until we decided to do the May Kritzerland show online.  So, I joined Zoom to see if there was any way that would work for a live show and of course the answer was a big no for anything to do with music.  It’s too dependent on Internet speed, and there’s lag time and freezing aplenty.  But we ended up using it for rehearsals and that seemed okay for the solo numbers.  It was slightly less okay for the group stuff – just too confusing, really.  Adryan Russ did her birthday on Zoom and I found it completely weird, frankly.  But, as Ira Gershwin might have said, it’s very clear, our Zoom is here to stay.  Well, until the next “thing” comes along and then Zoom will join the Skype and Face Time graveyard.

Speaking of Zooming, we had our Kritzerland rehearsal yesterday and it was so great hearing our wonderful singers doing their songs.  You’ll understand how wonderful it was for me when you see the show.  Other than Sami and Hartley, everyone does three songs (Sami has two and Hartley has one, because I had to make room for Brent and Christiane and Guy Haines).  We ran through each person’s three songs; I gave my usual little notes and they’ll now incorporate those into their performances.  They were pretty good out of the gate, so the notes were minor.  Since most of the cast was with us last month, they know how to balance between track and voice.  For Brent and Christiane, they’ll be sending me a test so I can hear what’s what.

Prior to that, I only got about five hours of sleep, arising at eleven-thirty.  I showered and did stuff on the computer, saw two tests of the group numbers and even in this rough stage I could tell that they’re going to work just fine.  I ascertained there were no packages, and then our rehearsals began at two and went to five, with thirty minutes off for good behavior in the middle.  At five, I had a nice telephonic conversation with Kay Cole, then I ordered food.  As it turns out, the Cheesecake Factory is open until eight from Friday to Sunday, so I got my spicy chicken over rice.  It arrived about thirty minutes later and was great but sooooo filling.  I think I now look like a pregnant woman carrying quintuplets.  So, for the next three weeks I will not be eating like this anymore – it’s completely bad and I want to really stick to my 1200 calories a day, as hard as that may be.  So, I suspect it will be sandwiches, the faux stroganoff, salads, and stuff like that.

After dinner, I was completely zoned, so I sat on my couch like so much fish, put on South Seas Adventure, the last of the true Cinerama travelogues, and immediately fell aslseep for almost an hour.  I watched about forty minutes but shut it off – it’s my least favorite of the travelogues – by that point they’d gotten a bit tired.

Then I finally got out of the house and took a short drive.  Of all the traffic explanations I’ve heard, the one that’s making the most sense is Memorial Day – people getting out of town.  And that certainly would explain the greedy gas stations upping prices by twenty cents for the past week or so – we’ll know next week if they begin going down again.

Once back home, I listened to music, answered e-mails, and that was that.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I may get a Cobb salad from Jerry’s Deli to bring home or a sandwich or something, then I’ll do laundry and some cleaning, then I can just relax and watch, listen, go for a drive, and do whatever else needs doing.

Tomorrow is more of the same, then next week is all things Kritzerland and I’m going to start thinking about what our next releases might be on CD. I have a few other notions I’m pondering, too, and we’ll see if those lead anywhere.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, hopefully pick up some packages, eat, do laundry and some cleaning, then watch, listen, take a drive, ponder, and relax.  Today’s topic of discussion: How many of you have jumped on the Zoom bandwagon, when did you first hear about it, and why do you do it rather than Google Meet, Skype, or Face Time?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall undoubtedly dream of Zoom mania.

Search BK's Notes Archive:
 
© 2001 - 2024 by Bruce Kimmel. All Rights Reserved