Well, dear readers, first of all, we have achieved 90% EDIT: 96% – home page hasn’t updated, but a late-night perk went and that’s what we jumped to), we have crossed the rubicon, we are a mere 10% (4%) away from our goal with a full two weeks to go. So, I’m hoping we can do the 10% in the next few days, then work on covering the Indiegogo fees and perhaps going beyond so we can do our commentaries and stuff. So, let’s put on our big boy boots and kick this into high gear so I can breathe easy, because when you’re my age one simply needs to breathe easier. At some point in the next day or so, I’ll put up a few more perks, including some of the piano/conductor scores for musicals – I’ve been surprised at how much these things go for these days, and I’ll be much more reasonable. Now, would you rather see them in groupings, all together, or separate? In any case, let’s take this puppy home, shall we? We shall. Here’s the handy-dandy link.
And before I go any further, may I share with you the blurb that will adorn the back of Some Days Are Murder. I got it early yesterday and it made my day, I must say. Here it is.
Kimmel’s new whodunit is so rich in good humor and Hollywood’s recent past that the smartly-crafted crime element almost seems like frosting on the comfort cake. Here, the 20th Century is still in its seventies, as is sly sleuth Harry Stearns, a former talent agent, now 99% retired private detective. Cantankerous, honorable Harry and his acerbic secretary Bernice are pitch perfect accompanists for Kimmel’s combo mystery novel and love song for a city that once was.
Dick Lochte, author of BLUES IN THE NIGHT
I love that blurb. So, now you know the book takes place in the 1970s, 1975 to be exact. In other news, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to one of our upcoming releases, which will be our second opera recording, the first being Robert Ward’s The Crucible. This one’s in French and I love it. I’ve loved the composer’s orchestral music for years and the two operas I’ve heard by him are just wonderful. It will be a two-CD set and will also include a wonderful ballet score. Coming soon to a CD player near you. In other news, we’re going to make the new book available for pre-order. The question is, should I do that via Indiegogo? That would get our tally up a bit and perhaps shipping can be free that way and the copies will, of course, be signed. What do you think?
Yesterday was quite a nice day. I got nine hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails and read the blurb, which was a perfect start to any day, if you ask me. Then I went to the mail place and picked up no important envelope and one package, even though there were two others that I ultimately went back for. I came back home, ordered food from the California Chicken Café, my usual breast and wing and side of chicken pasta salad, and it arrived about forty minutes later and was the best it’s ever been. I did a little cheerleading, had some telephonic conversations, read Muse Margaret the blurb, which she thought was perfect, and also the dust jacket’s flap copy – she loved that except for two lines, which I removed.
I recently found an artifact from my past, from 1980 to be exact. Starting around 1975, I did a yearly Movie Marathon in December, usually a few days before Christmas. I’d turned the garage in my then-house into a screening room. It had a projection booth for my 16mm projector, a nice, big screen with masking and folding chairs and the floor for seating. It was really fun. The price of admission was a food dish of some sort. Some brought pizzas, some brought chicken, some brought stuff like potato salad and desserts. It was a much sought-after invite. We’d begin at noon, always with my minty fresh print of It’s a Wonderful Life, and I’d show stuff from my own collection, but would frequently borrow rare and fun stuff from other collectors. We’d usually have around thirty to forty people in those years. We’d eat the entire time, and we’d go until about three in the morning. When I moved to my second house, that one didn’t have the kind of set-up we needed, so I began using a real projection room save for one time, when we used someone’s house, a fellow who had two 35mm projectors and we ran all 35mm that night, including a waylaid Library of Congress nitrate print of It’s a Wonderful Life, one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I also remember we ran my IB Tech Vertigo, my IB Tech Thunderball, and several other goodies. But the screening room ones were fun – I only remember it was in Hollywood somewhere and I didn’t have to worry about the projection stuff as I did at the house. It was very inexpensive, as I recall, because I think it was through a friend of a friend. At those marathons, we’d have sixty or seventy people, I even think we got to 100 one year. I can’t remember exactly when I stopped doing them, but probably around 1982 as home video was coming in.
In any case, for the 1980 Kimmel Movie Marathon, I decided to make a coming attraction trailer. Doug Knapp, who shot The First Nudie Musical was the cameraman and we shot it in 16mm scope. My friend Dave Strohmaier edited and did all the post-production work. I play myself and in the film sequences I play various roles. The idea is, I talk about the movie marathon and then we show scenes from supposed films that you’ll be seeing in various genres – we did a film noir, a musical, a western, and a sleazy horror film. My pal, the recently deceased Alan Abelew (who played George Brenner in Nudie Musical), was in it, but my real co-star was actress Candy Clark. I hadn’t seen it in years. I have a print of it somewhere, but where is the question – in some box or other. But Dave had a print, too, and he transferred it to DVD for me and I showed it back around 1997 at a Christmas Eve Do. I hadn’t seen it since then. I watched it last night and I’m gonna put it up on the Tube of You so you can see it. I’m just waiting for Dave to send me a digital file.
At some point, I watched a couple of bad Alfred Hitchcock Hours, one with a not so good performance by the great James Mason, written by Levinson and Link – quite uneventful. And then I listened to some music. First Le miroir de Jesus by Andre Caplet, a beautiful, haunting work I found on YouTube the other day. And an orchestral album of music by Wolf-Ferrari that’s quite delightfully delightful.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hope and pray for some Indiegogo action to begin our third week of our campaign, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then I will spend two hours doing stuff for project two aka Revenge, I’ll eat, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same as we get ready for Sunday’s Kritzerland show celebrating Kurt Weill, and the next morning I get my second vaccine shot, and then it’s straight on to making sure we’re all ready for project two aka Revenge.
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, do whatever needs doing, hope and pray for some Indiegogo action, hopefully pick up some packages, spend time doing project two aka Revenge stuff, eat, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have crossed the Rubicon to 90% and thrilled with the blurb for the new book aka Some Days Are Murder.