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April 16, 2021:

THE SAVAGE BREAST SPEAKS UP

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, since yesterday music was soothing the savage beast, perhaps today it should soothe the savage breast, and yet it can’t because my breast has never been savage, nor has it ever needed soothing, which is sad on some level, I suppose, and yet thrilling on another level. Oh, well, music is the great soother of many savage things. What the HELL am I talking about? Don’t I have notes to write? I did watch two motion pictures yesterday, so let’s get those out of the way first. One of them was entitled House by the River, which I’ve had on DVD for probably two decades and have never watched, even though it’s a Fritz Lang film. So, we rectified that, oh, yes, we rectified that. Most of the time, I love Fritz Lang films, even some of the lesser ones. But I’m afraid House by the River isn’t very good. It’s short and yet seems long, it has at its center a nasty piece of work as the leading character, played by Louis Hayward, and then the dialogue is quite bad, and there’s a courtroom scene that is so bad that you’d never believe Mr. Lang had a thing to do with it. The only real plus is lovely Jane Wyatt. The music is okay, too, by George – George Antheil, that is. So, that one was a real disappointment. It’s on Blu-ray now, so I’m glad I watched before purchasing that. The other motion picture was entitled Walk on the Wild Side, starring Laurence Harvey, Capucine, Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Fonda, Ann Baxter, and a host of fine character actors. It’s from the Nelson Algren novel and directed by Edward Dmytryk, and yes, dear reader Druxy, we KNOW he was your publicity client, thank you. The first problem with this potboiler is Mr. Harvey, a fine actor, who is simply so miscast as a Texas farm boy that it’s ridiculous. Ms. Fonda is saucy and fun and very young, Capucine is Capucine (apparently, Mr. Harvey didn’t care for her acting and told her so), and I just love Miss Stanwyck, here playing a not so thinly veiled lesbian who runs a bordello in New Orleans. Interestingly, the acclaimed novelist John Fante is the co-writer of the screenplay. Miss Ann Baxter plays a Hispanic café owner, in case you were wondering. It does go on, but some of it is fun and it has a great score by Elmer Bernstein and GREAT main titles by Saul Bass. The ancient transfer isn’t very wonderful. But let’s hear about the rest of the day, shall we? We shall.

Yesterday was a strange day but not a bad one by any means. I got nine hours of sleep. I hadn’t heard from the car place so after answering e-mails and catching up on stuff, I called them. The initial news wasn’t terrible, actually – $400 to fix the problems, which turned out not to be the alternator but a broken heat valve and bad hoses that were causing all the coolant to leak out of the car quickly. So, I got off the phone feeling a bit of relief. That lasted about ten minutes when the phone rang, and it was the mechanic again. He said we really needed to replace the brake pads on the rear brakes, that they were almost down to the metal. I knew this was coming because they told me that two years ago and I kept meaning to do it. So, there went another $200, but still, it’s not as horrible as it might have been, so I was grateful for that. They said they’d call when the car was ready. I didn’t know if that meant yesterday or today, but it became obvious that it would be today. I also talked to the helper, who will thankfully arrange everything for the big move from the warehouse to the U-Haul big storage units.

I made ham and two eggs for food, then got everything ready to announce our two new CDs, which are Ben Bagley’s Rodgers & Hart Volume IV, which is filled with rarities and is quite fun, and a French opera called Colombe, based on the play, Madame Colombe by Jean Anouilh. The music and libretto is by one of my all-time favorite French composers, Jean-Michel Damase and it’s a tuneful delight, as much musical comedy as opera. I’ve been sitting on this one because I was worried that not a single person would order it. But after announcing the big surprise was it was outselling the Rodgers & Hart CD. Who knew? Check out the audio samples. That CD also includes a wonderful ballet by Damase. It’s a two-CD set. Here are both covers.

I must say, the Colombe cover is one of Doug’s best. After watching the first movie, I ordered a chicken breast and wing from the California Chicken Café and a side of what I think is butternut squash. It was orange, if that helps. I know squash has carbs, but I didn’t eat but half of it and I don’t think it would have been more than twenty carbs and there were zero in everything else and on this diet you can eat up to fifty carbs in a day and the most I’ve eaten before today is about three or four. The savage breast was really big and really good, and the squash was not too flavorful, but butter helped that out. Anyway, it was very good.

We made the new titles live around seven and I sent out our big eBlast, then I watched the second movie. And here I am, listening to some fun Don Costa covers of themes from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I wish they’d issue this whole album on CD. I grabbed what was available on the Tube of You.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’m hoping the car will be ready sooner than later and I’ll either Uber or walk over to get it. Frankly, the walk would probably do me good. Otherwise, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat, I’ll begin organizing the Indiegogo perks, which will take some time. And then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax. And please keep sending your most excellent vibes and xylophones for things to work smoothly for the next few days.

Tomorrow, I must be up early to do a Zoom thing with two aspiring young playwrights, kind of a mentor thing. I think that will probably last an hour, then I’ll have to relax and rest my voice because at three we record the Tonight’s the Night commentary and then the Outside the Box commentary. Where we’re doing that is very interesting and that tale will be told. Sunday will be a ME day, and then next week is all Kritzerland show stuff and organizing Indiegogo perks stuff.

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, pick up the motor car, hopefully pick up packages, eat, begin organizing and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start: CD, a couple of things that I’m picking up today. DVD, next up is probably Kurosawa’s Stray Dog. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the savage breast has spoken up.

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