Well, dear readers, I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but it is June. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is June and, as we all know, June is busting out all over and May is done and not a moment too soon if I may say so and I did say so, so there, say so-wise. And it is my fervent hope and prayer that June will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. There, I’ve said it and I’m glad.
I wish I could say I am sitting here like so much fish and listening to music, but until this very minute that has not been the case, oh, no, that has not been the case. But now, Debussy’s Le Mer under the baton of Mr. Previn is playing and that is a nice respite from what turned out to be a non-stop day. I’m not sure how that happened, as it was supposedly a holiday. I did manage to finish the theatrical cut of Blade Runner. The film has many good things about it, but it just doesn’t coalesce into a whole. The added narration is supposed to be noirish but it’s very heavy-handed and Harrison Ford speaks it as if he had a gun to his head. And it disappears completely after about twenty minutes and doesn’t return until the very end, the added “happy ending.” Then I watched the first thirty minutes of the final cut as opposed to the director’s cut or the earlier work print cut. The first thing you notice on the final cut, is that the transfer is new and beautiful and much better than the theatrical version transfer. Of course, the narration is gone, and it seems more compelling than the theatrical version. There are some shots removed from the credits and that works well. I’m not sure how much different stuff there is in the first thirty minutes, but I think it’s minimal. I wanted to actually watch the whole thing, but I kept having to go do stuff, one thing after another, not necessarily in that order.
Yesterday was supposedly a holiday but you wouldn’t have known that by my day. I did get a bit over eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, then had to go to storage, which was a pain, but someone needed some CDs I didn’t have here and it’s a reasonably nice order. First, I put gas in the motor car at the least expensive station – always crowded, but at least twenty-five cents cheaper than some stations and fifty cents cheaper than most. The storage thing only took two minutes, and then I went to the California Pizza Kitchen with the two twenty-five-dollar gift cards that have been sitting in the motor car’s glove compartment for over two years. I had a small Caesar to start and then the cedar plank salmon and vegetables. They were both very good and it’s the first time I’ve been IN the restaurant in a year-and-a-half.
After that, I came home and was ready for my holiday day, but I had to have a bunch of telephonic conversations, deal with the notes for one of our new releases – I was told they were final and I thought they were great, but now they’re going to be revised again and I’m promised I’ll have them today, which will be good as we can then get this packaging done. Doug has already done a really nice cover for it. I think people will be very pleased by this release. And then I was suddenly having to deal with what has turned out to be a complicated rehearsal schedule for the playlet, but I think that’s done now. And then, I had to get really serious about casting this private reading of the Nothing in Common musical, which is happening on the third week of this month. Casting the lead has been challenging, but Barry Pearl recommended someone, and he’d be terrific. We’re speaking today, but I think he’s jazzed about doing it. So, we now have four of the seven lead roles, so we’re on our way. And that really took up the entire evening. But it was all necessary and it’s good that some of it has been taken care of. I’d also asked Adryan Russ to fix a few lines of lyrics and she did that and sent those to me. I had some pistachios and Atkins candy for my snack. And now, La Mer (The Mer) is merrily playing away and I’m relaxing a bit. And it’s June.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and, more importantly, two important envelopes that are important, and if said envelopes arrive, I’ll do some banking, although it may be better to wait until tomorrow as the first day of the month means crowded banks. We shall see. The dealer will come by to pick up the CDs, I’ll eat something, and then it will be back to casting the reading and the Kritzerland show, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, on Wednesday I have a Zoom read-through of the playlet, on Thursday I’m having some photographs of my face taken by Karen Staitman, and then supping with David Wechter, so that will be a fun day, Friday is dinner with Barry Pearl, Saturday is a two-hour rehearsal for the playlet over at the theater, and Sunday might just be a day of rest.
Speaking of photographs, I was sent some amazing photography by Mary Lee Gowland, who was in High Spirits with me at Bluth Brothers Theatre, along with Walter Willison, friend Alan Abelew, friend Diane Noble (now Diane Linder), and others. I have not seen any of these photographs ever. Some are from the show, some are from the cast party, which was at Mary Lee’s parents’ house. Note my English cap – I wore said cap everywhere back then. I’m not sure what I’m actually doing in these photos but boy are they fun to see. Here’s us doing a musical number from High Spirits – Faster Than Sound I think it was called. I’m over there on the left between the drinking guy and the girl (that’s Diane). Alan Abelew (George Brenner in The First Nudie Musical) is over there on the right.
Here’s one I’m not in – that’s Walter Willison on the right. But check out the backdrop. That’s from Mary Poppins the movie and was painted for the film by Don Bluth, our pianist.
Now come the mind-bogglers. Here I am next to an owl at Mary Lee’s house. I think it must have been some kind of costume party, as you’ll see in a wider shot. But this photo is just too too, don’t you think?
I have no idea what this next photo is about, but I do remember the madras Bermuda shorts. The fellow in the toga is Terry Reilly, who became Orin Reilly and was in Applause on Broadway.
And finally, here I am with Mary Lee’s mother Alice – she was pretty gorgeous (as was her daughter) even though she’s clearly dressed as Phyllis Diller. Aren’t those FUN?
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, hopefully pick up packages and important envelopes, perhaps bank, have CDs picked up, eat, cast, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: How much stuff from your past have you kept? Where do you keep it? Have you gotten rid of stuff that you wish you’d kept? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that June is busting out all over and that will have some June Moon around these here parts and, of course, it is my fervent hope and prayer that June will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.