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June 4, 2021:

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, at 11:35 I am finally relaxing and listening to music, specifically more wonderful music by wonderful Walter Braunfels, this one works for piano and orchestra and quite marvelously marvelous works they are. There are three major pieces on this CD, my favorite of which is Concert Piece. And I did watch the first twenty minutes or so of The Great Imposter, a movie I loved when I first saw it at the Wiltern Theater – I went back twice to see it there, that’s how much I liked it. It’s had a spotty track record on home video – I don’t think it was ever on VHS and I’m not even sure about DVD, unless it was one of those MOD discs and even then, it was full frame, which is a joke. So, it’s nice to see it in its original ratio – I really don’t know if I saw it in 1.85 or 2.1, which is what this disc is. The opticals are very soft, but the non-optical footage is fine if not exceptional. It’s probably a transfer they had laying around or it’s from an internegative. It’s still as enjoyable today as it was sixty years ago and oh do I love the Henry Mancini score. I’ll finish it up tonight. I also got the final Previn discs uploaded so I could finally put the box away.

Yesterday was another crazy day. I was up at eleven after about six hours of sleep, shaved and showered, answered a ton of e-mails, had some telephonic conversations, and then it was time to go have some photographs taken. I got on the freeway at one-fifteen. The traffic was TERRIBLE. It took almost fifteen minutes to get to the interchange of the 101 and the 405, which is really about a three-minute drive. Who ARE these people making the freeway like this at one-fifteen in the afternoon? Once past the 405 it was heavy for another five miles, and then suddenly, like magic, there was no traffic at all. It took about forty-five minutes to do a twenty-minute drive. And it was HOT. And the air conditioning in my motor car is not working – it blows out hot air. I have to take it and get that fixed. I know they changed the oil and coolant and all that stuff a few weeks ago, so I don’t know what this is about, but my poor motor car seems to be on its last legs these days.

Once there, I cooled off in the Staitman’s house, nicely air-conditioned. Then we went out to Karen’s studio and began. I was wearing a black shirt, which I thought would be nice and it was. She got a nice background, and she began snapping away. She took lots and lots of photographs of various expressions and looks. She did four or five different background colors and the whole thing took a little over an hour. She made it all easy and I was very comfortable. She showed me a couple of them in her camera and they looked okay to me. I don’t like looking at myself too much anymore, but I didn’t want to vomit on the ground, so that was a good sign.

Then I got back on the freeway and moseyed on over to the Agoura Deli, where I met David Wechter, our first in-person meeting in a year-and-a-half. I gave him the new book, and we had a great time catching up. He’s been talking to me about maybe writing a new screenplay, since we had so much good fortune with The Faculty. And, like The Faculty, I had an idea that I don’t think can fail – and I knew he’d love it because it was right up his alley and love it he did. I had a bacon, cheese, onion, and mushroom omelet and cottage cheese – can’t be more Keto friendly than THAT. I was petrified to get back on the freeway at the height of rush hour – five-fifteen – but he did a Google maps check, and it said forty minutes, which is what it really takes to get to where we were. So, I chanced it.

While there were a few pockets of heavy traffic, most of it was clear and I was able to have two telephonic conversations during the drive, which always makes it go quicker. In fact, I made such good time that I was able to go to the mail place and pick up some stuff, so that was good. Then I came right home and had a ton more e-mails, including one from Karen with a photo gallery of photographs of ME. She put one touched-up photo in there and it looked pretty good to me. So, I favorited about twelve photos that I liked, so she’ll do her magic on those and then we’ll see what we’ve got. What was very surprising to me was that several of my favorites were open-mouthed smiles, which I haven’t done in YEARS. Who knew? I had a PDF of the now final reading script for Nothing in Common, so I thought I’d continue making piano tracks. I’d already done a few, and I got four more done, so that’s good, and I’ll have plenty of time to get used to them. But there are a lot more to go, so I’m going to try and do at least four or five every day.

Then I opened the PDF because that’s what I’ll be singing from. And what did I find? Wrong lyrics – again. Old versions. I don’t get it, I will never get it, and it just frustrates me so. So, I had to go through every song and listen to my demo vocals, which were all from final lyric sheets where the lyrics are, I don’t know, CORRECT? I sent Adryan those fixes and at some point, I’ll get a new PDF, but I am not sending anything to anyone until it’s right. If I hadn’t checked, I would have sung wrong lyrics to several songs and that’s not a good thing. All that took up every second of the evening, save for the little bit of the movie I watched, and finally I said enough and turned on the music.

Today, I’ll be up by eleven and once again I have to go to the storage place because the helper can’t find two titles, both of which I know are there, just as the last thing that couldn’t be found was there. I understand that we go through certain titles quickly, but these two titles never sell, so I know there are open boxes of both titles because the ONLY boxes that went into the overflow rooms were the big boxes that contain two smaller boxes of fifty. Those are all sealed. All the boxes of fifty, the open boxes, went into the shipping room unless we had two more of the same title. Anyway, I’ll schlep over there and see what I can find. Then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll make piano tracks, and then I’ll be supping with Barry Pearl. I should also have a new draft of the playlet so that we can rehearse with it tomorrow. I am happy to say that all the major roles for the reading are cast and all but one person is cast for the July Kritzerland show, so that’s good. I’m still hoping we’ll be able to announce new titles at some point today or tomorrow. I’ve already prepared the eBlast, so that’s ready to send. And then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow, we have an eleven to one rehearsal at the theater, so that will be fun to get the little playlet on its merry feet. After that, I may eat around there – after all, the Coral Café is just moments away and they do a very nice tri-salad there. We shall see. Of course, what I’d really like to eat is Dino’s Pizza, but no splurge days yet. I do think I’ve dropped around twelve pounds by now, but I want to get up to twenty soon. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’ll make more piano tracks and that will be that. Sunday, there’s a Zoom tech thing for the playlets, then the only other thing I really need to do is make more tracks. And obviously, I hope we’ve announced by then. Then next week we have several rehearsals and a quick tech (only two light cues in our playlet), plus getting ready for the reading, starting to choose songs for the Kritzerland show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, go to storage, hopefully find the two titles easily, hopefully pick up packages, make some piano tracks, sup, hopefully have a new draft of the playlet, hopefully announce two new titles, 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 – Blu-ray, The Great Imposter. CD, now playing, John Lanchbery’s wonderful adaptation of Herold music for La Fille mal gardee. It’s wonderful. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had new photographs taken for the first time in forty years.

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