Well, dear readers, I am sitting here listening to Antal Dorati conduct Igor Stravinsky in Mercury Living Presence stereophonic sound, this one being one of the best of those things. Not all are terrific, despite what the audiophiles may tell you. But enough about that, let’s get right to the meat of the notes, shall we, or, for our vegetarians, the vegetables of the notes. You see, earlier I watched a motion picture on DVD, the last of the Paul Newman box set, this one containing his breakout role in Somebody Up There Likes Me. I believe I saw this film back in 1956 at the Picfair Theater (that or the Lido, but pretty sure it was the Picfair) and I remember loving it mostly because I developed a boy crush on Miss Pier Angeli, who I thought was cuter than cute. I’m not sure I’ve seen it since, and yet, watching it again I remembered pretty much everything about it as it unfolded. Pier Angeli was still cuter than cute, Mr. Newman, while still a bit actorish, came into his own, and the rest of the cast was terrific, especially Harold J. Stone, Eileen Heckart, and the brief appearances by youngsters Sal Mineo and someone named Steve McQueen. The film is nicely directed by Robert Wise, has an excellent screenplay by the great Ernest Lehman, wonderful black-and-white photography by Joseph Ruttenberg (I believe he won an Oscar for it), and a nice score by Bronislau Kaper. I could have lived without the horrible title song sung by Perry Como over the titles, but that’s what they did back then. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about – what I’m here to talk about is the commentary track. I decided to listen to it because it features Paul Newman, Robert Wise, Robert Loggia (who has a small role), Martin Scorsese, and critic Richard Schickel. And this commentary is a textbook example of how not to do a commentary in one easy lesson. It’s one of the most irritating things I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing. First of all, it’s one of those patchwork things – no one was together and so it’s all very fragmented. First, we have Robert Wise, who mumbles and slurs his words so much that you can’t understand much of what he’s saying, and he repeats himself a lot, too. Robert Loggia pops in for a comment or two, completely out of the blue. And Mr. Scorsese, who was obviously extremely influenced by this film for Raging Bull, is dropped in for a few comments spoken in his usual Scorsese way. We also get long stretches where no one says anything. And then Mr. Richard Schickel shows up. He has to be one of the most annoying people EVER. How he garnered any cache as a critic or film historian is beyond me. And if we thought Mr. Wise mumbled and slurs, he’s not a patch on the butt cheeks of Mr. Schickel. At least Wise mostly sticks to talking about his film. Mr. Schickel doesn’t know what the HELL he’s talking about. He just pontificates in that irritating voice of his and goes off on tangents – he’s just so ignorant and about ten minutes into his stuff I seriously thought about hurling my shoe at the TV – instead, I had to shut it off, so I didn’t hear the three lines Mr. Newman said via telephonic conversation. It’s not unique, this terrible commentary, but it IS one of the worst I’ve ever heard. You could make a manual called How Not to Do an Audio Commentary and use this as its basis. Hideous.
Yesterday was a perfectly innocuous day. I got eight hours of sleep, I answered a lot of e-mails, I did some work on the computer, then I moseyed on over to the mail place and picked up a couple of packages and a little envelope. I did some banking at the bank, then decided to stop at Casa Vega for food. I had my usual beef taco and cheese enchilada combination with rice and beans, and it was great, as always. After that, I came right home, got the news that it’s pretty much a certainty that we’ll be doing L.A. Now and Then at the Group Rep early next year – we’ll be switching out a couple of songs and sketches, but it will basically be the same show. So, that will be fun. I had some telephonic conversations and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and watched Somebody Up There Likes Me, followed by listening to as much of the commentary as I could stomach. Then I had another telephonic conversation, and then I began listening to music, which included George Antheil’s still wacky and loud Ballet Mecanique, which caused a sensation (and not a good one) when it was premiered – and it garnered Mr. Antheil the moniker “the bad boy of music.” And now playing is The Rite of Spring with Dorati, a great performance in great sound – that’s just wrapping up, then I have a nice pile of other stuff to hear.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll get all the Indiegogo stuff ready to take to storage, which I’ll do either tomorrow or Friday, depending on when the CDs arrive, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I think I’ll be having a meeting and a meal, I’ll begin organizing the Group Rep cabaret, I’ll make a show order for the Kritzerland show and begin writing its commentary, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow and Friday is more of the same, plus a work session for the Kritzerland show. On Saturday, I may stop by the theater to give some of the Revenge cast their Blu-rays, and Sunday might just have to be a ME day.
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, get Indiegogo stuff ready to go to storage, hopefully pick up some packages, have a meeting and meal at the same time, organize, make a show order and begin writing commentary, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Of the commentary tracks you’ve heard, what are your favorites and your least favorites? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have shared How Not to Do an Audio Commentary with the populace.