Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much irritated fish, trying not to be irritated and failing miserably. I shan’t go into it here, but I have every right to be even more irritated than I am, but we’ll see how things play out and then I’ll decide what I want to ultimately do about it. Otherwise, I’ve been listening to the marvelously marvelous music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. I discovered him as a film composer many years ago, but he was mostly a classical composer, mostly concertos (violin, piano, cello, and the instrument he wrote most for – guitar) and music like that. He wrote some operas, lots of choral music and chamber music. He also taught composition, and would you like to know who a few of his pupils were? Well, I’ll tell you because it’s mighty impressive. He taught people like, oh, you know, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith, Nelson Riddle, Andre Previn, Herman Stein, Marty Paich, and some guy named John Williams. His music is wonderfully tonal and very colorful and beautiful. I especially love his cello concerto and his second violin concerto. His piano concertos are really terrific, and his guitar concerto is very famous. He wrote a large number of film scores, including And Then There Were None, The Canterville Ghost, Gaslight, The Clock, The Return of the Vampire, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Yearling, and many others. Lots of his stuff on the Tube of You if you’re interested to hear it. And prior to that, I did watch a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Wonderstruck. As some here may remember, it was my favorite film of 2017, and a film almost completely ignored by everyone. It should have been nominated for many Academy Awards and instead was nominated for not one. Why? Because idiot Academy members would not watch their screeners. They should have all been thrown out of the Academy for it, but there’s no way to police it. The received some excellent reviews, and many more bad reviews. Seeing again, it’s still wonderful and I loved it all over again. Todd Haynes is the director and it’s another winner of a film from him. The film flip-flops between the 1920s and the 1970s effortlessly. The 1920s stuff is in black-and-white and the 1970s stuff is in over-saturated gritty color. The young deaf actress who is in the 1920s section, Millicent Simmonds, should not only have been nominated, she should have won. It’s just a wonderful, expressive performance, all done with her eyes, face, and body language. I had no idea she’d done more films, including the huge hit, A Quiet Place, but I never realized it was her when watching that. Julianne Moore in a dual role is great and her make-up in the second half is so subtle but brilliant. The costumes are amazing, and the special effects are so good that you’re never even aware of them. The young lead boy is also very good – but everyone is terrific. The Carter Burwell score works very well in the film, and the camerawork is very good. The Blu-ray transfer seems dark to me – I certainly don’t remember the DGA screener being that dark. This is the US Blu-ray release – I also have an overseas release (more extras) that I’ve never opened, so I’ll check that out and see what that’s like. Anyway, I just love the movie. I have the book on which it’s based – it’s almost seven hundred pages long. How do you take maybe 150 pages of text and make it an almost 700-page book? Easy. Illustrations galore, most of them full pagers. That was the highlight of the day and evening. Now playing: Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s gorgeous guitar concerto. Just stunning music – very much like film music. And just finished a twenty-minute telephonic call, so now the notes are late. Go know.
Yesterday was an unpleasant little day. I was up at seven after three hours of sleep, back in bed at nine, fell back asleep about fifteen minutes later, and then up around one, so around seven hours of sleep. I was planning on going to visit friends at the Hollywood Show, but then I read the e-mail that ruined the entire day. That was a back-and-forth that went on for two hours, and the more it went on the more irritated I got. I got very strong, too, but never went to bad BK land, which was good. I laid down the way things had to play out for making the switch we have to make to work, and we’ll see how that all plays out today and tomorrow – at that point, it has to work the way I need it to and that’s all there is to it.
Then I went to In-N-Out because I was too irritated to go sit anywhere or even think about food. I got my usual cheeseburger and fries, came home, and ate them, then watched the movie. After the movie, I made four ounces of pasta with butter and cheese and that was a good evening snack. I also heard from someone that I’d e-mailed about the problem, and he can come to the rescue, but it will require some cooperation from the person who’s causing the issue. Then it was on to Castelnuovo-Tedesco and the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up by noon, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll have an important telephonic conversation that will hopefully put my mind at ease or at least a little. I’ll start on a show order, and since I didn’t write a word of liner notes yesterday, for obvious reasons, I’ll buckle-down, Winsocki and get that done, and I’ll listen to the two masters, as well, so those can go to the pressing plant, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow begins four days of meetings and meals. The first of them is with David Wechter, so that will be a nice long drive for me, but I’ll try to have it done early enough so I can get back home before heavy traffic happens. Tuesday, I’m meeting with the nice fellow who musical directed the concert at the Autrey we did, meeting about a little project I’m contemplating. Wednesday, I’m meeting with a dad and his eleven-year-old daughter to see if she’s Kritzerland material. And Thursday, it’s lunching with Kay Cole. In addition to that, I have to cement the show order and write the commentary and get all that done and then try to have a relaxing weekend, as we’re then into the Kritzerland rehearsal week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by noon, do whatever needs doing, have an important telephonic conversation that will hopefully but my mind at ease, do a show order, write two sets of liner notes, listen to two masters, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that I don’t have to sit here like so much irritated fish today.