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August 10, 2021:

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I have been working non-stop all evening but now I’ve removed the non and stopped because enough is enough, as Barbra and Donna once said. Said non-stop work included getting all but four songs chosen for the Group Rep cabaret, writing blurbs for our two new releases, choosing the audio samples for same, doing the inlay card information, and also having telephonic conversations, getting singers music, and answering relentless e-mails. I will say that I whistled whilst I worked. I’m happy to say that CDs were picked up and have begun shipping, so that’s a big load off. I’m sure it will take a couple of days to get them all out, as there were a lot of The Sap of Life orders. What else can I tell you? There must be something else I can tell you, as I have that absolute power. Oh, I did watch a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Absolute Power, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, along with Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Judy Davis, E.G. Marshall, and Laura Linney. I remember seeing this movie at a DGA screening just prior to its opening. I loved Clint, I loved the cast, so I went in thinking how can this not be brilliant. Well, what a stinker it was. There was unintentional laughter many times and the plot was so ludicrous I couldn’t believe it. Yes, it was nicely directed by Clint, the cast, save for one person, was excellent, but the shocker was the screenplay – how could the man who wrote Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, Marathon Man, and other great screenplays and novels turn out something so horrible as this, and that writer was none other than William Goldman. It was shocking. And yet, we had critics who, at that time, thought that any auteur could not be criticized – reading their reviews now is most amusing. Of course, there were many critics who called it for what it was, which was a trashy movie filled with plot holes the size of Los Angeles. Now, I haven’t seen it since that night in 1996, but I happened to find a copy of the Blu-ray for three bucks, so I watched it again – and it’s just as bad, maybe even worse, now than it was then. The actors are still all very good, especially Laura Linney and E.G. Marshall, whose last film this was. But the Judy Davis performance is beyond comprehension. It’s like she’s in a completely different movie and she got all the unintentional laughs at the screening. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more ludicrous performance in a thriller. And then there’s the thriller, based on a trash novel by David Baldacci – you know, utter crap that gets on the New York Times best seller list and gets all the people who are lovers of any kind of popcorn movie, good or bad. It’s also very much of a piece with other Clint movies from that decade, i.e. very dark. I don’t mean dark in subject matter; I mean dark in that you can’t see much. He stopped doing that in the coming decade. I never really had a chance to listen to music, but perhaps after I post these here notes I’ll do a bit of listening.

Yesterday was an okay day, save for the irritating fact that the Vitello’s envelope still hasn’t arrived – I say again, it had to travel one mile – it’s just unbelievable. If it’s not here today, I will be having a conversation about it with my gal at Vitello’s, you can be sure of that. I mean, I mentioned TWICE to hold the check there last Friday for pick up and that message never got conveyed and here we are. Otherwise, I got about six-and-a-half hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, did some banking, picked up nothing, and finally went for food. I’d decided on Marie Callender’s – I was craving their burger. I drove over there and guess what? They were only doing takeout. How stupid is that? The sign on the door informed me that they’re only doing dine in on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and only for limited hours. I’m done with them. They are, in fact, the ONLY restaurant anywhere that hasn’t fully opened. And they said they were opening inside dining right after the mask mandate changed in June. I guess this is their idea of opening for indoor dining. I can’t imagine how they’re staying in business at all, frankly. So, off I went to Casa Vega, where I had two cheese enchiladas and one beef taco, all very good, as always.

After that, I came home, watched the movie, and then had to buckle down, Winsocki, and do all the stuff mentioned above.

Now, here’s something vastly amusing and that I’d never seen before. Read this and be astonished that people who serve in government could have been this stupid. Oh, wait, they really are that stupid. You will not believe what you’re about to read.

Isn’t that something? That any thinking person could look at anything in our movie, even carefully chosen out of context clips and say it was “hardcore” is beyond belief, really. Perhaps they hadn’t actually seen a hardcore film. Or perhaps they were just that stupid. I’m sure they’re all dead now or I’d drop them a note to remind them of this stupidity.

Here’s another review I’d never seen. The irony here is that the other review that’s with it is for First Love, a film starring Susan Dey – so, there we are, together again, kinda sorta.

And here’s a listing from the Merv Griffin show I did, which aired on November 28, 1972.

Today, I must be up by eleven at the latest so I can get to storage by noon and get the new CDs. Then, from there, I’ll hopefully pick up the Vitello’s envelope and then I have a lunch meeting at – Vitello’s. That’s an important meeting and I hope good things will come of it. After that, I’ll choose the final songs and start to think about the structure of the Group Rep cabaret, I’m still trying to finish the casting of the Kritzerland anniversary show, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

The rest of the week is more of the same, another meeting on Thursday, a visit to the Group Rep that same day to discuss the sound for the cabaret, and then doing whatever needs doing because what needs doing must be done.

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 pick up an envelope, have a lunch meeting, finish choosing the final few songs, think about casting, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your least favorite thrillers, the kind that became so popular in the late 80s and all through the late 1990s? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have gotten all that work done and that I whistled as I did so.

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