Well, dear readers, I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but it seems to be September. Just like that. Yesterday it was August, today it’s September. So are the months of our lives. And, of course, it is my fervent hope and prayer that September 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.
Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question, courtesy of Mr. Morton Gould. The question is why is the question unanswered, what is the damn question, and why didn’t he write the sequel to this piece, The Answered Question? Well, I suppose that question is unanswered. It’s quite a moody and weird little piece, lots of held notes in the high strings whilst the lower strings occasionally move, which is their way of trying to answer the question, and then we’ll have a little two-bar trumpet solo, and a two-bar section where reeds play some unanswered notes – in fact, I’d say this duel between the trumpet and the reeds is the crux of the unanswered question, since they both seem to be asking a question that neither can answer, whilst the strings just ignore them. Here is an unanswered question about The Unanswered Question – it was written in 1908, revised between 1930 and 1935, but not performed until 1946, the year before some guy was born. Ah, I have now learned via an answered question that it’s the trumpet asking the question and the reeds trying and failing to provide the answer and getting frustrated and then just saying to hell with it, let the damn question remain unanswered. There, now the damn question has been answered and I’m awaiting the arrival of a small frozen yogurt from a small frozen yogurt place that’s open late. And now that question has been asked and answered, I’m listening to Carl Nielsen’s clarinet concerto, which I don’t really care for, even though Mr. Gould does a fine job of it. So, I moved on to another Ives piece, Orchestral Set No. 2. It’s also quite weird. This guy went his own way, I tell you, and he didn’t give a damn what anybody thought. His music is always interesting, even when it’s not. He was a musical iconoclast, completely unique, seemed to hear different music at the same time and just put it all together willy-nilly. Even today, his music is Ivesian and completely unique. I’m feeling quite Ivesian, myself, whilst I’m waiting for the damn frozen yogurt – vanilla in a chocolate shell, with almonds and crushed Reese’s pieces. I also managed to watch a motion picture on Blu and Ray, one I like to revisit every few years and one I always love, entitled Village of the Damned, starring George Sanders and some very strange blonde children – as the ads screamed, “Beware the stare.” I saw this at the Stadium Theater and fell in love with it and I’ve owned it on every home video format and even had a lovely 16mm print of it. The story is fascinating (based on a wonderful novel, The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham (I own an absolutely pristine first edition, the UK edition, which is the true first), the screenplay is excellent (one of the writers is Sterling Silliphant), and the direction is fantastic – Wolf Rilla. He made twenty-two films and I’ve never heard of or seen twenty-one of them. Village of the Damned was his only well-known film and his only hit. Here’s the listing for when I saw it – note that it was the bottom half of the bill at the Stadium. I do remember sitting through All the Fine Young Cannibals and being bored to tears and wondering where the damn cannibals were. The film only runs seventy-seven minutes, which is a perfect length. And those eyes are still freaky but not as freaky as the blonde wigs. And I often think of a brick wall (those who know the film will know whereof I speak).
Yesterday was a fun little day. I got seven hours of sleep, answered lots of e-mails, shaved and showered and them moseyed on over to the West Hollywood Hugo’s to have a lunch meeting. I hadn’t been to that location in probably seven or eight years. I had a barbecue chicken sandwich – really tiny, and it came with an equally tiny side Caesar (on the plate, not its own plate) – it was excellent, though. The meeting was very interesting and involves a film music project that I’m thinking about doing via crowdfunding. It’s a score I know everyone would want and I’ve been wanting to try this for a very long time, long before other labels started doing it. But serendipity made this discussion about this particular score possible, so we’ll see what happens with it.
After that, I came back to the Valley, picked up a couple of packages, used the ATM to deposit that little residual check, then came home. I caught up on stuff, made the show order, had some telephonic conversations, agreed to do a little project in October that won’t take much of my time, and then I watched the motion picture. The rest you know and the frozen yogurt has arrived, so I’ll wrap these notes up in a hurry.
Today, I’ll be up by ten, I go cash the pension check, then go to my bank and make my deposits, and hopefully neither will be too crowded. After that, I’ll come home and do whatever needs doing, hopefully pick up some packages, and then I have a three o’clock lunch meeting with a dad and daughter to see if said daughter might be ready enough to join our merry Kritzerland troupe. After that, I’ll come home and write some commentary, and then watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I have a lunch with Kay Cole at noon, I think – must check on that – and then I’ll finish writing the commentary. Friday, it’s a work session at eleven and then relaxing, Saturday is a little breakfast at Barry Pearl’s house, Sunday there’s a little rehearsal for an act I’m directing and Monday’s the end of the holiday weekend and we’re 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 ten, cash a check, make deposits, do whatever needs doing, hopefully pick up packages, have a lunch meeting, write commentary, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the unanswered question has now been answered – it’s September, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that September will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.