Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the marvelous Symphony in G-minor by the fine English composer E.J. Moeran. He’s very much in the Vaughan Williams mode and I’ve always enjoyed his music. I believe this is his only symphony, otherwise on disc we have some concertos and concert pieces, all really nice. I’m a big fan of pastoral music, especially when I’m feeling pastoral, which I am right now. That’s a better feeling than feeling like you want to vomit on the ground. One should always prefer the pastoral to hurling, don’t you think? Otherwise, I listened to a fascinatingly fascinating performance of the Mahler first from 1940, only its second recording (the first was Bruno Walter). This one is conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos, a favorite of mine, with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra who, on this recording are somewhat scrappy sounding. The acoustic is completely dry, and the recording is the recording, but the interpretation is unique and really interesting, and I really liked it a lot – it’s quite unlike any other version I’ve heard. The companion piece was recorded five years later – same band, but much better playing – the Rachmaninov Isle of the Dead, wonderfully done. This is one of those Sony Masterworks Heritage CDs. Prior to that, I watched some thriller I’d never seen before, this one starring Euan McGregor and Ashley Judd, entitled The Eye of the Beholder, based on a novel by Marc Behn. Well, to cut to the chase, it’s one of the worst movies ever – completely incoherent, horribly and pretentiously directed, terrible script and only the two leads come out okay, just because they’re both good actors. The score is laughable, but the entire thing is so inept and obtuse and slowly paced, well, skip it would be my advice. At some point, I paused it to see how long it had left – it felt like I’d been watching for about ninety minutes at that point – but there was over an hour to go, so that’s how slow this piece of dreck/merde is. There’s another film version of it by French director Claude Miller, starring Isabel Adjani, but I can’t imagine this story, such as it is, ever working. This one gets five blechhhs.
Yesterday was a funky little day. I woke up after two hours of sleep, was up for an hour, then went back to bed and slept almost until one, getting a little over nine hours of sleep. Once up, it was the usual non-stop e-mails, a very interesting telephonic call that somewhere down the line could be very interesting, and then I went and picked up some packages and came right back home. I had two tuna sandwiches for food, and they were excellent. And then it was time for the one-hour Zoom, which went quickly and well.
After that, I did some work on the computer, then watched the movie. After that, I made a little omelet for my evening snack – just the eggs, some sauteed onions, and a bit of cheese. It was kind of gross and I thought about vomiting on the ground, but I was feeling quite pastoral. Then I went down the YouTube hole because of a video I’d watched and posted about here – a drive down Wilshire Boulevard. The fellow who posted it does amazing work, but he has no clew about LA or what actual years the videos are from – he guesses, but he’s usually incorrect. He originally identified this one as late 1940s, but since there was a drive by the El Rey Theater and I was able to see what was playing, I, in fact, narrowed the date down to the week of August 1, which is when that double bill played there. There’s a wonderful shot of Du-Par’s, which had only opened recently – if this video were a bit less than a year older, the Du-Par’s would have been the Kiru Café, my father’s second restaurant. It’s amazing to see how empty the Miracle Mile was – half of it is empty lots with billboards. Everyone dressed well and looked well, and this guy somehow converts these videos to 60 frames per second, so they feel like you’re actually there, that’s how lifelike they are. For anyone who missed the link, here it is.
Just wow, that’s all I have to say. And here’s another drive down Wilshire at night. He identified this one as late 40s, but I’m really good at this stuff, and it is, in fact. around April 10th of 1950 – I couldn’t quite make out the El Rey’s double bill, although I got certain words right, but finally they passed by the Ritz Theater and that one I got and that made me able to identify the El Rey’s double bill. They also went by the 4 Star Theater – the title I thought it was didn’t make any sense, but after researching it I found it was the US title of a Brit film. So, at the El Rey, we have Jolson Sings Again and Beware of Blondie, at the Ritz we have Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town and Federal Agent at Large, and the 4 Star has The Gay Lady aka Trottie True. If only they’d driven one block past the El Rey we would have seen the Kiru Cafe. Here’s that one.
And the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up by ten-thirty or thereabouts, I’ll do whatever needs doing, then Kerry O’Malley comes at noon o’clock to work a bit on her portion of the duo act she’s doing next Monday. That’ll probably take an hour or so. After that, I’ll continue doing whatever needs doing, I may go out to eat for the first time since last Friday – kind of ready for a nice meal somewhere – maybe Uncle Bernie’s for a good sandwich, or maybe Stanley’s for a salad – hopefully pick up some packages, and then I have to read through one of the plays again because apparently I wasn’t sent the final draft. I’m actually trying to push the first play to after Doug’s play – that would make life sooooo much easier. Then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same, I think – hopefully, CDs will have been picked up and we can get them shipped out along with all the stuff that’s piled up, then the weekend is now looking pretty full, including Hartley Powers’ going away partay on Sunday, which is preceded by a work session with the singer. Then the duo act is on Monday, so I’ll be seeing that.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten-thirty, do whatever needs doing, work with Kerry O’Malley, eat, hopefully pick up packages, read a play again, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could take the patented haineshisway.com Time Machine back in time to visit streets and neighborhoods and movie theaters and playhouses, what year would you choose? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping I dream of being on Wilshire Blvd. back when it was like a little village.