Well, dear readers, I come to you with snooze news because I got zero hours of sleep last night – maybe I slept fifteen minutes or thirty minutes, but that’s it. The culprit was terrible heartburn and ABS (Active Brain Syndrome). Nothing to do about the latter, and nothing to do about the former because I was out of Pepcid. It was extremely frustrating and irritating at the same time and needless to say I also had to be up early for she of the Evil Eye. So, prior to her arrival, I went to CVS and got Pepcid, which they keep under lock and key for some reason they couldn’t explain to me. Maybe they think it has something to do with LSD and people going on an anti-acid trip. I took one right away and within minutes the heartburn was abating. And now, I am sitting here like so much exhausted fish, finishing up listening to Madame Butterfly, a monophonic recording that was on Columbia way back when. It’s a brilliant recording and performance and it goes right to the top of my favorite Madame Butterfly albums. It stars Eleanor Steber and Richard Tucker. It’s a no-nonsense recording, which is so refreshing. A lot of the stereo Puccini recordings really lay on the sauce rather thick, in terms of drawing out the lushness and the tempos. Here, there’s none of that and the music comes off so beautifully because of it – the conductor lets the music do its job and so do the performers. I really like Miss Steber’s voice. And prior to that, I listened to Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutti, which I’ve never heard a single note of. As you know by now, I’m not all that keen on ol’ Wolfgang Amadeus but this was an enjoyable creampuff, sung in English, which was fun, and starring, once again, Eleanor Steber and Richard Tucker. It’s beautifully song, the mono sound, as with Butterfly, is superb, and I didn’t hate it. And prior to that I did my best to watch a few things. I fired up the Firestick and watched the Jerome Robbins ballet, Interplay, with music by Morton Gould, which I really enjoyed – that was on the Tube of You. I can’t remember what else I attempted to watch because I kept falling asleep – so maybe I slept a total of ninety minutes on and off. Same thing happened when I tried to watch two Balanchine ballets on DVD – I was out for most of both so I’ll watch those again. I really need a good night’s sleep tonight and to that end I pushed today’s rehearsal to one o’clock and it’s my intention to be in bed by one at the latest.
Yesterday was a day of snooze news. I was up – well, I was up, sometimes in bed, sometimes on the couch, and sometimes at my computer and sometimes in the motor car to get my Pepcid. Then she of the Evil Eye arrived and I went to Uncle Bernie’s Deli and had a bacon and cheese omelet, home fries, and a bagel, all very good. I could barely see straight, so tired was I. After that, I moseyed on over to the used CD store, with my leftover credit slip and fully stamped discount card. I found seven box sets, all operas save for a Hillary Hahn set (she’s a violinist), and one DVD of four Balanchine ballets, filmed for the PBS Dance in America series. I can only stay in the store for about thirty minutes because of the mask, so I stopped looking and just went to the counter. With my leftover credit and my sixteen dollars off from the fully stamped discount card and a second card that was fully stamped from the stuff I was getting, I ended up putting out very little cash, so that was excellent. I ascertained there was nothing to pick up at the mail place, and so I came home to a nice, clean house.
Once home, I began reading the play I had to read. I got enough into it that I told Doug I’d do it, even though it’s gonna be a little nutty doing two of these readings back-to-back. What I read has some funny stuff in it and I came up with a clever way to present it, so I suppose it will be fun as long as we can cast it well. I’ll finish reading it today – I simply couldn’t concentrate enough yesterday, for the reasons you now know and that you know now. Then I listened to Cosi Fan Tutte, tried watching stuff, and then had a surprise (and I do mean surprise) drop-in visit from Grant and Lydia and my old pal Gary Stockdale and his wife. I’m sure I seemed out of it and not my usual perky self, but I did my best. They were here for about twenty minutes – Grant wanted them to see the house. Then it was back to Madame Butterfly and the rest is the rest. And there you have the all the snooze news that’s fit to print.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven-thirty, hopefully after a really good night’s sleep. At one, I’ll have a two-hour rehearsal, then I’ll eat something – tuna sandwiches, I think – then I Zoom with David Wechter (I pushed that to today because I would have been no fun at all yesterday), then I can watch, listen, and relax.
This week will be very busy – now casting two readings, meetings and meals, rehearsals, going and doing and doing and going, and trying to hang on, Sloopy, hang on. Way too much stress right now.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven-thirty, I’ll rehearse, I’ll eat, I’ll Zoom, and then I’ll 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, having given you all the snooze news that’s fit to print.