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October 4, 2021:

THE NOT ME DAY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the opera El Gato Montes by Spanish composer, Manuel Penella, who was quite popular with the populace in Spain where the rain stays mainly on the plain, or, if the rain has to go somewhere out of town, on the plane. He wrote many operas, but only one is known here and that’s this one and mostly because it’s a favorite of Placido Domingo, who’s revived it several times and did this recording for Deutsche Grammophon. First off, the recording itself is really excellent – very detailed sound, and the performances are all excellent, as is the Orquestra Sinfonica de Madrid. As to the opera, it’s quite tuneful in that Spanish way and very appealing and I enjoyed all of it, which is more than I can say for the recording of Manon Lescaut with Anna Netrebko, who I found pretty ordinary, and the entire recording is kind of a snoozefest. But it did make me pull out the other recording I have with Freni and Pavarotti – I remember that one being quite excellent, with James Levine at the podium. Anyway, El Gato Montes was a nice surprise. Prior to that, this day that was supposed to mostly be a ME day was anything but a ME day – in fact, it was a NOT ME day in just about every way. So, let’s get right to the why of that.

Yesterday, which was supposed to be a mostly ME day, was mostly a NOT ME day. First, the good news: I got nine-and-a-half hours of gloriously glorious sleep. And boy did I need it and boy could I have even slept longer. But the alarm went off and up I got. I answered e-mails and then a while later the singer arrived. We ran through her act in order, but stopped and started, did some staging, revised a few patter bits, and I started directing the performances of the songs. It was supposed to be a two-hour rehearsal but ended up being three hours.

That put me up against my Zoom thing with David Wechter, so I pushed that thirty minutes so I could eat – two tuna sandwiches, which I had to wolf down like a ravenous gazelle. Then we began our one-hour Zoom session.

This is about a film script we’re doing – haven’t done that since The Faculty, but we’re thinking we’d like lightning to strike every twenty-five years. The one-hour Zoom turned into two-and-a-half hours and that was the day and some of the evening.

I then did a quick Gelson’s run, came home, had a telephonic conversation about casting these two play readings, then I had to continue reading the second play. I got through act one, so another thirty-something pages to go, which I’ll either do after I post these here notes, or tomorrow morning. So, as you can see, a mostly NOT ME day. And now, I’m listening to the Michael Nyman chamber opera, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Thus far, it’s quite irritating in that minimalist, repetitious way of Philip Glass that those fellows. It’s also weirdly recorded, and the female singer seems to be having a bad studio day. The mix doesn’t help matters as you can’t even hear some of the sung and spoken lines – odd, as it’s a cast of three. It’s under an hour, so that’s an upside.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, then I have to call Apple Support again because the Time Machine is spazzing out again and doing another full back-up – I suspect it’s on its last legs by now, and, of course, it will take over twelve hours to complete. Then I got a pop-up on the computer saying my applications were out of room, which was and is complete nonsense, since the open applications are less than 400 megabytes, which is nothing. I closed a few of them anyway, but I fear for this computer now, especially if it’s screwing up the back-ups. I’ll ask them how I can easily get everything on the computer on a back-up drive – of course, I’ll have to go buy one. But there’s really no way around it – I think it may be time for a new iMac desktop. I hate all this, and it just adds to the general stress level, which is, as of this moment, close to maxxing out. I’ll finish the play, start thinking about casting it, Doug and I have made a few casting decisions for his play, so I’ll only have to hear a couple of folks read, which we can do via Zoom. I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

The rest of the week is more of the same – casting, meetings and meals, going and doing, doing and going, trying to keep the stress levels down before my head explodes and leaves little BK bits all over the floor and walls, working with Kerry O’Malley and The Singer, attending a going away partay for Hartley Powers, and then seeing Kerry’s duo act on Monday evening.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, call Apple Support, cast, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who were the people in your life who had the biggest influence on who you became – role models and mentors included. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having survived the NOT ME day.

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