Well, dear readers, I am sitting here, oh, yes, I am sitting here, like so much fish, listening to Mr. Earl Klugh play guitar (I used that exact line in the song Chinese Food in Bed – “and Earl Klugh play guitar”). He’s very much in the later Wes Montgomery style, in that many of his albums are fully orchestrated and he does a LOT of movie music on them. So, those albums are a bit more crossover easy listening than straight ahead jazz, just like Wes’s albums for A&M. And his song choices are always interesting – now playing is a beautiful version of Nature Boy, and before that we had The Look of Love, I’ll Never Say Goodbye (from The Promise), The Pawnbroker, Two for the Road, and coming up shortly Stay Gold (from The Outsiders), A Certain Smile, Shadow of Your Smile, Goldfinger, Maybe September (from The Oscar), The Cincinnati Kid, Barefoot in the Park, The Carpetbaggers, The Deadly Affair – well, you get the idea. Of course, what also firmly ties him to the Wes Montgomery A&M albums is orchestrator Don Sebesky, whose work is stunning. These also happen to be brilliant recordings in terms of production and mixing – my kind of albums. If you’re interested, I’d either start with The Earl Klugh Trio Volume Two Sounds and Vision (which is all movie stuff) or Nightsongs. You might try the Tube of You to see if they’re there. Prior to Earl Klugh playing guitar, I tried watching a motion picture entitled Indiscreet, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, directed by Stanley Donen. It’s yet another screenplay by Norman Krasna who, despite a couple of decent things, really is one of my least favorite writers of film and theater. Indiscreet is based on a play Krasna wrote called Kind Sir, a flop that starred Charles Boyer and Mary Martin and was directed by Joshua Logan who apparently was having severe issues with his mental problems and ended up hospitalized. I’m about forty minutes into Indiscreet and I’m still not sure what the plot is or why it’s not funny or charming or clever or why Mr. Grant, one of my all-time favorite actors, seems so dour. Maybe it will all become clear at some point, if I can gird my loins and actually finish it. Prior to that I did watch a motion picture in its entirety, an “Amazon Original” meaning they just bought some film from overseas and slapped their logo on it. It’s one of those many country co-productions and so has one American name in it, namely Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It’s one of a long line of hijacking an airplane films with the terrorists intending to crash the plane to show Allah how insufferable everything is. They call it an action-thriller – I would call it neither. Hard to have a lot of action when, after the first five minutes, the entire film takes place in the cockpit of the plane. It obviously went straight to Prime and streaming. The director shows not much aptitude (his first feature), at least not to me, the script is strictly by the numbers, but the acting is fine. It is short – about eighty-eight minutes sans end credits, there is no score at all, save for some meandering and uncredited piano notes over the end credits, and aside from all that, it’s thoroughly unpleasant. This is another one you can skip.
Yesterday was some kind of day, I just don’t know what kind. Perhaps I’ll figure it out whilst writing these here notes. I was up at eleven after eight hours of sleep (I’m really trying to wean myself off the super late nights and be in bed by two at the latest, but that doesn’t always work out), had a lot of e-mails to answer and then had to get ready for the noon o’clock arrival of one Kerry O’Malley. She ran all her patter and songs for me and she’s great, as always. I suggested a few adjustments to the patter, including a different kind of set-up for one song, and thought of one really funny addition to one bit of patter, which she loved.
Then I went to the mail place and picked up one package, which was a return, so no fun at all. I went to Gelson’s and got a chicken Caesar salad and a little rigatoni Bolognese, only about three ounces, came home and ate it all up. It was just okay, and I should have stuck to my original plan of eating out. Then I had a long telephonic call, got some good news that we can push the October 18 play reading into November, which gives us some breathing room, did some work on the computer – Doug Haverty and I had sent in everything we were asked for as regards the A Carol Christmas licensing company, but they then asked for a bunch more stuff, most of which Doug has to give them. I sent them the stuff I needed to. As soon as Doug gets them the other stuff, they’ll take us live and people can book the show, and won’t THAT be exciting? Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched 7500 and the first forty-five minutes of Indiscreet. Then I listened to the last of the E.J. Moeran music I have in iTunes, had a bagel, and then began the Earl Klugh listening.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’m thinking that today I’ll eat out for sure, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll do some work on the computer and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be an easy day, I’m hoping, and pretty much a ME day, which would be nice. Sunday is busy – a two-hour rehearsal with the singer, maybe three, and then the going away partay for Hartley Powers. Then Monday I see Kerry’s duo act show, Tuesday is something I’m not remembering – I hate that, since I just made the plan – must start putting things into iCalendar so I don’t forget all the time. Oh yeah, it’s a lunch meeting with Adrienne Stiefel, for whom I’ll be directing and putting together a club act. Whew! The rest of the week is more of that kind of thing and meetings and meals.
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, eat out, hopefully pick up some packages, do work on the computer, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, who knows? Blu-ray, who knows? Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy we were able to push the October 18 play reading into November. We could have shoved it into November, but push never came to shove.