Well, dear readers, I have what I hope will be very exciting news for all of you – it is December. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is December, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that December will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Couldn’t we all use such things in a month called December, a festively festive holiday month filled with warmth and good cheer and merriment and mirth and laughter and legs? I think we could, and I’d like to think we all deserve such a month. It’s hard to believe that 2021, a strange year with the good, the bad, and the ugly, is coming to a close. And so, as we always do in the month of December, over the coming days I’ll be taking a look back at the year that was. Meanwhile, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the gorgeous music of a virtually unknown Estonian composer named Lydia Auster. A year ago, when I was all over the Tube of You finding interesting classical music, I found three pieces by her and they’re all fantastic – what a gift this woman had for melody and orchestration. And how sad is it that her Wikipedia is literally one sentence? Since last year, there are now two ballet scores of hers up – one wonders where these were recorded and why they’ve never been released in any form – perhaps radio broadcasts – it’s the kind of thing I’m almost tempted to issue, which I feel would be a good deed of sorts, if one could get people to take a chance. The piano concerto that’s currently playing is so good and would be such a refreshing thing to hear in the concert hall rather than the five or six war horses they always program. But that would require someone with vision and forward thinking and I’m afraid that such things in the concert hall world have gone the way of the dodo bird. I’ve noticed of late that grabbing stuff from YouTube is a very slow thing now – it used to grab stuff pretty quickly, but everything is taking ten or fifteen minutes now. Prior to that, I’d been having a hankerin’ for some cherry pie for about two weeks now, so I satisfied that craving an hour ago by getting a cherry pie from Ralph’s and having myself a slice, warmed up and with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream with it. It was excellent. I love cherry anything, and thankfully cherry pie is one of the lowest calorie pies, so I don’t feel guilty about doing it. Of course, I have a LOT of pie left, so I suppose I’ll have one slice a day until it’s gone, although I’ll offer a piece to our musical director when he comes for our work session. And prior to that, I finished watching the marvelously marvelous Studio Ghibli film, From Up on Poppy Hill, directed by Miyazaki – not Hayao but son Goro. It’s beautifully done, a very simple, human tale with great characters and gorgeous art. It has a peppy score by a composer I don’t know at all, but mostly it’s just a sweet film told sweetly. Wonderful acting from the Japanese voice cast, a beautiful transfer, and what else can you ask for. The story takes place in 1963, just before the Olympics.
Yesterday was the last of November, a wacko month any way you slice it and I slice it wackily. Some lovely moments and some truly horrendous moments made November a push me-pull you month. I only got about six hours of sleep, maybe a bit more than that. Once up, I answered e-mails and had a nice telephonic call, then I ascertained that the important envelope did not arrive, which makes me nervous, but hopefully it will arrive today. I made two little turkey sandwiches and ate them, and they were very good. Then I did some work on the computer, got some stuff I needed from the garage, cleared a shelf where I keep my Blu-rays out there so I could have all these Studio Ghibli steelbooks in one place for easy finding. Then I finished From Up on Poppy Hill, which made me happy and then I made a salad with turkey, tomatoes, and some mozzarella cheese – it was good and pretty low in calories. After that, I got the cherry pie and ice cream and had my warmed-up slice and that was just what the doctor ordered. The fact that the doctor and I ordered the very same thing was a happy coincidence of coincidental coincidence. And then I began listening to Lydia Auster’s music – currently playing a ballet suite from her ballet called Northern Dream, and from there it will be her full-length ballet called Tiina, followed by another full-length ballet called Bambi. I also found a violin concerto, so I’ll hear that, too.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up and I shall greet December with a laugh and a smile and a song, not necessarily in that order, then I’ll have a work session for the Kritzerland holiday show, then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and an important envelope, if it’s there then I’ll do some banking at the bank – two banks – and then I’ll do some work on the computer, look for a couple more things in the garage, figure out what the food o’ the day will be, and then watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I may have to drive out to storage to hunt for a few things, I should hear when Vernon Duke and Vincent Youmans will be in and we’ll prepare to ship that as soon as it’s here. I also have to figure out what our final releases of the year will be, to announce close to Christmas – I’m thinking at least three titles and may go to four. We shall see. I know there’ll be a Zoom session at some point with David Wechter, and I’m seeing the opening of another Group Rep show, this one upstairs in their small theater. I’m not sure if that’s going to be Saturday or Sunday. There’s also a screening of West Side Story on Sunday that I can go to, but Spielberg will be there for a Q&A and that worries me in terms of what time to get there to get a good seat. Knowing DGA people as I do, I’d say at least ninety minutes early, but it might be more like two hours early and I don’t really think I have the patience to stand for that long in a mask. We’ll see how I feel. And then we’re into the big Kritzerland rehearsal week and I’ll also have a little birthday that week as will dear reader Jane, who is younger than I am, which is most irritating and endearing at the same time.
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 and greet December with a laugh and a smile and a song, have a work session, hopefully pick up some packages and an important envelope, hopefully do some banking, do some work on the computer, find more stuff in the garage, eat, 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, after which I shall greet December with a laugh and a smile and a song – and, of course, it is my fervent hope and prayer that December will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.