Well, dear readers, perhaps it’s time to take a look back at the year that was – 2021, part one. It began, as have all years for over a decade now, with me beginning a new book on New Year’s Day. That’s always an exciting thing for me, but it was also a bit scary, as I didn’t settle on the idea for the new book until two weeks before. I just couldn’t decide and then an idea came to me, I liked the time period I wanted to set it in, and I came up with a character that I liked. I made only perfunctory notes on it as there was so little time. I did write eight pages just to get rolling, and I must say that those eight pages didn’t really change much, other than making Bernice the name of the character I originally called Bernie. Once I got going, I loved writing it and while there was a lot of the usual futzing and finessing, I finished it pretty quickly. The Muse really loved the book save for my original ending, which she hated. After we talked about it at length, I finally understood what was bothering her about it and she was absolutely right – so, I rewrote about four long paragraphs and added a coda scene at the end, and that did the trick. The book was originally called Tuesdays are Murder but at the last minute, after the Muse saw it printed and said it just looked a bit weird and also was too specific, I made the immediate change to Some Days Are Murder – and that was the perfect title for the book. Grant designed it beautifully and, for him, quickly, Doug did a great cover, I got a lovely blurb from Dick Lochte for it, and off it went to the publishers. The writing itself took barely over two weeks.
While that was happening, we were also getting ready to film Tonight’s the Night, my original musical for streaming. It was a little complex, the organization of it and the figuring out of it. I’d written it back in September of 2020, cast it, and then we set the filming dates for early in January. So, we had to get the song tracks done and orchestrated, which took quite a bit of time, but they were all ready. The two actors filmed their songs on their own and sent those in, in advance of filming the dialogue scenes. I only asked for one little change in one song because I felt we needed a geography angle to begin the song (one of only two solo songs that don’t take place on Zoom) and dissolve in and out of. We rehearsed the entire show once on Zoom. The idea was to have it look like Zoom but not BE Zoom, so the actors had their iPhone cameras positioned directly next to their computer cameras. Then, of course, as we shot each sequence, we were, in fact, on Zoom so I could see the performances and give direction. It went much more quickly than we’d imagined, and we wrapped that part in two two-and-a-half-hour days. Then all that footage went to my friend Marshall Harvey, and he edited it together, making it appear as if it were all taking place live on Zoom. When I saw his first cut I could not have been happier – it really gave the illusion of being live and the fact is we made almost no changes to that first cut – that’s how good it was. Just a few swapping of shots and that was pretty much it. It aired at the end of January and the reaction was just fantastic. One very well-known person private messaged me to say how impressed he was at how we’d harnessed the Zoom technology – yes, he thought we did it live.
And right from that, we went into the other thing I wrote for streaming, Revenge, which I created specifically to feature Group Rep actors. It was a neat hat trick of a thriller, and I was very pleased with how it came out. We were cagey about how we publicized it, only saying that a group of actors (that everyone assumed were the real Group Rep folks) were doing a reading of a new thriller on YouTube. We shot it the same way as Tonight’s the Night – in sections with iPhone cameras, and then Marshall edited that to make it seem like it was all on Zoom with eight different windows.
So, those took up some time and then we immediately began work on the Blu-ray, raising enough money to pay for it via an Indiegogo campaign. We also did a couple more online Kritzerland shows. As summer approached, I knew things were opening up again, so my decision to not to further online stuff was made at just the right time – people had basically streamed out by that point, and yet some didn’t stop, and viewership got lower and lower. We got out while the getting was good, so to speak. As summer approached, Doug asked me if I’d direct a short ten-minute playlet for their outdoor Motel Plays, and I said okay. We had two wonderful actresses and the playwright was very good about letting us help him find some humor in the piece, which I felt was imperative. And then, in July, we came back with our first live Kritzerland since March of 2020 and that was really fun. We’ll wrap up the second half of the year tomorrow.
Yesterday was a wonderful day. I had Active Brain Syndrome (ABS) like crazy because I began to waffle on the new book and thought of something else I might just enjoy better – non-fiction. I’ll decide one way or the other in the next few days. So, I only got about six hours of sleep, I think. Once up, I had to shave and shower, answer e-mails, and then it was time to mosey on over to Barone’s for some cherce Eyetalian food with my dear friend, Richard Sherman and his daughter Vicki. The minute I entered the restaurant he was on his feet hurrying to me and we hugged and hugged and said how much we’ve missed each other. I hadn’t seen him since March of 2020.
We had so much fun catching up – close to two hours we were there. He had spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, and a salad, Vicki had chicken piccata, and I had cabonara, which was spectacular. And a salad. And garlic bread. And some spumoni ice cream we all shared. I gave Richard copies of the two books he didn’t have – Simply and Some Days Are Murder, as well as a Blu-ray of Tonight’s the Night. I think we’ll try to get-together sooner than later and make our meals a more regular thing. Here we are.
And later, Vicki wrote me and said they’d really enjoyed Tonight’s the Night and that he was now sitting reading Simply. Here’s the proof.
After that, I went to the Apple Store. Turns out the Apple Support person made the wrong kind of appointment – a genius bar thing to fix the phone rather than purchase another. After getting one attitude-laden gal who didn’t seem to understand the fact that it wasn’t MY error, I did get someone to help about five minutes later. I chose the latest and greatest iPhone 13 Pro-Max, which they thankfully had in stock in a color I liked, not that you can actually see the color when you put the case on. These are really expensive, but I was eligible for the upgrade and for whatever reason, they gave me $800 for my old iPhone X S. So, the balance wasn’t too bad at all, and I’ll just have an additional charge on my phone bill – less than ten bucks a month. Or I can just pay it off and be done with it.
Then a nice fellow set it up for me – the cloud restore thing worked perfectly and while it took over an hour to do everything, I was happy to have it all done, save for the face recognition thing, which you can’t do in the store because you can’t take the mask off. They were also out of the protective glass shield that protects the screen, but there’s a store that sells Apple products four doors down and they had that and a protective thing for the camera lenses.
I came home and did the face recognition thing. I now have to do a little exploring to see what’s new – I know the camera is supposed to be incredible, with several new “modes” including a new cinema mode that will be fun to try out. Then it was time to Zoom with David Wechter. I’d finished my sequence the night before and he’d finished his in the morning, so we talked through the new stuff – he liked mine and I liked his. We talked through the next two big sequences and decided on who’ll write which. After that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a film noir entitled I Wake Up Screaming, which is a brilliant title. I’ve always enjoyed the film – directed by H. Bruce Humberstone – not a great director, but it’s nicely done. Laird Cregar is wonderful in it as a police detective. Victor Mature is always fun, and Betty Grable is beautiful. One of the things that stops it from being a classic or even great is the awful musical score, which basically uses Alfred Newman’s Street Scene and Over the Rainbow. It would be a whole different film with a David Raksin score or a Newman original score or a Herrmann score. The transfer is quite old but it’s serviceable. And then it was time to write these here notes.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do a bit of writing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages (didn’t get to the mail place yesterday), and then I’ll go see West Side Story, after which I might pay a visit to the new Amoeba. Whether I eat in that area or come back here to eat is not known at this time. In the evening, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow can be a ME day, but I got invited to see Amanda McBroom and Michelle Brourman, so I’m going to that in the evening. Monday, I’ll have a belated birthday lunch with dear reader Jeanne, Tuesday I may take my motor car in for an electrical system diagnostic, just to see if they can hunt down the short that’s been causing all these issues. That means I have to do the big shopping for the Do on Monday night, as I don’t know how long the diagnostic thing will take. I’ll be writing every day, and then Friday night is the Do and Saturday is Christmas and hopefully a nice visit with the Darling Daughter.
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 a bit of writing, hopefully pick up packages, see West Side Story, maybe visit Amoeba, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your favorite live events you saw in 2021? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having looked back at the first half of the year that was – 2021.