Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much tired fish, listening listlessly to a wonderful two-CD set of classic Ravel piano music, played by Robert Casadesus, a wonderful pianist. Wife Gabby plays on some of the tracks. These are all mono performances in excellent Columbia sound and it’s all very enjoyable. It also includes the piano concerto for the left hand as the final piece and it, too, is a fantastic performance with Eugene Ormandy conducting. I’m pretty sure that’s also part of the big Ormandy in mono box set. And now that’s done, and we have Bill Evans’ album Empathy, with drummer Shelly Manne and Monty Budwig on bass. It’s a really fun album – I frequently forget how much fun, even though Manne is more, how shall we say, in your face than most of the drummers Evans worked with – oh, he’s an excellent drummer, just not, well, subtle. The fun thing here is that you get two jazz treatments of songs from Mr. President and one from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Prior to that, I tried very hard to find something to watch on the Firestick with zero luck. I finally started something I can’t even remember but I fell asleep immediately for about thirty minutes. Kind of a kooky evening, really.
Yesterday was a day in which I was a little tired. I got to sleep a little after four but woke up at seven-thirty and didn’t get back to bed until around ten. I think I finally nodded off around ten-thirty, then woke up at one. I answered e-mails, then, when I was coherent, I began futzing and finessing the previous day’s writing. We’re in a sequence with new characters and a LOT of dialogue, which is something I really enjoy, but it requires a lot of deciding character traits, speaking rhythms, what words work for the characters speaking them and stuff like that. So, I smoothed a lot of that out, rewrote some of it, added a few things and subtracted a few things, after which I wrote two new pages.
Then it was already almost three o’clock, so I did a little Gelson’s run and got two onion rolls and a few other things I needed, then came home and made two tuna sandwiches on the aforementioned onion rolls, I ate those, and they were really good, I must say and have said. Then it was back to the writing. I wrote another seven pages for a total of nine, then took my break wherein I spent thirty minutes trying to find something to watch, then fell asleep, then came back to the computer to catch up on stuff. I did a little listless listening, but then went back to writing and wrote an additional four pages, saving two more for after I post these here notes. And now, here I sit, feeling empathy for the Empathy album. I think Verve had some of the most interesting covers for their jazz albums, too. I wish they’d do a book featuring all their album covers. That would be right up my proverbial alley.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll futz and finesse and then make a PDF of all the pages that are done and send them via e-mail to Muse Margaret. I’m hoping she likes them. After I send them off, I’ll do some new pages, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages (we haven’t had a single screener in almost two weeks now), I’ll eat something light but fun, I’ll write more pages, I’ll hopefully hear from Muse Margaret at some point, and at some point, I’ll take a break and watch, listen, and relax. I’m ready to go back to watching the pile of Blu-rays sitting on my couch like so much fish, that I’ve been neglecting, including more Studio Ghibli films.
Tomorrow, I have a visitor coming at eleven-thirty and that visit should last an hour or so, after which it will be mostly a writing day with breaks for a few other things. Then this week is all writing all the time, with perhaps a meal or two out. And since these here notes are on the short side today, here are some photographs that the Darling Daughter texted to me about a week ago and that I kept meaning to share. These are quite old, and I had never seen any of them. First up is an amusing photograph of my ex-wife (with her shag haircut – I think that’s what they used to call it) and li’l ol’ me holding our new infant Darling Daughter. I couldn’t believe this one.
On the left we have the Darling Daughter in a Mr. Bill Show t-shirt, her cousin Devon, and her grandfather Tony, my ex-wife’s father. I like to think the Darling Daughter is holding the winning hand.
In the next photograph, from left to right we have cousin Devon, Devon’s dad (the ex-wife’s brother), the Darling Daughter either giving the peace sign or saying she knocked over two pins – we’re at some bowling alley. I do not have a clew as to what I’m thinking.
Here I am with a lot of headroom. I believe this was taken in the first house I owned, about six blocks from the current residence. I think I may still have this shirt somewhere.
Speaking of shirts, check out the shirts on the Darling Daughter and I’m not sure who the other person is – could be cousin Devon again but I don’t think so. I do wonder what I’m trying to feed whoever it is. This had to be 1977 for this one because that’s when that logo was created, for the rerelease of Nudie Musical from its new distributor.
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, futz and finesse and write new pages, hopefully pick up packages, eat, write more pages and then at some point watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What was your very first record player? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as I post these here notes and then resume my listless listening, after which I’ll write two more pages.