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February 14, 2022:

SCREW LOOSE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to Pops Plays Puccini, conducted by Erich Kunzel on Telarc – beautiful music in beautiful arrangements, so what’s not to like. And prior to that, I did watch an interesting documentary entitled Can We Take a Joke? About comedy and the outrage culture, now called cancel culture. The documentary was made in 2016 and if you think it was bad then, it’s gotten 100 times worse since. It’s a phenomenon like none we’ve ever seen, and it can’t flush itself down the toilet quickly enough. And you can thank social media for it, where people suddenly think they’re the Almighty and it’s all rather disgusting, and the MOST disgusting part is that the folks who do it have the attention span of a wombat and go from outrage to outrage and PC thing to PC thing and cancel anything in their way – in some cases the outrage of the day doesn’t even last a day. I sometimes wish Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and TikTok and all those sites would just implode into oblivion. Anyway, it’s not a great documentary, but it is interesting and there are some good interviews with comics. The Pops just did Nessun Dorma, the sequel to Nissan Stanza. For all the reputation of Telarc as being the be-all and end-all of digital recordings, I must say that many of their CDs sound terrible, this being one of them. Harsh, ugly, and even some distortion. The high stool that I sit on at the big boy computer has screws that consistently loosen over the course of a few days and then I have to find the little tool for the screws, and I have to tighten every one of the loose screws and it gets a little irritating. Yes, these stools have a screw loose as do many on the Facebook and other social media platforms.

Yesterday was not really a ME day. I had a very rough night. I’m thinking I have to stop all desserts because my old man tummy is not just not digesting it well. Old Man Tummy – is that the sequel to Old Man River? I did sleep sporadically, about two hours, was up sporadically, and finally asleep at seven-thirty for four solid hours, so about six hours of sleep, but it sure didn’t feel like it. Once up, lots of e-mails to answer, and then I had to hear an actor read for our show over at the theater. After that, I stopped at Popeye’s for a couple of mild chicken breasts and biscuits. It wasn’t crowded at all, save for all the people picking up huge orders for their Stupid Bowl parties. I decided to take the freeway home and was rather astonished to find it jammed in both directions – I guess every single person in the Valley was going to a Stupid Bowl party.

Once home, I ate the breasts and the biscuits – The Breasts and the Biscuits – that’s the title of my next novel – and it was all very good. Then I had to watch several videos from actors submitting for our show – I liked two of them very much, so we’ll go ahead and cast them. I’m hoping we’ll be fully cast by Tuesday and then I’ll get everyone their sheet music and the CD tracks so they can come in familiar with everything. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the documentary, after which I did stuff on the computer and worked a bit more on a song that may go into our show. Then it was Pops Plays Puccini after a hot shower.

Today, I’m hoping for a major miracle so send excellent vibes and xylophones, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll watch a few more submissions, we’ll hopefully cast a few more folks, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat but no sugar or dessert, I’ll work on the new song, I’ll have a Zoom production meeting, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow, I’m also hoping for a major miracle, so send excellent vibes and xylophones for that, too, then it’s more of the same, and will continue to be more of the same throughout the week and weekend, and then we head into the music and dance rehearsals for L.A. Now and Then.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hope for a major miracle, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, watch submission videos, hopefully cast some folks, hopefully pick up some packages, eat, work on a song, have a Zoom production meeting, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What do you think about outrage and cancel culture? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have tightened the loose screws. I do wish I could tighten the social media people whose screws are loose.

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