Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the marvelous pianist, Miss Marguerite Long play a Chopin piano concerto of great beauty. The mono recording is superb. She had an amazing life, premiered and had dedicated to her works by Faure and Ravel (his piano concerto in G) and this two CD set is quite wonderful and VERY hard to find. She was French and from France, not necessarily in that order. That Chopin could write a tune, I’ll just say that and did say that. Prior to that, I finished listening to the last of the Felix Slatkin CDs – two of his movie theme albums that were on Liberty Records. I had the second of them when I was a wee bairn – it was called The Magnificent VII. Fun stuff and overall, a wonderful set. And prior to that, I finished watching The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. Not a great movie, but a beautiful job of restoration by friend Dave Strohmaier. Actually, all the fairy tale sequences are really fun, it’s the heavy-handed story that occasionally drags the film down. But the cast is wonderful, Leigh Harline’s score and Bob Merrill’s songs are also wonderful, and I love Smilebox’s simulation of the curved Cinerama screen. And, of course, a nice allergy attack – this is quite the allergy season, I must say and have said.
Yesterday was a fascinating day and an irritating day in certain ways. I got six hours of sleep, was up at nine and out the door at ten. I moseyed on over to the Glendale Civic Auditorium in Glendale for the paperback book show. They showed me to my table, but I had thirty minutes until my hour-long signing began, so I traversed the room, looking hither and thither and even occasionally yon. There was lots of interesting stuff, I said hello to dealers I knew, and then went back to the table. After about fifteen minutes, another author sat next to me, a film historian/author who does a lot of film noir Blu-ray commentaries, named Alan Rode. So, we had many friends in common and had a nice chat. The two biggest Adriana Hofstetter fans were there and hung out at the table – one of them ended up buying Thrill Ride, so I hope she enjoys that. Then two men came to buy stuff from Alan Rode, but one of them looked at my name plaque and said, “Oh, my God, I had no idea you’d be here.” Turns out he’s a big fan from way back and so we had a nice chat and he was very complimentary. He bought The Creature Wasn’t Nice DVD and the Tonight’s the Night Blu-ray. Someone else came by and asked me to sign the 1976 Films and Filming issue that features Nudie Musical on the cover, so I did that. All in all, it was a fun hour and then I got right out of there. As I drove to the theater to check out the set progress and projections progress, I got the news that our second cast member tested positive for Covid – no symptoms. We’re now concerned about it going through the cast, although there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to who does and doesn’t get it and being fully vaxxed and boosted seems to be meaningless – you either get it or you don’t. I’m hoping that we get lucky and it’s just these two, who’ll be back with us either on Wednesday or Thursday. I feel fine, save for allergy stuff, but one of those who tested positive is someone I give a ride home to after every rehearsal, so I was in close proximity to her. But I’m hoping my attitude and being vaxxed and boosted will rule the day. I cancelled tonight’s rehearsal so that everyone could test at home. I think there are quite a few in our cast who, because of their work, have to test either daily or a few times a week. So, we’re trying to stay positive and please send a big bunch of your strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones – we really don’t want to have to push the show because I’m pretty sure we’ll lose cast members and band members.
The set is looking good, and once they got the PowerPoint working, I could see that the projections will work as well as they did at LACC. Then I left, did a Gelson’s run to get Diet Coke, so I bought some tuna and onion rolls and an onion, came home and made two tuna sandwiches. Very good. I did some work on the computer, began writing the flap copy for the new book, and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and the rest you know. And now Marguerite Long is playing Faure’s beautiful Ballade for Piano and Orchestra.
Today, I’ll do nothing but rest and write. At some point, I’ll mosey on over to the mail place to see if there’s anything, and then to the theater to take a rapid test, just as a precaution. And then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll be at the theater to do some lighting stuff, and then we’ll see who shows up for rehearsal. The rest of the week will hopefully be rehearsals, and then we’re in tech.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do nothing but rest and write, mosey on over to the theater, take a rapid test, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite film noir motion pictures? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had fun at the paperback book show, happy that we have a set that looks nice and that projections will work – and trying to keep a positive outlook that no more of our cast test positive.