Well, dear readers, what can you say about yesterday that hasn’t already been said? Wait a darn minute – what HAS been said about yesterday and by whom? Not by this whom. I’ve said nothing about yesterday and frankly I haven’t read a single thing about yesterday, nor has anyone I’ve been in contact said a single syllable about yesterday, not that I’ve been in contact with anyone or even a syllable. I always try to avoid syllables on Friday. Syllables on Friday – that’s the title of my next novel. I give up syllables like others give up for Lent. So, I suppose I’ll have plenty to say about yesterday since I haven’t heard a peep out of anyone about it. I have, at this time, not a clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about. Otherwise, I’m finishing up the Andrew Manze-conducted Vaughan Williams cycle and it’s a total winner. The engineering on these recording is brilliant, and therefore it’s like hearing things in these wonderful symphonies that you’ve never quite heard before – and that’s because of the clarity and detail, which allows you to hear the orchestrations the way they should be heard – not as a wash of unfocused sound, but with all the orchestral detail shining through. For whatever reason, I’ve never much cottoned to the first symphony of Vaughan Williams – A Sea Symphony – mostly because it’s a bombastic choral symphony. But there’s something about this Manze recording that makes me finally enjoy it. It’s the fastest version on disc and that helps – it never becomes ponderous or overbearing or an assault on the senses. The Previn version simply does not sound as good, nor is it as well performed. I like this even better than the Boult stereo version – the choir here has great color and tone and perfect diction, and the soloists are wonderful. And the balances are really fine between singers and band. It’s just wonderful and I don’t care who knows it.
Yesterday was a day that happened yesterday. I got six hours of sleep, answered e-mails, had telephonic conversations, and then I picked up a package, after which I went to Art’s Deli, where I had a bacon and cheese omelet and a bagel for food. I also proofed several chapters there. I’m finding tiny little things – mostly spacing issues, missing question marks, that kind of thing. But today I caught a huge whopper that we’d all missed – a missing word in a sentence. Why did we all miss that? For the same reason I almost missed it again – somehow the brain fills in the word and you “think” it’s there. But the sentence looked odd to me and that made me stop and really read it. Whew! After that, I stopped at a little bookstore in Sherman Oaks, just a few blocks from my house, and yet I haven’t been in there in over four years. I got a couple of interesting show business books – Ronald Neame’s memoir, signed to Ian Fraser, who musically arranged Leslie Bricusse’s score for Scrooge, which Neame directed. So, that’s fun to have. And a book I’d never seen before – Nora Johnson’s memoir about her dad, Nunally Johnson, a writer/director who did many films at Fox. Nora, of course, wrote the novel The World of Henry Orient, which was about her teen life. And dad wrote the screenplay with his daughter for the film version of it. So, I’ll look forward to reading those when I have some time in a few weeks.
Then I did some stuff on the computer, listened to music, had more telephonic calls, and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and began another limited series, a Danish thing from Denmark. In fact, it’s from the man who created and wrote The Killing and it’s very much in that vein. I was dozing off a few times, just from being tired, not because it was boring – so, I kept having to go back and watch what I’d slept through. But I enjoy these Nordic noirs and the cast is good. Not sure how many episodes it is, although I’m sure it’s not more than eight. Ah, it’s thankfully only six episodes. I’ll watch more after rehearsal. I got a little ice cream for my evening snack, so not a bad calorie day. And now I’m listening to a potential upcoming Kritzerland release. Very good.
Today, I’ll be up by eight-thirty, for she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early. I’ll then mosey on over to the theater for our six-hour rehearsal. We’ll be upstairs because they’ll be building our set on the stage. We’ll start with fifteen minutes of music rehearsals, as Richard Allen will be with us the entire time. That way I can go downstairs and get us all on the same page, set-wise. Then we’ll start at the top of the show and run as much as we can, stopping and starting and drilling. We’ll get through everything, and then I’ll keep the folks who need the most rehearsing to run that stuff over and over again. That will happen in the final hour. I want to begin full on run-throughs next week.
After rehearsal, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll go somewhere and have a meal and continue proofing – I’m almost halfway through and my goal is to finish by tomorrow. After that, I’ll come home and continue watching the limited series, which is called The Chestnut Man.
Tomorrow is a ME day. I’ll finish proofing, I’ll watch stuff, I’ll listen to more music, but mostly I’ll relax. Monday, I’m getting together with my brother, probably around eleven, as I’ll want to be back home by two at the latest, to avoid traffic and to do everything I need to do. Tuesday we’re back rehearsing, and I’m hoping Grant and I can enter the fixes and then begin the process of getting the book to the publisher. I have to write the flap copy for the dust jacket, and then it’s a waiting game waiting for two blurbs, possibly three for the back cover.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty, have a rehearsal and get everyone on the same page regarding the set, have a meal and proof, hopefully pick up packages, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite books about the show business? Bios, books about film, theater, etc. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that there was so much to say about yesterday because no one had actually said one single syllable about it.