Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, having just returned from a quick trip to CVS to get more Claritin-D and Ricola and thankfully they had both items. I had to go because I awoke at nine yesterday morning having a horrendous allergy attack – thankfully, I had one Claritin-D left and it kicked in pretty quickly and then in kicked it back pretty quickly. And now, I am listening to the classical composer who is harmonically everything I love and probably the has written the music I most identify with as a composer and I suspect that my close personal friend, Mr. Stephen Sondheim, would have said something similar. His music, even today, is so fresh and extraordinary and it just makes my ears so happy and I only wish there were more Ravel to discover because I believe I have everything he wrote that’s been recorded. So many of his pieces are magical concoctions – lush, tuneful, gorgeously orchestrated. You want to hear the Sondheim Little Night Music connection, look and listen no further than Valses Nobles et Sentimentales. You want genius, listen to the Mother Goose suite. Certainly, Ravel is one of the most influential composers ever and I don’t care who knows it. Otherwise, we’re being put in panic mode once again by the moronic weather people who are almost threatening everyone with a new storm a’coming. Here’s the thing: We’ve been in one of the worst droughts ever. We NEED all the damn rain we can get. We’ve had to curtail sprinkler use resulting in a lot of dead lawns and yet they’re acting like this is going to be a horrendous situation. No, it’s going to be rain (if they’re even right, which is another story altogether) and, let me say it again for the cheap seats, we need the damn rain. Everyone complains about the drought, they pray we get some rain and when we get it they don’t know what to do, they panic, they forget how to drive. Bring it on, baby, bring it on so the drought can be over. I has spoken. And so has the ravishing Ravel. He’s French, you know. Other than that, I watched nothing and only started listening a few minutes ago.
Yesterday was short and semi-sweet. I didn’t fall asleep till around four, woke up at nine with the allergy attack, was back in bed at ten and fell asleep pretty quickly and thankfully slept until two o’clock for a total of nine hours. Once up, I answered a plethora of e-mails, and then as soon as I was coherent, I began futzing and finessing, which took about an hour. I wrote a few new lines, then did a quick Gelson’s run and got the handful of things I needed to make faux stroganoff, but I was dismayed at how much the price of chicken has gone up in the past three weeks – it’s outrageous. Is there a chicken shortage? So instead I got two thin strips of top sirloin, just about four ounces. Then I came home and I made the faux stroganoff but it doesn’t really work as well with the beef because when you make beef stroganoff you really need the mushrooms and I didn’t use any. It works fine sans mushrooms when you use chicken. But it was tasty and I ate it all. After that, I resumed writing new pages and I wrote about eight of ‘em over the next few hours. I spent some of that time doing research. If I’m to do fifteen, I’ll have to do another six pages after writing these here notes, but since I’m in the midst of a sequence I probably can do that in an hour or so and that’s fine. And that was pretty much it and it was pretty much that, not necessarily in that order.
One other thing – we lost another dear reader to heaven, former dear reader Danise, who did stop by from time to time. She was plagued with health issues, so hopefully she’s at peace now.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I’ll futz and finesse and then write new pages, as many as I can prior to getting ready for our first Kritzerland rehearsal, which begins at four-thirty and doesn’t end until ten due to the number of kids we have in the show. That is a LONG rehearsal. I’ll have to have eaten prior to the rehearsal and I’ll have something delivered since I won’t have time to go anywhere. If I can get ten pages done prior to rehearsal, I’m pretty sure I can get five done after. Obviously, there will be zero time to watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be a big writing day, I’ll hopefully hear when I’ll be seeing the first cut of episode seven, and I’ll also get the show order done (easier to do after I’ve heard everything today) and start on the commentary, but mostly I’ll be writing the new book The rest of the week is more of the same, Friday is our second rehearsal, Saturday is our stumble-through and I’ll know if we’re doing Saturday night today – I’m kind of hoping not, but we’ll do it if we have good reservations. Then we do our sold out show on Sunday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, futz and finesse, write new pages, eat, have a LONG rehearsal, then write more pages. Today’s topic of discussion: What classical composers really speak to you, where the harmonic language of the music tickles your ear? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as I listen to the ravishing Ravel.