Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and so I’m not listening to music, I did watch a motion picture and now I am listening to music, Roy Harris’ most famous work, his third symphony, as conducted by Mr. Leonard Bernstein. I cannot say Roy Harris is my favorite American classical composer, but I do enjoy his work and his third symphony is very American in its sound world. It’s also very short – just eighteen minutes long. It is said that it’s the most performed American symphony, but that may be a while ago. This is Bernstein’s Deutsche Grammophon recording, which is not nearly as good as his earlier version on Columbia, with much better sonics and a brisker tempo – a minute shorter overall. On the Columbia recording, it was originally coupled with Bernstein’s own wonderful symphony, the Jeremiah. I’ve now switched over to the Columbia recording – so much better and less refined than the later recording, which suits the music much better. The movie I watched was one of those Indie festival darlings that gets picked up and then does no business because – no one wants to see it. This particular film’s total box-office was $5,000. It’s one of those Kickstarter-funded things, along with a few grants. The director was also the writer and co-editor. It’s called She’s Lost Control – I viewed it on Amazon Prime – the trailer promised a nail-biting thriller. What I got was a slow as molasses character piece with no thrills. Its runtime of ninety minutes seemed like three hours. The director seems influenced by many different and disparate people but is not in their league. It has no score at all until the fifty-five-minute mark, where we’re suddenly treated to about forty seconds of guitar chords for no reason. About fifteen minutes later, we’re treated to another forty seconds of guitar chords. Then the end credits have more guitar chords. It’s about a sex surrogate and it’s actually entirely impossible to know what the actual point of the film is. It was made in 2014 and the director/writer has not made another film. The actors are of today, my favorite being the small role of a neighbor who comes over to the sex surrogate’s apartment for dinner, professes to be starving, and then proceeds to push her food around her plate without ever once taking an onscreen bite of food. This is a typical thing with actors and food scenes. They’re all method wannabes doing their “real” thing – until it comes to eating scenes. Then the method goes right out the window. It’s hilarious to watch. At least the actress playing the sex surrogate takes a few bites. We get a lot of static shots of buildings a la Ozu, we get shaky-cam, we get ever so slow and pointless slight push-ins that don’t push enough to even be noticed so what’s the point? Independent films of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s were very interesting and frequently terrific. I don’t know what they are today.
Yesterday was a day I like to call Friday. I did get nine hours of sleep but awoke to a text I didn’t need. I’m tellin’ you, we better have us a super duper humungously humungous large huge modern major miracle soon or there will be HELL toupee. I went to the ATM, went to Gelson’s and got some rye bread and tuna for tuna sandwiches, came home and had two of those, got the voice mail set up (no modem reboot necessary), did a few things on the computer – I’m doing a final proofing of the new book at the moment – then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and watched a Perry Mason episode, the thirteenth episode of season four, featuring youngster James Coburn, pretty fresh out of Los Angeles City College, and for fun, Muse Margaret’s daddy, Dave Willock. The fourth season episode one featured newcomer Robert Redford. Then I watched the bad Indie movie, made a grilled cheese sandwich, which is currently making me feel nauseous, and here we are. I’m now listening to Serge Koussevitsky’s recording of the Harris third – he gave the first performance of it, Harris found it definitive, and right after, in 1939, he made the first recording. And it’s really great and a very different listening experience. Mono recording, at least the one I’m listening to on YouTube is very good. I’ll have to Clip Grab it for sure. I have Clip Grabbed it – it’s really great.
Today, I’ll be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine. I’ll go have a light breakfast somewhere and then do some errands and whatnot, come home, proof more, then watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same, then this coming week will be book stuff and Sami stuff, booking a new date for the April Kritzerland that works for the cast, meetings and meals, and prayers for a super duper humungously humungous large huge modern major miracle.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine, have a light breakfast, do errands and whatnot, proof, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Mr. James Coburn? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having heard three interpretations of Roy Harris’ third symphony – two Bernstein and one Koussevitsky, with the clear winner being the latter.