Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to Laurie Johnson’s marvelous score to a film called The Belstone Fox, a motion picture about the Belstone Fox. I cannot tell you anything about the film, since I’ve never seen it, but the score is very beautiful. Mr. Johnson was a wonderful film composer and even had some wonderful classical music (sort of jazzy, too) – best known for his music for the classic TV show, The Avengers. If you don’t know his music, YouTube is your friend. I also heard the new Intrada recording of The Man Who Knew Too Much by Bernard Herrmann. As those who’ve read Benjamin Kritzer know, it was a favorite film of my childhood back in 1956, when I saw it on a double bill with Autumn Leaves at the Lido Theater, which of course adorns the cover of that book. It’s a very brief score of about twenty-nine minutes, although those minutes include some moody source music that’s not actual dramatic scoring. The other score on the CD is more substantial – On Dangerous Ground – I hate to say it, but the latter has never been one of my favorite Herrmann scores, although I know most profess to love it. But for me, the selling point was the Hitchcock score. Missing from The Man Who Knew Too Much’s presentation is Doris Day’s songs, Que Sera Sera and We’ll Love Again, as well as the film’s musical centerpiece, Arthur Benjamin’s Storm Clouds Cantata. However, if you have both pieces of music on other albums they can easily be inserted into the score, which I may do. For anyone interested, conductor Bill Stromberg has posted the entire album on the Tube of You. I watched no movies because I was not in the mood, nor could I find a single thing that interested me. The Belstone Fox has left the premises and now playing is Laurie Johnson’s tuneful Symphony (Synthesis) – kind of a jazz symphony that is totally engaging and delightful. Prior to all that, I dined with the Wechters at the Encino location of California Pizza Kitchen. Over the years, CPK has managed to remove every single main dish I loved – from carbonara to other like pasta dishes. But last night was, I’m afraid, the last straw for CPK and BK because they’ve now removed thirteen MORE items from the menu, including the last of the things I loved, the roasted garlic chicken pizza. That’s it, CPK. Our waiter told us all he’s been doing for the past weeks is apologizing to people about the missing dishes. I had the spaghetti Bolognese instead and it wasn’t very good – watery sauce, and almost zero meat. I should have had a chicken Caesar. But it was a fun meal – I hadn’t seen David’s wife Barbara in over five years, and she’s such a wonderful person so we promised each other to make dining adventures more often.
Yesterday was okay. It began with a thoroughly obnoxious text that I ignored. I was out the door by nine and went to Hugo’s for Eggs Benedict. That’s what I’d had the last time and they did them perfectly. That wasn’t the case yesterday – they were horrible, worst I’ve ever had – poor Hollandaise and little of it, hard yellows that were just disgusting and an underdone English Muffin. I really should have sent it back because I was so specific with the waiter that the whites had to be fully cooked but the yellows had to run. I ate it but I wasn’t happy about it and I shall not be having them again. It’s either an omelet or pasta papa from now on. After that, I roamed around Gelson’s but didn’t buy anything, then I came home just as she of the Evil Eye was leaving. I did stuff on the Internet, but mostly relaxed. I did try to find something to watch, with no success. Then I showered and moseyed on over to CPK and the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven-thirty, and then I’m seeing a matinee at two o’clock, after which I’ll have dinner somewhere nearby. After that, I’ll come home and watch, listen, and relax.
This week is Sami stuff and hopefully getting the hardcover book so I can place an order. I need a little miracle very soon, and I’ll of course do whatever needs doing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven-thirty, see a matinee, dine, and then come home and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, in serious need of a good food day today after the bad food day of yesteryear.