Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle eating a persimmon whilst whistling a happy tune. I, on the other hand, am not eating a persimmon whilst whistling a happy or even a sad tune, nor have I ever eaten a persimmon. I don’t even know what a persimmon is, except it’s a member of the edible fruit family. I know many members of the edible fruit family but that’s another story. Actually, that story has been memorialized in the ribald tale of The Randy Vicar and the Edible Fruit Family. What the HELL am I talking about? If anyone has a clew please don’t let me know. The Edible Fruit Family – that’s also the title of my next novel. Speaking of my next novel, I’m currently listening to Faure’s very beautiful Requiem, conducted by the master French conductor from France, Andre Cluytens. Earlier, I made a vain attempt to watch a motion picture entitled Golden Salamander, a 1950 movie about a golden salamander. I didn’t get very far, as I dozed off, but may come back to it, as it looked moody and interesting, directed by Ronald Neame, photographed by Oswald Morris, from a novely by Victor Canning (he wrote The Rainbird Pattern, which became the Alfred Hitchcock film, Family Plot). A very good cast, including Trevor Howard, Anouk Aimee (billed as Anouk), Herbert Lom, and Wilfred Hyde-White. Then I watched a low-speed police chase live – the poor people on the freeway were held back by a police break so that the woman they were after was alone on the 5 freeway. Why they took so long to PIT her after two spike strips completely trashed her two front tires, is anyone’s guess. They finally did and that ended the chase part. But then, instead of doing the right thing so the freeway could be opened again, she refused to get out of her car. She obviously has/had mental issues – it seems that these days more and more people have mental issues – and they finally had to drag her out of the vehicle. After that, I watched about forty minutes of a Police Story episode from the late 1970s – a ninety-minute thing. Was this series ever good? Because this episode I watched was terrible. Fun cast, as most of these types of things had back then – Glenn Ford, James Farentino, Harry Guardino, Christopher Connelly, Ron Masak, and many others. Terrible plotting and dialogue. I always thought this series was supposed to be a classic. Somehow, I’d never seen a single episode. And now, here we are, listening to the beauty of Mr. Faure’s Requiem.
Yesterday was okay. I got maybe six hours of sleep, got up, showered, answered e-mails, and then I did a two-hour coaching session with a very nice man, one of our big donors in the last Kritzerland Indiegogo campaign. He’d come from doing a photo session with Karen Staitman. Alby Potts was our pianist. I had him sing a song he was familiar with, a song I’d never heard by Ricky Ian Gordon. He had a very nice voice. After, we just chatted about the song’s intention, coloring each verse differently, having specificity with the lyrics, and then he sang it again and it was better and then again and it was even better. And that’s what we did for two hours – sang through songs and talk about them, I’d give suggestions, and then we’d do it again. I think he had a good time and I always enjoy these sessions even though I don’t do them often. Usually, it’s always been young kids, so it was fun to work with an adult.
After that, Alby and I went to Casa Vega for some Mexican food. I had my usual beef taco and cheese enchilada combo. I just have to say that the past few visits have not been to my liking. The food is simply not as good as it’s always been – don’t know why or if it’s new chefs just figuring things out or what. But it was fun to catch up with Alby, who just came off conducting Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Then I came home and did a few things on the computer, had a couple of telephonic calls, moved the storage visit to Monday, and then began my viewing.
Today, I’ll be up by nine-thirty. Supposedly, I’m having an early meal at eleven with some friends from out of town – but the location is unknown to me at this time. Hopefully, I’ll hear by the time I arise, especially if they want me to choose it. After that, I’ll come home and do some Sami stuff that needs doing and pray for a major major miracle so I can survive this crazy week, then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, which will run from one to three-thirty, Friday is our stumble-through at one, then Saturday it’s sound check and then we do our show. And right after that, I start rehearsing the workshop of the new play over at the Group Rep. We have about six days to get it on its feet and presentable and we perform it on the nineteenth and twentieth, I believe.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by nine-thirty, have an early meal somewhere with out of town friends, I’ll do some Sami stuff, I’ll check with the mail place to see what’s what, pray for a major major miracle, and then I can watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you can ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream of being a member of the edible fruit family.