Well, dear readers, I have breaking bombshell news so you might just want to sit down: It is July. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is July and it is my fervent hope and prayer that July will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to a new Chandos recording of a “suite” from Bernard Herrmann’s opera of Wuthering Heights – I wouldn’t call it a suite, I’d call it what it is – excerpts from the opera, much like those occasional opera excerpts in the LP era. I have the original recording conducted by Herrmann done for Pye Records, which I got the day it came out. I enjoyed it very much, despite its length. That recording was issued on a horribly mastered Unicorn CD, which I, of course, snapped up when it came out, but it really needs an all-new mastering job and it doesn’t look it will get it anytime soon. My memory of the LP was that it sounded very good. Then there was a CD from a French production – that sounds better but I didn’t care for the performances all that much. These excerpts sound very good and so far the singing is very good, too. I’m not a huge fan of the Chandos sound, but the band at least sounds like it’s in the same room as the microphones, always a plus. The recording also includes Herrmann’s wonderful Echoes for String Quartet, which we recorded and issued back in the Bay Cities days. It’s actually been recorded several times, but this version has been arranged for chamber orchestra and female voice. More I do not know at this time. Earlier, I watched a Mel Gibson thing entitled Edge of Darkness, a decent enough thriller that I’d seen back in 2010. It was based on a BBC mini-series that I also watched, but I thought that version went on to long and went on too many subplot journeys. There’s nothing new in the movie, but it moves along at a steady pace, is decently directed, and has a moody score by Howard Shore. I fell asleep a couple of times. Then I watched a 2019 documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. I’d read only that she was on trial for fraud but didn’t really know anything, so it was interesting to learn about all of it. At then at the end of the documentary it says she and her former romantic partner and business associate have been charged with several crimes and that they’ve pleaded not guilty. Of course, she and the guy were both found guilty at their separate trials and they both are serving time in jail as of two months ago – I’m sure their cases are being appealed. From the documentary, she seems like a self-obsessed zealot, almost like an automaton in her speech, but a lot of people believed in her and her fervor and her ideas were certainly bold and interesting, despite her inability to bring them to fruition and make them work, to the tune of 900-million dollars. It’s not that companies don’t fail, but you’re not supposed to repeatedly lie to your investors, which she apparently did. Wuthering Heights continues, as do I.
Yesterday was pretty nauseating at times, beginning as soon as I got up, with a text I didn’t need – what else is new? But then I had a nice call from the producer of the Mistletoe thing dear reader elmore wrote, so we now have an exact plan of attack and we should be able to get it out in the next three months. After that, I hurried to the mail place where neither of the important envelopes were there, which was like one final slap in the face from June, a month that had some nice highs but a few too many annoyances for my taste. Hopefully, both will be here today, although I now won’t be able to get them in the ban until Monday, unless Monday is part of the long July 4 weekend, which means I wouldn’t get them deposited until Wednesday, which is absolutely ridiculous. Just not sure about Monday and whether I can get them deposited that day.
Then I went up the street to Popeye’s and got two mild chicken breasts and the biscuits that came with them. I came right home and ate them all up – and they were very good, as were the biscuits. I had no Diet Coke, but thankfully had two Diet cream sodas left, so I had those. Then I had to get ready for the Zoom thing with David Wechter, which then was very productive and fun. While Zooming, I took advantage of a DoorDash summer sale at Big Lots and got two things of Diet Coke in plastic bottles, even though I don’t love them in bottles. Those arrived soon thereafter but were warm, of course, so I didn’t actually have one until about eight-thirty, when they were finall cold enough. Then I watched the movie and the documentary and I’m enjoying these excerpts from Wuthering Heights very much, actually, and the singers are doing a fine job of it.
Today, I’ll be up by eight o’clock and I’ll shower (I’ll shave right after writing these here notes), then I’m breakfasting with Robert Yacko near him, and after that, I’ll mosey on over to the Hollywood Show, where I’m meeting Barry Pearl. We’ll go around saying hello to those we know (I know seven or eight folks who’ll be signing), and then we’ll probably grab a bite at the Daily Grill when we’re done. Then I’ll come home, do some writing, and then watch, listen, and relax.
Then tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday will all be ME days and writing days and by Tuesday I should know for sure if I want to finish the writing I’ve begun. And, of course, praying for a 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 and out the door by nine, I’ll breakfast with Yacko, then meet up with Pearl, and we’ll give the Hollywood Show a whirl, after which we’ll grab something to eat at the Daily Grill. Then I’ll come home and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite film performances of Mel Gibson? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall welcome July and it is my fervent hope and prayer that July will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.