Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to The Modern Jazz Quartet’s album, Blues on Bach, a wonderful listening experience, but then again all their albums are incredible and I’m going to listen to all the ones I have in Music and that’s a lot ‘em. Not only is the quartet itself brilliant, but leader John Lewis was a terrific composer (he wrote the score to the film Odds Against Tomorrow), and his original compositions on the albums are always interesting and enjoyable. And their album with the Swingle Singers is a masterpiece and I don’t care who knows it. Earlier in the evening, I did watch a motion picture entitled Tequila Sunrise, written and directed by Robert Towne, a fine writer when he worked with people who knew how to focus him. Left to his own devices, not so much, and he wasn’t a very good director. Tequila Sunrise is a perfect example of all that. Some of the dialogue is really good, but the film has zero sense of pace or structure, it’s more often than not very confusing, and then it ends. I saw it when it came out and it was a huge disappointment, and seeing it again all these years later, it still is, but even more so. It looks okay, thanks to Conrad Hall. The Dave Grusin score is what I call one of his lazy ones, sounding like too many of his other scores. Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell are fine, as is Michelle Pfeiffer. J.T. Walsh was a wonderful character actor who passed way too young. Raul Julia is okay – I never find his film work that interesting. Cannot recommend and will not recommend.
Yesterday was fine – ten hours of sleep was what I needed and what I got, not necessarily in that order. Once up, I answered e-mails, did a few things on the computer, and then Doug Haverty came by and picked me up and off we went to Barone’s for a one o’clock meeting at one o’clock. We met with the author of the play I directed and a nice lady from Group Rep. We talked about his play, they threw out some ideas, and what will happen now is that they’ll put their thoughts on paper and then the author and I will work through them, see what he’s willing to consider and begin what will be his rewrite before we do the thing. Doug ordered a medium pepperoni pizza for the table as an appetizer – I only had one small square of it and it was great. My main course was, of course, spaghetti carbonara, which was back to its usual quality. We were there about ninety minutes, I think.
I came home and wrote about four pages, then watched the movie. After that, I wrote four more pages and unless I get inspired to do another two after posting these here notes, eight is enough, like the TV show of the same name.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll go pick up whatever mail is waiting for me, I’ll futz and finesse, I’ll have a Zoom at two, I’ll eat, I’ll write, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be a ME day and I’ll definitely write, and then I’ll send Muse Margaret however many pages there are to send, plus the revised stuff from the first thirty-two pages I sent her, so she can see how things moved around. I’m sure I’ll be able to send her at least seventy pages if not more. Then next week is mostly all writing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, pick up mail, futz and finesse, have a Zoom thing, eat, write, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite movies featuring Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happily listening to the strange and wonderful Modern Jazz Quartet.