Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish after a day with no fish. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had fish. I know it was fried catfish but I’m guessing it’s been a couple of months. But I like fish. But fish dishes are so overpriced. But I like fish. It never occurs to me to maybe have pasta with shrimp or salmon or something. And I do like salmon, but I don’t think I’ve had any for almost two years. I’m beginning to think that these notes are fishy. There’s something clearly fishy about these notes. I can’t put my finger on it, however, because every time I put my finger on it, it gets bent out of shape, which is no mean feat for an it. What the HELL am I talking about. I did manage to watch an interesting thirty-minute talk by the director of the West Side Story documentary – you know, where Bernstein conducted with all those opera singers. It’s a wonderful documentary, certainly more wonderful than the actual recording itself. The director is very charming and has great stories of Bernstein and the singers and the behind-the-scenes stuff. Very enjoyable. I found it on the Tube of You along with a few irritating videos. But the best part of the evening was finally listening to music, which I haven’t done in probably a month, maybe even a bit more. That is very unlike me but there was just too much going on and I have to LISTEN to music when I listen to music. I had three CDs sitting on the couch like so much fish, so I began with the one on top. It’s called Homage to Benny Goodman, with a brother and sister clarinet act – he does half the selections, and she does the other half. The band is great on the classical stuff, which includes Malcolm Arnold’s more than brilliant clarinet concerto, Copland’s incandescently beautiful clarinet concerto, Stravinsky’s strange but appealing Ebony Concerto, and Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, composed like the Copland, especially for Goodman. The rest of the album is comprised of famous Goodman big-band arrangements and those are great, but the engineer, clearly someone who does classical recordings, doesn’t really understand the big-band sound, so the drums are almost non-existent. Still, it’s great fun and I really loved the CD. Then it was the first two symphonies of Alexander Von Zemlinsky, written when he was a student – they’re both excellent and I’m a big fan of the conductor, James Conlon. Sound is excellent. I haven’t listened to the third one yet, but it should be good – a Schubert string quartet orchestrated by Mahler and the Franz Schrecker chamber symphony, a wonderful work. I have the Copland clarinet concerto playing as I write this – it’s just a gorgeous first movement, classic Copland and this version is more than fine. Of course, no one does it better than Goodman, but this is up there compared to other versions I’ve heard. I do love the clarinet – a most expressive instrument.
Yesterday was what I needed it to be, save for an irritating text that greeted me when I woke up. I did get ten hours of good sleep – very helpful – and once up, I had the usual congestion from the allergy pill – it takes me about ninety minutes to get that out of me. I had a flurry of telephonic conversations, and then at two I ordered food from nearby Antonio’s Eyetalian eatery – I had their excellent pasta rosa with chicken. I could have substituted fish for the chicken, but I didn’t. Next time I will. It arrived a mere fifteen minutes later and I ate it all up and this time they even included one of their excellent warm rolls. Then there were a few more telephonic calls. Then I began listening to music, which was so enjoyable. Then I watched the chat with the director of the West Side Story documentary, and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll pray for a modern major miracle, I have to put gas in the motor car, eat, and then I have a brief meeting at six with our lighting designer, then I film a little promo thing for our show – Kay Cole will be with me – then we have our rehearsal and I will damn well finish the second act and block the two things that haven’t been blocked yet. We may still be missing one actress, our Covid gal – she’s feeling better but yesterday felt a little dizzy practicing the choreography by herself. We’ll see. After rehearsal, I’ll come right home.
The rest of the week is more of the same, and we now have to devote one hour of hour three-hour rehearsals to the lady who’s playing half the run along with Barbara Minkus. She needs to run her scenes and numbers, which really shouldn’t take more than an hour. That leaves us only two hours to get this show in shape for opening, but I think we can work longer on the weekend. And then we have only three days after that to have the show ready because we go into tech at the end of that week. And I’m sure none of that’s gonna be easy.
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, pray for a modern major miracle, eat, put gas in the motor car, meet with the lighting designer, do a little promo thing, and then rehearse. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite fishes, how do like to eat them, what are the best fish dishes you’ve had? I’ll start – I love shrimp cocktails and shrimp pretty much in anything, I like good salmon, grilled, halibut, swordfish, sand dabs, fried catfish, fried clams, fried filet of sole, lobster, crab but not ersters or raw fishes. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have written some fishy notes.