Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, not going left, not going right. What am I, Stephen Sondheim all of a sudden? And when one is not going left, not going right, the best thing to do is listen to some harmonica concertos, which is exactly what I am doing. Finishing up is Darius Milhaud’s Suite Anglaise for harmonica and orchestra. Then will come Malcolm Arnold’s concerto for harmonica, followed by Arthur Benjamin’s, followed by Vaughan Williams’. The latter three are all superb and beautiful, while the Milhaud is jaunty and fun. They’re all played by the great Larry Adler and conducted by Morton Gould. I had the RCA LP when it came out and played it to death. If you’ve never had the pleasure of hearing these works, the entire album is on the Tube of You. Earlier, I did watch a motion picture entitled The Giant Claw, a 1957 movie about a big bird with a giant claw that wreaks havoc. It’s quite bad but does feature sci-fi genre actors like Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday, and, of course, as a general, Morris Ankrum. Poorly written, directed by Fred F. Sears with no particular aptitude, it’s still fun in its cheesy way and it’s quite short. It opened on September 4, 1957, with a classic ad that had a public notice that the theaters would not be responsible for the weak-hearted and that no sissies will be allowed. I kid you not. Prior to that, I’d had a nice meal at Don Cuco with Robert Yacko – yes, Yacko at Cuco – my usual taco and enchilada, rice and beans, but not eating much of the latter two items. Food was great as was conversation. The first part of the day was ridiculous. I set the alarm for nine for a ten o’clock breakfast meeting but forgot to take the phone off silent. I use an alarm clock app because I didn’t realize the iPhone had a built-in one. The app can’t bypass silent mode whereas the phone one can. So, I woke up at twelve-thirty. Unbelievable. I apologized profusely and we rescheduled for this morning. Once up, I had a lot of e-mails to answer and then it was already time to mosey on over to Don Cuco for the meal. I was going to stop at the mail place on the way home but called and there was no mail. So, I just came home. Once here, I had some telephonic conversations, some texts, and then I watched the movie.
After the movie, I did a few things on the computer and got a major little project in the works. And here we are.
Today, I’ll be up at nine and to a breakfast meeting in the City of Studio by ten. That shouldn’t take more than an hour and then the entire day will be devoted to the project, which involves my very first novel, Benjamin Kritzer. It’s a bit complicated, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do ever since the book came out in 2002. And so, I shall. I’ll eat something at some point, and then in the evening, watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is the last day of May – can you believe it? And it will be both a day and evening, which I’ll talk about after the fact. I’m attending a play on Saturday night, which will be preceded by a meal. Sunday will be a ME day, and then next week it will all be planning the Kritzerland show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by nine, have a meeting, come home and work on the little project I’m doing, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite and most cheesy sci-fi films? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream of neither going left nor right. Straight ahead, baby, eye on the prize.