Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the second symphony of Brit composer Benjamin Frankel. Last night, I’d listened to his first and fifth and I’m going through all eight. Frankel was a fine film composer of fine film music, which is how I first knew his music. In fact, he composed the score for a film I really like called So Long at the Fair. Some of his other fine film scores that I’m very fond of are The Importance of Being Earnest, The Seventh Veil, The Man in the White Suit, A Kid for Two Farthings (I love that film), The End of the Affair, Libel, Night of the Iguana, Battle of the Bulge, and Curse of the Werewolf. His symphonies straddle the lines of tonal and atonal and certainly have fine film music qualities. The good news is that virtually all his important classical works were recorded, and his film music is represented on several excellent CDs. Now I want to watch So Long at the Fair again. And Night of the Iguana, too. Where was I? Ah, writing these here notes whilst listening to the second symphony of Benjamin Frankel. Last night was another night of non-viewing. Just the usual irritating YouTube videos, some of which were very irritating indeed and indeed were very irritating. Other than that, it was a pretty restful day. I really did rest my voice, but these damn allergies are just causing so much damn phlegm and it’s killing my voice. Hopefully, I’ll be fine for the stumble-through and show. I did get about eight and a half hours of sleep, so that was good. Once up, I answered e-mails, got a few CD orders, and best of all was notified that a company that was withholding money they owed me finally did the right thing – it took five months of e-mail volleys, but my final missive did the trick, I guess – in that missive I threatened to alert another company that was involved and I knew they would not want that and I also threatened to sue them if necessary. It wasn’t a huge amount of money, about $350, but it was really bugging me. And now, any subsequent money owed should be paid on time, so that was excellent news. After that, I got Taco Bell for food – under 1000 calories. I may have to take a little break from fast food for a while, because once you’ve had Don Cuco, Taco Bell just doesn’t cut the mustard or even the ketchup. Now we’re onto Frankel’s third symphony – this one’s very enjoyable. The good news is that the majority of his symphonies are under twenty minutes. The longest is about thirty-five minutes, but two are around seventeen minutes. Nice and compact, say I.
After Taco Bell was eaten, I did a few things on the computer, had one pleasant telephonic call that lasted about thirty minutes – I didn’t talk much due to resting my voice. Then I did my non-viewing. Around nine o’clock the phlegm was so bugging me that I ordered some wonton soup. That came and I ate half of it – pretty decent – and threw out the rest. It did soothe things a bit. Then I began my music listening and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven at the latest (earlier if I’m in bed by one), I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll get things set up for the stumble-through, then we’ll do the stumble-through, I’ll give any notes I have, we’ll run whatever we need to, and then I must rest my voice and relax. I’ll probably eat after we finish – something small – and then I’ll print out the commentary and get everything ready in terms of what I have to bring to the club. Then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll rest and relax, shave and shower, and then around four-fifteen I’ll head over to the club for our 5:00 sound check – you just never know about traffic, hence leaving forty-five-minutes early. Then we do our sound check, figure out where I’ll be sitting with my three guests, and then at eight-thirty we do our show. I’m sure a few of us will grab a bite after the show. I will, of course, have a full report. Thursday, I’ll have a phone meeting with David Wechter, I’ll start figuring out the cast for the June show and begin choosing songs once I know who’ll be with us. Then I can have a relaxing weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven at the latest, do whatever needs doing, get things set up for the stumble-through, do the stumble-through, give notes, run whatever we need to, eat, rest my voice, print out commentary and get everything ready, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Japanese foods and where have you had great Japanese meals? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as I’ll continue resting my voice.