Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and – now, wait just a darned minute – didn’t I write the same exact thing in yesterday’s notes? What in tarnation is going on here? Well, I’ll tell you what’s going on here – she of the Evil Eye got confused, oh, yes, she of the Evil Eye got confused and thought she was coming next week even though she was supposed to come yesterday. She even said she was confused. So, I’d already made plans for Doug Haverty to meet me at the Coral Café for breakfast, so off I went. Now, I have to be up early and go have ANOTHER breakfast. I don’t even like having breakfast is the fact of the matter and now it’s two in a row, two breakfasts in two days, but there’s nothing to be done about it because it is the way things are. So, I only got about five hours of sleep. But I told her that today she cannot come until nine, so if I can haul my sorry butt cheeks into bed by twelve-thirty, then I can get eight hours of sleep. After the breakfast at the Coral Café, I came home, answered a bunch of e-mails, then I buckled down, Winsocki and continued choosing songs. Given the size of the cast, this is a very daunting task. I have to do more duets than I care to in order to keep the song count down and give everyone two numbers. But doing multiple duets becomes a scheduling nightmare. As it is, we’ll end up with about twenty-three songs, but a few of them are really short and I’ll keep the commentary on the short side, too. I just don’t want the show to be over ninety minutes. That consumed most of the day and evening and I still have two or three left to figure out. It’s not just choosing the songs, it’s the balancing act of making a solidly structured show with a proper mix of up-tempos to ballads. I do tend to keep certain songs in almost every young person’s show, so that helps. We’re doing several of my songs, too, because I’ve written quite a few songs that just work for kids. Anyway, I should finish the task when I get back from the two in a row breakfast. I’ve already gotten several folks their music and tracks to listen to, but I have to get the others theirs today, too.
Yesterday, I heard from two people I haven’t heard from in ages, which seems to be a theme this week. One was producer David Jablin, for whom I did a bunch of short comic coming attractions way back in 1981/1982/1983 for his Showtime series, Likely Stories. He’s trying to take the stuff that was done on video, which all mine were, I think, save for one or two, and using an AI program get them up to some kind of hi-def quality. He said it’s daunting and not working for a lot of the stuff, but he did find a one-inch original for one of my things and he had total success getting that up to hi-def and he sent it to me, my faux coming attraction for a musical version of The Elephant Man – and yes, this was nine YEARS before the movie The Tall Guy did the same thing. I watched it and it really does look good. Here’s a link to it so you can see it with your very own eyeballs.
https://vimeo.com/107305601?share=copy
Of course, thirty years on, my Outside the Box web series would do horrifyingly terrible ideas for musicals just like it – because I know a good thing when I see it. Right after that, the phone rang, a Valley number and I almost didn’t pick up because I figured it was just another spoofed number and scam thing, but my instinct kicked in, in kicked my instinct back since in doesn’t like to be kicked and I answered the phone. It was the wonderful composer Charles Fox, who I haven’t spoken to in at least fourteen or fifteen years. He tried to get VIP seats for the Kritzerland show but they were sold out in ten minutes. He asked if he bought general seating if he could sit with the rest of his family, as they’d gotten VIP seats. I assured him that would be no problem and to purchase away. Turns out, his daughter’s son is IN the show. The daughter had mentioned that Charlie was the kid’s grandpa and I decided instantly that one of the kid’s numbers would be a put-together of his TV theme songs and that we wouldn’t tell him so it would be a complete surprise. In case you don’t know the name, he wrote the TV themes songs for Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Love, American Style, The Love Boat, Wonder Woman, Angie, and more. But his most famous song is the classic Killing Me Softly with His Song. Shhhh.
Anyway, he told me there’s a documentary on his life, so when I finished all my stuff, I found it on Prime and watched it – it’s not free, but it’s cheap, rather like me. It was a nice documentary with a LOT of music, and I recommend it if you’re a fan, which I was and am. He’s a sprightly eighty-three-years young. Here’s the flyer for the show – his grandkid is Benji.
Today, I’ll be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine. I’ll go have the two in a row breakfast somewhere, I’ll do some errands and whatnot, and then I’ll come home and finish choosing the songs and getting everyone music and tracks, including our musical director. Then I can, at some point, watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of that, making the show order and getting the commentary written so I don’t have to worry about that. There ARE a couple of modern major miracles that would be so lovely to happen, so do send some of your most excellent vibes and xylophones.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine, breakfast, do errands and whatnot, finish choosing songs and getting folks their music and tracks, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, about to have my two in a row breakfast that I don’t want to have.