Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, and rather late fish at that due to two long telephonic calls and not finishing a documentary until just before midnight. And as I hurry and scurry through these here notes I am being serenaded by one of my all-time favorite female singers, Miss Carmen McRae. I first discovered Miss Carmen McRae back in 1962 when I came upon the Points on Jazz LP, a Dave Brubeck-composed ballet for two pianos – an album I took a chance on and was and am still completely obsessed with. The duo-pianists were Gold and Fizdale, but the final cut on the album was Miss Carmen McRae singing the main theme with lyrics and lordy did I play that track endlessly. My next experience with her was the film Hotel, in which she plays the lounge pianist/singer at the titular Hotel and sings two songs – the two main themes by Johnny Keating, with lyrics added. I bought that soundtrack, which I played endlessly, too, and have written about many times in these here notes. Having almost all Miss McRae’s output, I prefer her in the 1960s on, as opposed to her Decca albums from the 1950s. Her albums on Mainstream are my favorites, with charts by Peter Matz and Don Sebesky. Sadly, the CD releases are horrible – taken from tapes many generations away from the master tapes – also, the albums are not well-mixed. But oh, that voice. Otherwise, I did manage to watch a motion picture and a documentary. The motion picture was one I hadn’t seen, from 2012, entitled The Hole, originally shot and shown in 3-D, directed by Joe Dante. I watched for a specific reason. Joe has made some very good movies and some almost very good movies – he sometimes lets his smart-aleck side go too far, but he clearly loves movies and making them. The Hole was kind of a mish-mash of 1980s-style scary movies, although The Hole isn’t scary. But you know – fractured family, new town, older and younger brother, cute new girl next door – that dynamic. It’s very well directed, but it kind of falls apart in its final fifteen or twenty minutes. But before that, it’s very enjoyable and overall, it’s still enjoyable despite the ending’s issues. Cast is fine and the cute girl next door is more than fine and has had a nice career since – Haley Bennett. I’ve seen several of her films and she’s always very good. But my reason for watching was, of course, that Joe’s usual editor edited the movie and did a great job of it – our very own Marshall Harvey. The film played the festival circuit in 2009 and yet did not play in US theaters until 2012.
The documentary was about Midnight Cowboy – not just the movie – but that world back then. Some good interviews and it’s interesting, goes on a bit long, but I enjoyed it. Prior to all that, I got nine hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, went to the mail place, came home, ordered food – a burger and zucchini fries – burger was cold by the time it got here due to DoorDash having the driver deliver three orders prior to mine – a practice that I hate to tell them does not work. Burger was still okay, even though they didn’t include the extra sauce I asked for. Then I watched The Hole, then had a Filet ‘o’ Fish sandwich and a couple of chocolate chip cookies for the evening snackerooni. Then I watched the documentary, then came two long telephonic conversations, and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll have me a ME day – just a page of writing, which is the last I’ll do in advance of January 1, I’ll eat something fun, and basically, I’ll just watch, listen, and relax.
This week is busy with all manner of things – meetings and meals, trying to settle on a set designer, gearing up for my physical, first in over twenty-five years, finessing commentary – and then doing whatever else needs doing.
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, have me a ME day, do one page of writing, eat, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have been crooned to by the one and only Miss Carmen McRae.