Well, dear readers, we had a really fun stumble-through yesterday, even though two of our cast members were in absentia. We had Jenna Lea Rosen sing our opening number, because the gal who’s doing it, Brennley Brown, was working. Jenna did great. And Rita McKenzie couldn’t make it, even though she said she’d try, she probably couldn’t get out of her other commitment in time to get to us in time. So, we didn’t really have our fun and upbeat finale, but we all knew the song she’s doing and so everyone knew what kind of up note the show ends on. I gave the fewest amount of notes ever – one was just making a cut in one of our put-togethers that just was going on too long, and the other was to just lock down some specifics on one song in terms of interpretation and a little blocking. That was it. It was the first time Jason Graae was with us for this show, and he was, as always, pure Jason which means pure terrific. John Boswell accompanied perfectly and the show order worked really well, I thought. At our stumble-throughs they don’t hear my patter – I don’t rehearse that at all and just do it at the show, so sometimes some of the songs are a bit confusing because they lack context, but I just love the stumble-through days.
Afterwards, the Staitmans and I went to Jerry’s Deli for a quick bite and so I could tell them some stuff. I had a chili, cheese and onion omelet, which I hadn’t had in ages – it was the best it’s ever been. I had no potatoes with it, and just an English muffin as the only addition.
Prior to that, I got almost nine hours of sleep, which was lovely. Then I had to do some banking, I picked up no packages and one thoroughly irritating piece of mail, and then I came home and did some work on the computer and got the living room ready for our stumble-through. After I returned from dinner I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on the Flix of Net. The first motion picture was entitled Donovan’s Echo, starring Mr. Danny Glover. I’m a fan of Mr. Glover so I thought I’d give this “thriller” a go. And you know what? It was pretty good. I was involved all the way through and although there’s nothing really surprising, it was beautifully acted by Mr. Glover and Bruce Greenwood and the rest of the cast. It was a low budget affair, but looks pretty good, with direction that is only occasionally irritating. One of the strongest assets of the film is its score, by a composer I never heard of named Terry Frewer. It was really quite a good score and it’s always a pleasure to hear a score that actually kind of works the way a film score should, and not just be pad or pounding. Sadly, no CD or download release.
After that, I watched the second motion picture, this one entitled Breaking Dawn, a very bad title and an even worse, no budget no name movie that went straight to video IF it even had a video release. It was made in 2004 and written and directed by a twenty-four year-old and it really shows. The script is nonsense and derivative to boot and the direction is shallow and typical. The lead girl is okay. In the end, a complete waste of time.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep. If it isn’t too too hot I may attempt a jog, otherwise I’ll relax until it’s time to leave for sound check around three-thirty. Then we’ll do sound check and then I’ll have my usual artichoke and then it’s show time. I’m told we have around ninety people coming and it’s probably more than that by now, so basically a full house. I will, of course, have a full report.
Monday, I’m going to a screening of a newly restored film that will be coming on Blu-ray at some point, and which will make people very happy. I’ve already actually seen some of the work in progress and it looked great. Otherwise, I have a few things to deal with this week so we can put some periods on things that need periods, I have meetings and meals, I’m attending the opening night of Always Patsy Cline at the El Portal, and then Saturday we have our pick up session for And the World Goes Round, which will hopefully go very smoothly.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, maybe do a jog, relax, have a sound check and do a show. 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 and then get ready to do another Kritzerland show.