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04/14/2002:
"MY GOODNESS"

Photo of Bruce Kimmel

bk's notes II

Well, dear readers, today is Sunday, traditionally a day of rest. However, I will not be resting today, traditionally or otherwise. In fact, I have non-stop things to do today and will not be finished with said non-stop things until nine o'clock this evening. In one hour I shall be going to The Cheescake Factory for a birthday breakfast for my friend, Mr. Grant Geissman. Then I have to hurry back to my very own home for a meeting with our Tourette's Benefit stage manager, Mr. Ronn Goswick. That meeting lasts two hours, and then five other people arrive and the meeting continues for another two hours. Then we all get in our automobiles and drive out to Oak Park for a rehearsal with the Wechter kids (they are involved in one number) and then a birthday dinner for David Wechter's brother, Jerry Wechter. Then I get in my automobile and drive back to my very own home where I will then sit on my very own couch like so much fish and watch a DVD. Is that a day or is that a day? My goodness, I'm tired already, just writing about it.

Last night, David and Jerry Wechter's mother, Cissy Wechter, and I, went to a benefit at Hamilton High School. It was very interesting to see another benefit whilst in the midst of doing our very own. This benefit was very different from the one we're doing. First of all, there was no real theme, just some very talented people doing numbers. Second of all, it ran three hours with intermission. I know there are very few ways to control running times of benefits, but let me tell you I have been a stern taskmaster in terms of our benefit's running time, and I will be very surprised if it runs much over our hoped-for two hours (plus intermission). Last night's benefit, while overlong, had lots of fun things in it, including Mr. Ron Dennis, the original Richie (Gimme the ball) from A Chorus Line, reunited with many members of the cast of A Chorus Line, doing that entire section from Hello Twelve. We also had a cast from some production of The Will Rogers Follies do the Favorite Son number, and that was fun, too.

The host of the evening was The Love Boat's Ted Lange. Other people taking part (some of whom have children who go to Hamilton and who are in the arts program) were Lenny Wolpe, Teri Ralston, Paul Kreppel (who also directed, and who is appearing in our benefit) and Stuart Pankin, Luba Mason, Valerie Perri, Rene Auberjonois (who recreated his number from The Little Mermaid), Ilene Graff, ventriliquist Jay Johnson (from Soap - very funny), Karla de Vito, my pal Murphy Cross, Gerry McIntrye and Joe Joyce (doing the Hot Honey Rag!), Scott Bakula and Chelsea Field, and others. The highlights for me were the aforementioned Gimme the Ball, the Glory dance from Pippin (with the astonishing Sandahl Bergman and Kate Wright, who was in the original production - they did it with Ron Dennis doing Ben Vereen's role), and a tap dancer named Mark Mendonca, who did a terrific number with jazz saxophonist Gerald Albright.

Afterwards, there was a reception in the main building. I have not been in the main building of Hamilton High School since I graduated. What a weird feeling. First of all, there were no lockers - they'd removed the lockers from the first floor of the main building. The assistant principal, Jeff Kaufman, was there and came up to me and told me he remembered me performing on that stage many times (he graduated two years after I did), and then he showed me a tile on the floor of the main building from my Caledonian class. He also told me an amazing thing, which I'll save for the end of these here notes. There was plenty of food and drink, but I saw no evidence of cheese slices or ham chunks, nor shrimp bits on toast, and I felt that was a major faux pas on the planners of the event.

My goodness, shouldn't I already be in the next section? Hurry, we'd better all click on the Unseemly Button before the errant and truant Mr. Mark Bakalor runs over and bitch-slaps us all into oblivion.

There. We have once again thwarted Mr. Mark Bakalor and his bitch-slapping ways and we are the better for it.

My goodness, don't forget, the new radio show goes up later today, with special guest Billy Barnes. It's very long, close to two hours and is very very special and I recommend it to one and all and also all and one. Mr. Donald Feltham is going off to New York, New York this week and because Mr. Mark Bakalor is just too too busy to help us out, the current radio show will be up for two weeks, at which time Mr. Feltham will return to us in high fashion (leather pants and black pumps). At that point, he will put up an Encore presentation. Watch the notes this week - I will list the radio shows we've had thus far and we will all vote for the one we'd like to have repeated and then we shall repeat it. Mr. Bakalor assures me that after he moves (he is very busy packing boxes and cannot be bothered with the likes of us) we will indeed be able to have improvements to the site and he will be very attentive to each and every need we may or may not have.

My goodness, this week's trivia question proved very confusing, so I had to go in twice (I never do anything twice) and make things clear. Hopefully they are clear now, so check yesterday's notes for both question and clarifications.

Why do I keep saying "My goodness" like that? That is so annoying, all those "My goodnesses". First of all, it is unseemly to keep going on and on about my goodness. Who gives a flying Wallenda about my goodness. It's my badness we all want to hear about, isn't it? It's the dirt we all want to hear about, isn't it? It's the sordid little details we all want to hear about, isn't it? Not my goodness. The hell with my goodness, I am just over my goodness. Today, for example, I shall give some unsuspecting person the finger. For no reason whatsoever. What do you think about that? My goodness indeed. I shall let the devil in me run rampant and rampant is just going to have to take being run by the devil in me. I do have a devilish side, you know. It's my left side. My right side is my angelish side and the two sides are alway fighting to gain control of my buff and toned self. My buff and toned self is the main course and the two sides are mere accoutrements, but together they make a whole meal. My goodness, what the hell am I talking about? I have gone into a surreal landscape from which I must escape. Yes, Virginia, I must escape the surreal landscape and my devilish left side take the hindmost.

Well, as I've said, I have an extemely busy day today, so I must get ready and make tracks over to The Cheesecake Factory.

Those of you who may have been dear readers of the other column I used to write (as The Real A) may remember a story I told once - the one time I got serious in the column. Something that assistant principal of Hamilton High School told me last night reminded me that I'd told that story. I don't usually go to serious places like that, but it was a sad story that had a rather profound effect on me as a teen. I'm not going to tell the story here, other than to say that it involved a high school friend of mine, a girl named Stephanie, who was raped and murdered in 1965. She was in my high school drama class, and she was a great girl, cute as a button and the friendliest person you'd ever want to know. We used to pass notes to each other all the time, and I think we even occasionally went to the Beverlywood Deli after school for fries. I still have one of those notes somewhere - it says "Stephanie, you're the one - I'm the two". It was a horrifying thing to happen, and the first time I'd ever been somewhat close to such ugliness. They never caught the person who did it. What brought all this back was that Jeff Kaufman told me that novelist James Ellroy had been to the school, and that he's doing a television show about unsolved mysteries in Los Angeles, and that he's doing Stephanie's story. He's also thinking about doing a book about it. I admire Mr. Ellroy and think him a terrific writer, and no one knows the dark side of Los Angeles better than he. I'm sure it won't be pleasant to watch or read about, these things never are. But I adored Stephanie and rather than her being some forgotten statistic, at least this will bring home what a terrific person she was - one whose sweet life ended much too violently and much too swiftly.

My goodness, I must run now. I think we're going to make Sundays free-for-all day from now on - in other words, today's topic of discussion is up to you. Talk about whatever you feel like, and I shall chime in if I have a chance. What I love about our little posting system here, is that even if we don't always agree with each other, we all get along famously and are very friendly, unlike other unseemly internet places where people get nasty and stupid and disgusting. So, post away, dear Hainsies/Kimlets, and I shall return anon.

- Bruce Kimmel



Replies: 19 Unseemly Comments


Personally I would like to see us continue the favorite movie scores discussion that popped up yesterday in the middle of favorite pop albums. John Williams' score for "E.T." is brilliant and one of my all-time favorites. Yes, "Murder on the Orient Express" is terrific. Others would have to be Andre Previn's score for "Inside Daisy Clover," Bernard Hermann's scores for "Vertigo" and "Obsession" (one of his lesser known but finest). I haven't even touched on the classics fom Franz Waxman ("Sunset Boulevard" being one of his best) or Max Steiner ("Casablanca" etc.) John Barry's scores to "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Somewhere in Time" are quite haunting, too. With Mancini, like John Williams, et al, where does one start?

Posted by Kerry @ 04/14/2002 10:51 AM PST


Trivia...is any one close? I still can't figure out what the confusion was? I understood the question. I just don't know if I answered it correctly.

Posted by Arnold M. Brockman @ 04/14/2002 11:40 AM PST


Trivia: I can only tell you that I sent in a list saying the name had to be: And then I listed every single female name on the program.

BK must at least acknowledge the frustration involved! : ) It seems to me, however, that there is no way anyone can "know" the answer unless he or she knows the lady in question, as BK does.

Soundtracks: The "new" issue of "E.T." is totally dazzling. More music, remarkably better mastering than the expanded edition release from a few years back.

My favorite Williams, except for "The Fury" and "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Witches of Eastwick" and "Schindler's List" and "The Accidental Tourist" (fabulous monothematic score!).

My favorite film composer ever is Alfred Newman. So many of his scores have been made available in recent years -- scores one would have thought lost forever. And they are remarkably well done.

And what about Hugo Friedhofer -- anytime anyone asked Alfred Newman to talk about film music or to recommend some means of learning about it, he always said, "Study Friedhofer." Oddly, the Friedhofer we have sounds like a whole bunch of B's-s-s-s-s-s -- Barbarian and the Geisha, Boy on a Dolphin, Between Heaven and Hell, Broken Arrow and an upcoming release from BYU of Bishop's Wife. Of course, we also have The Young Lions and This Earth is Mine and The Sun Also Rises (if we still have record collections), and One-Eyed Jacks. There are hopes for more.

The must-have Newmans include The Egyptian, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, The Song of Bernadette, The Prince of Foxes, All About Eve, Leave Her to Heaven, How Green Was My Valley, A Man Called Peter, The Best of Everything, How the West Was Won and Airport (all on CD!). On LP, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Certain Smile, Nevada Smith...and all those fantastic musicals he conducted (many also on CD).

Most of the great Newman recordings were produced by Nick Redman on both FSM and Varese Sarabande.

I'm glad it's BK who has a terribly terribly active Sunday. Here I sit taking a break from trying to sort out things to put into storage. Small apartments get cluttered very quickly...especially when one collects so mcuh stuff.

Imagine my astonishment to find that nearly 25% of my available storage space in house was being taken up by Christmas decorations, etc. And I don't even decorate the apartment at Christmas, 'cause I always go east to South Carolina. The problem is, I do something a bit different at work every year -- and it sure adds up!!!

And then there's the stuff that doesn't fit anymore....and may never fit again, for all I know. If it does, it will be WAY out of fashion. Unless it's back in.

See! I can ramble as pointlessly as BK. And I didn't use "my goodness" or "bitch-slap" or "what am I" one single time. Not to mention the total absence of references to ham chunks and cheese!

But I did miss the usual nod to the hora today. Did anyone else think perhaps BK was in a hurry and simply forgot to include it?

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 04/14/2002 12:20 PM PST


I am dancing the Hora now, as I wait for Mr. Ronn Goswick to arrive. I also ackowledge the frustration - but obviously I am not the only one who knows the answer to the question - Cybelle aka ? aka ? has never been hush-hush about her former names.

As to soundtracks, I concur wholeheartedly on all those mentioned, especially those by Mr. Hugo Friedhofer, one of the truly great unsung heroes of filmmusic. Five years ago, there was virtually almost nothing by him available on CD - thankfully that has been somewhat rectified. I love Mr. John Williams' Accidental Tourist, I love Mr. Herrmann's Vertigo and North by Northwest (and practically everything else by him), I love Mr. Goldsmith's A Patch of Blue (probably the soundtrack I have listened to the most in my life), Mr. Goldsmith's Seconds (unavailable), Mr. Newman's Wuthering Heights, Mr. Korngold's Elizabeth and Essex, Mr. Bernstein's To Kill a Mockingbird (probably the second most listened to soundtrack for me), Mr. Raksin's Too Late Blues, Mr. Amram's Splendor In The Grass, Mr. Rosenthal's The Miracle Worker, A Raisin In The Sun and Requiem for a Heavyweight, Mr. Morricone's Once Upon A Time in the West and America, and many others, but Mr. Ronn Goswick is here and I must away. I'll come back later with more favorites.

Posted by bk @ 04/14/2002 12:29 PM PST


What?? Another Jeff Kaufman? That makes TWO besides me you know! All I can say is I am fortissimo, not forte, as far as surnames go, so hopefully that will set me apart. Really, the gall of some people--to have my name! (Of course, spring chicken that I am--NOT--they probably had it first!)

Posted by JMK @ 04/14/2002 01:42 PM PST


It seems like the topic for discussion is Movie Scores! Morricone's "The Mission" is the most played in this house. I also play "Milagro Suite" - I Don't think the entire score for" The Milagro Bean Field War" was ever given a release. Can anyone let me know if it is available.

High School reunions etc could be a discussion point. Everyone else seems to age so much! The older I get the more interesting the reunions become. As a teacher it also is an interesting experience to see how school is remembered. We all seem to remember the teachers but not what was taught!

Now is the time to mention that I also like the music from "The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie". I still like all those Rod McKuen poem/songs of the late sixties. Jimmie Rodgers and Glen Yarbrough versions of the songs are still played frequently - even on radio - here.

Posted by Tom from OZ @ 04/14/2002 03:08 PM PST


Rather than doing the Hora which I never really enjoyed, I have decided to do the pudding dance today. Yet another thing Bruce forgot to mention in his goodness, though I do suspect that the pudding dance is best done in badness.

My favorite movie Soundtrack is the "Naked Lunch" score with Ornette Coleman. It is very creepy and moody.

Posted by Mattso @ 04/14/2002 03:28 PM PST


Has anyone else noticed Kimmelisms creeping into your everyday language? Anyone else saying "like so much fish" or "this and that, and also that and this" or "well, well, well - that's three wells" or "heinous, do you hear?" Has anyone used the word "unseemly" in a sentence? Or is it just me?

Posted by Laura @ 04/14/2002 03:41 PM PST


AHA! I have seen with mine own eyes that silent mouthing:

"She's a LESBIAN!"

One Michael Shayne, no doubt, in "Little Gloria, Happy At Last," airing today on A&E.

Do you still have that full head of hair, Michael?

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 04/14/2002 03:53 PM PST


John Barry's Somewhere In Time
Ennio Morriconne's Duck You Sucker (aka Fistful of Dynamite)

Posted by Michael Shayne @ 04/14/2002 05:31 PM PST


YES I HAVE MY OWN HAIR STILL AND ITS NATURAL COLOR AS WELL

Posted by Michael Shayne @ 04/14/2002 05:32 PM PST


Talking of Fish....

One of the Hidden Tracks from a Lost in Boston (I think) which could be called "I Love Fish" it was recorded as scratchy old recording. Anyone know where it came from or who sang it?

Posted by Michael Shayne @ 04/14/2002 05:37 PM PST


Dear Michael-
As I recall, it was our own lovely Jason Graae who sang it. I do not know the origin of the song, though.

Posted by Kerry @ 04/14/2002 08:10 PM PST


I also forgot to mention Georges Delarue's wonderful score to "A Little Romance."

Posted by Kerry @ 04/14/2002 08:11 PM PST


Dear BK,

What kind of cheesecake did you have at the Cheesecake Factory? This is important information that your dear readers need to know. My favorite is the peanut butter chocolate cookie dough cheesecake.

Posted by Sandra @ 04/14/2002 09:06 PM PST


We had the chocolate blackout cake with whipped cream. More about the various meals of Sunday on Monday. For those inquiring about I Love Fish - it isn't Jason Graae singing. Tomorrow I will tell the whole sordid story of that sorry song and where it came from and how it came to be included as a hidden track on LIB IV.

Posted by bk @ 04/14/2002 10:32 PM PST


Yes Laura,

All of my emails are hopelessly starting to resemble The ramblings of dear BK. I keep doing the pudding dance and I don't even know what that is. Sigh. It is unseemly, I tell you!

Also just saw Monsoon wedding. Great movie and great soundtrack.

Posted by Mattso @ 04/14/2002 11:00 PM PST


Actually, that voice on "I Love Fish" sounds like our own beloved Guy Haines, with a particularly Kimmel-esque lyric.

At least that's my guess for now...

Posted by Elan @ 04/15/2002 06:48 AM PST


Oh, hell! It's Monday!

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 04/15/2002 08:48 AM PST





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