Well, dear readers, it’s time for the big reveal – two big reveals. The first big reveal is the new book. It’s called Me and Richard – A Supercalifragilistic Friendship. You can probably figure out what it’s about. Here are the blurbs from the back of the jacket.
“Bruce Kimmel has written a love song for Richard Sherman.”
—Hayley Mills
“It’s a jolly holiday for readers as Bruce Kimmel (acclaimed record producer/director/songwriter/author) shares the love, laughter, and musical adventures of his 25-year friendship with legendary, iconic and Oscar®-winning songwriter/composer, Richard M. Sherman (of Sherman Brothers, Disney and Mary Poppins fame). Their mutual admiration, love and respect for one another is on full display in this delightful, informative and highly personal account that runs the gamut of emotions. As a nearly 50-year Disney Studios publicity veteran, who had the pleasure of working with and socializing with Richard and his wife, Elizabeth, I can tell you that Richard and Me captures the joy of knowing this optimistic and life-affirming musical genius, as only Bruce could tell it.”
—Howard Green, Marketing and Publicity Executive, Walt Disney Studios
“Bruce and Dad treasured their beautiful friendship—something rare and special, the kind most people would envy. They brought out the best in each other through their shared sense of humor, love of music, and deep loyalty to their lifelong L.A. roots. They truly admired one another’s talents and inspired each other in creative pursuits.”
—Victoria Sherman Wolf
And the flap copy:
Bruce Kimmel first heard and fell in love with the songs of the Sherman Brothers when he was just thirteen and saw The Parent Trap—the first show on opening day, June 23, 1961, at the Vogue Theater in Hollywood. He became an instant lifelong fan of their songs, whether they were written for the movies, the pop charts, or the theater.
What he never could have imagined was that thirty-seven years later he’d meet Richard M. Sherman through a bizarre and mind-boggling set of circumstances, the odds of which were probably a million to one. Or perhaps it was simply fate.
From the moment they met, it was a mutual admiration society that quickly blossomed into a close, magical, and unique friendship that lasted for a quarter of a century, until Richard passed away, a month before his ninety-sixth birthday. Along the way, they wrote two songs together, and Bruce brought the unproduced Sherman Brothers musical, Levi!, the story of Levi Strauss (with a book by prolific screenwriter and director Larry Cohen) to the stage, directing its world premiere production, almost forty years after it had been written. He directed the big, all-star ninetieth birthday concert for Richard at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills. He also issued an entire CD of never-heard-before Sherman Brothers songs from unrealized projects, called Unsung Sherman Brothers.
You’ll read about their many adventures, the people they worked and interacted with, the meals, Christmas Eve parties, birthdays and anniversaries, spent with Richard and his beautiful wife Elizabeth. As Richard often remarked, he thought that he and Bruce were like the same person.
Richard and Me is filled with humor, heart, and fortuosity, the story of a truly scrumptious and supercalifragilistic friendship.
I waffled about writing this for a year. I didn’t know if it would seem presumptuous. After Vegas Can Be Murder came out, I started thinking about it again. And waffling – over and over. But then I thought that I’d never quite had as unique and magical a friendship with anyone and one that lasted for over a quarter of a century. Now, a year ago I actually wrote an introduction – I did about seven pages and put it away. But that gave me the impetus to finally decide to write it – basically, to write it for me. I didn’t follow my usual write fifteen pages every day – at the start, I wasn’t writing every day, and certainly wasn’t turning out fifteen pages. When I past the first third, then I began going back to my usual routine. Muse Margaret loved everything about it except two little sections where I got a little snippy about two different people. So, we removed those, but nothing else changed, that is until I finished it and then read it. That intro I’d written a year ago was so wrong-headed, although fun to read if it weren’t THIS book, that I excised all eight pages of it and then the beginning felt just right. There are a LOT of photos – two ten-page photo galleries. Toward the end, it became a real emotional rollercoaster when writing the last twenty pages or so. Anyway, it’s up for pre-order at Kritzerland – the usual signed hardcover and a little fun thing we’ll include with it, which Doug is designing. I revealed this at the Kritzerland show and almost everyone came up to me and asked how they could buy it – but Doug couldn’t get the page to work, so we lost that golden opportunity. Still, a lot of the people are regulars and I’ll do a spiel at the anniversary show. Here’s the link to purchase. PayPal now accepts Venmo, Apple Pay, and credit cards.
http://kritzerland.com/ram3.htm
And here’s the cover.
Now for part two of the big reveal. You might remember over the past couple of months that I had something I’d reveal but I wasn’t quite ready to talk about it. Well, I suppose the time has come and everyone knows I’m an open book about most things. We now know pretty much what the eye issue is. What I haven’t talked about at all are the mouth issues that have been going on for over a year now. Basically, if I talk for longer than ten minutes, my speech gets mushy and I can’t articulate the sounds of certain letters – Js, Gs, and Rs being the worst of it. I slur and can barely get the words to come out of my mouth. It’s why I was off my commentary game at the young people show – because the patter was long and so was the show. Once it starts happening, I have to shut up for a bit, then I’m fine again. At the young people show, only once did it start to happen and thankfully it was at the very last sentence in the section I was in. But I was so afraid of it, my timing just wasn’t as sharp as it normally is.
Thankfully, at the recent show, I kept the commentary sections very short, and I never had an issue at all. I began to think that the culprit may have been a mini-stroke or two. That scared me right down to my toes, because my father had several bad strokes – he didn’t die from them and he recovered, but it weakened his heart and that’s what did him in. So, I finally set up a Zoom call with my PCP to tell him exactly what was going on and get his opinions. I explained it all to him and my theory about mini strokes. But he said it didn’t sound like mini stroke – his opinion was that it sounded like Myasthenia Gravis. Ironically, my ophthalmologist had floated that at my first meeting, which is why I did the CAT scan. Nothing showed up there. So, I went in and did a blood draw specifically for Myasthenia Gravis. That came back a few days later with such cherce words as “HIGH” and “ABNORMAL.” So, he referred me to a Cedars neurologist. I go the first appointment they had, which was October 30 even though it was marked as urgent. But they put me on a waiting list for cancellations and yesterday I got a new appointment a month from now. I read up on Myasthenia Gravis only to find there is no cure for it. But they have medication that can tame it and help.
At the Kritzerland show, Kerry told me that her father has it and that the four pills he’s on have really not only helped but alleviated all his eye and mouth issues – the same exact ones I have. So, that was reassuring. She sent me the names of the pills. Yesterday, I saw the eye guy and he was not surprised by any of it, which is why he veered away from doing an operation. So, he prescribed the first of the pills I’ll take, which will help with the droopy eyelid and keeping my eye open. I picked that up last night and I’ll start it tomorrow morning – three a day, five hours apart, with food. Then they’ll prescribe prednisone for the mouth issues – I’ve taken it before and I’m fine with it. And not only will it help with those issues, it will also knock any and all allergies right the HELL out. Then the final two pills have to be prescribed by the neurologist. So, that’s what I’ve been dealing with. Scary stuff, but I feel heartened about the medication.
So, to wrap up yesterday, I got seven hours of sleep, worked with Doug on the page and finally got it to work, had my appointment, drove back to the Valley, did an ATM visit, and came home. Then I announced the book on our discussion board, sent out the eBlast, put it on Facebook and also made a page for the book and I’ll keep that very active. I’ll do some Facebook ads for this one. I also posted it to various groups, including a Sherman Brothers group. I sent out my own eBlast, too. I didn’t watch anything, other than a few irritating YouTube videos. Oh, for food I had fried catfish – not from my usual jernt – but a good alternative jernt closer to me.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll relax, shave, shower, and then Barry Pearl is picking me up at four-thirty and we’ll eat somewhere, then see a play.
Tomorrow, I’ll start on the medication and otherwise relax and hopefully get lots of orders.
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, relax, shave, have dinner with Barry Pearl, and see a play. Today’s topic of discussion: Health. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have finally done the big reveal times two.