Saturday was as productive as hoped, and my reward was the final concert of Springfield Classical Guitar Society which featured the first vocal/guitar duet in their ten year history. Chanson du Soir, David Isaacs, guitar and Chelsea Camille, soprano gave the most vivacious SCGS concert I’ve attended. A competent vocalist with stage smarts, Camille toucheds folks in the back row as a solo or guitar duo simply cannot. David Isaacs gave a textbook lesson for the role of a guitarist accompanist with arrangements that harmonized with the vocalized melodies without aping them and without intruding. It was a first class concert from start to finish, and I’m glad I attended. An exiting, smiling attendee proclained “Each was better than the other!” (Thank you Mr. Berra.) I took pictures of course. Look for them at my Classical 6 Images web site in about three weeks if I last that long. I will also post a review of their duo CD. I expect that without the slightly muddling acoustics of Saturday night’s performance venue — a natural occurrence with a strong voice well delivered rattles around in a place as large as First Presbyterian downtown — the CD will be an excellent listen.
Of course I won’t have time for picture posting and reviewing until THE BOOK has been delivered to the publisher. When I began writing picture captions Saturday morning, I was determined to progress as far into the second half of the 204 pictures as I could before cleaning up for the concert. I even delayed lunch until I had passed the half-way mark about 3p. It didn’t help that I had misplaced resources I had brought into the office months ago: files from the basement I should have (in retrospect) left alone until I really needed them. It took me 35 miuntes of looking through piles of papers to find a critical file. All for naught; I couldn’t find it. So I changed my approach to the caption, and that saved the picture; otherwise I’d have had to substitute another picture, and at this stage of the game, muchacos y muchachas, I yam in no mood for no stinking substitutions! Other pictures took less time to caption. By the end of the day, I had 110 captions in the bag.
I’m getting into the pictures I and living friends/acquaintances have taken, familiar material, and even though I expect to post this blog, grab a lite lunch and begin today’s captioning by 1p today, I do not intend to quit until I’ve completed another 50, and that will leave me with less than 50 tomorrow to complete the captioning part of the process. No TV tonight before 10p. My esteemed editor wants the caption text sent to him ASAP, so with lucl, he will have the file by late Monday.
I have promised him that I will not accept any subsitute teaching assignments during the week ahead. My day in court for driving without my paid car insurance card in the car, is behind me. The judge was kind: no fine, no jail and the whole process from leaving the house to returning took less than an hour. I had two days substituting last week. I WISH I COULD GO IF THEY CALL ME THIS WEEK, but a promise is a promise. Arcadia has been patient with me. So I OWE them. It’s a matter of self respect, and if I have to eat those fripping Ramen noodles one week running (I will always have crunchy Peter Pan and bread for lunch) at least I will eat.
After I finish the captions, the easiest part of the book begins: writing five short (one page,350 word max) chapters and an introduction. Those will be so easy I could do them with one arm tied behind my back.
Look for another posing here in about four days. I will tell you how things went.
Thanks for reading this.
Live long . . . . . and proper.
