Bloggin' On: Musings and Updates for January 9, 2020

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© 2013 Great Voices Film Company and CDK Films/CDK Productions



Hi, there, Constant Reader, and welcome to another edition of Bloggin' On, the reviews-and-politics free zone of A Certain Point of View where I talk about this, that, and the other things in life. Today is Thursday, January 9, 2020, and as I write this in my corner of Florida it's a cloudy early winter morning. Right now, the temperature outside is 64℉ (18℃) under mostly cloudy skies. We're beginning a warming trend: the high for today is expected to reach 76℉ (24℃), while the rest of the day might be a bit less gray and somewhat sunnier.

According to the latest information from the U.S. Postal Service, my Blu-ray of Great Voices Sing John Denver will be arriving sometime between 1 and 3 PM today. It was shipped from Los Angeles late last week, and it reached this section of the Sunshine State late Tuesday night. Because the main distribution center is nearly 25 miles away, and because it handles many thousands of packages daily, my Blu-ray only arrived at my local Post Office early this morning.

The important thing, though, is that at some point this afternoon I will be watching Great Voices Sing John Denver, which was written and directed by Kenneth Shapiro and appears to be more of a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the tribute album rather than a concert film. I'm basing my supposition on the film's summary on its Internet Movie Database (IMDb) page.

To wit:

John Denver and opera fans alike have something to look forward to as we go behind the scenes of the creation of the new CD called 'Great Voices Sing John Denver'. Legendary music producer, Milton Okun along with arranger and conductor Lee Holdridge, bring some of the most famous names in opera to sing John Denver's famous hit songs. Featured artists include Placido Domingo, Danielle de Niese, Matthew Polenzani (singing in English and Italian) Patricia Racette, Rene Pape, Nathan Gunn, Dolora Zajick, Thomas Hampson, Rod Gilfry, Denyce Graves, Shenyang (singing in English and Mandarin) Daniel Montenegro, Placido Domingo Jr., Stuart Skelton and Barbara Padilla. Each artist got to select the song they wanted and share with us their reasons.


As a screenwriter and movie buff (not to mention "John Denver and classical music aficionado"), I don't mind that the film (which has won several film festival awards since its release in 2013) is a "making-of" documentary, but I'm still hoping to see at least a few full-on performances by some of the featured singers. After all, the album (which I finally decided to buy in its MP3 edition because the CD is out of print and third-party sellers on Amazon are asking upward of $700 for a used copy) has a running time of one hour and eight minutes, while the film clocks in at 90 minutes.

Maybe it's a vain hope, but a guy can hope, right?

And speaking of screenwriting...

Things are going well with Happy Days Are Here Again, the short comedy-drama about contemporary politics in America that I wrote for my friend Juan Carlos Hernandez. Juan and I met over 30 years ago when we both signed up for drama class at South Miami High. We became fast friends and kept in touch, even though I haven't seen Juan (who is now a New York City-based actor and director) since he went off to study acting in college in 1989.

Anyhow, Juan remembered that I am a writer and film reviewer, so he decided to give me my first break as a screenwriter and asked me to write a few short films last year. Since March of 2019, we've collaborated on three projects, of which Happy Days Are Here Again is the third and latest. (The first one was A Simple Ad, which I wrote solo; the second was Clown 345, to which I contributed the second act)

In brief, Juan reports that most of the scenes that require a lot of acting are done; yesterday he shot some exteriors in NYC; I'm assuming he filmed footage in the Riverside section of Manhattan, which is not far from Central Park. He told me, via text, that he had some issues with the camera, but he overcame them and he got most of what he wanted.

I suppose that now the film will go into the editing and post-production phase; Juan said he has to digitally correct the lighting, and then he and his wife Adria (who is our producer) will then do the sound mix, add the score, and assemble the movie into its final, viewable version. Once that process is complete, they'll upload it to YouTube.

Well, Constant Reader, that's all the news that I have to share today. I'm going to go to the kitchen and fix myself some breakfast, then get on with my daily routine.

Source: Great Voices Sing John Denver Internet Database page (Summary)

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