Well, dear readers, I’m sad to report that my brother, Joel Kimmel, three years my senior, passed away peacefully on Wednesday night at 9:30, just as we were doing the final few songs at Kritzerland. His son David texted me yesterday with the news. He’d written me a month ago to tell me he’d been having health issues and had been diagnosed with a carcinoma on his right lung – the leading cause of that sort of thing is, they say, smoking, and even though he’d quite smoking long ago, many, many years of two and three packs a day can, I suppose, cause those problems, although I know little about all that. He refused to do chemo and that I understood completely. Instead, he tried immunotherapy, which is, I guess, some kind of natural treatment. He was in good spirits and felt hopeful. I’m glad he went peacefully. Anyone who’s read Benjamin Kritzer knows that my brother and I had a not very fun relationship throughout my childhood and into my teen years. But then in the early 1970s we got past all that crap and had a better time of it. By that time, he was writing songs, doing corporate videos and even trying his hand at directing a short video, which he asked me to be in and I, of course, said yes. He had two kids by his first wife, Carol, and we saw them all every now and then, his kids and my Darling Daughter and then-wife. He eventually moved out of California, finally ending up in Hawaii for many years. He’d come to visit every now and then and he’d frequently spend the night in whatever house I was in. Last year, when he came to visit, we ended up driving around the old neighborhood and reminiscing, and that was fun. He continued not only to write songs but do whole albums, which he’d send me. He really liked the Kritzer books and even though I was truthful about the childhood friction, he thought I was actually nice about it all and let him off the hook. But back then, our family was simply and classically dysfunctional in many ways. He did a lot of LSD during the heyday of LSD – I mean, in those ways we were polar opposites – and then went to India quite a few times and was very into all that. Anyway, I’m grateful we had a nice lunch, which I thought was earlier this year, but apparently was last year – with cousins Dee Dee and Alan and others over at Shanghai Rose. Anyway, RIP brother Joel. Here we are as youngsters.

And here we all are at our last lunch together.

Yesterday was just a weird day – only got three or four hours of sleep and was up pretty early. I never sleep well after a Kritzerland show – I’m too “up” if you know what I mean, and I know you do. I basically did nothing but follow along on a book auction, being amused at the stupidity of some bidders. We’re still struggling to get this new PayPal integration thing to work and I’m hoping we will this morning before I leave for the eye doctor. I had some clam chowder and a kid’s personal pizza from BJ’s – the chowder was good, the pizza, not so much and I didn’t eat all that much of it. Then I got the news about my brother, so I spent some time pondering that. Then I had a couple of telephonic conversations, then dozed off on the couch for an hour or so.

Then I watched a movie entitled A Stranger Among Us, starring Melanie Griffith as a cop. One can imagine the pitch for the film: It’s like Witness but with Jews. Yep, except Witness is great and A Stranger Among Us is a travesty from start to finish. Sidney Lumet, who has made some amazing movies, comes a cropper in this dud – it could not be worse. The plotting has none of the cleverness of Witness, and the cop’s reason for going to live among the Orthodox Jews is so random it’s laughable. Especially with her 90s hair. I always say that casting is everything – unfortunately, Melanie Griffith is just about the last person who should have been cast in this. She’s completely unbelievable as a cop and the character is ludicrous, but then again, so is the entire film. There’s a mystery, of course, but the final revelation of whodunit is so stupid and perfunctory. I didn’t even recognize one James Gandolfini, whose first credited film role this was. And then, having cast a lead who is completely wrong, Lumet also makes a huge error by having the score written by Broadway composer, Jerry Bock – hey, he wrote Fiddler, he’s perfect for a movie about Jews. It’s a mystery – but what we get is jaunty and completely inappropriate klezmer music. Just ludicrous. Truly awful in every way and therefore not highly recommended by me unless it’s of interest to see a sometimes-great director go completely off the rails.

After that, I had a couple of ham sandwiches and here we are. Oh, I promised some Kritzerland photos, but I’ll hold those for tomorrow except for this photo of dear Elizabeth Sherman and me.

Today, I’ll be up by ten and will spend some time with Doug trying to get the new integration to work. We have to solve this and solve it now. Then I’ll have my eye doctor appointment and hope that traffic over the hill isn’t too bad at one o’clock. It may be bad coming home, but hopefully not too much so. I’ll stop at the mail place, do a quick bank ATM visit, then come home. I’ll eat something fun, and then watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow night, I got invited to see a play in the Hills of Beverly and will have a nice meal prior to that. Not sure what I’ll do on Sunday. Then hopefully I’ll have the galley and covers to approve early in the week.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, try to get the new PayPal integration working and hopefully succeed, have an eye doctor appointment, stop at the mail place and ATM, come home, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray/streaming player? I’ll start – nothing. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, wishing my brother Joel’s soul a peaceful heavenly journey.