I-75 Offers Only the Runs

Mother Nature, GA and KY

I spent Wednesday and Thursday this week enjoying Mother Nature. On our day off, the whole gang went to Fort Mountain State Park near Dalton, GA and went up a mountain road. The views off the lookout were breathtaking - and I snapped some pictures which I will add as soon as I get on my own computer. It was a wonderfully warm day and fun was had by all.

Thursday, in Bowling Green, KY, we trekked underground to the Lost River Cave and Valley. It was my first time in a cave, on a little boat underground with low ceilings... we had to duck down in the boat, almost fetal position, to fit underneath the low rock. It was awesome - stagalmites, bats, rocks, water. Jesse James hid out in that cave once. Of course, I forgot my camera that day.

Days off are nice, too. This weekend we have completely free, and I've spent the beginnings of it sleeping, eating and paying my overdue bills on the internet. I finally figured out BillPay, a service my mom has been using forever but I haven't figured out until today. Crazy, no? You're the best, mom.

OH! And, I have had some job offers for the summer, which is excellent. And I have a vague idea of what last year's summerstock company is producing, and I'm going to try to go back there. Woo-hoo for working actors!

The Stories Begin: Week One on Tour

Yes, there had been some stressful days that first week on tour. After performances for children of varying ages (anywhere from three to sixteen) of varying audience counts (from sixty to nine hundred), the eight artists were tired and testy. Wednesday, all hell had broken loose. The trailer broke down and the group spent a much needed hour and a half at a trailer fix-it shop having the sway bars taken care of. Then, while stopping for gas, one of the passengers noticed a blue substance dripping slowly from behind the back wheel of the trailer.

"What now?" he exclaimed, only to find it was the bottle of laundry detergent that had spilled over everything on the ground level of the trailer. The other seven scurried out from the fifteen passenger van and began unabashedly cleaning and mopping and washing down everything in sight.

When the group finally arrived at the theatre that night, even more tired, testy and now four hours late, they completed load-in for the next morning's show and arrived at the hotel only to discover that fog solution had spilled out of the fog machine over some more luggage and props for a different show. It was a terrible day.

[Seen here, cleaning up the Tide. Below, a notice posted in a parking lot of a Kroger supermarket in Georgia.]

The Onion: A History Lesson

Apologies in the Passive Voice

A Million Little Pieces

James Frey is crazy. His A MILLION LITTLE PIECES has been quite the talk of the nation lately, that is, if you consider the OPRAH show the nation, which, coincidentally, many people do. Okay, lots of commas there, so in homage to James, maybe I'll write the rest of this post as if it were part of his book. Ready?

Spoilers ahead: okay so i read the book because i saw it in the store
and figured it would be fun to read. it was on the Best Seller List
at the Times and was sponsored by oprah so why not read it the book
the greatest book in the world right? Turns out well it was already
the fact but maybe it was just the first time the very first instance
that I (me -- a common man) would have the chance the opportunity the
option to decide for myself if it was in fact the greatest book in
the world. OK so I read it and the beginning maybe the first third
or one quarter of the book was good and exciting. I was interested to
read something so new so fresh and really so old-fashioned in style
like a diary like those exercises in writing class where you write
stream of consciousness. OK so that was fine and his characters were
fine and all.
And then there was that night he appeared on LARRY KING. And She
called in- her the Queen Her Majesty of Talk - Oprah. I read no i
heard about it the next day and still I continued to read the book
but maybe this was the cause for Me to think, Oh! i don't really like
this middle section. but then I fell in love with the way He wrote
about the end of the book the memoir as he called it the love affair
with the beautiful lilly. And then I finished it and read about
Lilly and her suicide on the final pages and almost cried myself to
sleep.
I almost cried myself to sleep.
Cry.
Think.
Wish.
Wonder.
And then i woke up and went to work and caught a few minutes of
television the Oprah show the nation as some people feel it to be.
And He was there James the Man who wrote the Book who caught Me by
surprise and She was lambasting him.
Attacking Him the Writer. Bashing. Killing. Punching. Finishing.
But it was fine because I had already finished the book and was
beginning the other one my new book my the Man in the White Suit. So
there.

Bits and Pieces

Lincoln Center is producing a new musical this spring based on Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA starring Phylicia Rashad, written by Michael John LaChiusa and directed by Graciela Daniele. See it and tell me about it... I won't be able to get there between February 11 and April 9. Damn.

LCT's other show from last season is out finally on CD: Dessa Rose. Buy it.

GREY'S ANATOMY is out on DVD this Valentine's Day. Get it.

Memoirs of a Geisha is beautifully done. Really a great film: see it.

Pictures coming soon, I promise.