beautiful, funny, sad & true

Tonight is the play!

Very exciting! Last night I went straight from work to rehearsal, by way of home to grab the cello, accordion and toy piano. Rehearsal was scheduled for 6:00, but since I went the ‘smart’ way this time, instead of the rush-hour freeways, I actually made it there by 5:30. So many people were late or stuck in traffic, however, that we ended up starting at 7:00 instead.

We ran through the entire program twice, stopping occasionally to work out a blocking issue or a scene transition. I’m set up behind the curtain at the back of the stage, and I’m hanging out there pretty much the entire time, rearranging instruments and figuring out what I’m going to play for the upcoming scene. I’m pretty much improvising the music between scenes, but not for the plays that I’m actually in. Those two are pretty loose, but I do tend to play the same thing, because we needed to have everything match.

So we got through with the second run-through at 11:20, and the theater’s alarm goes off at 11:30, so we had to scramble to get clothes changed and get out of there before that happened. I got home about midnight, completely exhausted. Woke up early this morning and instantly had to do two loads of laundry, because all of my good black clothes were dirty.

It’s a sunny and beautiful day in Portland today, so I took the opportunity to wash my poor, dirty little car. It’s actually red again now. If I had more time I’d vacuum it too, but I need to relax, get cleaned up and head out to get set up for the show. I’m really looking forward to it, on its own, but there will also be a ton of friends coming, some of whom I haven’t seen for quite a while, so it promises to be an extra-super-mega-wonderful evening.

Oh yeah. . .there have been lots of people taking pictures throughout the process, so I imagine that I’ll be able to get my hands on some and post them on here before too long.

OneYearAgo

Life may imitate art, but dreams also imitate life sometimes too.

Last night, I dreamt that I was rehearsing for the play, and that it was completely chaotic, and nobody–myself included–seemed to know what was happening. So it was pretty much like last night’s tech rehearsal.

From there, the dream changed its location to a dusty basement, full of Tossed In and all the other actors. It seems we had thrown a party recently, but not cleaned up after it, so we were walking around in this basement looking at all of the stuff we’d left behind. Barbecue with the charred remains of animal of undetermined species, various dishes, cooking pots, wine bottles, everything was all over the place. Tossed In told me that if I could make a list of all the stuff that was down there, that would be great “because then we can delegate” people to clean it all up. “Okay,” I said, “but I won’t have any time to do it until after Saturday [when the play is over].”

Then I had an almost completely unrelated dream, in which I’m lying on the sofa in the same basement (the relation to the other dream stops there) cuddling with an ex-girlfriend who will remain nameless here. (It’s probably not who you think.) We’re not really doing anything, but my hand is underneath her shirt. We’re lying there silently for quite a while, when she gets up abruptly and says, “I don’t think so.” I make apologies, but she leaves. I stay on the sofa alone for a long time after that, feeling uncomfortable and remorseful.

It’s safe to say that last night wasn’t the most restful night I’ve ever had.

This month is effing crazy.

First twelve days of the month, I have only one day with nothing extracurricular planned. Then I have a few blissful days of nothing–besides work, that is–before the craziness starts in again. From the 16th on, I have only four ‘me’ days.

It’s like, play rehearsal, play rehearsal, gig, play rehearsal, play rehearsal, actual play, nothingnothingnothing, gig, out of town to mix a CD, friend’s birthday, gig, gig, gig, out of town to be best man in friend’s wedding, nothingnothingnothing.

So that’s why I’ve been a little more scarce lately. I’ve been traveling at close to light speed for this whole month.

OneYearAgo

Tonight I spent an hour on the phone with a great friend who took a very big and gutsy step recently. I choose to say no more about it, but it took great courage to step up and do what he did, and I for one appreciate it whole-heartedly.

What a day this has been. After such a winter-storm-filled weekend, the weather was beautiful, so I didn’t really notice how stressful the day at work was. Went to lunch at CheapGoodMexicanRestaurant with a co-worker friend, and ran into the guy who engineered one of my recent drum recording sessions with Sarah. Not ShinsEngineer, but the other guy. Really nice guy, and since I hadn’t seen him since we did the recording session, it was really great to run into him again.

Sorry if this entry seems a bit cryptic, but I did just want to check in before I head out to rehearse for the play. Incidentally, here’s the flyer for said play:

I know I’ve said it before, but I’m incredibly honored to be a part of this production. It’s hilarious and touching and strange, and I just love it. I’m completely impressed with the people who are creating it, and at the same time, I’m glad to be able to be a part of it, too.

If you’d like to be there, contact me by any means necessary, and I’ll put you in touch with the people you need to be in touch with to get a ticket. They’re a mere ten dollars each. I try not to invite people to every single thing I do, but this one is so unusual–and so great–that if you enjoy what I do, and certainly if you’re a friend of mine, I can pretty much guarantee you that you will have a great time at this show.

This won’t be the last time you’ll hear about it. You will be reminded.

Oh yeah. . .just this second, I remembered that it was April Fools’ Day.

Hunh.

Well.

I don’t know what else to say about that, except that I didn’t get tricked today, and I also have to leave for rehearsal right now. Talk to you soon!

My head hurts from laughing so hard.

Just got home from rehearsal for the plays. I say ‘plays’ because in about a month, we’re going to be having a night of six short plays, for your pleasure.

I say ‘we’ because I will actually be playing accordion and piano (and maybe cello or something) as incidental music between the acts, actual music for one of the actual plays, and I’m actually playing the actual accordion in one of the actual plays (in which I even have an actual speaking line!).

I say ‘pleasure’ because that is the feeling you will be overwhelmed by if you come to see this show. Allow me to elucidate.

There are six plays in this particular show:

One–written by a member of the reading group–involves a writer’s struggle to create; one explores the nature of how much information is too much to share with a new love; one is a touching story of a father and a son; one–written by another member of the reading group–explores the nature of predator and prey, and involves both goldfish and marijuana; one is the story of the hijinks that ensue when staunchly feminist Amazon women encounter a handsome male ‘diplomat’ in the jungle; and the play I’m in is the story of a girl who wears a coat that’s made out of meat.

If all of this doesn’t sound enticing to you, then gawd help you. I’m honored and thrilled to be a part of this production. I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that this is Theatah At Its Finest. The show will be on April 12th, and costs a mere ten dollars. Contact me by any means necessary if you’d like to come. If you leave a comment here on BFST, I’ll have your e-mail address.

And now I’m home, eating dinner and enjoying what I like to call a Crash Day, where I stay home and completely unwind after an insanely busy couple of weeks of work, rehearsals, gigs, and socializing. Special thanks to Maddy for making the trek down from Seattle to come to the awesome Stephanie gig last night, and for bringing me some DVD’s of a show I’ve been wanting to see for a year.

And now it’s time to start watching said DVD’s of said show. The Crash begins now.

Oh, and hey. . .here’s the first actual incarnation of OneYearAgo!