RECAP

I have to catch you all up on so much! And since there is so much I'm gonna try to keep things simple and to the point.

Let's start where we left off...

MEMPHIS

Before I left for the big DC Equity Liaison audition I did a bit of sight-seeing in Memphis. One of the coolest trips we made was to Graceland, the home of Elvis. I have about a zillion pics I could put up on here but I'm just gonna pic my ten favorite. If you wanna see more just let me know!

Here's Graceland...Elvis' subtly decorated living room...The bedroom. Please note the purple bed spread...This is his downstairs lounge area. There were a bunch of different TV's in there so he could watch different shows at the same time. My favorite part of the whole room was the random white monkey on the table... During my sophomore year of college at Boston Conservatory we had a section in Musical Theater class where we had to learn to sing 50's style. I sang Elvis' first #1 pop hit Heartbreak Hotel!HYSTERIA!!!This was my favorite pic in the entire gallery. I love how into his performance he seems. And look at the kids sitting onstage with him...oblivious to the fact that he's gonna be HUGE!GRAMMYS!GIRLS!Tigers?All in all, Graceland was an informative, exciting, and ultimately sad experience.

SUN STUDIO

Another trip we took while in Memphis was to Sun Studio, the birthplace of Rock and Roll and home to the "Million Dollar Quartet". The "Million Dollar Quartet" is Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.I can't quite remember since it's been so long but I'm pretty sure Memphis Recording Service was the first name of Sun Studio. The reason it was changed to Sun Studio was to invoke feelings of a new beginning and new possibilities...I think...U2 recorded their album "Rattle and Hum" at Sun Studios! Here's Bono apparently wooing a microphone...This is the AKAI 12 track recorder/console that the U2 album was recorded on...Not quite sure who signed this but I like what he wrote. "On and on, on the beat goes, on and on, on the beat goes! ON and ON!" Sorry...just had to throw in a Madonna song there.B.B. King's chair!See the newspaper stuffed in this speaker? That's how distortion was created!This is the actual studio where bands come to record today...The Man in Black.This is the spot where Elvis stood while he recorded at Sun Studio...And here I am doing my best Elvis impersonation...
MARCH OF THE DUCKS

Across the street from our Memphis hotel was The Peabody Hotel. At 11am every morning there is a fanfare at The Peabody and a line of ducks march from the elevators into a fountain which stands at the center of the hotel. They stay there all day, wading and preening, until 5pm when they are marched back up to their fancy digs at the top of the hotel.I watched them strut their stuff back into the elevators at 5pm but was only able to capture this lousy shot...As soon as they started waddling toward the elevators there was a huge commotion. I would say the ducks get about 50-100 spectators every time they march. People bum-rushed these ducks like they were Paris Hilton, Oprah, Madonna, Obama, and Beyonce combined...for real. Those aren't ducks...they're celebrities. It you wanna knows more go to www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody_ducks.

KARAOKE!

The first night we were in Memphis, Carolyn, Eric, Rudy and I went out to Beale Street. It's basically THE place to go party in Memphis. We first stopped at a bar where there was a real blues band rocking out. It was pretty great to see. It put us right in the Memphis mood...as did the enormous cups of beer they served there.See Rudy's cup? HUGE. We then went to another bar right next door where Carolyn forced me to dance with her after she bought me a jaeger bomb...yikes. The dancing was crazy fun, though!Please take note of Carolyn's red shoes. PUMPS. Yes, please, thank you. And look at this pic...we could almost pass for a couple...almost...well, no, not really...The best part of the whole evening was when we all decided to hit up a karaoke bar. I, for some ridiculous reason, chose to sing Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walkin'. Surprisingly enough, though, it was quite a hit! Carolyn belted Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood. In the middle of her song some drunken girl tried to come up and sing with her. Carolyn most definitely shooed her offstage...it was classic. Here she is belting away...
INDIANAPOLIS CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

On our way to some random place in the Midwest (Illinois maybe?) we got slammed by a snowstorm. Therefore, we had to take a detour to a Hampton Inn very near Indianapolis. Luckily, one of the best Childrens Museums in the US is in Indianapolis. Margo, Kevin, and I decided to revisit our childhoods and headed off for some great entertainment. Again, I took about a million photos so I'm gonna try to keep it simple here.

In the middle of the museum was a huge blown glass sculpture...Right underneath it was a see through ceiling where you could lie down on a revolving chair and stare up at an array of blown glass objects. Here's a little bit of it, pretty cool...See that cupid riding a turtle? It's called a Putti!Next, we choo-chooed (yup, I said it) into a train exhibit. There were miniature trains everywhere. There was even a little landsacpe that you could crawl into to get a better view of the trains going by. After the trains we headed into the dinosaur section where I was hatched...The dinosaurs then led us into the creepy Egyptian section which was filled with mummies. You could spell your name out in hieroglyphics which was pretty cool!After the mummies we explored the comic exhibition. They had Superman's original cape from the first two Superman movies!And Scooby!And this. Where can I get a pair of these..?An Aliens comic book? Really? Next to a BOB HOPE comic? Is this really necessary?!
Ok, there's a lot more to tell but I'm getting tired. I'll have to finish the recap later!

Bye for now!

I have no words to describe my happiness...

I can't imagine why I didn't blog about this ages ago.

So guess what everyone...

MY SISTER GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all for now.

Love you all :)

Happy Friday the 13th!

Watch out for machete wielding maniacs!

Hi!

Well, it's official. I'm terrible at this. TERRIBLE I say.

Sorry (yet again) that I have left you all without any blog entries. A lot has been going on.

A LOT.

In January I decided to travel to DC at the end of the month for the DC/Baltimore area Equity Liaison auditions. It's basically a big audition watched by a bunch of different theaters all at once. In other words, a great opportunity.

So, I bought myself a ticket to DC. A few weeks later I found myself in Memphis, TN. More on Memphis later. We were there for a good long while so a bunch of us did a lot of sight-seeing. It was pretty great. The day before our only show in Memphis, though, there was an ice storm warning in effect. The next day when I woke up I had received a text from our stage manager announcing that our show had been cancelled due to the storm. Now, even though this meant I got to sleep in a bit more, it was actually bad news to me. We hadn't done a show in awhile and the tech crew had basically set up our entire set for nothing. Boo.

Anyway, later that day I was trying to find a monologue for the upcoming audition when I received an email...an email which at the time I didn't realize was about to send me spiralling into a bottomless pit of misery. And I'm not exaggerating. The email informed the Tollbooth cast that our next shows in Paducah, KY had been cancelled due to the storms. Uh oh. This meant we wouldn't even be driving to Paducah. Um...I was supposed to fly out of Paducah for the audition.

Shit.

I immediately got on the phone to figure it all out.

Long story short (since I don't feel like revisiting the anguish) I was able to get a new flight but it took about 5 hours of phone time and a whole shitload of money.

I left that same day for DC which turned out to be really nice. I needed to just lay back and relax and I did just that. Also, Paul came down to see me. That was most definitely a plus.

AND I saw Sarah Palin. I swear. I was driving into DC to pick up Paul and I happened to see a woman walking across the street in the most bootiest heeliest bah-BOOTS I have seen in a long while. I noticed that she was being let into a fancy car by a very well put together driver. I happened to glance into her window as she happened to glance out...and we had a moment...a 3 second moment at most. And I saw her. Her face was done and I mean DONE. I got make-up on my face by just looking at her. We stared at each other for those 3 seconds and then I forced myself to look back at the road...I mean, I was driving. It was her. It was Sarah fuckin' Palin. And to be completely honest, she didn't look so bad. I found out later that she had in fact been in town for some sort of dinner or something like that.

Anyway, the audition went well. You only get three minutes to sing a song and do a monologue but thankfully I wasn't cut off. I sang the crap outta the song (Oh Darlin' by The Beatles) and was a little shaky with my monologue because I was nervous but I got it out and even made everyone in the room laugh a little.

So, that's that for now. I'll write soon about our exciting expeditions in Memphis.

But for now I'll leave you with some absolutely RIDICULOUS videos. Hopefully they'll make you laugh a bit.

Both of these are from a Brazilian TV show. This bit out of the show is called Camera Escondida (Hidden Camera). All I can say about this first one is that I would probably pass out if this ever happened to me. From what I can understand the guys who are talking are saying that so far they've caught three snakes just to spook the guys who come in to use the bathroom. Little do these guys know that they are about to get a whole hell of a lot more spooked...


In this next one the guys are being told that they need to go set an alarm in this cemetery while their boss goes to have some dinner. If THIS ever happened to me I am quite certain I would fully pee my pants...


Bye!

Wisconsin!

Yes yes I know. I've been gone too long AGAIN! The reason I haven't been writing much is because for the past month I have been freezing my damn ass off. It was too cold to write, ok? That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

So, we're back on the road. We started off in Wausau, Wisconsin which was equal parts thrilling and horrid.We really were spoiled by starting our tour in Florida. I'm guessing that throwing us into Wisconsin in January was the Kennedy Center's way of saying "Welcome back and hold onto your butts!" Well, we most definitely got the message. It was exciting to be back on the road but we hit a few challenges right from the get go.

We planned a lovely free cross-country skiing trip which a bunch of us were really excited about. It was a night trip so it was gonna be especially beautiful...and cold. So, we got ourselves bundled up and headed out in Big Red (one of our vans) for an adventure. Little did we know we'd actually get an adventure. Our GPS led us out into the country and onto some random dirt road which, since it's January, was a snow road. As we were driving we noticed a big lit lodge to our right but our GPS told us to keep going. A few minutes later she exclaimed "You have arrived!"...but we were in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing around us but woods. We had, unfortunately, passed our destination. So, we tried to go back. It's not so easy to turn a huge ass van around, though. I suggested to Margo, who was driving, to drive a bit further and pull into a side road which would allow her to back out and turn around. Well, we definitely found a side road but as soon as we turned into it Big Red lost traction. Shit. We were stuck in the snow at night and it was freezing out. Dave got in the drivers seat and tried to rock the van back and forth but unfortunately we just got more stuck. Then, we tried various times to push the van out while someone reversed. Nope. We moved the van a good ten feet but the snow simply refused to let us go. Here's Dave trying to dig us out...And here's poor old Big Red. See where the tracks begin? That's how far we pushed her!What was worse than the fact that we were stuck in the snow was that we could see people skiing by us, cars drove past, Margo even called the lodge but no one would help us! Finally, we realized that someone was gonna have to go back and get someone from the lodge to pull us out. Margo volunteered so off she bravely went running in the dark woods with all the bears and monsters to find someone. She came back awhile later with a very nice man named John who threw some sand on the ground, chained our bumper up to his car, and pulled us right out.

Thanks John!

After Wausau we headed to Madison which was a lot more fun. I've been to Madison before and had a great time so I was happy to be back. Also, I was gonna get to see a teacher of mine from Interlochen, Amy Arntsen.

Our first night in Madison was a blast. A few of us went to a delicious restaurant called Old Fashioned. Then, we headed to a gay bar nearby called Shamrock. On the way, though, we stopped at another restaurant called Brocach for warm drinks. It may have been a short walk but we were freezing! Finally, after having warmed ourselves up a bit, we arrived at Shamrock. It was a weeknight so the crowd was pretty tame. That didn't stop me from hitting up the jukebox! Here's Kevin giving it up...And here I am being ridiculous yet again. I'm guessing Madonna was on. And please observe Carolyn's curious gaze. Is that judgement I see in those eyes?This image sums up the clientele of Shamrock pretty well...There's enough for everyone boys!

Yikes.

Anyway, the next day Margo and I ventured into downtown Madison for some sightseeing. We stopped at a museum to check out an exhibit called Odd Wisconsin. Lemme tell you...it was odd.Here are a few things that I found particularly interesting.

Harry Houdini is from Wisconsin. Here's some of his escape stuff!Old fashioned amputation tools. Ew. And ouch...This rock and note are pretty crazy. Click on the picks to read all about it.Isn't this an amazing picture?This? Not so amazing. Apparently people used to use skunk grease like we use Vick's Vapo-Rub today...Old toast? Gross.This is an Adolf Hitler piggy bank which squeals when you put money in it. Now that's odd...This is CRAZY! It's an ad for the auction of Ed Gein's farm. Ed Gein was the killer who inspired Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence Of The Lambs...And now for something a bit lighter in its loafers. Liberace's jacket...Creepy...Apparently this is the greatest prank in college history. Filling a lawn full of pink flamingos. Seems like a big waste of time to me...Paper dress...Bra flag!There was a whole section on women's rights. I found this picture particularly ridiculous...Margo stopped for a quick fake drink at the fake bar. Looking at odd stuff is exhausting...
After our odd excursion we headed to the Capitol...Beautiful! Inside it was even more beautiful, especially since it was so quiet and there was no one around forcing you to join some sort of tour. Margo and I headed for the very center on the building where the acoustics were incredible. Everything was echoed right back at you. Here's the view looking up from the very middle of the Capitol...These paintings surrounded the ceiling. Government...Justice...Legislation...Liberty...
After our visit at the Capitol, Margo and I headed back to our hotel. But not before we stopped at a cheese shop for the obligatory Wisconsin cheesehead shot...
The highlight of my trip to Madison was most definitely having dinner at Amy Arntsen's house. Amy taught at Interlochen when I went there and recently moved back to Madison, her hometown. She was nice enough to have me, Kevin, and Margo over for dinner at her cute house she just bought near Madison. After showing us around her house, she treated us to a wonderful home cooked meal complete with stiff drinks (a true Wiscon tradition!), a variety of cheeses, a delicious coq au vin for everyone but me (yup, still a vegetarian), and some amazing Culver's ice cream. It was great. AND she brought out a bunch of Interlochen yearbooks which were pretty hilarious to look through. Thank again Amy :)
Our final excursion in Madison was to a great little theatre downtown to watch Synecdoche, New York. The movie started our promising enough. We all thought it was absolutely hilarious. Plus it was filled with great actors such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, and Dianne Wiest. But somewhere in there it took a very strange turn and left us all a little baffled. I don't think we really got it. Oh well. Here's the theater which, of course, was FREEZING.And here are Carolyn and Kevin, most definitely confused by the movie...
The next day we did a few shows, one of which was attended by Amy. I get so nervous when I know people in the audience but she seemed to really like the show so I'm guessing that means I didn't mess up! Woo! After the show I walked Amy back to where she was parked and she made me insanely jealous by informing me that she was gonna go to a roller-derby that evening. She sent me a message later that week telling me all about the insanity. All I gotta say is that if you get the chance to go to a roller derby...GO!

Oh, and by the way...during our first show one of the charming children in the audience threw a dreidel at us. A DREIDEL.

We left Madison that afternoon and drove straight into -30 degree weather. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went from Madison to Appleton, and then from Appleton to Eau Claire where it was SO FUCKING COLD I COULDN'T BREATHE. Pardon my language...but it was cold enough to justify it. And seriously, I couldn't breathe. We had two shows in Eau Claire but one was cancelled because of the cold. There was a wind chill advisory of something like -50 below. That's not funny. That's not even ridiculous. Not even preposterous. That's LUDICROUS. Unfortunately, we still had to do one show for about 30 kids and the heating in the theatre was not really doing it's job. We were all bundled up like crazy. Poor Carolyn, she's actualy allergic to the cold. I'm not even kidding. She was in quite a bit of pain.

After Wisconsin we made short stops through Minnesota, Illinois, and Missouri. By the way, while in Illinois we all decided to donate blood on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I found out, however, that if you are gay you cannot donate blood. How outmoded is that? Honestly, it felt like a slap in the face. Like someone was unjustly labeling me and all gay people as irresponsible sluts. Maybe that's a little extreme. But I felt pretty damn hurt by it. Especially while I had to wait in the blood center lobby like a reject.

Thankfully, Margo brought me a heart shaped twinkie treat after she was done giving blood. It made me feel better. But seriously, this is something that must be changed.

Which leads to the highlight of this blog entry. Barack Obama is now our president and I couldn't be happier. I'm incredibly eager to see where he takes us and what changes will come.

That's all for now. We're now in Meridian, MS where it will be 62 degrees tomorrow. Thank God! On Friday it'll be 72 degrees. It's practically summer down here.

LADY GAGA

No, I have not abandoned you all yet again! I'm still here, there is just so much going on. We have been stuck in the frozen tundra that is Wisconsin for about two weeks. There have been great times...and there have been some pretty shitty times. No lies. But that all requires a much more extensive blog entry! I promise I will write it very very soon.

But I have other things on my mind right now. I discovered Lady GaGa awhile ago and thought nothing much of her. I liked her eccentric outfits and her crazy ass hair but her song Just Dance never really grew on me. Instead, I downloaded her song Poker Face which is a really great track. A few days ago we were all stopped at a gas station and I heard a quick snippet of Just Dance on the radio and actually really kinda liked it. So, as soon as we got to our next hotel I downloaded the song. It's pretty fun! She's a racy, in your face, expressive sort of artist. My kind of artist, if you know what I mean. AND she apparently wrote all the songs on her new album The Fame. Not just the lyrics but the melodies, too. AND she did the whole performing in NYC bars and clubs to get herself going...just like another one of my other favorite artists. She created her own persona, she wasn't created by some record label.

Anyway...she's growing on me.

Here's her video for Poker Face...


And here she is playing the piano and jazzing up Poker Face. Pretty impressive, right?


Bye for now.

2009

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!

Please forgive me for being gone so long. The first half of tour ended right before Thanksgiving and for some reason I decided to take a bit of a break from blogging. A lot has happened! Hopefully I'll be able to catch you all up on everything from the past month and a half.

But right now I'm a bit tired...and a bit sad. I'm not gonna get to see Paul or my family for four months so I'm a bit down in the dumps. But the fact that I'm gonna get to travel to places I've never been before definitely cheers me up.

Anyway, we've been driving all damn day so I think it's time for bed. But I obviously wouldn't leave you without something fun! I just came across this video of Beyonce singing The Way We Were for Barbra Streisand at The Kennedy Center Honors event. How fitting, right? I work for the Kennedy Center and I love both Beyonce and Barbra! Enjoy!



Good night!