:)

Well hello everyone. Where the hell have I been, you may ask...

A lot has been happening, folks. About 3-4 weeks ago The Phantom Tollbooth National Tour ended. Hanging out with my tour friends and enjoying my last bit of time on the road just seemed a little more important than blogging. I sincerely apologize.

But guess what...I'm back! Right after tour I headed home to MD for awhile for some quality family time. It was wonderful...different, but wonderful. I had gotten so used to being in a van all the time and having roommates and doing two shows a day that getting to sleep in my own bed and having almost absolutely nothing to do was a little weird for me. I was constantly trying to to find something to do (send an email, look up the next audition, go for a run) that I completely forgot that I was really supposed to be relaxing. But don't fret, after a few days at home I automatically found myself relaxing lazily on the couch while watching TV and eating...it was fabulous.

Then it was off to NYC!!! I'm proud to say that I was actually excited about being back in the big city. Usually I'd feel a little overwhelmed and jaded about coming back. This time I actually felt...hopeful? Yes, I guess you could say I did.

I hit the ground running. I had an appointment with a temp agency (which, honestly, I haven't followed through with just yet because I can't quite get myself to want to do temp work), I've been pounding the pavement and attending many auditions, and am basically trying to keep myself busy. So far so good.

To be completely honest, I feel a touch of the Jaded Jonny slipping back in. I suppose that's just because I've auditioned quite a few times since being back in the city and have had nary a callback. Ugh. It's the same story every time...I go in, sing, they say something like "You sound great, Jonathan" or "Very nice, Jonathan" or "Wow!" and I think to myself "Yes! Book it!"...and nothing happens. Shit. Even when I leave the audition room the people outside who are waiting in line to audition after me usually congratulate me on a great audition. Not gonna lie...I love it! But I kinda feel like saying "Why don't you go in there and tell them that." Yeah...that's Jaded Jonny sneaking out.

But don't be alarmed...I'm doing my best at keeping him contained. I'm still auditioning! And I've also been going to yoga again now that I'm back in the city. It keeps me pretty happy and relaxed. I've actually started taking Hot Yoga and I must say...it's fucking hard!!! Pardon my language. Seriously, though, I occasionally feel like I'm gonna fall on my ass and die throughout the class. I feel great afterward, though, so it all works out.

Also, some of you may not know that while on tour I've been writing songs. I actually set these songs to some fun dancey beats on my new laptop and set up a MySpace page for myself which actually led me to booking my first gig as a singer/songwriter!!! Who knew?!!! The gig was really fun. My two roommates Josie and Amanda (AKA Cocoa and Nilla J...their stage names) agreed to be my back up dancers and I must say they WORKED for me. For real. They worked it out. Unfortunately, though, the audience comprised of about 20 people tops...ha. But the owner of the club came up to me afterward and said he loved my performance and wanted me to come back on a Friday or Saturday night when the club was packed. Pretty cool, huh? I'll keep you all posted.

I guess that's all for now. I should do some final tour updating but that is gonna be one big mama of a job so forgive me for not doing it now.

Love you all, talk to you soon...

Jonny.

So...

Today, the 12th of April of 2009, Easter Sunday, I went to the Grand Canyon.

It was AMAZING. Simply amazing.

I took about 5, 268, 704 photos which I will share with you all very soon. But not today...I'm really tired.

I thought I should at least post a little something for you all since I've taken a bit of a writing hiatus, though. Here's a few fun videos for your entertainment!

This is Bizkit the sleep walking dog. I'm sure some of you may have already seen this. If not...get ready...


And here's David after the Dentist. I'm almost positive that you have all seen this...but it deserves another round!


And here's a little remix of poor David's dentist experience...wow...


And to top it all off...MADONNA! You all MUST watch this. No excuses. You'll love it.

Bye!

Watch this!!!

YAY!!!

Fooled Me Again, Honest Eyes

I cannot get enough of Lady GaGa. Watch this. It's called Fooled Me Again, Honest Eyes...

She is absolutely unabashedly bonkers. I LOVE her.

That's all :)

RECAP continued...

Can you believe I'm back so soon!!!!??? I can't!

Well, here I am. I simply must finish my recap. It goes a little something like this...

INDIANAPOLIS CHILDREN'S MUSEUM contd...

We're still in the comic book exhibition! One of the coolest displays they had was of one of the Batmobile's used in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. It's actually called a Tumbler.Here's a great drawing of Batman by a guy named Stuart Sayger...Here's a picture of Batman he drew as a 6 year old. I like this one better...I also found out that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started out as a joke. A joke?! I LOVED them as a kid!!!After the comics, Margo and Kevin hitched a ride to the Lego Castle exhibition...The Lego Castle exhibition was a smelly disaster of runaway children, helpless parents, the occasional Lego, Kevin, Margo, and me. Margo almost immediately made a friend. Here's one of the runaways...His parents came in soon after. The mama gave Margo the absolute worst look for fraternizing with her tot. Please...if Margo hadn't been there that kid coulda fallen off that damn throne. Kevin and I then took advantage of an amazing photo op. The Mathemagician and King Azaz...Surrounding the entire exhibition were random costumes which had been donated by a local theater. Pretty cool, right?Can you spot the ridiculousness in this pic? Bottom right...RUNAWAY CHILD!!!

We then came upon a little theater sort of thing where kids could don costumes and put on a play. This little girl was especially hilarious to me. She was fully wearing a horse...and FULLY in character...Before heading to the final exhibition we braved the fun house. Madness ensued...Here we are inside a kaleidoscope!Our final stop was the African-American heritage exhibition. Boogidy-Boogidy Style Shop??? Really?This was my favorite. You could sit at Sunday dinner with this family (which I'm pretty sure was made out of panty hose) and listen to Grandma (up there at the head of the table) giving a sermon. She kept yelling out, "When Jesus comes!"Here's Grandma again reading a storybook to her Granddaughter. Personally, I think she looks like Freddy Krueger...Ok, done with Indianapolis. Yay! NEXT!

SPRINGFIELD

Not much to say about Springfield (I don't even quite remember what state we were in) except for our night out at a dueling pianos bar. I got some nice pics of everyone...Dance!Dance!Dance!Carolyn's bonkers...As am I.Fabulousness...There was a hot guy who doubled as a drummer and emcee. He turned out to be kind of a douchebag, though. Don't they always? He was hitting on Carolyn, Margo, Lindsay, the girls sitting behind us, the homeless lady outside...everyone. And he played the drums blindfolded...oh buoy...He asked me to come up later and serenade some random girl on her birthday along with some other guys. I happily agreed. See?Carolyn got up later and sang a duet with one of the piano players. The girl playing the other piano was not so pleased. Especially when she discovered that Carolyn can actually sing. Here's Carolyn belting away...And here's Mr. Drummer Man thinking, "Wow. She can sing. Hmm..."The next day we all went mini-golfing but I only got one pic. It was a good time, though!And that was that for Springfield!

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

Lincoln was actually a pretty good time! Last time I was there we were stuck out in the middle of nowhere for a week so it got old really fast. This time around Jeffery, Kevin, Lindsay, Eric and I decided to go out on a bar-hopping extravaganza! We started out at this great place called Barrymore's which is actually an old theater! If you looked up while you were at the bar you could see right up into the fly space...so cool. While we were enjoying some drinks a Bachelorette party settled in at the table right next to us. Kevin almost immediately started to talk to them. One of them asked for him to unbuckle her belt with his teeth. I simply had to take a photo...They then bought him a tequila shot. I call these next four photos the Kevin+Tequila=Amazing series...See? Amazing. And did you notice the penises on the girls lei? Wow.

We then headed to another bar called Q...I think. We almost immediately headed to the dance floor. Here's Lindsay and Frannie. She worked backstage at our show and was kind enough to show us around that night...Pose...We happened to see the guy who had created this amazing Phantom Tollbooth set up in the lobby of the theater we were performing at. Here he is bopping away...Here I am dancing. Please observe the red pants. Oh yes. RED pants...Here we are on our way out. If you can close up please take a look at everyone's face. Priceless...It's a little late for this but I think it's a pretty great pic...
WALL DRUG, SOUTH DAKOTA

On our way to...somewhere...we made a quick detour to the world famous Wall Drug. Apparently they have signs for this damn place all the way in Kenya. I have no idea why.They had everything there. Even a chapel...And these. Yikes.Rudy made a friend so it was all worth it...
MOUNT RUSHMORE!!!

Since we were so close by we all decided it would be worth it to stop at Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty amazing! On our way to Gillette, Wyoming we took a detour in Rapid City, SD and left our truck and one of our vans there. We all loaded up into Red and drove to Mt. Rushmore. Dave had bought us all a great lunch so our plan was to have ourselves a little picnic in from of the monument and we did exactly that! It was a wonderful afternoon with Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln.Here I am!And here we all are...Mr. Glutzon Borglum, the sculptor...
That's all for now. More to come soon!

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!