It's just not the same, is it?
So I didn't blog from Texarkana because...well...nothing happened there. We left Lufkin, I was driving the truck with Rick navigating. Got to Texarkana and it took the poor desk clerk forever to check us in, so we knew we were in for some fun. Rooming with Joe, which was the good part of the trip. Ate dinner at Hooters (I know), and I had the most disappointing fish and chips ever. It was one shade above Morton's Fish Sticks. Sigh.
Load in on Sunday was rather uneventful. The Perot Theatre is lovely. Lots of blue and lots of scrollwork and chandeliers. Phantoms thin, however. Joe and Cody went back to Hooters to try and catch the Cowboys game, while Phil, Billie and I sauntered over to a neighboring hotel to try their steak-and-seafood restaurant, Pier 51, which ended up being lovely. Mostly because we were the only people there and they were all over us. But the food was very good, and not terribly priced. We ended up hooking up with the boys at this skanky bar called Fat Jack's or something repulsive. OK if you like beer and smoke. haha. But the company was good.
Up at 5 am this morning (it's a little more difficult to sleep on the road), "breakfast" at the hotel, and then early call to head to the theatre for our 2 show day. Both shows went well, the second show was a little strange. These audiences comprised of kids are a whole other ballgame compared to adult audiences. They react strangely and in odd places. The second show today was probably the oddest crowd we've had so far. They were clap-happy more than any other crowd has been, and I'd like to think it was because they were paying attention and into the show, but part of me is suspicious that they just like not being in school and making noise. I may have mentioned this before, but we have a pre-show video featuring many African-American leaders including of course President Obama, Condoleezza Rice (much as I disagreed with her, she did achieve a high government position in a mostly male-dominated Republican administration), Malcolm X, Dr. King, Rosa Parks, and of course ending with Jackie Robinson. It always gets me to hear the audience's applause levels as each one comes. Dr. King always gets the biggest applause.
Load out almost killed me, literally. One of the deckhands pulled a stage weight off of one of the frames holding the chain link panels on our set, and a few seconds later, timber! Like an idiot, I did what you're not supposed to do and tried to catch it and it just bashed into my hand. Thankfully it wasn't me head. Other than that, things went OK. Well, that and the fact that it was raining all during load out.
Had lunch at Dixie Cafe before getting on the road. It was pretty good, although it's becoming pretty regular that I have the bad luck as far as food. Found a huge hair in my beef stew and had to send it back. I was rather annoyed that they did nothing to try and fix that except bring me a new stew. That was fine, but I still didn't feel like paying full price. At least I saw the hair before I took that bite. I would not have been as polite had I had to pull it from my throat.
How vivid.
I'm also having the cruel realization that my friend's lives don't grind to a halt and enter suspended animation the minute I leave town. Which is only made more painfully obvious thanks to the immediacy of the phenomenon known as the Facebook Update. One of the downsides of Facebook has always been you get to witness all the fun your friends are having at events you weren't invited to. Now I just get to see that my friends lives go on without ME, which is far more depressing. Because I'm sort of in this coccoon of the show while I'm on the road, and what happens when I come home and people have just gone on without me? Or what happens if it's "out of sight, out of mind" and I walk back into town and people go "Ryan who?"
Yeah, I'm being silly, it's one of those nights. But...what if?
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
by the way...
Cody turned on the TV in our room in Lufkin and "E.T." was on...the last 15 minutes or so. And it STILL makes me cry.
Ah, East Texas.
Last couple of days in Galveston were pretty relaxing...Monday's load in was a breeze with the Union crew at the Grand Opera House. Spent the rest of the day hanging...had lunch at the Stork Club right across from the theatre after load in, then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening walking along the seawall and relaxing with my book. Missed sunrise by a few minutes on Tuesday morning, but that day's performance was well-attended, a little low-energy from us but not awful. Lunch again at Stork Club before I climbed into the cab of the truck for my first time driving it. Joe was my navigator. I had to drive it onto the ferry in Galveston to shave some time off our drive, but despite some initial nerves, it wasn't too bad, and we got to see more dolphins on the journey across the harbor. Passed through miles and miles of neighborhoods that are still recovering from Hurricane Ike. Made it to Lufkin ahead of schedule, so we checked into the Super 8, where I was scheduled for the single occupancy room...wahoo! Load in was smooth again...not only are we getting better with it, but there were tons of volunteers there to help us with it as well. I was a little worried because the volunteers were all older gentlemen, but there was no need for concern...they were kicking ass and taking names.
Super 8 had a hot tub and pool, so I spent some time in there relaxing before bed. We got word on the way to the Lutcher Theater that a school had pulled out because they had been sent a letter by some "concerned parents" regarding the language in our show. That put us all in a contemplative mood, but really informed some things for us in the show and we had probably our best performance so far. It sucks, because the people who wrote the letter more than likely have not seen the show and are just complaining based on hearsay...everyone who has seen the show has come away with positive things to say (and hopefully with a bit of a different outlook than they had coming in). But...ultimately, our job is just to tell the story in the most honest way we can, and whatever people take away from it (or don't) is their own business. Who knows...maybe we can drum up some publicity from it. haha!
The lovely volunteers from the Lutcher Theater prepared a huge lunch for us...I called it the "Baptist Paper Plate Buffet" because it was just like the old days at church...everyone behind their own dish making sure you tasted it. Top it with some good old Texas sweet tea and a big plate of deviled eggs, banana pudding for dessert, and we were all good and stuffed for load out.
Another relaxing evening post-show at the Super 8. Did some laundry, watched SYTYCD (Nathan got top 20! So excited!!) and Glee, then hot tubbed again before re-packing my luggage and heading to bed. Got up early this morning and found out most of East Texas was under a tornado watch. There was some heavy rain and hairy weather for the first part of our drive, but it cleared off as we got closer to Lufkin. Checked into the Quality Inn here a few minutes ago and are about to go to the Temple Theater for load in and hopefully lunch.
Super 8 had a hot tub and pool, so I spent some time in there relaxing before bed. We got word on the way to the Lutcher Theater that a school had pulled out because they had been sent a letter by some "concerned parents" regarding the language in our show. That put us all in a contemplative mood, but really informed some things for us in the show and we had probably our best performance so far. It sucks, because the people who wrote the letter more than likely have not seen the show and are just complaining based on hearsay...everyone who has seen the show has come away with positive things to say (and hopefully with a bit of a different outlook than they had coming in). But...ultimately, our job is just to tell the story in the most honest way we can, and whatever people take away from it (or don't) is their own business. Who knows...maybe we can drum up some publicity from it. haha!
The lovely volunteers from the Lutcher Theater prepared a huge lunch for us...I called it the "Baptist Paper Plate Buffet" because it was just like the old days at church...everyone behind their own dish making sure you tasted it. Top it with some good old Texas sweet tea and a big plate of deviled eggs, banana pudding for dessert, and we were all good and stuffed for load out.
Another relaxing evening post-show at the Super 8. Did some laundry, watched SYTYCD (Nathan got top 20! So excited!!) and Glee, then hot tubbed again before re-packing my luggage and heading to bed. Got up early this morning and found out most of East Texas was under a tornado watch. There was some heavy rain and hairy weather for the first part of our drive, but it cleared off as we got closer to Lufkin. Checked into the Quality Inn here a few minutes ago and are about to go to the Temple Theater for load in and hopefully lunch.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Here comes the sun...
Up at 6 am this morning for some reason...walked over to Kroger to get a disposable camera and ended up getting this little bitty pissant digital cam for 20 bucks. Of course, didn't realize I bought one without flash until I opened it. But...hopefully it'll suffice until I get paid, then I might go get one a little more fancy. All I need at the moment is the ability to take some pics and put them online.
GREAT afternoon and evening yesterday...spent late morning/early afternoon sitting on the beach drinking mimosas with Billie, Phil G, Cody and Joe. Started to fry a little despite sunscreen, so Billie and I walked back to hotel. Chilled late afternoon, checked email, chatted with Rick, got great phone call from Scott, then Cody texted with dinner plans. Met up and drove down the seawall to a great place called Fish Tails, which is right across Seawall from the destroyed Flagship Hotel. The Flagship is a hotel built out on a pier in the Gulf, and it was wrecked by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Most of Galveston has really bounced back, but you can still see there's a lot of damage and places where people can't afford to rebuild. The Strand is still cool, but is not quite the way I remember it.
After dinner, we went to the Poop Deck for drinks and pool, then went back downtown to try and find this bar we'd seen the evening before. It was closed, so we went to the Stage Door Pub, which is right next to the Opera House. Played trivia with Billie while Phil G and Joe got into a discussion about the show and about racism with this total douche who was just arguing to be an asshole. However, we got free hot dogs, which made the evening worthwhile.
Today is load in at the Opera House at noon, then the rest of the day is free. Probably spend some more time on The Strand (might go check out the railroad museum), then go to the ice cream parlor and probably back to the Stage Door. More later as it happens.
Namarie.
GREAT afternoon and evening yesterday...spent late morning/early afternoon sitting on the beach drinking mimosas with Billie, Phil G, Cody and Joe. Started to fry a little despite sunscreen, so Billie and I walked back to hotel. Chilled late afternoon, checked email, chatted with Rick, got great phone call from Scott, then Cody texted with dinner plans. Met up and drove down the seawall to a great place called Fish Tails, which is right across Seawall from the destroyed Flagship Hotel. The Flagship is a hotel built out on a pier in the Gulf, and it was wrecked by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Most of Galveston has really bounced back, but you can still see there's a lot of damage and places where people can't afford to rebuild. The Strand is still cool, but is not quite the way I remember it.
After dinner, we went to the Poop Deck for drinks and pool, then went back downtown to try and find this bar we'd seen the evening before. It was closed, so we went to the Stage Door Pub, which is right next to the Opera House. Played trivia with Billie while Phil G and Joe got into a discussion about the show and about racism with this total douche who was just arguing to be an asshole. However, we got free hot dogs, which made the evening worthwhile.
Today is load in at the Opera House at noon, then the rest of the day is free. Probably spend some more time on The Strand (might go check out the railroad museum), then go to the ice cream parlor and probably back to the Stage Door. More later as it happens.
Namarie.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Glorious
Today was perfect weather...clear and around 80 with a cool breeze blowing all day. Left the hotel with Joe and Cody after last post and decided to go with them to watch Texas/OU game. After a bit of searching, found a great bar called Float that was open to the air and overlooking the Gulf. Turned out when you buy alcohol, you get a free breakfast burrito. And the fucker is HUGE, it ain't some McDonald's "taquito". Also had some fried pickles. Game was pissing off the straight boys, so we took the van and headed downtown to The Strand. Got to walk around inside the Grand 1894 Opera House, where we will be playing on Tuesday. Decided to take a brief boat tour of Galveston Harbor to see some dolphins, which we did. First time I've seen them with my own eyes. It was pretty amazing. Walked around A LOT, then met Billie and Phil G. at another bar called The Poop Deck. Decided we were hungry, and Billie was on a quest for oysters. Went back to The Strand and couldn't find any place serving oysters, so after lots more walking we ended up at a pretty cool place called Yaga. I had a shrimp po boy which was pretty good. Came back to hotel to chill out. Joe, Cody and Rick went back out to find a cool bar. Billie and Phil G stayed in, and I went back out to the beach to chill out with the waves for a bit. Hit the Kroger for some milk and some granola bars, then back here. Got a little sunburnt while on the dolphin tour. Going to try to get a disposable camera tomorrow and try to get some photos up. Another free day tomorrow. I wish every stop was like this.
Galveston. G-A-L-V-E-S-T-O-N, Galveston.
9:08 am. I am dropping in for a quick post from the lobby of the Best Western Beachfront Inn on the Seawall in Galveston. I got up about 7 am when my roommate's alarm went off on his phone and came down for some continental breakfast and to finish "Eclipse". Went back to the room, changed, grabbed "Breaking Dawn" (roommate still crashed) and came back to the lobby. Probably going to head over to the Starbucks next door and then over to the beach. Saw a gorgeous sunrise when I came out of my room at 7...there was an amazing pink/orange line dotted by some scattered clouds hanging right over the Gulf. I took a picture with my phone, but I don't think it did it justice. Note to self: get a decent camera. Do they sell digital versions of those little disposable cameras at Walgreens? Hmm. Trying to decide if I'm going to go with some castmates to watch the Texas/OU game at a bar or if I'm going to hang around here with Billie and have some lunch.
Yesterday (Friday October 16) we had 2 shows at Corsicana High School, 9:15 am and 1:15 pm. Both went really well. The kids were a bit youngish for what I thought our target audience was, but I knew we were in for a good experience when they screamed and yelled when the picture of President Obama appeared in our pre-show video. They also impressed me by really screaming when Martin Luther King appeared, and also when Rosa Parks appeared. Kudos to those teachers for giving them their history! We ran into a bit of a snag between shows when we found out that some parents of the kids who were at the first show complained because we use the "N" word so often throughout...naturally, the parents were not at the show and had no idea the context of the use of that word. Note to parents: Do some research, for the love of Pete. If you know your child is going to see something, odds are you can find something out about what they are seeing...it's not that hard to go on the Internet and get an idea.
As a result of that, Rick, who is playing Jackie Robinson, was given a curtain speech explaining some things about the show, and that seemed to go over OK for the second performance. And the kids seemed to really get into the show again. We all got some reaction applause during some of our big speeches, which was fun.
We had a LOT of student help for load out, so that process was not painful at all. Special shout-outs to all the CHS students who helped us, and most especially to Dusty, who ran our video for all 3 performances, and to Casey, who not only helped us out a whole lot at load in, but really got in there and worked his butt off to help and organize other students at load out. You guys helped us more than you will know!
We got on the road around 5pm to head to Galveston. Brief stop for dinner in Centerville (Dickey's BBQ, yum!) and then a pitstop just south of Houston to pee, and we were here. We got checked in to the hotel and I took a shower, then several of us went across the street to hang on the beach and have some beers. Phil G, our SM, brought his guitar and we chilled on one of the rock breakwaters and had a late-night sing-along. Phil G, Billie and I made a quick trip to the all-night Kroger and then it was back and to bed.
One of these posts pretty soon, I will be funnier and more insightful and this won't read so much like a travelogue...haha...but I'm still getting my feet wet on this whole thing.
Off for a bit...will probly check back in later.
Yesterday (Friday October 16) we had 2 shows at Corsicana High School, 9:15 am and 1:15 pm. Both went really well. The kids were a bit youngish for what I thought our target audience was, but I knew we were in for a good experience when they screamed and yelled when the picture of President Obama appeared in our pre-show video. They also impressed me by really screaming when Martin Luther King appeared, and also when Rosa Parks appeared. Kudos to those teachers for giving them their history! We ran into a bit of a snag between shows when we found out that some parents of the kids who were at the first show complained because we use the "N" word so often throughout...naturally, the parents were not at the show and had no idea the context of the use of that word. Note to parents: Do some research, for the love of Pete. If you know your child is going to see something, odds are you can find something out about what they are seeing...it's not that hard to go on the Internet and get an idea.
As a result of that, Rick, who is playing Jackie Robinson, was given a curtain speech explaining some things about the show, and that seemed to go over OK for the second performance. And the kids seemed to really get into the show again. We all got some reaction applause during some of our big speeches, which was fun.
We had a LOT of student help for load out, so that process was not painful at all. Special shout-outs to all the CHS students who helped us, and most especially to Dusty, who ran our video for all 3 performances, and to Casey, who not only helped us out a whole lot at load in, but really got in there and worked his butt off to help and organize other students at load out. You guys helped us more than you will know!
We got on the road around 5pm to head to Galveston. Brief stop for dinner in Centerville (Dickey's BBQ, yum!) and then a pitstop just south of Houston to pee, and we were here. We got checked in to the hotel and I took a shower, then several of us went across the street to hang on the beach and have some beers. Phil G, our SM, brought his guitar and we chilled on one of the rock breakwaters and had a late-night sing-along. Phil G, Billie and I made a quick trip to the all-night Kroger and then it was back and to bed.
One of these posts pretty soon, I will be funnier and more insightful and this won't read so much like a travelogue...haha...but I'm still getting my feet wet on this whole thing.
Off for a bit...will probly check back in later.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Houston, we have achieved Corsicana...
Thursday, October 15, 2009. Days on tour: 1; Dr. Peppers consumed: 3; Performances: 1; cell phones ringing during show: 1.
After a great deal of stress over what to pack/what to leave and packing and re-packing my bag more than once, (and several Facebook breaks) I finally took a break and went to bed around 2 am. Parents scheduled to arrive at 7:30, courier to Eastfield College for set load scheduled at 7:50. Alarm set for 6, snoozed until 6:20. Parents arrived at 6:30 (gah), so got car to them and said goodbye to Philip (my roommate) in time to finish packing my last bag before realizing that I had forgotten to put in either of my toiletry bags (one for show, one for hotel). So had to re-pack again. Decide I need to invest in packing lessons (shut up) and once seeing the massive suitcases that everyone else brought, one of those as well. Courier car was early as well, so we took off and arrived at Eastfield literally about 20 minutes after we left.
Load out was a little delayed, pep talk from Sally (our producer) and we got our "golden ticket" DCT lanyards. I was selected to drive the van to scenic Corsicana. We got on the road around 10 am and were off...to arrive at Corsicana High School to discover that nothing had been done to prepare for us. So Phil G (our SM), Phil Z (our TD) and castmate Joe stayed all day to basically program and hang our entire show. Once the set was mostly built, several of us were released to go check in to the hotel. Managed to grab some lunch and set up the computer here, change clothes and head back to the theatre. Our call was 5:00, show was scheduled at 7:30. Things were still being plugged in and put together up until half hour, which ended up being 7:30 with an 8:00 curtain. Smallish but appreciative crowd, and with some frantic on-the-spot cue writing from Phil G, the show went pretty well. We had some runaway baseball bats, and the stage is HUGE and a very slippery and reflective light wood color. Entrances and crossovers that used to be rather quick are now more like a hike through the Andes, but we adjusted. We're starting to get a feel of where the audiences are going to react, and the reactions have been very favorable so far.
Got back to hotel around 10. This Best Western apparently has a killer breakfast buffet starting at 6 am. Van call at 7:30 am for a 9:15 show (gah), lunch break, 1:15 show, then load out and heading to GALVESTON!!! Wahoo! Seafood and Colonel Bubbie's! More soon.
After a great deal of stress over what to pack/what to leave and packing and re-packing my bag more than once, (and several Facebook breaks) I finally took a break and went to bed around 2 am. Parents scheduled to arrive at 7:30, courier to Eastfield College for set load scheduled at 7:50. Alarm set for 6, snoozed until 6:20. Parents arrived at 6:30 (gah), so got car to them and said goodbye to Philip (my roommate) in time to finish packing my last bag before realizing that I had forgotten to put in either of my toiletry bags (one for show, one for hotel). So had to re-pack again. Decide I need to invest in packing lessons (shut up) and once seeing the massive suitcases that everyone else brought, one of those as well. Courier car was early as well, so we took off and arrived at Eastfield literally about 20 minutes after we left.
Load out was a little delayed, pep talk from Sally (our producer) and we got our "golden ticket" DCT lanyards. I was selected to drive the van to scenic Corsicana. We got on the road around 10 am and were off...to arrive at Corsicana High School to discover that nothing had been done to prepare for us. So Phil G (our SM), Phil Z (our TD) and castmate Joe stayed all day to basically program and hang our entire show. Once the set was mostly built, several of us were released to go check in to the hotel. Managed to grab some lunch and set up the computer here, change clothes and head back to the theatre. Our call was 5:00, show was scheduled at 7:30. Things were still being plugged in and put together up until half hour, which ended up being 7:30 with an 8:00 curtain. Smallish but appreciative crowd, and with some frantic on-the-spot cue writing from Phil G, the show went pretty well. We had some runaway baseball bats, and the stage is HUGE and a very slippery and reflective light wood color. Entrances and crossovers that used to be rather quick are now more like a hike through the Andes, but we adjusted. We're starting to get a feel of where the audiences are going to react, and the reactions have been very favorable so far.
Got back to hotel around 10. This Best Western apparently has a killer breakfast buffet starting at 6 am. Van call at 7:30 am for a 9:15 show (gah), lunch break, 1:15 show, then load out and heading to GALVESTON!!! Wahoo! Seafood and Colonel Bubbie's! More soon.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Primus
Well, this is my first attempt to do an actual blog outside MySpace and Facebook. I may re-post some of the things I've written on those sites ('cause let's face it, sometimes I can be damn clever haha) but I mostly started this to try and document my first national touring experience. I am doing a play called "Most Valuable Player" with Dallas Children's Theater, a baseball-themed play about Jackie Robinson and how he came to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. I am playing Branch Rickey, the team owner and the man responsible for getting Jackie onto the team. I've already met a man who pitched for the Dodgers in 1955 who knew Branch Rickey and who said I'm portraying him well, so I guess that's all the mark of approval anyone needs! lol.
We've had a good time in rehearsals so far...there are 5 people in the show...4 guys, one girl. I'm the only 'mo representation, so it looks to be a dry 9 months. haha. But everyone has been great so far, and I think we're all going to have fun together.
I'm leaving at 7:30 in the morning (Thursday, October 15), so I'm sitting in my room amidst a pile of "take/don't take" and trying to figure out how to pack for a month on the road. This month will be the litmus test, because we're back through the holidays and will leave on January 11 for 4 full months of traveling the country. Whew! I'm looking forward to seeing parts of the country I haven't seen before, and hopefully getting to see some good friends who live in other areas.
So that's enough for this first horribly boring first post. I'll be on as I can throughout the tour and will hopefully keep you all updated on the latest and greatest.
Until then,
Namarie
We've had a good time in rehearsals so far...there are 5 people in the show...4 guys, one girl. I'm the only 'mo representation, so it looks to be a dry 9 months. haha. But everyone has been great so far, and I think we're all going to have fun together.
I'm leaving at 7:30 in the morning (Thursday, October 15), so I'm sitting in my room amidst a pile of "take/don't take" and trying to figure out how to pack for a month on the road. This month will be the litmus test, because we're back through the holidays and will leave on January 11 for 4 full months of traveling the country. Whew! I'm looking forward to seeing parts of the country I haven't seen before, and hopefully getting to see some good friends who live in other areas.
So that's enough for this first horribly boring first post. I'll be on as I can throughout the tour and will hopefully keep you all updated on the latest and greatest.
Until then,
Namarie
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