Shifting gears

Well, I think Tommy is now finally done. I've been taking at least a page or two of notes each night as we run it. I'm finally to the point where I can walk away and be happy with it. or at least walk away and abandon it. No, I won't quote Paul Valery at you.
Now my main chore is to crash design On the Verge for Artist's Ensemble, across town. They haven't been able to hang lights until Urinetown (their current show) closes. They use the same lights and dimmers for both theatre spaces, so we're second fiddle. But this time, that's ok since I don't have a light plot for them yet. I started on it tonight, but then got distracted by a friend online on AIM. We ended up chatting the night away and now I'm either staying late (not likely) or coming in early tomorrow, my day off. I've got a pretty good idea what I want to do, but now I need to discover if I can make it all work with the dimmers and instruments they have available. It's a big light show, about three victorian women explorers who, while travelling thru the jungle of Terra Incognita, realize they are travelling in TIME as well, and land in 1955, and develope a taste for Cool Whip. But taking place on a mostly bare stage, it falls to me to make it all work out.
Yikes, I'm tired. I'm going home. Maybe more later. Probably some Tommy Pix in the offing too.

a Peter Gottlieb joke

Peter Gottlieb was a shortish little muppet of a man. Jewish. He used to tell this joke every Easter. Still cracks me up.

Did you hear they cancelled Easter? Yeah! They found the body!

I guess I'm a little late. Sorry.

"All actors are whores"

That was a quote from Peter Gottlieb, the first outside designer I worked with here at NAT, 12 years ago. Never more true than now. Twice this past week they've glommed onto any free food available, and left nothing for the crew. Wed, the afternoon rehearsal got bumped back so the actors would have more time with the band. Boss ordered in a bunch of Subway sandwiches, since they'd be working over their traditional dinner time. Sure enough, by the time I got down there, there were none left. This left a bitter taste in my mouth for quite a while, until I realized that I was out nothing. I hadn't planned on the food, the fact that my dinner was an apple (and my obligatory pretzels), was my own lack of packing two sandwiches for that day. The loss of something you never had is no loss at all. So last night, when the drunk bankers had a catered reception in the lobby pre and post show, the actors all rushed out for the leftovers, and picked the place clean. This time, I just had to shake my head and chuckle. Though it makes me worried for the back-to-back Saturday dinners (the shows are too close together to let the actors go out for dinner, so one is provided).

Boss is being more of a prick than usual for this opening. It's a little late to be getting an Artistic Vision (in capital letters), and not looking at how the whole thing is coming off. For the past week, he's been harping that the ending needs to be happier and more colorful. But the end is a stark white silhouette (he vetoed my color silhouette idea), followed by a long blackout (while the actors leave the stage), followed by a harsh white pool around the christlike Tommy, then a big flash, and ANOTHER blackout. Followed by curtain call, where he brings on all 20 actors, TWO at a time. I may just skip the lobby reception following opening night tonight. We may get a good review tonight, but, based on past performance, if we do, it'll be kind.

I'm SO tempted to give notice tonight.

ineptitude

Today one of our workers mentioned in passing that she was so frustrated, that, when it comes to social interaction, i.e. dating, her mouth turns to mush and her brain shuts down. I mentioned that I have the same problem, that I can't interact at all with women. She said, "Well, you did it right at least once" and it kind of shut me up. Yes, I'm married. I succeeded in the dating game. How I wanted to tell her that if I could leave my marriage, I would. That if Wife were to OD on all those pain pills of hers, I wouldn't call an ambulance. That it's my social ineptitude and failure in abililty to interact with women that has kept me from having more affairs than I've had. That if she had a whit less moral scruples, I'd make wild monkey-love with her. That winning in the dating game is still not necessarily a good thing. But all I can say is that I find her attractive for who she is, and that she just needs to be herself, and that any guy would be lucky to have her for a girlfriend. Kinda lame, and not the same thing at all.

Ok two new shots of Tommy. Well, not of HIM. Here's a more finished set shot, and one of a guy who brought in a couple of working WW2 machine guns for us to use.
Lots of long nights. I even put in a 39 hour day last weekend.

Now that's a party!

A man from the Ufa region in western Russia has survived after discovering a 10-cm nail in his head.
The 40-year-old man discovered a metal dowel sticking out of the top of his head while brushing his hair after a party the previous evening. He told doctors that he had been drinking with his friends and so could not remember anything about how the nail had got there. It did not cause him to panic however, despite the fact that few people survive such traumas. Photo from www.kp.ru

Photo removed to protect delicate sensibilities.

Big-ass Vanity Mirror - DONE

Well I finally got to start wiring THE mirror in TOMMY. Not just any plot- dependant mirror, but a 16' tall, 4' wide, TWO-WAY mirror, with 76 vanity lights, in a 3-circuit chase.
The designer finished painting it in the morning, and I started wiring it up just after lunch. Had to make sure that everything works now, since once the plexi goes on I'll have limited access to the socket wiring. These little sockets are a pain in the butt, as well as in the fingers after trying to twist 76 of them onto lamp cord. But they all work and probably tomorrow we'll put it up in the air and on the set. The set is kind of cool. Simple. Two story, fabric covered walls, making them translucent. Two metal ships-ladder staircases, and a fire-pole surrounded by a steel cage. Everything else rolls on. You know the story, Pinball Wizard and all that, so the set looks like a giant pinball machine. The table is a bumper, a flipper for Tommy's bed, etc. The cage around the pole looks like a ball chute. Going to be really fun. The web cam may actually be up and running in a day or three, it seems that the computer, when it came back from being the sound system, now doesn't want to talk to the server. Grrr, now that most of the set is UP already. Well you'll just have to make do with these pix. That's TD building the exploding pinball machine. The main bed of the machine has glass blocks which will light up in multiple colors, triggered by the flipper buttons by the actor. It even gets a red flashing light on top. Eventually.

What Day Is It? What Does That MEAN???

That's right, skin. Whether you want it or not.
I'm running out of ideas for these. I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep it up every week. If I get any inspirations or suggestions, maybe I'll try those. We'll play it by ear (hmmm, half nekkid ears? um, no).

In the ongoing casting drama, we have a Lead Actor once more. While I haven't heard the official word from either the Boss or the Asshole SM, word from the Production Coordinator is that his name is (ready for it? I don't think so...)
Manley Pope
What a name for blatant self promotion, and a quick Google search proved me right. Not only a personal website, complete with 'stuff to buy' section (autographed guitar pick - $10), but also a MySpace page which plays music from his CD, and lists 'NeilDiamond' as one of his friends. Neil Diamond has a MySpace Page???
Could be an interesting month.

AAAAAHHHHHH

Well, today, 10 days away from Tech rehearsals for TOMMY, we have no lead. That's right, our TOMMY (you know the TITLE character) backs out, and runs back to NY for auditions for Les Mis. (who's ever heard of that show?) All this does is push the already frantic Boss a little bit further over the edge.

Get me out of here!

Bah!

That's my mood for today. I don't want to be here, but have to finish hanging lights. Of course, instead of climbing scaffolding, I'm up here posting on the interweb-thingy.
Went to an Ice Hogs hockey game last night. Great time. Just S and I, everybody else either had to work or was in rehearsal. It was against their big rivals, the Quad City Mallards. The Hogs were even sporting special camo-colored jerseys for Duck hunting. The Zam-man (the guy who drives the Zamboni) was towing a string of decoys behind his rig, and waving a stuffed duck on a noose as he circled the rink. Big rivalry. Pretty agressive game. The Hogs racked up a lot of penaltys and it was rare that there wasn't a power play, at one point, being 4 men facing 3. There were even TWO ten-minute Game Misconduct charges. Yes, the refs were more than a little biased against us. The game ended at a 1-1 tie, which sent them into a shoot-off (one player shoots against the goalie, alternating for 5 rounds. Most goals wins). Our first score was SPECTACULAR (worth the price of admission alone). The shot was deflected straight up, and the goalie, cocky as ever, left the net. The puck came straight down and rolled into the net, with the goalie completely oblivious to the whole thing. They ended up winning the shootoff, and thus, the game. Oh well, it was exciting. Not great play from our guys, but exciting non-the-less. The mere fact that it got us out of the theatre for a non-work activity was great, and spending it with a pretty lady made it quite memorable. I may be getting the hang of having a woman for a friend in a non-romantic way. I'm really finding it, more and more, that S is the only thing that keeps that place bearable for me. She's looking for another job after this season, and I really don't want to think of that place without her around. There's even speculation that Boss is going to replace TD at the end of the season. We (S and I) even suspect that the replacement is lined up already. Ah office politics bullshit.
The other reason I got a late start today was that I finished my book this morning. Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. Yes, even better than Lamb or The Stupidest Angel. I think next, I'm going to have to re-read The Tao of Pooh. It may help me handle dealing with these mediocrities who manage to stay in charge.

OK. Now I've GOT to get to work.

HNT - my pussy

Ha ha! Fooled you. Oh come on, you know I'd never show anything overtly risque here. I'm too insecure for that.
Work has been a real chore this past week. Boss has been a royal prick to everybody. He even got the choreographer to quit TOMMY. He has no idea what he's doing, and is covering it by trying to over compensate, and making our lives hell in the process. I got to watch act one stumble thru tonight. Really stumble. The more I see of the show the scareder I get. At least I get a lightboard that can handle all the things I'm throwing at it. We're renting an upgrade from the one we currently have to handle all the chases and effects. Zowie. I thought that Rocky Horror last year was tough, this is going to be Outrageous. And of course, I'm planning on making it as hard on the SM prick as I possibly can, to show up his ineptitude. Yes, team player me.
Current reading material is the new Christopher Moore book A Dirty Job. I'm about half way thru, and LOVE it. It's about death, and a guy who becomes a grim reaper and still has to carry on his life. Hmm. Do I detect a thematic trend in my book/video preferences (Dead Like Me, On a Pale Horse, Dirty Job...)? Anyway, it could well be his best yet, and this from the man who brought you, "Lamb; the gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal," "The Stupidest Angel," and "Island of the Sequined Love Nun." Great sense of humor and the absurd.
Ok, Bedtime.

Oh yeah Happy Birthday to me!

Since I don't tell people my real birthday to avoid any unwanted attention (and since it really doesn't matter WHICH day it is), This is the day I choose as my birthday (if any date must be given). And any fuss over it just makes me smile at the April Fools! I just let them puzzle it out that I am a Pisces, with a 4/1 birthday.

Fun Party time

Had a great time at the party last night. As usual it spilled over into every room of the house, and the yard as well. Did a lot of chatting with old friends that I don't see everyday anymore. I decided that I wouldn't post recog- nizable pix of any of the people I talk about in this blog. Well, I'm going to, just this once. D, E, and S are all in these pictures, but I'm not telling who is who! HA HA (in full Nelson voice)! I took along a bottle of Ciclone, that rum/tequila/lime blend. I drank as much as I usually do, but I forgot that, being a blend, it hit me harder than just rum does. WHOOOO not a good night trying to sleep. OHHHHH not a good morning trying to get up! Good thing that I party like that only once in a blue moon. Next time somebody remind me to stick to only Capt. Morgan. Wife wasn't even pissed, since I took home leftovers. She's so easy to appease sometimes. Now today, I HAVE to knuckle down and try to get my creative juices flowing into the TOMMY design. We strike Stones already tomorrow, and hang lights in less than a week. Can I panic now?