February 12, 2008
Travelers Rest, SC
Drove past Bob Jones University today. Strangely, I had no desire to stop.
Physics anyone?
Modern Physics This course investigates the elementary structure of matter, Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, the nature of radioactivity, and the issues involved in estimating the age of the earth.
February 11, 2008
Charleston, SC
I can’t say I’m a fan of Carolina BBQ. Granted, this is personal taste, but I HATE vinegar. Carolina BBQ really does nothing right in my opinion. First, there’s the vinegar based sauce (actually having a sauce may be a nod over Memphis style BBQ, but I hesitate to confirm). Secondly, there’s the chopped meat aspect–who dices meat for BBQ? Thirdly, there’s the slaw; why would you serve perfectly good meat over cole slaw? What can I say; I’m from Kansas City.
South Carolina, however, came up roses as concerns a second passion of mine–the blues. We’re doing shows in Charleston this week and got lucky enough to be here during the Low Country Blues Bash. There are blues bands spreading happiness all over the city this week. This evening I went to The Pour House and heard Eddie Shaw and the Wolfgang. This is the best blues band I’ve heard in 2 years. Eddie “Vaan” Shaw Jr. may be the best guitar player I’ve ever heard–controlled, crisp, expressive, fantastic.
The Pour House is a blues joint through and through. There’s no food, only beverage. They have a nice beer list, about a dozen or so on tap and several dozen bottles. I had an Allagash Brewery Trippleboch for the first time. This was a very nice beer; a tad sweet to drink a lot of, but quite good. The liquor list is short but the drinks are good.
If you’re in Charleston in February make sure you check out some of the Blues Fest.
February 9, 2008
Smithfield, NC
I love my job; just about everything about it: I get to perform almost every day, often I get to teach others how to perform, I get to meet new people on a daily basis, I continually have the opportunity to create something new. One of the biggest perks (and very occasionally a source of the blues) is the travel. In the past 2 1/2 years, I have had the opportunity to visit just about every corner of the contiguous US of A. I’ve scoured the country (including Alaska and Hawaii), performing for hundreds of thousands of people and visiting with interesting characters everywhere.
There are a few people I have not gotten to visit, however: IDiot Extraordinaire DaveScot; Leading ID Theorist and Maytag Repair Man, Joe Gallien; The AtBC Seattle people; many old college pals; and theatre friends. Looks like this time out, I’m gonna clear some of that off the agenda.
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February 8, 2008
The Bronx, NY
New York City can be a great place; I like it lots. Then there are the nights you may get knifed. I just wanted to go to sleep and get up at 6:45 am to go do a show. That’s not really all that different than most days of my life. So, the show’s in Westchester County–not a particularly cheap place to get a room. That being the case, we’re staying in the Bronx (still not cheap by most standards, but better). We’re in the north Bronx; I don’t expect a great hotel, just some place to lay my head. This is the EconoLodge, nothing to write home about, but at least it’s a national chain with a bit of quality control.
So sometime after midnight there’s a huge (and supremely loud) domestic disturbance going on in the lobby. My room is right off the lobby so the fight is hard to ignore. I figure the clerk will solve this problem somehow. Several minutes later (4 or 5, probably) it’s still going on. I start to think, “Maybe the desk clerk is one of the parties arguing.” A couple of minutes later, the fight changes locations to right outside my window–seriously, 4 feet from my bed. I go out to the lobby.
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February 7, 2008
It turns out that our colleague needs a little more than well wishes from everyone. In a quite sudden turn of events, the situation has become much more serious. Medical situations are often scary, especially for those of us who are not doctors and seem to spend most of our time in the dark. The ghosts that lurk in our imaginations are sometimes scarier than what is actually wrong. Sometimes they’re not. A few hours from being released, Nadine was taken to ICU and is in very serious condition. They know the immediate danger, but not an underlying cause.
I don’t think the general populace really understands actors (as if any group of people can be said to be understood…). As a collection of people, an acting company is a very strange group–eclectic, egotistic, caring, brusque, lively, touched, businesslike, and everything in between. Oftentimes, we find ourselves forced into contact and relationships that other people shrink from. Not only do most of us embrace that energy, we seek it out. We often know the people we work with better and in stranger ways than most people care to think about. When it clicks, a cast lives for each other. It lives for the experience. It lives for the show.
The show will go on.
What kind of people does that make us?
February 4, 2008
Natick, MA
Today was a very topsy-turvy one for Poetry Alive. One of our actors was hospitalized today and everyone went into crisis control. It doesn’t appear that anything major is wrong, but we have no word as to what happened as of yet. The other five casts have scrambled to cover shows that need to be covered, made crazy drives out of the areas they were previously in, and used up large portion of their cell minutes making changes and asking or updates.
Truly, the shows must go on; it’s what we do. But, they go on with thoughts of Nadine in each of them.
February 3, 2008
Niagra Falls
Sickness has kept me from actually seeing the Falls. I know, everyone should be thinking “you idiot”. True enough, I’m going to agree with you on this one. But being under the weather combined with it being Super Bowl Sunday kept me inside the whole day.
I’ll try to make up for the lack of Falls pictures by talking about Iron Chefs. That’s right, the Iron Chefs on the Food Network. I ate at Lola Bistro while I was in Cleveland last week. Lola is the restaurant of the newest Iron Chef, Michael Symon. I can’t recommend it highly enough; four stars all the way.
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February 2, 2008
This is something you don’t often get a chance to hear: an Intelligent Design supporter debating an actual scientist. Dr. PZ Myers of the University of Minnesota-Morris and author of Pharyngula (link on the sidebar) was on KKMS radio debating Dr. Simmons, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute of Seattle (the leading ID think tank). Take a listen, not a good day for Intelligent Design. I was surprised at how fairly the debate was moderated. The only thing that surprised me more was the complete lack of preparation Dr. Simmons put into being on the show.
Simmons pwned by PZ
January 26, 2008
Rochester, NY
Every once in a while a day just slaps you in the face. Sometimes that slap hurts. Sometimes it’s a wake up call. And sometimes it serves as a reminder that you’re doing the right thing. Friday was of the latter sort of day. We were doing shows at an upper elementary school in Westborough, MA and there was a perfect theatrical moment in our second show. A fourth grader took it upon himself to really be a part of the show. It was a brilliant moment.
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