road blog: Houston - day 1
Back in Texas for work after very little sleep between today and last night's IAGG performance.
Nels, Lauren and I got up and did some silly, dark improv after a good rehearsal and much discussion of the direction of Five Man Job in terms of style and structure and the whole thing left me pretty stoked for what lies ahead.
today is nothing but travel and prep, actually the entire trip is prep since this is a practice session for the real show, which doesn't happen until August in Pheonix - this company flies me and the AV guys and all the speakers to Houston just to practice the show so in a lot of ways they're the most prepared client I have and they're a blast to work with.
My two direct client contacts are an art photographer and a youth outreach ballet teacher from the bay area, basically two really cool, old, laid back hippies that somehow snagged a gig running events for a massive construction conglomerate and will spend the next couple days referring to the end-client as "these fascists" to their faces. It's an interesting dynamic to say the least.
So today we met and basically spent the time waiting for the speakers to arrive and the big event dinner tonight talking shop and tomorrow we'll be in session all day with executives and presenters from across this huge company looking to myself, the ballet teacher and the art photographer as the go-to team for creative input. Time to get my game face on and walk that line between 'he's a creative guy that knows nothing about our industry, why are we listening to him?' and 'creative professional who is exactly who we should listen to' that always feels so strange.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, July 21, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I'm gonna teach peace to the conquered, gonna tame the proud
Road blog: Dallas - day 1
Well I'm finally getting back to traveling for the job, not that I've been dying to get away from home but I have been dying to get out of the office where I'm not exactly clear on what I do and get back to running shows, where I know what I do and what I'm good at. Feels much better.
Yesterday was spent almost entirely in the airport - I checked my flight status at home and everything was on time, jumped in the van and drove the short distance to the airport only to find out my flight had been delayed by 2+ hours, and of course my ride had already left. So I decided to meander through security and get all that out of the way and just sit and enjoy my book, send a couple emails and not stress about it too much, even when they delayed us even further and then made us change gates.
the only real moment of frustration came when the gate agent at the new gate they had shuffled us to got on the overhead speakers and told everyone that had been waiting there all day like me that, in a few moments the plane we had been waiting for would be pulling up and would be full of very, very late people and would do them a favor and stay out of the way? It reads like a perfectly reasonable plan but it wasn't spoken that way - it came out, and was pretty universally heard, like they had just about had enough of all us that had just been hanging out all day and would we kindly stop loitering and getting in the way of them doing their business...?
because after 4 extra hours in an airport people love being treated like they are the ones inconveniencing the airlines. So the crowd that had been actually pretty mellow was suddenly pissed off, just in time to get on the plane. thanks for that.
flew into Dallas and, just because it figures after all that, didn't have a hotel room. They had no record of me anywhere (but insisted on asking me repeatedly if I was a guy with a similar last name, even though they were holding my drivers license) and the hotel was sold out for the days of my trip. They managed to find me a room for tonight only so I didn't have to get back into a cab (after sitting in Texas rush-hour, having landed at 5 instead of 2) and I was able to get to work.
the work part went great, no problems and no worries. that much I can handle.
Client called when she arrived to tell me she didn't have a reservation either and she'd found out that both of us had been booked in the wrong hotel. At least I have an answer, plus she decided to meet later this morning since she'll have to cab it over here, so I have a couple extra hours to wake up (even though I didn't really sleep much and got out of bed an hour before my wake up call, which still hasn't come - no wonder I get paranoid) and prep to spend the day with a bunch of corporate lawyers.
the show itself is one of the easiest ones I have to run - I ran the same program in Minneapolis on no sleep having almost died in an ice storm so this should be a breeze.
Well I'm finally getting back to traveling for the job, not that I've been dying to get away from home but I have been dying to get out of the office where I'm not exactly clear on what I do and get back to running shows, where I know what I do and what I'm good at. Feels much better.
Yesterday was spent almost entirely in the airport - I checked my flight status at home and everything was on time, jumped in the van and drove the short distance to the airport only to find out my flight had been delayed by 2+ hours, and of course my ride had already left. So I decided to meander through security and get all that out of the way and just sit and enjoy my book, send a couple emails and not stress about it too much, even when they delayed us even further and then made us change gates.
the only real moment of frustration came when the gate agent at the new gate they had shuffled us to got on the overhead speakers and told everyone that had been waiting there all day like me that, in a few moments the plane we had been waiting for would be pulling up and would be full of very, very late people and would do them a favor and stay out of the way? It reads like a perfectly reasonable plan but it wasn't spoken that way - it came out, and was pretty universally heard, like they had just about had enough of all us that had just been hanging out all day and would we kindly stop loitering and getting in the way of them doing their business...?
because after 4 extra hours in an airport people love being treated like they are the ones inconveniencing the airlines. So the crowd that had been actually pretty mellow was suddenly pissed off, just in time to get on the plane. thanks for that.
flew into Dallas and, just because it figures after all that, didn't have a hotel room. They had no record of me anywhere (but insisted on asking me repeatedly if I was a guy with a similar last name, even though they were holding my drivers license) and the hotel was sold out for the days of my trip. They managed to find me a room for tonight only so I didn't have to get back into a cab (after sitting in Texas rush-hour, having landed at 5 instead of 2) and I was able to get to work.
the work part went great, no problems and no worries. that much I can handle.
Client called when she arrived to tell me she didn't have a reservation either and she'd found out that both of us had been booked in the wrong hotel. At least I have an answer, plus she decided to meet later this morning since she'll have to cab it over here, so I have a couple extra hours to wake up (even though I didn't really sleep much and got out of bed an hour before my wake up call, which still hasn't come - no wonder I get paranoid) and prep to spend the day with a bunch of corporate lawyers.
the show itself is one of the easiest ones I have to run - I ran the same program in Minneapolis on no sleep having almost died in an ice storm so this should be a breeze.
Monday, May 5, 2008
spread them wings and you're gonna need some landing lessons
finally home from the road blog - at home for the day
the show yesterday was short, almost too short for the amount of footwork and stress that went into it, it was a dense morning of technical problems, asshole doctors (rather doctors that are assholes, not doctors that fix assholes. if only they had asshole doctors to fix the doctors that are assholes) and then packing it all into the semi and putting it all behind us.
After that we had way too much time on our hands in the City of Sin so we hit the monorail to MGM, grabbed some food at the Diablo's Cantina (which is apparently staffed entirely by Suicide Girls - making it the best place to go), walked through the Bellagio and over to the Seahorse Bar at Ceasars Palace. After that the guys that were staying overnight decided to hit Freemont Street while I had to head back to the hotel, pack and head to the airport to try and grab a standby seat on an earlier flight than the red-eye I was booked on. No luck, which means I was in the airport with another 6 hours to kill.
Crashed on the floor, slept poorly there for a couple hours
Woke up when they called for boarding, slept horribly on the plane
Landed at 5:30am, got home as quick as I could and slept horribly for a few minutes before the boys woke up and the day started. Glad to put my head down on my own pillow for a few and I thought all I wanted was a little quiet time at home before getting right back into the daily insanity.
I was not the only one that slept far from home last night - if you read my Awesome Wife's Awesome Blog of Wifery and Awesomeness you're aware that the boy is not staying with us for a little while in order to keep us all from falling apart. I'm not happy about it but I'm not happy with the way things are regardless so maybe this will be the best.
I have mixed gut feelings about the whole thing, having grown up with the guys I did, almost all of them got kicked out of their homes by their parents (not to say they didn't do some shit that would have warranted being kicked out - some did and some did not) and seeing how that usually played out. The difference is that those parents wanted to be done with their kids and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a little time, a little peace and quite and a little distance helps my boy come home and get himself together. But it isn't going to happen today.
I don't like telling him that home isn't the place for him, especially when I see his problems and many of them he brings on himself (some come from me, let's be fair) so i have to imagine he brings them wherever he goes but being here isn't helping him either so we'll try something as opposed to stubbornly insisting that fighting over everything is somehow helpful.
it's frustrating that his biggest need is to know that we're always there to help him and yet the worst thing we can do is try and help him out. It's not a good situation and there's an empty room at the end of the hall that makes me feel like I should somehow figure out what to do next to fix it. That's what fathers do, right?
not today. Today we all need to try something else.
Knowing he was coming home always made everyone tense because more than likely there's going to be teenage silent-treatment or a completely irrational fight or watching everything he did with suspicion and some disappointment when he'd been using . but at least there was the chance that things would be something else instead, there was the off-chance that we'd have a decent conversation about some punk rock or something harmless, a little break from the teenager/parent conflict that has become the best-case scenario lately.
not today. There's no chance that's happening today and as much as it's a relief that the terrible exchanges aren't going to happen it's equally sad that the good stuff isn't going to happen either.
This is all there is today.
now the quiet time at home seems like it is the insanity
the show yesterday was short, almost too short for the amount of footwork and stress that went into it, it was a dense morning of technical problems, asshole doctors (rather doctors that are assholes, not doctors that fix assholes. if only they had asshole doctors to fix the doctors that are assholes) and then packing it all into the semi and putting it all behind us.
After that we had way too much time on our hands in the City of Sin so we hit the monorail to MGM, grabbed some food at the Diablo's Cantina (which is apparently staffed entirely by Suicide Girls - making it the best place to go), walked through the Bellagio and over to the Seahorse Bar at Ceasars Palace. After that the guys that were staying overnight decided to hit Freemont Street while I had to head back to the hotel, pack and head to the airport to try and grab a standby seat on an earlier flight than the red-eye I was booked on. No luck, which means I was in the airport with another 6 hours to kill.
Crashed on the floor, slept poorly there for a couple hours
Woke up when they called for boarding, slept horribly on the plane
Landed at 5:30am, got home as quick as I could and slept horribly for a few minutes before the boys woke up and the day started. Glad to put my head down on my own pillow for a few and I thought all I wanted was a little quiet time at home before getting right back into the daily insanity.
I was not the only one that slept far from home last night - if you read my Awesome Wife's Awesome Blog of Wifery and Awesomeness you're aware that the boy is not staying with us for a little while in order to keep us all from falling apart. I'm not happy about it but I'm not happy with the way things are regardless so maybe this will be the best.
I have mixed gut feelings about the whole thing, having grown up with the guys I did, almost all of them got kicked out of their homes by their parents (not to say they didn't do some shit that would have warranted being kicked out - some did and some did not) and seeing how that usually played out. The difference is that those parents wanted to be done with their kids and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a little time, a little peace and quite and a little distance helps my boy come home and get himself together. But it isn't going to happen today.
I don't like telling him that home isn't the place for him, especially when I see his problems and many of them he brings on himself (some come from me, let's be fair) so i have to imagine he brings them wherever he goes but being here isn't helping him either so we'll try something as opposed to stubbornly insisting that fighting over everything is somehow helpful.
it's frustrating that his biggest need is to know that we're always there to help him and yet the worst thing we can do is try and help him out. It's not a good situation and there's an empty room at the end of the hall that makes me feel like I should somehow figure out what to do next to fix it. That's what fathers do, right?
not today. Today we all need to try something else.
Knowing he was coming home always made everyone tense because more than likely there's going to be teenage silent-treatment or a completely irrational fight or watching everything he did with suspicion and some disappointment when he'd been using . but at least there was the chance that things would be something else instead, there was the off-chance that we'd have a decent conversation about some punk rock or something harmless, a little break from the teenager/parent conflict that has become the best-case scenario lately.
not today. There's no chance that's happening today and as much as it's a relief that the terrible exchanges aren't going to happen it's equally sad that the good stuff isn't going to happen either.
This is all there is today.
now the quiet time at home seems like it is the insanity
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The Man, he stepped up to the microphone and he gave it a kiss...
stuff from across the board as I get ready to leave town tomorrow-
You know that nagging feeling that you're forgetting something? Today I'm walking around with the feeling that I'm forgetting almost everything and yet can't put my finger on it. Perhaps this blast of things currently residing in my brain will give some understanding and maybe even relief to that feeling.
today I pushed the 'self destruct' button on my myspace account and it feels good.
Now to migrate IAGG and TCIF information off that goddamn site so I can never touch it again.
Ryan, if you're reading this send me an email just so we can establish contact outside of myspace.
the responses I got both here and privately from yesterday's blog were all super-encouraging and some were a little concerned. I'm not about to throw my kids to the wind just to prove the value of being fearless but I'm going to strike more of a balance and stop using the 'well I have a family to think about' justification when what I really mean is 'this is really terrifying'. That is all.
the teenager sent me a text telling me to 'get hit by a bus' when he didn't get what he wanted yesterday. I might consider throwing him to the wind but that would teach a much different lesson.
the improv theater project now officially has the working title of "Actual Improv Theater" until the day it opens and stops being my imaginary improv theater. Had an awesome meeting last night to get the Actual Improv Theater organization forming and already it started some ideas bubbling up. My consultant on the project warned me that she emails constantly, instantly and at all hours, meaning she's the perfect candidate to work with me already.
If someone out there can help me get this website put together in a huge hurry that would be awesome. it has been sitting on my to-do list for a long long time and it's one of those that I haven't given time to and it weighs me down but there's no good time to pause all the other things I've started to devote the time it needs. So I'm asking for help so I can get it done and checked off. any takers, email me. It's a fun site and mostly done. Just need to put the pieces together.
I DO NOT USE THE GMAIL ACCOUNT LISTED ON THIS BLOG - EVER
Please do not send mail there. I get my fivemanjob.com mail everywhere I go.
tomorrow, very early in the morning, I leave for a gig in Las Vegas. I haven't had time to unwind from the last trip, much less get prepared or even excited for the Vegas trip. It's work. It's a trip to Vegas. It'll hit me sometime after I step off the plane tomorrow morning.
that's the burst of information that will serve as a blog until I settle down a little later.
In the office trying to get everything I need for the trip...oh yeah. I'm taking another trip.
rarely do I do the whole 'posting song lyrics' thing other than my post titles but the song Arnie by Primus came up on shuffle and it is a rare kind of awesome and a really great little monologue and fits today perfectly.
"The Man, he stepped up to the microphone and he gave it a kiss
it was a big, wet, slippery kiss and he had sweat dripping off his nose onto the windscreen
As he looked out over the audience he said 'God bless you, God bless you one and all'
then he took the can of Rosignol lighter fluid, squirted over his head and proceeded to light himself on fire
And he stood there, glowing
and said
'Remember this Day'"
that about sums it up.
You know that nagging feeling that you're forgetting something? Today I'm walking around with the feeling that I'm forgetting almost everything and yet can't put my finger on it. Perhaps this blast of things currently residing in my brain will give some understanding and maybe even relief to that feeling.
today I pushed the 'self destruct' button on my myspace account and it feels good.
Now to migrate IAGG and TCIF information off that goddamn site so I can never touch it again.
Ryan, if you're reading this send me an email just so we can establish contact outside of myspace.
the responses I got both here and privately from yesterday's blog were all super-encouraging and some were a little concerned. I'm not about to throw my kids to the wind just to prove the value of being fearless but I'm going to strike more of a balance and stop using the 'well I have a family to think about' justification when what I really mean is 'this is really terrifying'. That is all.
the teenager sent me a text telling me to 'get hit by a bus' when he didn't get what he wanted yesterday. I might consider throwing him to the wind but that would teach a much different lesson.
the improv theater project now officially has the working title of "Actual Improv Theater" until the day it opens and stops being my imaginary improv theater. Had an awesome meeting last night to get the Actual Improv Theater organization forming and already it started some ideas bubbling up. My consultant on the project warned me that she emails constantly, instantly and at all hours, meaning she's the perfect candidate to work with me already.
If someone out there can help me get this website put together in a huge hurry that would be awesome. it has been sitting on my to-do list for a long long time and it's one of those that I haven't given time to and it weighs me down but there's no good time to pause all the other things I've started to devote the time it needs. So I'm asking for help so I can get it done and checked off. any takers, email me. It's a fun site and mostly done. Just need to put the pieces together.
I DO NOT USE THE GMAIL ACCOUNT LISTED ON THIS BLOG - EVER
Please do not send mail there. I get my fivemanjob.com mail everywhere I go.
tomorrow, very early in the morning, I leave for a gig in Las Vegas. I haven't had time to unwind from the last trip, much less get prepared or even excited for the Vegas trip. It's work. It's a trip to Vegas. It'll hit me sometime after I step off the plane tomorrow morning.
that's the burst of information that will serve as a blog until I settle down a little later.
In the office trying to get everything I need for the trip...oh yeah. I'm taking another trip.
rarely do I do the whole 'posting song lyrics' thing other than my post titles but the song Arnie by Primus came up on shuffle and it is a rare kind of awesome and a really great little monologue and fits today perfectly.
"The Man, he stepped up to the microphone and he gave it a kiss
it was a big, wet, slippery kiss and he had sweat dripping off his nose onto the windscreen
As he looked out over the audience he said 'God bless you, God bless you one and all'
then he took the can of Rosignol lighter fluid, squirted over his head and proceeded to light himself on fire
And he stood there, glowing
and said
'Remember this Day'"
that about sums it up.
Monday, April 28, 2008
keep your lip stiff, keep you fists clenched
home from the road and spending the day at the house blog -
the trip was good and overall I like being on the road with a crew better than being a crew of one, more hands make for light work and more brains make for more interesting evenings than sitting in front of HBO in a hotel room during all the dead hours.
This trip was nothing but early mornings, long days of sitting in place, HORRIBLE medical photos of penises in various states of bloody damage.......catch a nice meal and turn in early to do it again.
Our cab driver on the way to the airport drove then entire way in either 1st or 2nd gear, including on the freeway, and tried yelling at us for our luggage being too heavy when his Check Engine light went on. We all looked at each other trying to figure out whose nightmare we'd fallen into. it was weird.
In any case I made it home.
things with the teenager are still no fun
He's been banking on the very-teenager-y idea that he can skate by on just saying the things he's supposed to say even though he knows full well that we're going to get empirical evidence that proves he hasn't done anything differently in the form of grades and UA results. Still he wonders (loudly, which usually fills the vacuum left by logic) why we won't just start giving him his driving rights and internet access back based on his "improvement".
The fact that his "improvement" is a work of fiction matters very little and when presented with that fact, like this morning, he still manages to blow up as if he's in the right and how-dare-we-disprove-his-bullshit arrogance. So it was a fun ride to school this morning.
the Twin Cities Improv Festival is 2 months away as of yesterday - someday that little countdown timer on my computer is going to be the thing that sparks a total breakdown instead of just slowly growing stress and dread.
Things are actually in a good place for the Festival, shows are nailed down, workshops are booking fast (seriously, get in now. People that want to complain during the Festival that they couldn't get into the workshops as if we should've done something different will find me unsympathetic, just like last year) and in general we're in one of those drifting periods between panicky times. All you can do is make yourself as ready as possible and I'm pretty sure we've done that unless I've missed something.
Judging from the size of my to-do list I have not missed anything.
Chicago Improv Festival is even closer and HUGE is going to perform, in case you hadn't heard because we do a shitty job of promoting our successes. We're going to tear the roof off the windy city (who probably have pretty secure roofs considering how windy it is) regardless of the fact that we'll be performing during the big Saturday party. We're on June 7th at 10:30 in the soon-to-be-roofless Playground Theater.
CIF moved from late April into June this year, the ripples from which have yet to hit the TCIF but I'm still on edge about it for next year. We shall see. I think people that have to choose between going to CIF to perform or learn versus going to TCIF to perform or learn are going to have a tough decision and that sucks for them. I am fully confident that our Festival is going to keep on being the best it can be, and one of the best there is. I'm a little biased but I'm also waiting for empirical evidence to prove me wrong.
it seems the arrogance is spreading.... meaning I probably gave it to the teenager. oops.
the trip was good and overall I like being on the road with a crew better than being a crew of one, more hands make for light work and more brains make for more interesting evenings than sitting in front of HBO in a hotel room during all the dead hours.
This trip was nothing but early mornings, long days of sitting in place, HORRIBLE medical photos of penises in various states of bloody damage.......catch a nice meal and turn in early to do it again.
Our cab driver on the way to the airport drove then entire way in either 1st or 2nd gear, including on the freeway, and tried yelling at us for our luggage being too heavy when his Check Engine light went on. We all looked at each other trying to figure out whose nightmare we'd fallen into. it was weird.
In any case I made it home.
things with the teenager are still no fun
He's been banking on the very-teenager-y idea that he can skate by on just saying the things he's supposed to say even though he knows full well that we're going to get empirical evidence that proves he hasn't done anything differently in the form of grades and UA results. Still he wonders (loudly, which usually fills the vacuum left by logic) why we won't just start giving him his driving rights and internet access back based on his "improvement".
The fact that his "improvement" is a work of fiction matters very little and when presented with that fact, like this morning, he still manages to blow up as if he's in the right and how-dare-we-disprove-his-bullshit arrogance. So it was a fun ride to school this morning.
the Twin Cities Improv Festival is 2 months away as of yesterday - someday that little countdown timer on my computer is going to be the thing that sparks a total breakdown instead of just slowly growing stress and dread.
Things are actually in a good place for the Festival, shows are nailed down, workshops are booking fast (seriously, get in now. People that want to complain during the Festival that they couldn't get into the workshops as if we should've done something different will find me unsympathetic, just like last year) and in general we're in one of those drifting periods between panicky times. All you can do is make yourself as ready as possible and I'm pretty sure we've done that unless I've missed something.
Judging from the size of my to-do list I have not missed anything.
Chicago Improv Festival is even closer and HUGE is going to perform, in case you hadn't heard because we do a shitty job of promoting our successes. We're going to tear the roof off the windy city (who probably have pretty secure roofs considering how windy it is) regardless of the fact that we'll be performing during the big Saturday party. We're on June 7th at 10:30 in the soon-to-be-roofless Playground Theater.
CIF moved from late April into June this year, the ripples from which have yet to hit the TCIF but I'm still on edge about it for next year. We shall see. I think people that have to choose between going to CIF to perform or learn versus going to TCIF to perform or learn are going to have a tough decision and that sucks for them. I am fully confident that our Festival is going to keep on being the best it can be, and one of the best there is. I'm a little biased but I'm also waiting for empirical evidence to prove me wrong.
it seems the arrogance is spreading.... meaning I probably gave it to the teenager. oops.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
I smell blood but there's no blood around
Road blog - Philly day 1
I'm actually part of a crew on this show, which makes it very different from the normal road gigs I go on. Normally I would be flying in either late at night or very early in the morning, working insanely late and early and then out again, all in an effort to get the most hours out of me while keeping me in hotel and paid meals for as short a time as possible, but these shows are bigger productions and the client has paid for a much bigger package so it's totally the opposite vibe.
They want us here earlier and give us way more time to do things so it's making a difference in all the right places, instead of showing up at 11pm or 4am and having to look for equipment we got in yesterday mid-day, scouted the space while it was actually open and staffed, made sure everything was ready and that was it. Dinner at the Hard Rock on the boss and an early night.
today we meet at a human time of 7:30 for breakfast together and start at 9am, like normal people, instead of the 4:45 and 5am call times I usually get handed. Today is all set up and then we run show all day Friday and Saturday. Ah, this is more like it. If only I didn't wake up constantly in hotels or there wasn't a CSI: Miami/Ultimate Fighting marathon on cable last night (my two shows I only watch on the road but get totally hooked by when I do) I could've turned that into a decent night's sleep.
so the upside is better hours in which to work, the downside is adding an extra day just to travel and scout means I'll be away from home a little longer.
Butch in suit in no hurry
I'm actually part of a crew on this show, which makes it very different from the normal road gigs I go on. Normally I would be flying in either late at night or very early in the morning, working insanely late and early and then out again, all in an effort to get the most hours out of me while keeping me in hotel and paid meals for as short a time as possible, but these shows are bigger productions and the client has paid for a much bigger package so it's totally the opposite vibe.
They want us here earlier and give us way more time to do things so it's making a difference in all the right places, instead of showing up at 11pm or 4am and having to look for equipment we got in yesterday mid-day, scouted the space while it was actually open and staffed, made sure everything was ready and that was it. Dinner at the Hard Rock on the boss and an early night.
today we meet at a human time of 7:30 for breakfast together and start at 9am, like normal people, instead of the 4:45 and 5am call times I usually get handed. Today is all set up and then we run show all day Friday and Saturday. Ah, this is more like it. If only I didn't wake up constantly in hotels or there wasn't a CSI: Miami/Ultimate Fighting marathon on cable last night (my two shows I only watch on the road but get totally hooked by when I do) I could've turned that into a decent night's sleep.
so the upside is better hours in which to work, the downside is adding an extra day just to travel and scout means I'll be away from home a little longer.
Butch in suit in no hurry
Monday, April 21, 2008
Punch-Drunk but I'm still sober. Fourteen years, a whole lot bolder and I don't flinch
Monday morning blog - stuff from all over the place
the weekend in quick review:
Friday night - we lost, that was inevitable. But we had fun and I think for the most part had a really strong set, it settled down in a couple spots where you realize later on there could've been some really cool stuff but retrospect is both great and shitty that way. I had a really good time both onstage and in the booth, Adorable is one of my favorite groups of people to play with and Drum Machine might be my favorite thing to tech for.
Saturday was spent relaxing around the house as we were able and had a nice date with the wife
Sunday afternoon was the NICU reunion - we saw the boys' neonatoligist and Aidan's primary nurse and they both remembered our boys and were happy to see them. the whole thing made me all misty-eyed and choked up a few times - those people saw our kids the sickest they will ever be in their entire lives and knew us while we were going through the hardest things a parent can do and you don't realize how thankful you are or how much that means all the time.
Sunday night was a total high point - not only did the afternoon shape up to be totally beautiful outside so I got to hang out with the boys in the yard and watch them "work" in the garden and play with the new puppy but then I was reminded of a bunch of things I love about the IAGG and doing silly shit with Five Man Job.
I was totally convinced there was going to be nobody at the show last night, since it was wonderful out and the streets and rooftops were packed with people just wanting to hang outside and we do our show in a dark, often hot, windowless room. We were all shocked by the number of people that poured into our windowless room to see our show, and that's when I remembered - unlike the rest of the shows I know, our attendance actually jumps up in the summer! I think we're just the right combination of feeling like a groovy, funny little party and the show hits at the right time of night when people are out enjoying the weather for the weather's sake and then decide they need something to "do". Either way, I love spring/summer at the IAGG.
then I got to kick off the show running tech for the Survivors of the Undead Plague, which may also be my favorite thing to tech for. I love that they didn't freak out at me for fucking with them early on and now it's become part of the show. I want to do that show everywhere, I think it's one of the coolest examples of the fucking madness that sets should be. All the characters can die, nobody is safe, the plot barely matters, everyone is having so much weird fun that they're getting exhausted and it's funny as hell.
On the Five Man Job front - I thought last night was a return to form for us, stupid as that may feel and sound.
FMJ has been in a weird rut for a while as a group and all three of us individually with our improv-junk, me especially. I was bitching and moaning about it to Jill and she pointed out that I 'don't get my hands dirty' anymore and it was one of those clouds-parting, lightbulb-clicking-on moments that made clear what I had been doing wrong for a long time. We used to do the goofy, super artsy, organic-as-shit Transformer thing all the time and I think we all got uncomfortable with just being that stupid onstage - so we (meaning I, I wont speak for Dan and Lauren) backed off of it in favor of trying to put on a good show without getting into the super-abstract, often silly-looking bullshit (read: want to be funny onstage without looking stupid. let's be honest). And then we wondered why we weren't doing sets "like we used to" - we were lacking energy, variety and things generally just felt harder. As a result we would come offstage feeling further and further from what Five Man Job used to do and couldn't figure out why, and kept stiffening up and getting less 'out there' to try to fix it.
It didn't make any sense given that the artsy-physical bullshit actually produced cooler results and we were backing off of it because we all felt awkward just being that silly and not worrying about what it "was" - which is exactly what we teach people to do - because it works better.
stupid retrospect.
Anyway, we got up and said Fuck It and got back to being noodly, organic, freaky dumbasses onstage (and were waiting for the improv-set-destroying laughter of Jimmy D in judgement of our arty-ness) and got back to the silly, super dark goofy fun that we hadn't had in a while.
Outside doing our post-set notes everyone felt really good and I couldn't be happier with what came out last night. the end of our set, which was all three of us doing this weird replay of an earlier scene on the floor with 'finger people' in the role of either puppeteers or seeing it from space was a perfect example of just how fucking silly we can be and just sitting there not giving a fuck with Dan and Lauren felt awesome.
footnote: even though the set was fun we should probably frame it better than 'we're going to do some faggity shit' - which is totally a quote from a Susan Messing workshop in which she called us all cunts and made us do all this super physical nonsense with great results - but still probably isn't how we should define it to our audience.
anyway - happy as hell.
Tonight Dan and I are doing Total Bullshit at the Beat and I'm excited.
I love doing this show, it's not always "funny" in the same way that improv is and can swing from being super weird and hilarious to all touching and sweet and deep or just angry and strange. it makes me want to book a run of 'spoken word' performances somewhere and just scare the living crap out of people or make them laugh at things they didn't expect anyone could ever find funny.
8PM - at the Beat - $3
at the office today, getting ready to leave on the first work trip in a little while (going to Philly for the first time) and I think the trips being less frequent actually makes it harder to leave and be gone. When I'm in and out all the time everyone can adjust to it and you fall into patterns that make it work, but when I'm home for a month and then gone for most of a week it seems to sneak up and jar everything out of place.
This trip is going to be interesting since I'm part of a crew and not just a lone operator, which helps fill all the dead hours in between work on the road but also puts me a little more out of touch with home and stuff since I'll have other people and projects to attend to than just the normal tech duties. This is not what I need just over 2 months out from TCIF.
I finally set a date for deleting my Myspace account so I can stop using that annoying fucking site. May 1st my account will self-destruct.
I just have to track the blogs I had been reading on myspace differently and as soon as I can find a working solution to the IAGG web needs I can get our shows off of Myspace as well, it served a purpose at one point but if the site never works it doesn't make a difference (I know the calendar says April 13th twice, I can't get in to edit it) so we'll shift some of it to Facebook, mostly for the performers and find a good public place for the calendars and such for the public.
I asked the teenager if it was even worth giving him his UA the day after 420 to try and get his driving rights back and he said 'probably not' so he's still being stupid even though he wants the results to change. I don't expect the boy to be squeaky-clean by ANY stretch of the imagination (and if you have ever seen Total Bullshit you know that he's still being way better than I was at his age) but if he wants to have it both ways he needs to at least get better at getting away with it. I can't catch him doing the shit I've caught him doing and NOT do something as a parent but on the other hand we aren't exactly trying to catch him doing all of it - he just sucks at not getting caught.
I don't think any parent needs or wants to know everything their teenager is doing when they're out of the house. it's not good for the kid and it certainly isn't healthy for the parents but I can't exactly coach him on how to pull one over on his dad, that's one skill he's going to have to figure out on his own.
enough time wasted - I have to get some work done in the 2 short days I'm in the office before hitting the road.
did I say this blog was going to be 'quick'?
I meant I was typing really fast.
that's way too long, if you made it this far, kudos to you, dedicated reader.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The conversation between plastic planets, intercepted by human beings
Road blog: Texas - day 2
The early morning trip in was actually a good one, mostly because I didn't get stuck in our tiny tiny plane for the day, bags didn't get lost and I got to the hotel unscathed. So it was good in the sense that it didn't suck.
My cab driver was an African immigrant that claimed over the course of our short trip to be an attorney (just haven't passed the bar yet, which is why I'm driving a cab. Because clearly there is no middle ground), a medical software technician and owner of his own recruiting company that was bringing recruits over from Africa. Impressive.
When I told him I was a technician working a medical conference he suddenly wanted to know all about me, my website, my email (he stopped in city traffic and whipped out a notepad to start jotting down all my info. We were one block from my hotel, I had to tell him to turn the meter off and put cash in his hand to end our ride) and everything about what we do so 'we can partner' and help in his 'endeavors'.
it was like getting spammed....in person.
And just as pleasant as it sounds
I'm in Dallas, staying at the closest hotel to Dealey plaza (that's their biggest marketing claim) and I'm verifying this today but I'm pretty sure the building I have a clear view of from my room is the Book Depository so I may be taking a walk down there today to snap some photos at the museum.
The conference is a conference. The coffee is free, the speakers are boring. Yesterday the highlight was when one of the board members stood up during a discussion of some initiative, turned to face to board and yelled 'Shame on you! Shame on you all!' And stormed out of the room.
I don't know what it was about but then again its a radiology conference so I really don't know what ANY of it is about, at least that had the added excitement of old people fighting. I can only hope that they came back ready to start throwing punches today.
If not, lots of Brickbreaker on the agenda.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
The early morning trip in was actually a good one, mostly because I didn't get stuck in our tiny tiny plane for the day, bags didn't get lost and I got to the hotel unscathed. So it was good in the sense that it didn't suck.
My cab driver was an African immigrant that claimed over the course of our short trip to be an attorney (just haven't passed the bar yet, which is why I'm driving a cab. Because clearly there is no middle ground), a medical software technician and owner of his own recruiting company that was bringing recruits over from Africa. Impressive.
When I told him I was a technician working a medical conference he suddenly wanted to know all about me, my website, my email (he stopped in city traffic and whipped out a notepad to start jotting down all my info. We were one block from my hotel, I had to tell him to turn the meter off and put cash in his hand to end our ride) and everything about what we do so 'we can partner' and help in his 'endeavors'.
it was like getting spammed....in person.
And just as pleasant as it sounds
I'm in Dallas, staying at the closest hotel to Dealey plaza (that's their biggest marketing claim) and I'm verifying this today but I'm pretty sure the building I have a clear view of from my room is the Book Depository so I may be taking a walk down there today to snap some photos at the museum.
The conference is a conference. The coffee is free, the speakers are boring. Yesterday the highlight was when one of the board members stood up during a discussion of some initiative, turned to face to board and yelled 'Shame on you! Shame on you all!' And stormed out of the room.
I don't know what it was about but then again its a radiology conference so I really don't know what ANY of it is about, at least that had the added excitement of old people fighting. I can only hope that they came back ready to start throwing punches today.
If not, lots of Brickbreaker on the agenda.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Friday, March 28, 2008
I wonder where in the world Alicia Keyes might be
I think my gate must be in the 'st paul' end of the 'minneapolis/st paul airport' as it just took longer to walk here from security than the cab ride from my house.
Got to pass under my favorite weird piece of art on my way here, the sculpture over the food court around gate C12 that shows an antelope chasing a cheetah through the brush. It would interesting all by itslef but it sits on the text "all are equal under the law".
So the message I take from this thing is 'we'll all have an equal chance to kill and eat each other'.
Anyway, I'm up and at the airport far too early and the few hours of sleep I got were full of classic work-nightmare stuff, which is pretty typical when I go on the road and I'm sure the fact that I dream about arriving in the wrong city with the wrong equipment is symptomatic of stressing about my job too much, which is to say its perfectly normal for an adult American.
Watching my tiny jet pull up to the gate. Weather in Texas looks rough, which doesn't give me lots of hope that I won't be spending the day on it.
On the road.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Got to pass under my favorite weird piece of art on my way here, the sculpture over the food court around gate C12 that shows an antelope chasing a cheetah through the brush. It would interesting all by itslef but it sits on the text "all are equal under the law".
So the message I take from this thing is 'we'll all have an equal chance to kill and eat each other'.
Anyway, I'm up and at the airport far too early and the few hours of sleep I got were full of classic work-nightmare stuff, which is pretty typical when I go on the road and I'm sure the fact that I dream about arriving in the wrong city with the wrong equipment is symptomatic of stressing about my job too much, which is to say its perfectly normal for an adult American.
Watching my tiny jet pull up to the gate. Weather in Texas looks rough, which doesn't give me lots of hope that I won't be spending the day on it.
On the road.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
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