i'm choking on busy....and it is good

This is probably the last installment of fun circus adventure blogs for a while.....

I went up to Bridgeport for the weekend to visit the Blue show one more time. Strange town....went to 4 bars before I found one that served food and was open on the weekends when I got there. Yes, open on the weekends. Bridgeport is not the place to go if you just want a damn burger. I watched the show half from the seats and half from lighting FOH, running the Maxyzz for some of the show, and obnoxiously waving my trunk under the glow of littlelites one last time. After I went out to eat with Steve, Neal, Ben, and a couple circus fans/steve fans. Back at the train Steve, Neal and I had a six pack of Circus Boy (some of which ended up all over Neal's bed) and watched some TV. I have to admit I was a bit said knowing I won't get to hang out like that anymore. Even when the show is in NYC, I doubt I'll trek out to bufu Jersey where the train is parked. Sunday morning I hung out for preshow getting some juggling and a lot of goodbyes in before leaving town.

Let's see.....saw Dan in Real Life which was very good. Steve Carell is pretty awesome.

Tonight was a benefit for Parallel Exit, a physical theatre company. It was practically an Out of Orbit reunion, which was great. These folks have some pretty good material too, which you should all check out....all three of you that may have read this far.

So this week is full of boring corporate work, exciting low budget yet creative dance work, and Mike is coming to visit. YAY!....that means I have an excuse to not work for a few days, and Gogol Bordello is Saturday.

Oh yeah, that dance thing. It's coming up in a couple weeks. They're pretty good. More details and shameless plugs to follow.....

ew, and the clowns come to town

Alright. Seriously. What the HELL is with the current trend of grotesque PDA's on the subway lately? A hug, a kiss, holding hands...whatever. But I could compile a porn out of the things I've seen over the past few weeks. Yes, I could. Mainly from the day I was on a car with only two other people.....uh...yeah.....

Just sayin', not my idea of a good way to wake up to get on the train and see two fat people eating each other's faces off.

On a happier note, got to see Big Apple Circus last night, which was fan-freakin'-tastik! Ringling is in Bridgeport, so Steve, Neal, Ben, Cricket, Chelsea, Sergei...and a few others came down for the show. Ben used to tour with them, so we all got comps. The show was great, and took away all the bitterness for the circus that Ringling gave me. An actual good dog act, some kick ass acrobats, and some sexy juggling. After the show we went out to eat with Barry Lubin, who is Grandma in the show before taking the guys back to Grand Central. As we were leaving the Lincoln Center area, I saw Wynton Marsalis and almost wet myself. Hopefully I contracted some of his trumpet awesomeness and can get some chops back....

It's raining :-(

holy crap a day off!

I know it seems to be a growing trend, and I'm sorry, but I have to go on another work rant.

Yesterday I went to go break down the premiere party for American Gangster. The party was in a tent on 126th St, behind the Apollo. Things are going fine, everyone is working, the sides of the tent are gone so there's a nice breeze. Then this guy starts walking the outside of the tent asking for $10 in exchange for "a blues performance." He was rejected multiple times, then starts screaming "THIS IS BULLLLLLSHIT." We're like, WTF man, we're busy, go away. Then we find out he's pissed because the crew taking the tent down is not union, and he is apparently in "the union." He was never able to tell us which one, and I'm not aware of a party rental union. Our security guards start to try to get him to move along, but he just gets more and more pissed off. Then I hear "you're dealing with real gansta motha fuckin shit here, I pop a cap, no TWO caps in yo ass." That's the first time I heard someone use the phrase "pop a cap" seriously.

I also got to watch the head of the tent company give a guy on the street $50 to go dumpster diving for pallets. Awesome.

The rest of the day sucked. Hard.

So how bout them Rockies?!

screw you guys, i'm going home

Often my job leads to being sworn to secrecy, signing privacy forms, and even reciting a vow. I'm not lighting the building of a new military weapon or anything like that. It's car companies and financial companies and drug companies. Today I was threatened by a major car manufacturer after making a joke about telling people about their prototype for an '09 model. Holy shit guys....I'm a lighting designer. I could care less about new cool cars. Same with the financial companies. Don't they know we have no money, so can do nothing with their insider info?

It's time to get back into theatre......

a bittersweet weekend review

I never noticed how bad the circus train smells. I guess I just got so used to it, that I didn't notice that things probably still smelled after I left. When I unpacked my bag and got a whif of the sheets I brought, it was overpowering. It's not a good smell. At all. But oddly enough I didn't mind it. It triggers a few horrible, and a lot of wonderful memories.

As I said in my last post, I am surprised at how much I miss it after going back. It was probably the most fulfilling vacation I've ever taken, getting to pick up right where I left off with some of my closest friends from the show, and spending a lot of time with a few that I wasn't really that close to, but should have been.

Here's the highlight reel......
Thursday
-OMIGOD seeing everybody!
-Realizing I still have the whole show and rig memorized
-Being on headset with Georgia again, making fun of the post show concert
-Driving all over Boston looking for somewhere to buy beer...and failing
-Giving up, buying vodka from Cricket, and watching Clue with Steve and Neal

Friday
-Drove up to Salem with Steve and Neal for...
-Witch Museum....lame
-Witch Museum bookstore perusal which included discussing why a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank was in the section of witch books, and why this book was carried at all at a witch museum.
-Haunted House....LAAAAAME
-Salem is a pretty cool town, and as lame as the paid attractions were, the company made it a good day
-Spent the evening at Boston Beer Works attempting to try all of their delicious brews while watching the Red Sox game. Was joined after the show by Steve, Neal, Cricket, Checkers, Pyro Steve, Justin, Jason, AND DIMA AND SVETA. Dima coming out was awesome, and made me believe him when he said he missed me.
-Hung out at the train with Pyro Steve for a bit. I miss 92 car parties.
-Hit up Neal for his much promised hot cocoa, watching some Droopy

Saturday
-Walked about half of the Freedom Trail. Highlights being Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution. My historical activities have taken a back burner to everything else, and this made me realize why I love walking through old cities looking at old things and standing on ground where important battles were fought. Best historical experience since walking Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg
-Saving Steve's life from an angry audience member (I won't repeat what Steve did to be almost attacked, I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression about him, or me)
- Pool and baseball viewing with both Steves, Justin, Jason, and Sean.
-Hung with Super Steve at the train watching videos of the alley doing stupid things and looking at photos from the past couple of years

Well...back to reality.......which I guess is it's own form of circus lately...

i love the smell of elephant shit in the morning....

This blog is coming to you from the circus train. Super Steve came down to New York for a couple days, and yesterday we drove up to Boston where the show is.

I've never felt so strange about going back to something. I definitely missed it right after leaving, but being here again is making me miss it like crazy. It's been almost a year, and I feel like I never left. It was great to see everyone again, even the people that I never really cared if I saw again. I watched the show from FOH, realizing I still have the whole rig and all the cues memorized. Being on the train again is nice too....well, as "nice" as the train gets. After the show and some dinner I watched a movie with Steve and Neal. I am however staying in a room that is wayyyyyyy smaller than the one I lived in, so that's reminding me of how annoying this living situation is. Though I still miss not being more than 3 or 4 cars away from all of my friends and vestibule parties on train runs.

Still, this really is a second family; more than any other job, and even more than the people I spent hours and hours a day with in college. It's great to be back in this world again, even just for a couple days. No, I'm not going back. The one thing that is different is that most of my good friends are gone. The people that made this place livable, and a blast are what I really miss.

Well, it's time for more Boston exploration. And to go start taking pictures which is something I didn't do enough of while here.

AC006299

I feel like one of those women on Maury who stays in an abusive relationship because she "loves him."

I shouldn't have to say why. I can't say why. For the first time ever, I couldn't watch it happen. I turned it off. After watching every inning of every game possible all year, I turned it off. I just hope, for Ron Santo's sake, it's not another 99 years of this.......

"I get the f***ing Learning Channel but not TBS?!?!"

Well it's been a day and a half and so far New York has survived my father. I overheard him admit to someone on the phone that he likes it here, though he won't admit it to me. Yesterday's sightseeing extravaganza included Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. Left all of us completely wiped, so we decided that the Fridays across the street from the hotel was a good dinner choice. Closed. Ug. The sign said "Visit our other location at 1 Penn Plaza." That's also across the street. But 1 Penn Plaza is pretty huge. Turns out there is a restaurant IN the train station. Good to know.

It's been fun though. Seeing my parents on a subway- hilarious. Dad tried to be nice to the dumbass that tried to make the yellow light and got stuck in the box by attempting to stop foot traffic across 8th Ave to let him through. This of course did not work. However all hell broke loose when pops realized the hotel's tv package did not include TBS, meaning no Cubs game, or any baseball game. Hopefully he's calmed down and didn't threaten too many hotel employees last night.

Speaking of the Cubs. WTF MATE?!?!?!?! They're red hot for the last two weeks, then decide to start to suck in GAME ONE of the playoffs. But being the true masochist that I am, I fought exhaustion and stayed up for the whole game. We made some really good defensive plays, but went back to the regular Cubbie trend of stranding at least one base runner every inning. sigh......