Monday, June 30, 2008

Old haunts and new hangouts

This weekend was quite a full weekend. Troy, my oft-mentioned brother-from-another turned the not-so-big 2-8 over the weekend. He and O, my best girlfriend, hosted a lovely get-together for my 24th at Pazo a couple of months ago. He told us that he wanted to have Sunday brunch with our closest friends to celebrate his birthday and left the rest of the planning to us. While we were brainstorming a few weeks ago for brunch places, I (Ms. Baltimore restaurants that I am) came up at a loss. We couldn't possibly make reservations at Little Havana for a group our size (between 10 and 20 depending on who's in town when we plan outings), Pisces and Della Notte are a little on the pricey end for some (especially with gas prices as they are). O brilliantly suggested XS. I called and made reservations a few days before, and without my asking they even volunteered to put our group of 15 in the loft at the very top of the restaurant.

Saturday night, The Maestro and I had a double date with some friends from his main gig at Pazo. Instead of ordering a la carte, we decided to order both of their group tables for two. The result was a never-ending supply of small plates... some things that I would've ordered and other things that I wouldn't have, but I'm glad I tried. Everything was delicious, and we wound up waddling out of there. Their mojitos are especially delicious, and I had never had one there before.

The new haunt that I tried for the weekend was La Scala. It was quite accidental. The Maestro and I ran into an old college friend in the middle of the street while we were looking for parking. He called us after dinner and invited us to join him in Little Italy. I already posted a page from the beverage menu. It seemed like a classy joint, but at $15 for a McAllan's 12 year post gratuity, it sounds like a place I'll only enjoy for special occasions.



XS on Sunday early afternoon was lovely as well. They put up with a lot: our noise level, people coming and going over the course of 4 hours, five million credit/debit cards... and when I asked them mid-meal if they could decorate a plate of chocolate lasagna and stick a candle in it for Troy's birthday, they took it and ran with it. They were very accommodating. As accommodating as the wait staff from XS can be. It always takes a while to eat a meal at XS, but I've resigned myself to that being part of the ambiance.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Time to clean out my ears

We were at XS today for brunch celebrating Troy's birthday. More about
that later. But here's a funny conversation we had from across the
table of 15:

Troy: Did you know [redacted] is going to be Aida in soneone's tour in
(mumble mumble mumble)
Me: Did you say "Haitia?"
Troy: yeah... (mumble mumble mumble)
Me: Ummm.... you mean Haiti?!
Troy: No... Asia, you fool. Clean out your ears!

iPhone Flick

I will wax on about my eventful weekend tomorrow or Monday, but until
then, I leave you with the most musical beverage menu I've ever come
across. There were two pages of Crescendo cocktails, a page of a
Capella drinks, and these "Decrescendos" with which to wind down the
evening. None of them came cheap. The Maestro laughed at me when I
asked him to hold the menu so that I could snap a picture with my
phone. I shot him a dirty look and informed him, "I SOOO have to blog
about this!" Ugh. I have become the cliché that I despise already.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Yes We Can!

One of my co-workers walked into my office with a USPS Priority Mail envelope and a grin on her face this morning. "I'm being nosy. Can you open it now and show me what it is?" At first, I was confused, and then I remembered that I ordered this shirt and a car magnet a week or two ago from the Barack Obama store. I was a little upset because they didn't have a Maryland for Obama shirt in their state shirts inventory. But I particularly like this one. Even my anti-Obama co-workers think it's a cool shirt. They do run a little small, and who knows if they'll shrink in the wash, so they should definitely be purchased a size up.



All in all, however, I'm pleased. If I go to AFRAM (which I still hate calling the African-American Heritage Festival) this weekend, I'll definitely be sporting it. The car magnet goes great with Maddie, my blue Mazda pride and joy, and her brand new Imagine license plate.



Also this weekend, if one mayhaps would like to spend some time inside, these are the last chances to see Nunsense and Love, Sex, and the IRS at Cockpit-in-Court, where I worked last summer.

Monday, June 23, 2008

iPhone Flick

I went "out to the country" AKA my land of my birth AKA Columbia for a
2-year-old's birthday yesterday. I really did feel like I was in an
alternate universe. At any rate, Nadia was my favorite kid at the
party because unlike all the other girls who wanted to be princesses
and unicorns, she wanted to be Spiderman. That's my girl.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Baltimore Pride

My boo, Billy Morton, won the title "Voice of Pride 2008" and got to
sing 3 songs on the mainstage on Saturday at the Baltimore Pride
Festival. As you can see, we're doing very important and meaningful
things with our music degrees.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Where everyone knows your name...

Without divesting too much, I will share that my last two months or so professionally have been an exercise in patience, humility, and will. As a result, I've been going out after rehearsals with far more frequency than usual. Last night was just one of those nights. My brother-from-another is rehearsing a show in Fells Point, so I figured it'd be easiest for us to meet down there for post-rehearsal cocktails. I will always admit that I'm a creature of habit, but occasionally I'm up for something new. Apparently, last night wasn't one of those nights... at least as far as venue is concerned. We went to our Wednesday night mainstay, Slainte Irish Pub at my eventual behest. We got a few strange looks from the bartenders who know us as Wednesday night regulars, but then sat at the downstairs bar (again peculiar for us) and started chatting. It was much quieter on Thursday than it is on Wednesday (Wednesday nights are industry night for food service workers, and all food and drink is 1/2 price, which is why we've been Wednesday night regulars since back when I still worked in a restaurant). I deviated from the norm for my beverage selection and ordered a McAllan 12-year Scotch and followed it up with Loose Cannon, the Clipper City beer that's on draught right now. I suppose that when times get tough, we stick to what we know to help us perservere. At least I do. Admit it-- you do, too.

And this post is getting WAAAAAY too Carrie from Sex and the City, so I'm going to buck up and pretend nothing ever happened. You do the same, okay? I live with you with my soon-to-be-husband Barack Obama's first general election campaign video. He's so dreamy.



I would talk about the drama going on with Sheila Dixon, but it pisses me off too much.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

iPhone Flick

One of the consequences of working in a theatre that's attached to a
college is that they turn the A/C on for the summer and leave it.
Today, it's about 70 degrees in Baltimore and a little windy,
blustery, and rainy. That results in it being freezing on the stage. A
consequece of that is a freezing cold Young Tommy tucking himself into
his shell during some downtime.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

iPhone Flick

Knowing that I have to get up in 5 hours for slaving away at the day job makes seeing that when I enter my bedroom so much harder. I could've gotten home earlier as rehearsal ended at 10, but I get wound so tightly by the close of the night that I need some decompression time. As in many nights (especially Mondays), that took form in a few margaritas at Gecko's in Canton with Troy. And then I dragged myself into bed at just past 2 am.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Live blogging the Tonys

So I'm watching the Tonys telecast live at The Hippodrome. I'm a bad
musical theatre junkie. It's my drug of choice, but I don't follow it
like some
die-hards. All that to say I didn't watch the show last year.

8:01 pm The Lion King has seriously been on Broadway forever.

8:05 pm Whoopi looks like a crab.

8:08 pm Lawrence Fishburn has gotten fat.

8:10 pm Rhondi Reed = Harvey Fierstein according to Troy.

8:11 pm You know we're in Baltimore when Jon Waters gets the first bit
of applause in this place.

8:23 pm Laura Linney's dress is hot.

8:25 pm Why is a Counting Crow at the Tonys presenting?

8:28 pm Passing Strange = black people w/ English accents.

8:41 pm In the words of Jack from Will & Grace: "Shut UP, Patti
Lupone!" And I need for people to stop thinking she's the Second Coming.

8:46 pm Whoopi singing Phantom saved me from jumping off the ledge.

8:56 pm In the Heights acceptance speech is a rap. And he's talking
about Sondheim and people think he's funny. I'm perplexed.

8:58 pm The South Pacific revival looks like the Oklahoma revival. All
of these "classic Broadway" shows should be put in a vault for
sociological purposes... not brought back and produced.

9:14 pm The Grease set is trippy looking. Was Grease is the Word even
in the musical? The performance was marginally interesting-looking.

9:24 Troy is incensed that Boyd Gaines won his 4th Tony... for Herbie.
These acceptance speeches are too long.

9:26 pm I like how the audience at the Tonys just laughed at Ariel
saying "What do you call them? Oh! Feet!" That was funny 18 years ago
when the movie originally came out. They all know the punchline.

9:30 pm Megan Mullaly isn't doing a good job at convincing me to see
Young Frankenstein.

9:37 pm Whoopi has too many rosettes on her blouse.

9:45 pm The director from August: Osage County is crying. I need her
to stop.

10:00 pm I need this boy from In the Heights to stop assaulting my
ears. Apparently it's good.......? He looks like Bud Bundy. And
there's an urban pas de deux happening in the background.

10:12 pm August: Osage county wins for best play. They've won
everything already, so that gets a big fat yawn from me.

10:14 pm Finally got played off for that never-ending speech.

10:16 pm Sondheim got a lifetime achievement award and couldn't bother
to show up. I think it's because he's already dead. He got Mandy
Patinkin to read his speech for him.

10:21 pm Completely non-plussed by Move On from Sunday in the Park.

10:28 pm South Pacific. Again. Really? I'm ready to go home.

10:30 pm Lily Tomlin came stalking out on stage making sexy eyes at
me. That's definitely the best thing that's happened on the screen in
at least an hour.

10:34 pm Xanadu looks super camp. But at least I laughed out loud.

10:43 pm RENT is so washed up. The original Bway cast is so old.

10:47 pm Why. The. Hell. Did. Someone. Let. Liza. Minelli. On. Stage.
Wearing. Nothing. But. A. Tuxedo. Jacket. .........?

10:52 pm Livid that Patti won for best actress, but at least she
thanked her voice teacher. ...then again, not sure I'd tell people I
taught Patti to sing.

10:54 pm God bless Whoopi for being the comic relief for the night...
39 Whoopis on stage dressed in Chorus Line regalia. Best thing EVER.

10:59 pm That rap musical won best musical. That's kind of anti-
climactic. And that rapping man is standing on people's shoulders.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Fighting AIDS Baltimore-theatre-style

The show that I'm currently music directing was selected as one of the few Baltimore groups to perform at a Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit at the Hippodrome this Sunday. The event will tie in with the 62nd Annual Tony Awards, which will be telecast on the big screen at 8 pm.

If you're not doing anything, you should come. It's definitely not a shameless plug for the work I'm doing. Come out to support a wonderful organization and see the Tony Awards with people who take theatre super-seriously. The event is only $15 at the door, and there will be food tasting and a silent auction as well if you want to spend some additional coin.

If my camera stops being a douche, I'll post pictures from the event next week. It's bound to have some "heavy hitters" from Baltimore there.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Baltimore Pride.... no, not that kind.



I have this morning ritual where I try to put off getting out of bed as long as humanly possible by watching the Today Show and bargaining with Al Roker through the TV. "5 more minutes, Al.... I'm just waiting until Al Roker makes one more bone-headed comment and then I'll get out of bed, I promise!" (The things one does when they live alone and aren't held accountable by anyone for their complete and utter weirdness) This almost always results in a 15 to 20 minute rush to pick out something to wear that's suitable for work, brush my teeth, wash my face, find my phone and keys which have invariably hid themselves inconspicuously during the night, and get out the door. I try to turn Matt and Meredith and Ann and Al off during this time, but sometimes, something is coming up which hinders me from pressing the POWER button on the TV.

This special little scenario became happenstance on Monday when they announced that the cast of Cry-Baby on Broadway would performing live in Rockafellar Plaza. I sat on the edge of my bed, half-dressed, toothbrush-in-mouth watching these amazing dancing boys do an entire tap number with license plates strapped to their feet and got a little twinkle in my eye every time they turned around to reveal the "Baltimore County" emblem on the back of their jailhouse jumpsuits. It was a fantastic number. It made me proud of things I have no reason to be proud of: John Waters, 1950s Baltimore, etc.



I get super excitable, however, when at least two of my worlds collide. When THREE of my worlds collide like they did on Monday (The Today Show, Baltimore, musical theatre), my head explodes in happiness. I seriously cannot wait to see this nonsense. I read a few reviews. The Chicago Tribuneseems to think it's campy and trite. The NY Times thinks it's precocious. I think I'm going to hear one reference to Baltimore and lose my nut. Especially when it's not Homicide: Life on the Street or The Wire or The Corner or anything else characterizing Baltimore as a city dead to drugs and gangs. Who's taking the train up to NY to see it with me?

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Real Estate for the Young and Clueless

The Maestro and my Brother-from-Another live in this adorable historic neighborhood on the northeast side of town called Mayfield. It has beautiful, historic houses on wide, tree-lined streets. If you're actually inside of Mayfield, you'd never believe that you were inside Baltimore's city limits. Think Homewood or Guilford for the slightly less loaded.

Every year, Mayfield's Community Association hosts a home and garden tour, where about 10 different familes open up their homes and/or gardens for residents and guests to walk through, observe, ooh and ah, etc. The 2008 home and garden tour was a few rainy Sundays ago, and The Maestro and I went with his recently ex-other roommate.

By the time the 10th house rolled around, we were all a little tuckered out, but it was well worth the wait. It was a gorgeous house with breathtaking views of Lake Montebello. Best of all, it's also on the market. I spent the rest of the day begging The Maestro to buy it. And much to the chagrin of everyone with whom I interract on a regular basis, I've been talking about this house ever since. Just for giggles, I sent the listing to my mother a few days ago. She responded yesterday with the results from this website. You can plug any address into this bad boy, and it gives you the property's stats (i.e. # of beds/baths, square footage), something it calls a Zestimate (estimated market value), a tax assessor's estimate, bird's eye views of the property from Google Earth, neighborhood information, previous sale and listing information if applicable, and even more cool stuff that it's pretty impossible to list all that it does.

What's even more fun is that you can plug any address into this, so it's a good way of getting an informal value of your property if you own and are thinking ahead to when you're going to sell next. I'm not a real estate junkie. I'm young, I just happen to like what I like. Seeing all of the statistics for this house that's been the subject of my daydreams for the past few weeks helps put things into perspective for someone who's otherwise unsavvy to the ways of the real estate market.

Go to zillow.com to start playing.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Seeing Sex with friends and family and eating alone

Last week was a rough one for a number of reasons. By the time Thursday rolled around, I honestly just wanted to lie comatose for the weekend, but alas, that is never an option. I had to turn down two really cool social invitations, and I did it the flaky way (by simply not responding to the e-mails... not out of apathy, but rather absentmindedness). I played with the fleeting, yet still irrational, thought of getting some sort of social secretary to make sure that no more e-mails/invitations/whatever slipped through the cracks. Then I looked at the summer schedule of my other half, The Maestro, and quickly got over myself.

I've totally begrudgingly given into the hype that is the Sex and the City film. I loved the series. It was a bonding time I had with my mother when I was in high school, from seasons 2 through the end. Just like everyone else, I didn't want it to end when it did, and cursed Kim Catrall for forcing the idea of a film adaptation into a stale mate. Then I went to college and got a grown up job and a condo and got over it. But when they started filming, I totally got excited again, and have been anticipating May 30th probably more than my own birthday for the better portion of six months. A few different invitations to see the movie with lady friends went out, but my brother-from-another-mother gave me the stink eye and told me I had to go with him. Not that I wouldn't have anyway, but I definitely got put in my place. Since my mother was in town, I invited her as well, for old times' sake, and also since I hadn't really seen her since she'd been in town despite the fact that she'd been crashing on my couch.

Around 10 am, I sent texts out to a few others I knew were interested in seeing it in Baltimore that night. I went on Landmark's website, mouth already watering at the thought of sipping a cosmo while watching Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte do the same from the other side of the screen, and then my heart fell. At 10:30 am, every single showing at Landmark that night through the 10:30 pm showing was sold out. A cursory search through other theatres yielded the same result. In a panic that my opening night screening of SATC wasn't going to happen, I put a call into my friend-that-knows-everything and he suggested that we get tickets at the Rotunda. Since they don't have online ticketing, he figured it wouldn't be able to sell out. Great planning. I was still going to swing by on my way into the city for happy hour and buy the tickets early so that our faces weren't cracked at 10:15 when we showed up at the theatre.

Of course plans never work out the way you want them to. I sat on northbound I-95 for over an hour, wound up not going back to my office as planned, and was still going to be late for my happy hour date at Brewers. My friend swung by the Rotunda and picked up tickets for us, and at 6:30, the 7:30 showing was already sold out and there was a line around the theatre. Phew. It looked like my instincts were right. Three or four Resurrections and a detour through downtown to usher my mother into Hampden later, we were sitting in a packed theatre with my mother, and some out-of-town cousins. I felt so apologetic that they had to experience cinema in Baltimore at the Rotunda. I really wanted them to see Landmark... because that's the Baltimore I want people who aren't from here to think of. The Rotunda, however, is more like the Baltimore that I probably experience from day-to-day. Not that I'm ashamed or anything. I just attempt to assert a little more class into outsiders' perceptions of the city. So all that to say, the drunken man sitting on the other side of my friend shouting random nonsense at the screen was probably more entertaining than most of the movie. It was good. I'm going to see it again with other girlfriends. But it wasn't what I was sitting on pins and needles for. And when J-Hud's catchy little "All Dressed Up in Love" came on, I wanted to jump out of a window, or run out the theatre screaming at the very least. Maybe I shouldn't have read the liveblog of the movie over on Jezebel that day? The one good thing about being slightly annoyed at the movie is that I don't want to see a designer anything for at least a year. The Maestro's off the hook for buying me any expensive designer handbags. I'm sure that's a load off of his shoulders.

.........

By this morning, I was really on people overload. That's not to say I hadn't had a good weekend. I got to see and spend time with family, old friends, new friends, see a movie, drink homemade margaritas. The weekend was full and overwhelming. I stayed in bed until noon... watching Meet the Press and Chris Matthews... thoroughly annoyed by the politics that Tim Russert allows people to play on his casualty of a show, but amused and relaxed nonetheless. I decided that I was hungry for breakfast food, but didn't feel like driving into the city, so I threw on jeans and a t-shirt and headed up the street to IHOP with a book that time has refused to allow me to finish. I started taking quiet time to myself when I moved out here right before my senior year in college. If I skipped my 8 am class, I didn't have to be to school until 2 on some days, so I'd grab a book and sit at Starbucks and read and journal for hours just to detox from people. I guess some people don't need to detox from people, but my friends have always been and will always be drama queens. And the people that aren't my friends, but that I have to interract with on a regular basis are the same as well. As a result, I need moments in the week to not see people, not talk to people, to just be. I used to have a complex about it. When I lived on campus, I refused to go eat if I didn't have people to eat with. I would rather starve for days than sit in a dining hall and eat alone. Now I relish those moments, because they never happen.

So I anticipated there being a wait and made small talk with the hostess, a girl I'd done a show with a few years back, and fiddled on my phone. When I got seated, I discerned what I was going to order right then and there, and then cracked open my book. While I was quietly observing the people around me, like I do anywhere I go, I still enjoyed the peace of not having to make conversation, not having to break down the happenings of my week to anyone, to be out and about without having to give that much in return to the world around me for just a little bit. As I left and paid my check, the hostess noted, "You always come in here alone." For a second, I reverted back to that college freshman, afraid that someone would think she was a loser and had no one to sit with. I made a funny face and responded, "Yeah, well, you know, I live around the corner, and uh, I'm just being lazy on a Sunday. hehe." Unscathed by my neurosis, she asked about theatre-type stuff, and we chatted for a few minutes. I told her to have a good summer, and as I walked out to my car, I came back to my senses and stopped apologizing for wanting a few moments of peace and quiet to myself after a long, hard week.

.........

It's my mother's birthday today. If anyone can guess how old she is in the comments, I'll give you a prize. Thank God for good genes.