My vanilla-scented boyfriend

You may or may not remember how excited I was a couple of months ago when I got the Obama gear from his campaign store.

Well, now there's more cause for celebration! I had coffee with Feen the other day. We don't see each other that much anymore (except for a 10-day holiday to Italy this past March), so whenever we do, much fun is to be had. She went to the Cape with her parents last week and brought me back this lovely little gift:



I absolutely FLIPPED. I have the most major un-platonic crush of life on Barack Obama. I have since way before he was a Senator. Even I'll admit that some of the Obama licensing is getting a little freaky, but for the most part, it's all in fun.

Here's my buddy hanging from Maddie's rear-view mirror:



And he smells like vanilla! Yum yum yum on all accounts.

Wino Wednesdays

I decided that I wanted to do a weekly special of some sort. What to write about, though? That was a challenge as my life pretty much looks like this:

1. Wake
2. Work
3. Drive
4. Theatre
5. Dinner
6. Home
7. Rinse, Wash, Sleep. Repeat

Aside from working and theatre-ing, I eat and drink. The name is sort of a misnomer as I'm not just a wino. I like wine. I like beer. I like Scotch, Bourbon, Vodka, and the occasional rum drink in hot weather. Yes, basically what I'm saying is that I don't discriminate. That last point is probably to a fault.

One day when I have more time (when will that be, by the way? perhaps when I'm dead), I would love to take a wine class in the hopes of developing some sort of discerning taste. In the meantime, I like what I like and I try not to drink crap. In other words, you won't see me reviewing Beringer White Zinfandel any time soon.

--

I was first introduced to Ravenswood Vintners Blend at O's house. She and her husband buy it by the case and offer copious amounts of it to guests. I stopped ordering white wine a few years ago and drink almost exclusively red (save for the occasional Moscato or Riesling). I've never seen Sideways, but I do know that I can't stand Merlot. I started with Cabernet Sauvingons, but they're a little heavy if you're not eating anything (and while I enjoy wine with dinner, I also enjoy it without). The natural progression (for me, at least) was to Zinfandel. A glass of this will give you a mouth full of flavor without being too dry or too sweet. According to their website (and according to what I hear from people who know better than I do), it's an extremely well-crafted wine as well. My favorite part (aside from the whole wine part) is the price point. A bottle of this bad boy will only set you back about $10-$12 depending on where you pick it up, so it's great to have at home for dinner or to take over to a friend's for a hostess gift. Give it a try and let me know what you think. And if you have any beverages to suggest (not just wine... cocktail receipes, craft beers, etc.), please give me a heads up! downbeatblog AT gmail DOT com.

Weekend Excursion Part 2

So when I last left off, the Maestro and I had left the Farmington Club. We had driven Maddie, my poor car, to empty. She kindly informed me that we had 11 miles to find a gas station or the world would come to an end. We filled her up just in the nick of time for $4.11/gallon (because everything is twice as expensive in good ol' Connecticut), punched our destination into the GPS and got going. In Connecticut, where they want to make everything a little prettier, apparently they disguise their cell phone towers by making them look likes trees. I think it's a noble attempt, but still somewhat worthless.





The Maestro had made arrangements earlier in the day for us to "stop by" and "visit" with old friends A & B at their home in Bronxville, NY. He figured that way we could break up the trip back to Baltimore into two smaller stretches, a notion with which I could rightly identify. We made it to Bronxville in about an hour and a half and stopped by a liquor store to pick up a few bottles of wine as a hostess gift for A, who was cooking dinner for us. If you ever have a chance to go, Bronxville is super cute. It's about 8 miles north of NYC, and historic without being sleepy.

We pulled into their drive, and the Maestro turned to me and said, "We have until 8 or 8:30 at the latest and then need to get back on the road." When we walked in, A was busy cooking a huge Italian meal. We sat in the kitchen and drank Tanqueray and Tonics while she prepared our dinner and we caught up. By the time B got home, dinner was ready and the 90 degree heat had subsided, so we sat outside.

We toasted to friends and to food.

We talked about the world and the state of crime and music in Baltimore (where A & B used to live back in the day).

We talked about the economy and the state of academia in New York.

We got a little toasted and then started talking about Israel.

...and then just short of 10:00, the Maestro declared that neither of us was in any state of mind or composure to drive back to Baltimore that night. A & B opened their house up to us for the night. They're the epitomy of hachnassat orchim, Hebrew for hospitality (note: I'm not really that smart. Read Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren F. Winner to be able to sound as cool as me). I totally look up to them, and want to be like them when I grow up. Well, grow up more than I am now at least.

At any rate, the Maestro had services to play in the morning and I had a relatively early call at the theatre for a matinee, so taking a leisurely summer drive down to Baltimore in the morning was not an option. That's why we'd planned to drive up to Connecticut and back in the same day. No, instead, we had to drive with a purpose. We woke up at 4 am, and got back on the road by 4:20. Around NYC, we got caught in a random flash monsoon that forced us to put the four-way flashers on for about 15 minutes. When the storm cleared, we stopped at the first service area we could find, but even Starbucks wasn't open yet. That's when we knew it was obscenely early. We watched the sunrise on 95 for the second morning in a row as we drove home. We made it in about 3.5 hours with a 10-minute stop to rest the eyes and get coffee.

We got back to Baltimore just in time to catch up a little with Troy, for the Maestro to grab a quick shower, and for me to drop him off at church (remember? his car was dead). I headed home, filled up with gas again (this time at $3.91/gallon. God bless you, Baltimore!), crawled into bed, and dozed off to Whose Wedding is it Anyway for about 90 minutes. Then it was up, shower, theatre, show, train station to deposit the Maestro, back to Baltimore to see Troy's show, out for drinks and appetizers, and home by midnight.

Yes, three days later, I still don't feel like I've caught up on sleep. And to think... this upcoming weekend isn't going to be any better. Shoot me now.

Another weekend, another New England wedding

I'm finally starting to feel like "normal" again. The weekend was a whirlwind, and I hoped to share it earlier, but felt like I'd been hit by a Mack truck until about two seconds ago. So now, for the nuptial roundup. Look for another one this time next week (yes, everyone and their mother is getting married this summer... save for me and Troy).

Getting to this wedding was especially hectic because the Maestro had just returned from a two-week tour of New England and Nova Scotia the night before. I am in the midst of a show. I had a show on Friday night, and he had a concert. We both climbed into our respective beds on opposite sides of the city around midnight and said goodnight.

Fast foward to three hours later. My alarm went off at 3:00 am. I wanted to die. I threw some clothes on, packed breakfast for the Maestro and myself, tore my room apart looking for a necklace that I know I saw a week or two ago when I was cleaning my room, failed to find said necklace and ran out of the door, dress and party shoes in hand.


These shoes are always a conversation piece. And best worn to events where I don't have to stand for longer than 7 minutes at a clip.

I got to the Maestro's house around 4, we transferred all of my stuff to his car, climbed in, and were ready to go.

Except his car wouldn't start. (Funny thing about being on tour for two weeks with no one to start your car... oh well, you live and learn.)

So then we had to re-transfer all our stuff back to my car and get ready to roll. Why were we up at such an un-Godly hour, you may be asking yourself right now? Well, our dear, dear friends decided to have a 10 am wedding mass. In Connecticut. Which, for those of you who didn't do well in geography, is super far away from Baltimore. As both of us had performances on Friday night, we couldn't leave until at least midnight. Rather than driving through the night and still having to pay for a hotel room, we decided (however wisely or unwisely as the case may be) that we would leave super early in the morning and get there right on time.

Well, we would've gotten there right on time had we left at 4 as originally planned. With all of the nutty car complications, we didn't get on the road until almost 4:45. And not anticipating having to drive the 366 miles from East Baltimore to Bristol, Connecticut, I hadn't filled up my tank. The Maestro drives like a bat out of you-know-where, so we decided that he would drive. If I would've driven, we never would've made the ceremony.

We did much better at staying awake once we had some coffee in our system and the sun rose. We got a little turned around on the Jersey Turnpike and hit awful traffic around 8 am in NYC, but other than that, made pretty fantastic time, all things considered. We stopped once for gas and coffee, once to relieve our tiny bladders, and once at a McDonalds off the highway to change into our wedding clothes (talk about awkward glances on that one). Once we got in Connecticut, the drive was especially scenic.



We got to the (beautiful) church about 15 minutes into the service. The Maestro assured me we didn't miss much. It was a lovely, personalized, and meaningful service. And for anyone who cares, the bridesmaids wore midnight blue, strapless, tea-length dresses and silver shoes.

The reception was at the picturesque Farmington Club. I thought it looked like a plantation. The Maestro told me not to worry as we were in Connecticut. You judge for yourself.



The wedding was fun. I've found that, more often than not, they are. We were afraid that we wouldn't know anyone there, and most of the crowd was older. But they sat us at a table with two other friends (of the Maestro) from Maryland and some young-ish teachers from DC. We all had enough in common despite the fact that many of us didn't know each other to make it work. The groom picked the music, and he did a great job of balancing older, classic hits to transcend the major generation gap that was going on amongst their guests.

The bride and groom sat at their own smaller table in lieu of a head table, a trend I'm seeing more of recently, and which I appreciate. It gets annoying going to weddings as the date of someone who's in the wedding party and sitting at some random cast off table with people you don't know. To ensure that they went around to every table to visit with their guests, they brought a tray of homemade cookies and offered them to each table with dessert while they were visiting.



The groom's godmother baked the cookies and the wedding cake, which was carrot cake, which was amazingly delicious.



All in all, we had a great time. The one upside to having such an early wedding is that we got out in plenty of time to drive to our next destination by the light of day. Here we are with our Maryland friends.



I'll save the rest of our excursion for a later post as there's oh-so-much to tell. Meanwhile, I've got to find a new dress for summer wedding number 3 coming up this Sunday.

Another Week, Another Wedding

So the Maestro's back in town and we're headed up north (and at 4:30
am still sitting at his house, 30 minutes behind schedule) for another
New England wedding. I feel like I don't spend weekends in Baltimore
anymore. Weekend hijinks promised in an upcoming post.

Theater Majors Gone Wild

It's the newest Joe Francis' Girls Gone Wild franchise. Now that he can't ply underaged girls with booze and get them to make out with each other in the shower from jail, he's switching demographics.

From young girls to theater majors.

His legal bills are piling up, and you'd really help him out if you can pass this on to some friends. If it gets popular enough, he'll even release a DVD.



I like to characterize it as an American Apparel music video on crack.

And also, it stars one of my favorite people in the world: Vinnie Lidie, precious bunny of love.

Good night, Baltimore

Clearly, Hollywood doesn't understand the concept of there being too much of a good thing.

They hit it big with Hairspray on Broadway and on film in the 80's and again last year. Then they hit it not-so-big when they attempted to adapt Crybaby for the Broadway stage.

Does Jon Waters owe someone a huge sum of money? Because for someone who has recently attacked Hampden's annual HONFest (only one of the best Baltimore summer traditions EVER) for being "condescending," he sure seems to be selling out.

"Why, Downbeat? Why are you so incredibly incensed over Jon Waters and Hollywood?" I hear you asking yourself right now. My enlivened state is in swift response to this special little headline that popped up on HuffPo this morning: "Hairspray" Sequel Set for 2010. Are you kidding me? Lay a good thing to rest. There are two popular versions of Baltimore in the Hollywood scope: that of Homicide: Life on the Streets/The Corner/The Wire, and that of Jon Waters' 50's era pink flamingos and greasers. Neither of them is the Baltimore that I know and love.

AND... on top of all of that... if they bring John Travolta back with that absolutely heinous cockney that he calls Bawlmerese (the "charming" Baltimore accent that is mocked by many and mastered by a few for the non-Baltimoron readership), I will find the nearest window and jump out of it.

Jon Waters, you are a sell out. Pure and simple. I hope making that dollar holler is worth it, because your Hairspray legacy is about to be tainted.

Forget Hairspray. I'll take HONFestival any day on Jon Waters.


HONFest 2006 with the cast of Beehive: The 60s Musical and some young fans showing their hon pride

iPhone Flick

A side of Baltimore I rarely get to see. Definitely inspires my
romantic side, though.

I wordled. It was cool. That is all.

Because all of the cool kids are doing it.



I love that Baltimore is so prominently displayed. That's because I say it. A lot. And apparently I say "Twitter" more than "Facebook."

You're probably cooler than me and have already Wordled like 8 million times. But if you haven't, and you want one of your own, check it out here.

I told you guys I'm a sucker for anything on the internet.

A different spin on the obligatory Dark Knight post

I tried to see Dark Knight on Saturday. Troy called me as I was pulling into the parking garage to inform me that we'd just be getting lunch as every show from now until kingdom come was sold out and we had theatres to get to and shows to put on later in the evening. As we lunched at my new favorite Whole Foods in the whole entire world, I remarked that I thought that all of the die hards that wanted to see the movie would have already seen it by now.

We made plans to see it on Monday after the hubbub of our opening weekends had died down.

Fast forward to today on Facebook. I'm kind of digging on my house right now. I got a big project from my boss at work. All I wanted to do was put in an extra hour or two at work, go to the gym, and come home and relax on my well-vacuumed carpet. I tried to wuss out. Troy told me I sucked.

Peer pressure's a mother father.

He suggested buying tickets online. Good thing he did. By 6:45 (on a freakin' MONDAY, people!), the 7 pm show at Landmark was sold out. That's not the only thing that was sold out. We stood in the concession line for about 12 minutes, and by the time we got to the register, they'd sold out of bottles of water.

Who. Sells. Out. Of. Bottles. Of. Water.

....?

Right, moving on. So by the time we got into the actual theatre, there (OF COURSE) was nothing together except for the very first row. The last movie I saw in the front row was Blair Witch Project. I don't think I've recovered since.

Yes. Heath Ledger was amazing. Blah blah blah.

You know what wasn't amazing? The fact that about T - 45 minutes from the end, I turned to Troy and said: "I really want for this movie to be over by now." He shared my sentiments. Clearly $155 million in one weekend wasn't enough. These greedy Dark Knight movie execs clearly want to make an entire country's worth of money. At the expense of my poor little dehydrated, motion sick, slap-happy, fidgety body.

That said, the movie was pretty good. Not that I have good taste in movies. Nor do I see that many of them. Still...

The website a friend and I totally thought of making like 3 years ago and failed...

I'll just start off this post by saying that I am a sucker for networking. I'll sign up for just about anything and then determine its worthiness or unworthiness. And I am definitely an online marketer's DREAM. In fact, I read a half a post at Jezebel today about a show that I'd vaguely heard of months ago this one time when someone was talking about TV and immediately keyboard-marched over to the AMCtv.com website to watch the first episode to see what all the fuss was about. If you want me to buy your product, watch your show, ingest your new drug... whatever... send me and e-mail or put a comment on my blog. If it's on the internet, apparently I must have it.

Gosh. I'm gonna get a lot of spam now, aren't I?

At any rate, a few weeks ago, this company started following me on Twitter. Usually I chalk that up to creepy people stalking me, but this one seemed to be Baltimore-based, so I followed them, too. And then one of their updates said that their website was live. So I went! And I joined!

...and then I took awhile to contemplate the usefulness of this thing that I just arbitrarily joined because the internet told me to and someone started following me on Twitter and I was flattered.

So the website is 600block.com. Their whole shtick is that they post user-generated reviews on restaurants, bars, and retailers. And I know you're rolling your eyes and saying, "Duh, you can get that in at least 8 million other places on the web." I know you're saying that to yourself because that's what I said even after I wrote a few reviews. But then I saw this magical little box in the upper right hand corner of the site that has a list of specials. Want a half-priced beer after 9 or a new place to have happy hour in 5 minutes? go to 600block.com and it will tell you exactly what's going on in Baltimore by way of cheap food and drink on a daily basis. This little box is my new best friend.

A few summers ago, before I had a place of my own, and far more disposable income, and didn't really have to worry about having a grown up job because I was still in school, a friend and I tried a new nightlife spot at least twice a week with the thought that we'd start this anti-tourism guide book for Baltimore 20-somethings... outlining where all of the specials were each day, and suggesting places for blind dates and romantic evenings and nights out with large groups of friends. That was a few years ago.

Paper is so passé in 2008.

And also, apparently, 600block.com beat us to the punch.

I'm not paying attention to any of the retailer stuff right now because I'm more interested in having a lovely dinner than fitting into half of what's in my closet right now, but maybe in time, it will be like Twitter and prove its usefulness to me... and hopefully, if you're not in Baltimore, it will move on to your city one day, too.

Also, Baltimorons, it's Restaurant Week. Go out and try some place new to eat for $30.08. If you need suggestions, my favorites are bicycle, Gecko's, Sascha's 572, Slainte, and Pazo. All linkable from the Baltimore Restaurant Week site.

A long overdue home improvement post

I've had my head spinning and my body going in five million different directions for the past week for tech, but not that we've opened, my life will slowly get back to normal, and hopefully the posts a little more regular.

As I mentioned before, my condo was kind of unapologetically out of control and un-lived-in, and I'd gotten tired of it. Last weekend, I had an unexpected day off from rehearsal, my mother was in town, and she helped me clean house and shop for the new place.

One of the first priorities for us was getting the porch in order. Some barn swallows have been nesting in my porch above the sprinkler head for three seasons in a row. While I love nature, the bird droppings and inability to sit out on my porch have gotten super-old. Not particularly wanting to rip a bird's nest down (don't worry: all the eggs have hatched and no birds were harmed in the process of cleaning my deck), my lovely mother hired someone to do it for us. The woman did a thorough job, and also scrubbed down the siding and patio furniture. Once all remnants of bird were gone, I went to Home Depot and bought a hammer and some thumb tacks (yes, I know... it's appalling that I didn't own a hammer. I'll give you a moment to get over it). We tacked up this magical netting called Bird Block to prevent our feathered creatures from coming back. I've had these great Japanese fish bowls sitting out on the deck that I inherited from one of my mother's recent relocations, but I've had no occasion to use them. We lined the edge of the porch with those fish bowls filled with azaleas and some other plant whose leaves look like elephant ears. Throw some lanterns out there and VOILA! New and improved porch!





We christened the new porch by inviting some neighbors over for wine and cheese that night. Our neighbor from across the hall brought some incense to stick in one of the flower pots to keep the mosquitos at bay. I never knew that worked, but I'm going out to a hippie store to buy some now. I went to Trader Joe's and bought some pita bread, a box of mixed cocktail crackers, some 3-layer hummus, aged gouda, dill havarti, and blackberries and black cherries. Here are the results of my impromptu entertaining:



I opened a bottle of Blue Jean, a California blend that is actually a pretty good value for it's money (it retails for $7.99 and is quite yummy).

All in all, it was a good way to start pulling my place into shape. A week later, the plants are still thriving. I've bought a Dyson and discovered a newfound love of vacuuming. I've cleaned my room and re-decorated the master bath. My mother re-decorated the guest bath and powder rooms. I'll leave all of that for another post, but I'm well on my way into making Chez Downbeats a home!

The downside to having steady employment

I have been in the midst of one of the most laborious, interminable tech weeks ever. It was split up into two weeks instead one seven-day straight run because of space constraints, so it really started around Independence Day and just keeps dragging on. We're using a lot of new technology for this show, and at times, it really felt like things weren't going to come together.

Alas, luckily, everything always comes together. We had a pretty tight dress rehearsal last night. Everything fell into place. I went to the pub last night happy instead of yacking and moaning. And tonight is our last dress, and I'm actually looking forward to going to the theatre (which is the way it's supposed to be, right?!). After this weekend, I'll finally have my life back for a few weeks before we start rehearsals for A Chorus Line. The sad part about working so much, however, is that I miss what everyone else does if it runs concurrently. No one in Baltimore has Monday night shows for people in the industry (that I know of, at least). A few theatres have a random Thursday thrown in to cater to theatre professionals who want to support others. But so many things in Baltimore are going up at the same time, and it looks like I'm going to see very little of anything that runs concurrently to my show.

If you're still looking for things to do in Baltimore for the next few weekends (other than Artscape), please support these people:

* Non Stop Realism by Tim Paggi: a new play and part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival at the brand-spanking new Strand Theatre Company. Runs July 18 thru August 3: Fri/Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm

*Seussical at Liberty Showscase Theatre. Runs July 18 thru August 2: Fri/Sat 8 pm.

*Taming of the Shrew at Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. This plays outside in the Meadow at the Evergreen House. You can picnic out and watch Shakespeare under the stars. Runs July 18 thru August 3: Wed/Thur/Fri/Sat 8 pm, Sun 7 pm.

*Urinetown at Cockpit-in-Court Summer Theatre. Runs July 18 thru August 3: Fri/Sat 8 pm, Sun 3 pm.

*The Who's TOMMY at Winters Lane Productions. Runs July 18 thru August 3: Fri/Sat 8 pm, Sun 3 pm. No shows August 25 or 26.

*in this life: four short plays at Vagabond Players and featuring Troy, my brother from another. Runs July 18 thru August 3: Fri/Sat 8 pm, Sun 7 pm.

And if you're in the D.C.-ish area or want to get away from Baltimore for a few hours, two of my friends are on production staff for shows abroad:

*Seussical at St. Mary's Summerstock. Runs July 18 thru July 27 at multiple times. See the Facebook invite.

*Parade at Wildwood Summer Theatre. Runs July 18 thru August 2: Fri/Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 1:30 pm.

As you can see, there's tons of great theatre I'm going to be missing. I doubt the list is exhaustive, so if I missed something, feel free to share it in the comments. Also, if you're working regularly, do you find time to go and support others. If so, how?

Weekends Away

I spent this past weekend at home (mostly) instead of going out. It's a good thing! I spent some time with my mother and grandmother who were visiting from out of town and getting a start on fixing up my place. More on that soon (I promise!) when I have two-and-a-half seconds to breathe and am not in the midst of tech week. But until then, I leave you with an experience I had away from Baltimore a couple of months ago.

B, one of my best girlfriends from college moved back home to St. Mary's County to teach after graduation. It's about two hours away from Baltimore in Southern Maryland. We see each other considerably less now that we live so far away and have grown up jobs, but I spent a weekend with her in April. One of the highlights of our time together was the annual opening of the Tiki Bar, an open air hut that serves domestic beer and mixed tropical cocktails on picturesque Solomon's Island.

The Tiki Bar opening is ridiculous. People plan their work schedules and time off around this weekend every year. They come from all over. And by "all over," I mean all over the country/world. People sail into Solomon's Island, dock their boats, and get trashed on over-priced alcohol. And the owners of the Tiki Bar apparently make their cost for the entire season in that one weekend charging people $7 for mai tais and rum punch. Everything they make from there on out through the rest of the summer is purely profit.

Needless to say, the place was crazy. We went for the experience and decided to never do it again. I did meet some friends in line for drinks however. I decided to buy a round for the crowd we were with, and I stood en queue for 30 minutes.

This lovely couple motorcycled in from Northern Virginia and kept me company while I decided between cocktails.



The next day, we explored downtown Leonardtown and Solomon's Island by day. The weather was lovely, and now that we're "old," we had fun checking out the shops and monuments. Of particular note, is the segregated World War II monument in downtown Leonardtown. It was segregated by "coloreds" and "whites" when it was originally erected post WWII. They took it down a few years ago to clean and restore, and put it back the same old way. I guess in some places in this state and this country, we're still not good enough to be commemorated on the same plaques as one another.







Finally, I found a sign that reflects how I feel parking in Federal Hill on our way back to the car on Solomon's Island. For the record, it was affixed to the garage of a parish house, which makes it slightly more acceptable. I still want one for myself. If anyone knows where to find one, please let me know.



I think spending time with and maintaining meaningful friendships as well as getting away (even if it's really not that far) are both essential in not going clinically insane. I suggest times like this to all.

More goals

The fire has been lit under my feet. I'm still on this kick where I'm making some changes in my life for the better. Next up: to live a less cluttered life. I really do get consumed with work. By the time I get home in the middle of the night, I'm too exhausted to do anything other than crawl into bed. And since I started permanently living alone last October, my condo has simply fallen into a ridiculous state of disarray. It has always been a battle for me to keep my room clean. One of my first memories is of my father, fed up with the sad state of my bedroom circa age 4, banishing me to the dining room while he took on my bedroom with a trash bag and vacuum cleaner. My room isn't much better two decades later, but at least the common areas in my place are passable. I still don't vacuum enough.

The fact of the matter is simply that I haven't really taken ownership of my place even though I moved in three years ago. I don't entertain company Chez Downbeats, and now that I live alone, I've had little motivation to make my place "homey." Madre Downbeats and my Nana are up from Florida and staying with me for a little bit right now. When my mother called me the other day to let me know that she had arrived safely and that I had left some frozen calzones out on the counter, my stomach started doing flip flops at the notion of my mother even coming close to opening my bedroom door.

That was the last straw. I have decided that the next time that my mother comes into town, I would like for her to be able to say, "Wow, the place looks great" instead of having to bite her tongue. How am I going to find the time? I have no clue... spend more time at home? In between production of Tommy an A Chorus Line, hopefully I'll get all of my boxes unpacked, my room cleaned and organized, and the place decorated. Stuff at the windows, etc. And when it all gets done, I'm going to throw a bangin' cocktail party.

Got any tips for cleaning up/decorating? Bring them on!

Making some changes

I'm not a New Years resolution kinda gal. I get the point, but how effective are they really? Occasionally someone actually quits smoking or goes to the gym a little more for a few weeks, but generally these good intentions fizzle out into a cloud of disappointment, defeat, and self-deprecation. Also, I don't particularly believe that one should wait until a particular date to make needed changes in their lives. If you want to make change, start NOW!

So at any rate, all that said, I was inspired by this little thing that this cool chick named Amy is doing over at her equally cool website, Rocketwife. She made a list of 101 goals she wants to accomplish in 1001 days. She put them all up on her website, and she's kicking butt and taking names while she crosses each one of them out.

See, that's very industrious of her. I'm inspired, but not enough to make a list of 101 things. I can barely tie my shoes in the morning. I'm all about acknowledging some goals that I need to set and documenting the act of holding myself accountable, however. And that's exactly what I intend to do on this here little patch of the blogosphere (I kind of hate that word, but it captures the essence of geography that I'm trying to convey).

So first goal: to familiarize myself with two new shows a month for a year. It's not particularly a secret that I'm a bad musical theatre artist. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until that statement becomes a false one. There are a few different ways one can introduce themselves to new work:

*Performing/producing a show
*Going to see a live performance
*Buying the soundtrack

I music direct between 3 and 5 shows in a year (by year's end I will have music directed 4 shows... hopefully I'll pick up the pace again in 2009), and sometimes those are shows with which I'm already familiar. Needless to say, I'm not going to learn 24 new (to me) shows by June of 2009 just by showing up to rehearsal. And I often don't have the time to see even most of the stuff out there in live performance. That means I'm going to have to start building up my iTunes library with some musical theatre.

I've already started! A friend of mine told me about a year ago how much I would love this piece comprised of four people, four stools, and a piano called [Title of Show]. I kind of dismissed it, until a few days ago after I had seen enough e-mails pop into my inbox about this piece that my curiosity was whetted. And I did just see Candide the other day, so by all accounts I appear to be on track. As far as [...Show] is concerned, I'll let you know what I think... and keep you updated on my quest to become a more knowledgeable musical theatre artist.

And please, feel free... indebted... whatever... to send me suggestions if you see/hear of shows you think I should know about.

E-mail me at underwood.tiffany [at] gmail [dot] com.

Candide at Wolf Trap

Some lovely DC friends of ours invited the Maestro and I down to their side of town to go see Candide in Concert at Wolf Trap starring Jason Alexander (ay! George Costanza!?!) on Sunday night. The Maestro walked into this concert with a little more enthusiasm than I. Coming from a far more instrumental background than I do, he was looking forward to hearing that world-famous overture (see first video). Coming from the voice/musical theatre background that I do, I had one awful experience with the coloratura aria in a college musical theatre class with which I equated the entire piece (see second video). As a result, I was less excited to see Candide, but looking forward to going to Wolf Trap for the first time.

Exhibit A

Leonard Bernstein conducts the overture from Candide

Exhibit B

Kristen Chenoweth sings Cunegonde's aria Glitter and Be Gay

Thankfully, the concert exceeded my ridiculously prejudicial expectations. The cast was fantastic. Even Georgey Costanza held his own up against the world class singers with whom he shared the stage and the National Symphony. And imagine my surprise when I read in the program that the soprano singing Cunegonde is a blogger. Read her stuff under the handle ACB at The Concert. She brought down the house with that nonsensical Glitter song.

The acoustics were surprisingly good in the outside ampitheatre. The principals' voices were amplified, but the choir and small ensemble of Wolf Trap apprentices were not. Thankfully, our hosts sprung for seats under cover (you can picnic out and sit on the lawn for much cheaper than tickets "inside") as it rained on and off during the performance. Overall, it was a great way to experience Wolf Trap for the first time.

We also thought it would take us forever to get out of the parking lot and back on to 66 (I started channeling my experience of sitting for hours in the parking lot at Nissan Pavillion after a Dave Matthews Band concert), and the four of us each hypothesized how long we'd be sitting in the car. It only took 6 minutes to get out of the parking lot and onto the highway. Also a plus in my book.

Some other events at the Filene Center that look like they'd be comparable experiences to the one I had are as follows:

July 11, 8:15 pm Kiri Te Kanawa and the NSO
July 12, 8:15 pm Broadway Program conducted by Marvin Hamlisch
July 26, 8:15 pm Broadway ROCKS! from Phantom to Dreamgirls
July 31, 8:15 pm Beethoven's Best w/ Joyce Yang on piano

The Most Patriotic Wedding in the History of Our Fine Country

A very good friend got married in Boston on Friday. Yes, this past Friday was the 4th of July. Yes, our boisterous Irish neighbors of the North take their patriotic Federal holidays very seriously. Yes, they decided to get married on this date in at least small part due to the facts that there would definitely be fireworks at their wedding and that they would be less likely to forget their anniversary down the road when they become old, crotchety, and forgetful.

The Maestro was the best man, so he drove up to be a part of the week-long pre-wedding festivities. Troy and I, however, opted to fly up the day of. The airport wasn't as full as I thought it would be... I guess gas prices really are keeping people home (???).

At any rate, when we got up to Boston, The Maestro picked us up and then went off to continue his groomsman responsibilities. The groom's sister and husband picked us up from the hotel, and we then went off to Salem to explore. While known the world over for the witch trials, Salem has a whole lot more history than that little piece. There's a historic wharf, and some pretty old houses and gardens that we found.











As you see, there are some witches there if that's your bag.

There were some funny things we encountered in Salem as well. A liquor store with a funny name channeling Beavis and Butthead, and a seemingly strong senior population. See below:








The wedding was beautiful. Good music, blah blah blah.

The reception was at the Nahant Country Club, where (apparently) some Eisenhowers or Roosevelts got married a long time ago. The food was delicious, the fireworks were beautiful, the dancing was festive. Below is a brief pictorial summary:












Finally, the night of the wedding, we stayed at a house in Rockport. It was a lovely historic house that was built in the middle 1800s. It's been completely restored. Some of the fun touches included a fireplace in the ginormous kitchen, original stained glass and leaded windows, and a fantastic garden in the backyard. Apparently Rockport is a great summer vacation town. I'd love to go back and spend a whole week there some time.









And that last shot? Yeah, that's the cat that belongs to the house's owner. She shaves him for the summer when it gets "hot" up there. I thought he was adorable, for the record.

And even though I was ripped out of Baltimore, I did feel just a little bit of Baltimore when we drove past this on the way to the reception site:



And I guess there's one of these in every city, not just New York and Baltimore:

Headed to Boston

Troy and I are headed up to Boston to meet the Maestro for a close
friend's 4th of July wedding. It should be an interesting weekend, and
I look forward to recounting it to you all within the next few days.
Happy 4th!

Last Night's Search for a Needle in a Haystack

Or... Why having a ghost light in a theatre is so important.

A ghost light is a bare bulb left on in the theatre after all of the other lights have been turned out. Now I understand that there's some superstition surrounding its origin, but I believe that the ghost light's importance lies less in its historical origin and more in its most practical function. That of course being so that the poor person who turns off all of the lights can successfully get out of the theatre without busting their head open in the COMPLETE. PITCH. BLACKNESS. that is a dark stage.

As we're winding down to the home stretch of this latest production with which I'm involved, we've been putting in slightly longer nights... the other night, I think I left the dressing room with the rest of the production staff around 11:30 pm. Last night was no exception. We were tying up some loose ends production-wise. As we all gathered our things to leave, I offered to turn off the lights. When I went to the side of the stage to hit the off button that turns everything off, I noticed that the shade-less lamp that usually stays on 24/7 was not there. Whatever. I didn't care. It was late, I was itching to go to our usual Wednesday night spot, and I had to pee like a racehorse. I hit the button, grabbed my stuff, walked carefully back out onto the stage, down the stairs, up some stairs, and then out the side door. I shut the door behind myself that the stage manager had rigged to lock behind us so that he could leave a little early. I started rooting through my suitcase of a bag for my keys and heard no jingle jingle.

The world stopped for a second.

I dropped my scores on to the floor and stuck my head in my bag, searching with both hands now. Still no jingle jangle. I plopped myself on the floor, turned my bag upside down and opened all of the pockets.

No keys.

SHIIIIIIITAKE MUSHROOMS!!!! It was almost 11, we had no way of getting back into the theatre without calling public safety... which is something no one ever really actually WANTS to do... or even feels comfortable doing. Ugh. I walked up to my car to make sure that I hadn't locked them in there. Public safety came. We tore the theatre apart. Walked down every single aisle of seats, climbed down into the unopened orchestra pit, moved the piano to and fro. All to no avail. Assuming they weren't in the theatre, we then searched the dressing room. Nope. No keys. Then we tried the rehearsal room that I used briefly earlier in the evening. Still nope. 5 friends and 3 public safety officers later, and I'm starting to get particularly nervous. I keep a spare key hidden in my car for emergencies, but now that I have no roommates, I had no way of getting into my house without breaking in.

And then... just when I had started to give up hope, my tall, dark, handsome, not-your-cousin, friend Vinnie emerged from the wings, keys in hand. How did they get there, you might ask? When kind, industrious little me decided to turn off the lights, I dropped all of my stuff on the prop table. In complete darkness, I had forgotten that my keys were in my hand separate from my purse and score. So there they lay, lonely and waiting in the dark for me to stop being the spaz that I am.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why it is so important to always have a ghost light in the theatre: so that you don't lose your keys in the middle of the night.

Multi-Tasking by Day

I've recently moved to the other side of my office at the day job, and with the new office, came a second monitor. It's very helpful for certain functions specific to my duties, but it also serves the double purpose as a TV on my desk. I basically work 13 hour days between going into the office at 9 am, being at the theatre by 6, and then not leaving until 10 or 11 pm. As a result, I rarely get to watch TV, unless it's on marathon on a Sunday afternoon when I happen to be not otherwise engaged.

During the day to pass time while I'm doing mindless work, I've taken to watching website TV. With very few exceptions, I've come to the conclusion that they put the serial plot shows and bad television that's not taking off on the network up on their internet homes in their entirety. The stuff that I could get lost in (i.e. Law & Order, Without a Trace, Criminal Minds) is only represented on the network sites by recaps and quick clips. In the past week or two, however, I've watched the entire seasons of Chuck, Numb3rs, The Unit, CSI and CSI Miami, and Lipstick Jungle.

Other than that laundry list of couch potato material, I've also been using the network sites to track two new shows: Swingtown on CBS (middle-aged suburban married swingers in the 70s) and In Plain Sight (a ballsy man-eating US Marshall named Mary that ushers people into the Witness Protection Program). Neither of them (in my highly humble and limited opinion) started extremely well, but I feel like both of them are developing in a way that keeps me checking back to their sites every week to see the next episode. Or maybe it's because I just hate working with Medicare so much that I could spend all day gouging out my eyeballs... bad internet TV is nothing.