CollisionWorks

I have a few different things to post or comment on today, but I'll split them all up as they come, rather than just leaving a posting window up in the background for hours and adding more things to an ever-expanding post as they come up. I don't have any Friday Cat Photos yet anyway (I'd take them now, but it's dim in here and they're just sleeping in uninteresting positions).

Looks like a dreary and unpleasant day out there. Good day to stay in and write . . . if anything comes to me - I have rehearsals from Spell tomorrow and Everything Must Go on Sunday, and it would be great to have some more text for each before going back. If nothing comes, then nothing comes, and I need rehearsal inspiration to move forward.

So, music for a moody morning, from 25,575 on the iPod:

1. "Exhilaration" - Alan Hawkshaw - Soundsational Sampler
2. "Diamond Meadows" - T.Rex - Velvet Goldmine
3. "Lullaby to Nightmares" - They Might Be Giants - Long Tall Weekend
4. "Poison" - Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
5. "The Door" - Bernard Herrmann - The Magnificent Ambersons: Bernard Herrmann Anthology Volume 1
6. "I Am The Walrus" - The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
7. "Wah-Wah" - George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
8. "Instrumental #3" - PJ Harvey - A Perfect Day Elise EP
9. "Walking On A Wire" - Richard and Linda Thompson - Watching The Dark
10. "Afro (live)" - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Controversial Negro: Live In Tucson

More later with cat photos, other amusing images, and brief thoughts on recent words from Charles "What-The-Fuck-Chuck" Isherwood.

It's real early in the morning. Berit and I both got tired and went to bed much earlier than usual, and have both woken up much earlier than usual, even considering bedtime, both of us feeling unwell for different reasons.

So, she's sitting in a bubble bath reading Dashiell Hammett's The Continental Op and I'm given up on either trying to fall back asleep or wake up completely - neither is a go.

And as it's Friday, might as well get the weekly ritual done. Here's a random ten from the iPod this morn:

1. "Celebration on the Planet Mars" - The Raymond Scott Project - Powerhouse volume 1
2. "In Love With Love (remix)" - Debbie Harry - Freestyle's Greatest Beats - Volume 3
3. "Reagan Youth" - Reagan Youth - Youth Anthems For The New Order 12" EP
4. "Things In General" - The Prefects - Are Amateur Wankers
5. "Little Darlin'" - The Diamonds - Back to the 50s 03
6. "Upon Your Leaving" - Paul Revere & The Raiders - Rato's Nostalgia Collection 19
7. "You Cut Up The Clothes" - Mrs. Washington & Co. - MOJO: The Score
8. "The Operative: - Magazine - Scree Rarities 1978 - 1981
9. "Sparks I" - The Who - 09/29/69 Amazing Journey Live at Concertgebouw Amsterdam
10. "Only Darkness Has The Power" - The Mekons - The Mekons Rock'N'Roll

Heck of an odd, all-over-the-place mix. Nice. More good stuff coming up after these, too - The Animals, "House of the Rising Sun." Nice.

Rehearsals continue well. Ambersons is mostly blocked, and looking good. Harder work to come, but we're ahead of where we usually are at this point.

I've had to cancel a couple of rehearsals each of Everything Must Go and Spell - it's got to the point where I have to write script now to move forward with each - which was after a few rehearsals of EMG and only one Spell meeting. Had some breakthroughs in writing Spell yesterday and got quite a few pages done, which I now have to transcribe into the computer from my longhand journal. I have to get Berit to organize and type out her notes from the work we did on both shows with the actors, so I can have it handy and I can send it to them.

No work on Harry in Love since the first reading. More next week on that one.

Just took a couple of photos of Hooker and Moni - unlike usual, used a flash as the room is dim, and got some odd, interesting distortions:

Okay, time for cereal, coffee, and work on Spell . . .

With the morning oatmeal and coffee (and advil), the standard Friday posting, pretty much . . .

The iPod has 25,624 tracks in it, and here's what comes up on random today:

1. "I Know You Got Soul (long version)" - Bobby Byrd - James Brown's Funky People (part 2)
2. "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" - Johnny Cash & Carl Perkins - Unearthed
3. "Uprising" - The Cherokees - Jungle Exotica
4. "Jack of Diamonds" - The Daily Flash - Nuggets: Original ARTyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era
5. "Son of a Preacher Man" - Aretha Franklin - Respect: The Very Best of Aretha Franklin
6. "His Latest Flame" - The Residents - The King and Eye
7. "Right Turn" - Link Wray & The Wraymen - Walkin' with Link
8. "Razor Smile" - Go Home Productions (Mark Vidler) - Beatleg Bootles
9. "Be True To Your School" - The Beach Boys - Greatest Hits
10. "Just Like Any Other Animal (PSA)" - The National Rifle Association - A Legacy of Conservation PSAs

As always, miss the partner, miss the kitties. Got pictures, at least. Here's Moni on Berit's lap:

And Hooker on his favorite chair:

At least I have a loaner cat up here, Bappers:

Okay, work to do on the shows; back to it . . .

Well, got most of the other business out of the way in yesterday's post, so just the usual weekly bag here, pretty much.

Still, too much to do in too little time. I have to get over to The Brick early today, and maybe pick up a prop for Penny Dreadful on the way (and not really on the way). Then I have to dry-tech Penny, writing the light cues as I can today so we will just have to tweak them (I hope) during our limited tech time tomorrow morning.

And maybe Jeff will have some notes for me for light changes in Babylon Babylon from last night's preview - tonight is the opening and opening night party, so I have to get all cleaned up and ready for that before I go, too, though it's many many hours away now.

I was trying to come up with a really REALLY cool live special effect for one sequence in Penny - it isn't necessary, but MAN it would add to the sequence. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the materials I need to create the effect, and there's only a 50% chance it would work anyway. Maybe. I could keep searching for what I need to build the rig today, but I still need time to work on my lines (being able to walk around and do the scenes in The Brick will help), and the lines are definitely more important than the effect, so I guess I'll let that go.

Damn. It would have been so f-ing cool.

Ah, well, need to get moving - here's today's Random Ten from the iPod:

1. "Synth Farm" - Pere Ubu - Why I Hate Women
2. "Leaving It Up To You" - John Cale - Seducing Down The Door: A Collection 1970-1990
3. "This Little Heart" - Françoise Hardy - All Over The World
4. "Let's Drink To The People" - The Deviants - No. 3
5. "Babylon" - Conception - Psychedelic Archaeology Volume 5
6. "Johnny Was A Good Boy" - The Mystery Trend - Mystery Trend
7. "You Keep On Looking" - Gary Wilson - You Think You Really Know Me
8. "Surrender" - Black Ivory - The Doors of Perception - Psychedelic Soul and Acid Jazz From NYC 70-74
9. "Sparrows and Wires" - The Deviants - Disposable
10. "Steelband Music" - Van Dyke Parks - Discover America

Two Deviants tracks? Huh. And, appropriately, a song called "Babylon." I wonder what kind of playlist I could make up if I used "babylon" as a search term - maybe something to play at the opening night party tonight . . .

1. "Hollywood Babylon" - 13 Ghosts - 13 Crimson Ghosts

(this is The Misfits recording an album of surf-instrumental covers of their songs under another name)
2. "Babylon" - New York Dolls - in Too Much Too Soon
3. "Babylon I'm Coming" - Piero Picconi - Beat at Cinecittà Vol.2
4. "Babylon" - Conception - Psychedelic Archaeology Volume 5
5. "Babylon Sisters" - Steely Dan - Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story
6. "Babylon" - O.D.'s - Back at the Ranch
7. "Fire on Babylon" - Sinéad O'Connor - Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women in Music
8. "Die Babylon" - The Offs - Can You Hear Me? Music From The Deaf Club
9. "Babylonian Warehouses" - Pere Ubu - Why I Hate Women
10. "Babylonian Gorgon" - The Bags - Dangerhouse volume 2
11. "Hollywood Babylon" - The Misfits - Bullet 7" EP

Well, that's kinda fun, but the songs basically fall into two categories, really laid back and mellow (1,3,5,7, and 9) or REALLY loud n' punky (2,4,6,8,10, and 11). Maybe not the best party mix. I'll have it ready anyway.

Okay, and today's pictures of the cats, who were not very cooperative in being cute and all and making for interesting photos.

Here's Moni in a "thoughtful" moment (she has no brain):

Hooker in an "about-to-cause-trouble" moment:

Berit trying to hug Moni and play a computer game (and hold the cat still for the picture) at the same time:

And Hooker enjoying his favorite headrest, my extended hand:

Okay, gotta run and clean myself up and go get stuff ready at The Brick for shows and parties.

Luckily, it wasn't MY car.

I've been working 13-hour days getting the lights ready for Babylon Babylon - it's taken me a LOT longer than I expected to get them ready, as always happens when I have to do a considerable rehang on my own (I need to always multiply my estimated time x2 when a solo rehang is involved). Yesterday, I had to finish cabling, then focus all 28 lights being used in the show, which involved bringing up a light individually, running down the ladder from the booth, up the 12-foot ladder to the grid to focus (sometimes up and down several times as I adjusted my lighting "standins" - two extended mic stands with paper taped to the top) then back up the ladder to the booth. Repeat x 28. Big fun.

I probably looked pretty silly, too, as I had brought and was wearing my pyjama pants to work in, but no one else was going to be there, and it made it a lot more comfortable.

The show itself is still coming together, and is almost there. There are previews tomorrow night (which will be rough, but it needs an audience to move forward) and next Thursday (which should be fine and slick) before opening a week from tonight. I still have to go in and finish writing the cues, and make the fixes from what I saw last night. I'll try and take some pictures of the run tonight to share.

Oh, right, pictures! That's what I started the story about. So anyway, I was up on the ladder, focusing, when there was a car horn honking out in front that got more and more insistent, then just held down and wouldn't stop. I stomped down the ladder, and for some reason had the idea that it was our landlord honking - he's never done that, so I don't know why I thought this, but when I'm parked in the "free" space in front of The Brick sometimes (it's a former driveway, so there's no meter there, and you can stay there all day without paying or getting a ticket), he will come in and order me to move so he can have "his" spot for his big green Expedition - Berit always gets angry about this ("It's NOT his spot!"), and it's a pain, but well, he's the landlord. Best to stay friendly.

So I open the front door of The Brick and find myself looking at the landlord's car right in front, the alarm going off, with constant honk, lights flashing, and wipers going, and a GIANT plume of fire coming through a hole in the hood that it has obviously burned through. Impressive.

So I ran back inside and to the rear of the theatre (I know that, Hollywood notwithstanding, cars generally don't blow up, but seeing that much fire coming from one is unnerving) and called the FDNY. Someone probably got them before me, because almost immediately after, I could hear the hoses going, and thought it was safe to grab my camera . . .

Wish I'd gotten some with the actual fire, but oh well . . .

I feel bad for the landlord, but at the same time there's that evil part of me with the tiny inward grin remembering all the times I was in the middle of a good rehearsal process and was interrupted with the yell that I had to move my vehicle, NOW! I told a couple of people about the past incidents and they shrugged and said "Karma."

(Berit, with a big "comic" take, called it "car-ma." ugh.)

So, back to the theatre, but first, todays random ten and cats - from the iPod today:

1. "Weird Nightmare" - Elvis Costello et al. - Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus
2. "Where the Wolf Bane Blooms" - The Nomads - Children of Nuggets: Original ARTyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era - 1976-1996
3. "Tear It On Down" - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Black Magic
4. "Brick Is Red" - Pixies - Surfer Rosa
5. "Life of Crime" - The Flatmates - Love and Death (The Flatmates 86-89)
6. "Ambiguity Song" - Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory
7. "Power" - John Oswald (Deep Zen Pill with Brother Bam Shock) - 69 Plunderphonics 96
8. "Nice 'n' Easy" - Frank Sinatra - The Capitol Collectors Series
9. "Oil Gusher" - The Raymond Scott Project - Powerhouse volume 1
10. "Sexy Trash" - Electric Six - I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master

Wasn't able to take any new cat pictures with everything going on this week, but I have a couple sitting around that weren't the best from past weeks. Here's a nice pudgy Hooker-cat on a shelf, wishing I'd stop bothering him:

And with Moni on a chair, almost in their Yin-Yang Kitty pose:

Tomorrow morning, we have the first meeting/work session for Spell. Sunday, rehearsal for Penny Dreadful in the early morning and The Magnificent Ambersons in the evening.

I'm tired, but it's a GOOD tired.

And another week done gone by.

Tonight, more Ambersons work.

Tomorrow, no work on shows, but off to a gallery opening of drawings by Ivy Dachman, my stepmother, in Pound Ridge, NY.

Sunday, watch a runthru of Babylon Babylon to figure out the lights, and more work on Everything Must Go in the evening.

Monday and Tuesday are nominally "off," but there's work I have to do on the lights for Babylon Babylon, and it looks like I need to see a dentist about pulling these last two wisdom teeth, one of which is giving me some problems - and figuring out if it will actually be cheaper for me to drive up to Maine and have the dentist I see up there do it rather than go someplace local (which seems to be the case, but I don't know if I can take off for two days at this point and deal with Babylon Babylon work).

So while I variously use what I have on hand to deal with the tooth pain (advil, vicodin, etodolac, single-malt scotch), a Friday Random Ten, from the 25,630 on the iPod:

1. "Your Generation" - Generation X - D.I.Y.: Anarchy in the UK - UK Punk I (1976-77)
2. "Editions of You" - Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
3. "When Under Ether" - PJ Harvey - White Chalk
4. "It Ain't Me Babe" - Johnny Cash & June Carter - Man in Black 1963-69
5. "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" - Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
6. "Mirror Freak" - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - The Human Menagerie
7. "Copy" - Plastics - Welcome Plastics
8. "Enthusiastic" - David Thomas - More Places Forever
9. "Lone Soul Road" - Sainte Anthony's Fyre - Sainte Anthony's Fyre
10. "Feel the Pain" - One of Hours - Diggin' For Gold - Vol. 10: A Collection of Demented 60's R&B/Punk & Mesmerizing 60's Pop

That was a great Randomosity to get me pepped up and less-miserable (I have to try and remember that "Editions of You" can always make me happy-peppy whenever I need it)!

And here's the Friday Cat Photos -- Hooker resenting me bugging him this morning while he's trying to take a nap on one of Berit's clothes shelves:

Moni resenting Berit trying to hold her still this morning for a nice picture for the blog:

And the two of them, beyond resentment, having a nice nap together last night:

Finally, two pieces of video humor. First, a silent piece of Flash animation imagining a phone conversation between a couple of pop stars:

( P Diddy Calls Bjork About a Duet )

And this was apparently all over the net a few days ago, but it wasn't anywhere I saw it immediately, so maybe you missed it, too - a side of the Muppets I'd never seen before:

( Beaker Sings Something Different )

(more info on this can be found HERE, if you need it)

Favorite quote from elsewhere today -- Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith have an idea while chatting on Twitter (as reported on Ellis' site):

templesmith: I want Ray Winstone & Ian McShane in an hour long tv show where all they do is sit in a room & discuss how to kill ppl with cockney accents

warrenellis: we must write that show. Call your agents. It could be called THOSE BASTARDS.

templesmith: SOLD sir.

Back to work . . .

Last night's rehearsal went great. {phew}

I wound up with only four actors plus myself, but we set up the basic set, played the music, I described what ideas I had at that point, and immediately new, good ones began appearing, as the piece began to come clear.

Good discussions with the actors as well, and I'll have to be on my toes and keep up with them. I had planned one scene that took place out of the office setting where the rest of the show takes place, but had always been disturbed by leaving the setting for just the one scene - I figured it would work anyway, as the sequence is kind of a big, exciting, flashy one. I got called on that by an actor last night, who noted the structure and feel of the piece seems to demand the unity of staying in the office the whole time. And, yeah, he's right. So I have to rethink that scene. Dammit. The assembled came up with several good suggestions for that, but just starts in the right direction, no solutions.

My nerves have pretty much abated on this show - it opens way off on July 30, and in a few hours last night, I solved maybe half of the confusion in myself about what was going to happen in the "blank spaces." I also discovered I need to find two more songs to put in to make transitions work, and one other song I have in there may not work.

Now I'll see if I still have all the actors I thought I had for this show. I could do it with the ones I know I have now, but it's a bit heavy on the female side onstage right now, and that doesn't work right for this show.

25,597 tracks in the iPod - here's a Random Ten for this morning:

1. "Blue Velvet #1" - WFMU - station promos
2. "Fotomodelle" - Piero Umiliani - Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso
3. "I'm Gonna Dance All Night" - The Equals - First Among Equals - The Greatest Hits
4. "Walking Down Madison" - Kirsty MacColl - Galore
5. "Fiabla Bolero" - Franco Ferrara - Music Scene: Musica Per Radio - Televisione - Films
6. "Satellite of Love" - Lou Reed - Transformer
7. "Let's Go Away for a Mashup" - Totom - Bastard Pet Sounds
8. "Code Monkey" - Jonathan Coulton - Thing a Week Three
9. "Sequenza Psichedelica" - Piero Umiliani - Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso
10. "Crazy Sally-Ann" - Sit N' Spin - Enjoy The Ride

What th-? Real random, iPod. Two tracks from the same 60s Italian movie soundtrack? (which I think is some kind of softcore "study" of Sweden) Well, I guess that will happen on random.

And in the land of cat photos, here's Hooker and Moni curled up together last week . . .

And here's one from the last half-hour - Hooker has been sweetly curled up against and around my feet since I got up and got on the couch and computer, purring and making happy grunty noises and mushing his forehead into my toes. So I grabbed the camera to try and get a record of how adorable he was and can be. He stopped being adorable the moment after I took this and took a big chomp into my foot. Ow. I think you may be able to see the transition happening here from sweetness to BAD KITTY . . .

Tonight, we show The Magnificent Ambersons (final 88-minute version, of course) on the big big screen at The Brick for cast members and friends who want to come by (if you're in the latter group and I neglected to email you, let me know). Tomorrow, more making stuff up on Everything Must Go. Looking good.

Tomorrow we start work on the Gemini CollisionWorks shows for 2008. First reading of Ambersons. We will have 15 people out of the 18 people cast (and 21 people that we need) there. That's pretty good, considering how difficult it is to get everyone together with conflicts as they are (I'm going to have the Ambersons cast together in full a total of five times before we open).

Today I have to go get scripts copied and do some sound editing (since I'd like to play the Herrmann score under the reading, and some of the tracks run together in ways that won't work so well for that).

The scheduling seems to be working better than I'd anticipated. A couple of big problems have come up for a couple people, but mostly I'm getting responses back with either "Oh, here's a couple of conflicts that have come up since my last email" or "All looks good. Great!"

Of course, I've only got back 18 responses from the 43 actors cast in the four shows as yet, so I might be looking ahead to big problems, but for now I won't "borrow trouble," as Berit always reminds me.

Currently in the iPod, 25,512 songs. Here's what comes up this morning:

1. "Cha Cha Heels" - Eartha Kitt - downloaded from somewhere, god knows where, probably the WFMU website
2. "Ingen Visjoner" - Haerverk - Stengt pga av haerverk 7" EP
3. "Batucada Erotica" - Michel Colombier - Bananatico: European Airlines to Rio
4. "Sofa #2" - Frank Zappa - The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
5. "Repetition" - The Au Pairs - mix disk from Daniel McKleinfeld
6. "Burn Bridges Burn" - The Fugs - The Fugs Final CD (Part 1)
7. "Rene" - The Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
8. "Stake Out" - The Negatives - Stake Out / Love Is Not Real 7"
9. "Picture of Dorian Gray" - The Futureheads - 1-2-3-Nul!
10. "Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)" - Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat

And this week's kitty photos -- here's Moni on the bed:

And with Hooker on Berit's suitcase:

And since I've still got a backlog of videos to share, behind the cut are three live performances from Mr. Iggy Pop. First, a 1977 rendition of "The Passenger" in Manchester, England (unfortunately it kinda peters out at the end as it cuts off with the transition to the next song). Then, a short and sweet performance of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" from a 1979 Old Grey Whistle Test.

And finally, Iggy & The Stooges from their performance at this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions. Oh, no, they weren't inducted, yet again. However, that fine Detroit girl Madonna was, and she herself requested (apparently in protest at them being ignored again) that her hometown boys be the ones to perform her songs at the ceremony. So The Stooges performed "Burning Up" and "Ray of Light" for an obviously pleased Madonna and some confused-looking record company weasels (though there seems to be enough fans in the audience to give them a pretty good ovation at the end). The Stooges and Madonna. Below.

( I'm So Messed Up, I Want You Here )

Enjoy.

Not a lot of time for much of a Friday post - I need to be finishing the sound and video segments for tomorrow's Penny Dreadful episode.

We ran the episode twice last night in the space, and it looks and sounds great thus far. A "special guest actor" who will be appearing in the next episode came by to record a voiceover by his character that precedes him in this one -- the next episode, directed by Michael Gardner, is mostly a conversation between me as George Westinghouse and this actor as . . . someone else famous. I'm now growing my facial hair out so I can wind up with Westinghouse's distinctive walrusy look by next month - I'll trim it like that for the weekend of the show, then take the whole thing off and go to my new warm-weather look with no beard and lighter hair.

I have to get a little sound work and a lot of video work done now -- and in not much time if I want to see Cat's Cradle tonight. I realized only a couple of days ago that my sickness had knocked out all the opportunities for me to see any of the UTC#61 shows at Walkerspace, as I had Penny Dreadful all the remaining days. Tonight, I was planning on going into The Brick post-Notes from Underground and pre-teching the show before the tech proper tomorrow morning. Well, it's pretty bad form not to see any of the UTC shows (I am on the artistic board of the company, after all), so I'm going to try and make it to the show tonight, then rush over to The Brick and work there from 10.30 pm onward. If I wind up there past 3 am, I'll just spend the night and be there ready to go for the 9.00 am tech.

So here's the info about this cool show:

at the Brick
575 Metropolitan Avenue - Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L Train to Lorimer / G Train to Metropolitan-Grand

Saturday, March 15 at 10.30 pm / Sunday, March 16 at 2.00 pm

with Becky Byers as Abigail Pierce, the Deb of Destruction
and Bryan Enk as Cyrus Pierce, Christiaan Koop as Martha Pierce, Aaron Baker as Battlin' Bob Ford, Matt Gray as Leslie Caldwell, Detective of the Supernatural, Maggie Cino as Emma Goldman, Mateo Moreno as Alexander "Sasha" Berkman and a Police Officer, Dan Maccarone as a Pinkerton Detective, and Trawets Sivart as William Randolph Hearst.
with The Voice of The Wizard of Menlo Park
and ??? as THE BLACK DRAGON!

written and produced by Bryan Enk and Matt Gray
direction, sound design and video by Ian W. Hill
costume design by Christiaan Koop and Matt Gray
light design and technicals by Ian W. Hill and Berit Johnson

Tickets are $10.00 - advance tickets available HERE

So, here's the first ten random from the iPod of 25,532 this morning, as Hooker circles me, determined to get onto a lap that isn't really there, and where he will just cause more trouble:

1. "Blue Monday" - New Order - Substance
2. "Head Held High" - The Velvet Underground - Loaded
3. "Skinny Minnie" - The Sonics - Psycho-Sonic
4. "Sweeney Todd, The Barber" - Stanley Holloway - Cannibals-a-Go-Go!
5. "Don't Fall Down" - The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of
6. "Time Is On My Side (alternate version)" - The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones No. 2
7. "Batusi! A-Go! Go! - or - (I Shouldn't Wish To Attract Attention)" - Nelson Riddle - Batman - Exclusive Original Television Soundtrack Album
8. "Why Not?" - Frank Zappa - Civilization Phaze III
9. "Wayfaring Stranger" - Johnny Cash - American III: Solitary Man
10. "Check Point Charlie" - Eddie Warner - Le Jazzbeat! 2

And here's the only cat photo I haven't posted, of Hooker and Moni all cacked out on the couch:

Back to work. See you at the show.

The illness slowly abates. Yesterday began with one of those false start mornings where you wake up feeling almost completely normal and can get suckered in to going about your normal routine, but then the sickness creeps back up on you and you've just made it worse by being active again too soon. Luckily, I was not fooled and stayed inactive.

So, better, but not great.

And I've definitely caught Berit's conjunctivitis and will have to go get a prescription for eyedrops ASAP.

Meanwhile, work on shows slows. Casting nearly done on my four shows for June and August (to recap, June: The Magnificent Ambersons: A Reconstruction; August: Harry in Love by Richard Foreman, and two originals, Spell and Everything Must Go), but now I have to focus on Penny Dreadful for the next week and two days. Bryan and Matt, as writer-producers, have been handling a lot of things for me during this sick-week, which has been a big load off my mind.

I've been able at least to plan out most of my music cues for the show. Using all Bernard Herrmann, I think. I'm currently having a big internal debate about whether to underscore one tense, nasty, and dialogue-free scene with nothing but the sound of a ticking grandfather clock - my first instinct - or to set it all to Susan Alexander Kane's aria from Citizen Kane (in a recording where it's actually sung well by Kiri Te Kanawa), which actually times out perfectly with the dramatic beats and rises and falls of the scene. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, and each would play better for a different kind of house, but of course I have no idea what the house will be like until the show is running. So I just have to mock it up first and look at it both ways and then see if that makes things easier.

The purity of the scene with just the clock keeps being appealing to me, and I wonder if I like the idea of doing it with the music because it will make the scene seem a bit more "tour-de-force" and directorially showy. Then I wonder if the clock way is too pure, too sparse, and will suck the life out of the scene while being formally interesting, and the music way will keep the scene theatrically alive and give it the power it's supposed to have. I shouldn't be afraid of the grand, showy gesture when it's appropriate. This is a melodrama, after all.

Gotta love a script with a page-and-a-half of nothing but stage directions for me to interpret as I'd like - and actually, the scene before the big wordless scene is another dialogue-free scene of about 3/4ths of a page. So I have about 5 minutes or so of pure movement and sound and light to put together toward the climax of this piece. As much as I love working with actors on getting line readings right, sometimes I just like to focus on eyes, fingers, and body postures and tell stories that way.

It's a pretty easy script to stage, luckily (in the the pure blocking sense of "where does this person move now?" - I can see the best way immediately and don't have to think about it). And it'll work nicely in the front space of The Brick the way it's set up now (with no audience risers). If the space I have to work with in the theatre is a big square seen from above, and you split it with a diagonal line from lower left to top right, I'm putting the audience in the right half and the stage on the left. I can use the staircase and entrance walkway from Notes from Underground as sets in very appropriate ways, and there are plenty of lights available in this part of The Brick now (as opposed to last month's Penny).

Looking forward to showing up tomorrow and starting to direct this thing. A nice feeling, being in just as director on this one - really feels like being jobbed in on a TV show that you really like or something - you know the drill, the format, and you can't break it or bend it so much, but you can have a lot of fun within it. And for once, being in as director/designer means only as director/designer, and not also as line producer or production manager, so I get to just focus on my proper jobs, while Matt, Bryan, and the rest of the regular PD crew handle everything else.

A very excellent Random Ten this morning from out of 25,224 in the iPod. Good way to start the day:

1. "Trem Two" - Mission of Burma - Vs.
2. "Sex Junkie" - The Plasmatics - Beyond the Valley of 1984
3. "Gary and Priscilla" - MX-80 Sound - Out of Control
4. "Alone Again Or" - Calexico - Alone Again Or
5. "Tombstone Blues" - Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
6. "Hang On To Your Emotions" - Lou Reed - Set the Twilight Reeling
7. "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" - They Might Be Giants - Severe Tire Damage
8. "Mamá Cuchara" - Manu Chao - La Radiolina
9. "You Burn Me Up and Down" - We The People - Mindrocker 60's USA Punk Anthology Vol 6
10. "Mom and Dad and God" - Suburban Lawns - Suburban Lawns

And some recent kitty pictures - focusing on the very pretty Moni. Here she is doing her imitation of an apostrophe ('):

Close up of sleeping sweetness:

And with a blurred Hooker - but she's the one with the adorable face here . . .

Well, I'm mostly over the sickness, but not completely yet (there's a reason I've been up since 4.30 am, after a couple hours sleep that was apparently spent sweating about five gallons worth into the bedding), which means I need to now go spend another day of forced relaxation (which has actually been quite boring) so I'll be ready to start work tomorrow. Needed a cheery time last night, so we watched Myra Breckinridge, Blazing Saddles, Dark Star, and Kentucky Fried Movie (didn't quite make it to Modesty Blaise, which was next on the playlist). Before that, mainly Warner Bros. cartoons for days on end.

I'm running out of "fun" stuff to watch -- oh, that's right, we haven't stuck to just the happy films: I also watched Peter Greenaway's cruel and amazing film The Baby of Macon and Peter Brook's Marat/Sade, which seem to have joined Ken Russell's The Devils and Godard's Tout Va Bien on a list of "France-related, incredibly depressing movies that have something to do with my original August shows in some strange abstract way that I can't at all articulate yet but when I figure it out will help me crack those shows right open."

An unwieldy name for a list, but as accurate as you can get. Okay, medicine and back to bed maybe.

Supposed to be the last night of shooting on Daniel's DV short last night, but it took longer than anticipated, it was very cold, and I got worn out -- or whatever you call it when you do enough takes in the cold that you can't think straight anymore and begin to forget where you are entirely when "Action" is called ("wait, what? why am I standing on this stoop? why am I holding a scarf in this hand? why is there bright light on me?").

So we're coming back tonight to do the one-shots of me in the kitchen scene, which are all that remain, but which will probably require many many takes of me slowly going crazy, at varied levels of incremental looniness.

Not many pictures from last night - my camera battery died early on (maybe from the cold), and I was in most of the shots, but I got a couple. Here's the reverse angle in the basement scene, after the Director of the slasher movie calls cut and we see the ultra low-rent production (as Sally McKleinfeld and Jenny Tavis get onscreen cameos as boom and camera operators, joining Michele Schlossberg as Production Manager):

And here's Daniel and Sally getting Michele's entrance onto the stoop, right before my camera battery went out:

Came home to more and more casting worries. I can cast just about all of the roles in my own four shows except for one major one in Ambersons that I may have no one for (I thought I'd have someone, but it looks to not be working out). This is really good and I should be happier, but that one part frustrates me. I saw plenty of good people at my auditions, and more good women than I have parts for, but NO ONE at all right for this part. I've got some time, but I'm a month behind where I want to be (if still a month ahead of where I usually am).

And Penny Dreadful, which of course is what's coming up immediately, is having bigger casting worries. As Berit says, I need to just calm down and keep working, it'll work out fine (a lie, really, it works out fine maybe 87% of the time. maybe.). Yeah, I just want to get it right. The idea this year was to get everything done much MUCH more in advance than I'd ever done before, and it's getting to be just much more.

Which reminds me - I've been so worried about the rest of the casting that I've been neglecting getting Harry in Love, which is fully cast, in motion. Two of the cast members are still busy on other projects, I think, and can't do anything right now, but I should be checking in with all of them . . .

Meanwhile, back in the iPod (25,154 songs), here's what comes up as I write:

1. "A Man and a Woman" - Sir Julian - Ultra-Lounge 11: Organs in Orbit
2. "That's Why They Call 'Em Moms" - Peer Pressure - S/T 7" EP
3. "I'm Free" - The Who - 09/29/69 Amazing Journey Live at Concertgebouw Amsterdam
4. "Take Me Just As I Am" - Lynn Collins - James Brown's Funky People (Part 1)
5. "Anna (live)" - Arthur Alexander - In Their Own Words - at The Bottom Line
6. "Butsi" - Las Comadrejas - We Are Ugly But... We Have The Music
7. "Suzie-Q" - The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones No. 2
8. "Monsieur Dupont" - Sandie Shaw - Those Classic Golden Years 04
9. "Good Gin Blues" - Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band - mix disk from my Dad
10. "Shortnin' Bread" - The Fabulous Playboys - Lost Legends of Surf Guitar

A pretty laid-back, relaxing mix. Nice.

The cats have been little darlings recently, especially Hooker, who won't leave me alone and just wants hugs and affection all the time. Usually when I'm trying to type on here, or make notes in a show notebook, or read some research material. Not a good combo. Finally got some new shots of them, though.

Hooker on the windowsill, for once not interested in my attention:

And Moni on the couch, wanting a bellyrub from Berit:

And both of them, curled up on the bed, almost under the pile of scripts and show notebooks I was coming in to get:

Finally, ladies and germs, please welcome Mr. Trav S.D. to the blogosphere with his new home in the orthicon tube, Travalanche!

Out most of the day helping out on Cat's Cradle, which opened tonight, though I really wanted to be at home dealing with my own shows, which still need casting attention that I've been behind on as I've been helping out on other peoples' things. Sent out a bulk email quickly to 17 people who had expressed interest in the shows before I left, came home after running box for the show to 11 responses in my inbox, and have been making appointments. Now have 4 confirmed for times tomorrow, Sunday, and Tuesday.

No kitty pictures again this week. Need to spend time and get some good ones. Snow pictures and videos of the day coming up in a separate post. Tired . . . just want to list the songs playing and put up the photos.

Here's what's coming up out of 24,354 in the iPod today . . .

1. "Cherry & Raquel" - Igo Kanter & William Loose - Cherry, Harry & Raquel
2. "Break Time" - Dick Dale - Surfer's Guitar
3. "English Civil War" - The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope
4. "Bloodstains" - Agent Orange - Bloodstains 7" EP
5. "Dead Spot" - John Zorn & Naked City - Grand Guignol
6. "A Mellow Mood" - Floyd Morris - Soulin' vol. 1
7. "Listen to the Lyrics of This Song" - The Shoes - Nederbeat The B-Sides 1
8. "A Horse With No Name" - America -Those Classic Golden Years 08
9. "Elevator Man" - Kaleidoscope - Side Trips
10. "Let Her Go Into the Darkness" - Jonathan Richman - You Must Ask the Heart

Next, an annoyingly image-intense photo and video entry to make those with slow computers curse . . .

Said most of what I have to say in the big post from late last night. On the plate: my four shows, Bryan Enk and Matt Gray's Penny Dreadful, Edward Einhorn's Cat's Cradle, oh, right, and Aaron Baker's 3800 Elizabeth, which I'm going to have to help in taking over the management of as Berit will be house managing for Edward most of the next month.

Got about three hours of sleep - woke up early, restless, just as Berit decided to come to bed, which woke me up more, and too much to drop off again. I have to wake Berit up in a few hours, and go off to The Brick a couple hours after that, but maybe I'll get a little more sleep in. I hope.

The iPod's at 23,913 songs now, so what comes up on random?

1. "Man in the Middle" - Arnold Corns (aka David Bowie and others) - Rarities 1965-1980
2. "Don't Make a Sound" - Kate - Circus Days vol. 6
3. "Everyday People" - Peggy Lee - Ultra-Lounge: On the Rocks, Pt. 2

Yes, Peggy Lee does Sly Stone. Bizarre.
4. "Cobra" - The Boys - Frolic Diner part 1
5. "Beat Trombone" - Armando Trovajoli - (Italian Girls Like) Ear-Catching Melodies
6. "International Flight" - David Snell -The Sound Gallery Volume Two
7. "The Lantern" - The Rolling Stones - Singles Collection: The London Years
8. "Painter of Women" - The Beau Brummels - Triangle
9. "Complication" - Monks - Black Monk Time
10. "Down In It" - Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine

Well, that was going nice and morning-mellow until the Monks song showed up, though oddly the NIN song following was relatively calm again - not what I would have expected.

I'm pretty tapped out on good cat photos, it appears. We've taken a few hundred since we got the camera at Xmas - really - but the vast majority of them didn't come out well, or are near repeats of ones I've already posted. I have to work this coming week to get at least three good photos, one of Hooker, one of Moni, and one of the two of them.

Well, here's me and Hooker from a couple nights ago . . .

Nothing to see online right now it appears. Boring morning. Work done for now, have to wait for more later. Maybe I can sleep. If not, loud music.

So now I wait. Besides the 11 actors already "in" for my four shows this year, I've contacted another 26 for 38 parts, and thus far received back 10 "Yes" answers, 4 "No" answers, and 3 "Maybe, let's talk" answers, from 16 people (one person I asked to be in two shows said yes to one and no to the other). I need more answers before I can move on. I have most of the people for Spell, it seems - I could maybe start work on that, but I'm still short a reply from two people who would be crucial to the show, so . . . no go.

Ambersons, the earliest show coming up (June), is the problem, of course. I did the breakdown and discovered there was no way to do the show with fewer than 20 actors (plus myself narrating). That's 4 more than I'd hoped, but it just won't work out any other way (and I wound up needing more men than I thought, always a pain). I have four people set, as mentioned before, and I've gotten only one "Yes" and two "Maybes" thus far on the positive side. And I've gotten three "No" responses too, in parts where I don't have many good options for casting among the tribe I work with, if any. If I don't get it cast soon and get some first things done before the end of the month, with some of the conflicts coming up on the people already cast, I won't be able to start real work on this until maybe April. I want a cast and first reading by the end of THIS month, dammit (I WANTED it by the end of January, but that didn't happen).

I have plenty to do for other people to fill time, but I want to be working on these shows, now. This week, Berit and I spent some time driving around getting props for the UTC#61 shows, which was alternately fun and annoying (I had to circle several blocks in Midtown for over an hour - the place in the world I like driving least). I have to schlep some video equipment around for a shoot for one of those shows the next two days. There looks to maybe be a cleanup day at The Brick tomorrow, which I should go and help at. Sunday, if the video schlepping doesn't get in the way, I should go and see a runthru of Penny Dreadful episode 4 at The Brick, as it's going to be a pain to light with the current setup and I'm going to have to do a lot more specifically for this one instead of just using the house plot.

Today, I'm interviewing Jon Stancato of Stolen Chair Theatre Company for a 30-minute radio profile on WPS1 Art Radio (taped for later "airing" - I'll let you know when it's up). Jon asked me if I'd do this, as he preferred the idea of the interview being more of a discussion between two theatre artists rather than the normal Q&A, despite my only knowing Stolen Chair's work from Kill Me Like You Mean It (which I loved), and reading the script for The Man Who Laughs (ditto) in one of Martin Denton's collections. This should be an enjoyable time, if a hair nerve-inducing.

So, in the meantime, let's check out the first random 10 from the iPod's 23,414:

1. "Batman Pows The Penguin - or - (Aha, My Fine Feathered Finks!)" - Nelson Riddle - Batman - Exclusive Original Television Soundtrack Album
2. "Sound and Vision" - David Bowie - Low
3. "Speed Car" - Claude Perraudin - Patchwork Library Addendum
4. "Elube" - De Ndirande Pitch Crooners - Culture Shock: Doug Schulkind's 2004 Marathon Premium
5. "Driving Me Crazy" - The Sleepless Knights - Trip in Tyme volume 1
6. "Newspapers" - Stan Ridgway - Mosquitos
7. "I Can't Sleep" - Quik - Psychedalia: Rare Blooms from the English Summer of Love
8. "Scene Pathétique" - Bernard Herrmann - The Magnificent Ambersons: Bernard Herrmann Anthology Volume 1
9. "Rock & Roll" - The Singing Dogs - Las Vegas Grind! - Volume 1
10. "My Heart Gets All the Breaks" - Wanda Jackson - You'll Always Have My Love

Hooker went to the vet twice this week because he was acting odd. Once we'd gone, of course, he started acting fine again. He may have simply been constipated and gassy, we're told. They love him at the vet's, but he was badly behaved this time (which was also suspicious, as he usually doesn't mind going, and he hissed and growled which he NEVER does - he was apparently just uncomfortable). They had to sedate him so they could get a clean x-ray, and he was quite adorable as he was stoned out of his gourd, just a big floppy lump. When we got him home, it hadn't quite worn off, and it was sadly cute to watch him stumble around with his back legs not quite working yet. He's already acting cheerier, and they gave us some kitty laxative.

In any case, here's the little bastard a couple of weeks ago:

And Moni has been preferring to drink from the faucet these days . . .

Maybe more later . . . I have other things to handle during the brief time I have on this computer -- oh, that's right, did I mention that the computer I usually use has died? It was an old nasty PC that could barely do much anyway (it was a gift from someone otherwise throwing it away, and much appreciated), but now the only working computer in the house is B's iMac, which has to be . . . shared. So instead of having a computer always on and ready to answer emails, etc., I'm on for a few hours in the morning, and another hour in the evening. Great.

I have lots of links and videos saved up to share, but . . . later . . .

Work proceeds on the four shows. Darius Stone has joined the cast of Harry in Love - waitaminit, Darius has the same name as a character Ice Cube played in some movie? Well, that's a pain for Google searches. I now have lists of the "preferred" casts for each of the four shows - each of which, apart from Harry, with its nice little six characters, has had to expand by two to four actors as I realize I need more performers and different types in the casts.

Emails are out, waiting to hear back for the next step. I have a handful of people to audition as well. Also been working out the calendar for both myself and The Brick for the rest of the year. Looks good. Looks busy, but not crazy.

There are now 22,998 songs in the iPod - let's see what comes up this morning . . .

1. "Besoin de la Lune" - Manu Chao - La Radiolina
2. "Just One Look" - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Beat of the Pops 16
3. "Shadows on the Very Last Row" - The Cleftones - For Sentimental Reasons
4. "Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel" - The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra - Film Musik
5. "There's No Satisfaction" - Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab- Vampyros Lesbos (Sexadelic Dance Party)
6. "Out Out Out" - Ice 9 - Out Out Out 7"
7. "The Third Man Theme" - The Don Baker Trio -Ultra-Lounge 11: Organs in Orbit
8. "Strawberry Letter #23" - Brothers Johnson - Jackie Brown soundtrack
9. "When I See Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy (live 1978)" - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - I'm Going To Do What I Want To
10. "Not Yet Remembered" - Brian Eno & Harold Budd - Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirrors

I was thinking it was a pretty boring mix this morning - songs I'm glad to have in the iPod, but none that leapt out at me and made me really glad to hear them this morning - and then the Brothers Johnson track showed, and made me quite happy, though it's also a kind of overcast song for an overcast morning, and then the Beefheart just made all good. And the Budd/Eno matches the rain and light on the window.

What for cat photos today? Well, most of my photos are of the cats being hugged or lying around like meatloaves. Are they active? You bet.

As when Berit discovers that a fake flower lying around from old props has caught Hooker's attention, and she dangles it for him . . .

He goes for it, getting the brief attention of Moni, who has the attention span of a goldfish . . .

Causing her to make a leap at it, to his surprise . . .

Getting it briefly in her paws, she sniffs it and finds it uninteresting . . .

And she immediately moves on, forgetting the toy ever existed, and the more determined Hooker continues the assault . . .

Okay, I have a few things to do around here today (mainly descend to the dank prop storage in the basement and find some costumes I'm going to loan to Henry Akona for Hiroshima - some lab coats and a "radiation suit," which is actually Edward Einhorn's anyway, that I borrowed for the midget spaceman avatar in Symphony of Rats and put on The Brick's effigy of Santa Claus).

Go wake Berit now and get on with the day - amazing that the construction in the apartment next door hasn't woken her, it's unnerving me and scaring the cats. Don't know what they're doing, but it's sounded like they've had the bathroom wall out over there for weeks and weeks now. We can hear the conversations they're having in there as if we're in the same room, which makes it unnerving at times to use the john while they're over there yelling at each other about how best to do something - it sounds like someone who lives in the apartment doing the work with a friend or relative who either is a contractor, or has a lot of experience with remodeling, or at least thinks he does. As Berit says, after trips to the bathroom listening to their profane "discussions," "I've never learned so much about grout in all my life!"

Berit got on one of her up-all-night schedules, and has rehearsal early tomorrow, so she stayed up as long as she could (29 hours or so straight) until crashing - now I have the nice computer so I can do this, while at the same time fixing up some cat photos in Photoshop, printing out out a copy of the cut-down Harry in Love script, and punching holes in the just-printed-out Magnificent Ambersons script.

Yeah, we made a start-of-several-projects run to Staples today for paper, inkjet cartridges, binders, pens, sharpies, notebooks, mechanical pencils and the other supplies we need at this point in great volume. Also got the car's tires rotated and wheels aligned. Good productive stuff.

Oh, and listening to the random ten for Friday on the iPod (22,680 songs):

1. "Be True To Your School" - The Beach Boys - Greatest Hits
2. "Universal" - Blur - The Great Escape
3. "Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator" - Sands - Listen to the Sky: The Complete Recordings 1964-1969
4. "Honest With Me" - Bob Dylan - Love & Theft
5. "Once I Had You" - The Carrie Nations - Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
6. "Are You Happy" - Primitive Radio Gods - Rocket
7. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" - Johnny Dresden - New, Clear Music
8. "Danny Boy" - Johnny Cash - Man In Black 1963-69
9. "Suspiria (Main Title)" - Goblin - The Goblin Collection 1975-1989
10. "A Change Is Gonna Come" - Sam Cooke - Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964

So two other people have joined in (besides Timothy Reynolds) on Ambersons - Walter Brandes as Uncle Jack and Shelley Ray as Lucy, and I'm reading someone for George on Sunday - I have a good feeling about that, too. Still waiting to hear from the Isabel and Aunt Fanny I've asked. Waiting on asking more people as the rest of the group depends on the casting of these first roles. Have to get the rest of the people on Harry In Love, too - currently have Josephine Cashman, Ken Simon, and Walter Brandes (again), need two others. Have good ideas for one person, nothing at all for the other . . .

Last Merry Mount on Sunday - have the understudy for that, which is great. Seeing Bitch Macbeth tomorrow night (finally!). Then things are pretty open for me to get my shows together.

Though I will be directing the Penny Dreadful episode for March. And Berit will be dealing with Aaron Baker's live sitcom at The Battle Ranch, 3800 Elizabeth, and house managing the several weeks of UTC#61 shows at Walkerspace as well as making props for Edward Einhorn's adaptation of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle playing in those weeks.

So we'll be busy, no question.

Oh, right, almost forgot . . . cat pictures . . . Hooker ponders (on Berit's foot) . . .

Moni ponders (on the couch) . . .

Moni continues to ponder (about the window) while Hooker has come to a decision in his pondering: He wants a belly rub . . .

Last night we had some fine fine runthrus of Merry Mount over at The Battle Ranch. We got it down.

Tonight, we open.

So . . .

Four performances only!

Merry Mount

by Trav S.D., based on "The May-Pole of Merry Mount" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

directed by Ian W. Hill

part of Hawthornicopia at Metropolitan Playhouse

with Eric Bailey (except Jan. 18), Irina Belkovskaya, Danny Bowes, Patrick Cann, Michael Criscuolo, Ian W. Hill, Doua Moua, Robert Pinnock, Brandi Robinson, Julia C. Sun, Elizabeth Toft

Friday, Jan. 18 at 7.00 pm; Saturday, Jan. 19 at 10.00 pm; Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 7.00 pm; Sunday, Jan. 27 at 1.00 pm.

at Metropolitan Playhouse, 220 East 4th Street, between Avenues A & B

$18 (AEA members free)

(note - Merry Mount is a 15-minute-long opener for the 50-minute Little Edie and The Marble Faun by David Lally, which you should stay for if you're coming to see the first one . . .)

Berit spent quite some time yesterday at The Brick making up the maypole, which is quite impressive (and its 10-foot height will be even more impressive on the Metropolitan's stage) - I completely forgot to take pictures of it, though I brought the camera, but I will today - there's still some work to do on it before opening.

So, as to this Friday morning's random iPod (22,463 songs) listening:

1. "I've Told Every Little Star" - Linda Scott - Mulholland Drive soundtrack
2. "Gamblin' Blues" - John Hammond - You Can't Judge a Book By It's Cover
3. "Hey Joe (live) - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child
4. "Lookin' for a Place to Park" - Slim Galliard - Laughing In Rhythm, #2 - Groove Juice Special
5. "All the King's Horses" - Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (deluxe edition)
6. "Seven Colors" - Smilee - Smilee
7. "Handle With Care" - Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1
8. "Kung Fu Girl Versus Robot Man" - The End - The End
9. "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry" - The Caravelles - Best of the Girl Groups
10. "Living in the Past" - ZZ & De Maskers - Nederbeat The B-Sides 4

And as for cat photos, Three Moods of Hooker - goofy . . .

. . . stunned . . .

and at rest (with friend) . . .

Ah, well, soon time to get moving - we're going to the theatre early to finish work on the maypole (which will be a fun parking situation, I'm sure) - or rather, B will finish that while I run around for some last prop pieces I still don't have.

And, as I'm understudying a part with lines tonight (I'm otherwise an extra in this), I have to go over my lines. Again and again.

More tomorrow.

Whew. Kept meaning to post in the past week, but just got busy.

Directing Trav S.D.'s Hawthorne adaptation, Merry Mount, for Hawthornicopia has wound up being harder in some ways than anticipated. It's a short show - maybe 13 minutes - and I have a great cast of principals, and we're all set on the "actorial" stuff, if you get my drift (though we went down a wrong path at first - too serious - and had to go back and fix it - add some camp), but around all the acting are things that are necessary to the script that are a bit of a pain. Like period costumes (Colonial Massachusetts). A maypole that must function as a maypole, and also be breakaway (and set up and collapse in a small space without hitting anyone). A pagan song and dance (with 6-8 actors in small, non-speaking roles). Yeah, nice easy stuff.

All of this is pretty much taken care of now, but it wound up eating a lot more time than anticipated (and causing more stress). All good now, except I can never convince myself that all is good, of course, and I go around worrying about things that are either taken care of or I can't do anything about anyway. I'm a schmuck.

When not directing or worrying about Merry Mount, I'm working on things for the June/August shows, primarily the scripts for Harry in Love and The Magnificent Ambersons:

To the left is the book with the transcript of Welles' cut of Ambersons, to the right, a copy of Richard Foreman's typescript of Harry in Love. Both are long.

Since Ambersons has to be adapted to a playscript, I'm typing that in and trying to turn it into a functional "play" as I go. Harry just needs to be retyped into an electronic format that can be sent around to actors - and also edited down, as the play is just too damned long, so Berit is handling that. We did the full text in the original production of '99, and it was a boulevard comedy (Murray Schisgal/Bruce Jay Friedman-style) that ran 2 hours 50 minutes PLUS two intermissions (totaling another 15 minutes)! And we weren't poky about it, either. The first thing Richard said to me when he saw it, after thanking me for doing it in the first place and complementing my performance, was that it was too long and I should cut it if I did it again.

So I am. The original typescript is 159 pages long, and I would like to get 35 pages out of it, if I can without damaging it. Which may not be possible. The play is short on plot and long on character/funny lines, with a careful, rising-hysteria rhythm, so at a certain point it's the accumulation of insanity that makes everything work, and cutting too many of the beats to get there will eliminate any reason for the play's existence at all. I've already made my cuts in the first four scenes in my work copy - there's just one more scene in the play that B has to finish typing - and when the whole thing is in, I'll make these first cuts and see where we stand. I have some ideas for the second level of cuts that will pain me, but I can live with. Then I'll see if I can live with a third set of cuts, reaching into the "brutal" level. I want no more than 2 hrs. 15 min. plus one intermission. If possible.

Ambersons is, lengthwise, what it is. We're doing the Welles cut as we can. Probably 2 hrs. 10 min. Maybe a little less. With {sigh} no intermission - we're imitating a movie here; it just wouldn't work.

Meanwhile - back in de iPod - there are now 22,046 songs (hooray for better acceptable compression!), and this is what comes up this morning as I type:

1. "Love of My Life" - The Mothers of Invention - Crusin' with Ruben & The Jets
2. "Merry-Go-Round" - Wallace Collection - Laughing Cavalier
3. "Fiction Romance" - Buzzcocks -Operators Manual
4. "Baby Help Me" - Percy Sledge - Essential Collection
5. "Dirty Love" - Frank Zappa - Overnite Sensation
6. "Little Baby" - The Blue Rondos - Jimmy's Back Pages . . . The Early Years
7. "Whirlpool" - Steve Mancha - Northern Soul: The Cream of 60's Soul
8. "More Than a Feeling" - Boston - Greatest Hits of Boston
9. "The Lighter Side of Dating" - The Monochrome Set - Strange Boutique
10. "T.N.K. (Tomorrow Never Knows)" - 801 - Live

And as for the kitties, Berit and I continue in our attempt to get a really good photo of Moni by holding her, with mixed success:

Especially as she likes to lick Berit's nose:

But she and Hooker have been particularly sweet this week for some reason . . .

We'll see how long it lasts.

Some other excellent news has come up for Gemini CollisionWorks, but it appears I would have to check the exact language for legal reasons before I make a formal announcement. But maybe a few links would be acceptable . . ?

Sensory overload here.

On one computer (our ancient PC) I'm transcribing Richard Foreman's Harry in Love: A Manic Vaudeville from the xerox of the 1966 original kindly sent to me by Richard and Shannon at the Ontological (thanks, Shannon!) as I couldn't find my old copy, and need to have an electronic copy to work with and cut anyway, and also watching for any emails that come in.

On another (the lovely supercharged iMac), I'm typing this and listening to a Random Ten (softly) so I can get it done, as I won't have another chance the rest of this Friday.

On the TV, a tape of SCTV Network 90 is playing, to help lull Berit, the insomniac, to sleep (currently up, John Candy as "Harry Filth"), mixing with the music in my headphones.

Stimulus is good.

Later, after sleep, a busy day - dropping off an apparently broken scroller unit from The Brick at Big Apple Lights and seeing if I can get a loaner, plugging up a leak at The Brick itself, having the first rehearsal for Merry Mount in the afternoon and a board meeting for Untitled Theater Co. #61 in the evening.

And I want to get another scene from Harry in the computer if I can tomorrow - the play is in three acts, five scenes, each scene around 30 pages long or so, so I'm trying to get one scene in the computer per day, finishing Monday (whi