Ok, not really an expansion of the Hotlanta post, but I uploaded a bunch of shots (mostly from Atlanta, with a couple others thrown in just to confuse you) to a flickr page. Enjoy, if you're up for that sort of thing.
I'm back from the conference in Orlando. (Dayjob stuff. Lots of work and no small amount of pressure this year for a variety of reasons. It went well enough, all things weighed.) Between there and here I stopped in Atlanta for a visit with Cory's family on the occasion of Cory's nephew Joe's 6th birthday. We stayed with her brother and his wife and kids. I'll see if I can muster a full-on entry about that mini-trip, but for now, here are a few shots documenting the festivities.
I've been pretty busy with rehearsals and a bunch of other things lately, so my input here has been on the sketchy side. And I won't be able to catch you all up on everything now either, but in the spirit of putting something out there...
Cory and I hosted a party for the finale of Lost last weekend. We don't qualify for the most serious category of Lost fan (those would be the ones who have whole blogs devoted to dissecting the inner workings and mythologies of the show), but we took it seriously enough to do some cooking and put together some design elements.
Our notion of design for a party was not nearly enough for my sister Lori, however. Although she has never seen a single episode of Lost, she insisted that we 'theme it up' a notch or two, and put in more of an effort than would have occurred to us.
Cory ordered some custom M&Ms. BIG UPS to Cory for the notion, and seeing it through! If you know the show, these are pretty cool; if you don't, they're probably just baffling.
The inscribed candies got little bags to be handed out to the partiers. The skull image goes with the show at least a little bit ("Adam and Eve" in the cave; the general sense of foreboding and rampant death in the last few episodes)
And the simple Black and White candies went into coconut shells.
We also got a pineapple to fit with the Pacific Island theme, used the top as a centerpiece and skewered chunks with toothpicks decorated with banners Lori made, inscribed with character names.
Stole this photo from my sister, as I somehow managed not to get any shots of the pineapple spread.
Check out her work! She picked out the tropical paper, and we gave her a list of names (with the name crossed out for characters who were dead in one timeline or another.) She used special paper and ink for the names of the "Candidates." Pretty good for someone who has never seen the show, and doesn't care about it at all.
We made a fish stew. Lori helped a lot with this on the sous chef end, but she doesn't really like fish (as in - she runs screaming from the kitchen when seafood is cooking), so she didn't stick around for the completion of that.
It was a good stew - I used cod and mahi mahi in a garlic lime marinade; peppers, onions, tomatoes, scallions, cilantro; coconut milk made it extra-special island-y; and the secret ingredient was oil simmered with annatto seed. Yum.
Also a special blend of spices, including a hands-across-the-water conjunction of hot sauces.
Here's the food table before people arrived. The dips haven't been put into the bowls yet, and a lot of food was yet to come.
Well, the performance art piece I'm working on opened last night at the Club at La MaMa after two previews - there are some production photos out there, and I'll get to posting them at some point, but for now, here are a few more shots from when we were still in the rehearsal room.
That's Richard and Frank onstage there as patient and doctor, and Jason Jacobs is in the center facing us, doing his director thing. I haven't gotten too many good shots of Jason yet, but I like this one.
Here's Wendy in an offstage moment of rest working on her knitting. She's a wonderful actress and a lovely person. And she knits. A lot. As she puts it, "Well, I don't read as much as I used to..."
And I'll wrap up for now with this group shot - from left: Chris on Guitar, Jason directing, Frank and Richard as Dr. Zappi and Mitch, and Heather bringing up the right in Stage Managerial glory.
We had previews on Friday and Saturday at 10, and our Opening Night was yesterday at 5:30, followed by a cast party at a nearby bar. Each show had its own quirks, and we learned a lot from all of them. The performance for press opening was the strongest of the bunch, in my estimation, which is a good thing. We had a full house, there was good energy in the room, and it seemed like people had a good time.
Let me know if you'd like to come to the show and I'll get you all the details you need (oh, and most of them are in the sidebar - off to the right, up top, see?)
This has been a busy month for me. Mostly in good ways, but it's kept me from this outlet more than I expected.
So - broad strokes of last weekend in Boston:
Went up on Saturday - crap traffic. On a Saturday. Why??
Met with Sue and Steve in Somerville. Splendid, as always.
Went with them to the Cask 'n' Flagon near Fenway Park. Not for a Red Sox event, but because Sue and Steve were meeting friends there before going to a show featuring the Psychedelic Furs and the Happy Mondays. A whole bunch of friends, as it happened. Who knew that indie rock from the 80s would draw such a crowd? One of them had gone to a high school near where I grew up, and knew my school because we were competitors. I was all "I don't remember you guys being in our conference." And she said, "Well, I guess we didn't play football against you, but we'd go to your school for the one-act play competitions." She remembered being impressed by/jealous of our drama program. How funny is that?
As they went to the concert, I drove out to Allston for Chris and Tamiko's annual "Fat and Happy" pasta party. They make 4 giant pots of sauce from veggies and herbs they grow in their garden, they make appetizers, Tamiko even made fresh mozzarella for the occassion. Holy moly it was fun and yummy. Or, should I say, Fat and Happy.
Next morning I went to brunch with the Somervillains then met Molly at the Huntington to see my friend Brandon in Fences there. Holy shit what a good show! Really really well done - brilliant script, of course, and a solid production expertly acted. Kudos to those guys. And it was their closing performance, so we got to hang out backstage with them afterwards. Wine, cheese, noshes and rum. Fun.
The following day, Columbus Day, Brandon, Molly, Chris and I had brunch at Deep Ellum, a cool place in Allston that wasn't there when I lived there. Very good food and bloody marys.
Then Brandon and I drove back to NYC - first time we've had that much time to talk in a LONG time, which was cool. Talked shop, strategized, and just caught up. I took him to his place in Brooklyn, saw his place and said hi to Crystal, then headed back to Hoboken, where I have taken up residence once again (though to tell the truth I was only there for a little while before I came back in to the city to welcome Cory back from her Convergence in North Carolina.
I left the camera at home, so no photos. Just take my word - it was another good October weekend.
In New Hope, Pennsylvania, as it happened.
And then there's the Cresch that they left up until after I'd visited. Yes, that is a stuffed Max (of Grinch fame) with antler tied to his head off to the left there, and yes, I do believe that those are spent glow sticks nestled behind baby Jesus.
Finally, here's a shot that's actually in focus. Sue was in the act of digging out from the snowfall (as we all were at that point). Took this one right before I hit the road to come home. I actually really like it. Sue may not have been in the mood to be photographed (she is seldom in the mood to be photographed) but she can't help looking great even when she's dusting snow off her car.
That's the title I gave to my party this year, which happened on Saturday. And, if I may say so myself, it almost lived up to the name.
A few days of prep, and we were ready to go. Mad props to Sherin and especially Cory for all the help - cooking, cleaning, shopping, setting up, decorating and hanging snowflakes. Sometimes, it's hard work having fun. We got a whole bunch of last-minute help from Aaron, Shannon and Jacquie too - getting ice, building bruschetta, setting out crackers & cheese, setting up the bar, all kinds of final-moments-before-the-throng-arrives details. AND - many thanks to Susan for bringing a huge batch of cupcakes in honor of Daniel's Birthday, which had been a couple days prior. Happy Birthday Daniel!
This year's menu, in part:
One of the things I do before the big party I throw about this time each year is hang up these snowflakes.
They've been accumulating through the years (lots of years) going back to when I was a sophomore in college. And one of the cool things about having a sleeping loft (there are a few cool things) is that it gives you a snowflake's-level perspective.
The theme of this entry is "Great Ways to Spend New Year's Eve."
For the last bunch of years, I have spent New Year's in one part of New England or another. It's a great tradition, and I love it, as I love the people I visit in Boston, Williamstown, and wherever else I end up visiting. However, this year I stayed in New York to say goodbye to '008 and hello to the New Year. And while I missed those friends that I don't get to see often enough, I had a FANTASTIC time here. Enough so that I'll share with you the headlines as a recipe, in case you're looking for a New Year that is true New York, but that could be approximated just about anywhere.
So it was short on insanity, but long on festivity. Couldn't have been happier!
Hope your New Year's Eve was happy as could be too, and that 2009 turns out to be your best year so far!
One word I have been especially fond of lately is 'reckon.' Which usually elicits a laugh whether I want it to or not. A perfectly useful and noble term, featured prominently in tomes as lofty as the Bible (as in "Day of Reckoning"), it now seems always to connote a cowboy or a hillbilly, junegrass in teeth, lazily supposing sum'n or other. All I'm saying is: it's a word to be reckoned with.
Which brings me to a somewhat fun party game from NYE, courtesy one of the guest's 8 year-old nephew: What do you think is the word with the most definitions in the English language? Don't cheat, now! I'll give you a hint: the Oxford English Dictionary has well over 300 definitions for this word; dictionary.com has over 100.
The Buffalo Tom gig was great - good band, good club, good friends, excellent way to spend an evening. Missed most of the opening bands because we were at an Irish pub watching the Patriots seal their undefeated season (in spite of the best efforts of the Giants.) Sometimes I wish I cared more about football. But not often.
Next night we hit Gloucester for a delicious seafood dinner with one of our old friends who now lives in Seattle. (I've said it before and I'll say it again - the Northwest is calling me. May have to contrive a trip out there sometime in the new year. Also, Iceland is calling me. Which is somewhat... unexpected.) Mmm... lobsters and clams... And magnificent to see Amy.
Held of until yesterday to swing out to Williamstown because of snow in Massachusetts. Helped the hosts prep and decorate, and had a fabulous New Years Eve party with them. This was part of the T-Day crowd and several of their Western Mass. contingent, including peeps from Mass MoCA, Williams College, Bang on a Can, Williamstown Theater Fest., and Jacob's Pillow. Leg of lamb, veggie lasagna, au gratin potatoes (see below re. potatoes), lemon tarts, cheese and jalapeno biscuits, corn bread, ginger bread, sardines, baked brie, salad, on and on. Plus Champagne, beer, wine, egg nog, and a punch that packed a serious punch, thanks to 'overproof' rum. Whoa. Great party - thanks, once again, to great friends
Straight up - there were some pretty hard things about '007 for me. Which isn't to say there weren't plenty of great times and fantastic events, and I'm grateful for them all. At the same time, I'm ready to shift gears. Looking forward to some wonderful developments in 2008.
And I've got some ideas of things to do to make that happen; but mostly, I'm just in a kind of state of readiness for things to open up. For lack of a better way to put it.
Plus: it's the Year of the Potato - which is all kinds of exciting! Think of the possibilities...
This isn't the kind of thing I'd normally post here, but it should be a good event, from a very good friend and for a very good cause. If you're free and in New York next Friday, consider...
You know bocce, right? The old Italian game where you toss a small round stone to one end of a court, then try to get larger stone balls as close to it as possible, while knocking your opponents' balls away? Well, it was an important part of T-day this year.
But we don't play that polite bocce, where you just toss the pallino from one end of a pleasant smooth sand area to the other. Ours is more of an extreme bocce...
Also known as all-terrain bocce, it involves using the whole beach - the smooth sand, the rocky parts, the shells and the driftwood, the lawn above, even - at one ill-advised point - the water. That's Kevin hurling a bocce ball in one or our 'long bocc' rounds.
And now I'm having some trouble with uploading images - more later...
Alright - more bocce madness.
Here we are prepping for bocce among the beach chair obstacles:
And this is us getting ready for Extreme Bocce Action (can't you tell?)
The characters in this boccerific image are, from left to right, Crispy, Kevin, Rudy and myself. That bottle in the sand is, um, probably caffeine-free diet coke.
Finally, we have a shot of Water Bocce. The pallino rolled down the slope of the shore and ended up right at the edge of the water. We hemmed and hawed and thought it might not be such a good idea to play that lie. But then we were like: they're rocks, right? They're not going anywhere...
So we played the round. Sure enough, the balls stayed in plain sight at water's edge. We had serious control issues trying to work the slanting sand, but this was All-Terrain Bocce, after all. And when all the stones were rolled, two were almost tied for closest to the jack:
That would be Pike, Kev, Chris and I closely inspecting the situation to determine the victor of the round. We paced it off, allowing for waves, then gathered the rocks and got ready for the next round. But as we did, Rudy said "Um, guys...? Do you have all the balls?"
Ummm... nope. While we were engrossed in the competition aspect of the game, Neptune claimed two of the Bocce balls for himself.
This was followed by about 15 minutes of us all wading up and down the shallows in a vain hope of finding those rocks in the ocean. Which was itself followed by another 10 or so minutes of the four of us just staring out at the surf, muted, scanning for glimpses of red-paint and wondering what we were going to tell Jen (who brought the bocce set in the first place). Gulp :-)
It didn't spoil the party. Fortunately, this was not an heirloom set from Jen's Italian Grandfather or anything. Her attitude was the best - "they couldn't have gone in a better way, or to a better place." And we adjusted the game for the remainder of the weekend.
But if anyone knows where I can find some good Bocce balls cheap, lemme know...
Ok, I don't think I've really discussed T-day in this blog, except for the odd reference. It's a gathering that happens every year a couple weeks before Thanksgiving (although the specific timing has changed occasionally, that's a pretty reliable date). There is always a ton of music and revelry, and some truly magnificent communal cooking.
Permit me to anticipate some of your comments and questions.
- Wow - that sounds a lot like 'The Big Chill'
No, it's not really very much like that perfectly adequate movie, although there have been known to be some singing and dancing to go along with the cooking and cleaning. Certain key differences include the fact that T-Day involves:
- How long has this been going on? Where does it happen?
It started back at my college, one or two years before I got there, and has happened every single year since. Since its humble origins in Boston (imagine a bunch of not-exactly-sober college students figuring out how to stuff and cook a turkey and prepare what trimmings they could manage in their ill-equipped kitchens), we have become a diaspora, and the location changes pretty much every year, though there have been repeat venues (Boston, Williamstown, Burlington, VT, Philmont, NY). As the years have passed, several of us have developed pretty good game in the kitchen, and our outings have become more ambitious and adventurous.
Once again, a big weekend. Here's the rundown:
Friday Night:
- Went to jackson heights to meet jon & kir's new baby boy! Had a great time with those guys and beckett, read a story to joseph and met dean for the first time.
- Jon & i went to brooklyn to check out the club WWIX will be playing in late june - wouldn't you know it's matchless, where we saw easy anthems (and creaky boards) last weekend. Jqln met us out there - always a plus.
Saturday:
- Bit of a sleep in, but not too late. Way too much to do for that.
- Went to the gym for regular/non-yoga workout for the first time in a while
- Installed air conditioner for the summer.
- Picked up tim (dear friend and colleague writing a book about the living theater) at newark airport, caught up with him over a bite at home in air-conditioned comfort
- While tim met with other colleagues, went to elysian park to read a bit.
- Into NYC for a bit of dinner theater featuring a friend.
- Up to the heights for a birthday party. Not only that, a toga party. Leslie's friend's roommate was turning 19, and togas were the order of the evening, though not everyone wore them. Moi, no sheet, but i certainly appreciated some of the toga creativity - and a polish couple there made a remarkable drink from an herbal-infused vodka called 'zubrowka' that tastes like apple pie!
Sunday:
- Brunch with tim at amanda's - yum!
- Some baseball on TV. (Remember people, every loss for the yankees is a victory for civilization.)
- Into town to meet lori at a park by the river. On my way up 9th ave. in my finest faux boston/irish catholic outfit (red sox cap, notre dame t-shirt), i stepped into a bar briefly, not for a drink, but just to watch derek jeter strike out in the bottom of the 9th with two outs, a runner on third and the yanks down by one. Tee hee!
- Good conversation with lori at the park. Watched one of those gigantic cruise ships pull out. Were all those cops and heavily-armed soldiers there because of the ship, or for fleet week?
- Changed clothes at lori's place, then met tim to see 'beyond glory.' This show was excellent - stephen lang one-man show about medal-of-honor winners. Seriously good; deserves its own entry - maybe another time.
- Cheesesteak and beer after the show, then back to the 'boken.
Monday:
- Woke up early for some inscrutable reason. The good news was that i caught a reading of howard zinn's voices from 'a people's history of the united states' with a bunch of good actors on democracy now!
- Bagels with tim, which he couldn't eat because of a visceral reaction to cornmeal (he gets really sick if he eats it.) Yet another reason i hardly ever go to the shitty bagel place across the street - who bakes bagels on a pan with cornmeal???
- Took tim back to the newark airport so he could fly back to indy.
- The day that was supposed to be all rainy turned out very nice, so, back to elysian park for some sun and reading.
- Into NYC to see adrienne shelley's 'waitress;' not necessarily the kind of movie i'd normally gravitate toward, but because of adrienne (you read all about that here - and everywhere else - last november) i could not miss it. And it was good, if unexpectedly sentimental and hollywood for such an indie gal.
- Back to hoboken for a quick shower/bite/change before heading back into town for melissa errico at birdland. Shit, she's good. So relaxed and comfortable, and what a voice. Plus beautiful, radiant, funny, charismatic - who could ever like a girl like that? Damn patrick mcenroe...
- Nightcap with leslie.
There it is.
Whew!
This was a busy, action-packed weekend. Maybe not as relaxing as some weekends in recent-ish memory, but i'm not complaining. Had a good time, and got some stuff done.
Friday: after work, met with marianne, lisa, amye, dan and rashmi at a bar for some happy hour action and catch-up conversation. After which i walked with rashmi to meet some of her friends at a bar by madison square, then we rolled down to soho - they had a fancy dinner at l'ecole; i caught the end of leah siegel's show over at rockwood music hall on allen st. - v/good, as always (though that room is too fucking small!) Then i subwayed up to morningside heights for katie's housewarming party - which was very fine indeed. The apartment is great, the guests were fun (j.p. and sherin were there) the food was remarkable (especially a mushroom pate that was really mouthwatering, and a plate of brownies made with hot pepper that snuck up on you in a slow-burning, extremely delicious way) and of course the hostess (and hosts!) were scintillating.
Saturday i finally went to see 'journey's end' in the afternoon; not my favorite time of day to see straight plays, but it was damned good. Go see it before it closes next month. But be warned - it kicks you in the gut. Mary jo made the mistake of traveling by cab on the day of the big dance parade on 5th ave, and barely made it to the belasco on time.
After the show i literally had to RUN to an audition on 8th ave. - set my phone to vibrate at me at 4:35, stuck around until the curtain started lowering at 4:38 then hightailed it to 36th and 8th for a 4:55 audition. Not something i recommend, but i made it. I found later that i missed out on an unusually moving curtain call. Small price to pay. Then i walked down to chelsea as it started to rain to meet up with mj again. She was going to introduce me to bikram yoga, but the rain and the aftermath of the show swayed us to chill at her place instead. Then sherin came into town and we had some italian food before heading out to williamsburg to see the band easy anthems at matchless. They were really good (as was the pseudo-80s power pop/art rock band before them, whose name i can't remember, to my shame) and we were joined by terry, jackee and j.p. That part of town is SOOOOOOoooo hipper-than-thou, but they do have some fun stuff going on.
Sunday i slept in a bit, then did laundry and grabbed some bagels and lox. Mmmmm... bagels and lox... Read part of the paper, checked out email and such, listened to the 'new' elliott smith: called 'new moon' it's a compilation of outtakes and alternate versions, which description does not do anything like justice to what an amazing record this is. One of the most important songwriters of his generation; we all miss him muchly.
Then rashmi came out and we played a set of tennis, then cleaned up and went into town for the grand unveiling of happy sunshine kung fu flower, which rocked the house. Good, forceful, funny satire nicely done to a packed house in a club setting - in your face and below your belt all at once. Glad to have been involved in an earlier incarnation, aim to return to the ninja fold when the union sitch gets worked out. But for now, they are going strong and a swell time was had by all (though there were some rumblings about the offensiveness factor, i don't know how one could do a show like this without some of that.) My main complaint was that after we used up our comp drink, the featured beer cost 9 bucks. Ouch.
So, yeah, full weekend.
Well, i ended up not heading to williamsburg last night for jackee's party, which i'm pretty sad about, especially after emailing a couple friends about how i wasn't going to let the weather hold me back, and how lame i thought my partypartner was for bowing out due to something as petty as driving wind and hail biting into your face. I was all ready: dressed up in my new shirt, flat front slacks, houndstooth jacket, gene kelly tie and freshly shaved head (the oxblood shoes weren't going to make the trip in any case), and looking, well, i suppose about as good as i ever get to look. Then i got a call from a friend who wanted me to join her and her roomie for dinner right out here in the 'boken. I declined at first, figuring i'd just nosh at home then get out to billyburg, but then i thought - hey, why not trade in the cancelled dinner out for a different one, and ended up joining them. And as i was leaving my apartment, i got a call from jackee saying it was really bad out and maybe i shouldn't come after all. I was like, 'no, you're having a party, i want to go.' And she was like, 'really? You want to cross two rivers and trudge through the tundra?' So we left it that i'd check in after dinner and see how things were going.
Dinner, by the way was fantastic - met at zafra with caroline and nicole, whom i'd met at their housewarming party last weekend. Hadn't been to zafra before, and it was great: a cuban place with excellent food, pretty good service and a fab atmosphere. We had a potato appetizer with an incredible sauce; a main dish of roast pork -perfect: some of the best i've ever had - and one of spicy chicken skewers and sweet potato that was also very nice; and side dishes of kale and fried plantain. It's a BYO place (which i love) so we had some pinot grigio that we brought along, and skipped dessert (as even with only two main dishes, it was enough food for there to be takehome leftovers). I'll SOOOOO be going back there; let me know if you want to make the trip.
Anyway, as we finished up and stepped back out, the hail was as bad as ever and there was a surprising amount of accumulation. The gals had talked me into watching a movie with them, so i called jqln to let her know when we got back to their place. Of course, the party was rockin'. D'oh! But at this point, it just wasn't going to happen - it was already 10:30, i was a half mile from the train station, the train ride(s) would take a minimum of a half hour, and then another half mile walk through the snow to get to her crib. Still, i felt lame as hell about missing it.
On the other hand, it was great hanging with nicole and caroline. They're very cool, have a great place (ah, the 'boken), and we finished off the magnum of pinot and watched 'half nelson.' Which was great; one of those movies that fuck your shit up.
In one scene, a character puts on the 'free to be you and me' lp and plays it's alright to cry, sung by rosey grier. I giggled a bit, and caroline said "what is that song?" She'd never heard it, or heard of 'free to be...' And why should she have, i suppose, that film being a total product of the height of women's lib circa 1973? It was a part of the childhood of a lot of people i know, though, of a bunch of age groups: i've met people in their early 20s who appear to know every word, and people older than that who've never heard of it.
Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, check out rosey.
Posts
All Comments
