cgm13.net :: the boy wonder: September 2004

posted by Chas. @ 9/29/2004 05:11:35 PM |

Yes. I am a fussy little bastard.

Three days (only two more rehearsals) until we open "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." I'm ready. Ready to have it out of my hair. Don't get me wrong. It's been fun but, due to the complicated nature of the show, it's been rehearsed for eight weeks. That's two weeks longer than we normally take for a musical. It's time. Time to have it over. Yeah. I have hit that state that I always get into when a show is about to open. I always feel like there is more that could have been done. I feel like I didn't give enough direction. I feel like the show could have been better if someone else had been in charge. I feel that folks will say, "Ah, he directed so that's why it's not as good as it could be." It's just the way I get. It'll pass.

It doesn't help that I am continuing my stalker-esque ways. I really need to drop it. It's going to net me nothing but further mental instability. I think I continue it so I can have something else to beat myself up about. Grrr.

And I sometimes wonder why I ended up having to be medicated ...

I can't resist that very strong urge to have you dear.
Oh, please come here.
Just let me love you anytime and any place we dare ...
We'll just let them stare.

When in doubt ... post a song!
Chic - My Forbidden Lover [4.3 MB]

Buzzwords for a Monday Afternoon:
1. Rainy
2. Wet
3. Chilly
4. Dreary
5. Down

The weekend was pretty good. Got more stuff done for the show ... blood, flames, fog, evil green hair tonic. I also treated myself (finally) to the Alfred Hitchock dvd box set that Warner Bros. released earlier in the month. Nine of his films from the 40's and 50's. It's sweet. The rented costumes arrived on Friday, and all I can say is that I am so glad that that I don't have to wear the sailor suit they sent for "Anthony." White pants and a white/orange striped shirt. Whoo. That's gonna look good on stage. You might see some video from the show later in the week. October is around the corner. The trees in the back yard are starting to turn. I heart fall.

And ... here comes Jeanne! Hmmm. Who would have thought the mountains could be so hurricane prone. Thankfully, we are not expected to anywhere near as much rain as we got off the last two. Flood watches and high wind warnings have been posted though. Fun!

And for those of you who don't give a rat's ass about theater ...

Yipee! Turns out that Concrete Blonde is gonna drop back in to A-ville on the 14th of next month. What a great belated birthday present. Whee!

More Sweeeeeeeeneeey! And for the record, I think the show is gonna turn out pretty well (if the damn cast can make all their entrances, that is).

A photo (not taken by me) from last Friday of the collapsed eastbound lane of I-40 through the Pigeon River gorge. You can see lots more photos of the damage from Ivan here (the "related photos" menu gets you even more).

"It's priest. Have a little priest ..."

Nacerá,
Ya verás el sol que calienta nacerá,
Ya verás
Una más,
Como todo un día de repente brillará
Ya verás

Sol na
Sol na
Sol na-nacerá

Luna que va y al día se viste
Cuerda que tira y no se cansa de tirar
Un corazón que nunca está triste
Viento que hace a la alegría respirar
Afro Medusa - Pasilda (Todd Terry's In House Mix) [11.5 MB]

Hi. I am still alive. Phone (and thus internet/dsl) service has been spotty since last Thursday when Ivan came through for a visit. We are still without a phone at the office I work at. They have no idea how long it's gonna take to get it fixed since there are so many problems throughout the county. I have relocated to a different office so that I can get some work (and internet playtime) done. Whoo.

Drove around on Saturday to see what kinda damage had been done in various parts of the county. It's bad. High water marks all over the place. Mobile homes that were just pushed from their foundations and floated down river. Personal belongs littering the sides of the road. A lone laundry basket hanging about five feet up in a tree.

Past that things here are pretty much the same. "Sweeney Todd" is clicking along. We have sets, lights and such. Two more rehearsal this week and then we do the run up to opening night on October 1st. Hopefully in the next few days I can some photos posted of what's shaking in that arena. I feel like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Whee!

Yow. What a night. "Ivan" dropped into the area about 2:00-ish yesterday afternoon. It started as varying degrees of rain ... light, heavy, moderate, heavy, light. Then the winds kicked in early in the evening. A nice warm tropical breeze which would have been great if we didn't have to worry what was coming with it. By 11:00 p.m. the creek across the road had risen quite a bit and there was a brisk stream of water running down the road. At midnight (and again at 1:00 a.m.) the phone rang with an automated message saying that we should evacuate to one of two shelters or at least get to some higher ground. That was scary. Being told to leave everything behind ... not knowing if things would get that bad ... if you would come back and find all your stuff destroyed. Being the stubborn folks that we are, the roomie and I decided that we should be ok since my house in near the top of the creek. Things looked pretty good this morning for us at least. The creek was higher but not out of its banks. Some folks on down the road were not as lucky. We hear that Clyde and Canton are back under water. I hate that. The Tinsley's had just gotten settled after Frances flooded them out. Today a steady rain is still falling and they say it's gonna last into tomorrow. Flooding is still a big potential. Power is out in various parts of the county, so my work day is being cut short. Whoo. So, ya'll be good. I'm off to play in the water.

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING...CORRECTED EXPIRATION TIME.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
509 PM EDT THU SEP 16 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 AM EDT FRIDAY MORNING FOR PEOPLE IN
THE FOLLOWING COUNTY
IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
HAYWOOD

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
CANTON...CRUSO...LAKE JUNALUSKA...MAGGIE VALLEY...WATERVILLE AND
WAYNESVILLE

AT 505 PM...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LARGE SHIELD OF MODERATE TO HEAVY
RAIN SHOWERS POISED TO MOVE OVER HAYWOOD COUNTY. A TRAINED WEATHER
SPOTTER REPORTED THE PIGEON RIVER WAS ALREADY OUT OF ITS BANKS
NEAR CLYDE FROM HEAVY RAIN EARLIER THIS AFTERNOON. AS HEAVY RAINFALL
MOVES IN FROM THE WEST...FLOODING IN CLYDE WILL ONLY WORSEN AND
NUMEROUS OTHER STREAMS AND CREEKS WILL LIKELY COME OUT OF THEIR
BANKS.

ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLOODING WILL BE LOW AREAS AND SMALLER
TRIBUTARIES IN THE VICINITY OF THE PIGEON RIVER NEAR CANTON...AND IN
COVE CREEK NEAR THE JUNCTION OF THE PIGEON RIVER AND JONATHAN CREEK.
FLOODING IS LIKELY ALONG HYATT CREEK IN HAZELWOOD. MAGGIE VALLEY
WILL ALSO LIKELY OBSERVE AT LEAST MINOR FLOODING LATE TONIGHT.

RISES TO NEAR BANKFULL WILL LIKELY LEAD TO URBAN FLOODING IN
WAYNESVILLE. ELSEWHERE...NUMEROUS SHALLOW STREAMS AND CREEKS WILL
LIKELY COME OUT OF THEIR BANKS OVERNIGHT.

A FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR HAS BEEN REPORTED.
RIVER RISES WILL BE SLOW BUT STEADY. ALL INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD
TAKE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS IMMEDIATELY.

Blah. It's hump day and I feel like I am nowhere near the top of the hump. In two and a half weeks "Sweeney" will be one less worry. Then it's back to "Coyote on a Fence" since we take it to competition at the beginning of November. Will we win? Do I care? Ask me when I get past the hump.

It's a gorgeous sunny day outside and all folks are talking about is Ivan. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Why are folks in the mountains worried about a hurricane. Well, quite frankly, Frances kicked some ass in this neck of the woods ... quite a bit of ass. Certain areas got tons of rain and flooded out depending on which river you lived closest to. Fortunately, the creek across from my place didn't wreak any havoc last time. We just have to wait and see what happens with Ivan. It's sure to be a hot topic here for the next several days.

Whew! I had fun weekend ... even if I was by myself the entire time. There are no links 'cause I'm lazy.

Friday Night:
Hung around the house and watched the European cut of "Dawn of the Dead." Pretty interesting if not just a little too streamlined. Then sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep.

Saturday:
Drove down to Atlanta for the "Evening with Siouxsie." I tripped over to the Apple Store at Lenox Square and drooled all over the products and cute nerds that work in the place. I cruised down Peachtree to the Tower Records where they had none of the dvds that I was looking for. But, they did have the cd of Diamanda Galas' "Defixones, Will & Testament" (which I purchased, of course). After a nice drive down the rest of Peachtree, I made it into Little Five Points for dinner and the show. Dinner was good. The show was great. I don't think I have ever seen that much black clothing gathered in one place before. Ah, goth culture! After finding a prime spot from which to watch Siouxsie work her magic, I got to talking to the couple next to me, She was beautiful. He was gorgeous. We talked for most of the pre-show which was about 2-1/2 hours because Siouxsie was mean and made us wait a bit for her. The show was not at all what I expected. The name "An Evening with Siouxsie" seemed to imply a structured retrospective of the Banshees and Creatures catalog. Not so. The show was a roller coaster. You never knew what was going to be performed next. Good stuff! For the encore she performed "Face to Face" from the "Batman 2" soundtrack and "Arabian Nights." Pretty sweet! The cute couple invited me out for drinks, but I declined. Then it was back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Sunday:
I tripped to the Gift Mart downtown for a bit and then headed back to the mountains. Steve and I got together and started setting lights for "Sweeney Todd." There gonna be about 180 lighting cues in the show. Jim's gonna have fun.

And here are just some of the fellas I am currently infatuated with ...

Tomorrow. Atlanta. An Evening with Siouxsie. Whoo!

Wet, wet, wet. Those are the buzz words of the day. It's been raining for over 24 hours here in the mountains. Whee. Fortunately, as Frances head north, the rain has lessened quite a bit. The creek across from the house has stayed within it banks which make me very happy. The low place in the back yard has become a huge pond. This morning, birds were using it as a super huge bird bath. Grey and dreary are also buzz words as well. They describe the sky. They describe my mood. Sometimes I think they describe the state of my soul. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is cooking on the stove. It's what's keeping me focused right now.

Hi, Frances. Welcome to the mountains.

This is probably a case of the pot calling the kettle "black" ... but, I really hate it when people can't get their shit together. I was asked about a month ago to bid on some freelance work (posters, postcards, etc) for a local theater group. I said, "Great. Get me some info and I'll send you a bid." Well, yesterday they finally sent through the info. That's all well and good except the first show they want promo material for opens October 7. So, by the time I bid, they potentially accept and I start work ... that doesn't leave much time. Grrrr. I may pass this one by. As much as I would like to fund my dirty dvd addiction, some things are just better not done for the money.

In other news, those fine folks at Criterion are finally going to be releasing my favorite film of all time on dvd ... and it's a reissue of their super kick-ass LaserDisc special edition. I wet myself every time I think about it. [Sighs. Wipes tear from eye.]

Wait ... did I actually say I don't want extra money?

It's a holiday weekend! You know what that means. I'll be sleeping in late on Monday. That and going to some junk shops for furniture for "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Y'all have a good 'un.

Yes, yes. This is my life now. I think that in the future I am going to refrain from directing shows when such a large is involved. It's not that the cast isn't talented. It's not that they don't do what I tell them to. It's just hard to keep that many people focused and on task for a couple of hours each night. Rehearsals, to me at this point, really feel like barely controlled chaos. I go home and worry that things will never come together. I worry that we will run out of time. I worry that the show is gonna suck some major ass on opening night. Then I think about some of the shows that I have been in that have come together at the last minute. That leads me to believe that this one's gonna be just fine. And, hey ... if it does blow, it won't be the first show in the history of theater that really sucks.

Statement for the Day: Pork products (especially bacon) make things better!

Ugh. A busy day for once. A busy day complete with a near miss on a panic attack. Whoo. It's those little things that make life fun ... right? Don't forget that the "Dawn of the Dead" Ultimate Edition drops into stores next Tuesday ... or in my case, arrives via amazon.com. "Dawn of the Dead" contains on of my favorite opening shots for a film. It kicks!