Winesburg, OH

So this time I actually have an excuse for not writing. I've been in rehearsals at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre for the new musical WINESBURG, OHIO. We finally had our opening last night and the show is GREAT. The director, Eric Rosen, has assembled an amazing cast and I'm having a most excellent time. I'll upload some photos when I get them. The design of the show is beautiful. Here's the one picture I've received so far. That's me on the far right.



In other news, progress on the attic renovation is actually happening. The bathroom up there is nearly fully functional. The shower has now all been framed in and just needs to be tiled. Completion of the attic was one of my New Year's resolutions, so it's good that things are getting done. Having it done would make it bearable to have a roommate.

That's it for now. I need to get out of bed and start my day.

Bad Blogger

So...upon looking back, it seems as though it's been nearly three months since my last blog. I thought I should quick get one in before it is actually three months. You know...when you're traveling the world it seems you have lots to report on. When I'm just hanging out at home in KC, it seems not as exciting. Anyway....here's the latest.

A TUNA CHRISTMAS was a great experience. Pretty much everything I had wanted it to be. It was a show I'd wanted to do for some time and getting to do it with Jim J. was great. I can't imagine a better partner for that piece. I really hope we get the chance to do it again sometime. Here's a picture of my Christmas card this year which has all my characters. I miss them.



So TUNA ended at the end of December and I promptly hightailed it up to Minneapolis for three weeks to perform some concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra. It was SOOOOOOO great being back "home" for a while. I stayed with my best friend, Kersten, who has a 4 month old baby named Jack who I completely fell in love with. We formed an incredible bond while I was there...so much so that I nearly stuck him in my suitcase to bring him home with me. But...like some of the best laid plans...it didn't quite work out. Regardless, I learned how hard being a parent is. I was exhausted and all I did was hold him when he was crying. I let Kersten remain on diaper duty. More than anything, it was great getting to spend that much time with Kersten. I don't see her often enough. This is my favorite picture of me and Jack. We both decided to grow mustaches while I was there. They were wildly popular



The concerts with the orchestra were a lot of fun. I got to work with a lot of my old friends and made some new ones as well. I really do miss Minneapolis. It's such a great city. However...I'd forgotten how ridiculously cold it gets there. One day the TEMPERATURE was -30. I'd forgotten how that bitter cold makes your nose hairs freeze the second you walk outside. But cold or not, I had a great time.

Now I'm back in KC and gearing up for my next gig which is a new musical called WINESBURG, OHIO at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. I'm excited for this project. I have a great part that I'm really looking forward to. I really like the music. AND...I can ride my bike to work. Do I still have a bike? I'll have to check.

That's it really. I have to go to bed now because George is having her teeth cleaned tomorrow morning and she has to be there by 8:30. I hate mornings. I promise I'll try to be more diligent with my blogging responsibilities.

I Smell Tuna

So...wow...it's been over two months since my last blog. Shame on me. Oh well. I'm sure I'll get over it.

Obviously, I'm back from my adventures on the ocean. It was a short six week contract, which I have decided is the PERFECT length to be on a ship. Since they were shows I had already done, it was very easy going back into them. I have learned my lesson about swearing not to do any particular show again. You never know when you'll be back. Except GODSPELL. I really swear I'll never do that show again.

The ship went to some amazing ports of call. Rome, Naples, Athens, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini, Kusadasi, and Istanbul. The best part of this trip was the FOOD. I swear...If I lived in Europe I would weigh at LEAST 500 lbs. Everything is SO delicious. I had my first encouter with the crepe. Who knew something could be so tasty? And in Naples (the birthplace of Pizza) I had the most AMAZING buffalo mozzarella. I can't even explain it, it was so good.

Aside from seeing all these great places and eating all this great food, I also made two really great new friends. Having joined the cast at the end of their six month contract, by the time I got there, everyone was ready to leave and they had all already developed their own little cliques and such. But I ended up spending a lot of time with Jackie (one of the singers) and Frances (one of the dancers). They're crazy and fun. Speaking of which...here's some pics from the cruise. Fun!











I got back from the ship on October 13th and flew back to Omaha where I had left my car and my dog. I spent a couple days at home with my parents. It was nice being home. They had been in the process of choosing new linoleum for their kitchen, since the stuff they had in there was put in the year I was born. It made me sad, though because that floor was really the last part of the house that had remained the same since my childhood. I learned to draw on that floor and had many races in cake boxes on it, so I was sad to see it go. It's a good thing I arrived when I did. It was exactly like an episode of the Wonder Years where they're picking out new linoleum. "My mom picked out what she liked...and my dad picked out what he liked...and then the settled on the one style of linoleum that no one on earth would possibly like." So...being the good gay son I am, I convinced them that perhaps they should look a little more. We went to the Nebraska Furniture Mart and picked out what I considered to be an acceptable choice. And...being Handy Jack, I helped them out by laying the subfloor for them since the contractors wanted to charge them a million dollars to do that. It only took about 6 hours and it was nice spending some time with Jack and Ceil and also helping them out. This is a pic of me with the floor before it was covered up forever. :(



Then back to KC to start rehearsals for A TUNA CHRISTMAS at the American Heartland Theatre. I've wanted to do one of the TUNA shows ever since I saw a great production of GREATER TUNA in high school. It's such a challenge to play 12 different characters. I'm working with Jim J. Bullock which has turned out to be lots of fun. He is CRAZY and I love him. He's really great to work with. Very generous onstage and a keeps me entertained off stage. He really is funny. We've started making it our Sunday tradition to go to the Peach Tree Buffet after the show. For those of you who don't know...the Peach Tree is an AMAZING soul food buffet here in KC. Fried chicken, collared greens, sweet potatoes in brown sugar, corn bread, mac-n-cheese....it's ALL ridiculously tasty and I'm pretty sure all fat free.

We've been doing previews all weekend and have our official press opening tonight. Here's a sneak peek at some of the show.











I almost forgot to mention the election! By some act of God or perhaps the American people just woke up from their Bush induced stupor...BARACK OBAMA won the election!!!!!!! I know change will be slow coming, but I am finally proud to be an American again. Go Team USA! Oh...and I'm excited about the low gas prices again. $1.79/gallon....WHAT? I feel like it's 1995 again and I should be drinking Beringer white zinfandel out of a plastic solo cup with my friend Holly in college.



Well...that's it for me. I'm supposed to be painting my living room, but I'm procrastinating. I wonder what else I can find to distract myself.

Earth, Wind, and Italians

Possum Stew & Dirty Glasses

Typing is so '07.

Welcome to the world of the VLOG. Don't I look awesome in that frozen video shot? Those are ALWAYS flattering. Today's blog is brought to you in video form. Really folks...it's just easier.

Click the arrow to hear fascinating stories about my life!







This picture was taken after the release.

Hope all is well!

"AMBIEN Strikes Again" or "A Math Lesson"

THE COLOR OF THIS PHOTO HAS NOT BEEN ALTERED.

Note the striking pleated shorts, black tennis shoes, and silver tipped belt.

So, after a VERY long weekend of working as a valet, I finally have a minute to sit down and blog about it. So...I go to blogspot, log in, and discover...."Hmmm...I guess I already did." That damn Ambien! If I didn't love it so much, I'd stop using it. :) As a reader of this blog you may or may not be aware that aside from being devilishly handsome, I also suffer from chronic insomnia (or as my friend Gary Brown calls it....chronic hypochondria). Regardless of which is true (both may be) ...I don't sleep well. Ever. So, quite often I rely on the ever helpful Ambien for sleep. Now we've all heard the crazy stories about people taking Ambien and driving and not remembering it and killing people and not remembering it and that sort of stuff. Well...I am here to tell you ...that it's totally true. While I have yet to murder anyone while on the "A", after I take it, there are generally about 15 minutes that remain unaccounted for. Case in point...blogging. Look back to notice the bad grammar and punctuation errors. Yikes.

Now, here's what's interesting. I don't ever do anything weird. I mean...I just do normal stuff. Send emails, do laundry, make a sandwich. But I truly don't remember doing them. About two months ago, I woke up in the morning (like I do most days), and smelled something strange. (No, this isn't the smothered mouse in the waterbed story.) So I go out into the kitchen to discover..."Hmm....I guess I had some brats last night." I actually took some brats out of the freezer, defrosted them, cooked them in a skillet, put them on a plate, ate them, gave the plate to the dog (I know this because it was on the floor) and soaked the skillet in hot soapy water. Do I remember any of this? No. I didn't leave the stove on. I didn't cut my finger off. I guess I just decided I wanted some brats.

Once on the ship I awoke to an email in my "in" box saying..."Your order has shipped." Ummm....what order? And THUS concludes the story of why I now own adult sized Wheelys.

Back to being a valet.

I LOVE IT. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it, but I really do enjoy it. Just in the 4 days I've worked, I've discovered some of the ins and outs and the politics and all that stuff. Very odd. But really...It's a great part time job. And since I'm a night owl...working til 4 am isn't such a hard thing.

There's already a handful of amusing tales which are much easier to tell than type. So..I will just share a few of the lessons learned.

I would say about 10% of the cars parked have an open alcohol container in them.

Mercedes Benz smell like Crayola Crayons.

The lock button in BMWs is above the radio.

If a truck pulls up and I am eye level with the grill emblem (true story), we do not valet them.

Straight girls in their 20's all look like hookers.

Occupational hazard..."May get punched in the jaw by some drunk chick doing the arm-ography to Greased Lightnin."

It is possible to get trapped in a Mercedes unable to move for up to 2 full minutes.

The most AMAZING walk of shame is when the guy you hooked up with dumps you on a curb at noon the next day to pick up your car you forgot the night before and you're still wearing your hooker outfit.


So all in all, it's fun. The guys are nice and I get to drive all kinds of cars. Last night we had some rap producer pull up in something called a Maybach. I, of course, thought it looked like a Hyundai, but apparently they cost about $400,000. Who knew?

But the best part of all is that it's like getting paid to do cardio. God knows I don't do it if nobody is paying. There are definitely breaks of time where there's standing around, but there is LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of running. Here's a little math.

I have about 30 runs on a good night. (Run=either pick up or drop off)
Each parking lot is 2 blocks away.
Parking lot is anywhere from 30-50 stairs above or below ground. (Average 40)

So...assuming that a mile is about 12 city blocks, and each story of a building is 10 feet, and that the average stair is 8" high... then in the course of an evening, I run about 5 miles and climb to the top of an 80 story building.

Of course every morning I can barely walk, but in the end, I'm happy I'm doing it. I've heard exercise is good for you. My mom always tells me that. Of course she might just now be feeling guilty about giving me a giant bowl of ice cream after school EVERY day for 18 years. Who knows?

That's it for me. I'm pooped. I think I'll go visit sleepytime. Goodnight.

I Got my FIRST HUMMER TONIGHT.

Clean it up, kids! I talking CARS. Or shall I say TANK. Those things are ENORMOUS. It's truly like driving a showbox with wheels it's so square. I was actually (and I'm not lying or exateragting) but the vehicle had about the same room as my cabin in the ship. Crazy. I'll write more about this later. there was so much that happened over the past few nights of being a valet, I need to be coherent when I write. I'lm sleepy now. Talk to you soon.