And then there were 6

Greetings all! I'm sorry there was no post yesterday, but it snowed all day, effectively making it impossible to walk anywhere, so after a slog to the local convenience store to get coffee (Crystal, the lady I'm staying with, only has instant) I decided there was no way in hell I was going back outside unless forced to by a house fire. Thankfully, everyone in the house managed to keep from playing with matches, so I spent a day shut in playing online poker and watching my Monk: Season 6 DVDs. All in all, not a horrible way to spend a Sunday. Especially when Jodi called me and told me that they were pushing today's rehearsal back from 10 to 11 because it was a holiday. Not sure exactly what that had to do with anything, but I'm not looking an extra hour of sleep in the mouth....if you don't mind a hopelessly mangled metaphor. So like I said, a good day, though I have to say, I am already over the whole winter thing. I mean, really, enough is enough. Mother Nature has crammed an entire winter's worth of shitty weather into barely half that time, so I think she can afford to lighten the hell up! Look, I'd even be willing to take the horrifically cold weather if we could just do away with the snow. Cold weather at least doesn't making moving around difficult. On the contrary--it acts like motivation to get your ass moving. So there ya go, mother Nature, there's the deal. I think it's quite a generous offer when you get right down to it. Think it over, have your people call my people.

So today we finished up our blocking, and I have to admit, it was the longest, and to date, most frustrating day so far. Nowhere near as frustrating as any of the first few days last tour, but still pretty hair-tearing near the end. First off, we finished up the Necklace, which, since it's Pat's baby, always takes a while. She's infinitesimally specific about every moment, so it takes a while to get everything worked out. I'll admit the finished product is worth all the frustration, because when everything is running like clockwork, it really does look very impressive. That doesn't help so much when you're going over the same move for the 20th time, but it's something to look to in the future. The surprising thing is how long it took for her to clean up Frog. That's the one that had me the most frustrated, partly because I didn't remember it being such a down-to-the-minutest-detail rehearsal last time. Of course the reason for that is the fact that the first time we rehearsed, Pat was being pulled between two or three tours at the same time so she was only able to swing through every few days, throw out some ideas for bits, then split, so we didn't work any of the bits quite as much as she probably would've liked, or as much as we probably needed. The other problem is that Pat, for whatever strengths she may have, is a really bad verbal communicator. And she doesn't have the best memory when it comes to what some of the sound cues actually sound like, so there's a number of times when she's trying to tell us the sequence of things, and she thinks there's a different sequence than there actually is. Add to that t he fact she's also having trouble actually verbalizing what it is she wants us to do and when, and you get a lot of misunderstandings that result in a lot of redone bits. It frustrates me perhaps more than others because a) I've done this show before and I remember what all our bits were (or should've been) from the last production and b) I may not have many strong points as an actor, but one strong point I do have is a sense of timing for cartoony bits. If you tell me what you want, I can give it to you, no problem. But when what you're telling me is vague, or doesn't match what I have to work with, then I'm going to have trouble, which means I look like I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Pat has the picture in her head, she just can't get it out of her mouth. I think that's the main reason she prefers to walk our roles for us and shove us around like chess pieces. I'm far more used to that now, but there are times I still just want to yell at her--"Just TELL me what you want and I'll do it." Or when I'm really frustrated--"Use your WORDS!" But all in all, things are going more smoothly than I would've thought. Though Pat is also doing the whole seeming way overly protective of us and our physical well-being thing. Which believe me, I appreciate, even though she seems to do it on odd things. ("If you're finding it difficult to sit there on the platform, because it stresses your back, then feel free to lay down while we work this.") I find this mothering funny (in an odd, ironic way, not a Harvey Kneeslapper kind of way....oh, and 50 points to anyone who knows who THAT is) only because when it comes to tech and things like having lights in the wings or backstage so we can see where we're going during some of the scene changes, it's "No, that'll ruin the look of the scene change." Never mind that there were many times people going offstage ran into lights or platforms, we wouldn't want to ruin the look of the scene change. That's just the little idiosyncracies that make Chamber Chamber. 

The interesting thing right now is that I've been out of Chicago for less than a week, and I already feel like I've been gone for a month. It's a fascinating dichotomy, because I do enjoy the work and I even enjoy the touring lifestyle, for the most part, but after four months or so of it before, this new stretch of rehearsal at least, is a little less exciting. I mean, I enjoy putting the show together, since I'm doing different things, and I enjoy meeting new people, but I don't think I really had enough time home in between the end of the last one and the beginning of this one to really feel like I finished something. But then I enjoy this a hell of a lot more than a regular job or unemployment, so I can't complain too much. And if the damn TV show ever gets off the ground, I'll be running around the country on a bus, so maybe this is perfect practice for it. I just miss all my friends, none of whom I got to visit and hang out with enough when I was home, my dog, whom I did not get to walk enough when i was home, and my wife, whom I did not get to....well, I'll keep the blog PG rated....but it wasn't enough. :-) (And no, I don't necessarily miss those three groups in that order, so calm down, honey...) Anyway, I am looking forward to getting o the road and actually getting to do the show, but I am also looking forward to getting back to Chicago and getting back to putting together what passes for my career. I know touring's part of the life, and I'll probably do some more in the future, but I really plan on trying to stay put as much as possible for a while once I make it back to the WIndy City. (Unless someone has a kick-ass role with a even more kick-ass paycheck. Hey, I never claimed NOT to be a whore....)

So that's all the news that's fit to print (and even some that isn't) so I'll talk to y'all later. Oh, and 100 points to anyone who can figure out what the aliases of my castmates refer to. (And no, Marta, you don't get to play, because I already told you...) Let the Googling begin!!!!