last night, i paid for...

...the most expensive cab ride in my life.  $49.05.  tipped to $60.  deets to follow after yet another two-show sunday.

columbus to LA

so friday night in columbus was more than any of us could have expected.  close family friends of robert's invited us out to their place (via chartered bus) for a lovely after-show party.  brisket, chicken, mac and cheese, pepperoni rolls, salad, beer and wine, loads of dessert from cookies to marble and velvet cakes.  and best of all, a baby grand.  sam and i took turns playing songs (outside of the show, thank goodness) that we all sang to.  and to put icing on an already fabulous night, his mother gave each of us personalized goodie bags with vitamins and other trinkets that would help sustain our health on the road.

so maybe columbus isn't ALL bad.  but when you have a hard time finding something to eat downtown during the weekend because literally almost everything is closed, there's a problem.  on sunday, we were told by locals that only tip top, this one restaurant/bar, was open for dinner.  one.  so everyone in the entire damn city who was downtown was going to be at that bar...so we had better head over there quickly.  outraged, i just knew i could go back to the hotel and eat a sullen dinner there.  oh wait, it was closed too.  thank god it finally opened at 5, and i was able to get some sustenance before having to be back at the theater by 6.  unreal.  and to top it all off - wow, this really pissed me off.  marc, one of the ensemble guys, and i were working onstage at the piano in between shows.  nothing outrageous - just going over a few things.  he wasn't belting an aria, and i wasn't playing as if i had nine hands.  so in the middle of our session, some guy from who knows where starts yelling, "shutup!" at the top of his lungs.  completely unprovoked.  "excuse me, hello?" "shutup!" "and who the hell are you?  YOU shutup!"  clearly, the man was a coward because he never showed himself.  and marc and i, undaunted, kept on and finished our half-hour.  could you be any more rude?  i almost wish he did come on stage, because i would have put my foot so far up his...

well, good riddance columbus.  the rain couldn't dampen our spirits as we gleefully headed to the airport.  after the traditional mimosa monday (which, in this case, had to be adapted to bloody mary monday, since the chili's didn't have champagne), we left ohio, switched planes in chicago and headed west.  "good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  we are beginning our descent into los angeles.  the current weather conditions: 69 and partly cloudy."  got to the hotel (i'm staying at the marriott on figueroa between 3rd and 4th sts) and hit the ground running.  an awesome harvard friend of mine, megan kerr, is a huge sweetheart.  her folks have season tickets to the staples center (which means all lakers, clippers and kings [hockey] games), and we worked out a pretty simple deal.  i'd get her tickets to dreamgirls if she got me tickets to a laker game.  sadly, the lakers won't play a home game on a monday night while i'm here.  boo.  =(  but even if it is the clippers, how could i say no to second row VIP tix?  so last night, cate and i went to the game and had a great time.  couldn't barely sit down when we were told there were menus in the cupholders.  never thought i'd be waited on at a professional athletic competition.  but despite all of the yummy goodness that was hand-delivered to us, there was one problem.  megan, who was going to come with her sister, got really sick and decided not to come because she flew to nyc today for b-school interviews.  as much of a sports fanatic as she is, she totally made the right call to rest up as best she could before flying cross-country.  the bobcats, though favored by 4, were plagued by a 1-for-16 shooting night from stephen jackson and despite gerald wallace's 32-9-5-4, fell to the hometown team, 98-94.  it was a surprisingly good game between two mediocre teams.  it was pretty hilarious to see all the laker championship banners looming over two franchises that have yet to win one.

today, i've had completely off.  slept in, went to the gym, had lunch at the palm (which i spotted last night while walking to the staples center; staples, the convention center and the nokia theatre are all next to each other near 11th and figueroa, and the palm is one block away on 11th and flower), went to ralph's in order to stock up my fridge.  and now, i'm here.  i'll end this post on a cliffhanger, because i'm sure you'll want to hear about my night tonight.  being on a touring show is super awesome - for many reasons, but this could be one of the best.  we often invite members of other productions to come see our show.  i'm really excited to see a dear friend of mine, monique midgette (who has one of the best voices i've ever heard), soon.  she's in the lion king in vegas, and they were offered to come see dreamgirls.  well, the favor often gets returned.  i don't know if we're going to vegas to see lion king...but i do know that i am going to the pantages theatre tonight to see fantasia in the color purple!

commence.

jealousy.


now.

HAHAHA!

Just read this comment - no additional remarks from me are necessary.  This is priceless!

Alvin,

You're not alone... the Improper Bostonian awarded us with a Boston's Best Award for "Stupidest Name Change Ever" in 2006. We plastered it everywhere... at least its a name that gets people to react ;)

Thanks for including The Wrap, er Boloco, in your blog!

Cheers,

John
CEO & Co-Founder
Boloco

February 12, 2010 9:41 AM

what a week

i've got a lot to say, so here goes.  last thursday in boston, a couple of harvard friends (betsy and angie) came to see the show and enjoyed themselves.  we went out to intermission tavern right across the street to catch up and have a couple drinks.  not only was it great to see them, but it was a lot of fun making plans for the weekend, which i'll obviously get to.  umm, what happened on friday?  my mind is a blur.  can't remember, but i'll go back if i do.  saturday was arguably the best day i've had on tour.  two good shows, capped by a solid evening performance that another harvard friend of mine, veronica, came to with her bf, ilan.  i had to pat myself on the back, because i actually spotted them up in the balcony at the beginning of the exit music and pointed directly at them to let them know.  they sadly had an early morning on v-day, so they called it a night once we took the T back in to central square.  i walked a few blocks and met up with danny and defne, who had invited me to a party near harvard's campus earlier on in the week.

ah, felt like i was an undergrad again.  the sight of dozens of pbr cans.  loud music.  solo cups.  yes, solo cups.  two different beirut games going on.  danny yagan adopting a more michael reckhow-ish approach to his shooting finesse and leaving behind the high-arching, ceiling-grazing shot.  yagan had already won 11 consecutive games without ever being challenged down to a last cup when i showed up.  naturally, you play the game better whilst inebriated, so i quickly downed 4 shots of rebel yell, stepped up to the plate...and whiffed in 3 straight games.  still never getting danny and alex down to a last cup.  didn't help that they were both shooting lights-out...on a non-regulation table, might i add (if you've played with/against me, you know that i always shoot long...that's what she said)...and that my partner, danny's gf, sara, refused to utilize her womanly wiles, which danny had admittedly said was a weakness, more often.  unfortunately, those were the last 3 games of the night, since we ripped through the remaining pbr.  i suggested we switch over to wine-rut, which was thankfully shot down in favor of a far more appealing alternative.

well, the party was at 367 harvard st, just down a ways from hurlbut, pennypacker and greenough - the non-harvard yard freshman dorms.  and what's next to them?  keep going.  okay, the barker center, lamont library.  hmmm, there's a girl who clearly cannot stand being helped home by her friend.  i see a lot of hair holding in her future.  COLLEGE!  anyway, i've digressed.  and oh yes.  the kong.  i'll explain to the non-harvardians reading this - the kong is definitely on a short list of the pinnacle of experiences one can experience in harvard square.  three floors - restaurant, bar, dance floor.  the scene of numerous fights, offers of weed and coke but still, one thing draws all of us back.  the scorpion bowl.  now 16 dollars (used to be 10 when i was a student) to be inundated with a melange of surreal tastes that flood your mouth.  it's still a mystery to everyone as to what you're actually consuming.  but who cares?  it's alcoholic, and it tastes so good.  betsy and her bf, jeff, showed up at the harvard st party just before we left for the kong.  felt like old times when the three of us teamed up against three other people from the party and had an epic scorpion bowl race that we narrowly won.  c'mon, you had to know that i would be on the winning team, right?  oh, i forgot to mention our entrance.  and this requires a flash backward.

so while at georgia tech, i went out to bars and picked up girls, but not without a cost.  after it happened once, i just thought that girl was crazy.  but once it happened repeatedly, i had to take matters into my own hand.  i would think that a natural thing to say once you're involved in conversation is to say what school you went to.  around cambridge, it's known as dropping the H-bomb, i.e., saying you went to harvard.  well, emory is labeled down in atlanta as "the harvard of the south," so they're not too keen on harvard alums.  or at least the drunk girls i was talking to in bars didn't.  so after getting in numerous shouting matches, i decided to always carry my old harvard ID on me.  flash forward to last saturday.  we get to the kong and the bouncer is yelling, "if you've got an out-of-state license, be prepared to show two IDs."  i hadn't flashed my harvard ID since i got my master's at tech.  so i jumped on the opportunity to use it once more, along with my DC ID.  once inside, we climbed the stairs to the second floor, and i instantly noticed a change in decor.  back in the day, there used to be long tables in the center of the room, but now those are no more - replaced by cushier seats.  also, half the tvs were playing king kong - don't remember that happening back in 2006.  but by far, the most shocking thing was a disappointment - NO MORE ANIMALS!  we used to play an awesome game called hide the animal.  when you ordered a scorpion bowl, they were littered with plastic circus animals - you know, giraffes, elephants, the works.  and drunk 22-year-olds had nothing better than to play hide the animal...on various parts of the body which sometimes, led to other extracurricular activities.  but alas, they got rid of the animals several months back, much to the dismay of betsy and me.  this was even funnier because reckhow told the boys a few weeks back that he had just found an animal stashed deeply somewhere in his stuff out in seattle now.  hilarious.   

in cambridge, everything (save the 7-11) is mandated to close at 2.  this includes sanctioned harvard parties, not the afterparties that obviously went on.  but how stupid does this make the city?  hmmm, an entire college of students is spilling out onto our city streets at 2am at the end of a party.  and they're drunk.  so that makes they're hungry!  why close down all your establishments right as hungry students walk by dejectedly?  the city loses so much money by doing that.  which leads me to talk about one of the finer institutions in the square.  when felipe's moved into the square while i was a student, it was an instant classic.  five-dollar burritos that are among the tastiest ever.  great ambience, everything.  well, they attempted to defy cambridge laws and stay open until 3 on friday and saturday nights.  much to the delight of the student population.  unfortunately, the city cracked down on them, but they found a clever way to circumvent the law.  they would shut the doors at 2 but stand outside with dozens of pre-made burritos, charge only 5 bucks but forgoing tax and make a killing.  so to complete the night, i simply had to go to felipe's after we were ushered out of the kong at 2.  best chorizo burrito of my life, while betsy and jeff shared a chicken.  unreal night.

on to other things.  i conducted sunday afternoon, and there were no major disasters.  saw someone i hadn't seen in four years in between shows - courtney petrouski.  wonderful currier friend, and it was awesome catching up with her, even if just for a half-hour.  spent my last night in somerville and graciously got to see rob koenig before i left.  he had been in southeast asia on business with the clinton foundation for nearly the entire two weeks i was in boston.  great catching up with him too, and i hope that both he and courtney can see the show in another city later on down the road.  now on to the theatrics.  when it comes to traveling, performers (so cast and musicians) travel together, while the crew (stage management, hair, wardrobe, etc.) flies separately.  the load-out from boston was rough, with it being such a tight space...and the prospect of columbus being even tighter loomed on the horizon.  the crew left logan earlier than us and flew directly into columbus.  we, on the other hand, left boston at 11am and had to change planes in newark.  those couple hours made a world of difference, since columbus got more than a foot of snow on monday.  we had 9am mimosas in boston, flew to newark, drank more, and then the fun began.  our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:10 from gate C101.  that quickly became 3:10 at C70, then 4:10 at C103...then 5, 5:30.  all the while we're getting updates from other people in the company who weren't in company.  some of the cast had gone to manhattan.  two had been redirected to chicago where they rented a car and drove to columbus by 2:30am tues morn.  sam had flown into cleveland, switched planes, was in midair when his plane was turned around and sent back because the columbus airport had closed.  only 8 of the 11 crew members who were involved in load-out - i'm talking electricians, carpenters, sound, etc. - were on their flight at 10am from logan.  they had to fly into cleveland and then bus into columbus.  the other 3 were flown to cleveland through chicago and couldn't bus down until the following morning.  meanwhile, sam was picked up by someone in the airport who was driving in the direction of columbus.  rode with them for an hour, then met a couple that was going all the way to columbus.  too bad they bickered the whole way, and there was a 50-car pileup that shut down the highway, turning a 2-hour drive into 8.  our sound truck was busted for being too heavy, specifically for having too much weight on a couple of its axles.  what else could go wrong?  oh right, the fearless few who had actually managed to land in columbus went to a grocery store to stock up, only to be stranded for 3 hours because the cabs couldn't get back due to road closures!  beers were opened, fried chicken passed around - they had to make the most of a terrible, yet hysterical, situation.  as for us in newark, they finally put us up in a hotel, where we proceeded to drink the night away.  got up tuesday morning, were moved to three different gates, delayed twice, sat on the plane for 90 min but eventually got to the doubletree in columbus at 8:30pm tues night after boarding the bus to logan at 8am monday morning.  talk about one hell of a travel day.  but truthfully, with us going to all northern cities during the winter and this being our first issue, we're lucky.  i'd better knock on wood quickly because a mix of rain and snow is in the forecast here from sunday night through tuesday morning.  so we'll see if we don't have a repeat performance on our way to LA.  i'm sure i forgot details of our ordeal, but this post is already long enough as is.

columbus is a shit town.  sorry to be blunt, but when the subway (restaurant) next to the stage door is only open from 8-5 m-f, 8-noon on sat and not at all on sun - well, you get my drift.  the only perk is that things are dirt cheap.  glasses of goldschlager, neat, for only 4.50?  outrageously awesome.  the theater is super tight backstage, and numerous changes had to be made to the show in such a tight space to keep it running.  during our opening night show on wednesday, one of the panels hit the downstage truss, causing the show to be cancelled for several minutes, a la pittsburgh.  the difference was that the stoppage occurred close to the end of the show in pittsburgh, while it was 2/3 of the way through the first act here.  so it felt like we did three acts, picked up some overtime, not too shabby.  last night's show went well, but we're all ready to get the hell out of ohio.  douglas was walking by a bus stop, talking on the phone, when he got punched in the back of the head by one of the resident hoodlums.  the five of them attempted to provoke a fight, at which point douglas caught up with two of the other ensemble guys in the show, avoiding any sort of altercation.  one bright spot did occur last night at our delayed opening night party - free food and drink, live band.  even trevon got to go up and sing ribbon in the sky with the band.  really looking forward to tonight.  another ensemble member, robert, has family in columbus, and they're treating us to what promises to be a fun night.  they chartered a bus to pick us up from the theater to go back to their place.  wii, guitar hero, open bar, baby grand, vintage guitars, tons of food.  hopefully, some fun in columbus before two shows both sat and sun before heading to LA.  ok, i'm tired of writing, shorter update next time, i promise.

boloco and snowmageddon

the first half of this post is dedicated squarely to all the harvard folk out there.  remember how, once upon a time, there was a place down on mt. auburn and holyoke called the wrap?  gee, i wonder what you can order there?  maybe...umm...a wrap?  i think it was our junior year when they changed the frickin' name to boloco.  what the hell does that mean?  some variation of spanish for crazy?  boston local company.  of what?  i was incensed when they changed the name while i was still a student here.  and after seeing that the name had stuck after walking through harvard square, i became re-incensed.  ok, i'm done now.

secondly, anyone who has one ounce of humor in his/her bones will appreciate the following link:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-february-10-2010/unusually-large-snowstorm

couldn't help but to share that one.  boston's been great - two more friends came to see the show tonight (yay, betsy and angie!), and i'm planning to hang out with them and many more friends over the weekend in harvard square before leaving town on monday.  i'm super excited to go to LA for 6 weeks - not only to sit in one city for more than a week or two but also to explore a megalopolis that i've really never been to before.  so needless to say, next week in columbus will be painful.  because it's the bridge between boston and LA.  now, if someone knows of some hotspots to pass the time in central ohio then, by all means, please share.  i know that some of the gay ensemble guys are going to a gay strip club tomorrow night here in boston.  i might really have to go to dreamgirls in columbus (and i don't mean our show) in order to count the hours until we hit the tarmac at LAX.

our director is in town and saw the show tonight.  i'm super excited to have done two shows today (thurs), followed by a 4-hour rehearsal and show tomorrow, then 2 each on sat and sun, then travel on mon (via newark) and open in columbus on tues.  i can see bobby now - whipping people into shape tomorrow.  telling them to refocus and to cut out all the bullshit.  promises to be an exhilarating day and the beginning of one fascinating weekend.

from windy to windier...take 2

so i had a pretty sweet day, and my patience isn't wearing thin like it was last night.  so i'm gonna give this another shot.  

chicago was amazing.  delectable pizza, the feel of a true city, energy in the streets.  we were in the theatre district, and i'm really sad to have left the emerald loop behind.  sweet restaurant with good food, a $4 heineken beer of the month special, and a 30% discount to those in the industry.  needless to say, we were there nearly every night.  one of the few nights we deviated, we ended up at a bar jason stumbled upon that was like hooters but better.  ah yes, the tilted kilt.  girls in their 20s in skimpy kilt skirts and bras two cup sizes too small.  the only thing better might be the possibility of dreamgirls going to dreamgirls while in columbus, oh.  anyway, i digress.  we went to tilted kilt on monday night, our off day the second week, and afterwards, jason and i went to hang with some of his friends at a spot called the checkerboard lounge.  it was a nice hang, and jason's friends were super accommodating.  it was a given that he would get up and play a couple of tunes but once they realized i could play, i was in front of the keyboard in the blink of an eye.  i was already several drinks in by this point and didn't even think twice about playing solos on standards i didn't even know - that is, once i found the groove and figured out the chord progressions.  needless to say, the jam session was a lot of fun.

the local chicago band we had for our show was superb, the best we've had.  really good players, even cooler people.  i conducted twice, my first times in front of the orchestra since december 11 at the apollo.  although i did miss my seat onstage, it's really cool to conduct and be so close to the energy of the audience.  the only frustrating thing is that, naturally, the sub doesn't know all the nuances of the show as well as the rest of the band does.  so there are always a couple unforeseen moments that i have to navigate the band through...not to mention the click track failing to start after i hit the button.  in the instant that something goes wrong, my gut reaction is one of utter terror (or a slew of four-letter words that run through my brain), but getting through those occasions makes you feel stronger and more confident once you get to the other side.  

weather-wise, things really weren't that bad.  only a couple of inches of snow fell the entire time we were there, and there were only a couple of nights where the wind chill flirted with -10 degrees.  but according to some locals, they're used to several nights of 15 to 20 below wind chills during january, so they didn't think twice about it.  but i gotta say, after a winter of being in milwaukee, minneapolis, chicago, etc., we dodged a bullet, because the weather could have been way worse.  

as for now, i'm in boston!  my second home.  feels great to be back near the common, harvard square, and so many other landmarks.  i walked through the square on monday - through the science center, past widener, around lamont.  definitely brought back a lot of memories.  i'm staying with sam quinn, matt meisel, nate bernhard, cara ferrentino and unfortunately, their fifth roomie, rob koenig (currier '06, one of my really good buddies) is out of town on business.  but staying in somerville is homier and cheaper than the doubletree downtown.  

the tour has been great, but my birthday couldn't have been any better.  we were scheduled to have a show on the 2nd...but a critical error was made.  they underestimated how long it would take for the trucks to drive the set, costumes, etc. from chicago to boston.  so we had no tues show and only 7 last week (as you might expect, we're making up for it this week by doing 9).  but at least for my birthday, I got to enjoy my birthday with no show and the LOST premiere (I happen to love that show).  so all in all, not bad for a 26th bday.

we're at the colonial just south of boston common.  it's a very intimate theatre - so much so that i felt i could shake hands with people in the first row.  the show is, uh, just as intimate backstage - not as bad as the apollo but pretty close (and we've been forewarned that columbus could be worse than the apollo, yikes).  quick change areas are super tight, and there's only one narrow walkway behind the stage.  but i guess that's better than having nothing - like at the apollo and in columbus.  we've kinda been spoiled with large theaters since leaving new york, so to scale it big has been a big tough on us.  even the pit in boston (i conducted last sunday and will do so again this coming sunday) is smaller than anything we've seen on the road thus far.  but hey, at least there is a pit, and i'm not conducting from the third floor!  the crowds here have been quite receptive and even our opening night party on wednesday was surprisingly good.  if you're ever in boston, go to teatro (tremont and boylston) - scrumptious veal meatballs and little fried balls of shortribs...mmm, i'm getting hungry just thinking about it.  our most frequented after-show spot is just right across the street from the stage door and is owned by one of the local stagehands.  the appropriately-named intermission tavern can thank us for many nights of solid business, that's for sure.  thursday was special because a few of my friends (yagan and sara, meisel, defne, cara) came to the show and had a blast.  even better...well, jason is from boston, and he knows the owner of lucky's lounge on congress.  after the show, a lot of us went over and wow - sweet spot.  two different rooms that are connected.  in one, it has the feel of a lounge...but just down the hall is a live band with a dance floor.  not too shabby.  they brought out a crap ton of food and comped it all...and our drinks too.  it was awesome catching up a bit with danny, and i'm sure i'll do so again really soon.  in fact, i may get to see his high-arching beirut shot and the perfect circle in a matter of days.  to those of you who haven't experienced the perfect circle - don't fight it.  just accept it.

what do most warm-blooded americans do two weeks after the nfc and afc championship games?  ah, that's right.  they watch the super bowl.  so tell me why i wasn't able to?  i'm not warm-blooded, you say?  nope, we had a show.  a show during the super bowl.  doesn't company management know that super sunday is an unofficial national holiday!?!  now that i think about it, they should have paid us double for that show.  who would come to a show on super sunday night?  maybe that's why they were offering us half-off tickets to any and all of our friends.  because they expected an empty house.  but that didn't actually turn out to be the case (more on that later).  don't tell anyone (although i guess that precursor doesn't work, since i'm writing this in my blog), but i totally had my phone up on my music stand for large chunks of the show...hitting refresh whenever i could to see what was going on in the game.  sunday night was our 104th show, and after so many shows and countless rehearsals, i honestly think i could play the show without music.  not that i would try that, but if a mysterious fire were to happen and the only thing lost were my music, i most definitely wouldn't panic.  although i essentially watched the game through my droid and espn highlights later that night and the next day, i gotta say it was pretty sweet.  congrats to the saints and the who dat nation - totally deserved, and i'm elated for that region of the gulf coast.  but i still can't believe i had to play a show during the super bowl.  don't write nasty comments about what i'm about to say...but seriously, the screams of joy during the show were clearly more high-pitched than usual.  hmmm, could that be because the house was full of ladies and gays?  if there were any straight guys in the audience, they must have been on some sort of punishment by their gfs/wives, right?  thankfully, i have seen what many are calling the best ad - "keep yo' hands off my mama.  keep yo' hands off my doritos."  absolutely hilarious.

i'll wrap up by talking about today.  jason went to berklee and had already gone back to speak once last week, but i was in rehearsal and couldn't go.  oh, i should clarify.  for understudy rehearsal, they only need piano and drums, not bass and guitar - so dave and jason get to enjoy their mid-week afternoons, while trevor, sam and i...well, let's move on.  jason gave a clinic today at 1, and i sat in.  he talked about some of the highlights of his life post-berklee - from leaving boston, moving to new york, then los angeles, then starting this tour.  he's been on several tours and has played with more greats than i can imagine, from bb king to shemekia copeland.  it was quite enlightening to hear about his plights and how he's been able to put so many stamps on lifelong goals.  man, do we have one cool traveling rhythm section?!?  this is jason's first musical, trevor's too, my first tour, and dave (who has been a broadway fixture) is unbelievably out on tour.  he unfortunately just ended a 14-year relationship...yep, fourteen!...and needed a change of scenery, to say the least.  it's kinda funny because after the clinic, jason and i went out with one of his childhood idols and current bass teacher at berklee, lenny.  they swapped stories from years ago and imparted even more wisdom on my young ears.  i like to think that i'm a modest guy but after they shared some really trying stories (from couch-surfing for months to facing tough decisions about moving their wives and kids across the country), jason jokingly called me out.  "yeah lenny, this kid went to harvard, already has his master's, moved to new york in january '09 and got this gig within ten months.  yeah, you're one of the cats we love to hate."  a life lesson i learned a while back keeps reaffirming itself.  it's really not good enough to be good.  you've gotta be lucky and then jump on those breaks right away.  this may just be my best break yet.

from windy to windier

just had an entire update written when firefox crashed.  and i don't feel like rewriting it.

fuck.

i'll attempt to summarize.  chicago band, awesome.  weather there not as bad as it could have been.  excited to be in boston, staying with friends in somerville.  conducting subs is always an adventure, but i'm having fun doing it.  can't believe we had a show during the super bowl.  had a great birthday here.  pissed off that my many paragraphs from the past hour are gone.