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.
You've earned it, my friend!
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