cincinnati - week one

clearly, i'm back in my stateside blog mode.  things over here are less impressive, therefore i don't update as often.  c'mon, how do YOU think cincinnati would compare to tokyo?  exactly.  there isn't even a comparison.

this entry will be a blur.  it's 6:40pm on my off day, and i need to shower and be downstairs by 8.  going out with a lotta people tonight to help celebrate james wilcox's (our head sound guy) bday.  bowling across the river in newport, ky.  anyway, flash back to our last saturday in tokyo.  gonpachi was amazing.  totally the inspiration for that kill bill scene with the crazy 88's.  we actually got a huge private room up on the roof and ate and drank like crazy.  i'm sure the japanese couldn't wait to get rid of the roud, brack people (couldn't resist an asian joke right there), because we were definitely quite loud.  once we evenly split the bill, i ended up paying 6,000 yen - not bad for an awesome affair.  many kudos to brittney griffin and robert for planning everything and making for a great night.  the night didn't end there.  we walked toward roppongi-dori, roppongi's busiest street, and were approached by this dude.  "no cover and your first shot free if you go upstairs."  we obliged, realized there were only 3 people in this club (deja vu) before we got there...but took advantage of our free shots.  danced the night away 'til 4, when most of the crowd peaced out.  however, knowing that our bus call was at 8am (meet at 7:30, leave at 8), i and a few others decided to keep the party going.  went to mcdonald's.  ordered a chicken tatsuya, went upstairs.  scarfed that down. wanted more.  saw that eric had ordered a really interesting-looking burger that i had to have.  turns out it was an EBI burger, which i mistakenly called by letter, thinking it was an acronym.  alas, it was an ebi burger, which is japanese for shrimp.  rather tasty.  by the time i was done with my 2 burgers, it was about quarter to 5.  and when we walked downstairs, the sun was out in full fashion and the breakfast menu was up.  but the clubs were still hopping.  we went to 99 gaspanic, which was downstairs where no sunlight could filter through and kept the party going.  yep, i was doing the stanky leg at 6am.  sweet!  walked back to the hotel around 6:30, quick e-mail check, showered and packed the toiletries, and by this time, it's 7:30.  i go downstairs, put my luggage on the bus, go to 7-11 with romich to purchase our last ice cream waffles of the trip (they even taste great for breakfast!), get back on the bus and bid tokyo farewell.

unfortunately, not everyone else had the same experience that i did.  and by that, i mean, ending up on the bus.  for the first time ever, crew and cast were traveling together.  with load-ins and load-outs in the states, the crew always flies ahead to get started earlier.  but in tokyo, we had the saturday matinee, they loaded-out saturday night, and we all flew out sunday morning.  well, 4 people ended up not making the bus (well, we had 3 buses but you know where i'm going with this).  matos overslept, woke up at 8:45 and had an 11:10 flight (a half-hour earlier than ours) because he was flying back to nyc to see his momma before coming to cincinnati.  he had to pay the equivalent of $236 for a taxi out to narita airport!  yikes!  brittany lewis, one of the ensemble girls, also overslept but had her taxi ride paid for by the japanese presenters because she was on the company flight.  ryan (head props) and wilcox managed to catch a shuttle that goes around to a handful of hotels before going out to the airport.  we left tokyo at 11:40am sunday and landed in chicago at 9:30am sunday.  weird how that time travel works.  i believe we went through the time travel portal during the first two hours of the flight, because i'm thankful to have lived through the worst turbulence i've ever experienced.  several frightening drops, food trays sliding around.  it was pretty bad.  but at least the latter part of the flight was smooth.  switched over to a tiny american connection flight from chicago to cincinnati that left around 3.  got to the garfield suites in cincinnati by about 6.

last week marked my first week as summer conductor.  and boy, what a week it was.  eight fun-filled shows in which our normal CC was on vacation (good for him, though - best man of his best friend's wedding, and he was planning the stripper party, ahem, bachelor party) and one of our other principals called out of the saturday night show due to a severe migraine.  and even the female swing went on sunday afternoon.  so there were a lot of people in roles they had never played or hadn't for a while.  the new orchestrations, although a bit thin, weren't as bad as i had dreaded.  in fact, i'm starting to get a little used to them, and the cincinnati band is doing its best to deliver them well.  all things considered, it was a stressful week, but ultimately a rewarding one.  hopefully, the upcoming week will be a little more relaxed.  oh wait, we have understudy rehearsal on wednesday and a clean-up rehearsal on thursday with the principals.  so much for that.  but my conducting experience is a little different than what i expected.  the podium is so high and the rail separating me from the front row is so low that i have to conduct the entire show sitting.  otherwise, i'd be blocking the first three or four rows.  granted, i have conducted while sitting on other shows.  hell, i've even played keyboard and conducted before.  but not with this show.  and the funny thing is that after 8 shows, i kinda like the whole sitting and conducting thing.  maybe i'll request a stool from now on, who knows?  umm, what else?  i'm cutting costs by rooming with romich here in cincy.  our double is pretty sweet - little balcony and kitchen, not too shabby.  life post-show is difficult here because everyone closes their kitchens early.  some restaurants don't have taps downtown (how you gonna have a bar with no draft beer?  preposterous!), and even the cvs closes at 7 during the week and 5 on the weekend.  we're definitely not in a big city anymore.  and it's kinda ghetto here.  hate to talk negatively about my own kind, but there are way too many of them loitering on the streets, cattle calling girls, pants sagging, loud-mouthed, always asking for money.  pretty much following all the black stereotypes.  it's kinda sad.  and now, not just to rip blacks, but i'll rip americans.  we were so hard-pressed to find even a remotely-looking fat japanese person in tokyo.  maybe i didn't realize it before but dear god, they're everywhere in cincinnati.  americans are both stupid and fat compared to the japanese.  but we do know our baseball.  five of us (me, bob bones - stage manager, cate, trevor and romich) went to the reds' game against the giants on thursday afternoon.  great atmosphere at great american ball park.  went to a bar next door, fat cats, and got cheap food and a beer before the game.  and for slightly under $50 got tickets in row y just behind the giants' dugout.  giants went up 4-0 after two and a half innings, but their starting pitcher, todd wellemeyer, inexplicably pulled his hammy trying to leg out a double-play ball.  san fran had to rush and put in a reliever, who promptly gave up 4 runs.  giants went back up 6-4, but the reds scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th.  and for a stadium that only had 19,000ish present, it was rocking when brandon phillips hit an opposite-field triple to score two to tie the game at 6.  he eventually came home on a single, and francisco cordero closed the door in the 9th.  great day, 86 degrees, with only thin, wispy cirrus clouds in the sky.  well, it's 7:20, so i'm off.  i've done nothing all day.  went to bed at 5 last night after playing gears of war and drinking bud select 55s in matos' room.  woke up to the end of japan/cameroon in the world cup.  hit the elliptical, which i've thankfully been doing a lot of lately...and it shows, which is the nice part.  watched italy/paraguay on my couch.  took a little nap.  wrote this entry.  now going bowling.  hurray for the celtics being up 3-2.  hurray for the world cup being awesome.  hurray for the vuvuzela (if you don't know what it is, look it up).  and hurray for mondays.  because work calls tomorrow...