The AL-A-MO

I made my pilgrimage to the Alamo today. It was a series of highs and lows for me. Firstly I was the first person today to ask where the basement was! That certainly was the highlight for me. Then I went to the gift shop to buy a "There's no basement at the Alamo" t-shirt. Image my horror to discover that they do not sell one! I was sure to express my displeasure.

Afterwards, I went into a cheesy little souvenir shop to see if they had such a t-shirt. The little Asian woman working there said, "Nobody would make a t-shirt like that". Yet another disappointment!

Oh and the Alamo itself. There is really not much to see. The building is small, and there were a few artifacts inside of it, but not much else. There certainly were no animatronic Mexican women crushing maize to make tortillas. Nor was Jan Hooks a tour guide. I had forgotten some of the uses of corn, and would have appreciated hearing all of the its uses. Alas!

I did go out and purchase a copy of Pee Wee's Big Adventure so that I can watch it tonight. It will probably be more fun than actually visiting the real Alamo!

"The stars at night are big and bright...

(clap, clap, clap, clap) deep in the heart of Texas."

We have moved on from Dallas to San Antonio. Today was my first bus trip between cities. It was not bad at all. Of course it was only five hours on the bus. Just long enough to read a little, sleep a little, and watch a movie. In fact to get into the spirit of the trip, we started to sing the above little ditty. And sure enough, the bus driver clapped his hands and finished the song with us! I was very amused.

I had a good time in Dallas with one exception. I hope that we never have to deal with a hotel shuttling us to the theatre again. It was a fiasco. My favorite episode was walking out of the the hotel to catch the 7pm musician shuttle while looking at my phone which read 6:58pm. When I looked up from my phone the shuttle door slammed and started to drive off. So I waved my arms and yelled some choice words, and they stopped and picked me up. Sadly I was the second to the last to board the shuttle that day!

I did not have much excitement during my last two days in Dallas. I did some laundry at a bar/laundromat on Saturday. It was actually pretty fun because the bar was a total dive. The machines had graffiti all over them. Well basically the entire place had graffiti all over. Sadly I actually felt safer at "The Bar of Soap" than I did at the laundromat the hotel shuttle took us to the week before! Alas that I could not partake in a drink from the bar though as I had another show to play that day! Yesterday I found a Target that was right across the road from a Dallas light rail train stop. If only I had know that 2 weeks ago and not on my last day in town!

San Antonio promises to be fun. It is a very charming and interesting town. They have a riverwalk that is lined with restaurants and shops. And of course there is the Alamo. It is actually right in the middle of downtown San Antonio just a couple of blocks from our hotel. I walked past it this afternoon. I do plan to pay a visit one of these days so that I can ask where the basement is. It will be the culmination of my life's work, and then I will be a complete person.

For Heather

Friday in Dallas

I started off today at the Nasher Sculpture Collection. I had heard very good things about this museum and it did not disappoint. The collection was very much to my liking. There were several pieces by Alberto Giacometti which I always enjoy viewing. I also loved the building itself which was designed by Renzo Piano. The outside walls are glass so that you can see through and look at the pieces even when the museum is not open. Piano designed the Modern Wing expansion of the Art Institute. I cannot wait to see it when it is finished. If I am ever in Dallas again, I will certainly make a return visit to the Nasher.

After finishing up at the Nasher, I went to the Dallas World Aquarium. It was truly the coolest Aquarium that I have ever visited. It was set up like a rain forest, and included more than just fish. There were birds, monkeys, and a very entertaining jaguar. It keep circling its enclosure looking like it wanted to make a meal of the small children pressed up against the glass! There was certainly not a shortage of children!


Sadly my day was tempered by some bad news about my nephew. Send some positive energy up Crown Point direction.

Something Just Broke

I visited the Sixth Floor Museum today. It is a very tasteful and interesting museum about JFK and the assassination. And as the name would imply, the museum is located on the sixth floor of the old Texas School Book Depository building. Unfortunately as Dan and I stepped out of the elevator and were about to start our visit, the fire alarm went off. So we all had to leave the building, and it took just about two hours for the museum to reopen. They said that it was an elevator issue. So in the meantime we walked around the Dealey Plaza. It basically looks exactly the same as it did in the 60s. I did walk around the grassy knoll, and snapped the picture above of a shady looking person lurking behind a bush. Conspiracy! The other picture is of the actual window that Lee Harvey Oswald shot out of.

And You Smell Like An Elephant's...

I am adding a new feature to my blog. As you now know, I end up onstage playing my saxophone for the Finale of the show. After the Bows end, the show curtain comes down and we have to play the Exit Music from the stage. Since the curtain is down basically all bets are off. The show is over for everyone but the musicians. Some highlights of what I have witnessed happen behind the curtain are: the star of the show collapsing to the stage, a wrestling match between the TD and the carpenter, the back doors opening and load out starting as we are playing, and basically anything that the props guy does. Now one day Steve, our fly rail guy, made a joke about grabbing my butt as I play. My response was, "bring it on". So he did. Apparently our bums make an irresistible target as I have now been grabbed or slapped by four different people now. It has extended to the cast who conveniently form a conga line that travels behind the musicians during the Finale! So I decided to start a list to chronicle the abusing of my bum onstage. Enjoy!

FINALLY! I got the internet to work!

Okay I have been missing in action on my blog, but it is not my fault. The internet in this hotel is really poopy! Thankfully the stars are properly aligned, I have made the appropriate sacrifices to the internet gods, and so now I am going to take advantage of my internet window.

I will start off with the show. We are playing at The Music Hall in Fair Park. Fair Park is the site of an old World's Fair. The Music Hall looks like a concrete bomb shelter. At least we do not have to climb over the audience to get to the stage in this theater. Sadly there is another theatre, The Majestic, just around the corner from our hotel. Apparently it is too small for our show. It must be a really small theatre!

Also there was an adjustment made in the show for Dallas. During the "Somebody Kill Me Please" number, the lyric: "It was a goddamn joke" has been changed to "It was a big fat joke". I have issues with this change, but especially because the next lyric is "I hope you fucking choke". Please! I thought that I had finally escaped Indiana. Oh well!

I did finally see a large gathering of cowboy hats and boots. The interesting thing is that it was at Roundup, the gay cowboy bar. Go figure! I am considering buying a pair of boots so that I can go back and get them polished at the bar.

I can now cross off the gigantic mall from my list of things to do. It was good. :) I also need to add the Dallas Zoo to my list so that I can cross it off. One of the crew guys wanted to go to the zoo on Monday so I took him up on the offer. I find zoos to be a combination of interesting and depressing. If the zoo is big enough and the animals do not look like they are in jail, then I am okay with it. The Dallas Zoo was a mixed bag. The penguins did not even tap dance. I was singing "Boogie Wonderland" to provoke them into dancing, but to no avail.

Today we got free passes to the Natural History Museum and IMAX theater. The museum is also a part of the Fair Park. I did not see much of the museum, but I did see two free IMAX movies. The Roving Mars movie was really good.

On the schedule for tomorrow is the JFK Museum and possibly the Aquarium. If I am lucky I might get to update my blog again before I leave Dallas to let you know how they were!

Dallas

So far Dallas has not been quite what I expected. I have not seen a single silly big hat or cowboy boot. So far the only annoyances have been transportation related. Our hotel is just under 2 miles from the theatre, but it is too far to walk. (Well I walked it on Monday. It was only 30 minutes.) Normally that means we have rental cars to get to the theatre, but not here in Dallas. Our hotel has 2 shuttle vans that transport us. So far it has been a bit of a fiasco. We almost did not make it to our sound check on Tuesday. Also after the show everyone rushes around trying to get out of the theatre so that they can be in the first shuttles back to the hotel. It is like being at Disney World when the park closes. I opt for being calm and taking my time. (Sadly there are no gift shops to kill time in like in Disney!)

We had an opening night party at the House of Blues on Tuesday night. It was fun with good food and 2 free drinks. (They say that everything is bigger in Texas, but we got 4 free drinks in Charlotte. Way to go Texas!) I did get my first cast gift bag though. The most exciting gift was a water bottle. Sadly though it had three tubes of scented body lotion inside of it. My Diet Dr. Pepper still tastes strangely fruity.

On the agenda for the rest of my time here in Dallas: The JFK museum and Book Depository, the gigantic Northpark Mall, Dallas Museum of Art and Nashor Sculpture Park, and the Dallas Aquarium. Now I just need to find something fun to do on our golden day Monday!

And The Winner Is...

Well alas it was not Sherry. It was some old lady with peanut butter cookies! Of all things, peanut butter cookies. Oh well!

I did get to meet up with Sherry, and it sounds like she had an amazing adventure here in Dallas. Firstly she became best buddies with the Meijer people. She had declared herself to be a Meijer shopper before the competition, and so she got to meet and hang out with the Meijer representatives. I met some of them the night that I visited Sherry, and it was if they had known each other for years.

And speaking of becoming buddies with people, none other than Sandra Lee fell under Sherry's charm. For those who do not know Sandra Lee was the host for the bake-off, but she also hosts a TV show called, "Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee" on the Food Network. At one point as Sherry was making her cups, she became aware that someone was looking over her shoulder. Next Sherry heard a voice say, "those are beautiful", and a barrage of camera flashes went off. Before she knew it, she was best buddies with Sandra Lee too. At one point Sherry managed to get Sandra Lee facing in Vickie's direction, and Vickie was able to get the shot above.

So she may not have $1,000,000, but it seems like Sherry had the adventure of a lifetime. And she will have something to look forward to for the next bakeoff! Maybe Guy Fieri will be the host. That would be Money!

...On The Wheels of a Dream.

It is amazing the difference having wheeled luggage makes. I no longer feel like my arm is going to sever at the shoulder as I try to carry my luggage through the airport! Anything to make travel day more bearable is welcome.

I am here in Dallas now. I just got home from meeting Sherry K and Vickie at the Fairmont Hotel, scene of the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I will give a report on that tomorrow. Hopefully there will be even more news to report on if I wait until tomorrow night!

Pillsbury Bake Off

Okay everyone. Put on your frilliest apron today. It is time for the Pillsbury Bake Off. Except that this year none other than my good friend and frequent collaborator Sherry K is a contestant. So send your best creamy smoked salmon cup vibes down to Dallas. Just think of how many more CDs she could record with the $1,000,000 grand prize!

This Time I Had My Camera!

Last night was visit number two from Mom and Jamie. This time I remembered my camera's memory card. (I make a convincing guitar player right!?)

They drove all the way from Cedar Lake to Pittsburgh (almost 8 hours), and made it in time to have dinner before the show. Mom and Jamie discovered what I have known since joining the tour. Many downtown restaurants close early especially on the weekend. So we walked around a bit, and ended up at an Italian restaurant across from the theatre. It was good food if not terribly exciting.

I went to the theatre, and they walked down to the Pirates baseball stadium to kill time before the show. That performance was number 42 for me. It was a pretty good performance. At the end of the show we had a prearranged marriage proposal onstage. Thankfully we did not have a repeat of the boo boo in the afternoon performance. At one point the character of George plays a trumpet onstage except that yesterday afternoon there was no trumpet. J.J. did his best imitation of a trumpet, and was able to milk it for more applause than for his real trumpet playing.

After the show we went for dessert at another Italian place. We all very much enjoyed our dessert and got to witness some waiter crumb scraping action. It is always amusing to watch crumb scraping!

Then I brought them back to the hotel so that I could trade off my old luggage for some homemade Chex Mix. (My old luggage did not have wheels. Carrying 2 bags of 50 pounds of luggage each through the airport is not fun! I look forward to trying out my wheels tomorrow.)

They spent the night and left early in the morning so that Jamie could do some birding on Lake Erie. It was another quick trip, but I think that they had fun. Well certainly Mom did.

Tomorrow we are off to Dallas, and hopefully a visit with Sherry K (Pillsbury Bake Off contestant!) and Vickie.

Pittsburgh: the good and the bad

This is my third visit to Pittsburgh. It seems downtown Pittsburgh is experiencing a renaissance. Each time I return there are more restaurants and more to do. I really have had a good week here so far (with a few exceptions).

-The Benedum Center is a very pretty theatre. I had seen the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera production of Hello Dolly! a couple of years ago at the Benedum. Hello Dolly! felt like the perfect show for the theatre. The Wedding Singer, not so much! The walls are covered in a very bold pattern wallpaper that would not be out of place in one's wealthy grandparent's estate. From my seat in the pit, I have a great view of one of the disco balls casting its lights on the walls. It is a very bizarre sight!

-We are staying in the Omni William Penn hotel. I will try to snap a few pictures of the lobby so that everyone can see just how amazing this hotel is. It is a beautiful old hotel with huge rooms. It is quite a change from the Ramada Limited in Fort Myers!

-On Thursday a large group of Wedding Singer folk went to the Warhol Museum. I have been to the Warhol Museum twice before, and I will go back anytime I am back in Pittsburgh. The museum always has a good representation of Warhol's work, but they always have other interesting exhibits. My favorite this time was an exhibit of photographs by Martin Klima. He takes little porcelain figures, drops them, and photographs them at the moment of impact. Very cool!

-I found a fun restaurant called Seviche. As you probably guessed, they serve seviche and Latin American inspired tapas. I had a Peruvian style seviche called Tiradito with Salmon, and a chipotle dusted crab salad. Very yummy. I also went back to a restaurant called The Lemongrass Cafe that I have been to on previous visits. The Lemongrass serves Cambodian and Thai food. I love Thai food, and it is interesting to try it with a Cambodian twist. Unfortunately both places had annoying servers. In fact I have yet to receive even decent service here in Pittsburgh.

-As much as I enjoy coming to Pittsburgh, I do have to say that there are too many people on the street asking for money and too many belligerent people. Also within 24 hours I have witnessed two examples of outright thievery. Sadly in both places the employees did not seem at all surprised by the shoplifting.

-There also seems to be a bus stop on every block so there is always a group of people standing in the way on the sidewalk. There are also large groups of people standing outside smoking everywhere you go. We have to pass a group of people from the Culinary Institute smoking right outside the stage door. Very annoying!

Spring Break Is Over

So I have to admit that being on tour so far has been like being on an extended vacation. The fact that I actually have free time is still amazing to me. I had almost forgotten what it felt like. So you can imagine what being in Florida during the first week of April was like. It was the stereotypical college spring break trip to Florida. The best part is that I did not need a fake ID to drink!

I did not end up seeing much of Fort Myers itself. Our hotel was less than a mile from the mall which made me happy. The Barbara B Mann Theatre is one of my least favorite theatres. There was no air in the theatre, and the pit was stiflingly hot. It is not my fault that everyone there has tanned themselves to a leathery hide. I need air conditioning! There was also the front of house entrance for the pit which I have brought up before.

The tour did reach a milestone while in Fort Myers. Sunday night was performance #200. So to celebrate, the company manager had a cookout, and the psm rented a dunking booth. Now I was skeptical about the idea of a group of actors and a dunking booth, but it turned out to be great fun. I did not partake in either the dunking or the throwing of the ball. Both would have been humiliating experiences for me, but it was great fun to watch.

Now we are on to Pittsburgh. I am actually very excited about Pittsburgh. If nothing else I love the Andy Warhol museum. Also chances are I am not going to get a sunburn in Pittsburgh!

You Only Holler Uncle When Your Uncle Is The CEO!

Okay so I am being a really big nerd. The title of this post is a lyric from The Wedding Singer. I know that the joke is not as funny when you have to explain it, but I could not resist.

Spoiler warning: Later in this post, I am going to reveal the part of the show that I have been keeping secret up until now. I am sure that many of you have guessed what it is. I was mostly trying to keep it a surprise for Mom anyway.

Now that I have all of the preamble out of the way, I can get on with my visit from Uncle Glenn. On Saturday, Glenn drove over from Wellington to see the show with a group of 9 people. He brought Gwen, his good friend, masseuse, and caretaker of Birdie Num Nums, over with him as well as his lawyer friend Tom and his wife. We also met up with Kent, one of his employees, Kent's wife and their three girls. I know Gwen pretty well from my visits to his house over the years. I think that Tom and his wife are the people who rescued Heather and I when the infamous white Cadillac died on our way to the beach in West Palm Beach. I am not sure that I had ever met Kent before. He has worked with Glenn for many years, and I have certainly heard about him. In fact he worked with Joel back in the days of the house in Camilla. I heard a few stories about Joel singing karaoke and a sequined shirt, and I feel like there are more stories where those came from!

I met the whole group for dinner at a restaurant called the University Grill. The restaurant was right across the road from the theatre. Unfortunately I had to hurry along my meal because we had a new understudy on that night and I had an early call for rehearsal. It was a good time. I cannot speak for anyone else since I left before their meals came out, but my pistachio and Parmesan crusted trout was good. The crab bisque was even better.

And now for the big reveal. I end up playing the finale through the exit music on stage. The three horn players leave the pit before the finale and play from the wedding band platform on stage. This is normally not a problem, but in Raleigh and now Fort Myers, there is no connection between the pit and backstage. So we have to exit through the house to get backstage. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed when Glenn told me that he had gotten two groups of tickets that were all the way house right and house left on the aisle in the 5th row. That meant I would end up walking right past one of the groups. So much for the big surprise! Or so I thought! I was able to walk right past Glenn without him noticing. I guess that he was transfixed by Fake Tina Turner kicking Glen Guilia in the head! (You really need to see the show for that to make sense. Trust me!)

After the show we ended up trying to go out to a restaurant/bar that was listed in the program. Well it ended up being more of a bar/restaurant so we went to TGI Fridays instead. The service was terrible, but boy those deep fried green beans are tasty!

Glenn took me back to my hotel then. Having passed a Bob Evans on the way into town, he decreed that we would be going to breakfast there. It turned out to be fine. Our hotels ended up being only a couple of miles apart from each other. So to make up for the inevitable sausage gravy and biscuits I got up early and walked to his hotel in the morning. It helps to get the metabolism working in one's favor before eating sausage gravy!

He and Gwen then took me to the theatre, and left to drive back to Wellington. It was a short trip, but fun nevertheless. Everyone seemed to enjoy the show. And I was just glad to finally be performing in a real show down in Southern Florida. Having a show in which I am playing and that he can take people to see is a small way that I can repay him for all that he has done for me over the years! Hopefully I will be back with another show in West Palm or Fort Lauderdale soon.

An Afternoon With Jimmy Beck!

So I am happy to say that Jimmy made the 3 hour trek down to Fort Myers yesterday. He did have to drive back that night because of work the next morning. Sadly Jeremy could not come because of work. And I of course had the show last night. Stupid work it gets in the way of everything! But Jimmy and I did the best we could with the limited time that we had.

Neither of us were really dressed for the beach. I had also just been to the beach the day before. So we ended up doing what we always do. We went to Target, the outlet mall, and ate dinner! Thankfully some things in my life will never change!

I needed the trip to Target partially due to withdrawal, but mostly due to Target's ridiculous online bill paying which locks up your account if you are wearing the wrong color underwear that day. It makes me very angry!

So having accomplished that we headed off to the outlets. The outlet mall was really nice with some good stores. For once Jimmy bested me. I only ended up with a new pair of shoes. Okay so I know that Mom and Jamie just brought me two new pairs of shoes that I had ordered from Aldo, but these shoes were perfect for The Wedding Singer. Very 80s-tastic!

Jimmy on the other hand ended up a couple pairs of shoes, a couple of shirts, and 4 soup spoons. Yes soup spoons. Apparently their soup spoons are still in storage in South Bend. Or so he says. This could be some strange obsession of his. If in future visits to the outlet mall (he and Jeremy live only a hop, skip, and jump away from outlets in Orlando!) he buys more soup spoons then I will worry!

We left the outlets with our bags in hand and headed to The Macaroni Grill for dinner. Jimmy had the spinach florentine salad, and I had the seared scallops salad. As we ate Jimmy called Sam Brown to surprise him. Sam was sufficiently surprised, and we both got to chat a bit. Sadly though, Jimmy had to drive back after dinner. He had to work at 6:45am so he did not think staying to see the show and then driving back would have been a good idea. I have to say that I agree. There will be other shows! (Hopefully)

So tonight is my visit from Uncle Glenn and his entourage. It should be exciting!

The Summer Sun's Calling My Name

I did not think that I would actually do it, but I went to the beach today. I rode along with Max, Eric, and Ben (reed II, bass, and guitar I). We went to Fort Myers beach, and it was quite pleasant. As you might remember, I did receive a bit of a sunburn on Tuesday as I went to go buy some sunscreen, amongst other things. Today I used a combination of rub on SPF 55, and spray on SPF 70. That seemed to do the trick for my pasty white Indiana complexion. I did not worsen the previous burn, and I actually got a bit of color. I did have to endure many jokes about my "turtleneck or bathrobe" in a can though!

The beach was really nice. It was crowded, but not oppressively so. I actually got guilted into playing a game of bean bag toss, and believe it or not beach volleyball. Sadly I was not any better at volleyball than my previous attempts in high school and college! Alas! I did discover just what rubbing sandpaper on sun burnt skin feels like though.

Tonight we are playing beer pong by the pool. (Hey I am catching up on all of the things that I did not do in college because I was in a practice room!) Tomorrow is my one month anniversary so I ordered a couple of pizzas for everyone in the pit. Tomorrow is also hopefully going to be my visit from Jimmy. He was having car issues earlier in the week so hopefully he will have a car to make the drive from Orlando to Fort Myers!

For those who doubt the power of my bad karma...

I got a sunburn as I was walking to the CVS to buy sunscreen. It was a 4 mile walk roundtrip, but come on! Stupid sun!