A Sad Detour

For those who do not know, my oldest nephew Stephen has been fighting a particularly nasty type of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma for the last 14 months. Unfortunately last week on Friday the cancer proved to be too much, and he passed away in the morning. If one can possibly find a positive thing to say about such a tragic end to his 19 years, at least Stephen got to do some very fun things before the end. He was able to graduate high school with his class despite the fact that he was in the hospital for extended stays during his senior year. He was a make a wish recipient. His wish was to go to an Ozzy Ozbourne concert and meet Ozzy after the concert. There were some very cool pictures of Stephen and his friends in the limo to the concert and then others of Stephen with Ozzy. Also less than a month ago he took a trip to Disney World with his mother, step father #2, and the kids. Jamie was not originally a part of this trip, but knowing a good opportunity when he sees it was able to concoct a scam with Glenn to surprise Stephen and his brothers. Jamie and Glenn showed up and surprised them one morning most effectively. From what I have heard, it turned out to be a great trip.

So as soon as the funeral plans were decided upon, I got a leave of absence from the tour to fly back to Indiana so that I could attend. Say what you will about NETworks and non union tours, but they were extremely gracious about granting me my leave, and paying all of my travel expenses. As a tribute to Stephen, I found a CD of piano covers of Metallica tunes which we played in the background before the funeral. Also I sat down and lifted the melody of one of the less inappropriate songs to play on the flute as they carried the casket out of the church. Playing at funerals is my way of contributing, and I just know that Stephen is somewhere laughing his butt off at the idea of me playing a Metallica tune on the flute at his funeral!

I am now back with the tour in California. I only missed the two performances in San Luis Obispo. I made a short visit to Disneyland this afternoon, and now I am sitting in my hotel room in Escondido. I will give a full report on my crazy visit to Disneyland later. (I really need to just commit to an actual trip to Disneyland one day. These partial day "running around like a mad person" trips are just not cutting it!) I will also give a report on my visit with Nancy and Deb. They are seeing the show tomorrow, and we are having dinner on Sunday.

Cactuses!

When I first got the call that I would be doing the tour, I immediately went through the list of cities on the itinerary. I had to see what fun extra curricular activities I would be able to partake in. When I saw Tempe, I immediately knew what I wanted to do. Years ago when I was a kid we took a vacation to the Grand Canyon. Somewhere along the way we stopped off in Phoenix to go to the Desert Botanical Garden. I have been a bit obsessed with cactuses since I was a kid. Now some 20 years later, I am still interested in cactuses, and so I made the trek up to the garden today. It turned out to be a four mile walk from the hotel, but I am very glad that I made the walk. The garden is in Papago Park, which is a desert environment park with many cactuses and the buttes in my last post. The garden itself was great although it was more cactuses than succulents. There were many spectacular plants, and if I had not been on tour I would have dropped a ton of money on plants in the gift shop. Sadly, I found that I really only had vague recollections of our other visit. Hopefully Mom knows where the pictures from our previous visit are (or even slides. It has been forever since we had a slide show!). I am hoping to make a return visit before I leave, but it is supposed to rain tomorrow! I got rained on today as I walked back, and I am not sure that I want to walk four miles again in the rain. It is just my luck that I am here in the desert when they break their 88 day streak of no measurable rain!

(Just for the record, cactuses is an acceptable plural for cactus. Look it up!)

Nice Butte!

Opening Night in Tempe

-Tonight was our opening night in Tempe, and it was so much fun. It is amazing the difference it makes to perform on a college campus. Tonight was the most responsive audience that I have experienced so far, and tonight was performance number 85.

-It was also a bit of a stressful night for me. John Mezzio, who is the musician contractor and musical supervisor for Wedding Singer, was in the audience for the first time since I joined the tour. The thing is that I have never actually played live for him before. When I got the gig, all I did was send in some sound files. We did also make a recording of certain songs to send him so that he could give notes. But other than that, he has not heard me play live. So I was extra conscientious tonight. I did not get to talk to him, but Nate said that he was pleased with my playing and brought me up specifically. I hope so because I love touring!

-We also had an opening night party here in Tempe. It was at The Big Fat Greek Restaurant on Mill Street in the college hangout neighborhood. It was a fun party. The food was really good. Any place that serves Chicken Souvlaki for an opening night party is fine by me. I was a bit depressed at first though because we only got one free drink ticket, but all of that changed. By the end of the night, I had four free drinks. This was through a combination of being given two more drink tickets, and one really cool waiter! I now have a new fun drink to order when I go to Greek restaurants. The Ouzo Bomber, made with ouzo and Red Bull, is very yummy, and it is interactive! What a great opening night party!

-By the way, Andrea who plays Linda took this picture of us during the Exit Music one night. I am such a nerd though because I have my head in the book while Dylan and Max are looking at the camera. Oh well!

110 in the Shade!

Okay so it just gets better! I left the mere 90 degree weather in Houston only to arrive in Tempe today with 109 degree weather. And I do not buy the dry heat story. Hot is hot! I pity my coworkers this week!

Thankfully we are staying in a hotel that is right across the street from the Gammage Auditoruim (the lower picture above). The theatre is a part of Arizona State University. We are located really close to a fun college hangout area (think Kirkwood if you know Bloomington). That is if I do not die of heat stroke before getting there!

Discontinuing a Feature

I had rather a shock yesterday during the show. It was the first time in weeks that nobody grabbed my bum during the Finale. I also realized that I was horribly behind in updating the "Assault on Ryan's Bum" feature of my blog. So I have decided to just list the assaulters and leave it at that. I guess that complacency is the price that one must pay when doing a long run of a show. Alas!

Yatra

I had a fantastic dinner yesteday at an Indian restaurant named Yatra. It brought back memories of the Sherry K Indian Feast. Periodically my friend Sherry goes a little crazy and hosts a big dinner party with (mostly) Indian food. It is one of the highlights of the year for me. Well I don't know if she is planning another one anytime soon (hint, hint!), but the dish I had yesterday would be worth consideration for the next feast. The menu calls it chicken harra kabab, and it is basically chicken marinated in yogurt, mint, and spices. In fact it was so minty that the chicken was green. I was a little bit confused when I first got my dish. I was not expecting green chicken. But it is was delicious, and certainly worth trying to track down a recipe just in case. (Hint, hint!)

Someone Outta Open Up A Window

-It is hot. It is hot and humid. It is hot and humid and I cannot stand it. In fact I hate it!

-There I said it, and now that I have gotten that out of my system I can move on. Houston is one of the less interesting cities that I have visited so far. We are at the Doubletree in the downtown area. The advantage is that we are only 4 blocks from the Hobby Center where we are performing, but that is about it. The "great famine" sets in at 3:00 when most of the downtown restaurants close. And forget about finding any place to eat on Saturday and Sunday. Even the CVS is closed on the weekend. Thankfully the hotel restaurant is not ridiculously overpriced.

-There are also not many "attractions" to visit in downtown Houston. I went to the Downtown Aquarium yesterday. I think that I spent an hour there, but that is mostly because I was trying to get some decent pictures with my sad little camera. The aquarium was really small although the displays that they did have were very nice, and just to be really random they had two white tigers at the end of the exhibits. Go figure?!

-I walked around the theatre district yesterday, and I walked past the Alley Theatre. They are presenting the premiere of the stage version of An American In Paris. Sadly they have the exact same schedule as The Wedding Singer so I am unable to see it. Alas!

-Before I got to Houston, Brian said that I had to visit the Galleria Mall. I have now been twice, and it is impressive. The first time I went to watch (and laugh at) the cast while that did a promotional performance at the mall. It was catered by Chick-Fil-A. So at least I got 2 free chicken nuggets. I went back on my golden day Monday so that I could spend more time browsing properly. I ended up buying a new pair of brown sandals, and something that I saw at the Sketchers store summed up why I bought them. As I was trying on the pair that I ended up buying, I noticed a pair of kids sandals with a cartoon character on them. The cartoon was a mad scientist type and was named Professor Stankfeet, and that perfectly illustrates who I became when I put on my old sandals!

-Finally I have walked past the shiny building in the third picture many times, and for some reason it seemed familiar. After a bit of detective work, I discovered it was the former headquarters of Enron. Of course there is no indication that Enron ever existed anywhere, but it is a spectacular building.

Houston

Hasta Luego San Antonio

Here are a few last thoughts about San Antonio:

-The riverwalk is pretty cool. There are plenty of restaurants and shops on the riverwalk, but there are also plenty of tourists. Thankfully there are places that you can branch off of the main loop and find quiet spots like the one above.

-The Majestic Theatre was another really fun theatre. After playing in the concrete bunker in Dallas it was nice to move on to a beautiful old theatre. I did have one major issue with the pit in the Majestic though. After playing there for a couple of days, I noticed that the my area of the pit smelled like crap. Literally like crap. I reapplied the deodorant, checked my pants, and even smelled the bottom of my shoes. I thought that I might have stepped in a pile of penguin poop at Sea World. I finally deduced that it was not me. It took me a couple of days of leaving the show with a headache due to the smell to figure it out. As I was leaving to make my appearance on stage I looked at the floor closer to the stage wall, and there was a petrified, flattened mouse carcass. Needless to say that I asked to have it removed.

-I went with Dan (guitar 2) to the Tower of Americas on Sunday. It is an observation tower and revolving restaurant. We both had very good meals. I had a blue cheese salad with pear and candied walnuts, and also some lobster bisque. It was fun to sit, eat, and spin instead of just sitting and eating.

-San Antonio had a very nice YMCA. One of the perks of touring is that we often get free access to a gym or YMCA in whatever city we are playing. It is amazing how much better the city seems when we have a nice gym to use.

-We have since moved on to Houston. (Well we have been here for a week now. I know I am a slacker!) I will post a more in depth analysis of Houston, but I can sum it up in two words: hot and boring!

Sea World and Six Flags, at last

So for many years now I have wanted to go to Sea World. I never seem to make it. Unfortunately I have a habit of going to Walt Disney World instead of Orlando. Although now that Jim and Jeremy live in Orlando, I have actually seen some of the non-Disney part of town. A couple of years ago I traveled to San Diego for the Flute Convention. I did not make it to Sea World there either. (Although I did make it to Disneyland!?) So now that I am in San Antonio, I was not going to let this chance pass by. A group of Wedding Singer folk went to Sea World on Thursday, and had a great time. The park was not crowded so we were able to see all of the shows and ride the rides. Sadly it did nothing to sate my need for Sea World only enhance it. Well maybe the next time I am in Disney World, oh I mean Orlando...


So along the lines of my inability to actually make it to a Sea World, the same holds true for other amusement parks. Nappanee is close enough to Cedar Point in Ohio and Six Flags Great America north of Chicago, that a day trip is not totally unreasonable, but again I have not been able to make it happen. So imagine how happy I was when I found out that a trip to Six Flags Fiesta Texas was also being planned. The park had several fun roller coasters, and was thankfully not crowded either. Cedar Point is hands down a better park for roller coasters, but I am happy to take advantage of what is available to me.