Buffaloed

Our week in Buffalo started badly and ended even worse. To begin with as we were approaching the hotel, the company manager got on the bus microphone and told us to take our bags up to our rooms and assemble in the ballroom as soon as possible. Our producer wanted to have a meeting with us. That is never a good sign! I was guessing that the meeting had to do with our upcoming two weeks in New York. Perhaps trouble with the unions. What we did not expect was that we might have trouble with the unions in Buffalo. Well one specific union: the stagehands union. Apparently IATSE was urging the Buffalo locals to strike and not work our show. So our meeting was about what would happen if that was in fact the case. Thankfully everything went according to plan the next day during load in, and the show was able to go on. We did have some picketers outside the theatre that night. But apparently it was only a handful, and they were not too obnoxious.

Buffalo was actually the next stop on the list of America's Fastest Dying Cities. Downtown Buffalo is okay although there is not much to it. At least there are a few places to eat and drink.

Oh and speaking of drinking, St. Patrick's Day occurred when we were in Buffalo. It also happened to fall on our opening night for which the theatre had a party. In an embarrassment of riches, NETworks had a St. Patrick's party for us that night too. So after the show, we started at the opening night party which was surprisingly good. They actually had an open bar and a nice spread of food. Then we made our way to the Century Bar for green beer and appetizers. I think that the only thing keeping me from having a severe hangover the next day was the fact that I ate so much!

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And then there was Friday night. It looked to be better than the average Friday night. Nick our sound guy was celebrating his last night on tour, and in an impressive move that I am still marveling at, Noah was able to hijack his party. Noah announced to everyone that Nick's party would take place at a bar called Marcella so that everyone could witness the infamous Midget Drag Queen Sabrina. Amazingly everyone went along with it, and that is where Nick decided to go. So I went back to the hotel after the show to get ready to go out, and that is when I learned the horrible news. I ran into one of the chorus guys who broke the news that Terry, the Reed II player, had fallen and broken his wrist. Now when I say fallen, I mean that he had flown over the handlebars of his brand new $2000 foldable bike, broke his right wrist bad enough that it needed surgery, and smacked his head into the concrete. All of the details came out as the night progressed so needless to say, it put a bit of a damper on the evening. But Sabrina was every bit as fabulous as billed and everyone was in such a fun mood that it turned out to be an evening polar opposites. I was having a great time dancing, drinking, and watching Sabrina all whilst wanting to strangle Terry. (Oh did I mention that the hotel was a mere two blocks from the theatre and he was riding on the sidewalk with no helmet or other protective gear?!?!!?)

So Brett and I met with Nate and Terry on Saturday in order to divide up the Reed II book as much as possible. For the most part we were able to cover the important moments in Terry's book, but it sure made for an interesting weekend of shows!