Concord (Charlotte), NC

i haven't had an internet connection for a few days, so this is a little behind...


thursday, sept 21
HOME!!! We drove through the smokey mountains a lot this week while in virginia, and made our way down to concord, north carolina...really that’s just the outer edge of charlotte, and close to where my family lives! Hooray! We got into our hotel rather early, and meagan and I went down to sun ourselves by the pool. We all took a few hours to rest, and then most of us piled in the van and went to my parent’s house for dinner. :) they were all happy to not have to eat fast food in a hotel room for dinner, and I was so excited to go home, if only for a few hours. My parents were excited to see me too, (why else would they be happy to cook dinner for 8 extra people in the middle of a work week). I was glad I got to bring my crew home, since my ‘rents have heard about them so much. And some of the cast was interested to see what kind of family I come from...I am in fact a perfect hybrid of my parents. And my brother, Tommy, was there too which made me happy. We got back to our usual punching and beating on each other as signs of affection, and all felt like a little slice of normalcy for a couple hours. It was nice. Plus we all ate our faces off which is always good for morale. It made me happy to share my house with this new pseudo-family I’ve got on tour. Plus some of my tourmates are such wonderfully interesting people, I am always proud to share in their company.

the next day we had a performance in concord and my parents played hookie from work and came to see it. Thankfully, it was a good show! All the lights worked (not something we take for granted after having a few too many total blackouts in the middle of the damn show), we all gave good performances, and the audience was wonderful. It was 700+ 7th graders, and they were all so into it, it makes me not mind doing children’s theatre. Plus, the kids that helped out after the show, were so enthusiastic! We had a talkback session while we ate lunch after the show where the advanced theater class grilled us about touring life. We are all whores for attention so I don’t think any of us minded.

after concord, nc, we piled in the van/truck and drove to batesburg, south carolina. Actually, the performance was in batesburg/leesville, sc, but there isn’t a hotel within 30 minutes of the school, so we stayed at a comfort inn in lexington, sc. There was an outdoor pool where we sunned ourselves in the warm southern afternoon sun, ate some fantastic mexican food, drank cheap beer, and watched the scariest/weirdest 80's movie I have ever seen!! VIDEODROM, ever heard of it?? SO WEIRD!

the next morning we got up well before the sun.


but the up side to this, is that you are awake for the sunrise, which is awesome. drove 30 mins to the venue, where we were blessed to have southern hospitality draped upon us all day! From the minute we arrived, the teachers sang our praises, the students were more than helpful ( I picked up a little blonde fake boyfriend for the day named zach...he’s 16, and he loved everything that we did). After the show we ate the hell out of some of the best food we have been served so far on the road. Good ol’ homemade sandwiches, chips, soda, broccoli salad, pecan pie, and fruit salad. YUM!!! (currently I’m starved, sitting in the back of the van, stuck in traffic in atlanta, Georgia so pardon the number of times I’ve talked about food in this entry, I could eat my own arm right now....or better yet, meagans, since she’s passed out next to me)

our next stop is rome, Georgia. We’ll be there for 2 days (2 days off to be specific). Not really sure what there is to do in rome, ga for 2 days, but the worst case scenario is that we sit around drinking beers and watching tv...worse things have happened.

i'll leave you with this picture of meagan, naked in our room, with handcuffs on her ass...yes, i put them there. :)

Leesburg, Va

we just pulled into the best western hotel in leesburg, va after a long day of of unpacking, acting, repacking, and driving. but lanny just came into meagan's and my room and announced our call for tomorrow isn't until 6:50am, so that gives us a solid 12 hours of not working!! i could have kissed him.

the show is working out the kinks, slowly but surely...and today i must admit, we had a pretty smooth go of it. we're still in the midst of the private performances which means instead of playing big huge venues, with real tech crews, we are playing high schools with kids helping us out. today we had some amazing kids helping out. i'd like to give a shout out to ANNIE AND JORDAN the vice pres and president of the drama club, who worked their tails off helping us all day while most of the rest of there classmates fucked around and got in the way. we did have a bit of car trouble with the big truck, so we had to get it to a truck mechanic to tighten a couple of loose hoses...but that was pretty painless and we got to the hotel fairly early. there's not much going on in the middle of this great country of ours...other than the gossip induced drama we make for ourselves...it's been a very pretty drive, through massachusetts, new york, pennsylvania, ohio, indiana, illinois, back through indiana, back through ohio, kentucky, west virgina, and now virginia...the midwest was flat and a bit boring, but we started seeing trees again in ohio, and we've been up in the smokey mountains for a few days now which means foggy foggy mornings giving way to the most beautiful rolling green hills, and farm land, and off in the distance are the blue mountains. i'm braindead from the last 2 days, so i will leave you with a photo gallery.


RANDOM

we spent a couple of days off in cincinnati, and god was the weather perfect!!! this should be a postcard. :)

as actors, we are accustomed to getting the shaft on occation. at this particular private performance, we were short on crew AND had to share a very small closet for a dressing room. but we MADE THE BEST OF IT!

we all took a group trip to home depot to get some work stuff...and we picked up a new zach, and put lanny's head in a vice (we saw it in the movie THE BLACK DAHLIA and thought it was a good idea)



they're always so precious when they're asleep

i will never be able to stay mad at zach as long as i remember this image. zach+puppy= swoon!

TODAY

our poor truck needed some TLC from the ryder mechanic...and we got to wait around for it in the middle of BFE virginia in the mountains.

beth and nicole awaited word from the mechanic while lounging in the van with cool tunes and AC.

the rest of us turned into hillbillies...

we all sat on a log...a pretty comfortable log...


i stared at my feet...

scot perfects the look of the GQ hillbilly!



still bein' a hillbilly, chillin' on the log...and finding rocks!


BACK IN THE VAN

since i drove yesterday, i got my own seat all to myself in the van today! horray!! i celebrated by documenting the occation with a photo


THE SACRIFICE



we all have given our blood, sweat, and tears to this set...no seriously...look at the battle scars

apparently, we're staying in the same hotel as THE SHINING!!!

Cincinnati, Ohio

i spent some of the best years of my life in cincinnati, ohio. i was born in denver(lived in littleton) colorado when i was very young, but i had a beautiful childhood living in the best culdesac in america, on saddleback drive, right here in cincinnati. i'm 20 miles from my old house, and yet so far away. there's only one van and 8 people, and therefore no way i'm gunna get to go drive by it. too bad...that hill i rode my bike down was the shit.

i haven't posted anything to this blog in about a week (or really had any contact with the outside world)...i just haven't had the time and/or energy. living the day is stressful/draining enough, and but the end of these very long days the last thing i want to do is get myself all riled up reliving it in blog form. but i miss everyone like crazy, just so ya know. especially those of you who i can confide in and trust implicitly...



on another note, scot has written a very eloquint entry on his thoughts and feelings on this weird and twisted senerio we've gotten ourselves into, and i agree with it...so in true slacker form, i've cut and pasted it, and present it to you now.



Well, change is the one thing you can't get away from, anyway, so best just lay back and enjoy, yes?

Talking with Katie the other night, and we agreed that it was difficult to talk about the tour with friends back home. On the road, your social circle has collapsed down to seven other people, a veritable black hole of gossip and everybody knowing everybody else's business from which no privacy can escape. This can be challenging for those with strong boundaries. For those of us who seem to thrive on excessive closeness, however, there's actually a certain comfort level in it.

But that's not what makes it difficult to talk about the tour. You've gone through the day, you're scraped up, exhausted, nerves are shot, you've been eating road food so in all likelyhood you're either nauseated, gassy, or some combination thereof, you just want to completely shut down your brain and relax, you call your friends and family at home and they're at the bar (you know the bar, the bar you love to go to, where they know your drink and the sound of the crowd wraps you up like a comfortable sweater, and the music on the jukebox has been the soundtrack to some of the best moments of your life (the ones you remember!). That bar.) and somebody passes around the phone, and everybody asks the same questions: "How's the tour? Where are you? How's the show going? Are you having fun?"

The answers are usually the same, too:

1. Exhausting, challenging
2. I'm not sure, let me ask someone, somewhere in the midwest/south/southwest/west/east, I think. At a hotel near the highway.
3. Exhausting, challenging, the kids were pretty good/not bad/noisy/rotten. The set was pretty good/a rattling deathtrap/the bane of my existence/rotten today, and we drove a few hours/a long time/forever to get to the hotel
4. Yes and no. Define "fun".

And you miss them so much it's insane, and you realize that you have almost nothing to say. And they try to tell you about the day-to-day stuff that is so much a part of your life back home, and you do your best to listen, but it seems so remote from where you are and what you're doing that you almost find yourself thinking of other things. You snap back to reality just in time to catch the person saying the tail end of something you're pretty sure was important, but it's already gone, and you feel bad.

You find yourself changing in response to forces that you have, perhaps, never encountered before, pieces of yourself warping under massive pressure and torque, whole sub-personalities you haven't heard from in years coming to the surface and demanding to be heard, to do what they want. Your body changes, you lose weight, or gain it in weird places. You're sore, and bruised, but you feel stronger and more sure of yourself than even just a week ago. Except when you feel weak and lonely, or just adrift, or horny.

Change is inevitable. Our response to it is what shapes us. But real change is never easy, or without sacrifice. The image above is the The Tower card from tarot. "Significant change is brought about rapidly and unexpectedly". Says it all, I think.

And We're Off!

A PROPER SENDOFF

after surviving a week of dress rehearsals and notes from the producer, we were given 2 days off to do with what we please. Scot and meagan went back to new york to see their loved ones, and the rest of us stayed in boston. Friday night lanny and zach and I saw the movie HOLLYWOODLAND (wait for the dvd rental). But Saturday night, we met up with liz and nick from the E2 cast, and went to the TAKING BACK SUNDAY concert in downtown boston. It was an event set up for all the little new college kids coming back for the new semester, so I embraced my inner freshman, and had some fun. The government center square was totally packed- at last estimate there were upwards of 15,000 kids- so the part of the concert I actually saw was from sitting atop lanny’s shoulders. Thanks lanny!! :)

soon after, we decided a bar was in order. Happily, we made our way to The Bell and Hand bar (oldest bar in america). The beer was delish, and the atmosphere was great. Lots of people enjoying the warm weather, friends and alcohol. Many many many beers later (a $200 tab for the table), people started to part ways. Nick and I (my fellow redhead and birthday buddy) bonded for a few more hours, and were joined by rhonda (one of my housemates) and her visiting friend ryan. Much fun was had into the wee hours of the morning, and we all crashed at our dorchester house since I had to be all ready to leave on tour in a few hours.

Our tour, E1, has been joking for a few weeks now that we want to take nick from E2 along with us on our tour. So we decided he should wait with me the next morning for the van pick up and make like he was tagging along. (It was MUCH funnier the night before mind you...MUCH funnier).

So the next morning, Sunday, I was up early to finish the laundry, and the rest of the “to-do” list I had neglected to finish Saturday night, and start the hangover recovery process before embarking on a 10 hour van ride. My castmates gave me a minimal amount of shit for the state I was in when they picked me up at 10am, but I like to think I took it in good stride.


The van ride wasn’t too bad either. 10 hours, yes, but scot and I doubled up on the sharing of ipod playlists, and we had snacks, and an enjoyed the view of 500 miles of highway. Sunday night we checked into a days inn in fredonia, ny, did a line thru in preparation of tuesdays show, relaxed and slept. Currently, I’m writing this blog from the back seat of the 8 passenger van that has become my new comfy little home. I’m small, and I don’t mind small spaces, so I’m curled up amidst the luggage, and sharing the a seat with meagan.


I HEART ELECTRONICS

I do have to mention the crush I have on technology. Back in the day when I did long car rides with my family, it was in a buick (or volvo), and at best I had a game boy and a cd player. As I look around the van now, people have their ipods, laptops, and cell phones, with all sorts of cute accessories so all our computers can feed off of the car battery at once, and we can, if we so chose, listen to the same music or watch the same tv show at the same time. I’m writing my blog, and watching season 2 of DEADWOOD which is a hell of a lot better than taking in the scenic highway of pennsylvania





(actually we’ve driven through new york, pennsylvania, ohio, and now we’re in indiana- exciting I know.) :) Technology will ease the pain of living in a van, and for that...I heart it.


KATIE’S HOTEL REVIEW


if your staying in fredonia, ny, and your on a tight budget, this inn isn’t terrible. But I do hope our accomidations improve. Not all the doors open, there is highspeed internet, but only for one computer at a time (stupid wires), the spa and laundry machines were out of commission...but hey, they have cable, which is more than I even have in brooklyn!

Jeff Takes A Holiday

this past weekend, my friend jeff came to visit me. yay jeff! he needed to get out of his neighborhood in brooklyn (there was some huge loud festival this weekend) so he came to visit me in boston. he bummed around by himself on saturday while i was in rehearsal. afterwards jeff, lanny, scot, and i went to dinner, then out to see LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (it's good go see it). but sunday was when the real fun happened- jeff and i decided we wanted to see a red sox game.

we started the day by stuffing ourselves with yummy yummy breakfast food at the only restaurant in this neighborhood. it looks like we where having a romantic dinner, when really, we were seeking refuge from the rain and hunger.





next we headed out to fenway stadium to see if we could score tickets to the game that afternoon. we bought 2 tickets off the street and danced around with joy...we were going to see a red sox game!! i immediately called my dad- a former bostonian, and lifelong red sox fan- to tell him the good news. he was very happy that his first born was going to a game at fenway.



we got there in plenty of time so we bummed around the outside festivities, then scoped out all the inner workings of fenway...very cool place. :)




because of the rain, the game was delayed about and hour and a half, so we passed the time drinking beer, watching the pitchers warming up, and taking dumbass pictures all over the stadium. (this one we like to call our "honeymoon picture" because we're grinning like a couple of a-holes.

when finally...the rain tapered off to a heavy mist, we got to see some baseball!! it was great. we cheered and yelled for the sox, even though they had a slew of injuries and we knew they probably wouldn't win. the rain picked up again and we got soaked sitting out in the bleacher seats (WHERE ALL THE REAL FANS ARE) they played the blue jays, and it was hard to watch those canadians beat the sox 6-0. but i jeff and i livened things up by starting our own dance party inbetween innings. our section also got an awesome wave started that went around 4 1/2 times in the stadium- right on section 37!! way to show 'em how it's done. :) my baseball experience was nearly complete...the icing on the cake was crackerjacks in the 7th inning stretch. woohoo!

it made for a fun filled day, and although i was about as tired as a person can be and still be awake this morning, it was so totally worth it. plus now i can razz yankees fans about how much better fenway is, and really know what i'm talking about.

jeff hoped back on a train this afternoon and headed back the the big apple. it was good to hang out with someone from the outside world. also, since i can't make it back to new york this week like i had originally planned, it was good to see at least one friend, before beginning my life on the road.

thanks jeff!!