Up to my eyeballs!

Been up to my eyeballs in it. What is it you might ask?! Lots of things. I mean a shitload of things. Sent out more poetry and plays. Finishing the one for Culture Park one act play festival and a reading at Playwrights Platform.

I went off to the SAG-AFTRA Convention on Thursday Oct. 1. and returned by red eye on Oct. 4. Man was that a bitch,the return flight. Whoever built that seat musta been in some kind of torture group. It was heinous!!!!

But let's back up here about the L.A. adventure. Great flight over although massively early. I got picked up at my house at 3 am by the limo service Joel recommended. They were excellent. The driver was pleasant, funny and full of great stories about being a private chauffeur before turning to limo driving. Man those rich people he worked for were assholes. He was an employee, NOT a slave. Big difference. Duh!!!! and money doesn't make an asshole, being an asshole makes an asshole.l I met the man who owned Calvin Clothing years ago,  He wanted me to come to his house on an island to help him select paintings for a charity exhibition back when I worked for the Standard-Times. So of course I greed and had a great time chatting with him, not only looking at his paintings which were not half bad. He was courteous, kind and intelligent. Okay I wasn't an employee, but I doubt that he would shift to asshole mode with  them. People tend to be consistent with tat kind of attitude.

The flight to L.A. was a good one. At LAX I met up with Susan Gorvine Nelson the Executive Director for the New England local and got a ride to the hotel with her and a couple of staff members on their dime from their expense account, to the Sheraton at Universal City. Works for me. Plus I was out there on my dime and the kind donations of several people, several union people from the local board and people like Peg Holzemer, thanks Peg!

Really nice room with a cool view... pics to follow.  There was a reception for the delegate that evening at the Sunset room at the top of the hotel. I saw Jodi Bentley there who used to act at NBHS and saved all my reviews of her, which were glowing since she is very talented, but this was from years ago. She told me she was glad to see me since she had just been talking about me and showing those reviews to friends in LA. I also took her two day seminar on marketing yourself as an actor in NYC before she moved to LA where her career has grown.  It was a fun reception and appetizers and drinks were free. Met new people as well as connected with longtime connections.

Business began the Friday. But when I got to LA dontcha know it I have trouble with my cell phone. Okay I was looking at new ones before I left intending to finish when I got back. But Oh, no, the cell says to me, RIGHT NOW, NOT when you get back.  The cell keeps telling me "Google search has stopped" whenever I try to type ANYTHING! Are you kidding me? WTF! What the hell does Google search have to do with me typing anything but a search!? But Google search does NOT agree so I am screwed.

Fortunately Guy, the concierge is great and finds me a local T-Mobile store for me to get this resolved--either fixed or another phone. He calls me a taxi and I call him a lamppost. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Get to the store and we try everything to fix it until I say, screw it let's look at new ones. I had an LG and looked at more LG's and ended up picking the LG 4. So far so good. We transfer everything over to the new phone including the storage card. I get back to the hotel way in time to get ready for the reception.

The reception was a delight with a great view which I will send pictures later.

On Friday morning we get to work early. We have pages upon pages of Constitutional Amendments, elections and resolutions to debate and vote on. We get going. it goes well, but I won't bore you with the details. Long day.

At night there is a gala awards ceremony and reception at the Warner Brothers Museum in LA, not that far away. I had signed up--there was a cost for it--but was one the waiting list. I went to find out to find out low and behold, someone had dropped out of it and I was next on the list. Serendipity!  Or whatever her name is!?

Glad I brought my suit! Being a boy scout paid off-- be prepared!

Caught the shuttle over there through merciless LA traffic. Some of the folks on the shuttle said the driver took the long way and right into tons of traffic that makes Boston look tame. Really, it did.  Photos of Warner Brother's museum etc. to follow.

The food was excellent and the beer and wine free... come on guys where is the real alcohol, what is this beer and wine shit?! So anyway I conceded and got a Heineken.  Not my favorite beer but I didn't see any Corona--I mean shit we are in CA with tons of Latinos and you got NO Corona-- what the hell is wrong with you?

So they do the awards and four, a record four people get gold membership cards. One of which is our president Ken Howard. It is, believe it or not--the ceremony and awards-- very entertaining. Then music and  dancing.

So I am there watching people dance.  They are having a blast, the band and singers are very good. As I am innocently watching. a tall, I mean she's gotta be six feet or close to it, woman comes up to me, Molly Ballard, and tells me to dance with her. Okay, it was more like ask bordering on tell. Hey, I can never say no to woman asking me to dance. (Good thing I can say no to marriage thought !!!! LOL) I didn't at the benefit at the Yoga center a few weeks back and I'm sure as hell not going to do it in LA.

So we have a ball, and she has to go off and brings her friend, Polly Adams, also an NY actress,  over to dance with me in the interim. Okay, works for me. Reminded me of the times when daughter Jen was young and her dance teachers used to drag me off to dance all over the place, wherever the best music was until the wee hours and then some. Okay I don't have the stamina I did then to dance on endlessly without a break but then back then I hadn't survived two heart attacks and a triple bypass. Come on here, gimme a break!

Found my  colleague attendees there including my cousin Frank Caciola. God you can tell we're related as we share the same outrageous sense of humor! I swear must be a family trait since my family all over shares it.  Oddly enough I didn't make it into most of the group pictures--WTF!? If you don't want me there, just send me home. I won't get offended. I don't give a rat's ass, be there, be elsewhere I don't really care. Alone or with a crowd, I don't care. I was born an only child fore crying out loud I enjoy my company and don't care if anyone else doesn't. I can leave, really, no problem... EVER. But if I do, don't' call me to save your ass, cause it ain't happening pal. You are on your own. Have a nice day!

On Saturday, even more debates and voting on more resolutions. It beginning at 8 am and ends at 6 pm with an hour lunch. There is a special showing of the movie about Steve Jobs. Pass, thank you every much. So instead I got to Universal CityWalk. I eat at Wolfgang Puck Bistro.  Reasonable prices, particularly for LA. I had bacon wrapped meatloaf and a Mondavi  Merlot. Delicious.

On Sunday we wrap it all up and do delegate photos, yes, I do make it into these.

I have to admit I have an issue. I paid my way to get there, but one of the delegates who was fully funded either abstained from voting or didn't' vote on most of the votes. I mean WTF, you were FUNDED to be there and VOTE. Do your goddamned job!!!!!!! This was not supposed to be a trip to LA for you for the helluva it. You were sent there to do a job, so DO IT!

So for amusement I make comments on Facebook to aggravate the anti gun crowd. Man it is easy to set them off and running ranting and getting pissed. I bet you could sell 'em a bridge in Brooklyn too! Doesn't take me to evoke their religious fervor. LOL Son Jon and I love irritating them.  And it is soooooooo easy. A dog could do it.

Okay gotta go finish some plays and poems for submission.. Be well and enjoy!

After the death of my friend and coleague Trudi Miller the week of Sept. 14

Just wanted to give you all an update about Trudi and what else has been going on since then. Shannon called me on Saturday and asked me if I was busy and wanted to come over. Of course I was busy and wanted to come over. LOL So I did and we sat in the backyard watching her fire pit having a few cold ones. I got to try the slushies she sells, a vodka based one. Yahoo!  Gotta tell ya boys an girls good stuff!  Many flavors and delish! You gotta try it, really.

So then we went inside and greeted her menagerie of pets.  Gotta say, animals love me to pieces, dogs, cats dunno about things like alligators (I think they just view everyone as potential lunch) or other wild beasties, but the tame ones, LOVE me! So one of her pugs, Cassius, plops himself on my lap like the King of Siam. Then he goes belly up so I can pet him and totally ignores Shannon. Hey, what can I say, when you got it flaunt it! And with animals, I got it! LOL  She has two pugs and some cats, Snuffy whom I saw that night, they often hide when people come over. Snuffy is gorgeous a long haired cat that is beautifully colored, multi colored, tans white etc.

That was fun. Love animals.

Son on Sunday I went to auditions for Theater One for their upcoming staged radio play. I love doing those! They basically stage a radio play, complete with sound effects in the theater for a live audience. It's like taking a time machine back to the heyday of radio dramas and comedies in the thirties or so. Complete with total sound effects. Love it.

So anyway they had tons of roles with accents. And we can't guess who loves to do accents, can we? Yup, you guessed it--ME!!!! So I did an Indian accent, and an Italian accent and had a blast. Methinks I am in, but have not heard for sure yet. Anything is possible! LOL

And I thought of Trudi when I wen to audition. Cause the last thing I did onstage was for Trudi as director, "Squabbles" for Your Theatre and I played Hector Lopez a Puerto Rican gardener who had to keep running to the bathroom and the most inopportune moments. It was loads of fun.
I sent off two one act plays to the Nantucket Play festival. Sent them "To the Bitter End" a longer one act and the ten minute play, "Mass Transit".

Also looked up tons more poetry venues, for both books and individual poems.  Will get those out this week.

Went to Trinity Rep Monday night with Linda and saw an excellent production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." Before we had dinner at Julian's in Providence. It was excellent. We had house made lemon pepper potato chips. Scrumptious. I had Miso duck (smoked) and it was mouth watering with the rice and an avocado-wasabe puree and charred scallion salad. She had BBQ red beet with gingered potato salad, preserved mustard greens and crispy carrots. and loved it. For desert we shared their homemade ice cream, all natural a kind of maple flavor, almost like a rum raisin ice cream.

Damn, all  this was good!!!!  Enjoy it while you can boys and girls, carpe diem! Cause one never know, do one?!

Best, until next time....

Oh yeah, I almost forgot Lourdes got back to me about working on the music video but I don't think we are gonna be able to get it in place in time with me being union. Too bad, since it sounded like fun. Ah, well, next time perhaps. Thanks for the effort Lourdes! If you need anything from me, let me know.

Okay, here I go... again. LOL

So far so good this week doesn’t suck, some weeks, it’s  not so bad, while others are great. This one, so far, not to shabby working on finishing the one act play I started last year for the Culture Park one act play marathon. I lost track of time and never submitted it. Oops!  Not this year though.

Karaoke was a blast this week. The crowd was a mix of familiar folks and some newcomers. The most pleasant surprise was there were no signers that made you wish for complete deafness. And believe me, there are times when you do as it would be a blessing, a real blessing.  The crowd grew as the night went on.

Although at first my voice felt strained to me, didn't come across that way, but it felt that way. Damned allergies! When I first sang, the place was fairly deserted, but it began to fill up within the first hour or so. So when I get up to sing "Taxi the Harry Chapin song, the entire crowd is singing right along with me having a ball. Lots of applause at the end.

So I return to my seat at the bar and it is  the break in singers so songs start playing. or third a a salsa song comes on. I am enjoying the music when all of a sudden, this twenty something young woman comes up to me and snags my hands and says, "Dance with me." I mean what the hell, you've heard of an offer you can't refuse, right? Doesn't always have to be a gun to the heard, right?! Right. I have a tough time, okay let's say no resistance whatsoever when women ask me to dance. I can't say no. Remember that song, from some musical, can't remember which, "The Girl Who Can't Say No." Think it was "Annie Get Your Gun."  I can't say no either. Age has nothing to do with it--mine or theirs. LOL

So, up I got and Salsa dance. I gotta admit thought it's not like years ago when my daughter Jen's dancing teacher dragged me (okay twist my arm far enough!) out dancing years ago. That was two heart attacks ago and I had more stamina. I could dance all night long without taking a break. Ah, the good ole days! LOL

Now I gotta take a break in between each dance or else.  But with that said, then I can indeed continue relentlessly. Just need a break between dances.

So there we are salsa dancing, not too shabby either. Complete with turns swirls, close contact you name it, we did it. (get your mind outta the gutter, on the dance floor!) It was fun. Dong a lot of dancing the past few weeks, first at the Yoga center benefit. Several women asked me to dance of all age ranges. Like I said there are offers you can't refuse. LOL That is one of mine.

A bit later I am singing another song, the Rolling Stones, "Honky Tonk Women" and as I am there singing up comes Karen who frequents Karaoke on Tuesdays quite a bit, nearly every week. So she squeezes up next to me and does some dirty dancing while I sing.  Yes, I kept my concentration. I have remarkable willpower.  Usually. Tall, good looking blondes in their forties notwithstanding. LOL

So a bit later, the young woman who danced with me comes up while I am singing again and clings tightly to me. Okay, twist my arm again. I surrender! I give up.

Nope, bet your mind was going to sex again, right?! Get your mind outta the gutter from crying out loud!  But it was fun.

I gotta admit being an born only child, AFTER 21 years of marriage, to a Portuguese family (can we say like the second Coming of Christ to them? No, not blasphemy, just a realistic assessment. My mother clipped out the thousands of articles I wrote for the Standard-Times while she was alive. ALL of them , every last one of them.), I LOVE attention!  End of story, ya get it?

Oh, yesterday because Shannon had a long day at work I walked her dogs so she wouldn't come home to a mess. It would not be pretty. And for my reward, one of them, Cassius, decided to pee on my back car tire, just for luck no doubt. Gee thanks Cassius, and I gave you the treat anyway!

Wednesday night I got a call from my actor friend Jack Sullivan in NYC. He asked me if I could work for him today and I said yes. But when he called them to inform them he had a substitute since he is still in NYC and not up here, they told him they had enough. At least Jack and I got a chance to chat a bit. We talked about our coaching with Brian O'Neil and how helpful it was. And we both want to go back to him sometime in the not too distant future. His advice got me double the auditions I got before I went to him, including the one I got from Erica Hart from ABC Casting.

Off to play trivia tonight, Missed it Monday due to play at Trinity Rep.

Saturday, off with Linda to see her parents. Her father reminds me so much of mine, his sense of humor. And he is outspoken and as well all know I like that, even directed at me, even if not at all flattering. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

Then Sunday off with son Joel to eat and see Tennessee Williams play at the Gamm, "A Streetcar Named Desire." We always have a good time.  He reminds me so much of me sometimes it's no wonder we clashed when he was a teenager. LOL  He too is outspoken as are all my children. I tired to teach them to be kind and compassionate, but not a doormat and to sand up for themselves when necessary. Cause sometimes in life you gotta be an asshole to protect yourself from bigger assholes with no quarter given and no quarter asked. And like most bullies (can we say pretty much almost all at least all the ones I have met?!), they usually vanish at the first sign of their blood!

All in all, a much better week than last week with its unpleasant surprises, like Trudi's death.

Take each day as it comes and enjoy breathing, cause it sure as hell beats the alternative--most days! IT sure as hell beats almost drowning and I speak from experience. That REALLY sucks.

Ah, momentum... those ole laws of physics. A thing in motion tends to stay in motion and at thing at rest, well you know.. doesn't budge. LOL  It continues.

I just finished submission for the Massachusetts Artist fellowship in poetry. As an FYI I was a finalist in playwrighting way back when they first began. I think they were building the pyramids then, but I'm not sure. Not a 100% sure at least.

The one act play I was creating last year for Culture Park one act marathon "Going Down" is nearly done. It is about a man and a woman trapped in an elevator when it gets stuck and how it effects them. She doesn't like elevators and enclosed spaces and he has an issue with being in the dark so when the lights begin to flicker since he hates the dark, it gets to him too. Hopefully a comedy, we'll see. It should be done either Sunday or Monday.

And here is the update on the audition for the staged radio show.... wait for it...wait for it.... I got it! I got cast as the Indian, not that kind, the kind from Punjab or Calcutta who specializes in age defying physics which keeps him young at 101...hmm, now if I could find that I would be happy as hell!. The other character is an Italian film director. So I will get to do not one, but two accents, during the same show! How cool is that!?  I know I almost get speechless too, I did say almost, right? The show is called "The Shadow Knows" and will go up the second week in November at Theatre One in Middleboro. One weekend only. It is a stage radio show, like they used to do years ago for live radio dramas, complete with sound effects, etc.

Just finished my first flash fiction piece. It's called "A Day's Work" and is the tale of a husband tho thinks his wife is cheating on him so he decides to follow her with some unexpected consequences. Oh, no, that was not inspired by real life--Yuh, sure... If you believe that I got a bridge in Brooklyn I wanna sell ya, cheap! Dirt cheap! Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! If anyone wants to read it let me know and I will get you a copy to read.

Sill working on the second one called, "Consequences." I write everything long hand and then type it in, and I do mean everything from poetry to fiction to drama, not reviews though. Have no idea why. Go figure... the quirks of creativity!

And I have started another flash fiction piece, this one called "Snow." More on that later.  Also started yet another one, called "Candy."

Off with Linda to see her parents on Saturday. since they moved into assisted living. It is amazing what you can accumulate over the years, all kinds of things you never even thing about but put aside thinking oh, yes, I might need this for something, sometime. It accumulates, like sand in the desert after a particularly bad sandstorm, all clutter and evidently useless. Coisas, the Portuguese used to call it. Which literally translated means things. After that, with Linda's sister Nancy, we went to visit her parents at assisted living. We went out to eat on the patio with Linda's father. Her mom was inside making bracelets  but ended up dozing off during the craft session. She was having a hard time with threading the beads, the holes in them were so tiny, truly miniscule. So when Linda went to take her mom to the bathroom she drafted me to work on the bracelet after the beads slipped off the strand.

Linda announced I was an artist. So needless to say I was off telling them about what I had taught and for how long and how it had been many years since I had made any kind of bracelet. Yup, I finished it. Man it was tough! My eyes aren't like when I was 20 and the holes in the beads--sheesh!

I was beat after putting stuff in her car to take back to Westport. Hauling all that stuff, whoa! But, it's exercise, right? Right...

Son Joel and I are off to dinner before going to the Gamm Theatre to see Tennessee Williams' classic "Streetcar Named Desire." I met him way back in the seventies because of my friend Dick Methia. He had not only introduced me to theater by seeing Trinity Rep do Moliere's "School for Wives" and the City Center Acting group do Chekhov's "Three Sisters" at the New England Theater Conference in Providence. After that, I was hooked and began writing plays. I wanted to learn all I could about theater and all its aspects. So when Dick told me about the American Theatre Training Institute coming to my alma mater at UMD, I was ready to go. Enthusiastic as all hell. After all, they had top notch pros involved.  Mary Carver handled the newbies like make in the basic acting group. Mary is best know as the mother on "Simon and Simon" television show. I alter on connected to her and emailed her back nd forth, even thought we never manged to connect in person until she died in 2013 at age 89.

Also part of the group was Paul Mann, who handled the advanced acting group and is best know as Lazar Wolf the butter in the film "Fiddler on the Roof." For directing they had Alan Schneider, best know as the artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington D.C.a nd for directing all of Edward Albee's hit plays until then.  He had decided to take an acting class and ended up in mine where he became my acting partner.  I mean, really, are you kidding me? Yup, it's true. I used to mail my plays to him for several years and he would always comment back and offer suggestion.

Then the course to Tennessee Williams, Edwin Sherin who late became executive producer on "Law and Order" and also directed many episodes. Sherin had also directed "The Great White Hope" on Broadway. He was up to direct the then new Williams play "Red Devil Battery Sign" in 1975 in Boston, MA, and starred Anthony Quinn, Clair Bloom, Katy Jurado, Annette Cardona, and Steve McAddy.  he invited Dick up to see some rehearsal and Dick invited me. Okay twist my arm, far enough! LOL

The funny part is when we got up there, the people, when we asked for Sherin, thought we re from David Merrick, the producer! Talk about a great greeting! LOL

An d of course as the fates would have it, a bit later, Tennessee Williams himself shows up dressed like the epitome of the Southern gentleman in a all white suit. Accompanied by a handsome young man. Big surprise there, eh? After all, he did say he "covered the waterfront" in some interview. So we got to see part of the rehearsal with Quinn and Bloom onstage.  Fascinating.  Sometimes things just work out, ya know. And I can never thank Dick enough for introducing me to theatre and playwrighting. Thanks again Dick, I will never Forget it or stop being grateful to you for it. Oh, he was also part of the Teacher in Space program with the ill fated Challenger which exploded and killed Christa McCauliffe and the other astronauts.

Dick was an excellent teacher and friend. During those years we taught together he was so kind as to read everything I wrote and offer comments and improvements, kinda like Linda does now. Thank you my friend!

Anyway we ate at McCormick and Schmidt in Boston for a great day.

Needless to say, I have had a great life so far, including  nearly drowning twice and two heart attacks. Hell, they didn't kill me right? So it's a wonderful life!

And that's about it for now... Have a good one folks!

Out of the gate

This is my first post on my new blog. I used to write a weekly column on the arts when I wrote for the Standard-Times, about different arts events and artists, but this will be more than that. This will also be my thoughts and ideas as a creative person in the midst of being creative, whatever the hell that means. I am reading a book about Meisner's acting technique called Meisner on Meisner. As an actor I have to tell you it has some great tips and techniques for actors on how to get out of their head and into their emotions to connect with their character and make them more vivid and alive, more real and in the moment.  There are some real gems here.

But I have to tell you I think Meisner the man is an idiot from  the reading of the book and his comments on the various actors in his class. He is vain and self centered. To Meisner, he is the god of theater and oracle of acting and he continually calls down other acting teachers, etc on a regular basis. As if they are nothing, which they are in his self-absorbed viewpoint. No one else matters but him and his views on acting. The training I got in acting was the Stanislavsky method, better known as "the method." Basically Meisner says that good ole Constantine didn't know what he was talking about and his methods take precedence without exception over anyone else Period.

I taught for 34 years and used to regularly tell my students in art, this is how I do it, if you can think of some other way to do it go ahead be free. So long as it works. I did not view my position as a teacher as that of dictator, my way or the highway. I think it had a lot to do when I was studying algebra in high school. Math was never my best subject. Simple math I was passable, but more complex, look out. So my father, who had to quit school in the 6th grade back in the day to help support the family, jumped in to help. Now you must be thinking how can a man with s 6th grader education figure out algebra. Damned good question. The man was brilliant when it came to math and could do calculations in his head no matter how complex It always left me amazed in open mouth delight. He was damned near a savant when it came to doing math, with an innate understanding of it that never failed to impress me.

I had nothing to lose and everything to gain here. I would be no worse off than when I started when we finished, so what the hell, why not go for it. So we did and he showed me how to do algebra and from that point on I always ended up with the right answer and understood what I did to achieve it. Not the cse with the method I learned at school.

So suddenly my test scores improved and the teacher thought I was cheating. She couldn't  prove that but she did confront me to find out why the sudden and radical improvement in my ability to do algebra. She she gave me problems and I did them in front of her ending up with all correct answers. She asked me where I learned to do it and I told her. She then insisted that it was unacceptable, no matter that I understood the process and get the right answer.  I did not do it HER way so it was unacceptable.

That comment was unacceptable to me. When I became a teacher years later I NEVER used that approach with my students. Ever. I don't think ANY teacher of the arts should ever do that. Unless perhaps you sat with the burning bush and got the direct low down and how it all is. Probably not gonna happen. EVER! So that is why I feel the way I do about Meisner the man, not his techniques. Techniques valuable, man, an arrogant jerk.

Outside of these things I spent a lot of time this week submitting poetry to new markers and got four poems accepted at two magazines. I also did research on venues to review my Pulitzer Prize nominated book of poetry. Hey, every bit of press helps, ya know?!