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!
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!
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