Tag Archives: Last Sunday of the Month Shakespeare Reading at Maxwells

Air

Got back a little while ago from the Last Sunday of the Month Shakespeare Reading at Maxwells which is organized by my friend Lois. This time we read Twelfth Night. I had about 4 or 5 roles, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and an Officer as well as another character with one or two lines.

I forget his name since the index cards go back to Lois at the end of the reading. It was fun and I did my voices, but Rand stole the show with his voicing of Feste. Had me laughing quite a bit, he did.

My 2 lead roles, Sirs Andrew and Toby were in conversation a few times which had me on my toes. I decided to try to make Sir Toby sound like Cary Grant and in my mind I thought I was close enough, but in reality I fell far short.

Sir Andrew I portrayed as a swishy queen and the Officer sounded a bit like Grover from Sesame Street. If only there were lines relating to the difference between here and there and I would have been set.

There were only 6 of us participating in the reading this month but I think we handled it with aplomb.

On the way to McSwells I ran into Stine and Alexander. Alexander has had a virus the past couple of days and was completely out of it. Nothing sadder than a sick toddler. He did give me a high five which was encouraging to me. I’m sure he’ll be OK.

Last night was pretty mellow. Just hung out, watched TV and listened to music. Also played some guitar. I’ll be reading something in Mojo or Uncut and decided to see if there were any available chords. Last night was some Pretenders songs mainly. That was fun.

Watched more news on CNN about the Chilean earthquake, and the tsunami that was approaching Japan. Bill was off at his rehearsal which opens in 2 weeks, I watched Jennifer Lopez on Saturday Night Live. It was lackluster as was Jennifer Lopez’ singing.

I only listened to the first song, the second song I was listening to something else until she finished. The best thing on the show was the digital short. Pretty much a disappointment all around.

Stayed up posting videos from You Tube to Facebook in response to a few friends posting videos that they liked, as well as exchanging snarky comments with my brother Brian. I stayed up longer than I expected, but long enough to be awake for when Bill came home.

He now has a piece, sort of like a mouth guard to help with his snoring. I went to bed before home and while I slept he recorded me snoring to prove that he isn’t the only one who snores. Even though I might snore, I think he snores louder than I do.

Yes, it’s sometimes a competition around here.

Tonight Bill is at rehearsal again, I’m just hanging out. Had a burger for dinner which was great. Had a hankering for one the past couple of days.

Get thee behind me penne, pesto and chicken!

Rand

Rand


Rand, Steve H, Lois

Rand, Steve H, Lois


Twelfth Night readers

Twelfth Night readers


Sir Toby

Sir Toby


Sir Andrew

Sir Andrew

Burn Down the Mission

Ugh, so tired. Been a good day though. Mainly spent by myself. Whatever manic high I was on the past couple of days has faded along with the sun on this autumn evening. Ooh, how poetic.

Last night Bill was driving off to Atlantic City again, so I was home alone. Following my sister’s advice, I looked up some holiday songs to play. Had an idea, that since I made $3.00 yesterday, if I can play some holiday songs during the holiday season, I might make some more money. Maybe $5.00 next time.

I looked up Jingle Bells, Jingle Bell Rock, Sleigh Ride, Winter Wonderland all of which were OK. But the song I was more interested in was 2000 Miles by the Pretenders. I love Chrissie Hynde’s voice and in my head I can approximate her vocal stylings and I wouldn’t change the pronouns.

I’d sing, “He’s gone, 2000 miles/It’s very far” and be happy with it. Any eyebrows raised by the fact that a guy is singing about missing another guy wouldn’t be my problem. The fact that it’s easy to play is a definite plus. I practiced that for a while.

Also reacquainted myself with the Rolling Stones Wild Horses, as well as Bob Marley’s Jamming. No TV really last night, mostly listening to music. Saturday Night Live was a repeat and I didn’t want to watch Shakira again for some reason.

I did watch Live from the Artists Den which had Aimee Mann on. To my chagrin I enjoyed her performance. I suppose since she’s put Till Tuesday behind her, I can too. It was live at a church somewhere in Los Angeles.

After that I went to bed and the dream I remember was me being a good friend of Belle Du Jour, or rather Billie Piper from Diary of a Call Girl. She was fun to hang around with and it was an interesting and erotically charged dream.

Nothing happened, just sexuality was in the air. One big bloke was definitely into me and I was feeling the same way but one or two anti-Semitic comments from him put the kibosh on whatever was going to happen.

Some disappointing things happened last night, both involving Facebook. One person who I suggested something to, did not take my suggestion under consideration which made me think whatever it is they’re planning will only go so far. Damn cannabis clear thinking!

Another Facebook contact, did not get a joke I made and took it too seriously which made me think that this person I thought was cool at one point is really a big jerk. Too bad I didn’t know it earlier, having known this person for about 20 years or so makes me want to wash my hands of their project and walk away.

Not terribly anxious about the thing that they have planned either and wish it was behind me already. But that’s life.

Bill came home this morning around 11:00 and went to bed. I told him I might be gone by the time he wakes up and he was fine with that. I decided to go out and play by Pier A again around 12:30.

I had no idea whether Tim or Tariq would be around and they weren’t. I was armed with new songs to play and gladly set myself up in the sunshine and played from 1:00 to about 3:45.

2000 Miles was enjoyable and I sang it a bit, which was fun. Not too loud though. As the sun went west, I went south a few benches to stay in the sun and out of the shadow of the buildings. I played the hell out of Maybe I’m Amazed, so much so that my arm locked up a bit.

Easily shook it off though and played open chords until I felt comfortable to play barre chords again.

At one point, a shabby couple came up to me, both wearing plastic rosary beads around their dirty necks. The woman asked if she could strum my guitar a bit and being a nice guy I said sure. She did a little doodle on the guitar, played for less than a minute and gave the guitar back.

They walked off and I started to play again, but couldn’t play a complete song without making a mistake. The woman, Linda was the succubus’ name, stole my Mojo. Horrifying!

It was getting cold out and I was back in the shadow of the buildings but I would give up until I can play a song without any major mistakes. It took a while but I was eventually able to play Wild Horses at a slower tempo.

I didn’t make any money today and was ignored by most everyone that walked by this afternoon. I was fine with that though. That’s the thing about busking, sometimes there’s money, sometimes there isn’t.

Maybe Saturday is a better day, with people giving away their change to various churches and other superstitious institutions that they get dressed up for and attend on a Sunday. I’m very annoyed with the news this morning that NJ catholic churches were announcing their fight against same sex marriage.

After reading about how for the past 30 plus years the child sexual abuse that has been going on in Ireland and covered up by both the church and the Irish government, I can’t help but think these bastards in gowns are using same sex marriage as a boogeyman to distract people from the fact that children have been routinely raped and sodomized by this world wide ring of pedophiles.

I think Sinead O’Connor was right. Fight the real enemy.