Last one for May...

You don't have to read this one, I'm just going to complain here for a few minutes... I have to keep adding to this blog, now and again, some how. 

I have felt very strange all day. Like a low level hum has been vibrating my body. I can't identify it. I can't get rid of it. And I'm tired... Very, very tired.

I have wanted to go swimming for a few weeks.

I have wanted to go to Disneyland.

I have wanted to do so many things... But I am not all that financially secure right now. Don't get me wrong. I'm covering my bills, my rent, my gas... All the crap you have to, but I got very little, to nothing, left over to play with.

A friend of mine gave me two tickets to go to Universal if I want, but it's entering their busy season, and I don't want to wait 3 hours to ride "Transformers" - I hear it's a killer ride, but I don't do those kinda lines any more. 

It almost broke me last year when I and a bunch of eight graders I was chaperoning waited two and a half hours for Star Tours when it reopened. Never again.

I will be going to Disneyland next month with a new batch of eights graders - So I get my Disneyland fix, but I have to behave like an adult. It has caused me to come to the conclusion that adults are, in general, no fun.

In other words, I need a vacation! And not to Fresno. I love my parents and my friends that still live there - But I need to do something new. Go somewhere at least a little different.

I have been trying for the last three to four years to put together an excursion to Chicago, Il., but that pesky money thing has gotten in the way. I have several friend who have moved there, and will put me up for a few days, but if I can't get out and do things, why go?
I've needed to write something, but I am always too tired to do that as well. I used to get all over a friend of mine, when he gave me that excuse, but now it seems like I have fallen into that trap myself. Motivation is lacking. Disappeared when my ex kicked me out.

Funny thing, it seems to have spurred her into high gear. Or at least she was until she got sick recently.

I digress...

Ultimately, I need to get out there and play! I have to figure something out and do it. And I will... Soon...

Thanks for listening.

Artists...

 WARNING!!! Partial male nudity ahead! Don't read this one if easily offended!!!

(Don't worry - It's not me...)

I've been thinking... I know, that's just asking for trouble. Both from other people's smart remarks, and my not so smart thought processes lately.

What does it mean to be an artist?

What is art? (I tend to go with the old school thought that "Art" takes a little "Talent" or "Skill" - Not putting cold feces on a plate in the middle of a hall... Many of my artistic friends would beg to differ on that point.)

Just before I went into semi-isolation for the last show I did, I had the good fortune to be invited to an artists gathering out at one of my favorite places in the city.

The Brewery just off the I-5 about 23 minutes from my current homestead...

These are from an earlier trip to The Brewery, and all I had on hand for the blog as I was writing...

ANYWAY!

I met an artist who lives there and he was holding some seminars on different facets of being an artist. It was a really interesting and informative get together and he makes the best soup that I have had in a long time.

Afterward there was going to be a birthday party for one of the attendees, and Cake was going to be served, so I decided to hang around and mingle.

(On the left is the speaker/artist - In the middle his artwork  - On the left the attendee...)

There were two Birthday cakes that particular evening.

1) A sitting cake:

And...

2) An eating cake...

Now you may ask, "What is a sitting cake?"

Well, it seems that this particular attendee (A fellow artist) had started a tradition five or six years ago that on his birthday he would celebrate with a sitting cake...

I thought it was really very funny, but as I was watching I couldn't help but think, "this is what the mid-west thinks artist's do".  Granted I have seen this kind of thing often enough, at college parties and the like, but I look at it as more of a release, not so much art in itself.

So, again, what is art?

I believe it is pretty much designated to each person's taste...

Who am I to judge?

But I gotta tell ya, I'd never hang that cake on my wall...

Well, It's Over...

The play is finally done. We've had our run and as far as I am concerned it was a success. We might not have made as much money as the last show, but pretty much everyone who saw it, talked us up to their friends and our last few performances were well attended.

Right now, the fate of the theatre company is still in question, but I plan on fighting for this as best as I can...

What am I going to do with my time off right now? Well, for the last three weeks I've shot photos for several plays. Last week I shot a show called "Aftershocks"

And Madam Butterfly...

And this week I got to shoot "Nuts" by Tom Toper...

Have I done ANY writing? Aside of this blog, not yet. A bit of reading... Finished one book and started another I would love to get the rights to and turn into a play, but no writing.

I'm going to have to putter around on this blog a little more often, I think, to get the writing muscle restarted...

Ah, such is life.

We'll see where this all leads eventually. Hopefully I won't have bored the pants of any of you who might be reading this this initial mish-mash of thoughts, by then.

Why Can't Theatre...

...just be fun?!

It's amazing how much politics goes into keeping a theatre company alive. And as anyone who knows me is well aware of, when the feces strikes the oscillating wind machine I tend to call things what they are...

Oh, look... It's a spade...

I love the theatre! I really like the current theatre company I'm currently involved in. But because it is not bringing in as much or more money than the last show, talk has turned to limiting it even more than it already is, which is two shows a year, or killing it all together, again.

What needs to be done here is figure out what some of the problems are... Such as putting a show up the week after Easter. (We are housed in a church.)

What the current problems are with how we promote it and some thoughts on how to fix that.

And...

Where do we want to go from here? Do we need an artistic director? What kind of shows should we do? What kind of shows are we going to be allowed to do at the church and how do we keep the costs down, but the quality up?

Worst part of the problem is that we are not the only theatre in town who is going through this, in this economy.

There are no easy answers. The current show we are doing is really good - We have two more weeks to go and I don't see the answers coming to us before the show is over... 

Maybe we need more prayer...

Hmm...