Thursday, March 29, 2012

Haiku #183 - Mutual Admiration Society

guess who came to see
the show and hung out after?
Rico and Raini


Cherie, Rico, me, Raini, Kurt
Kurt, Cherie and I watch Modern Family every week, so we were pretty excited that Rico and Raini Rodriguez (Rico plays Manny on Mod Fam; his big sis Raini is also an actress) came to see In the Heights in their hometown, College Station.  There was a little meet-and-greet after the performance - turns out they're big fans of the show.  It was a mutual admiration society! 

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Monday, March 26, 2012

Haiku #181 - College Station

summery day off
is it such a travesty
i just want to nap?


Show in College Station tomorrow night, and then we're headed to SoCal for a few days!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Haiku #179 - Baby!

rehearsal break spent
looking at baby pictures
of my friend's newborn

Friday, March 23, 2012

Haiku #178 - Captain Kirk

today Kat 'n' Kurt
of the starship In the Heights
met William Shatner


During tech rehearsal back in October, Kurt and I took turns at the piano, but often we were both there.  Our director would call out, "Off of Kat 'n' Kurt" to have whichever of us was playing start a number. After about a day of this, he said, "I feel like I'm saying 'Captain Kirk'."  And that is how Captain Kirk became the music department's collective nickname.  


A friend from this tour is currently working William Shatner's one-man autobiographical show, Shatner's World which was in Dallas tonight.  We got to meet Mr. Shatner briefly before we had to go do our respective shows.  He was very gracious, and it was cool to watch him work for a few minutes and wish him happy birthday!  Living proof that one does not have to be a diva to have a long, illustrious career.  

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Haiku #177 - Dallas

good meals, inside jokes
random youtube videos
that's what friends are for
Cherie photographing her tandoori lamb burger at Chop House
 Nice to be in the same place for a couple weeks.  Kurt & Cherie and I went to Chop House for lunch today and enjoyed some spectacular burgers and (yes) truffle parmesan fries.  I'm a little under the weather, so didn't join other company members for karaoke tonight, and instead made a hot toddy and geeked out on youtube videos with Kurt for a little while.  Four more days in Dallas!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Monday, March 19, 2012

Haiku #175 - Shopping!

We enable each other.
how was your day off?
we shopped til we dropped and bought
seven pairs of shoes

Haiku #174 - Dallas

Reduce, reuse, recycle?
the world is filled 
unintentional humor
where the wax comes from 

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Haiku #173 - St. Paddy's in Dallas

many shades of green:
St. Paddy's Day in Dallas
means jalapenos


Last night we celebrated St. Paddy's Day with a mixer with the cast and crew of the Million Dollar Quartet tour at a bar downtown.  There was dancing and drinks, and there were jalapeno poppers the size of my head (slight faux-Irish exaggeration). Everyone was Irish, even our resident Italian.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Haiku #172 - Tex-Mex


Kurt and dessert (it rhymes!)
after rehearsal
refreshment - tres leches cake
and life-changing flan

"No mas postres!"
The flan was actually called Chita's flan, which led to fun lyric rewrites of Chita Rivera roles, like "A flan like that, who'd kill your brother/Forget that flan and find another", etc. 
Kurt and Cherie

Friday, March 16, 2012

Haiku #171 - Dallas, TX

never know, you might
stumble upon cattle run
on sight-seeing jog
Pioneer Plaza, Dallas TX

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Haiku #170 - Dallas, TX

please play on the grass
between all the interstates
don't mind if i do


My parents freak out a little about walking on green grass.  This is because A) they both grew up in the desert Southwest where anyone who cares for their feet steers clear of the "grass" and B) they lived for several years in Cambridge, England where something horrible and British would befall them if they dared to step on the grass.  I thought of them when I saw this sign near the opera house in Dallas.  

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Haiku #169 - Mexican Drag Show

where I learned to say
"mátame, tequila, que-el
amor no pudo!"


("kill me, tequila, 'cause love couldn't!") - Carlos, our new swing, taught me this phrase.  

A bunch of us went out tonight to a place called Barcadia to hang out with some people from Young Frankenstein, who are also in town and came to our show.  Giancarlo and Marcus went down the street to find food, and Cherie and I followed suit.  Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into - Oscar Palacios y el Show Extasis.  I've seen plenty of drag shows in New York, but never a Texican drag show. 
I texted this picture to Kurt back at Barcadia, and he and the rest of the gang showed up soon after and stayed to close down the joint.  

Monday, March 12, 2012

Haiku #168 - Kokopelli Goes to Dallas

"night will become day
may your best[est] dreams begin
please do not disturb"


Here for two weeks - places to see and things to do, but first, a nap!  

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Haiku #167 - Oklahoma

rooms aren't ready yet
kill an hour or so next door
at bowling alley


We were in Oklahoma over the weekend, and tomorrow we're heading to Dallas for two weeks!  Everything's bigger in Texas, and as such, I hear Kurt and I get a grand piano in our office!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Haiku #161-164 - International Women's Day

I rarely post anything political.  I have friends from all over the political spectrum, and I love and respect them, even when I may not agree with them. Recently, though, after a long hiatus from reading the news, I've been riveted by numerous disturbing stories about women in this country, their rights, and the war being waged on them.  

Here are some haiku with links to recent news stories (in case you've been living under a rock and don't know what I'm talking about).  Happy International Women's day!  Would be lovely to think we could rest on the hard work of women's rights advocates of the past few decades, but it is apparent that that is not the case.  

Dear Republicans:
Keep your legislation out
of my vagina.

state of Virginia
wishes to rape its women
with foreign objects
(same article as above; see third paragraph)

if Rachel Maddow
said anything half so bad
she'd be fired post-haste

read the news, you'd think
that embryos are people
but women are not


Women's rights - to family planning, to education, to the pursuit of happiness, be it work or unpaid work at home - are not a political issue.  They are an issue of civilization.  A society that undermines and attacks its women is doomed.  


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Haiku #159 - Vogons

on the phone again
with my health insurance co
it's such a racket


Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate administrivia.  I am offended by cleaning, cooking, sleeping, showering, paying bills, making routine phone calls - anything that has to be done repeatedly just to keep life chugging along.  My own neurotic problem.  


But seriously, why can't my health insurance company automate my monthly payment without a ton of hassle and snail mail?  SNAIL MAIL!  I ask you.  They are the only company I do business with with whom snail mail is the most convenient way to take care of billing.  It's an inefficient way of doing business.  PLEASE, take my tax dollars and centralize this sh*t, so that the kind man who helped me on the phone can get laid off and be forced to find something more useful and creative to do with his life.  

Haiku #158 - Wifi (or Not)

when watching movies
on bad wifi connection
don't choose a myst'ry!

Our bus has wifi, but it isn't usually fast enough to watch videos streaming.  I spent a long time yesterday trying, with limited success, to indulge my new addiction to Foyle's War during our bus ride to Macomb, IL.  We have a show here tonight, then on to Columbia, MO and Fayetteville, AR!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Haiku #157 - Keyboard drama!

opening number
Keyboard 1 loses power
I got your back, Kurt

Yesterday matinee was an interesting beginning!  Luckily these type of things happen quite rarely, and our heroic sound people had it fixed quickly enough that we didn't have to stop the show.  I cobbled together both the keyboard parts for a few measures til we were fully functional.  What a way to wake up!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Haiku #156 - Sleepy Al

Alex would kill me if I posted a pic of her sleeping,
so here's a cat picture.

her superpower
this lil sis/roommate of mine:
endurance sleeping

Haiku #155 - Lincoln - Zoo Bar

at Zoo Bar, where we heard the Lil Slim Blues Band

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Haiku #152-4 - Sonnet

I've missed a posting a few days recently, so today, I will catch you up with a haiku each from Kurt, Cherie, and me, and a sonnet for good measure.  This is how we entertain ourselves during long bus trips.  Missouri overnight tonight, then Friday and Saturday nights, shows in Lincoln, NE!

I spy with my eye
something red and crescent-shaped
it is on the bus
-Cherie

(Yes, we played "I spy" via text-haikus.  Incidentally, it was the red handle to the escape hatch at the top of the bus.)

the Midwest is big
Haikus can get lost out here
free-range syllables
-Kurt

in this vast prairie
haikus turn into sonnets
that'll shut us up
-me

Sonnet #1 - Ode to Brilliant Friends

A long day on the bus I feared could cause
a numbing of the mind and of the ass.
I greeted six a.m. with no applause
And soon my phone began to me harass.

As if alarm had not been pain enough,
The texts began to pile up thick and deep.
Kurt and Cherie were riffing off the cuff, 
A clear result of brains on little sleep.

The bus's wheels went on their countless rounds
As Thursday's sun arrived to the Midwest
No subject for haiku was out of bounds
In fact, I think we wrote some of our best. 

The moral - brilliant friends will help you find:
The bus will numb the ass but not the mind.