Limping Away

So, the ankle is mostly better (thanks for asking silverplate88). If I'm not on it for any fairly short period of time, it feels completely normal for a while, but just a few minutes of walking causes it to ache again - but not to the point of outright pain. So I keep using the cane as much as possible to rest it.

Did okay by the show on Saturday at the Waterfront Museum and Riverbarge. Went over pretty well, though I think we confused as much of the audience as we entertained. We did the job.

Afterward, Jason Drago had a picture taken of us (I believe it was original "Mr. Romaine" from my 1999 productions, Peter Brown, who took it), modified it, and sent it to us:



(l-r, standing) Aaron Baker (Willie Hammond), Jason Drago (Frank Slade), Danny Bowes (Sample Switchel), Robert Pinnock (Simon Slade), Fred Backus (Joe Morgan), Trav S.D. (producer, Harvey Green), Dina Rose Rivera (Mary Morgan), Ian W. Hill (director, Mr. Romaine), in front, Maggie Cino (Fanny Morgan). The Statue of Liberty is right behind us, blown out by the sun.

A fun afternoon, even with the injured foot and a massive steam whistle (and less massive but still loud steam calliope) being blown at regular intervals. Really REALLY loud. Right next to us.

The barge is in a lovely place on the water at Red Hook, with a nice little park next to it. Red Hook is a bit odd, as Brooklyn native Mr. Bowes - who grew up not far away - noted: projects next to multi-million-dollar townhouses next to a maritime waterfront community (right where we were felt like parts of Portland, Portsmouth, or New Bedford). All within two blocks of each other. It was a little spooky rehearsing down there the night before - dim light on cobblestone streets. I see why it appealed to H.P. Lovecraft for use in a story (he spent a brief, unhappy time in Brooklyn before returning to Providence, RI).

Yesterday, got to take the day off and stay on the couch or in bed, reading - Terry Pratchett's Thud!, the autobiography of Peggy Guggenheim, and the collected Mad comic books.

Today, I had a couple of meetings at The Brick with the light designers of upcoming shows to discuss what can and can't be done. As the meetings were at 11 am and 4 pm, I spent the time in between beginning to write light cues for Bryan Enk's upcoming The Crow: Final, which will be a lighting-heavy show, and which I need to get as early a start on as I can.

The Clown Festival heads to its end this weekend, with some more excellent shows going on. I particularly wanted to promote a couple that I really liked (and which I thought I did some good lighting work on), but I was surprised to discover that one of them - Savage Amusements aka Svetlana Flamingo - closed tonight (with so many short runs, it's hard to keep track). The other one, Solo, is still going on, it's really terrific, and highly recommended here if you're interested in seeing anything in the Fest. It plays this coming Friday and Saturday.

Tonight at home, while reading and writing, a double bill of DVDs of Ken Russell's Tommy and George Lucas's THX-1138. A strange double bill, but what I was in the mood for, suddenly made weirdly logical by their extremely similar final shots.

So we've now moved on to another film where the appearance of the sun has significance, though I'll be hitting the hay before much more of it plays.