Never Boring. Well, Maybe.

Two days of solid Clown supervision at The Brick.

Berit's been ill, so I had to take her shifts as well as my own the last two days, which meant two solid days of 13-hour shifts, as besides supervising afternoon techs, I was hired to run board for the show that ran Wednesday at 10 pm, and then had to run board for last night's Cabaret (usually Berit's job) at 10.30 pm. Long, tiring days, with no place comfy to lie down for a rest at any point either (I wound up napping in my car for two hours yesterday before the Cabaret - sitting up as the back is too full of stuff from all of Gemini CollisionWorks' 2008 shows to allow the seat to recline). Shows looked good, still.

Today, Berit's back at work and I have a day off, so I can do laundry and stop stinking. Tomorrow B's back off and I have to run board for a show twice. Sunday, she runs board for a show and then we run to The Knitting Factory to see a performance by Arnold Dreyblatt, who I knew slightly - he was a friend of my dad and stepmom - when I was fairly small. I love his music and it's always a pleasure especially to hear it live.

Spending some time working on my version of Foreman's script, George Bataille's Bathrobe, here and there. Again, as mentioned, the script is just dialogue with occasional stage directions (and sometimes they're hard to tell apart), so I've created a setting and "feel" for the piece, and the characters are emerging, along with actors in my mind I'd like to play them. The main character is indeed "Frank Norris," an elderly writer in jail in some country for political reasons, near death, trying to write his memoirs and being interrupted by figures in his head, dragging him through his past, confronting his failures as he tries to record his accomplishments. The figures as they stand now are four women: Myra, Carla, and The Famous Brundi Twins (Annabella and Bella Ann); and three men: A Doctor, A Man From Another Planet, and A Dandy Fop. And two prerecorded voices, probably played by me, God and The Radio (which may be the same thing).

The dramatic MOVE isn't there yet - what keeps it pushing forward - but I'm discovering more about it as I go through, figuring out who is saying what line, and the conditions under which they're being said becomes more and more obvious.

Not entirely sure WHY I want to do this play, and why now (or rather, next August). It's not the most "enterable" of Foreman's texts for me, it doesn't immediately sing in my head the way Egyptology, Film Is Evil: Radio is Good, Miss Universal Happiness, or Symphony of Rats all did, where I just KNEW what I had to do with them the moment I read them. It's more like Cafe Amerique, where something pulled me to the play, but I didn't really "like" it until I worked and worked and worked on it. I'll know when I get there.

It may be so simple as the fact that it may have my favorite opening and closing lines of any Foreman play. It opens with:

The fighter planes say, "We are alone on Earth. Therefore to speak is an exercise in futility." They are blind. They are deaf. They have no tactile sensations. They consider themselves the most frustrated of beings and drop many bombs without hesitation. The one thing they lust for is aesthetic sensibility, but that too is denied them. I am Frank Norris.

And the last line is:

Some of those people couldn't stand it that the radio was playing. Me, I thought it was great.

One thing I'm enjoying is using ALL the text in this manuscript draft I have from Richard - there are many sections where he's crossed out the typewritten lines and written corrections or new lines in by hand. I'm often using both versions of a section, as if Norris is writing his memoirs, but keeps going back and rewriting sections to make them "fit" what he wants to say better. This has helped get a grip on the form the show should take, all false starts and redos. Should be neat.

Ah, and here's today's iPod Random Ten:

1. "Where Angels Go Trouble Follows" - Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart - 7" single
2. "Jimmie Sings" - Tripod Jimmie - Long Walk Off a Short Pier
3. "Saturday's Child" - The Monkees - Anthology
4. "Primitive" - The Groupies - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, Vol. 3
5. "Flat" - Pere Ubu - Cloudland
6. "Lost Not Found" - UK Subs - Riot
7. "Make Believe" - Pixies - Complete 'B' Sides
8. "Like Young" - Dave Pell - Ultra-Lounge 4: Bachelor Pad Royale
9. "Rubber Gloves" - The Nits - New Flat
10. "Leave Me Alone" - They Might Be Giants - Apollo 18

(this is barely a track, so here's one bonus . . .)
11. "Love" - The Bad Boys - Mindrocker 60's USA Punk Anthology Vol 13

And the last shot of Hooker bugging me for hugs was so liked by people mentioning to me in person that I made another one this morning, as he sat on my lap in a position that allowed easy appreciation of both kitty and the web at the same time:

One show in the ClownFest that knocked me out was Daniel Forlano's A Glass of Wine - always fun and impressive when someone does something onstage in front of you - especially in a small house like The Brick - that you're well aware could seriously injure or kill them if a mistake is made (he does a bit teetering around the room at the top of a ladder that is falling apart on him as he walks it that got the audience more quiet than I've ever heard them in the space, as humor gradually became suspense, then a strange, beautiful mix of both). He did some great juggling and balance bits that reminded me of a clip of W.C. Fields juggling that I had on Beta tape over two decades ago and had long wanted to see again.

Well, hooray for YouTube! Here it is, and if you've never watched Fields juggle, you should really take a look:

( I think this is from IN THE SUMMERTIME )

Back to text work.