You Got To Pick Up Every Stitch

And now it's down to the last 7 performances: 3 for Sacrificial Offerings, 2 for George Bataille's Bathrobe and 1 each for Blood on the Cat's Neck and A Little Piece of the Sun. Looking forward to many things at this point -- the final, excellent performances (I hope), the bigger houses (I hope), and having the month done with (I know). If you're planning on coming, get your tickets now, they're going fast (especially for Blood and Piece).

Then, a rest for a few weeks, and then onward to directing Trav S.D.'s comedy Kitsch at Theatre for the New City for November, and planning next year's shows, including the June production of The Wedding of Ian W. Hill & Berit Johnson. Because of that June show, I was only going to do ONE August show next year (the still-germinating Spacemen from Space), but I've been more and more inclined to a matched set of that wild comedy plus a big, nasty, depressing historical drama, maybe with the exact same cast in rep. I won't mention what the drama I'm thinking of is just yet, but it would be a clearer, in-your-face view of the themes of anti-intellectualism and religious repression that underlie Spacemen.

But that's next year . . .

This August has been a really positive experience, probably the happiest for Berit and I of all our work, and we're slightly at a loss now as to how to continue it and build on it from here. Berit says we learn two or three things every year in our work as to how to improve things for next year, and we surely have, but none of them this year is "how to keep the new audience you've gotten and get more." Whenever I think I've learned that lesson, I've been wrong. It's not blind chance that some things hit and others don't, but it's vision-impaired chance, to be sure.

Just to keep up with noting all the press appearances, there's an interview with Bill Weeden about Bathrobe at Broadway World.com, and Aaron Riccio of That Sounds Cool, who previously didn't very much like Piece and Blood (mainly because of the scripts), now somewhat likes Bathrobe and really dislikes Offerings. [UPDATE: I almost forgot Adam McGovern's kind words on Blood over at ComicCritique.blog] Interesting reactions all around, from the Press and the Audiences. There are people who like, REALLY like, each of the shows, but I'm not sure if there's very many who like (or would like) all four except me and Berit. Ah, well. It's a month of shows that does what I wanted it to do, about as well as I'd like. I can stand by them.

And if you're an audience member who's seen any of the shows, and hasn't voted for us in the New York Innovative Theatre Awards, PLEASE DO. All four shows are registered. It means a lot to me.

And meanwhile, back in the iPod, here's the weekly Random Ten from the 25,563 tracks in there today (with associated links, where available):

1. "Boredom" - Mitch Ryder - The Detroit-Memphis Experiment
2. "That's My Girl" - Monks - Black Monk Time
3. "Her Mind Is Gone" - Professor Longhair - Big Chief
4. "Sous Le Soleil Exactement" - Eyvind Kang - Great Jewish Music: Serge Gainsbourg
5. "Sober Driver" - Dengue Fever - Venus On Earth
6. "Rock on the Moon" - The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us
7. "Getting Into The Jam" - Electric Six - Fire
8. "Rap-o Clap-o" - Joe Bataan - Hot Retro Summer - Lazar's Lounge
9. "Garbage Can Ballet" - Harry Nilsson - Skidoo
10. "Bristol And Miami" - The Selecter - Celebrate The Bullet

I have no new cat pictures today, and the little bastards are hiding and sleeping where I can't find them right now, so I can't shoot any.

So, instead, some videos I've enjoyed this past week (if you're reading this on Facebook, you have to click on "See Original Post" to see these) -- a whole load from Brian Auger & The Trinity with Julie Driscoll, all from '68 (it looks like they were all shot in the same soundstage the same day), starting with a long Donovan cover:

And this next one was the "hit," I think -- years later, Driscoll re-recorded it with Adrian Edmondson as the theme for Absolutely Fabulous -- here, Driscoll sings Dylan as she wanders through a field of Readymades:

From faux-Duchamp to faux-Pop (can there be such a thing?) with "Break It Up":

They seem to have blown their budget on set pieces by this point, and have to move on to different lighting and fast editing for "Shadows of You":

They're down to lines on the floor and turntables by the time of "Road to Cairo":

Ah, but they call in the backup dancers for Brian Auger's big moment in the sun, "Black Cat":

And just because I watched this and now can't get the song out of my head, here's a neat animation someone did as a school project for Le Tigre's "Deceptacon":

Well, back to puttering about and errand-running before this evening's shows . . .