Jerking Back and Forth

A week ago I updated from Maine.

Since then, I've driven back to Brooklyn - borrowing my brother's car as Petey Plymouth wound up needing some unexpected work in order to pass inspection here in Maine, where it's registered - and barely made it to the NYIT Awards to lose out on the "Outstanding Lighting Design" award (but had fun celebrating The Brick's Caffe Cino award).

Then Berit and I spent a day lighting the excellent show by Happy Hour now going on at The Brick (through Sunday), and that evening saw the last performance of the hysterical Icetacles/Viva Evel Knievel bill also there in the Amuse Bouche mini-Clown Theater festival we have going on.

Also had a meeting with Trav S.D. regarding the upcoming production of his Kitsch, or: Double Dutch Dumbkopfs that I'm directing for Theatre for the New City (opening in November). Unfortunately, we've lost a couple of actors and are still having some difficulty casting other parts, but that should be settled soon before starting rehearsals around October 5. I'm quite happy with the cast we have (at least those people I know; Trav has cast some people I've not met yet), am looking forward to working on this hysterical script, and hoping to hell that my idea for how to solve the problem of when the four sets of twins, each set played by ONE actor throughout the show -- as this is a loose adaptation of Comedy of Errors set in Berlin the evening the Wall comes down -- all meet at once in the end. At the current moment, the solution involves the concept of "Fake Shemps." We'll see if I can pull it off, blocking-wise.

Also met with Elaine, the set designer for Punk Rock/Love Song, a Horse Trade production NOT playing in one of the Horse Trade spaces, but at our own Brick (!). She had some questions about how best to work some things out in the space, and Berit and I offered solutions that seemed to work for her. I'm pleased that she's using two of the three platforms I built for my August shows (including the 6' cube) so that all that work we put in to them winds up being in the service of even MORE theatre.

Then I had to drive BACK up to Maine so I can get my own vehicle back -- though it was a pleasant 5-hour drive this time, and it means I get to spend a little more time up here, where a New England Autumn has come, and it is lovely and pleasant and cool. There's that special tang in the air that brings back lots of memories of Fall days at NMH from '83-'85 -- some of my fondest memories, still.

So, now, another update from Maine. I just wish Berit could have joined me, but she had to continue running the Happy Hour show through Sunday. Now, I'm here till Monday, probably, and looking for things to do on my own up here -- when Berit and I are here together, we mostly just sit in the same room, reading or playing on computers with the TV on, just vegging out, not actually interacting all that much really, but for some reason it's a lot less fun without B in the room with me.

I'm thinking of going to a local drive-in movie theatre tomorrow or Sunday to see a double bill of Inglourious Basterds and Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 - a PERFECT drive-in double bill - but there's something depressing about the idea of sitting alone in a car at the drive-in (and I don't think one or the other or both of the films will entertain the various family members here - and Berit wouldn't be interested in the Zombie film if she were here either). Still, I may not be able to pass up seeing these films at the drive-in (luckily, it's at the nearby drive-in, which I've never been to, and not the one that's an hour away, where B and I have gone before). I'll probably go on Sunday.

And before then, some hanging out, reading blogs, and doing the regular Friday Random Ten from the 25,551 tracks currently in the iPod (with associated links so you can - mostly - listen along):

1. "The Nearness of You" - Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
2. "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons" - Karl Zero - Songs for Cabriolets and Otros Tipos de Vehiculos
3. "Alone Again Or" - Love - Forever Changes
4. "Look at What I Almost Missed" - The Parliaments - Testify! The Best of the Early Years
5. "Let's Drink to the People" - The Deviants - No. 3
6. "I and I" - Bob Dylan - Infidels
7. "Tiger Roach" - Captain Beefheart & Frank Zappa - The Lost Episodes
8. "Lucy Potato (alternate version)" - Teenage Head - Teenage Head
9. "If You Don't Mind, Mrs. Applebee" - The Human Beinz - Evolutions
10. "The Baker Man" - The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA

No new or interesting videos or photos to post this week -- I seem to be linking to plenty from my Facebook account, which is taking up more of my online interest than this blog these days, but I prefer the form here for writing my weekly updates (and it gets ponged over to Facebook as a note anyway), so I think I'll keep this journal going as long as I'm going. I think I might try to bring it back to something a little more regular, but shorter, with more pictures, something like what Robert Fripp does. We'll see if I can keep that up when I get back home . . .