Thursday, April 17, 2008

Quote du Jour

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

- Robert Frost

Monday, April 14, 2008

Fun Balloon Animals • Steve Martin

There's no business. . . . like. . .

Click pic to enlarge

Rather than write about what a shitty weekend I had at work, I'm gonna try and convey an ounce of inspiration I received after watching a movie Polly turned me on to. Basically the movie (released in 2007) tracked 4 new musicals from the 2004 Broadway season and tracked them from inception to the Tony Awards. "Show Business: The Road to Broadway" is full of the ups and downs of show business.

It was great see, feel and hear the excitement of the actors, writers, dancers, singers, composers, directors, producers, etc. I was struck with what one woman said. I think she was a director. She was talking about how difficult it is to take an audiences' emotional temperature on any given night. WOW I thought! Where do you stick that thermometer? I'm not sure I even knew that the audience had an emotional temperature. This simple phrase gives me new insight as I evaluate my performances nightly. I quickly discerned that there is a direct correlation between the audiences' emotional temperature and the actual temperature. Over the last several months, I've studied peoples' hang time (the amount of time that someone will stop and watch my show) as it relates to how hot or cold it is. Performing in 90 heat in direct sunlight. . . see what I'm saying. But stop they do, and watch in the heat as we all sweat. So, what does this say about their. . . and mine. . . emotional temperature. I think it says, shows performed after sunset will be received in different light. It's a good 10 degrees cooler today, Lets hope for cooler heads.

Another part of the movie that resonated deeply, is where a director is directing a child actor. In the scene a girl gets in the kids face and says "Boo", he reacts surprised and stumbles back. The director goes off on the kid saying, "Your supposed to be surprised! You look like you know its coming and you're waiting to react." He goes on and tells the kid, "Be in the moment". I really liked hearing this. I pride myself on what I call "Freshness Factor". Is the performer walking through the act or really feeling it EVERY TIME? Having gone to work immediately following the watching of the movie, my head was full of excitement.

Just as art imitates life, the movie wasn't all happy singing and dancing. A fickle public, a lumbering story or just bad timing made the untimely demise of many Broadway shows, some lasting only 1 performance. As my work week ended, I too was faced with the reality of horrible numbers for the week.

I love making people happy with my magic. What can I say. That's what it's all about. I will go out there tonight, still chomping on this stuff ratteling around in my brain


"ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway" theatrical trailer

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Gonna Serve Somebody • Bob Dylan

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Sunday

Feel great about starting the day earlier than usual. Met Aaron at Bronson Canyon at 9AM. we’ve been trying to get out earlier because this week has been a scorcher. It’s almost 90 degrees and barely noon. I love starting my days with a walk, get the blood flowing and stare at tits all crammed into sports bra’s. . . that’s what I’m talking about.

I’m sitting in my auxiliary office in the garage. Lazy boy recliner, laptop, ipod, cell phone / pda, cold glass of water, cigar and a bowl. . . Sheeeeeeeeiiiiitttttt. . . life is good. Tonight I’ll go to work , do my thing. . . rinse and repeat.

Polly got an iPhone a few weeks ago and gave me her old Palm Treo. I’m trying to get back into the habit of scheduling laser focused planning sessions. Back in the day JR had introduced me to the Franklin Covey System of life management. I was a enthusiastic convert for years. Over a year ago I forgot my planner at Chris Korn’s house and never bothered to get it or continue any planning or systematic time management. I’ve taken baby steps to learn how to manage my schedule and syc it with my computer. Liking it. One nice thing about the pda/phone is, you can get a phone call while out and about & set an appointment/event and then directly input it into my calendar with the appropriate categories and alarms. Checking e-mail while out and about is novel as well.

It appears that I am setting myself up to actually get something done. Now the question is WHAT? What do I want to do besides boast a full body tan. . . hmmmmmm. Anyway, I’ll start my planning sessions for the last thing I do before I go to bed. Then after our walk, when Aaron & I hit the coffee shop for “work” time; I’ll have all my ducks lined up to have a productive session of computer time.

Yesterday we went to a different place to work and have lunch. The Yukon Mining Company is a restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd. Who should come in behind us, but none other than Rip Taylor. West Hollywood provides a nice perk, it’s ALL wifi. . . how cool is that.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.a