TOUR RELATIONSHIPS

Tour is the craziest place to deal with relationships. All kinds. You get trapped into thinking that the 40 people you're around in this whacky microcosm are the only people in the world. In normal life you might meet other people through your friends, co-workers, church, bars, or other social activities. On tour all of these grouping blend together.

Touring also makes it hard to deal with relationships at home. You end up not wanting to spend all your free time on the phone or on email but at the same time you still want to maintain the friendships you have outside of tour.

It's a delicate ballancing act but I still don't think I'd trade it for a sack of gold. . .

Travel Day From H - E - Double Hockey Sticks

We arrived at the airport in Madison, WI on Sunday only to find out that the flight that 1/2 of us were supposed to be on to Dallas then to Palm Desert had been cancelled. Not delayed but just plain cancelled for technical reasons.

After a half our of trying to fit these 30 people on flights that simply didn't have room they finally decided that if we just drove to Chicago we could probably make a flight to Orange County that evening. Hoping on the bus we watched 'Anchor Man' as we sped to Chicago.

Now, Orange County being 2 1/2 hours from Palm Desert/Palm Springs the airline had to hire us a bus to take us the extra distance. The cherry on top of the day was, after arriving at Orange County air port two hours later than we were supposed to be in palm desert, the airline had sent our bus to LAX instead.

We waited on the side walk an additional hour and 10 minutes for the bus to come. In the meantime I spearheaded the efforts to order a large selection of pizzas that we picked up and ate (on the bus company's tab) on the way out of town.

But alas we made it and the sun is shining and as Anne of Green Gables would say "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world."

You Just Might Be On a Bus and Truck Tour If. . .

In loving memory of Jeff Foxworthy (I don't think he's actually dead but his act pretty much is)

You can't say 7:00 without saying 7:00 for 7:30.

You never really know what time the bus call, curtain, company meeting or fight call is.

You look at your copy of USA today to figure out what day of the week it is and then get really confused with the Friday/Saturday/Sunday edition.

You haven't seen prime-time-television since Clinton was in office. The first term.

When you're home on layoff you call your mom from your cell phone and demand to know why your room wasn't made up while you were out.

You love, hate, cherish, fight with, make up with, hug, drink with, dine with, live with and laugh with the same 40 people all year.

Everything you own fits in two suitcases and an FAA approved carry on.

You know every rule about flying by heart. Including that on December 22nd of last year it became legal to carry small manicure scissors in your carry on.

You always get out of work after the hotel pool and hot tub have been closed.

And finally You Just Might Be On a Bus and Truck Tour if you're always exhausted but deep down invigorated by the sheer madness and energy of spreading musical theatre bliss across eastern, western and middle America. And sometimes Canada.

THE MAGIC OF LIVE THEATRE. . .

Is starting to grate on my nerves. Yesterday the sky drop that comes in with the Corn Row got caught on something and ended up dumping it's weighted poles onto the stage. Picture javelins dropping from the sky. Luckily none of the cast were hurt and the show didn't have to stop. One of the poles went through our 3 inch show deck and 1 inch into the theatre's actual deck. If it would have hit someone it could have killed them.

Tonight Laurey's mic freaked out on her first entrance. She left the stage during 'Surrey' to have it swapped out and didn't make it back in time for the dialogue. Aunt Eller just sat there Churning butter and Curly kind of swaggered about. Ah the joy of live theatre.

I can't wait until the weekend. We'll be in Maddison, WI this weekend and then fly to Palm Desert on Sunday for a whole week. I plan on laying by the pool, showering and doing the show. Rinse, lather and repeat.

Aerosmith dinner date

Well not really with the members with Aerosmith but with their company manager. Randomly he was in Lexington a few days early and came to the show. Having worked with our musical supervisor and CEO several years ago, he struck up a converstation and invited me out to dinner. Gregg our amazing drummer and I went and had a great time.

Over italian food he regailed us with stories of crazy start demands, groupies, outrageous figures and such. It was really interesting getting some insight into the world of the touring concert market. It's basically the same trials and tribulations of a bus and truck tour but on a ridiculously larger scale. Picture 17 trucks and a traveling crew of 80 not to mention the local call of 120 more to load the show in and out.

Yikes!

Happy Days Are Here Again!

The show has finally gotten back into it's stride and I couldn't be happier. Our director is visiting in a week or so and that will be great. It's always good to have a cleaning to make sure everything stays Kosher. And our musical supervisor will be out in about 3 weeks.

For some reason I've been really giddy lately. I think it's because Spring is almost here. I can't wait for the warm weather, sun, beaches, flip flops, the works!

I bought my teddybear a new outfit today at Build-a-Bear. It's a pair of St. Patrick's Day boxer shorts and a 'Fighting Irish' Notre Dame T-Shirt. He's all pimped out.

I have finally paid off my School Loans! I want to shout it from the roof tops! But I guess I'll settle for just saying it on my blog. 20 K later it feels amazing to be out from under any sort of debt. I don't really know what to do with myself now.

Um, I'm kind of rambling but I got two pairs of jeans yesterday and I like them both. I never find jeans I like so I'm really excited. Of course today at dinner I spilled tomato sauce on them and had to have our Costumer wash them during the show.

That's all.