Chronicles of Carnia

2010-02-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

GEEZ! So my internet situation has been an annoying one these past few months. I've got about a month left out here this time. nothing really of NOTE per se, though I've got a new video to post - I'll be done here at the end of New Jersey which is in march.
Originally I was supposed to stay through New York as that's a big market - it's the big opening etc. but miscommunication perhaps or who knows ... anyway I'm out on a month and as far as I know, there's no replacement on the way - so if anyone reads this and is or knows a keyboard player who wants to run away with the circus - just say the WORD!

Right now I'm on South Carolina, in some strange coffee shop by the train yard, which seem soddly misplaced, but has free Wi-Fi! - was in North Carolina last week and saw probably the most snow I've ever seen in my life! Guess there's a lot of snow hitting the east coast this year and we're right in the middle of it.
Some of these arenas have stunk cause it's freezing and the place'll be small and all that cold air just comes rushing right backstage and yeah, it sucks. probably sucks more for the dancers who don't wear much as it is - and some dudes that are just plain shirtless for their contortion or strongman act - whatever it is. so ... yup. cold. it's just cold.

next week is Philly which'll be fun - it's kinda cool seeing these cities for the 2nd time around. Philly is where i got kicked out of a bar for the first time ever and ... that's about all i remember. i was hoping to have my buddy, Eli's , bachelor party there, but the schedule is packed - so i'm in the midst of trying to orchestrate that ... possible NJ .. yup, hes getting married in April - back in TEXAS
I'l be back there by then, and it should be fun.

so , it's Philly, then 2 cities in NJ then back home! Later Circus!!

this is a video of how they make our ear molds for in ear monitors and a tour of the BRAND NEW PIE CAR - it's pretty fancies, and cost over 1 million i 've heard. there ya go

here's that video

PR's and World Records

2010-01-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

some quick videos to put down . btw. We're in Orlando now, just pulled in, this afternoon, I think. I slept through the spotting, I guess. Tony (sax - US), Cricket (clown - US) and I had this great idea during last shows yesterday and loud out, to stay up "TILL THE TRAIN MOVES" it's an unofficial post load out tradition i guess one could say. it sure is fun to be up when the train first starts moving though. although in this case. the train was cut up , so the first movement was just to link up the cuts and THEN roll out - a 1 -2 hour process so we were told, so it wasn't THAT eventful of a move, but still!

Anyway . just posting some videos here. So Cricket, as a clown, has to do PRs from time to time. pretty much all the main performers have got to do PRs weekly. THankfully, or maybe not, we band guys don't have to do those. A lot of times . on a day off or 1 show days they've gotta get picked up at 6 AM or sometimes earlier. Psh, whatever with THAT.
BUT they get to be on TV spots or go to schools for meet and greets, or photo ops for the papers in that town. So .... that's cool .
well, here's a TV spot with a few clowns, and some flyers. (trapeze girls) well, some. they do this aerial act. and Eric and Tara (US) are flyers, and Luana (Brazil) who's a dancer . Cool spot. Cricket does most of the talking and he's got this funny little voice which actually isn't TOO far off his "actual" voice. Also, of note, the clown, Ben, is this video is from San Antonio, TX which is pretty neat, as is Oscar the clown. How bout that? (.)

Here's the stinkin' video already!

Some really important circus type news . check THIS out!

pretty important stuff right? (.) so Ivo's (Ivo Silva Jr. - Brazil) been cracking at this all winter quarters and through our first shows. etc. and i've heard people speculate that he'd get it, but not until halfway through the tour or something ... it's a really rare thing, of course, you know this IF, in fact you DID click on the link ....
well, he got it, first city out. right there in Tampa! and the place went NUTS. the band started hollering and i know i missed a bunch of notes in his big Style fanfare music. crazy .
here's his youtube video . etc

Video Surfing

2009-12-10T17:40:00.000-08:00

Oh Boy, so as ya'll can probably presume, there's a whole mess of videos up and around of and by circus folk. I've taken the liberty of sifting through some and putting them up for all of the 3 or so people I'm sure visit this thing ....

a co-worker of ours, er ex-clown I guess I should say, has got a youtube page which i just recently came across after this gem of a video floated around our band rhsl today. It's Chuck Wagner, our ringmaster on 136th ad 138th editions of the G.S.O.E. singing Dancing Queen before pre-show in Auburn Hills at the close of last year's tour. Now, i wasn't there, but it's a fun video and shows off Chuck's fun side. man, he had a great voice. In TWO years on that tour, out of about 800 shows he sang all but 1 weekend! that's amazing for a vocalist. there's an emergency backing track in case a singer gets sick out here .... some "get sick" more often than others.Chuck Wagner- he's just the man.

that clown, Aji, I believe his name was, (I didn't get to know him really, he was new as I was headed out and he's not back this tour) he's got some great video's on his page so check him out - Here's a great one of him putting his clown face on and one of the Bouncers act practicing. Great act, lots of folks' favorite. tough act, these guys are no Joke. That's Sereban there. awesome guy. the only dude I know who can pull off an all white get up and keep his mojo.

oh yeah, so Nintendo Wii put out a Ringling Bros. game of you haven't heard. Some friend put up a link on Facebook not too long ago while i was still back in San Antonio, and it was wild seeing all these people on a TV commercial that I worked with. First you see good ol Chuck coming through the door, then it's all real, quick but there's Boo Booand Laurel behind him. Then the Flyers, and some dancers. Fulkerson's wife is in there. (they even got a free copy of the game if they were in the shoot. He's giving it to his nephew as a gift. ) Cricket's there in the back, he's the one with the green, crazy wig.
Anyway, it's nutty.

in the opening freeze frame - the clowns in the back are Sandor (see Boo Boo link) and Coochie (real name: Henry. My old neighbor on the 90 car)

As you might you might imagine, the circus, both Ringling and Circus as an institution, has a following. Fans, if you will, that know the show dates, collect memorbilia never miss the Red OR Blue Units coming to town. maybe even take some juggling classes and take pictures with all the clowns whose names they've memorized.

maybe even build homemade reproductions of every edition's sets and portals in their bedrooms while singing covers of the ringmasters' song to a video playback with their shirts off.

Chuck used to sing "Over the Top," the theme song for this past edition. We'd play and he'd sing, and it was so nice .... He sounded great. we all had fun playing this song ... sigh...

Winter Quarters 2009

2009-12-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

so, I'm back. we're here. it's the end of week 1 - got my card up and running. the elephants are in, the acrobats are practicing. set's looking good - the welcome back's are done and train living slid right back over me a LOT easier than I thought it would.

we're at the same place on the Florida State Fairgrounds in the same back as last time - only this time it's really muggy and hot instead of really, really cold.

The cast of characters is a little different this time around as well. Shawn (drummer) is gone and so is Mullen(sax), replaced by Steve and Tony.
Tony is our sax guy now and is from the Jersey area, like Mullen and I think Steve is from Buffalo, NY.

Nice guys, I met them a couple of times

while out here subbing a couple of times this past year.

geez, so It's been a year ... I've been in San Antonio, TX for the past year back at the Magik theatre. It was a good year. A show I scored and
Dave Morgan wrote, Jungle Book went out for a 2 month National tour this past summer and that was exciting. read all about it
HERE

so how's the new show? that's what everyone's asking me these days. It's looking to be cool - i haven't been able to get any shots of actual runs and rhsl cause they keep a tight watch on that sorta thing. I've been "strongly advised" not to film or shoot in the house ... but i've got a couple of us rehearsing the back, sure.
But I can write about it! ... I think ...
got the same motorcycle act, no horses anymore, though we do have some llamas, i think ... i could've Sworn I'd seen llamas around there somewhere ...

got a couple of high wire walker ladies, who also do a duo Lyra act (also known as aerial ring/hoop) which I've never seen before here, but i looks great from what little I've seen. The Tiger act is back and there's this pretty cool looking trampoline act by the new Chinese troupe. There's also this teeterboard act that looks CRAZY! This guy's on some kind of Uni-Stilt thing on one end of a see-saw teeterboard. and this other guys jump off this landing and launch him in the air where we flips and twirls and , Ideally, sticks a landing. Pretty cool, and some of my favorite music in the show.

Different composer this time around the music is composed by Michael Picton and it's proving to be good and tough in a couple of spots. It certainly does seem a lot more cinematic this time around.

And that's about it. Tonight was Clown Night where the clowns showed off new acts for consideration. No pics cause I suck, but I will get clown pics for ya'll ASAP. We've got a bunch of new faces and some old ones, and some gone which i'm bummed about. No more Boo Boo, Ketchup or Laurel, and I will miss them. More on that later.

For now, here's a new video made up of completely boring footage of getting ready for work made somewhat interesting by means shown to me in the iMovie tutorials and music.
Enjoy!

going BACK!

2009-11-29T09:27:00.002-08:00

So..... I'm headed back to the Blue Unit, back to the train, back to the circus but just for a few months. A fella named Matt Richard
(ri-SHARD) replaced me this past year after the December break, and I guess he decided the train wasn't for him. So,
Tim Eaton calls me a couple of months ago or so and tells me this news asking if I'd come back for
Winter Quarters and on through New York which is late Feb/Early March-ish, I think.

anyway, it took some prodding and me clearing a lot of schedule and working it out with my current job at the
Magik Theatre but it worked out and here I am in the San Antonio International Airport waiting to get to Tampa.
It might take me a bit to get an internet card set up, but I'll be blogging back up here. To all those back home, stay tuned for WQ and circus blogs. Take care

Circus!

going home

2008-11-18T21:42:00.000-08:00

so, i've recently made the decision to leave Ringling and get myself back to San Antonio, TX that's where i'm from see... i told myself when first starting this job that i'd do it for a couple of years or so - i knew from the start this would be a chapter in my life and not a career. i feel the itch of wanting to go back, to change - maybe back, but definitely change. maybe it's the nature of just about all of us here. being circus folk IS to be nomadic. it seems everyone here has bounced around a couple of times before landing here. who KNOWS how many back stories most of these people have?!

to wanna pick up and go every couple of years or so. i have a friend, Josh, who, as we who know do know, seems to just be in a different place every time we look him up. josh'd be good circus folk.

it's been a great ride, it's been fun, but i'm excited to do laundry in a full sized machine and not have to wait for my 10 or so neighbors to do theirs during the days outside of a run when the machines aren't LOCKED! i'm excited to cut my yard, to check my mail, drive my truck (though, not to pay for gas) to walk my dog, to bbq on my grill, to sleep in my full sized bed, to enjoy a day off NOT on a moving train - to be able to go to concerts because we're always working during showtimes and in arenas. you get the idea :)

it can sound like griping, sure. i was talking to a friend this evening on the phone, talking about the not so greatest points of this greatest show. yes, there are pros and cons, just as there are ANywhere. moving train - cool. tiny room? good and bad - it's cozy, need little cleaning though it needs it more often. interesting neighbors? good and bad. muddy train yards? eh.... free travel? good.

it really comes down to whatever you make of it, and the same can be said of ANything really. as my good friend, Dave once said - it's about just deciding what kind of life you want to lead.
this has been a great chapter, and i regret nothing - there are stories FAR too numerous to tell in the moderately (at best) updated blog of mine. G rated on up kinda stories. hit me up at my house over a beer or back at Eddie's over some of those DELICIOUS lengua tacos, and i'll be glad to tell some of them.

2008-10-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

speaking of flies, it seems we're dropping LIKE them.
i think we've got about 12-14 performers out with injuries right now.

Rollo is one of our star clowns, he's one half of "Pepe and Rollo" (from Spain and France respectively) and they play sort of the sidekicks of Chuck the ringmaster as he battles with Tom Daugherty our Star clown for control of the ringmaster hat and, subsequently, the show. He also does (DID) this awesome part of the show where he played "What a Wonderful World" on the trumpet while balancing on his HEAD!

anyway, Rollo's out with a bad knee and may not return.
we've got a cossack horse rider out with a busted leg something.

two inner tube ukranians out with a bad ankle and wrist.

i think a couple of from our Henan troop are out. one, in particular, Wong Long had a BAD turn of events recently.

for some reason - no accident as far as i know - he's lost his SIGHT!
it was slow going at first, but now he's just about completly blind.
this kid's great too, very charismatic, everyone loves him - everyone's friend - great performer great showman.
here in Denver he had some doctor visits scheduled - and now he's already gone back to China.
i think there was something pressing up against an optic nerve in his brain that caused all this. (information when there're so many people around, it's like a HUGE game of telephone, who can really tell sometime - water cooler news when you're in the circus and everyone speaks different languages )

i hope he's alright
hope not too many more people get hurt

less than great

2008-10-15T18:21:00.001-07:00

we're pulling out of denver here in a bit.
we did TWO weeks here and it felt so LONG. it's weird when you're in a city for less then a week and then do two.
it doesn't seem like much, but take away the train run and load out and suddenly there's all this time on your hands!

we played the Denver coliseum which..... isn't the Greatest of places - there's also the Pepsi center which is more modern and where the Nuggets (NBA team) play.

we got the coliseum, which, it turns out, is a converted Airplane hanger! you can still see the curved ceiling - and it looks like they just plopped old seats along the sides.
there's no second level - the place looks like the have rodeos there - i guess they must since they have horse stalls in the back

which stink

there's not a lot of space either there so most of the dressing rooms where "Curtains and Poles" (it is what it sounds like) with the few available rooms reserved for the ringmaster and start performers and such.

we, the band, got curtains and poles.

we always seem to get placed next to the Flying Casacres (our trapeze troop) either them and/or the nursery.

now, that's always tough because 1) lots of loud crying kids 2) we have to watch our volume and language more than usual. not that we're especially BAD, but we're still smelly dude musicians types.

so, not that much space there - all of our dead boxes (empty road cases) had to go back in the barn/horse area in the DIRT. and most had good layers of dust today when we loaded out.

the worst thing - FLIES, SO MANY STINKING FLIES in this place!

nice part was there were a bunch of tables and chairs set up near our pie car - that's rare. bad part - that's where the flies were.

haircut

2008-09-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

i think i'm due for a haircut.

and what that means around here, for me at least, is that i'll be making a visit to Xu Pin.
He offered to cut my hair one day and i took him up on it. it turned out great and i saved some money.

Xu Pin and his brother are the coaches for the Chinese Henan troupe. They do the final act of the show - This great Swinging Pole act where they're flying upside down across moving swinging poles. This isn't them here, but this is pretty much their act and those poles look exactly the same as our guys'. heck, it may BE our guys! in this video the acrobats are MASKED, but the routine's a little different - all the same - this is pretty much it.

Xu cuts all the hair for the 15 or so guys on the troop and he's also on the same casual labor crew with myself, Li Pan Pan (one of the acrobats), Vivian (Brazilian dancer) and, as of late, Wages.

my story here wouldn't be complete without mentioning these folks. Along with Eli, Jeff, and Buda (the sound guys) these are my load out and load in people. These are the folks i'm pushing boxes, driving forks, and loading trucks with till all hours of the morning in some cases. It's been a challenge working together when there're so many languages involved, but we make it work.

For the most part, the Chinese all at least know two phrases : "Good" and "No Good" which kinda comes out "gooduh" and "no gooduh" This is about the extent of Xu PIn's english vocab, though he also knows "Box" and "Finished" "bye bye" and our names. We've learned some work specific words like how to say "Pull" or "Push box" and "Water" and "Finished" as well as some not so appropriate words! Between all that and rudimentary sign language and the occasional drawing, the jobs get done, and even some jokes get told and news gets relayed.

Li Pan Pan is younger, 20, i think, as is Vivian who speaks Portuguese. They get a long well and joke around a lot - Li Pan knows more english phrases, which is the case for more of the younger members of the troupe and he seems to like Michael Jackson as he is constantly singing into his pretend mic and mimicking spins and moonwalks across the arena floor. Meanwhile, Vivian knows her own set of english and understands most of my spanish as i'm slowly picking up some of her portuguese -
so between us all, somehow, all the speakers and microphones make it from one city to the next, and i think we have fun doing it.

forklift

2008-09-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

so, tonight at load out a forklift backed over my foot

it hurt

nothing was broken

it feels alright now, i guess, maybe my ankle hurts a little when i MOVE it

i'm gonna put some ice on it and see if it hurts in the morning, i figure it

just might

we'll see

we're on our way to salt lake city now.
i've never been there. this'll be a little longer of a train run at 700 ish miles (from stockton, CA)
we're scheduled to be spotted tuesday at 3 pm

veterans predict we're spotted around midnight

Northwest Train Run

2008-09-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

i love the train runs. everyone does - if there's anything we can pretty much all agree on is that. people may have their grudges with the job, and, for the most part, they're legitimate : long hours, weird hours. small rooms, lots of shows, and grueling load outs at the end of each week.

but, once that train starts moving it seems as if all is forgiven. it's the best part of the job hands down. it's one of the first things people ask about and it's one of the first things i mention. there's nothing else really that can describe it, or, i can imagine, can match it. it's just one of those things that there is nothing else like.

of course i suppose there's a lot of those. nothing else is like eating oysters or bungee jumping right?

there have been some great runs and some okay runs. of course the longer they last, the better. a nice long 2 day run is great, but they're usually about a day. the shorter ones are a little less than a day, and everyone now and then we get a nice long 3 day one.

this one through Oregon and Washington was one of the prettier ones, and my first time in this part of the country. great hills and trees and lots of tunnels which are a favorite around here.

Bridges, tunnels , large views, loops and bodies of water.

all good things

going away

2008-09-05T14:56:00.000-07:00

last night there was a going away party for pie car melissa. we're in everett, WA now, and she's originally from portland, OR. most people seem to leave around their hometowns if it works out that way.

so when someone leaves there's usually a big sha bang in their honor - birthdays and going aways.... those are the big parties, and one or the other is never too far away.

she mentioned last night that as she was saying goodbye to people it felt like she was getting out of prison.

i've heard that same comparison made a few times. though i suppose a lot of people refer to their jobs as prison, right? that's not too unusual. now, i've never been in prison, so i can't really speak for that demographic, but i suppose i could see how a couple of things Might be similar :

small confined room
close quarters
community showers
dirt and gravel for a front yard
prison looking school bus

of course, all that could be college too, so i don't know...

it can be a very, very Very monotonous life. if you let it be.
just to BE out here isn't very hard at all - granted that a couple of things like space and travel don't bug you. but if that's the case, there's not a whole lot you need to worry about. there're busses that pick you up outside your room on the hour to take you to your place of work's doorstep. the bus takes you to the grocery store and brings you right back, and there's even a pie car at the building and the train for food. and that's it. that's all you NEED really, and for a lot of folk that IS all they do - and it's worked for them for YEARS. mail comes to you at the building. you don't have to cut your yard or re-shingle your roof.

sometimes the hours aren't great. the worst stretch for techs must be a six pack then load out (ending at sun up Monday a lot of times) and an overland right from load out to a pre-rig that same night or crack of dawn Tuesday for load in Tuesday.

it can be rough

in any case - people usually seem to be both happy and envious of those who "get out"

low profile

2008-08-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

we went to the mall and movies today. we being, stilts Dan, Fulk, Ketchup, and dancer Vivian. this is a big deal now - going to the mall. going to anything, really is an event. things like going to a movie, or a bowling alley. even if there's a convenient store within walking distance it's a big deal. most of our time here, transportation wise, is dependent on the bus to and from the arena, and city transit once we're there.

anyway, thats not the point. this sprint phone guy at a kiosk started trying to chat it up with us, while we were looking at a mall directory. he started off asking about where we worked, if we all worked together, where we were from. i guess we kinda get that a lot depending on who we're with. as much as we try to just blend in with normal people, something about a group of us walking around just sticks out, i guess.

so this guy's asking about us, and as i was nearest i guess it was up to me to respond. he was asking about where we worked or if we worked together, and i side stepped the answer a bit. we don't really like mentioning that we're in the circus. i've noticed more and more as i've been here that i'm reluctant to drop the "C" bomb early or at all in conversation.

not sure why that is.... not everybody likes the circus, clearly, and in some cases the mention of it can be met with downright hostility... but that's not always the case.

usually, when it comes up, people can't believe it, and they want to know more, and that's nice, but i guess it's that we just don't wanna talk about it. i've noticed that not too many of my posts are about the show, and i know why That is.

we play a LOT of shows.... i can't overstate this... sometimes, it's as little as 5 or 6 a week, but usually it's 8 - 11 and it's a 2 and a half hour show here. since january of this year we've done over 300 shows. it's roughly 400 shows a year .... of the EXACT SAME SHOW (excluding missed cues and the occasional mishap, of course) if there's anything ALL of us here on the show can agree on is that when there's not show, we'd rather not even think about it. the monotony of that one element (the main element, i suppose ) is the thing that we all try and avoid. so, we go out, see this, do that. the train runs are fun and different. the market runs are at least to different stores....but the show stays exactly the same every .... single..... time...

and, this can be a little maddening after a while, and so i find myself doing things and enjoying other non-show things for NO other reason than they're simply NOT the show.

2008-07-25T00:14:00.000-07:00

one day i was on a slow moving train riding through the western desert at 3 in the morning standing out in the vestibule with people named cricket and checkers. we were watching Dan, the stilt walker from Brazil, spit fire out of the vestibule window. in the moments after that, i saw the person named checkers run a prophylactic through her nasal passages, and subsequently out of her mouth. then there are days like today, where you simply wake up early for a split show day (mid-day or morning show and the usual 7:30) and gather some food to take to the building (whatever arena we're in). you go to a crowded bus that takes you off to perform a show that you've performed over 250 times in the past 6 months.

Old New york stuff

2008-07-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

i ran across this while browsing on Youtube. Back in March when we played Madison Square Garden, they had this big fancy party thing at some MSG ballroom. For most of us, it was a chance for free food, free drink, and , at best, a decent DJ (there wasn't one).

But people got all fancied up, and that's always fun to see. So, i guess this thing called the
Barry Z show was there the whole time interviewing the big shots while we stuffed our faces.

Here we have Nicole Feld being interviewed by this "Z" guy. Nicole is the daughter of Kenneth Feld who owns Ringling as well as all of the Disney On Ice shows. He wears really nice pants.

Then he interviews Tom Daugherty who is the star clown here on the 138th edition. He is the foil to Chuck Wagner 's ringmaster. Tom graduated from Clown College back in the day and his name is known throughout the clown world. Chuck had various roles on Broadway - he's got a great voice and a huge personality. Both these guys have made quite a name for themselves outside of this tour and they carry the show well.

so check out the video i guess ...

i don't much about that Barry Z guy, but he scares me ... especially his hair.

hot

2008-06-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

it's just plain HOT out here in the west. i guess that should go without saying when one realizes that it's all DESERT out here., but i mean HOT. in two weeks out here - mostly, Phoenix and Las Vegas - the lowest high was 106 or 105 i think. and the highest was 112!! that's hot!! i don't care if it's "dry" or not.

stupid

we just finished a string of really great cities - Colorado Springs and Las Vegas and are now in Phoenix.
Colorado Springs was great! the highlight of which was THE best train yard on the tour (from what i'm told) There was a park there, with GRASS and a playground, and a pool, tennis courts, and a basketball court. Right on the other side of the park was a beautiful college campus. In fact, one of the days there a bunch of our south americans played a game of futbol with some kids from the college on their soccer field. These type of opportunities don't come around often at ALL out here in train life. our world is navigated mostly by foot or by cab. A few folks have bikes and a few folks have their cars out here and they drive instead of taking the train runs, which, if i haven't made it clear enough, are THE best part of being out here .

So, anyway. the yard was amazing. We ad some great cook outs at the park. i got to play basketball, which i hadn't done in almost a YEAR, and during one of our cookouts Fulkerson brought out his new set of 4 congas, a djembe, some agogo bells, and claves and a few of us just had some fun as "Normal" folk were passing by.

That was the other unusual thing : there were just a bunch of locals, just normal locals walking around our train yard/their park. A train yard is traditionally a pretty isolated place - and in most cases it's a downright undesirable place to be. If we get some greenery, some flat space for a grill, and a little mart or convenience store that's within walking distance then it's gonna be a good week. but sometimes, it's really rocky and uneven right off the track, and in bad cases it's an isolated, not-so-great neighborhood where ya gotta watch here you walk.

then, there was Vegas. Vegas was cool. i'm glad of all my vices, (which aren't many, but ARE beloved) gambling isn't one of them. i lost $15 bucks at the slots and that was about all the gambling i had an appetite for apparently. i Did stay up all night and see the sun rise over Treasure Island though, and there's plenty of places to go exploring so it was never boring and i got to see my second ever Cirque de Soleil show, O, and that was pretty ok.

the strip was so much to take in. just lights, and lights and lights. and the place never slowed down. now, i've been to new york, and i gotta say las vegas really DOESN"T ever sleep! and when you're in these casinos it's difficult to tell what time of day it is, what with the tinted windows, and no clocks, and dizzying floor plans and WAY too many mirrors EVERYWHERE!!! I'd never SEEN so many mirrors!! and, of course since there were so many ... it looked like there were THAT MANY MORE !

we played at the Orleans Arena located conveniently at The Orleans Hotel & Casino. Michael Bolton was also playing there in the hotel's other theatre at the same time as we were. I didn't see Mr. B, but i didn't meet the girl who played trombone in his band, and his drummer as well - i guess that was cool. albeit, they were the GREATEST trombone player and drummer, respectively, on Earth. THOSE people's services have already been retained by the good people here at Ringling, of course.

Crowds were great the whole week - being in the same place to a hotel brought a lot of tourist of course, and being in a city with a lot of entertainers living IN it was a factor too. I heard the phrase "Vegas is Ringling's graveyard" apparently, a lot of ex-ringling people end up with stationary jobs here in vegas on some show. Eli (our greatest sound guy on Earth) is friends with the sound guy on Cirque's Ka show, and i believe that guy used to be circus on the Red show ...

so, i it was nice to play for other entertainers - the show can get so monotonous that it's cool to know there's an audience who's more aware of what's going into what we do than the average bear. not that we don't perform well for the general public, but performers know that performers tend to put a little bit more "paprika on the shish kabob" for other performers, if ya know what i mean!

2008-06-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

so, some pretty exciting news from Clown Alley.
every tour, apparently, they design and produce and sell a Clown Alley t-shirt. Some resident clown with the steadiest hand will draw a design for the shirt, and they rattle it off and sell it to the rest of us , for a little buck and it's tradition.

now, i didn't get last tour's shirt for a few reasons: i came mid-tour so 1) they were all out of my size, and 2) it didn't really feel like my tour anyway, and 3) i didn't think that design was all that great. I ended up getting a left over XL freebie by the end of the tour, that i have YET to wear, but it's a keepsake, of course.

so, the point of all this
is that the new Clown Alley
t-shirt came out recently,
and i snagged some up
since they're so COOL

John, whose clown name is Squeak, designed the shirt. John is a first year clown here at Ringling come to us from Minnesota. He's got a knack for visual art and did a comic style design here where each of the Alley members are depicted as an appropriate super hero. Ketchup, for example, is Wolverine. Cuchi (real name Henry who is from Peru, and lives two doors down from me) is depicted as Zorro. There's also Luigi and his wife, Sylvia as Mr. Fantastic and the Fantastic woman. John drew himself as Spider-Man which i presume is his favorite. It's really a nice looking shirt and on the back is a handy dandy legend so you can match up your favorite clown to his/her super version.

and, of course, the blue rings on the sleeve and neck make it so stylish

ketchup & boo boo

2008-05-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

"ketchup" & "boo boo" are the nicknames of two clowns here on the show, and good friends of me and my neighbor, John Fulkerson - resident Greatest Trombone Player on Earth.

Their real names, of course, are NOT "ketchup" and "boo boo." They are Akosh and Gabor, respectively, and are just two normal twenty-something guys who also happen to be clowns. We still CALL them boo boo and ketchup though, i rarely hear anyone call them by their real names except each other. their real names are Hungarian, because that is where they are from, Hungary.

now, boo boo has been here since november of 2003, i believe, and ketchup started his life as a ringling clown in december of 2006. their story is a lot like performers from other troupes in that they knew each other back home, trained together, and,though not in boo boo and ketchups case, performed together. they learned and studied their circus skills together at the Hungarian State Circus Academy.

i didn't even know there were circus schools until i got here ... i mean, i it makes sense and all, i wouldn't think there WEREN'T circus schools ... that sort of thing just didn't occur to me back in the "normal" world. here, we've got from left to right: ketchup, boo boo, sandor (pronounced SHAWN-dor who also went to the school with boo boo and ketchup) and ben, who's from america. (which, one finds out is just kinda bland after a while out here ... American's, that is.)

these 4 guys do an old school muscleman routine for pre-show. all they need are some handlebar mustaches and dumbbells that say ACME and it'd be complete.

they're just regular guys though, that's the thing about everyone out here - sure, there's a couple of eccentric people, but most are just people doing a job .... that happens to be in a circus. boo boo is really interested in hand balancing and practices that and his hat tossing and catching it on his head all the time. he also loves music and has started taking piano lessons from me. we meet on sundays in between shows and he's got some skittles already.

now, ketchup is more of the party guy. he's the guy yelling down the hallways, with his sideways speech. he'll just knock on your door and stick a cup in front of your face when he's ready to socialize and it's hard to ignore a ketchup when one's in the room. and, true to his clown nature, he's ALWAYS laughing. this guy just loves life, good food, and good friends. i recently flew home to visit my girlfriend, and he gave me ten bucks for the cab ride to the airport... "just in case." well, as fate would have it, i would've been about 10 bucks short! he's a good guy, and we both thank you, kecthup!
his background is mostly in russian bar where he was a catcher.

here's ketchup performing with his old troupe in 2006

on the first and every other trick, ketchup is the one facing the woman.

as you can see, it takes quite a bit of strength to do this. and, as you can see, ketchup's a bulldog. he's basically a hungarian wrecking ball who also happens to be a clown. now he's never one to pick a fight, but he's a good buddy to have walking back home to a train yard from downtown at 3 in the morning, i'll tell ya that much.

so, that's ketchup and boo boo. two of my neighbors, and two of my friends.

getting through a six-pack

2008-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

so, a few cities ago during a six pack - that's 3 shows on saturday and 3 on sunday - me and Mullen, the greatest saxophone player on Earth, made a video.

see, a six pack can be a mind numbing monotonous experience - or it can be done before you knew what happened . either way it involves being at the arena from 9 ish in the morning until 10, 11 ish at night.

it's mostly mentally hard, just psyching yourself up for each show, trying to put fresh energy and attention into something that by now, we've done, EASILY over TWO HUNDRED times! this year.

on a sidenote - we had an absolutely HORRIBLE 1st show the other saturday .... i think - (after a while they kind of all run together) or maybe it was the 2nd show of the day, can't quite remember now .... anyway, the point IS that is was HORRID.

we, the band were all Over the place, people looked tired and dis engaged. the clowns looked ragged and bored. star clown at a slow pace. animals missing tricks. motorcycles not working - awkward transitions as a result of ... my point is, to all those at that show or any like it ... we're SORRY, we do this DAY in and DAY out, and although we're usually pretty good about showin' up for the big dance with our A-Game each and every time .... sometimes.... it just ain't in the cards ... it's not you , it's us.

ANYWAY

in between shows we get about an hour or so off in which people eat ... practice .... nap ... internet ... music ... tetris.

all of these are favorites of we blue unit band members - except for the Practice one. (that was a little joke, see? :)

Mullen likes to play around on GarageBand a lot - he really gets into it collecting jam packs with different instruments and whatnot. so we're there sitting, eating and he's going through this new pack of Orchestra Samples and plays this Orchestra Hit sound ... you know, like M.C. Hammer used to overuse back in the day or one that accompanies the sudden scare "Boo" in a horror flick.

well, Obviously and ACTUALLY, this would LITERALLY get my attention and make Mullen and I roll over laughing and do this video . . . and get me asking why "Da Hammer" didn't cross over into horror movies.

In the film Mullen is pretending to look for me to tell me i'm late for the show and should hurry here Mullen plays this Great "spooky movie, low cello" sample that worked out really well.- i dismiss him at first, (or ... pretend to, really - i'm not REALLY talking on the phone with anybody) but then the sudden jolt of realizing what's going on HITS, i mean .... it just hit me - exhausting, really. :/ Mullen did the narrating, camera work, AND sound effect all himself, and i'd just like to take this chance to say what i great job i think he did. Great Job, there Mullen!

2008-04-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

it's somewhere around 2 in the morning, i think.... i am in philadelphia. (i JUST checked my dvd copy of the Movie philadelphia starring tom hanks and denzel washington to check my spelling of the city's name) i just got to my room from load out. since i've been here i've tried to make it a point NOT to call my room "home" when referring to it. i didn't just get HOME, i got back to my ROOM. but, earlier i told a friend i'd call ... "after i got home." i find recently more and more THAT'S what i say.
we are connected back up (the train had been spotted/parked in two "cuts" for this yard) are are awaiting rolling on. this is one of the most exciting times of our week - a train run.

anyway, i'm sitting here ..... right now....
on a train

i live on a train. this is where i live. a train is what i live on.

my room, my things, my self and my soap .... are on .... a ...... train.

living is a thing that i do ...
and i'm doing that thing on .... a train. on a circus train.

this is real. i am in the circus and i live on a train . there's a clown 2 doors down! that is a true thing

that tom hanks movie , that we discussed earlier, .....

is on this train here .... with me ..... where i'm ... doing my living

me.

i live ...

LIVE

on a train

pie

2008-04-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

birthdays here on the circus are a fun event - there's a tradition, i've found out, for the clowns to "pie" you on your birthday. as you might imagine, when it's your birthday it's in all of your friends and co-workers best interest for you to get pied. so, of course, they're all in cahoots with the clowns.
now, if your hush hush about it, then it can lie under the radar, but that's difficult because the Clowns have spies and people on the payroll that you may not even KNOW about.
and since everyone knows about it, of course they're on guard so it's quite an occasion when it gets off successfully.

it was right after a show, i think on a 3 show day, and right as i came off of the bandstand Amber (prop, now lights) walks right up to me and strikes up some convo. This was new, but i stood there, and i slowly realized that she wasn't talking about ANYthing. a change in the wind, a quick glance, but too late. Right from behind, Squeak the Clown pied me. He pied me good, he pied me hard. good thing i had glasses on.

most times, if it done right, it's a complete surprise, i, at least, realized what was going on a split second before. not poor Wages. Cricket the Clown got right as we lured him out of the dressing room. As his bandmates, it's our responsibility to ensure a public pie.

touring 101

2008-04-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

i'm constantly amazed at how this show runs. i'm speaking specifically about loading in and loading out. setting up and tearing down all of our things, putting it on the train and moving to the next town to do it all over again.. to come in on opening day and see the whole thing set up is easy to take for granted. we finish our last show for a city on a sunday night around 10:00 and sound check in the next town is usually around 2:00 pm on that very wednesday.

now, load out usually takes anywhere from 6 to 10 hours depending on how easy or hard the building is to get out of. (where the loading docks are and how many there are is usually the biggest factor) so a load out will finish in the wee small hours of a monday morning, then we drag ourselves back to the train for a much earned shower and sleep and a wonderful train run. load in will be in that tuesday starting in the morning - around 6 or 7 and last into the night.

now, there's a small crew that doesn't do the train run, but instead do what's called an "overland" which just means that they go by bus to the next city, ahead of the train. (we realize that both train AND bus do indeed go OVER land, but that's just what we call it, so there)

the purpose of this is to do what's known as Pre-Rig. department heads and whoever signs up to help or is needed (i'm not entirely sure the exact personnel, i think it rotates week to week...) all go on the overland for pre-rig which leaves right after load out.

6 am - finish load out
9:15 - bus from New York to Philadelphia (where i'm at now)
3:00 pm - pre-rig in Philly.

so, essentially, anyone crew member doing an overland is almost working/up for 2 days straight just about every week! :/
that's a little nuts - they are put up in hotels (since the train isn't there) and i think, they're given a meal allowance.

still - crazy.

finally get some sleep on monday night, get up to load in for usually 12 or more hours on tuesday.

simply nuts

itchy

2008-04-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

the odd thing about living on a train is that, from time to time, it moves. it's a mobile home in all senses of the word. even more so than what we're used to knowing as mobile homes. i've actually lived in mobile home a couple of times in my life - interesting times, great stories, but it Didn't move, not once.

now, the interesting thing about living on a train for an extended period of time is that, if it Doesn't move, it feels .... well..... weird.

we played East Rutherford, NJ, then NYC, and today we're loading into East Rutherford ... again. The train has been spotted in Seacaucus, NJ which is a 10 minute amtrak ride into NYC and a 15 minute bus ride from our engagement in East Rutherford.

so, we've had no reason to move for the past 3 weeks or so, and we're going to be moving until this upcoming Sunday night/Monday morning.

now, if a train doesn't move, then it's just like any other place that people live in and doesn't move - and really, considering the sizes of our quarters and general change in living conditions, the MOVING is the coolest thing aBOUT this place.

no train runs apparently manifest itself in humdrum, agitated, weary circus folk.
guess i've gotten used to to those weekly rides and wonderful sleep. maybe i could suggest that just once a week in those cities where we play this long - they could just take us out for a quick lap ... you know, just so we can keep our heads on straight.

New York City

2008-03-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

so, now we're here in NYC and it's a pretty exciting thing to be playing in Madison Square Garden. we just loaded in today and despite the rain and a little cold - i'm pretty pumped. this looks to be a hectic schedule and there'll be all eyes on us because NY is our biggest market for the tour.

the Times is supposed to reviews us, and from what i'm told, that's a big barometer for how the rest of the tour will go.
a crazy piece of trivia, is that, as of the middle of March we've already done ONE HUNDRED shows !! that's crazy to think, but it's true. so, the difficulty now is that the show is starting to run on auto - speaking for myself i suppose and no one else, but i imagine it might be similar for others. the show is definately running more smoothly now, and people are hitting their cues right on - and it's that exciting part of a production where the show kind of starts to become what it's going to become.

all these things are great, but it's part of the job to make the repitition sound fresh i suppose. i'm excited about the city - gotta see some broadway shows and i'd like to go to the Met. the empire of course, but i've noticed that the statue isn't that high up on my wish list - i suppose if there's time sure ... we'll see - either way i'm sure it'll involve as little sleep as possible.

birthday continued

2008-03-06T11:46:00.000-08:00

after recouping from the Super Karaoke madness we drove up the mountain. the air was crisp, our spirits were high, our bellies were full and the windows were down.

check out the christmas trees! ->

John and Kevin took us up these two trails, Lost Cove Cliff and Harper Creek Falls. Now, they're both from here and these, we're told, are the best trails taking into account time available and the hiking comfort of the group.

firmly confident that our day will be a good one, and that our guides are trustworthy and knowledgable of the mountain- we press ahead

now, i forget which trail we took first, but i do know that the first one wasn't as steep as the second one. it was a relatively easy walk - don't get me wrong, we were breathing heavier than is usual and were definately sweating, but it was a good - you feel your whole body working, kinda way.

after treking up the narrow, leaf covered, slightly moist, sometimes tree root riddled path, we got to our first great view.
there was this waterfall and we came out from our trail at the top of it where we enjoyed a relaxing moment.

we all laid on our bags with a shirt covering our faces and just breathed in the scene.
after going back down, we went back the other trail which was significantly steeper to climb though the payoff was great at the end.

halfway-ish up this beast was an apple orchard albeit dead for the season, it was a nice break spot seeing as we were pretty out of breath by then. But, of course a steep climb means a great view and that's nothing less than what we got!

Sure, the walk was rough and slippery in places. Sure, there were times when we wanted to turn back, thought we could climb no more. True, I had doubts that my legs would last, but it was that faith in our comrades and knowing that no one is going to admit outloud that THEY'RE tired that kept us pushing forward. And, in the end we were on top of the world!

going to work

2008-03-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

i am seriously almost done with a new post, but i wanted to put this video up since it's quick and easy. I finally got my new camera - and it does video as well, so this is just a trial from that. we're there in Hamtpon, VA and we're just getting off the bus headed into the arena, the Hampton Colesium if i remember correctly.

nothing fancy, I'm just meandering backstage looking for the band dressing room when i run into Shawn, our drummer who kindly directs me. looks like he's enjoying some lovely pie car food, which just got a new paint job! it got a little banged up a little while back, and we had to endure local roach coaches in the meantime. We were excited to have our beloved pie car back and it's back to normal complete with complaining about pie car.

catch up

2008-02-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

alrighty ... so, winter quarters has long been done, and with that, followed a period of decompression. i think that period just completely drained everyone, and even just now do i feel recovered. it feels more like we're touring again. our first few cities after WQ were all in Florida, a state which, is nice but not when you only see the state fairgrounds and train and that's it, that's it!, that is IT!!!

the plan is to travel up the east coast - as of now, we're in Virginia - norfolk, to be exact. but we'll get there . first, some 2008 highlights

this was my first new year's in a train yard - and it turned out not to be so different from a regular train yard party - and f.y.i. there really AIN'T no party like a train yard party. no fireworks though ... i know, it sounds like a such blasphemy, but it's true. there was lots of music and wonderful cookies from a very special friend. (thanks again!) however, so, all in all, i give it a thumbs up. remember, new year's was not only new years it was also one of VERy few days off, so everybody was really just too exhausted to get really crazy. we did 6 day weeks and 10-12 + hour days .... yada yada yada, did i mention the bisque?

right, so new years... good.

then.... there came something called my birthday - this occured circa February 7th - that was a thursday, but i started celebrating around Feb. 3, a Sunday, as SOON as our last show for the city was over.

i completely skipped out on load out and load in. load out was right after the show sunday night. load in was, i believe, on tuesday. the point is, we had from sunday night till wednesday when sound check was scheduled at 1:00pm.

plenty of time for
1) Super Bowl Watching - i'm not a huge fan, but it Was a great game.
2) Karaoke House Party
3) aMAZING food
3) cool house with a porch swing and
4) hiking in the Appalachians

these first few are from the house of John's stepmom's side of the family's house .... they were having a Super Bowl party
and were most accomodating.

now, i've never been much of a karaoke guy, but, as you can see, that's exactly what took over the evening after the game. they also had a pool table in the garage and a BBQ grill out there, so you really couldn't escape the food.

Some folks got down with some songs in Tagalog, which we didn't really understand, but enjoyed fully, nontheless. Joon (someone PLEASE correct me if i spelled that wrong) got stupid on the mic to a song that i dubbed Tagalog Tool! He was rockin' That's him in the orange shirt.

everybody got their turn on the mic, but when melissa played MC and started doing the robot to Technotronic's big 90's hit : "Pump Up The Jam" it's safe to say the party got crazy. Admittedly, i got in on the action when i found Radiohead's "Creep" on the playlist. and we all brought the house down with Ace of Base's "I Saw The Sign" simply ... NUTS!

a great homecoming for fulk, and a great start to my birthday week.

here's a shot of Fulk's house in Boone, NC. it's so cozy it's ridiculous. we got there the day after and recouped from the Super Bowl madness. I mean, just LOOK at this place! How could you NOT relax?! And what better place or hosts to show us around North Carolina?

just look at this lovely living room and porch. John grew up in this house and another in the same area. the mountains around here are beautiful, it's the start of the Appalachians - the Blue Ridge, I believe.

I'll put all the hiking Pics in another post, so ... don't fret!

no excuses

2008-02-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

but, really, there are some good excuses why i haven't posted in far too long. my woes with electronics seem never ending - but isn't that the way with em? so, as people may or may not know - i lost my lil' sony camera back in Boston, circa last october. i've been making do with photos from my camera since then, but my search for a new photo taking device started promptly and i'm happy to say i'll be purchasing the Canon S5 camera this upcoming friday! i'm quite excited about it and have already purchased a camera bag and accesories!

anywho, my computer is the next victim - my laptop has lived a long and glorious life and i fear the end is near. the screen has started to black out and some applications don't like like they oughta ... with help from my good friend, Eli and his "radio shack in a bag" i'm able to use my comp, vie my magnavox TV screen, which ..... works, though it's annoying, and certainly compromises the mobility of said laptop. it does buy me time, though, and i'll still be getting the camera and back to taking wonderful photos and making more stop motion movies, which is really quite fun.

again, i aplogize for the lack of posts, there are several great stories, involving characters with names such as Terrell, Heather, Kevin, Boone and events such as birthday pies, appalachian hiking and phillipino karaoke. no joke :)

please be patient.

a semi- normal christmas

2007-12-28T07:44:00.000-08:00

so, i ended up going with shawn and mona, over to their friends' debbie and petes' house. eli and i , that is.
shawn warned us that it'd be rather boring : "it's just gonna be some people sitting around, watching movies, and they've got kids - so, we're just waiting for santa to come around"

well, that just sounded fantastic to us. back at the train, we had the next day off, it was christmas, and it was one of the dancers birthdays - all this means, loud, crazy party at the train. now, for the past few weeks and off nights, it seems people have chosen to gather right outside of 90 car (car 190 - i.e. the car i live on)

after work, we were all pretty beat, and i was looking forward to a nce quiet night og blog writing, movie watching and chess playing ( quick plug here for GAMEKNOT it's my new addiction and i invite ANYONE reading this to play a game or two, it's an online chess site, and it's awesome, and they don't pay me)

anywho, i know such a quiet evening would NOT be had given the afore mentioned factors, so this normal evening sounded perfect.

check this place out! there's a chirstmas tree, wood floors, a tv set, and best of all .. COUCHES! the kids were hayley and ethan and were very charming as they were all excited about ol st. nick's arrival- hayley organized a plate of cookies with a generous variety of pastry and a glass ready for milk. the glass was decorated in greek images - a "greece" glass, in case santa hadn't been to greece yet, of course. like i said, charming. they reminded me of some former piano students of mine so i was very entertained and pleased with the evening.

mona is, perhaps, the most complimentary of this here blog, and i truly appreciate her readership. everytime she visits shawn she mentions a recent post, and how much she enjoys it - that's cool and feel good to hear since i have such an incredible ego that needs stroking quite often. at the house i told her i just posted a new one (the last one) and she rushed to grab a computer ( about a 10 on the ol ego-stroke-a-meter) i thought this a perfect oppurtunity for a little slice of carnia history.

this is a photo of mona (the bloggee) taken by me (the blogger) of her reading the blog, while being told by the blogger (me) that this photo would then be used to blog said moment, THUS the pun of mona seeing a photo of herself doing what she is doing at the very INSTANT of reading these very lines, while reading text descirbing what she's doing both NOW and THEN, but with the then and now boundries being crossed as she is temproally disected while remaining consciencely where she is now ... is complete.

so, to recap - christmas:good
house : awesome
kids : great
shawn : great photo subject/satisfactory chess player
lists : convenient
company : perfect
pictures : funny

so this is christmas?

2007-12-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

tomorrow is christmas eve and it certainly doesn't feel like it. we've got rehearsals tomorrow. we've been doing full run throughs of the entire show for the past couple of days. more and more im past feeling like this is work and simply accepting it as what there is to do with my day. there is simply nothing else that exist - i believe "enveloped" is the proper word. the past few days have also seen the entire cast and crew be at the building no less then 12 hours each day. methinks i'm going batty from all the craziness - check THESE bags out!

what IS refreshing is knowing that none of the time is wasted - there really just IS this much that goes into this show, and everyone is being very professional about things from my vantage. i'm surprised that people are as focused as they are given the long days - it's inspiring, really.

amidst all of this i have felt tinges of unsettlement as the holiday comes upon us and here i am in an almost surreal world - far away from the family routes through San Antonio, familiar food, and comfy couches. i've got some mac n cheese, and my iPod and gifts to mail.

Mona is visiting - Mona is Shawn's girlfriend - they are from Cincinnati

this is Shawn, Mona is not pictured. they've got friends down here from what i understand, and they've rented a house nearby. "all are welcome" so says Shawn, so maybe i'll spend my day with them - they Are nice folk.

after all these long days though, all i'm thinking is how i need to do laundry and clean my room - and sleep!

doors

2007-12-19T19:50:00.000-08:00

so, there are 2 kinds of folk here on the train ... from what i can tell anyway.

the hallways are very narrow, see VIDEO below, if ya haven't already, for a good idea of the inside of the cars.

anywho, 2 kinds of folks : those who hang out with their door closed, and those who keep them open. you're walking down the cars and through the vestibules, and you might see folks on their laptops, or making a meal -

watching TV, or on the phone. when you're walking through a car with all the doors closed it feels deserted. there's really no way of knowing if anyone's even home -

unless there's a lot of noise of course. no porch light that would be on, no car in the driveway, no window to catch a glimpse through - complete, uninterrupted and ABSOLUTE privacy.

it's pretty easy to keep to yourself out here - VERY easy, and VERY to yourself.

it's easy to get things done without anyone bothering you, and it's easy to be up to no good without anyone to answer to.

there are interesting people here indeed - and many interesting ways to becomes one of these interesting people - i just hope i can stay nice and plain

2007-12-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

so tired - i'm starting to feel better, i've been a little sick. finally got a chance to get some groceries - was in DIRE need of laundry detergent, but now i'm glad to report that i've cleaned myself up!

had to stay late a couple of the past few nights and program and i think i'm just about done.
which is a huge relief - now, it's just re writes and edits, but i'm at least caught up to the show, and everything seems to be in working order. the keyboards Have been giving me alittle grief as they've been freezing up perodically, but i hope it's nothing to worry about and that ic an figure out a way to lighten their respective memory loads.

heading to sleep now - happy sleepings to you all

tired

2007-12-10T18:59:00.000-08:00

so - i'm losing track of days here - we're getting one day off a week, but it's not regular. and i think if it weren't for union rules they'd work us every day! it feels like winter quarters is never going to end and there are all these people there everyday, but no fruits

until today - we had the first run through of act I. over the past few days, the band has been staggering our lunch so we can do sound checks while the floor is empty.

there's a great deal of scheduling for the performers to get their floor time to rehearse and block their own acts. of course there's a lot of space and several preformers so there are always acts getting their stuff ready.

it's not all toiling and brick making though - there have been 2 nights of note - Gag Night and Act Night

Gag Night is where the clowns presented what they've been working on - different acts to be or not to be the the show. there were solo and duet acts mostly and one 4 man act that was great. it was great to see the clowns in their element doing something fresh. everyone's been doing the same show for 2 years now - so there's definately that excitement here in WQ despite the long days...

12 clown gags in all, and i believe 6 were accepted.

last night was act night and was most of our first peeks at the new acts. you'd think with all this circus people flipping and jumping everywhere we'd have seen SOME of these acts by now ... but we, the band, are locked up in this back room playing this new music almost as quickly as it gets written and printed in yet aNOther cave of a room with all the orchestraters, composers, and copyist in it. if i'm not there, i'm off at my keyboards programming them and revising and re-organizing samples and loops and patches orders.... it's tedious, but fun ... but ... tedious

so ... right .. act night .... it was nice to just sit back and enjoy a show of sorts and they laid it out as best as could be done - it was dubbed "The Greatest Act Night on Earth" (for a more detailed expounding of Ringling's protocol concerning standards of greatness please click here

the acts are shaping up to be classic circus, and i couldn't be happier

there's a trapeze act! and several handbalancing and contortion act!

we had neither of these things this past tour.

the new tiger act looks great - more tigers and the tamer is a charmismatic guy with great presence

we've also recently at least run acts I & II so there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel - mostly we're just trying to stay focused and get sleep where we can.

...and back

2007-11-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

now, i'm done with home as quickly as i started ... ?

i'm here in florida along with what seems like the entire Ringling family. this is as close to home base as the circus comes to. we'll be here until the new year - HQ is the florida State Fairgroiunds in Tampa Bay and it's where the new edition of the show is being put together. from acts to costumes to lighting design and music - it all gets put together HERE.

it's quite a a sight - this army of people putting together this massive ... thing! the clowns are are one side of the arena practicing - stilt walkers stretching - dancers have mirrors set up on the other side practcing their moves - we're set up in a back room rehearsing all the new music as it gets printed out and sent to us from the guys writing it in yet aNother part of the complex.

it's very fast paced - we work 6 days a week from 9-6 - and things get done.

This whole ordeal is called "Winter Quarters" a funny name considering we're in florida where it is now 72 degrees and it's 7PM! not quite the winter wonderland. not that it was any cooler in San Antonio - but there is little around to let us know that it's December, much less that Christmas is close by. My world right now is COMPLETELY Circus!! i'm at the train or at the fairgrounds - no malls playing Xmas tunes - no walking around downtown with tinsel and bell ringing santas - nuthin. it could be JULY for all i know!

we're getting 1 day of off a week and it's long days at the stategrounds ... Ryan (keys II) and I spend most of the time and extra time (lunch and after/before work) programming the keyboards for the show. it's a tedious process, which is fun - just a little repetitive sometimes and i find myself pretty tired at the end of the day ...

i'm taking pictures on my camera phone to put up soon. in case you missed it - i think i lost my camera somewhere in boston - possiby the North End.

home

2007-11-22T08:13:00.000-08:00

i'm home finally for a visit for t-day. it's been a while and made longer given the craziness of where i am/was

i've only got a week here before i fly out to florida where i'll be for a month while we write and prepare the new edition - 138th edition of the show for next year..

i'm trying to see everyone and eat all the home food i can before heading back out.

no posts for this week cause of this.

hope all is well with everyone - and Happy Thanksgiving

the greatest

2007-11-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

it's november, and i've been here on the show since may 4th. my first time playing a show solo was lafayette, LA at the end of may. i threw around some rough numbers - which means i used my cell phone calculator feature as provided by the kind folks at verizon wireless - and figured i've done somewhere around 250 Greatest Shows.

now, one may wonder how one such as myself keeps such a consistant record of greatness. well, let me tell you - i don't do it alone! every single person on the show must give their all EVERY SINGLE TIME out of the blocks. do you REALIZE the pressure involved at not only being part of the Greatest Show, but, as a show is only as strong as it's performers, one must routinely be THE GREATEST. every single action, response, and thought must be The Greatest. if we were to hear "Good Job" after a show, then, our job, we have not done. even "great job" is not par. after the last strains of the Greatest Last chord in a show die away into the echo of the arena - i lean over to my bandmates and say "Guys, ... that was the GREATEST playing on earth" we all nod casually, because, of course, the Greatest - is simply routine.

here, we have Jonathan - by title - the Greatest Guitar Player ON EARTH!! can you, the reader, POSSIBLY fathom the weight on this man's shoulders?! his mind - a steel trap, his hands - FAULTLESS in execution, his creativity and technical wizadry on those six strings? UNPARALLELED!

melissa here? she works at the Pie Car (coinicdently, she's known as Pie Car Mel-the greatest nickname on earth) - provider of the food that fuels the greatest performers on this planet. now, do you think that food to be anything less than stellar? i think not. and who makes stellar meals? The Greatest Cooks on Earth!! THAT'S who!

you see, being the greatest permeates through everything we do. this is no random compiling of persons from around the world! mountains were climbed and rivers crossed to find the most, skilled, talented, NAY, the GREATEST person for each position!

so, how did I get here?! they came and found me in a little corner of the world called San Antonio - the greatest city on earth, as it happens ... and plucked me from my private utopia to fulfill my destiny as Greatest Keyboard player on the face of the Planet. Tall order ain't it? also leaves little room for career growth.

Sunday Nights

2007-11-06T12:08:00.000-08:00

i was talking to a friend from back home this past past sunday night - just catching up, chattin. i was telling her about boston (i'm still sorting through the pics - have em up soon) and just the road in general. she said she was jealous that i get to do all these things and go to these places . . . it IS cool, don't get me wrong - but then i mentioned to her how i'm jealous that she gets to sit on a couch! she gets to drive anywhere she wants, visit friends, go to all my favorite mexican restaurants, see all the local bands, etc. . . there're definately pros and cons.

my sunday nights, for example, are a bit unique.

we usually close the show for that city on sundays. saturdays and sundays are the busiest days with 3 shows on sat. and 2 - 3 shows on the sunday. after the last show is load out - as SOON as we play the last note of the exit music the crews get to it. i go change and put my hard hat on and help load out with the sound crew. the whole process takes anywhere from 5-10 hours depending on the building and how many hands we've got. each crew has casual labor, which are performers who want a little extra cash - i'm casual labor for the sound, the other c.l. for sound are some of the chinese - some of the nicest folk on the show! and some of the most efficient workers.

anywhoo, so load out is heavy, hard, long work and is a ton of fun, and the best part is the load-out shower! the bus takes us back to the train after all the wagons and semi-trucks are loaded, while the "transpo" crew takes the wagons back to the train to load them onto the flats.

now, at this point the train is split up into "cuts" and is "spotted" (parked). once everyone's on the coahes they close the vesibules and start hooking the train back up and getting it ready to roll out. i hopped in the shower and was enjoying the time limitless warmth. washing the work off of my hands , thinking how i need a haircut - when all of a sudden the lights go off. this may seem odd, but it's quite normal around here, especially during spotting and hooking up. they have to dettach and re-attach power lines between cars during all this. we've got back up lights, so no worries.

i'm continuing with my dark shower experiencing a smidge of what it might be to be blind, then the water goes off - this is less common during hook ups, but it Does happen. i was done anyway.

this time of night is always nice. i'm out - so fresh and so clean (clean....clean...clean) i slip on my comfy clothes, tidy up my room a bit, put my house slippers on - make some tea and CHILL!

the train's bustling with music and movies, drinking, and talking. no one's allowed off the train, there's nothing to do for the next couple of days, and the pie car's open 24 hours during runs!

when the train makes that first shift and starts rolling -it's pretty exciting - we're not leaving yet, but just hooking up. nice and easy until the cars slam each other in order to lock latches. it's a small jolt - so you've gotta make sure your TV's strapped in with the provided rubber straps and that you've got heavy things down from high places in your room! :)

where else do ya have to do that? that quickly becomes second nature though. train runs tend to be a nocturnal time. people are up late which suits us perfectly. it's a train full of artists, performers and kooky people. not your regular 9 to 5 , tie wearing folk.

and then we're all hooked up and slowly rolling out, the train starts rocking and your engage that train run "walk" head out into the vestibule - raise your glass and say goodbye to whatever city this was - we'll be doing this again next sunday.

video

2007-11-05T01:58:00.000-08:00

here's the video i've been working on. it took a little while, and it IS my first one, so it's not great, but i like it.

this is me, jonathan, fulkerson (seated, on the phone), shawn (cooking) and adam (sound guy - w/ iPhone)
this was shot during a train run from Des Moines, IA to boston, MA which was over 3 days long, so we had a lot of free time!

fulk, jonathan, shawn and i live on this particular car - car 190! and the video ends up on the vestibule, which is a popular hangout during runs - really whenever. the hallway is in the car, and is kinda narrow, as you can hopefully see. shawn's cooking in his room, and my socks come off in my room. it's small, but it's home!

hope you enjoy - i hope to make more like this in the future.

pics, pics, and more pics!

2007-09-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

well, my camera cable came in! and we've been having much fun on this past run from Indianapolis to Des Moines. First, as promised, here are the long awaited photos :
Some Wonders of Houston

yup, that's right! down in Houston, TX there's a house covered entirely of beer cans! When i first read the article touting the Seven Wonders Of Houston I was under the impression that the house was MADE of beer cans, as in , the structural integrity of the entire building was dependant of cans previously used for debauchery... however, upon mine and Jonathon's arrival we discovered that while it's not comprised or "beer can bricks" it is still impressively covered from top to bottom in flattened out cans.

We started to "wonder" (get it?) if anyone actually occupied this residence upon spying the mailbox out front - well, apparrently, whoever does likes to save their pennies and gets the weekly coupons, perhaps to buy more building material.

And ... here's a HUGE statue. Out in one of the suburbs of Houston is a giant statute of Quan-Am, one of the Buddhists deities. not much to say - it was huge and the temple was beautiful.

Quan-Am, one of the Buddhists deities. not much to say - it was huge and the temple was beautiful.

there was a man praying inside the temple, so i chose not to go in, though people were free to. It was a little overcast that day and really muggy, but it was a nice break to just walk around the grounds and get some nice shots.

now, to be fair, this wasn't "exactly" in Houston, this was in Sugarland, but who's splitting hairs? We got lucky in this town as Jonathon had family and was able to borrow a car for the 2 weeks that we were there. Uusally it's all cabs and feet when exploring the cities, and cabs, while convenient, can get pricey - so we've been known to fit was many as 5 Passengers in a standard issue cab! We're all family afterall, right?

man in camoflauge standing on a picture of a horse?
check!

that's "Pie Car" John. It's pretty simple - we call him that cause there's where he works: at the pie car. We've all done that at our work places - identify people by their department : "Ya know, Rachel from receiving." "Have you met Robert from HR?" etc... only here, it's more like "Floor Amber" (people who work props and set on the floor), "Concessions Billy," "Kate-nursery," Aaron from elephants." "Exotics Laura" (works with the exotic animals) and, of course, "Jay-clown"
We're in Dallas there, and they opened up the Dallas Mavericks' practice court for us to mess around. Ah, the perks of circus life! I'm kidding!
Now, to be honest, those aren't "really" camo pants. if you look close it's actually a bunch of images of culinary items like mixing bowls, and spoons, and such. those are his work pants. I think they're pretty nifty - but employees of the pie car don't seem to agree - i'm still trying to convince them to sell me a pair.

by the way, I'm Jaime - Band Guy

Indianapolis, IN

2007-09-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

We pulled in about a day ago, had today off, and don't open until tomorrow. usually, we open on Wednesdays...

So, a little extra time off is great, however, it'd be more great if I wasn't sick!!

at this point feel free to feel sorry for me.

there's been a little cold bug making it's way through the show. A few of the band guys have had it over the course of the past few weeks, so i suppose it was only a matter of time before i caught it.

On, the brighter side, it's given me a chance to catch up on some reading and music.

I found this interesting book called "My Lobotomy" by Howard Dully.
the title pretty much says it all. it's Howie's own account of his search as to why his parents gave the go ahead for this procedure to be performed on him when we was 12 years old! Interesting to say the least. His mother and the doctor who performed the operation have passed away at the time of the book, and the only one left is his father, so we'll see how that turns out!

my current listening has been "the Remainder" by Feist , and "Till the Sun Turns Black" by Ray LaMontagne
and I simply CAN NOT stop listening to these albums. I t should be noted that when i find a new artist i like I tend to fixate on them for quite a while until I find a new fix, but for now these are satisfying me just fine!

A couple of things that stand out are their unique voices. Feist's is so small at times, and burst out unexpectedly but not overwhemingly. her writing is magnificent! from playful, hopeful sing-a-longs that make you wanna dance and clap along to melencholy, soothing songs of love.

those who talk to me regularly have heard of my recent purchase, but the others, i'll share it here.

i recently bought a talkbox effects box for my keyboard! the easiest way to explain it if you don't know what it is is to click HERE! it's a video of the one and only Stevie Wonder using one back in 1972. So, if you haven't clicked that yet, do yourself a favor and go back and click it!

I've been playing with it here in my room and am pretty giddy about it. it's definately a new skill to learn, but it'll definately be a fun new source of sounds.

*sniffle* that is all

projects in progress

2007-09-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

people have been asking me to put more pictures up, and, well, they're in the right.

i apologize for the lack of fun pics, but that is soon to be rectified. see ... i lost the USB cable for my camera somewhere in kentucky, so i've got a whole mess of pics sitting on my camera and nowhere to dump, and, consequently no room for new pics.

i ordered a new cable over a week ago, so hopefully it gets here soon. i also ordered some interesting books from amazon, but thay have nothing to do with cameras or camera accessories.

once that happens you can expect a virtual buffet of photographic documentation!!

some of the highlights shall include the following :

- some of the world famous "WONDERS" of Houston, TX!!

- step-by-step photo instrucitions on how to put on your very own circus!!

- a man in campflauge pants standing on a picture of a horse!!

- some great shots of countryside we seldom see!

- the much requested shots of my tiny train room!!

- a bearded man pulling mail out of a mailbox made of BEER CANS!!!

- and other FANTASTICAL THINGS TO AMAZING TO MENTION HERE IN PRINT IN ANY FONT!!!

in other news, i've started several songs while here, and i'm quite excited about them. I'm posting them on MySpace page. The plan is to rotate them out and get some feedback on different songs, and, ultimately release something on itunes or some other interStore sites.

also, coming soon to the blog, in addition to the many fantastic photos i will be posting videos!

yay videos!

so that's exciting right? yes.

what a wonderful world

2007-08-31T21:22:00.000-07:00

and what an interesting life it's been ...

one of the first times my boss talked to me on the phone, he said "Don't think of it as a gig, think of it as a lifestyle change." Well, truer words were seldom spoke!

I'm here in Moline, Ill right now, and if you've you've never heard it there's a reason why. There's not much here. The claim to fame is that it's part of the "Quad Cities" Moline, Rock Island, Davenport and ----- and it's also home to the John Deere museum - no joke. I checked it out and fought the urge to buy a yellow & green camoflauge cap or commerative John Deere dartboard.

But I digress, i guess this blog has turned into a travel blog more than a circus one, and it's easy to have fun - seeing new places - which I've been doing, and it's been great. All the while, however, I guess I've been adjusting to a different life that I've been plugged right into with little warning.

I live in a 6x8 room. Yes, it's small, but it seems to suit me fine. It's imparitive to make one's room, no matter how small, "HOME." That's the 2 big issues here, I suppose: Space and Time. very little space, and almost too much free time.

Space, you can't do anything about. Mine is actually one of the mid size rooms! I have the luxury of being able to actually spread my arms out and not hit a wall.

I like my room - it gets nice and cold, I've got a nice window which is great on train runs, and room enough for my books, speakers, keyboard and guitar, microwave and food - There's really not much more that I need.

The space around the train yard is a unique element. We live on a train, yes, but trains live in train yards, so, therefore, WE live in train yards. Sure, it's not the most exotic of locales, but it's all functional. You spend your time in the city, in your room, or at the arena ... (now, that I think about it, I guess i do miss sitting on a couch, but the beds function as such so, it's a fair trade I think.)

Train yards are plain, full of other trains, and uneventful. Little if no grass, in fact, most times - ROCKS & GRAVEL. lots, and lots, of Rocks and Gravel. If we're lucky civilzation is a short walk away - I've found that's the usual case. Otherwise there's the bus.

The bus is an old schoolbus and it takes us too and from the arena. Arenas are always downtown, down where you wanna be. the bus runs once an hour so you're never "stuck" anywhere. Free bus ride into town, do what you please. At least once, and usually twice a week there are what's known as "Market Runs," also done by bus. (everything's a "run" interesting ...)

Time is a different issue - there IS a lot of it, and, sometimes, seemingly, no clocks.

We did a 3 day train run from Dallas, TX to Lexington, KY a couple of weeks ago and it just seemed like we were in this other world. there's nowhere to be - no reason to be up or go to bed. You really find out what your body's clock is like, and what You'd Really do with no outside motivators.

I, personally LOVE the train runs. People like to watch movies, read, hang out - it can be very much like a college dormitory. And, of course, you can keep to yourself if you'd like. And, the rocking of the train can provide some of the BEST sleep you'll ever have!

It's easy to spend lose track of time standing out in the vestibules, with your head sticking out, feeling the great wind rolling through, and watching the countryside go by. It really is beautiful you know. We go where highways don't, where people don't. Think about it ... how often do you really see moving trains? At crossings, right? I've found that i love passing crossings - watching people watch back. Some folks have cameras and are waving. (the train has the Ringling name emblazoned across every car)

Of course, some are just waiting for us to pass so they can get to where they're going.

long hiatus - New Orleans

2007-07-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

it's been too long, and i apologize for the break, but reast assured it was jusitfied ... kind of. Texas is my home state - I'm from San Antonio, and so, the majority of my free time was spent visiting family and friends. I won't be back around here again until late November, so - gotta do the rounds.

it's been 5 cities since my last post. I find myself using cities to measure time with. ex: "remember that yard with the nice grass, ya know that really clean one? i think it was like 2 or 3 cities ago." For the record, that yard was in Pensacola, FL. Usually the yards are a bit somber - lots of rocks and some graffited freight trains as neighbors, but that one in Pensacola was like an upscale hotel in comparison. This here are some shots of the train yard in Houston. That's a concrete making building of some sort. Glamorous, I know!

This is what I see in the morning - way off in the distance is our bus that takes us to and from the arena. It's just a repainted school bus, and it does the job. that creek you see there got pretty wide when it rained. And it's been raining ALL through Texas!

We were in New Orleans, Austin, and San Antonio, Houston, and Corpus Christi. Now, I'm from San Antonio, and Texas being one big happy family and all meant that I spent a lot of my free time visiting family and friends and what not. (hence the lack of postings)

New Orleans was New Orleans! What I mean by that is there was good food, little sleep, and lots of money spending! Here's a tip: Don't use Bourbon Street ATM machines - I paid a $10 service fee at one, I think the lowest was about $7. Now, for the most part "What happens in New Orleans stays in Orleans." But, I will say that there was good music, dancing and fun had by all.

The high points were the Tower of Power concert and the Habitat for Humanity day.

Now, if you you haven't seen or heard of Tower of Power - they're a soul/funk band most famous for their tight horn section. They played at the House of Blues down in the Quarter on Decatur, and luckily Eli(head sound guy) and Jonathon (guitar player) got to catch them after a show one night.

That place was PACKED! House of Blues venues are usually pretty good for shows. They got great atmosphere and good sound systems. This was my first TOP show and I loved it. These guys were amazing. The vocalist was a powerful tenor and the band was indeed tight and made you dance! I couldn't stop moving the whole night!
Their funk songs were kickin' and their ballads were powerful - it's tough to get a crowd that big wailing on a ballad, usually that's bathroom break time, but they sold it. these guys have been around for awhile and they showed they know what they're doing. Tower of Power - big thumbs up, great live show.

Ringling Bros. did a Habitat work day before we opened in N.O. There was a sign up sheet 2 weeks before the New Orleans dates, and I was surprised how many people signed up. I think about 70-80 people went from the show. It had been raining the night before so it was pretty muddy when we arrived far earlier than any of us were accustomed to being awake! We arrived still yawning, but ready to work. They handed out Habitat t-shirts and the work chief gave us instructions.

Now, our work site was in this neighborhood called Musician's Village, it's a project started by Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, both NOLA natives, to provide housing for displaced residents affected by the Storm. Now, it's mainly intended for displaced musicians, but it's not limited to that, but most of the residents are, indeed, players from N.O.

We were set to work on the foundation for this bass player's house, and that involved a lot of wood carrying and stacking and some hammering here and there. It wasn't extravagant, but it was what needed to be done. Only problem was there was no wood . . . The delivery hadn't gotten there yet that morning, so we ended up just clearing the work site for about 2 or 3 hours until it did. Like I said, there was an army of us so all this moving stuff from here to there didn't take long - we were like ANTS!
a lot of the time we spent just sitting waiting for the wood to get there.

Not too glamorous, or productive...

BUT!

then the wood got there! and we got to it. Now, by this time it was noon and our bus was scheduled to pick us up at 3:00pm so we only had a few more hours left of work, but we made good use of it. Ants, I tell you - like ANTS!!

At the end of the day we were muddy, tired, hot, a little sunburned, and hungry, having constructed at least the begginnings of a foundation, but we were satisfied that we had done at least some good.

The Big Easy

2007-06-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

We just got to N.O. yesterday after a very pleasant train run.
They call the commute between cities "Train Runs" and it's kind of an event. The Pie Car (dining car on the train, good food none of which is actually Pie. funny isn't it?) is open 24 hours during train runs and can become the closest to a hang out that we have here on the train.
Another popular thing is to hang out in the vestibules - that's the area between cars. That's become my favorite thing to do and has yielded some great viewing. Like I've said, that train goes where cars don't (and vice versa!) so we get to see some countryside unaffected by people. Lots of folk here love taking pictures, and I joined in on the tradition. unfortunately all those pics I took wouldn't load! I apologize for that. I got some of what I thought to be good shots of some bayous and beautiful lakes, but alas they are lost forever. I did retain some shots of some damage, but thought it tacky to post those only, if at all. We've all seen enough of that...

The train runs yield some of the best sleep I've ever had due to the gentle rocking of the train. the trains can't go faster than 55, so it's not a raucous ride by any means, still one does have to "crash proof" one's room before a run. All the cabinets in my room have locking hooks on them so they don't swing open and they provide rubber straps for securing T.V.s and whatnot. Of course the biggest chore is walking to and utilizing the facilities during a run. The development of "Train Legs" is a must as I'm quickly learning.

june15 - Pensacola, FL

2007-06-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

We opened here at the Pensacola Civic Center last night. We usually arrive into a town on Monday evenings or Tuesday mornings. We closed in Lafayette this past Sunday and train heads out after load out. The TRAIN RUN takes about a day. Weird, huh? Why so long? Well trains don't travel 75 miles an hour - usually about 55, maybe 50 and they don't take the same roads that cars do so on one hand it take a bit longer, but on the other hand we get get to see some parts of the states that one doesn't usually get to see.

The Band

Allow me to introduce the guys in the band.
Shawn Elsbernd is our drummer and he's from Cincinnati, Ohio. This guy is INCREDIBLE and he'll be the first one to tell you he's not.One of the nicest guys you'll meet.

Wages Argott is our trumpet player from Alabama and he'll let you know that any chance he gets. He's a great player and even toured with a Motown revue. Check his page. He's a wealth of sports and Alabama knowledge. "Alabama beaches - best beaches in the world!"
Jonathon Blazer is a guitarist from the D.C. area. Fairfax, VA to be exact. He's quite the kooky character and most easily identified by his sizable head of hair.
Michael Mullan is our sax guy from New Jersey - great jazz chops and one half of our twin towers along with Wages - they're both 6'4'' which leavesme feeling even shorter than usual. Ryan States is the other keyboard player - yup, there's two of us - it's a synth heavy score. He's the veteran of the band, not including the director. He keeps to himself mostly - he's got a podcast and just realeased a CD on CDBaby.com

John Fulkerson is the baby of the group. He just came on in Lafayette last week and is the trombone chair. He's fresh out of New England Conservatory and learning the ropes along with most of us.
Mike Brown is the bass chair and he's quite the veteran. He's played festivals all over and has even studied with Victor Wooten

And, of course, there's our director, Tim Eaton. He plays trumpet and directs us through all shows countless tags and cues. He's been with the show for awhile, so he knows his stuff; and he's been real welcoming with us new guys. Blazer, John F, Shawn and myself are all realatively new. Shawn's been here about 6 months, Blaze - about 3-4 I think. This is my second and John got here, like I said, last week.

So, that's it, that's the band and charcters in my future stories.

june 8th - lafayette, LA

2007-06-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well, last night was my first official SOLO show. We had sound check and rehearsal in the afternoon. of course, everyone was a bit rusting coming off the 3 week break, but it went alright regardless. I'm still getting a lot of the music under my fingers, but i'm sure it'll come along fine. it's a bit disconcerting to realize that all those people are hearing what we're doing - whether they're critiquing it or not. i get a little nervous about missing notes and cues, but an the moment of playing i'm just looking at the page and trying to watch the director. those two hours go by really quickly when i'm up there.

On a bright note, the Spurs won game 1 of the NBA finals last night! I am from San Antonio, Texas and very much a Spurs fan, as are the majority of my group of friends down there. Me and some of the band guys went to fast Eddie's, this pool hall chain, to watch the game. We went after the show and caught most of the 3rd and the rest of the game. Twas a very one-sided contest though the Cavs made a little run at the end. I called Spurs in 5 - and now I'm wondering if they'll win even the one.

We went to this place called Don's seafood Hut 2 of the past 3 nights here. Someone said if you find bas food in Louisiana, you've [done something wrong]. So, we put the aphorism to the test. We picked Don's out of a random list of places and loved it! We split a plate of fried alligator both nights (second night was better) and I had some of the best gumbo I've had in a long time.

So, Go Spurs and Go Don's!

june 6th - Lafayette, LA

2007-06-06T16:01:00.001-07:00

yesterday morning i started off the day the way any self respecting southerner on the road would - with breakfast at The Waffle House. I opted for the All-star breakfast which included coffee, grits and, of course, a giant waffle.

there was a gentleman sitting across the room from me speaking in a thick cajun accent, and wearing a blue bandana around his neck the way a spoiled chihuahua would, asking if he could tell me some jokes. I shrugged and obliged and sipped my cofee. he started rattling off a variety of religious jokes aimed at various denominations laughing almost hysterically after each one with his cackle that told me he'd been a smoker for quite a few years and was missing about half of his teeth. he seemed harmless enough though his punch lines were a touch offensive, from what i could make out. He didn't seem quite right - he fidgeted quite a bit and wasn't having anything except coffee - lots of coffee. little bit of a twitcher that one.

Ealier, while waiting for my grits and sausage I went and perused the jukebox selections available to me. There was the expected array of country classics including Brooks & Dunn hits from the early nineties. (not that there were any others from other decades) and classic Eagles. However, I noticed a name that appeared quite frequently on this playlist. Mary Welch Rogers. Now, I'd never heard of her and the songs listed had interesting titles such as "Waffle Do Wop," "Good Food Fast, " and, of course, the perennial favorite, "Life is Like a Cup of Coffee." it turns out 'ol M.W. is co-founder of our beloved House of Waffles. Her husband, Joe, opened the first Waffle House in 1955 in Georgia with nothin' but a few bucks and a dream. Mary simply set that dream ... to music.

So, I want to say, thank you. Thank you, Joe and Mary for having a dream and seeing it through with good, old, fashion, American hard-work so that I can eat a waffle bigger than the plate it rests upon, sip coffee fir for a king, and listen to crackpot Cajuns shoot their mouth off.

first stop

2007-06-04T22:36:00.001-07:00

I am here in Lafayette, LA. Eli and I arrived this evening around 10:30 p.m. after leaving San Antonio around noon. (San Antonio is home to both of us by the way.) Now, I've already been with the show for a month now. I flew up to Mass. at the beginning of May for training with the then piano player, but I'm starting the blog here because this will be my first city being completely solo.