Palm Springs

I'm in Palm Springs and I am sick. Blahhhhhh.....

I've been sick for like 4 days now.  Body aches, congestion, sore throat... I want it to be allergies, but I'm pretty sure I have a sinus infection.  ...and, I probably also have allergies.

I'm visiting my parents who are on a golfing vacation, which is actually not so bad for being sick... I mean, my mom's here - which instantly makes everything better - and the only thing on the agenda is golf, which I don't do, so it's easy to skip (rather than tag along) if I need to.

At the bagel shop....

I was sitting outside the bagel shop, reading and enjoying the day, when a couple walked up.  The boy slyly gave me a smile as they walked through the door. 

As I sat, contemplating how in the 5 minutes it took me to walk there I'd been smiled at by 3 different men accompanying their wives/girlfriends, and finding myself unsure on how I felt about that, the couple emerged back onto the patio. 

They were handsome together.  The girl had wavy, sandy hair falling to her shoulders, and long bangs covering one of her eyes.  She was in a simple sundress with just the right cinching and bunching to make it worthy of a special occasion.  She had big round eyes surrounded by perfect angles.  She was lovely. 

He was the casual mirror of she, with a touch of ethnicity...darkening his features. 

As they ate, she barely moved -- maintaining a perfect picture.  He fidgeted, stole glances -- shifted. 

When he left to get her a cup of water, the picture changed...briefly. 

Her smile returned as he did and, without affection, they got up from their table and continued on their way....

Abandoned spaces

After the show, I managed to book a small role as a fighting zombie alien (or something like that) in an indie film.  The film was about... alien zombie post apocalyptic something or another... ? and was being filmed in the ruins of an[other] old, abandoned building.  The cast was full of very hot young men.  I was made up to look like a crazy zombie/alien lady.  (I just wrote "alien" and "zombie" in 3 out of 4 sentences.)  Awesome.... :)   It was a really fun, dirty day -- I got to fight with pipes 'n stuff.  

In the last few weeks, around planning the show, I've played a lot of foosball and soccer and have done a lot of sword fighting.  I saw Bruja at Magic, Othello at Phoenix, Playground at Thick House, the fireworks at GG Bridge, saw Tyler play at the Hemlock, and Matt play at the Fillmore!!  I got to spend some great time with girlfriends:  Joan, Gabriella, Jessica, and Sarah.  And, I finally let go of the guy who's been jerking me around.  I also went on another crappy date but whatevs... life is excellent.  :) 

Eight, take 3

Where should I begin... ?  I think this was the hardest show yet -- but, then, I'm not sure if they've all been hard, and this one just seemed harder for some reason.  It did have more unknown variables than the last couple.  ...I think. ?

There are 4 big phases of preparing for the show.

1.  Booking the space.

In the past, this has been the easiest part because I was always booking Main Street, which is run by my good friends so... piece of cake.  This time, I decided to move the show to explore more underground spaces.  I spoke with Bob at Cyclone, and Carl who books the Secret Room, and was in limbo between the two of them for a couple of weeks.  The Secret Room fell through around the same time Cyclone came through -- and, voilá!  There was a point when I had Main Street on hold just in case because the venue situation wasn't looking too promising -- but, it all worked out.

2.  Getting the performers.

The first couple of shows I booked friends (or close friends of friends) to perform.  It made for a good response, and a good basic idea of how the show would go.  This time, I booked a few friends, a guy I really admire, and some friends of friends whom I didn't know too much about.  I was able to book the first few spots pretty easily, but I had a hard time filling my last few spots, which was a bit daunting when I hadn't finished my lineup and the show was less than three weeks away.  It was an interesting and stressful challenge that somehow turned out great.

3.  Getting the invitation out.

I'm still working on the best way to present the show, the words to use, the kinds of invitations to send...  It's hard to know how public I should make the show given the [not completely legal] nature of things ... :P  This time I tried a very ticket driven approach.  It seemed to work well.

4.  Waiting to see what happens....

I generally have a decent guess of how the show will turn out, and I'm generally right... so, you'd think I could let go and relax a bit. Ugh.  This show felt like a giant mystery to me for some reason, but I sort of feel like it always seems that way until I get there and my 'decent guess' manifests.  I think being in a new space, with new performers, and no idea if ticket sales were an indication of things, made me kind of crazy...


...but, it all turned out great.  :)


The lineup:

Andy Strain - Trombone
Sean Sanford - Story performance
Stephen Ku - Stand-up comedy
Texas and Abraham - Clown/Magic act
Alex Kelly - Cello
Anna Ishida - Singing
Bernard Vash - Clown storytelling
Agatha Rupniewski and crew - Hip Hop dance


It was an incredible night. I had Rob (always) on sound, Kasmira working the bar, Joan checking the door, and Bob fearlessly running the house....and, the result, was excellent. :)

Smile

Someone once told me that when you smile, whether you're happy or not, you trick your brain into thinking that you're happy - which will actually make you feel happier.  Apparently, this has been scientifically proven. 

Right now, I am grateful for amazing friends, laughter, adventure, art, health, a good job, successfully producing underground warehouse shows, and ... for you, of course. 

;)