Friday, April 29th
It's four o'clock on a Friday - not as lyrical as nine o'clock on a Saturday, but then I'm not Billy Joel. The work for the week is more or less done and put away, other than about thirty five patient dictations that will need to be done sometime this weekend. I'm not looking forward to it. I do about 1200 of those suckers a year and I'm starting to get a teensy bit tired of them.
Tommy and I went to see the tour of 'Chicago' on Wednesday. I'd seen it before, four or five years ago. He had not. We both decided the film is better. The stripped down set and monochromatic costuming may make the show work better when you have star performances, but when you have good journeymen, they just seem flat - and the removal of most of the vaudeville trappings makes a lot of the bits just not work right. Such as Mary Sunshine as the female impersonator or the ventriloquist act at the press conference.
Relatively quiet week otherwise. The weekend is going to be busy though. Big charity affair to benefit Alzheimer's on Saturday and I have to make up my mind about a couple of projects by the end of the weekend so I can get all my plans in order for the summer.
Monday, April 25th
I have been very bad about writing anything for some weeks. Mrs. Norman is languishing on the vine. I haven't been updating here. I have managed to get work things done, but barely. I'm not sure what the problem is, probably a certain freezing of creative juices. Maybe my brain just needs some time off. Certainly I've been sleeping more than usual the last few weeks and have been feeling a little foggy in general. It might be a time of year phenomenon as it seems to have gotten worse with the switch to daylight savings time.
What can I report on? My parents were here for a long weekend, their annual check on my health and well being. They left seeming pleased with how my life seems to be going - Professionally and personally. They were able to attend a choir concert last Thursday where we sang Schubert's 'Mass in G' and other pieces and a teaser for 'Forty-Second Street' at the local mall. They hadn't heard me sing in about twenty years so I think they enjoyed it. And I know they enjoyed Tommy's cooking. That man could open a restaurant if he chose.
I received a call out of the blue on Friday offering me a job elsewhere. If they'd offered a couple of years ago, I would probably have taken it. Things have fallen into place around here recently so it's not as attractive but I will at least give them the chance to woo me and who knows? It's always nice to be wanted. It's much more administrative and less clinical in nature and I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up the clinical, no matter how crazy making it is at times.
On the theater end, I have a call back for a show on Tuesday. I also have to start revamping 'Politically Incorrect Cabaret' for July gigs in Baton Rouge and Biloxi. 'Forty Second Street' is in rehearsal and I better start looking at text for 'Twelfth Night' which goes up in late August. Rather a full plate. We also have another choir concert tonight in an ersatz colonial era chapel down in Montevallo. More Schubert - which is a lot of fun to sing. In vocal lessons, I'm working on 'The Impossible Dream', which is not a lot of fun to sing. The bridge is damned high with way to many notes in it. On a brighter note, I can now do something with my 'F' above middle 'C' which makes most baritone literature available.
I've been doing a lot of reading of left wing press of late; it's making me feel more and more like a Jew in 1935 Berlin. It's also made the writing of political satire difficult. What's actually going on is so out there, that taking it to a satirical extreme goes way over a line. Although I do have some hope for my idea of the Terri Schiavo dancers and their salute to Broadway.
On that note, I'd better sign off.
Wednesday, April 13th
Today would have been Steve's 57th birthday. Just turning 50 was bad enough, as far as he was concerned, so 57 would have been practically unimaginable. I miss him, I guess I always will, but not as much as I once did. Life has taken a few unpredictable turns in the last couple of years, bringing new opportunities and new people. Tommy is much like Steve in some ways, but very different in others and the relationship, on the whole, has a better foundation and a high comfort level. I can't say I miss all of the rollercoaster highs and lows that happened in the past.
Not a lot going on this week. 'Forty Second Street' is in preliminary rehearsal. I have very little to do in the show so I'm just not getting into it the way I should. Bad Andy. Forty lashes with a script. All of the cliches about no small parts aside, it's just hard to have as much of a vested interest when you don't have any of the fun stuff to do. Better get my copy of 'Twelfth Night' out and start learning my Sebastian lines to keep the cobwebs at bay.
Been in discussions with my boss about reshaping what I do around here over the next year or so. Probably drop some activities, pick up some others. Going to keep mum about the details until things are more firm, but I've always felt the need to shake things up once in a while so sounds good to me.
The taxes went in the mail. No comment.
Monday, April 11th
Due to the invasion of my previous Blog site by various and sundry forms of spam, the time has come to up and move hosts. Welcome to the new, and hopefully improved, 'Inside Andy's Brain' where you can read my doings, dull as they are, my occasional rants on various topics and sacred cows, and the various linked articles essays and photographs that I find amusing at the moment.
I do not promise to be any more prompt in my updating than I have been in the past, nor do I promise that the alter-ego, MNM will be as prolific as she has been. (The creative writing juices being at a bit of a low ebb of late - I think all that energy got sucked into the theater career). But, in general, something appears here once a week, and, from time to time, as often as daily.
There will be no appeals for financial support or any of that jazz as I tend to make my political comments on stage, not in the blog arena, or is it blogateria? I write this stuff for my own amusement. If anyone so chooses to wander in and read, it's just a bit of an added bonus.
