Sunday, May 30, 2010

I got the chair


I brought my own office chair to use during Chorus Line. It has armrests and I often rested my elbows on them while I was playing. After the final show I brought the chair home in my car. I stopped at Espresso Metro on the way, and took the chair out as a joke. I found Jennifer, Robin, and Leslie sitting at a table outside. I joined them in my office chair.

A lot of visitors to CHORUS LINE today


On the left, Randy Solorio, an old friend from Best of Broadway, and his daughter. On the right, Becky Riker and her boyfriend; they play Cassie and Zach in the show.

Mike Gundy's essay on buttons

Of all the modern conveniences _ I like buttons the best.

The very existence of a button within reach, means that it will inevitably be pressed, because thats the only reason for a button to be.

I can handle a dirty button, I have unstuck plenty, and fought many a heroic duel using leverage and brute force. RESULT!

But what happens when you press it and nothing happens. Obviously you press it again and again,and again pause, perhaps even go "hmm".

Upon reflection you try it harder, and in desperation from different angles, perhaps the button itself is faulty. After all at its heart, is a mechanism.

You might be able to walk away, perhaps it will fix itself, or somebody will call someone to fix it, so its ready to be pressed again.
You will be back tho, partly out of curiosity - just to see if the damn button is fixed?

Eventually when all else fails, you might develop a theory as to the reason the button no longer works, perhaps a whole series of scenarios which could lead to the failure of the button.

Is it just a simple fault, or as panic begins to settle in, the beginning - the very tip of a cataclysmic tactile Iceberg, about to FUBAR all of your buttons? Chaos, Ruin, the Abyss... and repairmen are so expensive much cheaper to get a new more modern one and move on. Bah! They dont make buttons like they used too tho.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Outside the Convention Center


...this beautiful guitar, which the player has named Koko.

My official CHORUS LINE pic


It looks like someone changed the name of the keyboard from KURZWEIL to KURZWEEZ. Some kind of private joke.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Larry's reed making machine


Larry Rhodes brought a little machine to the pit. It has a micrometer and electric sanding wheel for making bassoon reeds. It's called the ReeDuAll.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Our niece graduated from college


Note: when you go to a fancy private school, you get a leatherbound diploma.

CHORUS LINE pit

Me and Becky Riker


Chorus Line opened tonight. Becky Riker, who I used to work with in Best of Broadway ten or so years ago, is starring as Cassie. If you're at all interested in musicals, you have to see this show — it's a masterpiece. The concept, the dancing, the orchestrations are all brilliant.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Fixing a hole


While I was tuning, my customer was having a hole dug in his backyard for a swimming pool. "Like a bomb going off," he said.