I went to Sacramento City College for my first tunings of the new academic year. There is so much construction going on that I had to park way out by the stadium. 

This picture is from the home of one of my customers. It shows her parents on the night they met.

These are photos of a strange old grand piano that has no fallboard, a single escapement wippen (more like an upright than a grand), and big cutouts in the keybed. (If you are not a piano technician, I apologize for talking shop here.) 

A love note to the Once on This Island company.

Mario with a weeding tool he uses as a percussion instrument.  

Quick --- how many musicals can you name that have Nazis in them?

Cast members of Once on This Island 

The Once on This Island poster. 

Although the sign on the door says MEN, the sign above it says MENS (apostrophe, anyone?) I was tempted to add an A to change it to MENSA: the restroom for smart people only. 

Rachel and I both got new cell phones yesterday and already we've sent each other many, many pictures. Please send me pictures from your cellphone to 916-215-9921. Or better yet, to mark@markstivers.com, and I'll post it on the blog. 

Katie Baad standing next to a Once on This Island costume. Fifteen years ago, Katie and Rachel were tiny flower girls together in a production of Ruddigore. She just graduated from UC Davis and will soon be going to a stage managing internship at Julliard.

I wonder if this van, parked outside Weatherstone, belongs to the artist (see below)? 

Some paintings were hanging at the Weatherstone coffeehouse when I went in today. I looked at them for a few minutes (and liked some of them), and then got my coffee. Later, a man asked me if I was the artist. "Why did you think that?" I asked. "Well, you're wearing sandals," he said. 

Key 1 in the foreground and Key 2 (me) in the background. On the platform you can see a copy of Infinite Jest which I've been reading (highly recommended).

A costume from Cabaret. 

A monitor in the promenade of the Well Fargo Pavilion showing the set for Once on This Island.

These are two of Stan's horns that I found in the band room. 

This is what the horns sound like

Answering machine message remix

Steve Coolidge took a message I left on his answering machine and turned it into this lovely remix.

I walked into the Nugget today and said, "Damn. Nobody told me they had parking inside the store."

Perhaps some kind of primitive reptilian life. 

In this customer's music room there were old LPs and old radios but also some very high-end audiophile components. Anyone know what this is?

This customer is a serious opera buff who has thousands of CDs and knows what's on all of them. This is only one of several bookcases and closets full of CDs. This particular one is just single-artist collections of arias, alphabetized by the artist's last name. 

This is in the display case of a customer --- a collar from a dear departed dog. 

We were stuck behind this car at a traffic light. Click on the picture to see a close-up that lets you read what's on the car.

Gershwin on the saw

The ultimate punishment

Piano half buried in front yard

Seattle Press on Line - Musical Mystery Thanks to Steve Coolidge for this one.

This is where I played auditions for A Nontraditional Traditional Holiday Show. (Don't ask.) Two people showed up to audition.