An Actor's Life For Me?

It has been several years now since I have trod the footlights on one of our Twin Cities stages. It has been a self-imposed hiatus and everyone once in a while I think "that was a great show, I wish I was up there doing that with them." But for the most part, the frustration and lack of logic prevails. I have found my niche in the non-profit world where I have much to offer despite the duplicate lack of income. I do know however, that it will not come to an end after 6-8 weeks. I also am still plenty connected to the theater world as an Ivey evaluator and am performing more than ever with my solo cabaret work. So the creative element is still very much intact - just refocused maybe. In honor of tonight's Ivey Awards, 2 theatre snapshots.

Here are two other feeds that give some additional perspective on my choice. The first, in utter seriousness, offered up by Cracked blog; 5 Awful Things Nobody Tells You About Being An Actor! View the whole posting for details which are boggling and entirely true. But here are the bullet points.
5 Awful Things 

• 1. You aren't building a real skill set. - the things you apply will never make you a marine biologist or non-profit lobbyist.
• 2. Most roles have nothing to do with Acting. - look at any of their examples auditioning for a 30 second commercial spot.
• 3. You will never be considered for the Real roles that require Acting - because of SAG casting conundrums that benefit the Real working population. At least Equity work is more tangible.
• 4. Your faith will be exploited. - most of the real creative process is done by writers and directors. You are merely the puppet bringing their vision to life.
• 5. You won't make enough money to live on. - enough said.

The other feed is more comical and is a photo feed of ridiculous promo pictures that have gone to press at the expense of poor actors. I think we have all been in shows that have some merit, even if minimal. But what usually lives on in shelf life, are the images that try to capture a moment. And face it, the good theaters know this and pay a pretty penny to make sure it is sealed up in a time capsule. But what about the onslaught of others, community and elsewise, that are trap us actors in a nightmare of eternal digital hell. Here are but a small few from an endless Tumblr feed that needs to be seen to appreciated. Please add yours to the list.
Show Nuff

 

Go Jump in the Lake

I am always a sucker for Dog posts. This one from Huffington Post, a photo essay by Seth Casteel now in a coffee table book. Apparently this is a sequel to his original book Underwater Dogs. This one caters to the cuteness of puppies only. His work started as trying to assist in finding forever homes for adoptable dogs. These pictures have stunning definition and expressions.




I am always amazed by Waylon in the water after a stick or stone. He goes right under full head and all like bobbing for apples. They do say a 1000 words.



 

Bill Maher Gets Nasty in MN

Election Season is coming into the final stretch and just around the corner. Admittedly, I have been reticent to pay it much mind. I am still stung by the lack of creditability and accomplishment coming out of any of our legislative bodies. I have also gone numb with much of the action coming out of the Presidential end as well. I am truly of the mind that leans independent and believes our system needs a release from the two-party monster that has deadlocked out democratic process.

All that being said, I was jolted back into the fray with Bill Maher's recent lashing of our own MN Rep John Klein. He is not my district so I have paid him very little mind - which is near criminal considering his track record and that he apparently "represents" my voice here in MN. In terms of civil rights which is paramount to me - he has a scored a perfect 0% from the Human Rights Campaign which is tantamount to inhumane. These aren't just against gay marriage and climate change - but shutting down the government, stem cell research, minimum wage - the list goes on and on. Here is the brutal attack against him in the Flipping a District wager.

Heathcliff

A surfing item that caught my mind from BoredPanda nonetheless.

I think this looks really cool. But the ultimate question is why???

2 Things: Why do you need to drive the car into the upper floor and stair down. Can't you just park the car and walk in? Seems like the car would crush you when the thing finally unhinges and collapses down on you.

Also - if you own the cliff where this is built, isn't the view exactly the same from the ledge and maybe even a little bit more grand looking out from slightly a high vantage point?

Cliff House

Genius of Jimmy Webb

This post could probably qualify as a piece for the TCCAN blog which I also author. I am doing a mini-cabaret set in Oct (which will get plenty of marketing in a few weeks) and it all centers on the fabulous music of Jimmy Webb. If you think you don't know him - you do. MacArthur Park/ Up Up and Away/ Didn't We/ Witchita Lineman. I have always been drawn to his incredible writing and it seemed the time to put something highlighting him onto a stage for me.

The difficulty I found, was that despite being so prolific and recorded by so many greats, his music is difficult at best to come by. There are snippets of his major hits available on line - mostly in horrible keys. I found an old reference book at the library authored by "Jim Webb" dated 1972 and was able to copy a few pieces from it. Mary Keepers was gracious enough to lend me another old piano/vocal selections she had with tattered pages. Of course I did not want to limit myself to just the obvious songs when there is other great material to mine.

So I used the wonder of the internet and tracked down his site and started a long conversation with Laura Savini who I later found out was his wife via some liner notes on CD. It took a while for contact to be returned. But we have since had some helpful conversations on his lesser known works. She obviously has connections. I was so delighted yesterday to find Dropbox links sharing two of his original charts. How lucky and fortunate is that!? It just goes to show - it never hurts to ask. Stay tuned for the October TCCAN gig.

United Sweets of America

 

Just because we are going from the warm summer phase into the Fall phase, the crock pot will inevitably get pulled out and the oven will be reignited. Last night was one such night where we got a late-night craving for cookies and made a round to Cub for the Nestle's drop-and-bake variety. They were a huge disappointment at best; we had opted for a batch of the German Chocolate. They just sort of sat there as brown blobs on the sheet and were nothing like the great chocolate zucchini bread from a week back with our own garden harvest. I guess you get what you bake out of a recipe.

So today I see a "creative" blog article where they take a culinary map of the US and match it up with a "designated dessert." Mind you, only a few are official state desserts. Most take a common product noted from the area and attribute it as an assigned sweet. Most make logical sense. Boston Cream Pie, NY Cheesecake, Florida Key Lime Pie. MN ranks with a 7 Layer Bar associated with our pot luck dinners. A few I have never even heard of. Huckleberry Pie from Idaho and Gooey Butter Cake from Missouri beg a little bit of intrigue. The whole thing might make for an interesting baking experience of one per week throughout the calendar year. Sweet tooth?

Slate State Desserts

Warming Up for the Iveys

They are just around the corner. I have fond memories of last year with my Mom as a date and have been in attendance every one of the 10 years now. Since I have been on both sides as a performer in shows and the Awards themselves, and now as an adjudicator - it gives me a full perspective on the state of our very large and fortunate theater community in the Twin Cities.

This is a funny promo clip with Friends both @Ben_Ballentine and #ReginaMarieWilliams that was posted to promote the show. It is a parody of the silly habits we have as actors. I know who I voted to be winners; what about you?