MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

*

that's that

well... two final shows went great. probably won't be posting anything regularly now. if any more pictures show up i'll put them on. hopefully i'll get more work soon and we can do it again.
thanks everyone for following along. it's been an adventure and an experience. you know how to email me if you want. take care.

melbourne dressing room

almost there

i know you get tired of hearing this, but...

wow, wow, wow!!!

the show was great, the audience was great, the theatre was great, my dressing room was great.

the theatre holds 2000 people and it was nearly full. the show is working so well.
we went to the beach on the way here today and played awhile. went to the theatre and had a great dinner. the stage was big, with lots of room backstage. they had 2 white-light christmas trees backstage. my dressing room was pretty cool. it had a big bathroom, and comfy-chair, a little christmas tree, and a refrigerator and a TV!!!... amazing... what fun.
i am staying in a hilton hotel tonight, on the 7th floor. the bed is very comfortable.

one more day to go in the tour. we have two shows tomorrow. have to get up early and get there for the matinee.

jacksonville

hey, another good show in another beautiful old theatre. about 1500 people tonight. i had two friends there from apalachicola. that was great. 3 more shows left. we go to melbourne tomorrow - gonna stop by the beach to play for awhile on the way.

wesley chapel and lakeland, fl.

is that where i was yesterday?...

the "workshop" in wesley chapel went real well. a theatre full of junior and high school kids. we took turns talking about things theatrical, especially pertaining to our tour. i spoke about christmas carol in general, and about our show, and some character/costume/prop stuff. we sang some of the songs. then we drove to lakeland and did a show last night. it was an excellent show - maybe our best one so far. it was another old-timey theatre, with ornate insides. the dressing rooms and backstage area were small - very narrow staircases. one of the dressing rooms had a special protective cover thing on the wall - highlighting the signature of........ elvis presley... no kidding. me and elvis on the same stage...

these are pics of inside the theatre.

uhhhhh... well it is a picture of me... joe gave his camera to one of the little girls during mic-check and i walked by as she snapped the shutter.

night and day

wellllllllllllll, i think yesterday we were swept into the twilight zone... there really wasn't a place called belle glade with a crappy hotel... but now we're out of it and much happier. i am in a beautiful holiday inn - one of the best rooms i've had. but as usual, i won't get to spend much time here. gotta be on the bus at 8:15 am.

we did two shows today - both very good, the second one especially. big crowd, probably about 1500. the theatre was right on the water. beautiful place, sarasota. we had an hour break between and walked around picking up seashells and enjoying the scenery. lots of birds of course, and all these land-lubbers were very excited. yes, i get excited too. the theatre was very nice and the outside was painted purple/lavender. i'm not surprised. these floridians are like that.

tomorrow morning we are doing a "workshop" at a high school about an hour from here, then traveling to lakeland for the evening performance.

the pics are of the theatre and of me and friend marc (the drummer) standing by the seashore.

no contest

hey everybody, i am in belle glade, fl. sounds nice doesn't it? well... this is the worst hotel we've stayed at. before now it would have been a tough choice - they've all been pretty good... but that's over now. my front door won't close quite right. my smoke alarm is hanging a foot down the wall from it's electrical wires. there is nothing extra in the room. some of the others have worse ones it sounds like. the tv works pretty well...don't have time to watch it.
the show went really well last night. pretty good audience here in belle glade, floriduh.
we're about to leave for sarasota, where we have two shows today.
sorry i don't take more pictures. i don't do that much that is photogenic... wanna see the kentucky fried chicken i had dinner at?... how about the smoke alarm hanging in my room...?

closing in on the end of this trip. mixed feelings about that.

see you down the road.

mickeymouse

hey - 11 hours on the bus today. we are somewhere near orlando. when we pulled in there was a firetruck outside... bad start... weren't sure we could stay, but we did, and we won't have running water for 2 hours. i am beat. still getting over 3 shows in 26 hours and the bus ride.

the pics are of the fancy hotel from yesterday.

sleepy

hey, two shows yesterday with about 1 1/2 hours between. gotta get on the bus for a very long ride, all the way to orlando, fl. for a stopover - no show tonight.

have a nice day..............

alabama

sorry i missed yesterday - bad internet at that hotel. i just got to hoover, al. we have two shows today so not much time otherwise. You should see this fancy hotel. it's connected to a big upscale mall. i'll try to take pics, though i won't get any time to look around here.
more later.

we're all bozos on this bus

.
.
TEN HOURS ON THE BUS...

we are in newnan, georgia for a layover, before continuing to alabama in the morning.
see ya there...

nc2

hey, i had a great show tonight. some of us didn't but i did. i haven't had a bad show yet, but tonight really clicked for me. there are always nights when things just feel really right. i had one tonight. went for a walk downtown today. it was nice - nice town. walked along the waterfront and found one antique store and an art gallery. it was a good day.
they have changed some scheduling for me - were supposed to be in alabama tomorrow for a day off, but because tonight's show was originally supposed to be a matinee this afternoon, we are behind and will get there friday. the show in daytona beach is canceled so we are driving to jacksonville a day early and will have that night off.

we have another loooooong bus ride tomorrow probably 10 hours or so, stopping in georgia for the night.

thanks for reading my blog. i appreciate it.

washington, nc

hey there, had a good show tonight. it was a strange show in some ways, because the stage was very small. we have three big sections to the set - left, right and center, and tonight we could only use the center section, and still the stage was crowded. we had to be careful of each other and the edge of the stage, and the offstage sections were stuffed full of set pieces so there was only one small entrance on each side. yet the show really went well. difficult situations make you pay more attention, give you extra adrenalin because of the uncertainty and danger - everything was different tonight - it was fun. the theatre was pretty. old and ornate. a bit small, but it was sold-out, and tomorrow night is sold-out too.

washington, nc is a pretty town. it is on the water - sort of a big inlet/bay from the atlantic. we are a little ways away from it, but with tomorrow off, i am going to walk that way and have a look. i saw some great old buildings and an antique shop... can't resist.

boonies, nc.

hey, the show went well tonight. good crowd - there were 1000 people there.

have a fairly short drive tomorrow to another part of n.c. and we stay there two nights with a show both nights.

we are not really in the boonies here, but kinda. we are close to the ocean and about 30 miles from myrtle beach. we drove through a fairly big town with lots of stores and stuff, then we drove on out of town a ways to the hotel which has a restaurant beside it, a car dealer across the highway, and nothing else within walking distance. oh well. don't have much time here anyway. need to eat my snack and hit the sack...

ohmygosh, virginia

oh my gosh...oh my gosh...

you should'a been here!!!

this theatre was beautiful. had a balcony and side boxes and different levels all around. and... it was a sold-out performance.

guess... go ahead, guess how many people... come on...take a guess...

i performed for 1700 people today. can you believe that? it was great.
and i had a huge cool dressing room all to myself. it had a big comfy-chair, its' own thermostat, and a separate bathroom and shower. i took a movie of it for you to see. heehee.

and this hotel is something. they have a pillow menu - i can call up and order a certain firmness of pillows and they will bring them up... no, i didn't do it.

we have a long ride tomorrow to north carolina, so i gotta get up early. the good news is i have chocolate covered krispy kreme donuts for breakfast. oh boy.

oh, also, 2 weeks from now, i'll be done.

here's my video - press play...

......................................lost in new jersey !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

here's this...

me being silly at warm-ups one night...

(silly?...me...no, not me...)

bus stop

well, i survived another long bus ride - almost 9 hours. glad that's over. have a very nice room at the holiday inn here. i am off till sunday's matinee, then we go to north carolina on monday. i have enjoyed the northeast and new england, places i've never been before, though i saw it in passing. great old architecture - and you know how i like that. riding along and seeing the spires of a cathedral reaching up out of a city. beautiful old theatres... and a nice place to be for theatre work as well.

pomona, nj.

hey - great show tonight. it was a strange stage. the audience seating started about 6 feet above stage level and went up from there. so we have to act "up" to them. interesting. you have to do the show normally, but always be thinking about looking up. a challenge.

the hotel is fairly new, and nice. too bad i can't stay longer. tomorrow morning we ride the bus about 7 hours to newport news, va. but don't have a show until sunday afternoon.

there is snow on the ground here - come have a snowball fight.

nighty-night

the more i know
the less i understand...

waterbury, ct.

heylo, had a great show at this beautiful theatre. it was as cool as the picture looks. wish you could see it. it started snowing on us as we left delaware this morning, but none here. gotta go back to new jersey tomorrow, and after that i think virginia, where i have an extra day off. plus that is the beginning of our southward turn, and warmer weather, though i can't complain too much. our weather could have been much worse till now. hope you are all well.

preview

hey, don't really need to say anything today... just resting at the hotel. getting ready to go to connecticut. wow, here's a pic of the theatre there - looks very cool... i'll be acting on this stage tomorrow night...

hairy

went for a walk, ate lunch, saw the sites...pretty exciting... no it wasn't... it was cold and the wind blowing hard made it very cold. no snow yet, might be some coming. walked by a christmas tree lot, that almost made the walk worthwhile. back in the room, chilling out by the heater, with my computer to keep me company.

hey! can you tell how long my hair is getting? amazing huh? makes a pretty good ponytail. makes a pretty good scrooge too...

grand opera house - wilmington de.

oh boy...

I am a happy chappy in a snappy zarape. we had a great show today and now i have 2+ days off in delaware to kick back and relax. my hotel room has a fridge and microwave and big tv and dvd player with free movies to watch, and there's a grocery store next door.

wish you were here...!

the show is going so well for me. it feels great. i enjoy doing it and having big crowds is so cool and helpful to me as an actor. they really seem to enjoy watching it.

me and dale(marley's ghost)

i'm dreaming of a

morning...ugh...gotta get on the bus. thought you might like to see the little bit of snow that fell overnight... looking out my 3rd floor window.

later...

new joisey

well i must say, this is going really well. i am having a great time. the show is going very well. i was at the theatre for 10 hours today. we did two shows and they fed us dinner in-between. i feel good, my voice got a little scratchy toward the end of the second show. it also helps make for a good show when you have
1200
people in the audience...no kidding, it was amazing.

have a matinee in delaware tomorrow and then two days off.