Rehearsal Break

[mrdreamjeans]

Greetings from the Seattle Center rehearsal space! I don't have a laptop; it's been shipped off for repairs. However, stage management has generously allowed me to use one of their laptops to check mail and Live Journal during a break in my rehearsal schedule. We've been working on the opening number, "Christopher Street" all morning. It's a complicated bit of staging ... musical number interrupted by character introductions. We're about half way after four hours on it. I have an hour and then I'm working with a dialect coach at 5pm.

It's been a tough couple of days away from the show rehearsals. The primary stress is that I sent my iBook off for repairs and I got a call yesterday that Applecare will not cover it. As I've said in a couple of posts, it's a cracked LCD screen. Applecare maintains that there is no way that it is a manufacturing defect; it's accidental damage. I contacted State Farm Insurance. My personal belongings policy only covers items I have in storage; homeowners insurance would cover it, but we have a $1500 deductible. The repair is $843.16. The only place it can come from is my pocket. I've already pulled out the old credit card and authorized repair. I need my laptop! It's a very painful expense. I've only had the damn thing since October 9!

I'm not going to let it happen again. I've instructed my insurance agent to create a personal belongings policy for me that is "all risk" for my computers and cameras. I want to be covered every time I travel! It's only $40 a year for $2000 of coverage. Too bad the policy can't be backdated!

Over the weekend, I managed to get out and about. My friend Pat lovesongman picked me up and took me to CC's on Saturday night for the monthly bear gathering. I wasn't there 10 minutes when in walked two men I've known for a long time, but in different cities ... Joe Tortarella who I met in 1977 in Badlands in the Castro ... and Kevin Thomas, who I met in Seattle at the now defunct Timberline in 1989. Kevin had lived for years in San Fran and Joe lived there when I met him. Very surprising meeting! I watched the Oscars Sunday night and was in agreement with most of the awards, though I wished for a Brokeback victory in the best picture category and for Dolly Parton's song for "Transamerica" to win best song.

I've felt a bit isolated in the past few days ... really alone ... but I'll cheer up. Nice long phone conversations with tkn1114 and gotmoof and meeting bearhedded in person today at lunch, have helped shake the blues away. Funny how someone who never had a computer before 1994 is missing it so much in 2006:) "Wonderful Town" is going to be fun and fantastic! The next couple of weeks will be intense ... hours long ... On March 17, we will begin four 10 ouf of 12's ... four days of rehearsing from Noon to midnight. However, we will do our first run-through of the material this Friday, March 10. Time does fly! Meanwhile, I'll sign on as often as I can borrow access. I miss reading and hearing from my friends!

Comments

[spaceybear.livejournal.com]

Hang in there with all those rehersals.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

It's been a luxury to actually have four weeks of rehearsals, instead of the usual two-three. The show's coming together. This afternoon we are piecing together the first act. It's great to see a note from you! Hugs!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Ah man... If I hadn't already commited to taking care of Mom's dog, I mighta met y'all at CC's as I usually go. *sigh*.

Sorry you have a couple of days feeling alone. Happens to all of us I'm sure.

Sounds like things are going along well for you on Wonderful Town!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Moms are important! Sorry to have missed you!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree and will be down that way again this weekend for part of it as she has foot surgery tomorrow.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

My Mom came through her colonoscopy with flying colors this morning! I am very relieved!!!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

That's great news! I forget but I think it's a bone spur with mine due to an injury I think last year.

[teddybtoronto.livejournal.com]

I wish I could be there to help alleviate some of that feeling of isolation. I haven't been to Seattle in ages, but there are so many places there I love visiting, and it would be all the more fun with someone whose company I enjoy as much as yours.

Big hugs to you, buddy!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Bob! I wish you could make it up to see your sister, me and the show! Big Hugs!

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Smooches to you, buddy! Glad you got to see Pat. Have a wonderful, WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL time in the wonderful town that is Seattle.

hmmm

[tkn1114.livejournal.com]

I can't tell if that's your body hair or you're wearing a tube top? Knowing you for being outrageous, just checking :0)

Re: hmmm

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Chip's very nicely furry:)

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Hey Chip! It's wonderful when I'm spending time with my friends Pat, David Earl and Cheryl or rehearsing, but lonely otherwise. The apartment is comfortable, convenient to work, but unendingly noisy. I haven't had a good night's sleep in three weeks. I'm going to have out-of-town visitors once we open, so the isolation will come to an end. Big HUGS!

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Noisy!? Grrr! Earplugs, I guess...!!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I've tried them. I can't sleep with them in my ears. I think the traffic will eventually become white noise, but the stomping up and down the stairs at all hours and being able to hear people talking in the entry way at 2am while they are having a smoke, is irritating. My bedroom is on the front of the building right by the entry and I can hear EVERYTHING:) (Though I like the fact that Seattle has banned smoking in all public buildings, restaurants, bars, etc ... I can go out and not have to fumigate my leather jacket after. I may go to Bearoke, which is now at the Cuff on Tuesdays and Thursdays, tonight.

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, I understand the difference between the traffic and the stomping and conversations.

I hope you do go to Bearaoke! Please say hello to Jonathan from me! I'm approximately as upset with him as you are, but I still want to stay in touch with him. ;-)

By the way...

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

I got to rehearse in one of the pavilions at the Seattle Center -- over by the hockey arena -- while there with the Rockettes in 2003. Fun place to hang around, and I got to commute on the Monorail with a free pass. ;-)

Re: By the way...

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

The Seattle Center is terrific! However, the monorail is shuttered. Two of the trains collided and it is shut down till this summer. It means I'll have to bus or walk 20 minutes to work once we start working at the 5th Avenue.

Re: By the way...

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Two trains collided!?! That's very, very weird. I wouldn't have thought that possible. The damn thing only HAS two stops. Well, enjoy your (twice-) daily walk!! :-D

Re: By the way...

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

YEP ... When they built the Westlake Center, the construction people got them to narrow the track. Two cars collided a few weeks ago. The plan to extend the Monorail is dead, dead, dead in the water now.

[rock-bear.livejournal.com]

So do we get to see a pic of you in uniform dancing with your nightstick?

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Irish step dancing with a big stick in your pocket is very difficult, I've found:) Officer Lonigan pictures to come!

[apparentparadox]

Yeah, laptops are about the only thing that I'll buy the extended/special warranty on. Just too many things happen to the damn things.

We miss Kevin in SF, but are glad that he's happy in Seattle.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I have Applecare on the laptop, but the damage was considered accidental (though I still don't know how it happened. I was very careful in travel).

It was great seeing Kevin. He's been a wonderful CW dance partner for a lot of years:)

HUgs!

[deebee.livejournal.com]

maybe you are feeling blue from a lot of work and no laptop (temporary as it may be) ... wishing you lots of joy and happiness!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you're right, but I am also just getting tired of being alone all of the time. It would be nice to have a home ... and someone to go home to ....

I'm doing fine. Just being truthful ... No one can be happy all of the time ...

Big Hugs to Mike and you!

[deebee.livejournal.com]

i hear u on the "just getting tired of being alone all of the time" part... before mike, there were a number of dates with guys that i went out with so that i would not be alone... wrong reasons, but the truth... then, there were times i sat at home alone doing absolutely nothing and feeling sorry for myself... the old "no one likes me" thing... while they had issues, some of it was my OWN doing... and yeah, it takes someone VERY patient to successfully date an actor/ singer, especially one who travels, etc like you, but i DO believe there's a match for everyone (and a box of matches for the pyro at heart--LOL)... and before you know it, someone will sweep you off your feet and BAM your dreams will come true! (let's hope when he's sweeping you off your feet that he admits he's a bottom, too) :-)

Miss you! :0)

[tkn1114.livejournal.com]

Glad you're back on even for a minute. never realized how addicted i've become to this stuff - esp. after a long day like today. Too tired to get laid, too lazy to go out! Oops, but that does'nt make you last resort. No, no... au contraire... You're my favorite :0) Had fun talking, did'nt we?
Watched the Oscars, too. We're not communists LOL And agreed with you. Dolly was ripping, but I cringe at the thought of how much those lips might hurt everytime she grins...
I love Ang Lee. Inspiring, no?
I'm going to see Capote. I think whatshisname did a great job. All that lisping - so psychotically gay a la Capote.
Hurry back! Kickass @ rehearsal! hug

Re: Miss you! :0)

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Thanh! I think Dolly looks great for 60! She's always maintained that it took a lot of time and money to look that trashy. At least it's a standard that's easy to hit as you get older. Trashy is trashy:) Did you watch the finale of Project Runway? I wasn't going to watch any of the series and then got hooked when it went down to three designers. I was delighted that Chloe, the Laotian woman from Houston won the whole thing! Liked her structured and well-crafted dresses.

And yes ... Ang Lee was inspiring ... a straight man who gets it ...

HUGS!

Dolly and the runway

[tkn1114.livejournal.com]

Oh, I understand the trashy even tacky look of Dolly which, of course, makes Dolly Dolly. I'm just worried about her surgically hence permanently pursed lips. They look painful. But what do I know?

Sorry, I missed the Dumbway Project's finale. I can't believe Chloe won - with that poofy pink coat that reminds you of the bad Texas of Isabel Gerhart??? Omg, the Amrican fashion indstry has really gone down in flames this time!!!

I have'nt seen all 3 finalists' stuff properly walked on the catwalk so I can't comment but I'll say this much:
. Santino however artifically obnoxious (or so he claims) is the only worthy opponent of Thanh Nguyen in Thanh Nguyen's never humble opinion (although I still wanna see his stuff walked but from the hangers his pieces look pretty good)
He has a sense of style that only gay people are endowed with.

. The other guy designs for a Desperate Housewives crowd.

. and miss Chloe = NO. Because a good patternmaker and sewer does not automatically make a good 'designer'. She has no vision. She can only concoct clothing for herself and, umm, her mom. This is an on-going controversy in my business: It's kind of like what distinguishes an artist from a musician?

. Tim Gunn is a nice guy but a total wannabe dork. A geek that sqeaks on screen. For Godsake, when you're chair of Parsons' fashion design dept, your wardrobe has GOT to be a little flashier than that of a bank teller, please! Where the hell are those Queer Eye queens when you need them - and for a member of the family, too! That all-black with a turtleneck gestapo look works great on Michael Kors and Halston but not on Tim Gunn - it just does'nt! Too whitebread or something...

. Heidi needs to go back to her Alps and be confined there to sing The Sound Of Music for the rest of her natural life! Datbitch's giving the whole entire fashion industry a bad name and so does that Elle editor I don't even know her name!
Do any of these people even know the process of creating a garment let alone evaluate one??? I'm making a t-shirt that says: "Hey Heidi, KLUMP!!!"

. Which brings us to Micheal Kors, the ONLY professional on the entire show. But what the hell are you doing there, Mikie?? You're pretty damn near icon status! This is not the way to gain more of those status. Sigh - sad. But he's relevant. I respect him.

. Last but never least, I love Daniel Franco! Now, there's a designer with class and integrity as designers really should be. I'd love to make friends with him - even work, too. He has a lot of potential.

. I think the show cheapens the profession by focusing on the reality TV drama aspect of it rather than to show the public more of the creative process and construction of garments... etc... But I suppose that would be too boring for this kind of show. Too bad! The show might have been created to give the industry some much needed interest, but the emphasis on these people trying to be 'stars' rather than a focus on their work = the clothes defeats that purpose.

This is the problem with the clothing industry these days. When CNN recently reported on fashion week, Paris Hilton and the likes dominated the clip which, in the end, showed NO CLOTHING whatsoever. So, report on fashion week but no fashion - only celebs or wannabe celebs! What's wrong with that picture?

So, until Project Runway changes emphasis, I say: I'm a designer, honey, not a beauty queen, ok? Thanks! :0)

[bearhedded.livejournal.com]

meeting bearhedded in person today at lunch

...and you made the BEST "deer-in-the-headlights" face, when I said, "Neal?"!!!

I made a quick sweep of the food court today, but didn't see you.

We never figured it out: DID we see each other that other time?

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Did I look like a deer-in-the-headlights? It was nice to have someone come up and introduce themselves:) I don't think we saw each other before that moment, now that I think about it. Regardless, now we've met! YAY! HUGS!