Posts (page 2)
Recent Arrivals:
Grinderman - Grinderman
Coconut Records - Nighttiming
Feist - The Reminder
Tori Amos - American Doll Posse
Downloading Soon:
The Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running EP
Interpol - Heinrich Maneuver EP
The Dears - You And I Are A Gang of Losers EP
Of Montreal - Icons, Abstract Thee EP
Yeah, EPs are poised to take over my world.
magnets
I piled into a car full of fellow theatrebrats early Wednesday afternoon, en route to Asheville, NC, an arty little city tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains. I haven't been to Asheville in a couple of years, and I hadn't ever spent time in the town with people my age, so this was almost like visiting to the city for the first time. Thank goodness there are still opportunities for first times.
By the time we arrived in Asheville, we were hungry again, so we had dinner at The Early Girl, a quaint restaurant nestled into Asheville's downtown. Time was killed in Malaprops, a local indedpendent bookstore, and before we knew it, it was time to head to the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium for the show.
The National opened, but none of us were familiar with them nor were we interested enough to investigate, so we spent their set walking around, getting beer and settling in. None of this took very long, so we were all ready for Arcade Fire by the time the intermission began.
And today I'm back to my life, not that that's a bad thing. I now am officially permanent at my place of employment, which is a huge relief to everyone in my life, including myself.
I'm feeling antsy to get out of town again...
the parent project opened last night to a full house.
yes, my mommy was there, as were several others moms (and dads) of cast members and directors. well, director.
what an incredibly supportive opening night at the beginning of the culmination of this six-month undertaking. even though the run has just begun, the whole project is nearly done.
come see it if you can.
Book: Share a self-help book that meant a lot to you.
I'd go into what it's taught me (and what I've tried to learn from it) but I think everything is summed up by the title. Last year, after coming to a stark realization that I'd been in a cycle of serial monogamy that hasn't worked out terribly well for me for nearly a decade, I decided to overhaul my relationship strategies and begin--gasp!--dating without expecting a relationship.
Show us your oldest family photo.
Submitted by Alex Leonard
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
Inspired by Stephanie.
"Melt Your Heart" Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love)
"April & May" David Fridlund, Amaterasu (Hidden Agenda)
"Young Folks," Peter, Bjorn And John, Writer's Block (V2)
"Feng Shui" Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (Atlantic/Downtown)
"Airbag" Radiohead, OK Computer (Capitol)
"Paranoid Android" Radiohead, OK Computer (Capitol)
"All the King's Horns" Sufjan Stevens, Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas, Volume 3 (Asthmatic Kitty)
"Bitter Tea" The Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea (Fat Possum)
"Roadkill in the Parking Lot (Of The Fitness Center)" Tad Dreis, Solitaire For Two (Hedgepig Music)
"Wild World" Jimmy Cliff, 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Jimmy Cliff (Universal)
Ten things about an actor you might not know:
1. That thing about performers being generally insecure individuals who seek approval, this approval being a major force which drove them into performance? More true than not true, but I'd bet you actually didn't know that about me.
2. That thing about being generally insecure? Mostly true, except in my case it is, at times, undercut by waves of confidence and optimism which thankfully cancels out said insecurities.
3 . I used to want to work for Walt Disney Imagineering, the part of the company responsible for designing its theme parks. Because of this I'm also really anal about the parks being referred to with their actual names. Meaning, "Walt Disney World" refers to the total complex of theme parks, water parks, campgrounds and hotels near Orlando. Disneyland is the park in California. The Magic Kingdom is the theme park in Walt Disney World which bears a resemblance to California's Disneyland.
4. First celebrity crush? Jeremy Miller. Yep, Ben Seaver from Growing Pains.
5. I haven't done much Shakespeare, but I have done Romeo and Juliet twice, each production several years apart from the other. I did not play the same character in either production; through this fine distinction, I can say that I have played both sides of a single conversation, as both of my characters have a scene together.
6. First concert: Alanis Morissette, January 1996, at the now-demolished Civic Center in Raleigh, NC.
7. Who opened? Radiohead.
8. I share a hometown with Allan Gurganus, Thelonius Monk, Earle Hyman, and the Hardee's Corporation.
9. Three iPods and a PC. Seriously.
10. I still experience stage fright.
Who's next? You are, if you're reading this.
I won't bother to give a "review," mostly due to the massive blog coverage Neon Bible's getting, so you can read it all elsewhere, but I do want to chime in. (Like those bells in "Intervention.") As a contrast to the previous album, Funeral, which explored and unspooled rich inner lives, Neon Bible turns outward and aims for larger themes of life in wartime, pervasive fear, celebrity culture, uncertainty, and the shortcomings of organized religion.
(Current) Favorite Tracks: "Black Mirror," "Neon Bible," "Intervention," "No Cars Go"
The first week of rehearsals for "the parent project" is coming to a close. It's been a long week, and I know the journey is just beginning, but at some point, I feel like I regained some energy, that spark I needed to keep me focused and driven. The script is as perceptive, funny and tricky as earlier both hands pieces, but it's also more complex as anything I've ever seen from them, as well as having the additional component of hitting very close to home for many involved.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, "the parent project" began last fall, as a weekly series of writing/creation sessions headed by cheryl and tamara, the two hands behind both hands theatre company. Over the course of ten weeks, twenty-five-ish actors, artists and writers generated text and gesture to contribute to the creation of this script. We all participated in this "emotional excavation," telling stories about our families, sharing memories of our parents, exposing our fears, concerns, joys, and thoughts about the things we've learned from our kinfolk, the many ways we live/cope with them, and what we expect from life after they have left us.
As you can imagine, there was lots of laughter and more than a few tears shed.
Those of us in the acting ensemble, who also participated in the creation process, didn't see the final product of this until rehearsals began this week. I can't say what this was like for anyone but me, but it's fairly disconcerting to hear someone describe your mother or your family's dysfunction in your own words, without the knowledge that they are doing so. Good luck keeping a straight face during this.
It's going to be a wild ride.
What we can't get rid of :: Orla Swift's review of "exactly what t(w)o do," both hands' previous show. "the parent project" is mentioned toward the end of the article.
