I'm not close with my siblings. We've lived on opposite sides of the country for most of our adult lives, and I’ve never made time to get together. They're both terrific parents, from what I've seen of their kids, and perhaps someday we'll start hanging out on holiday or something.

Today is my sister's birthday. She's had a bit of a rough patch of late, but she's strong, smart, resourceful, beautiful, and most importantly, she's a genuinely good person. I'll call her a little later in the day, probably won't get through, and feel regret that I haven't spoken with her.

But: I hope she knows I love her, and we're sending the proverbial good thoughts, and I'm keeping a place in my heart for her.

Tags: Peeps

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - New Jersey health officials addressing an E.coli outbreak on Wednesday asked Taco Bell restaurants in the state to throw out all their food and better train workers in hygiene and food handling.

I used to live in New Jersey, and I can think of a bunch of restaurants that ought to be "asked" to throw out their food.

Earlier on Wednesday, Yum Brands Inc. unit Taco Bell said it stopped serving green onions at all of its 5,800 U.S. restaurants after tests showed three samples were found to be "presumptive positive" for the E.coli 0157:H7 strain

The developing story is here. Yum, indeed.

Tags: Location

Thanks to the technical wizardry of Isaiah at YourHead Software, the new galleries are up and running. There's still commentary to be added to most shots, but that'll happen with time and digging around in my memory for significant stories. Meanwhile, click on the link and see what we've wrought. as always, questions and comments are welcome.

Tags: Site Stuff

Neanderthals Were Cannibals, Study Confirms:

Researchers found cut marks and evidence that bones had been torn apart, which they say could indicate cannibalism."There is strong evidence suggesting that these Neanderthals were eaten," said the study's lead author, Antonio Rosas of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid. "That is, long bones and the skull were broken for extraction of the marrow, [which] is very nutritious."According to Rosas, there is evidence of cannibalism in Neanderthal remains from other European sites."I would say this practice… was general among Neanderthal populations," he said.

Tags: Science

I am a regular reader of Terry Teachout's About Last Night (part of ArtsJournal's group of blogs) and he reviews for The Wall Street Journal, of which I am not a regular reader but, y'know, I've heard of, and he likes the new version of Company:

In an act of recreative genius, Mr. Doyle has knocked the cobwebs off “Company” and turned it into an utterly contemporary chronicle of marriage and its discontents, one whose implications have never been more immediate.Like Mr. Doyle’s 2006 revival of “Sweeney Todd,” this is a small-scale production in which the 14 members of the cast double as their own onstage orchestra, playing everything from piccolo to double bass. It’s no stunt, either: By making their own music, the actors create an atmosphere at once intimate and intense, and Mary-Mitchell Campbell’s astringent new orchestrations strip away all the tired pop-music clichés of Jonathan Tunick’s original arrangements. Add in David Gallo’s appropriately glossy lucite-and-lacquer unit set and Mr. Doyle’s bracingly Brechtian “presentational” staging, in which the performers mostly play to the audience rather than to one another, and you get a show that looks and sounds less like a leave-’em-laughing Broadway musical than an avant-garde theater piece. No, this isn’t your parents’ “Company”—it’s better….

So there you have it, straight from the influential reviewer's mouth, er...pen. I have no reason to doubt his word, but I still don't like Bobby.

Tags: Theatuh

So Lindsay Lohan is attending AA meetings. Good for her.

But.

She needs to fire her publicist, who doesn't seem to understand the meaning of that second A.

The publicist could've confirm that Lohan is "seeking treatment" or has "enrolled in Alcohol counseling". Those phrases would've tipped us off that young Missy has acknowledged that there may be a problem, without bringing packs of papparazzi to camp outside of every AA meeting in the Greater Los Angeles area. Those photographers, in their quest to get that golden shot of Lindsay, with or without panties, will snap pictures of some people entering or leaving the meetings who truly wish to be 'A', and that's a shame; those people may not return to get the help they need because they feel that their anonymity, the very foundation of AA, has been compromised.

It would be a different story if Lohan herself issued a statement after attending what is known as a 30/30 or a 60/60 and had a chance to work the program and see results.

Tags: Celebrity, Name Check

David

John

Collie

Mark

Allan

Blaise

Tommy

Carol

Ray

Cliff

Daniel

Kelly

Tags: Name Check, Epidemic

I'm intrigued by the concept for "Company", John Doyle's everybody-plays-an-instrument version of the Sondheim classic, but I think it may not work as well as it did for his "Sweeney Todd". It did take a bit of getting used to, what with Sweeney and Mrs Lovett stopping now and again to fiddle, as it were, but "Sweeney Todd" is an over the top piece that lends itself to wacky interpretation. "Company", on the other hand, has never struck me as a show that needs wacky interpretation. What it does need is a better book, or a different take on the insufferable Bobby. Great songs, though.

I hope the concept doesn't catch on. I do not want a revival of "The King and I" where Anna whips out her clarinet, say, or "South Pacific" where Nellie Forbush lugs around an Upright Bass.

At Amazon:
Company - A Musical Comedy (1970 Original Broadway Cast),
Sweeney Todd (2005 Broadway Revival Cast)

Tags: Theatuh, Musical

Should "A Chorus Line" and "Les Miserables" - two revivals that are pretty much carbon copies of the original productions - be eligible for Tony Awards?

That's the question posed by Michael Riedel in this morning's yesterday's New York Post. Both revivals use the exact staging of the originals, so if awards are given for direction for example, should they not be given to the original directors and not the current directors (who, again, worked from 'blueprints') ?

Several sources predict a grand compromise."A Chorus Line" and "Les Miserables" will be eligible for Best Revival of a Musical, and their casts will be eligible for the performing awards. But direction, choreography and the design elements will be deemed ineligible for Tonys

That's probably what will happen, and it's a moot point: I think Best Revival will go to the yet-to-open "110 In The Shade". Never bet against Audra MacDonald and John Cullum.
At Amazon:
Carousel (1994 Broadway Revival Cast, featuring Audra MacDonald)
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever: John Cullum &The Original Broadway Cast Recording
A Chorus Line - The New Broadway Cast Recording (2006 Broadway Revival Cast)
Les Miserables (1987 Original Broadway Cast)

Tags: Theatuh, Musical

Amusing article over at Wired, which includes this laugh out loud sentence, about X-Men's plain-named Jean Grey:

It's as if the Avengers included Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Dave Henderson.

Tags: Super Hero

Chad Pennington is having a decent season as QB of The New York Jets, after injuries the past two years nearly derailed his career. But he still gets ragged on by the fans and the NY media. And this photo explains why: He looks like he's twelve. He looks cross-eyed. And he looks like he just woke up from an embarrassingly personal dream. And, he looks like, if you shake him, he'll make one of those noises like Elmer Fudd used to make when Bugs Bunny slapped him across the face.

Chad has agents. They must do everything in their power to get the NFL to remove every picture of Chad looking like a goofball, and replace them with one of him looking like an actual Professional Football Player.


tagged Pennington, New York Jets

Tags: Football

According to this article in Smarthouse, it's a done deal. Apple is introducing some sort of 'living room' device, nicknamed iTV, in the Spring, and a tablet would fit nicely into their scheme.

Given the number of Macs, old and new and yet-to-be-delivered-for-Christmas, in my house, Apple should use me as a Beta Tester. I can't imagine what I'd use a tablet for, but I'm sure I'd find a way to fit it into my daily routine....



tagged Apple, iTV

Tags: Tech

There's a new plug-in from Your Head Software soon to be available for Rapid Weaver, called Carousel. I know we've been threatening to make the Photo Galleries on this site better looking and better behaving, and judging from the Carousel preview, we'll be able to deliver soon. Isaiah has been turning out terrific work for some time now, making it easier even for those of us with 'support staff' to keep up with the Joneses. Of course, the Joneses have better cameras. I guess we'll need to address that , too. Another task for Chet, the intern.

Tags: Site Stuff, Tech

...I'm thinking of joining in the lawsuits that are brewing against Borat (also here, here , and here).

Yes, it sucks to be made out a fool, but at least it's a comedy, and the 'victims' did sign waivers. Y'know...a contract.
I signed a contract when I made Cold Fire. Frankly, it's an awful way to spend a couple of hours, and I'm surprised that audiences didn't storm the video stores demanding their money back (and damages for pain and suffering) but...I signed a contract, and I've taken my lumps ever since.


Borat

Tags: Film

Robert Altman died last night in Los Angeles. My favorites of his many films: The Long Goodbye (1973), which is the best work Elliot Gould has ever done, followed closely by Nashville(1975) and The Player (1992). I'm also partial to McCabe & Mrs. Millerbecause who can resist Julie Christie? I've yet to see A Prairie Home Companion (2006), and there are several of his more obscure works I've never seen. I have seen, without knowing it at the time, all of the Bonanza episodes he directed in the early 60's, and probably most of the Vic Morrow-Rick Jason series Combat episodes. The one to forget, as if anyone who saw it could, is Popeye (1980), a massive train wreck of a film despite it's near perfect cast.

Tags: Obit, Name Check, Film

Jo and I made the trip to Asheville yesterday to check in on Chamber Theatre's Encore 3 company, the group I directed when I was in Boston in September. We saw the show this morning at the Tom Wolfe Auditorium at the Asheville Civic Center.

It's an odd experience to revisit a show two months down the line. I hadn't seen any of these guys since I left Boston on September 27, and although I'd heard reports that they were "holding their own" on the road, one can never be sure exactly what that means. Since none of the actors has ever performed in a long run, I expected to see a bit of "road weariness" creeping in to the show.

What I saw this morning was pretty much what I saw at final dress rehearsal. The show itself is in decent shape: There were no major goof-ups, and really any small ones would not be evident to an audience, only those of us who know the show well. Aside from everybody rushing certain scenes, the occasional missing of lighting marks (almost unavoidable when you play a different house every day), and an unfortunate problem with the cyc lights that meant key moments were muddled for lack of adequate illumination, they did an outstanding job, and the audience clearly enjoyed it.

I had told Andrew, the Stage Manager, that I was coming, and he told Erica, the House Manager, who had to let us in, but I don't think he told the actors so I was pleased to be greeted warmly when I popped backstage afterwards and interrupted the load-out process.This is a group of people (not just the actors, but Electrician, Stage Manager, and House Manager) that know how to get along with each other; if there are problems-and in a long tour, there inevitably are problems-they deal with them as a family, work through whatever issues there might be, and get on with the job at hand.

Rehearsing this group was a pleasure, and seeing them do so well made me very happy. I'm proud of all of them.

Above, left to right, behind me: Andrew Terlizzi, Morgan Carson, Liz Markey, Travis Horseman, Lil Malinich, Kevin Meehan. Not shown: Electrician Alicia Levey, and House Manager/Understudy Erica Camarano, who took the picture.

Tags: Theatuh

So, what's up with all the ads on this site, anyway? Here's the thing: I'm experimenting with 'monetizing' the web site, because...um...hosting fees don't grow on trees. (I wish. The new neighborhood has tons of trees but not a one, as far as I can tell, is a money tree.)

Direct your attention, please, to the column at the right side of the page. There are a few ads there, yes. Ads for items I own, for services I've used, for vendors I've purchased from. (Also there are text ads just above the 'links' section. According to my agreement with the kind folks who provided those, I'm forbidden from asking you to click them. You're just supposed to discover them on your own...)

If you follow the links from ads on this site and make a purchase, douglascoler.com will receive a small percentage of that purchase as a commission. Good deal for me, virtually painless for you, win-win all around. The new Schwag Shop section of this site also has handy Amazon links to a few select items. And if you're going to shop at Amazon or the Apple Store or the iTunes Store anyway, please do start from my site.

I'm open to suggestions for other products and services to advertise here. If there's something that you've purchased, or a service you've used that just was the bee's knees, let me know and I'll have my crack research staff check it out.

By the way, the 10% off at Dr. Emu is good through November only.

I'm just sayin'

From the journal Nature, this might be filed under TMI, but it really is sort of fascinating:

An ancient Jewish sect showed such devotion to their definition of purity that they pursued bizarre toilet habits that left them riddled with parasites, say researchers who have discovered and dug up their toilet.The discovery, made at Qumran, near Jerusalem, could provide more proof linking the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Essene people who lived in the area, the researchers claim.The scrolls — the oldest biblical documents ever found — were thought to have been made by the Essenes around 100 years BC. Joe Zias, a palaeopathologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem dug around Qumran where he thought their toilet should be, and took soil samples to try and prove the connection once and for all.

Full article here.

Tags: Science

Chargers 49, Bengals 41


Well, we know who dey aint:

Dey ain't the guys that protected a 440 yard, 3 TD, no INT passing game by Carson Palmer.

Dey ain't the guys that protected Chad Johnson's team record 260 yard, 2 TD effort.

Dey ain't in first place.

Dey ain't gonna make the playoffs.

The Bengals' D has got some splainin' to do.

Get your very own Who Dey Shirtat Amazon.

Tags: Football

This from the BBC:

Scientists have used computer software to come up with what they say is the perfect comedy face. The University of Stirling team blended together 179 different facial aspects of 20 top comedians.

They said soft and feminine features, typified by Ricky Gervais, were more likely to make people laugh.....


"....typically masculine facial traits, such as chiselled jaws and high foreheads are regarded as less amusing and their owners are less likely to succeed in a comedy career.

"Faces of heroic actors are narrower than comedians', with greater definition, smaller eyes and prominent jaws.
Overall their appearance is very masculine, compared to the gentle, feminine qualities of the comedy face"......

Ricky Gervais said: "All these years I assumed my global success as a comedian was down to my acute observations, expert directorial rendering and consummate skills as a performer.

"Turns out it's because I've got a fat girly face."

Full article here.

Tags: Celebrity, Name Check, Science

Dave Winer has an interesting take on the film Why We Fight. Not a review per se, but his commentary on how his perceptions have changed since seeing it. I haven't yet seen it, but it appears to be one of those movies that's "a must-see" (Of course, my must-see and your must-see are no doubt different, for any number of reasons). It's his conclusion that rings true, though. Rings loud and clear:

Even so, we should vote Democratic, because it's the clearest protest vote we have. But if we elect Democrats, we should be prepared not to stop there.

Tags: Film, Govmint

This just across the wire:

Phoenix, AZ:
A seven-year-old boy was at the center of a Phoenix courtroom drama last week when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents, and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his Aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Arizona Cardinals, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

Thanks for the heads up, Mark!

Tags: "News"

DouglasColer.com has been selected as a Featured Site all this week over at RapidWeaved, a showcase site for those of us who use RapidWeaver as our design tool of choice. Check 'em out, and see what's being done.

Tags: Site Stuff

When I was a kid in Cincinnati, Ohio, the community somehow got the idea that it would be best if children weren't running around in the dark wearing disguises, what with The Boston Strangler killing people in Massachusetts and all. How that figured into it, I don't know...maybe there were other circumstances, but I remember the Boston Strangler being at least part of the excuse. So, Halloween was transformed into a daylight activity. Yep: No house to house begging after dark. And if the 31st fell on a weekday, we had to do this on the closest Saturday. If your idea of Halloween was toddlers in bunny costumes and babies dressed as puppies and fairies or something, then yes, this was just dandy, but I was old enough to want the scary part. (In principle, of course: My older brother and sister routinely scared the crap out of me and I screamed myself into hysteria.)

After a couple of years, though, as the 'novelty' of parading around in broad daylight dressed as a Dead Guy or Batman or King Kong began to wear thin, my neighbor Dickie from 3 streets over decided he'd had enough. He organized a protest, because it was the era of protests and the man was keepin' us down. There we were, a bunch of little kids, maybe 7 or 10 of us in all, marching around in a circle with our cardboard signs painted with slogans and chanting "Halloween At Night! Halloween at Night!!". We were a site to behold. We were a force to be reckoned with, we would not be denied our right to an October 31 after dark trick-or-treat experience. Did this protest happen at City Hall, at the very steps of power, in front of the city manager's office? No. Did it happen at our town center, where Miami Avenue crossed the railroad tracks? No. This determined mob of children marched and protested in front of Dickie's house, where we were certain to be seen by all of 3 cars, none of which were driven by 'the man'. We were doomed to failure. But....

Dig it: Dickie's dad called the TV stations, and Channel 9 sent a truck and a cameraman and a reporter. Channel 9 showed up to tape footage of our band of tiny militants. Channel 9! The same station that showed Uncle Al and Captain Windy every morning! Channel 9! The Big Time!! In households across the Greater Cincinnati area (which included Northern Kentucky and SouthEastern Indiana), families sat slack-jawed in awe as we delivered our powerful message. "Halloween At Night!" We had staged a protest rally, we had gotten through to the masses! Our collective cry for justice would turn the people against their harsh masters and we would win the day! It was exhilarating.

It was also unsuccessful. If we had staged the rally at a better time, perhaps the outcome would've been different, but the intricacies of local government are often lost on children, no matter the strength of their convictions. Our protest took place a few days before Halloween, not nearly enough time to allow for the debate and review of such a polarizing issue. We endured yet another Daylight Halloween. We had planted the seeds of dissent, though, and a generation of children in the North Eastern suburbs of Cincinnati have us to thank for Halloween At Night.

Tags: Childhood

I was looking in my photo albums for a shot of my 1983 costume. I was dressed in fatigues and had those plastic army men and tanks glued to my shirt. I was, of course, the Invasion of Granada, which commenced on October 25 of that year. Topical + Misguided Military Action + Hindsight = Hi-Larity. Alas, no such picture exists. Instead, I give you this from 1982.

This is the result of a 2 hour session with a make-up artist from Universal Studios (who hold the copyright on the Lon Chaney, Jr. Wolfman make-up created by Jack Pierce). I was part of a special Halloween Show at The Variety Arts Center, my place of employment -and my favorite watering hole - in those days. As I recall, Ginny D'Auria was in full green Witch regalia and together we sang "By The Light Of The Silvery Moon". Or rather, Ginny sang. I sort of howled along, sometimes on key, sometimes not. Those of you who have heard me sing know that this characterizes most of my musical performances.

There were showers in the dressing rooms in the bowels of the theatre, and after several hours in this amazingly itchy get up, I underwent a hasty hair removal and shower, just long enough to get the bulk of the stuff off me so that it didn't look like I was also channeling Al Jolson, but not enough to get the many layers of eye-liner off. I didn't realize that I hadn't removed all the gunk until later. I spent the remainder of the evening in my street clothes, at the bar, enduring chuckles at my Cleopatra/Racoon eyes.

Tags: Theatuh

I was walking up 9th Avenue with a Mark today, and he put in a call on his cell to another Mark, for whom I was going to audition while in town. It occurred to me that I know a lot of Marks. A rough count puts in at an even dozen, and of that dozen, six of them are close friends. Two of those six have served in the capacity of Best Friend at different times of my life. I'm staying with one of the Marks...not the walking up 9th Mark...and this Mark was kind enough to invite me to The Concert Of The Season last night : Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden. We had perfect seats: 19th Row, Center. I'm not a regular concert goer, as Mark is. I did my share of them: David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen,The Go-Gos before they hit it big, and long ago, Sammy Davis, Jr (who was amazing), but I am reasonably well versed in concert etiquette. The Garden was sold out, so space was at a premium. Two rows ahead of us, a shaggy, cap and denim jacket-wearing guy, in his early 40's took his place just as Robert Cray was finishing the opening set. Not took his seat, mind you. His place. In front of his chair. On his feet. Now, sure, there are times when you want to stand, particularly if you're in the nosebleed section. But he wasn't. He was in the 17th row. Center. And he never sat down. Not once. He did a lot of pointing at Clapton in that "you da man!" way that certain guys do. And a lot of swaying. And jumping. And what I'm sure he thought was dancing. But not concert use-the-space-in-front-of-your-chair dancing. He shimmied to one side, then the other. He hooted, he hollered, he screamed, he flailed about, he encroached on the chair space of his neighbors, and seemed to embarrass most of the people around him. Even at concerts where it's socially acceptable to be wildly enthusiastic, when some goofus goes nutty in the a seat near you, you get embarrassed for him, it seems. Mark and I weren't embarrassed; we were alternately amused and annoyed. The guys behind us, though, were downright angry. Livid, in fact. Screaming at the goofus to sit down, to knock it off, to act like a man, dammit! And goofus gleefully carried on, perhaps not hearing them, perhaps hearing and not caring, perhaps so transported by Slow Hand himself that nothing else could possibly matter.

EC put together a terrific band for this tour: Doyle Bramhall II and Derek Trucks, Steve Jordan on drums, Tim Carmon and Chris Stainton on keyboards, great horns, too, and a couple of back up vocalists. All of them were on it last night, and so was Robert Cray. The interesting thing to me was that all them were dressed so casually....Carmon was wearing a striped polo shirt that made him look like that kid in the wheelchair on Malcolm in The Middle, and Clapton himself looked like a suburban dad. Cray's band, too. All about comfort, I suppose. Can't fault the musicianship, though, particularly Trucks. Another thing: Clapton is not a chatty performer. Except for introducing each band mate after solos, and saying thank you, hardly a peep. Mark counted 18 non-sung words. They wrapped up a little after 11:45...for the record, he didn't play Lay Down Sally or Tears In Heaven...and the crowd dispersed fairly quickly.

What of goofus? He boogied, he leapt, he bopped, he marched to his different drummer all the way out the Garden. And those angry guys? We overheard them plotting to "kick that guy's ass".

---

Check out Clapton on iTunes ,and Bramhall,and Trucks.

Tags: Peeps, Name Check, Musical

The curiosity is killing you, I know, and the questions are coming hard and fast: Where's Doug? Why hasn't he posted? Why do I even bother to load this stupid site into my browser?

Yes, there's been a gap. Somewhere, on my very computer in fact, are several blog entries from recent months that have yet to be posted. This can be attributed to flakiness or laziness or even busyness. I'll get around to putting them up, so that you may live my life along with me, but out of sync by about 3 months...which, when you get right down to it, is pretty much how I live, anyway.

Hang in there. Your patience will be rewarded. Well, maybe rewarded is too optimistic....let's just say that you won't be lacking for Doug news and leave it at that.

Tags: Laziness

We're under a mound of boxes here, a good number of them are packed, but many several have yet to be assembled and stuffed. The movers will be at the doorstep first thing Monday, and by the end of the day we'll have not a stick of our own in the house.

I haven't moved like this since...well, ever. My parents sold the house I grew up in the moment I set out on my own. I did move several times when I lived in LA, but because I was nomadic, I rarely had more than a pick-up truck full of stuff to cart from one place to another. And one of my moves was into an apartment on an upper floor in the same building. But Jo has moved many many many times: big, house-sized moves with two small children in tow.

This one is a bit different in that respect-the girls are off doing Summer kid stuff until the end of July (Hillary to Switzerland, Maia to camp), leaving the heavy lifting to us. Which is probably best. They've both been pretty good about the idea of moving, meaning there's been a minimum of protest, tears, and whining. It has to be tough at that age, though, leaving friends and a comfortable routine for a new life and a new set of challenges.

We'll have our own challenges: The professional theatre scene is not as active in North Carolina (practically nonexistent when compared to this area), so I'll have to cover the South Eastern Region to find work on stage. There are a few commercial production houses, and voice work is a viable option. And I do plan to hit NY every few months, if only to pester my friends.

Jo will need to get her Real Estate license, and NC is a Broker state as well, so she'll need to get that license, too, if she wants to continue in that business.

I can't say I'll miss New Jersey all that much. Montclair is a nice little town ("The Upper East Side of New Jersey"), and the commute into the city is ridiculously easy...we're a half block from the bus and two blocks from the train...but the traffic is miserable here, the surrounding area is filthy, and the state government is hopelessly corrupt.

Feh. Off to play with packing tape.

Tags: Location

The Moonlight And Magnolias cast, moments after our final curtain call.
Sara, Erik, Jim, and Doug. (And yes, Erik always has that look in his eyes, and yes, that's a bracelet made of either buckeyes or milk duds on Sara's wrist.)

Tags: Theatuh

photo by Andrew McKeever

Back from the Dorset Festival. Moonlight and Magnolias was, in my view anyway, the most pure fun I've had on stage in many years. We played to moderate sized houses...the tourist season isn't quite in full swing...but those audiences were very appreciative.

I'll post more photos as I get them. Check out excerpts from the rave reviews here.

Above, from left: Douglas Coler as Victor Fleming, Erik Gratton as David O. Selznick, Sara Peterson as Miss Poppenguhl, and Jim Shankman as Ben Hecht.

Tags: Theatuh

Victor Fleming, for Gone With The Wind.


And that's my role in Moonlight and Magnolias, playing June 15 - June 24 at The Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont.
It's a comedy about David O. Selznick's mad rush for a better shooting script for GWTW and the lengths he goes to in order to get it.

I start rehearsals in about 10 days, and already I'm excited about the run. Ya'll come.

Tags: Theatuh

I'm recently returned from Easton, Mass, where I was the Guest Director at Stonehill College. The show was Horrid Massacre in Boston by Don Nigro. Below is the kick-ass set by Stonehill's resident designer, Kevin Brown, built primarily by student labor.


I had a terrific time with this job. The kids actors, seen below in costumes designed by Joan Halpert, were great fun to work with; eager, quick, funny, and quite talented.



As with any show, there were frustrations and obstacles along the way, but cast worked hard- the crew, the costume shop, the stage managers, the house staff, too -and put on a wonderful show. If you saw it, thanks for coming. If you didn't, you missed a dark, funny, and touching theatrical experience.

And now that it's over, I miss them all.

Tags: Theatuh

Today, the massive electronic clarion at Boston's Downtown Crossing clanged out a welcome. Welcome Spring! Welcome visitors! Welcome shoppers!

And what tune ripped through our springing, visiting, shopping ears?

What did the town fathers choose to blast over a five block area, rattling windows, setting off car alarms, and making babies cry?

'The Sounds Of Silence'.

The irony was entirely lost the assembled springers, visitors, and shoppers.

Tags: Location

There are things happening in my life that are none of your business...unless you're actually in my life. Then, of course, you know all about it, and you've offered:
-congratulations
-condolences
-large wads of cash
-medical advice and/or harvested human organs
-your mad identity theft skillz
-a safe haven
-a night on the town
-"to break the legs of the people what done this"
Don't think I don't appreciate it. I do, more than I can ever say.

Particularly the harvested human organs.

Tags: Gloom

Spent a portion of the day wandering around the North End and older sections of town, getting a feel for the architecture and setting of the play. It's been ridiculously tepid here. The sun was actually out for most of my walk, with temps pushing the mid 50's. I'll meet with the designers (costumes and set) on Tuesday, and table rehearsals begin next Sunday. Won't get on it's feet, probably, until the week of the 20th.

I'm still working the first gig, but this week is largely tech oriented, and since this production has been done so many times, tech rehearsals hold little surprise for most of us. The actors are new to it, though, but 3 of them have done our productions before, and one guy has done this show too many times to count.

I miss my girls. I speak with Jo daily, and I'm glad we do talk, but sometimes I want to reach over and stroke her hair or watch her smile, and a cell phone is a poor substitute. I also feel like I'm missing out on huge chunks of the kids' lives. I'm not (I don't think...) but I've grown to like being a 'parent' and all the stuff that goes with it, and I love them.

Hugs. That's what I miss: hugs. They're a huggable trio. No half-hearted, arm-kind-of-around-the-shoulder hugs...these are full on, lung-crushing, body squeezes. Yup...a guy gets used to that.

On a personal note: Hang in there, Bear. I love you, too.

Tags: Location

A Few Connections:
My old friend Jim Beaver, whom I first met at The Variety Arts Center in the early 80's, is starring as Henry II in a new production of The Lion In Winter at LA's Theatre West. Jim is familiar to some of you from his many film and TV roles and currently, he plays Ellsworth on the HBO hit Deadwood. We last crossed paths in late summer of 2000 when he was playing Gary on the ABC series The Trouble With Normal, and I guested on one episode as the voice of a motivational guru.

The star of that series was Jon Cryer, and Jon's paternal grandfather, Dr. Donald Cryer, was the minister at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Madeira, Ohio, where I was a member of the congregation. Jon and I discussed this at lunch break, and he told me that both of his grandfathers had been ministers (Jim's father was a minister, and of course, both of Jon's parents are actors...)

The Trouble With Normal was produced by Tim Doyle, who was the assistant director on You Can't Take It With You, the very first play I did after graduation in California. The play also starred Glenn Shadix (who got me the job at the Variety Arts Center where I met Jim) and was produced at the Bank Playhouse in Pasadena, operated by Dr. Nathan Roth, father of David Lee Roth.

Starring opposite Jim in the play as Eleanor of Aquitane is Bridget Hanley, probably best known from the old series Here Come The Brides. Bridget is the widow of director E. W. Swackhamer, from whom I learned a great deal while working on the film Longshot.

If you're in LA, go see Jim and Bridget. The Lion In Winter is one of the truly terrific plays of the last 50 years. I've done it twice...both times playing Richard the Lionhearted...and Robin Riker and I have discussed playing Henry and Eleanor together when we reach the appropriate ages. Robin appeared with Glenn Shadix and me in the radio series The Adventures of Doc Savage, costarred with me in the blink-and-you-miss-it internet series Mars and Beyond, and starred in Thunder Alley, produced by Tim Doyle and costarring (et voila) Jim Beaver.

Tags: Name Check, Celebrity, Theatuh

John Perry Barlow is back to his blog, after a year of living harrowily. When you have a few minutes away from distractions, drop by and read his first post of 2006, and feel yourself comforted, kicked in the pants, and enlightened in a way that you knew you were but needed to hear from somebody else. Then go embrace your loved ones. And maybe make this bit from John into your personal mantra:

The best thing about the future is that it doesn't arrive all at once. It arrives a second at a time. This particular second is good. The next one shows every evidence of being entirely habitable. I'm just going to try to keep it like that. Right now, it feels like I can.

I won't leave for Boston until next weekend, but I'm already dreading the packing that needs to be done. I'll be gone for about three months, and I will be able to make a few side trips back here, but my day to day existence will be quite different from being at home.

Usually, I just take a suitcase stuffed with clothes and my backpack crammed with electronics, disks, chargers, keys, etc, but as I'm doing two (essentially) concurrent gigs and will be away longer, I need to plan this with a bit more care than my usual goin'-away-in-ten-minutes-better-take-some-stuff-with-me style. I won't have to pack pens, say, or shampoo, because those things, I'm pretty sure, are to be found in Boston, but my list of essentials grows daily.

Happily for me, I stay at my friend Karen's house, which is large and comfortable and reasonably close to the first job, and which also houses a pre-teen boy, and one pre-teen boy makes up for 2 teenage girls in the rambunctious department, so even though I will miss the girls, Gabe will make it sound like home. It also has a small yard and sits close to the street. Why is that a bonus? Because last year, after the freakin' blizzard which dumped four feet of snow on us, we were able to dig out in a relatively short amount of time.

For the second gig, though, I will have to drive about 25 miles. In crappy New England weather. With lots of Boston drivers. I haven't driven in a quite a while, so this ought to be fun.

Tags: Location

You can't ski, sled, skate, or swim, but it is fun to watch the cats navigate the back yard.

Tags: Location

I can't figure out how an aqua Cheech and Chong-ish duck-ape would make somebody say "Yes, by golly, I'm going to take care of my unpaid mountain of bills using the new lower mortgage rates. I shall click my state now!"

Clearly, this is a company with
• an identity crisis
• a 'designer' who may be the V.P.'s 12 year old nephew.
• no idea what an actual duck-ape looks like.
• a tainted water supply.

It would be mildly interesting to know just who does click through on an ad like this. If the numbers are more than, say, 5 per day, they may be on to something....

Tags: WTF