Well, dear readers, it’s late, I’m tired, and yet I have notes to write and write them I shall come hell or high or even low water. First may I just say that this week has flown by, like a gazelle doing a back flip while playing a tuba (no mean feat). Last night’s rehearsal occurred last night. We did a run of the entire show, with me stopping and starting to clean up stuff, make little adjustments and stuff like that. One of our actors, Dana, had a really nice suggestion – we tried it, I liked it, and I decided that it would be nice to follow it with a different number than I had at that point, so I’ll be doing a little reshuffling before tonight’s rehearsal. We’ve been rehearsing the two-act version, but I think I’m going to do a little more work on the one-act version and run that soon, just to see how it feels now that the cast is finding their sea legs, making it easier to get a sense of how a one act version would play. I’m still figuring out transition stuff and definitely need a couple of them in the second half of the show – I’ll try to have them figured out by tonight’s rehearsal. Our marquee is finally up, too, so it was nice to see that.
Prior to that, I had a horrible drive to the theater. I did four test runs of the Beverly Glen/Overland route and it was fine every time. And then I wrote about it right here at haineshisway.com and guess what? That route is now jammed. Coincidence? You tell me. Being how influential this here site is, I wouldn’t be surprised if our many LA readers read about it and thought, “Say, that’s a good idea, I think I’ll do that,” thereby jamming up what was a good route and causing me to now come up with yet another route. Damn them, damn them all to hell. I do have another route in my back pocket (no mean feat), one I did the day before and it’s pretty good, so that’s the new one and I shouldn’t waste your time asking what it is because I’m not talkin’.
Prior to that, we had another rehearsal with Sandy and Lanny and that went well. We also had some lunch – I had a ham and Swiss on rye, a cup of soup, and we all shared some wings but I only had about two or three of those. Prior to that, it was just trying to wade through a hundred e-mails and respond and try to keep up with everything, which is getting increasingly more difficult. Prior to all that I think I slept eight hours and had weird dreams and vice versa and also versa vice.
What dull notes. I think these here notes could use some pep, some spice (Cayenne), some sparkle, some pizazz (zzazip, spelled backwards), some glitter, some moxie, but nooooo, we just get dull notes because I am tired and have no moxie in me. Does anyone still drink a Moxie? Do they even still make Moxie, the soda pop? Why, yes they do. Moxie is still with us and therefore I can have Moxie whenever I damn well please. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a Moxie before. I see they even make Diet Moxie. Did you know that Moxie was designated the official soft drink of Maine? That’s because its creator, Dr. Augustin Thompson, was from Maine. Why, did you know Calvin Coolidge liked Moxie? I didn’t. Why the HELL am I talking about Moxie, a drink I’ve never had. Apparently, it’s not as sweet as most soda pop, and some have described it as bitter. For example, a man named Mansard K. Gittlebottom said, “I describe Moxie as bitter, but then I describe everything as bitter because I am bitter as are all the Gittlebottoms and you’d be bitter, too, if someone named you Mansard.” Mansard K. Gittlebottom went on to become the first shoe salesman who didn’t actually have feet. That began his bitterness, and it finally became so all pervasive that he became a cereal killer, having stabbed a box of Quaker Oats over fifty times. He was finally institutionalized and given a lobotomy along with a lifetime supply of Moxie, which, by the way, he found bitter. In any case, you want Moxie, we give you Moxie.
Today, I shall be up early once again because our Sandy and Lanny rehearsal is at ten-thirty due to Sandy having a meeting in the early afternoon. I’m sure I’ll eat something at some point, and I really must begin some liner notes – I have four sets to do now – and hopefully I’ll pick up some packages and then it’s our show rehearsal.
Tomorrow, after a Sandy rehearsal, I then have the rest of the day and evening off, and other than writing liner notes, I shall not answer the telephonic device, nor will I do anything but relax and maybe watch a motion picture or three. Saturday I have a little video shoot in the morning at the Pasadena Playhouse, and then we rehearse, but Saturday evening is nice and free, then we have an all day rehearsal on Sunday. Monday we’re off, but it’s Sandy’s sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a rehearsal, eat, maybe jog, hopefully pick up some packages and have a rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first soft drink you ever can remember having? What was the most outré soft drinks you had as a kid? And what were your favorites back then and did you bring the bottles back for the deposit money? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall ponder writing the biography of Mansard K. Gittlebottom, which I will entitle Moxie for no real reason whatsoever.