This must be the place

Car-Free Streets to 440 Lafayette

Yes, yes I did. That was awesome (and thank you, B.) I mostly kept to my music and kept right (cyclists on the left) making my way downtown, down Park Avenue, skyscrapers on either side.

You call it shadow. I call it shade.

Oh, the urban lifestyle. I wanted to take my cellphone, and thought I would need to hold it. Harris says, "you've got a pocket." No, I don't. He points to the iPod strap I have been using for the past five years. It didn't just hold a cellphone, it held it tight.

Oh. Yes. I see. Hey!

Free water, even free iced coffee, that hit the spot during the last five blocks. I dropped postcards at the Robert Moss - did I say it was up the street from the Public? Sorry, it's right across the street from the Public. So you know.

Walked a little to take calls from the wife, the kids. Leah rang, she'll meet us at FringeTEASERS - which by the way I will be performing at at 3:20 PM in the playground at PS 41 between W. 11th and Greenwich at Charles. You should join me.

FringeNYC 09 Playlist
Halo - Beyonce
Pon de Replay - Rhianna
No Pause - Girl Talk
The Power - Snap!
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service
American Boy (Soulseekerz Club Remix) - Estelle
Don't Cha (Ralphie's Hot Freak Radio Mix) - The Pussycat Dolls
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
This Must Be The Place - Miles Fisher
Dry County - The B-52s
Wannabe - Spice Girls
Daft Punk Is Playing at My House - LCD Soundsystem

Distance: 6.2 miles
Temperature: 75º
Weather: hot!

I should do that again next Saturday.

Arrival

When Kelly surprised me with the news that she had a production meeting that started at 1 PM yesterday, I flipped out. I flipped out then. I was unpleasant. I was petulant. It was irritable. And then I was resigned.

When we were stuck on the Jersey side in the parking lot of a closed gas station at 12:30 am because the Lincoln Tunnel was closed (after waiting in traffic for an hour to even get close) with a throbbing empty tank light, on the phone with my wife to triangulate where we were and how exactly to get to the GWB, I was and calm and breathing easily. Because I knew this would happen.

I need to call Kelly and Josh and see when they finally got to Park Slope at Josh's brother's house. I was lucky, I just needed to navigate NYC city streets to Harris & Liz's place, and then I got to get out. I did head the wrong way down a one-way street, but if you are going to do that, 2 AM really is the best time.

There was an air mattress waiting for me, and a very friendly cat. It was distressing that I could not fall asleep right away.

But we are here. I have a street theater thing at 2 PM. I need a bagel.

Love's Not For Me

Looking backward ... looking forward.

Compared to the festivities of the 2001 Fringe, returning in 2004 was a bit of a lonely soul-journey.

It was an exciting summer, to be sure. Earlier that season we had opened the first outside-of-NYC run of Kirk Wood Bromley's The American Revolution, and the night we departed for the Fringe was the official unveiling of Spencer Tunick's photo in Cleveland. And there was an election brewing, the less said about, the better.

I was mentally prepared ... this time I would not have a dozen excitable teenagers with me. Just Brian. Okay, Brian and Kelly and Harris, but mostly Brian. Any illusion I had about this being a triumphant artistic and financial success were quickly dashed when our professional-grade CD player was stolen from out of my car.

The first full day out, Brian and I got organized, visited FringeCENTRAL, and then he went his separate way. As though he were some kind of autonomous being who did rely upon the company of others. I do not comprehend this (no doubt why I am addicted to facebook.)

I am alone. I have no spouse, no small child with me. Where will I go? Who will I be? What will I eat?

The performances went well, though it was marginally attended. I can't blame the venue, which was located in the sticks (8th Avenue? Are you kidding me, why not perform it in the river?) but maybe instead the subject matter. A notice in the NY Times came and went, and still we attracted maybe a dozen people a show.

By that point, however, the family had joined me and we had a proper NY weekend, taking in the children's zoo and the numerous kids' parks. I will miss them a great deal this summer. God, the girl was tiny, and so happy to be there, or anywhere.

The big show that year was Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead. Still have a soft spot for that show, the Fringe production was amazing. I love being in a packed audience of people who all feel like they are engaged in something truly special.

Listening to: PODRUNNER Classic - Always Arriving (153 BPM)

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 65º
Weather: cool & humid
Weight: 153.5 lbs.

This is it, we leave today. Admittedly later than I had hoped but not everyone can take a day off work. Speaking of which, I have taken six days from my vacation time. Time I might otherwise be spending with the family in Maine or something, instead they are all for me, for this endeavor. I am trying not to feel selfish about that.

I will attempt to log daily updates here, I will TWEET as often as seems like there is something to twit about, I don't want to get too obnoxious about that.

There are at least a few people I know attending each performance, and that's nice. I should warn them I take all my clothes off.

Let's get this party started.

Honestly

Knee flared up a little yesterday, decided to sleep in.

This is the route I will (perhaps, I hope) be taking on Saturday morning. Only 3.1 miles from Harris' place to the performance space! Not that I need to be at the performance space at, say, 10 AM on Saturday, but it's, you know ... kinda cool. The idea of it.

Today TIME OUT NEW YORK put up their Time Out New York's Fringe Binge 2009 page on their site. Guess who is featured!

No, sorry, no, not me. Big, gay 16th President, come on, get with the program. I really want to see that show, too, but I am not sure if I am going to get in on my Fringe discount, there's just too much hype.

I am thrilled, however, that reviews are finding their way onto these pages dedicated to individual productions, the support means a great deal, and who knows, maybe people reads those things.

Last day at work today, tomorrow at noon Josh, Kelly and I depart for points East.



I (Heart) Calvin Harris!!!

Contact

I saw two houses in my neighborhood receive daily papers this morning.

Why doesn't anybody read anymore?

Lots of last-minute back-and-forth about technical issues. There are about a dozen shows being performed over three weekends at the Robert Moss Theatre. A number of us needs projectors and screens. Who has a projector? Who has a screen? Can we borrow your screen? Can we borrow your screen without paying you $500 in advance for a replacement bulb? Will our projector be in the way of your projector? How long will it take to knock up the screen?

All of this information travels to and from the different productions through a single source and no one is allowed to contact the actual managers of the venue - ever.

That last makes perfect sense, of course, if all of this mis-communication were threading through my front office, I'd never let you use my space again, either.

Listening to: PODRUNNER Classic - Inferno Express (175 BPM)

Distance: 3.25 miles
Temperature: 67º
Weather: cool & humid
Weight: 156 lbs.

I have run out of things to say. I want to get to New York.

Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party

The Onion: Body fluids and jazz hands: 5 shows to see at the Fringe Festival

So that's how it is ... all Big Gay Lincoln, all the time. I know which show we're all going to be handing out postcards in front of.