Doe, A Deer

Sooooo...today the van got attacked by a deer. Seriously. No, we didn't hit a deer, a deer hit the van. We were on the way to the space this morning, I was in the truck, about 2 minutes behind the van. All of a sudden we see the van on the side of the road with two of the back side windows shattered. Indeed, the deer had bounded across the highway, leapt at the van, broke the windows, and run off.

The rest of the day consisted of doing a show, cleaning glass off the seats and our possessions, and then waiting for a couple hours in Saginaw while the windows got replaced. Long story short, the van is now fine, we're all alive, and we're just outside Detroit for our first show in November.


A deer!?!

Chicago, IL

Woohoo! Got to spend the weekend in Chicago! Got to see Janelle and Cassie and Kyle and Pat and eat Giordano's and sushi. It was a packed weekend, but very fun. We went to the top of the Hancock building last night and had some drinks. Kind of weird being back in Chicago and not staying...went right by the apartment on the bus this morning on my way back to the hotel. Very strange. Cassie was awesome...very friendly, and most certainly remembered me. The boys and I went to Golden Nugget on Saturday morning for some breakfast...picked up a RedEye newspaper while I was there. Unfortunately did not get a chance to go to the Adler, but then again it wasn't so bad to avoid work during my free weekend. Janelle has been taking care of my aquarium, and we bought a pair of fancy guppies for it this weekend. One of them died overnight, however, so Janelle can hopefully get a free one from the pet store. Got to see one of Janelle's concerts up at Northwestern last night, as well, and even got to see some Promethean folks. If you get a chance, take a look at the video of the new broadway musical "the times they are a changin'" on youtube. it's from an episode of the view, and it looks absolutely awful. it's a tribute to bob dylan, but is more like a parody. Barf. Now we're in Kalamazoo, MI for our show tomorrow. Now for a rehearsal in which we prepare our latest understudy for his performance in front of hundreds of children. Huzzah!

Aurora, IL

Odd show today in Joliet...we had kids throwing things from the balcony onto the seats below. Nothing too crazy, but they did get a talking-to at intermission. Tomorrow after the show we drive to our hotel by O'Hare and then have a weekend in Chicago! Janelle is meeting us here soon, and then we all are heading to a haunted house.

Drove the truck for the first time today...short drive of 30 miles, but it included city driving, interstate driving, heavy rain, and construction zones. Very fun in a 26' truck.

Yesterday I drove the van the whole way from St. Louis to Joliet. Long drive, but a fun one...especially with counting crows driving through corn fields and the sunset.

Our new understudy arrived today...Jared, or Jerod, or Jered, or something like that. Josh's last show is tomorrow, and we'll have some rehearsal time in Kalamazoo on Sunday.

Normal, IL

Here in the windswept plains of central Illinois. We've got a show here tomorrow, and then we head back to St. Louis. Looking forward to a weekend in Chicago. Our next understudy flies in on Wednesday, and our current fill-in, Josh, leaves Friday. This next understudy is in until Quimby returns. Luckily we won't need a rehearsal while in Chicago, so I'll get to see Janelle, Cassie, the planetarium, and have some good old Giordano's. I've started reading the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake...very good thus far, and said to be as influential as the Lord of the Rings, albeit less known.

More Pictures

Jonesboro, AR and St. Louis, MO

A bit of a lag since the last post, due mostly to a crazy week and lack of reliable internet here at our weekend hotel in St. Louis. Tomorrow we have a show here, then head to Bloomington, IL, and then come back here for a show on Wednesday. In fact, we will be in town for Game 3 of the World Series in St. Louis. Jonesboro was interesting, and I will include a picture of the Arkansas landscape which has been some of the strangest I've seen yet. Yesterday we went into St. Louis proper and checked out the Arch and the City Museum. The museum isn't really a museum, but rather a huge maze/jungle gym of recycled stuff that was the most fun I've had in quite some time. Imagine inching along inside a tube of wrought-iron bars 60+ feet above the ground, looking down on small children playing the gigantic ball pit, looking over at a gutted airliner that you just crawled from, and then finding yourself on top of a 3-story tower, with only a huge slide as an exit. Inside are enchanted caverns, with myriad passageways, some that seem almost too tight and test your threshold of claustrophobia. Also included is a 4-story spiral slide and the whole place is open until 1am!! Definitely worth $8. More pictures should be up tomorrow when I have a better internet connection...or tonight if the internet starts working well.

Memphis, TN

Tired now, but more details tomorrow...craziness on tour, including an understudy now in town, and another trip to a hospital today. Beautiful sunset we saw from a rest stop in Mississippi today...

Macon theatre

By the by, here is a shot of the Macon opera house box seats, courtesy of Tom's blog. Beautiful

Birmingham, AL

Crazy stuff on tour today...looks like Quimby will be leaving the tour for a bit to recover from his pneumonia, so an understudy is being flown in tomorrow. Should be interesting; we'll hopefully make it through this week, and then have some good rehearsals in St. Louis this weekend. Picture is outside the window here in Birmingham, but hopefully I'll get some better shots tomorrow.

Montgomery, AL

Beautiful sunrise in Macon this morning, followed by a fun show, including a load-in and load-out with a scissor lift. This consists of a platform that rises 15 feet in the air to get to the theatre door, so the whole event was a challenge. Eventually got the hang of it, and it's certainly better than loading out onto ground level without a dock. Seemed like a quick drive to Montgomery, although that's probably due to the fact that we're now in the central time zone. Looking for a Cracker Barrel for dinner, and then some football. Supposedly we'll get some storms tonight, as well...tornado watches a few counties over.

Tour Map

Here is an overview of all our stops on the Chamber Tour. Subject to change, of course, but gives you an idea of our coverage.

Macon, GA

Welcome to Macon, our home through Monday. 33 degrees N latitude, plenty of sunshine, peaches, and drawls. Decent Best Western...fridge in the room...adjoining room with Anna and Tom. Hilarity will ensue, no doubt. I've also included a shot of Symphony Hall in Atlanta which we played this morning to 1700 enthusiastic kids. Got a bit of a cut on my finger from a sword misplacement during the Game fight, but otherwise I'm largely unscathed. Looking forward to sleeping in, not driving for a couple days, and perhaps catching The Departed.

Atlanta, Ga

Romping around Kyle's stomping grounds. Congratulations to Kyle and his engagement to Kathryn Droullard!!! We play Symphony Hall tomorrow for 1500+ kids...should be exciting we have 20 ushers to help seat the kids...can't wait to see what the stage hand help is like. After that, a drive to Macon, GA and a free weekend before our Macon show on Monday.

Definitely tired and worn out at this point, but had some good nap time in the van, and the grind and flow of the show is shaping up. Back to my Papa John's now

Sumter, SC

First time in South Carolina...pretty warm and nice so far. Looking forward to Lost tonight. Rowdy crowd today, but they were pretty into it. The crew was awesome today and we got loaded in/out pretty quickly. Took a pitstop at an abandoned gas station and peed out back. Anna got a great picture of me in my dazed post-pee state, so look for that on her blog or perhaps on here.

Wilmington, NC

Long day today...first show for 1000+ kids. Fun stuff, lots of work, and now we can smell the ocean/bay. More info when I have time and energy. About the same audience size tomorrow, should be fun. Here's an image of the theatre we played today.

Winston-Salem, NC

Got in safely to the hotel after a good 8-hour drive. Passed by Baltimore and DC, stopped for lunch in Richmond, and then made the rest of the trek. First show is tomorrow; we arrive at the space at 7am! Supposedly over 1000 kids for this first one. I'd better go over my lines now. A couple shots included here of Baltimore and NYC from our travels so far.

Richmond, VA

Stopping for lunch in Richmond, VA! Beautiful place, although didn't know far enough in advance to see Katie or Tom. Alas. On to NC!

Newark, DE

First night in a hotel on tour. Got in around 5pm after a 7-hour drive from Boston. Easy enough so far, got to see the 2nd half of the Eagles game on tv, and the first half I listened to on Sirius. We're staying in the prestigious Best Western in Newark, complete with a rip-off of Olive Garden and an ACME store nearby. Free wireless in the lobby, so I can't complain. Tomorrow we have the leg to Winston-Salem, NC. Should be a fun drive, if a little long.

Last Night in Boston

Well, the dress rehearsals are done! The truck is packed. Tomorrow we head to Newark, DE and then to Winston-Salem, NC the next day. Our first show is Tuesday in Winston-Salem.

Truck pack took a long time, but it will get much quicker as we get used to it. We have a 26' Ryder truck in addition to our van. Alan and Michelle will be taking the truck earlier in the day, and will meet us at the hotel in Newark.

Glad to have all of the rehearsals out of the way. It was a long week, with 3 dress rehearsals for the producer, plus training in various aspects of the tour, as well as photo call. Check out Tom and Anna's blogs for good images from that.

Now we get to look forward to a new city every day, and huge halls filled with screaming children. Definitely pros and cons to the tour.

I'm in the navigator's seat tomorrow while Tom drives. Hoping to get out of Boston by 10 at the latest.

Had an amazing time with Janelle over the past couple days. She got to see one of our runs of the show, and we spent a fun time around Boston when I wasn't at rehearsal. It's definitely tough being away from each other, but we should be able to get away with some sort of visit every month or so. We were up with Adam at 4am this morning to get to the airport. I was back in bed before the sun rose and slept until noonish. Woke up for an easy day of relaxing, Dunkin Donuts coffee, buying new jeans (since my old ones ripped in front of the producer), and grocery shopping for Adam. I stocked his fridge as partial payment for letting me stay with him. He was also kind enough to take a picture of Cassie while he visited my apartment in Chicago.

Science

Went to the Boston Museum of Science yesterday for my day off. Really an amazing place, including a planetarium and the world's largest air-insulated Van de Graff generator. I've included a couple pictures of those. I saw a show about the worlds of Star Wars at the planetarium...not sure if it will be distributed, but definitely well worth the trip if possible.

Spent a couple hours walking around Boston, as well. Kind of a rainy day, but fairly comfortable. Walked down Newbury street and over to Fenway.

First dress tomorrow for the producer. Today was spent figuring out makeup and quickchanges, of which there are many. We officially leave on Sunday morning for North Carolina. I'm looking forward to Janelle arriving on Wednesday night and staying until Saturday. Oddly enough she and Adam share the same flight back to Chicago, as Adam his heading out there to see his girlfriend.

Eagles Monday Night Football game about to start