A Disturbing Dream 10

I'm at an outdoor music festival. It's grunge or punk or something. It's in a valley in a state park and the site is ringed by trees. The crowd is filled with people wearing dirty jeans and t-shirts. And for some reason everyone has brought their dogs. There are as many dogs as people. I brought my dog Pepper with me, Pepper's is a 14 year old excitable beagle, and I can't find her.

I'm walking around through a bunch of my fellow attendees who are significantly rougher than me. As I go through the crowd I'm getting more and more anxious and scared. I call her name and then start to shout it. There's tons of dogs, some of them beagles, and there's a good amount of fights between them. I feel like I'm about to cry so I make my why to the bathrooms in order to do it privately.

In one last ditch effort I whistle as loud and long as I can. (I can't whistle in real life) Pepper scampers up to me favoring one of her back legs, I'm overcome with joy. It looks like she's hurt and I lean down and take her in my arms. She licks my hands, my neck, and my face. She looks at me and grins her dog grin, takes a deep breath, and sighs. As she lets out the sigh she starts to shake. After the breath has completely left her she lies in the crook of my arm limp and still. She's just died. All the sorrow and fear in me is released, I look up into the dappled sunlight, and let out a long cry as tears begin to flood down my cheeks.

I awoke.

Pepper was put to sleep almost two years ago. She had been battling cancer for the previous three. I never got to say good bye. She was a great dog: beautiful, energetic, and loving.

Graffiti 99

"For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it." -Ivan Panin

"This is the female form, vapor,
A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot,
It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction,
I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor, all falls aside but myself and it,
Books, art, religion, time, the visible and solid earth, and what was expected of heavaen or fear'd of hell, are now consumed, Mad filament, ungovernable shoots play out of it, the response likewise ungovernable..."
-Walt Whitman

"In life, as in art, the beautiful moves in curves." -Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Inciting Incident 16

I ask friends "When did you first feel the need to perform?" This comes from amateur lyrisist and Chicago's man-of-a-thousand-voices Scott Nelson.

April Showers, May Flowers

 I came back to Rockford for the weekend to see my folks, sister, my friend Adam and his boys. I had a great visit with everyone and went on a walk with my sis at one point. We saw a bunch of beautiful spring flowers, enjoyed the sun, and I reveled in the spaciousness of the neighborhood I grew up in.

 We saw a ton of tulips(my favorite flower) and daffodils.

 A couple small dogwoods.

 I think these are phlox but I'm not sure.

 More tulips!

 A couple gorgeous magnolia trees. Adam has one in his yard.

 Tons of daffodils, I'm not really fans of these things, overexposure maybe.

I got to see Adam and his boys Ethan and Eli. We played outside with some sidewalk chalk and glow sticks, then went inside and played with action figures for about an hour and a half. Toward the end of the night we we're flipping and flying and throwing the boys around. Probably not the best idea right before they went to bed but it was a great night. The highlight of my week. It's a joy to see Adam so happy and to be a part of the family he's making.

Rockford is my hometown. A great place to visit to decompress, see the stars, and smell the grass.

 

The Hague

My new team picked a name and had our first show last night. It's a great mix of talented committed people, half of which are from Rick, that I'm really excited and grateful to perform with.

Rehearsals the past month have been great, people seem to be gelling and were doing some different stuff form wise that frees us up to develop our own style and experiment. Everything is just starting of course but its a good start and I'm eager to rehearse more, do more shows and see where we end up. I love beginnings, there's a lot of energy, there's some uncertainty and because of that maybe a little danger, a little more risk.

The show was good but not great. I think anyone watching enjoyed it but it wasn't up to the caliber we've been doing in rehearsal. Fun and funny without being cohesive. We were all kind of down after it, the post show blues which happens every once in a while. But we talked about it in, diagnosed it afterwards which brought it into some perspective. I haven't dissected a show like that with a team afterwards in a long time, I remember The Album use to talk the show to death after, and its a good thing. It gets everyone on the same page, solidifies that feeling of team, we're all in this together.

It wasn't a firework display of a first show but it was a start. And at this points thats all we need.

You have to take the first step down the path in order to walk it.

Anticipation

From a friend

every time
a fart sneaks out
i'm scared it will be
liquid poo
because i've waited too long
you see
to go to the bathroom
and now my roommate
primps and grooms
as i sit here
bubbling
as urgently i pray
that i do not poop my pants
this morn
"please poop, just go away
but not by coming out of my
butthole and into my pants"

Bubble Boys: The Gubernatorial Race

Episode 8 and we're that much closer to the season finale. This episode takes a little from O' Brother Where Art Thou?, my father's political career, and also from the real life dynamic of our guests Gary and John. As the season has progressed I feel like Tisher, Tim, and I have hit our stride on recording and editing, there's a lot more confidence in our own performances as well as what we want from an episode. I love this one and I hope you do too!


Sven and Henry throw their hats into the political ring with disastrous effect.

Featuring:
Steve Nelson as Sven Ingaborg
Andrew Tisher as Henry Mossmouth and FDR
John Reynolds as Doug Znacks and Poll Worker #2
Gary Richardson as Chauncey Winge and Poll Worker#1
and Tim Joyce as Newsman