Uber Happy Hollandaise

These are images from the new Claus advertising campaign promoting the Palm Centro.

I think the campaign is hysterical and very well done, but it doesn't make me want the product.

However, you have to give props to the company that came up with this clever take on updating Santa by having him embrace his German/Euro-centricities.

The energy-efficient sleigh, the weight loss, the new do, dropping "Santa" & just going as "Claus" (complete with an umlaut over the "u"), moonlighting as a rooftop DJ...

Well played, land of commerce.

Anyone else notice (at least in the Midwest) that this season we didn't have the traditional snowfall...then it melts and we have weather in the 50's....then it snows again and gets icy....then it melts again....then we finally get the last snowfall and it sticks? Well, not this year. It just went from 50's sweatshirt weather straight to sub-zero/crazy cold temperatures literally overnight. No respite. No chance to enjoy one last decent day. Mother Nature is not messing around this year, apparently. It was -26 with the windchill yesterday and it's supposed to get colder later this week. Insane.

Have a great Christmafestikwanzisoltstukkah (or whatever it is you celebrate) & travel safely over the holidays!

Photos courtesy Palm.com/Claus

"I got the Dynamo of Volition..."

Headed up to see Jason Mraz at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago prior to Thanksgiving and they put on yet another awesome show. (The photos are from my iPhone that unfortunately doesn't take too great of pics unless you're up close. Sorry.)

As Corey, Mo, & myself can unfortunately attest to first-hand, the Aragon does not provide the best acoustics for performing, as was further evidenced by the opening act & our inability to understand her lyrics. However, the Mraz crew had two walls of speakers that seemed to make up for it & his set was great. He played a ton from We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things and also pulled some old stuff out of the catalog. And he even paid tribute to Barack Obama in a very cool moment. It was a fun set and I even ended up talking the sound guy (who I remembered from Mraz's gig at the Metro a few months back - the guy looks amazingly like Rod Stewart) - into giving me the set list sheet after the show ended. We grabbed 2 a.m. burritos and decompressed from the show with a little Arrested Development, which is thankfully going to be making it's way to the silver screen in the next few years. (finally!)

We got to spend Sunday with friends & family - including Oscar - and spent time at a cool bar called Kirkwood, which you should totally check out if you're in Chicago. It was nice being up in the big city again and I find myself wrestling with the idea of moving back up there everytime I come back...

Also hit up my first Quad City Flames game with some friends as I had yet to see a game since their re-branding from being the Q.C. Mallards in the IHL (the Flames are part of the AHL). Wow - what a difference a league change makes! Despite coming back by scoring 3 goals in the 3rd period, the Flames lost :27 into overtime 3-4, but it still ended up as a pretty exciting game. I'll definitely be going to more in the future.

We've been selling out CSz shows consistently for the past 3 weeks and are hoping that momentum continues. It's amazing what happens when high school football season wraps up...

Wanted to end by mentioning that if you're in the Chicago area, please head over to the Annoyance Theater & Bar to check out Corey & Mo's show entitled The Union: Ward & June Are Dead. It's been getting good reviews so far & not only will you be supporting friends, you'll also laugh your ass off in the process.

iHappy

So thanks to planets aligning or hell freezing over or some other anomaly, I'm FINALLY out of my Verizon contract and was able to pick up an iPhone today from a friend of mine at AT&T for an insane discount. Verizon did the whole sweet talk/up the ante schpiel, but it's actually cheaper for me to go with AT&T than to stay with them. Only issue is the texting plan for the iPhone, but otherwise it's great. As a recent Apple convert, I'm incredibly happy with it so far and the App Store is a thing of genius. All it needs is a solid GPS system and you couldn't really ask for much more out of a phone.

Saw Quantum of Solace last night and it was great - not as solid as Casino Royale, but still really good. It was like the writer's strike affected the story not being very fleshed out, so they just cranked the action up 20 notches to make up for it. What story is there is good and advances the plot and characters we've met thus far, but it would've been nice for some more narrative. I've seen every Bond film and am really happy with the way that they've relaunched the franchise.

We also got to view the teaser trailer for the upcoming Angels & Demons film, which I am ecstatic about seeing. The film is an adaptation of Dan Brown's book, which was superior to The DaVinci Code, in my opinion, and lends itself better to being a film so I'm excited to see what the studio will put out there. I'm curious to see if Brown's newest work, The Solomon Key, will make it out sometime in 2009 as well.

I'm guessing Twittering is officially the new cool thing to do. I've just gotten into it and it's kind of nice because it's like a mini-up-to-date blog for those of us you can't regularly update their own blogs (as Pete so consistently points out). Between that and Facebook, it may just be easier to drop this blog and maintain the other two. We'll see.

As always, CSz is starting to get really busy as we enter the Holiday season - which is good news for me (I'm curious if Corey & Mo are going to be able to join us for some shows this year as their own show, The Union, has landed dates for a run in Chicago @ The Annoynace - be sure to check it out if you're up there!). In addition to that, I've gotten some recent offers to audition for a couple films and commercials coming up before New Years, so I'm hoping that will lead to something fun.

Over at Dogsbreath Productions, we've got a couple of first drafts floating around for some new pilot ideas and are hammering out a realistic filming schedule for it as well - hopefully we can get something committed to film before 2009.

Hope you're all staying warm. It's about to start snowing here....allegedly.

Boo? Yeah!

When I was in high school, there was a group of us that went to pretty much every haunted house in the Q.C. & surrounding area our junior & senior year. We got these little punch cards for all the Jaycee's houses and even went an hour out of town just to hit them all. Needless to say, I got a touch worn out on them and have not stepped foot in one since.

Halloween night rolls around and we're debating what to do, and end up agreeing to go to at least one haunted house and then maybe a party or two. We popped online to do some crash-course research and found this place in Orion, IL, that was getting some favorable reviews called Torment at Twelve Hundred. I'll be honest, I was not that enthused to go, but I also didn't want to do nothing on Halloween. Plus, this place was ranked in the top 10 on HauntedIllinois.com, so I figured it must be doing something right.

The night got off to an inauspicious start as we met up with some friends and promptly got lost while making the long & somewhat more-confusing-than-it-needed-to-be drive. (which was really our fault, in the end) We passed many barns & cornfields, but eventually discovered the plot of land at 1200 about 45 minutes before it was closing. It also had a Doggie Styles hot dog kiosk right next to it. (yes, I like the name too)

As we're making our way to the entrance, one of the security guards spies that someone in our group is wearing flip-flops, which is an apparent (and very understandable) no-no in the world of haunted houses, as are any open-heeled or open-toed footwear. The two of us that drove proceed to ransack our vehicles in search of any footwear we may have that would pass inspection, but to no avail. Incidentally, I found one shoe in the junkyard I call my trunk - which makes me very curious where his partner ended up. As the scavenging continued, our friend ended fashioning her own pair of shoes using a combination of duct tape and socks, but alas, this did not pass inspection either. We had made almost an hour drive & I'll be damned if we weren't getting into this haunt now.

So we came up with a potentially useful solution: we went to the Doggie Styes kiosk and asked if we could swap shoes with an employee for the next hour so that we could go through and then swap back when we were finished. Luckily, the great people there were more than accommodating and we had to perform minor surgery getting the duct tape shoes off of our friend. So with feet firmly crammed into shoes that were two sizes too small, we finally made it past inspection and gained access onto the grounds. This was to be my first haunted house experience in over 14 years & after everything we had gone through in the last hour & a half, I would be remissed to say that I didn't think it was going to be very exciting.

Holy crap.

That place was AWESOME! Haunted houses have come a LONG way since my memories of them back in the mid-90's. It was such an immersive experience and it started even before you paid the admission fee. As we weaved our way towards the entrance, we were abruptly greeted by Kirby - a portly, unshaven man-child wearing a hospital smock with blood stains, a bicycle helmet with the his name scratched across the front, and eating the nastiest looking Oreos I've ever seen. He also only communicated using four phrases: "What?" "Mama!" "Want some?" & "O.k." It was amazing how just those four phrases ended up being so hysterical as we attempted to communicate with him.

We were then treated to a video (which was more comical than creepy...and I don't think that was the desired effect) that set up the storyline for the haunt, and eventually made our way outside through a forest maze containing a multitude of zombies, creatures, and gravediggers popping out at random times causing the women in our group to scream ad nauseam. Next, we went back inside through the creepiest, yet frighteningly accurate looking trailer I'd ever seen which belonged to what can only be described as a knock-off Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs.

Unfortunately, this awesome ambiance led to our least favorite part of the haunt, which was also one of the main plot points of the established storyline...I think. We entered into a doctors quarters which, I feel, was just used in the wrong way. The over-the-top/community theatre performance of the doctor really took us out of the moment and we just hurried our way through the section and back outside to another maze. I think this area could be better utilized in the future - for instance, having the doctor irate that we interrupted his work and then just staring us down as we pass through while his nurse and caged "experiment" do their things. Anything more along those lines would be better than the Svengoolie act we were given.

Following a second outdoor experience, we went through the final part of the haunt, which was the sanitarium - & it was VERY well put together. Body bags, psycho clowns, spitting toilets, and creepy people the followed you around just long enough to be uncomfortable. It culminated with a spinning, black hole walk that created a sense of vertigo before dropping you off right back at the Doggie Styles kiosk.

With our adventure complete, shoes returned, and my faith in haunted houses restored, we headed back to the Q.C. and encouraged everyone that we could to go check the place out - which I am also doing here. Obviously, it's closed for the season, but if you're anywhere in the area, you should definitely check the place out next Halloween. I know we will.

Yes We Did

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States.

Not much else to say right now as I'm having a hangover from the rally.

Later.

Swing.

That's what you're supposed to do when you're in the batters box.








And you're being paid an inordinate amount of money to do so.








And you've just come back from a 1-3 overall deficit.









And it's Game 7 of the 2008 American League Championship Series.









And you're playing shortstop for the Boston Red Sox.

Granted, there's plenty of blame to pass around for last night's loss, but there was a glaring weakness in the armor last night. If Alex Cora is still a member of the Sox next season, I'm not the only one that will be shocked and extremely unhappy. Struck out looking, only reached base on an error, and cost them 2 outs on the defensive side of the ball. Bush league.

It was a great run, but it was like they played to lose last night. Too many hittable pitches that they just let go right past them. Would've been interesting to see a healthy Mike Lowell in the line-up & if that may have made a difference...

I'm not psychic, but I'm betting this will be one of the least watched Series' in history.

So congrats to the 2003 Florida Marlins...er...2008 Tampa Bay Rays, and I look forward to seeing how many current roster members are actually still there next year - staying loyal to all those "great" (read: fair-weather) Rays fans that couldn't even bother to sell out their own stadium the night their team clinched the League.

And while I'm ranting, does anyone else out there realize that that annoying "NFL Rocks on NBC" song by Faith Hill is an obvious complete rip-off of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' "I Hate Myself For Loving You"? Like, note-for-note. I hope she's getting residuals or something...

Photos courtesy of RedSox.MLB.com

Re-discoveries

After being poked by the proverbial stick (thanks Pete), here's another post. And thanks to the great feedback concerning the vlog post (especially on Facebook), it will make a return in the near future.

Streetcar wrapped and sold out pretty much every show... granted the seating capacity was small, so that helped. It was a fun albeit rushed experience and sharing the stage with some of the most talented people I've ever worked with was great and something I'll not soon forget. The reviews were solid as well, despite the set not being ideal and the production side of things being a bit tardy.

While I did have fun with the show, I've decided to take a theatrical sabatical for a bit. I'm sure I'll be in another Prenzie show soon enough, but for now it's kind of nice to not have to be frantically memorizing lines. I've been doing a good amount of freelance design work for multiple theatre companies as well as a restuarant, so that's exciting. Plus, CSz is starting to pick up as we enter the heavy remote season so it's nice to have as much free time open as possible for that.

Dogsbreath Productions has gotten our schedule laid out a bit and will be finishing up the Reality Check DVD soon. We've got a potential project with the American Theatre Company in the pipeline, a film adaptation of a play that's coming along, and we're in pre-production for another pilot as we head in to the new year.

I'm in this weird re-discovery/nostalgic phase for some reason. I'm slowly finding these things that I enjoyed years ago and am reincorporating them into my life.

The first of these re-discoveries is a wonderful show that not too many people have heard of, unfortunately. My friend had burned me a copy of the entire Channel 4 series called Black Books, starring the Irish comedian Dylan Moran. I had watched the entire first season and 80% of the second season, and then got away from it for some reason with the end of season 2 and all of season 3 yet to go. I loved the series, but never had the burning desire to go back and finish it for some reason. Recently, I've been doing some writing and have found these shows to be a comedic inspiration. If you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely pick it up. Dylan Moran's performance alone as an angry, intoxicated book shop owner is something to behold. I have a DVD of his stand-up called Monster and also got to see him live in London when I was there a few years back.

I'll share more rediscoveries in future posts. Until then, take care.

Streetcar publicity

A Streetcar Named Desire
Harrison Hilltop Theatre
Thursday, August 28, through Saturday, September 6

What's Happening?
Mike Schulz, River Cities' Reader - August 27, 2008

On August 28, Davenport's Harrison Hilltop Theatre debuts its presentation of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

It's being directed by the Green Room Theatre's executive director - and recent Assassins helmer - Derek Bertelsen.

And it stars Kimberly Furness as Blanche DuBois, Eddie Staver III as Stanley Kowalski, Jeff De Leon as Mitch, and River Cities' Reader employee Stephanie Burrough as Stella.

So permit me a question: Why on earth are you still reading this?

For tickets to A Streetcar Named Desire - and seriously, drop the paper and reserve 'em now - call (309) 235-1654 or visit HarrisonHilltop.com.

webisode one

LeRoi Moore 1961-2008

Sax player in Dave Matthews Band has died

LeRoi Moore, 46, died from complications of June ATV crash

LeRoi Moore, the versatile saxophonist whose signature staccato fused jazz and funk overtones onto the eclectic sound of the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday of complications from injuries he suffered in an all-terrain vehicle accident, the band said. He was 46.

Moore died at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was admitted with complications that arose weeks after the June 30 wreck, according to a statement on the band’s Web site. It did not specify what led to his death, and nursing supervisor Galina Shinder said the hospital could not release details.

On June 30, Moore crashed his ATV on his farm outside Charlottesville, Va., but was discharged and returned to his Los Angeles home to begin physical therapy. Complications forced him back to the hospital on July 17, the band said.

The band went on with its show Tuesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where lead singer Dave Matthews acknowledged Moore’s death to the crowd after the first song.

“It’s always easier to leave than be left,” Matthews told the crowd, according to Ambrosia Healy, the band’s publicist. “We appreciate you all being here.”

Saxophonist Jeff Coffin, who played with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, had been sitting in for Moore during the band’s summer tour.

Moore, who wore dark sunglasses at the bands’ many live concerts, had classical training but said jazz was his main musical influence, according to a biography on the band’s Web site.

“But at this stage I don’t really consider myself a jazz musician,” Moore said in the biography. Playing with the Dave Matthews Band was “almost better than a jazz gig,” he said. “I have plenty of space to improvise, to try new ideas.”

Lead singer Dave Matthews credited Moore with arranging many of his songs, which combine Cajun fiddle-playing, African-influenced rhythms and Matthews’ playful but haunting voice.

The band formed in 1991 in Charlottesville, Va., when Matthews was working as a bartender. He gave a demo tape of his songs to Moore, who liked what he heard and recruited his friend and fellow jazzman Carter Beauford to play drums, and other musicians.

The group broke out of the local music scene with the album “Under the Table and Dreaming.” The band won a Grammy Award in 1997 for its hit song “So Much to Say” off its second album “Crash.” Other hits include “What Would You Say,” “Crash Into Me” and “Satellite.”

*Story appears courtesy of the 2008 Associated Press*

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm working on a 'Los Angeles update' blog post, but this kind of takes precedence for me right now.

I know the "cool thing" is to bash the band & just write them off as hippie college rock, but I obviously am a huge fan and have been for a very long time.

No, I'm not wearing black for a week or taking the day off of work or over-blowing anything out of proportion & going all crazy fan-boy - I'm just genuinely sad that a really talented musician is gone.

This sucks.

I Love L.A.?

Heading to Chicago today for a company pow-wow, and then leaving for L.A. tomorrow to promote/pitch Reality Check at the 3rd Annual ITVFest. I'm not even fully packed yet as I don't think I'm going to be able to cram 10 days of clothing into a carry-on, so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay to check luggage. (boo!)

We finally got our website up and going too. (click here)

Interesting thing happened at CSz this weekend - we were short players both nights (for whatever reasons) and the teams broke down to being 2-on-2 w/a DJ as opposed to it normally being 3-on-3 or 4-on-4. They were the best shows we've had in months. Seriously. I don't know if everyone's adrenaline kicked on or what, but being short-staffed actually helped make the shows even better. Our manager was there both nights to witness this and, with a new months schedule looming, I wonder if we may see some format changes...

Later.

The Dells, Chi-town CSz, and The Dark Knight

Back from Wisconsin Dells & Chicago and waiting to hear the results from the Chicago Comedy TV Pilot Competition, but also focusing on the eminent trip to Los Angeles in support of Reality Check, and still waiting to hear if we made it into the New York competition - so keep those fingers crossed!

The CSz trip to the Dells for the WELS Youth Rally was fun, as always, but it was shocking to see Lake Denton completely drained due to the Midwest flooding. The famed Ducks had no water to drive through and it was a little sad. The weather was very overcast and we were unable to hit any of the many water parks. However, we did make it to what has become a CSz tradition - breakfast at Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty. If you've never been there, they serve family style and just keep bringing food to the table until you can't move...for only $10! It's awesome! We got to initiate Corey & Mo into our little tradition this year and they were pretty happy, as evidenced below:

Keeping the tradition alive of refusing to pay outrageous prices for movies, I saw The Dark Knight and snuck (is that the past-tense of 'sneak'?) into Wanted last night.

The Dark Knight was an awesome film, but I thought it got a touch to 'super-heroey' at the end after pounding home a very realistic feel throughout 98% of the film. There's an old graphic novel called Batman: The Killing Joke that I purchased when I was little and it always stuck with me in the way that it presented the Joker as a normal person that was driven to the madman he'd become, and I thought this film really hit on that - whether intending to or not.

Yes, Heath Ledger was amazing - there's enough glowing reviews out there that I'm not going to turn this into another one. Not to be overlooked, however, should be Aaron Eckhardt as an awesome Harvey Dent/Two Face.

Wanted was a nice surprise as I knew very little about it except it was about assassins and had Angelina Jolie in it - I'm sold. It's also based on a graphic novel, which I actually purchased at Borders after seeing the movie. It's definitely not a movie for everyone & quite a departure from the Mark Millar book, but reminded me a lot of Shoot 'Em Up from last year with it's fantastic action sequences and graphic dialogue. There's a cool story twist in the film that I won't ruin, but it's definitely worth a NetFlix rental. at the very least.

Next post should come from L.A. Take care!

Wow.

Thank you to everyone that attended the Chicago competition. We could not have asked for a better turn out and seeing our work up there on the big screen was intimidating to say the least. The ovation the pilot received at the end the screening was humbling.

On behalf of Dogsbreath, thank you all so much again for the support. We'll let you know how we do in the Chicago competition and how things go in L.A.

Wow. Just wow.

"Check" it out.

My friend, his brother, and myself decided to do a little project this summer as we wrote and produced a pilot based on an idea about spoofing a reality show. This summer, we wrote it, cast it, filmed it, and edited it in the DePaul digital media center in a night that seemed like it could've fallen out of any script from the 80's (contact me in person and I'll regale you with it sometime) as we had to get it completed that night. We entitled it Reality Check.

Our need for that expediency was because our plan was to enter it into the Chicago Comedy Pilot Competition and it was due the next day. My friend's brother also turned it in for a grade and his professor was so impressed with not just the concept, but the editing as well that he told him we should enter it in as many festivals and competitions as we could. About a month later, we found out we were an official selection to the competition and were ecstatic. We're hoping for a solid turnout, so if you're in Chicago, please feel free to attend our public screening:
* The Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Ave.)
* Friday, July 18th @ 8:45 p.m.
* Admission: $10

With the apparent success of the show doing so well, we discussed it & decided to test the waters by submitting it to the Independent Television Festival (ITVFest) in Los Angeles. It was a wild shot in the dark, but we figured it couldn't hurt to at least try. And we found out last week that we are an official selection. Needless to say, we're pretty happy about that too. So we're heading out to L.A. in early August for the festival (which includes getting to hear Mr. Show's Bob Odenkirk speak) & should you find yourself in L.A., please feel free to attend either (or both) screenings as well:
* Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theater (8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood)
* Saturday, August 2nd @ 9 p.m. & Tuesday, August 5th @ 6 p.m.
* Admission: $10

So now, riding an obvious natural high, we're going for the big bad trifecta and have submitted it to the New York Television Festival - so keep those fingers crossed! We're hunting for any more festivals or competitions that may be out there that we aren't aware of yet & just enjoying this amazing experience as it unfolds.

It's pretty mind-blowing how our little, "thing we'll do for fun," has turned into something bigger than any of us had ever anticipated.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support!

32

Headed back to Chicago for the ol' birthday weekend and got second row seats to see my 32nd Dave Matthews Band show (ironic?), but also lucked into seats to the JTS Brown reunion show - literally, at the last minute - at the 5th Annual Chicago Improv Festival thanks to one of the generous cast members, and my friend, Jen Bills.

JTS Brown was a legendary long-form improv troupe formed at IO (formally Improv Olympic) who's alumni have gone on to many successful things: SNL, Mad TV, 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, & the two guys in those Sonic commercials to name a few. The form they created is still being taught today, and it was actually the first long form show I ever saw. I still have vivid memories of that and all the subsequent shows I attended and can even still quote lines back.

I met up with Corey who promptly informed me that the Lakeshore Theater's air conditioning broke so the theater had turned into a sweatbox. Despite the setback, the opening act, Children Of A Lesser God, took the stage. This female foursome (featuring Kate Duffy, who is the director of Corey & Mo's show, The Union) attacked the stage with body-mics so they could be heard over the multiple blowing fans that were attempting to alleviate some of the heat, and while that appeared a bit cumbersome, the ladies soon found their form and had a solid show. The distracting ambiance of the fans did have a bit of a hampering effect on the performance, but it was still a great show.

An announcement was then made after a 10 minute intermission that JTS was turning the fans off and going with no mics, which was met with thunderous applause. The cast hit the stage and it looked like they hadn't missed a beat despite being apart for 10 years. Everything from the Sesame Street song "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12" to third graders performing A Christmas Carol to the song from the Car-X commercial made an appearance. It was very apparent that the cast was having a ton of fun while sweating up a storm. We went to the after-party at IO and I got a chance to briefly pay homage to all the cast members, and also got to catch up with Jen and her husband, Bumper.

There's a great review of the show over at The Bastion.

The weekend wrapped up with a tumultuous drive through the suburbs that had us finally end up at the Drury Lane Theater in Oakbrook to see my bud Casey in The Buddy Holly Story. He's been riding a wave of theatrical success of late and I'm really proud of him. The show ended with a very Mama Mia'esque number that had the whole crowd clapping and dancing - and I was afraid one of the many elderly people in the audience was going to have a heart attack.

We stopped at a great sandwich place called Portillo's on the way out of town, and it was a great gracenote to the weekend (also Corey's got me addicted to The Wreck at Potbelly's now too).

We debuted a new game form called Improv Dodgeball for CSzQC 18th Birthday Show as a late show, and it was very successful. I think we're going to have a dodgeball match at least once a month from here on out. If you're looking for something new and have already been to a bunch of CSz shows, it's definitely worth checking out.

I'd be remissed not to mention the flooding that's hitting Iowa right now, as there are friends in the Q.C., Iowa City, and Des Moines that have all been affected by it. It looks like we're having some more moderate weather coming up this week, which will help alleviate the situation some, but the weeks that follow are forecasted to have even more storms. I assisted sandbagging back when the horrible flood of 93 hit and am most likely going to do the same in the next week, as every little bit can help at this point.

Celtics won and The Incredible Hulk was awesome. Nuff said.

"You have given me 100 kisses."

The quote above is from The Professor in what was probably one of my favorite sketches from this past Thursday's The Kids In The Hall: As Live As We'll Ever Be reunion show. I was able to attend the show with my friends Corey and Gabe and we all had a great time reminiscing before the show about our favorite past KITH sketches and characters, and speculated on which of them would make appearances at the show. Happily, all of the show was entirely new material with some familar characters popping up here and there in all new situations. It was an awesome show and the cast looked like they were enjoying themselves even more than we were. Corey is a longtime fan of the troupe and he was grinning from ear-to-ear following the show.

Oh, but then the weekend took a drastic turn...

On Friday night, we were to do a CSz gig with Corey & Mo (who had just finished another show earlier in the night) for an after-prom at the Aragon Ballroom. If you've never been there before, it's beautiful on the inside (as you can see from the photos), but an incredible pain acoustically to try to perform in. We were informed that The Rolling Stones among others had played the venue at one point, but whatever luster that may've had was completely worn off by the time we had our mic check. We couldn't even hear ourselves, let alone each other, as the sound traveled from the 1' high speakers up into the domed ceilings and then...just.....disappeared. Seriously. It was incredibly frustrating as we could see the writing on the wall that this show was going to be an effort in futility trying to keep the kids attention.

We retired to the green room and it just felt like waiting on death row as each of us were playing out in our heads just how awkward this performance was going to be. At the same time, we bonded as a quartet knowing that we were marching into a dire situation, so that was cool.

We did all that we could to fight through it, but the kids simply could not hear us past the first two rows and we had lost 80% of them by the third game. It was brutal. At least Corey and I found a way to entertain ourselves by taking random photos of the place, and then photos of each other taking random photos of the place.

That left kind of a sour note to the night, but Sunday was fun as I hung out with Casey and got to hear about his new show, Buddy, which I'll hopefully be seeing this weekend. We made some final touches to Reality Check and are excited to get it entered into some more competitions.

And congratulations to Senator Barack Obama for securing the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

These guys still rule.

If you have yet to take part in the time honored tradition of heading to The District and seeing The Travolta's play, you are a sad wreck of a human being. They're awesome musicians and even better people, but they're also not going to be touring too much longer. So drop your prejudices, get off your butt, and actually enjoy yourselves the next weekend they're in town.

Live High

We wrapped up Prenzie's Sixth Season last weekend with our final performances of Life's A Dream. Despite easily being the most controversial show in our history (let alone the Q.C. in quite some time) it was really well reviewed and I was surprised to hear some people state after the show that it was their favorite Prenzie show we've done. Personally, I'm excited to be doing a modern (not to mention a musical) script for my next show as well as working with a new theatre company. (Actually, there are a lot of Prenzie's working with all new theatre companies this summer so get out there and support them all!)

My best friend, his brother, and myself started a production company back in February with the intent of finally getting our ideas out there - be it through skits on YouTube, writing shows, or whatever medium we could use. On a whim, we wrote, produced, filmed, and edited a pilot called Reality Check & submitted it to the Chicago Comedy Pilot Competition. We found out last week that out of 3,000 submissions, we qualified in the top 10 and will have our pilot screened at a theater in Chicago along with 9 other finalists. Copies were also submitted to NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and other stations for voting. If you find yourself in the Chicago area, have $10 burning a hole in your pocket, and have nothing else to do, feel free to stop by the Music Box Theater on Friday, July 18, we'd love to see you there. More information can be found here. (if you're friends with me on Facebook, you can find the trailer over there) We're not expecting a miracle or anything, but are pretty pumped to have placed in the top 10.

And Jon Lester came back from cancer and threw a no-hitter for the Red Sox. So it's been a pretty good week.

In the wonderful world of film...

Steph & I saw Iron Man and, I know fans of Sam Raimi's Spider-man will hate me for saying this, but I think it's the best Marvel film released so far. I don't know if that has to do with the fact that this is the first film released under the Marvel Studios banner, but it just was a great example of things falling into place at the same time: Favereau as the director/screenwriter, Downey Jr. jumping through hoops to prove that he was the right man for the role, the effects team knocking many of those scenes out of the park - it was just a fun movie that will please the general popcorn crowd as well as the die-hard fans of the comic (plus, you need to sit through the credits for a pleasant surprise).

We also saw my most-anticipated movie of the summer, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on opening night. It was a great gracenote to a very popular franchise and the first 20 minutes do a wonderful job of getting you in a 1940's mindset - not to mention giving us some intense action moments right off the bat. It still maintains it's serial movie feel and there are enough subtle (and not so subtle) nods to the previous three films throughout to make even a casual fan of the series smile. Harrison Ford felt like he was actually getting younger as the film progressed and Kate Blanchett was a really good foil for him to play opposite of. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Jason Mraz's new album, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things dropped last week and it's a nice return to form for him after taking a year off to tour abroad. He also released three EP's in the weeks leading up to the album coming out which have acoustic versions of the songs on the album. I honestly can't say which versions I like better... (my buddy B-Lo is in the same boat as he picked up the same set I did)

I also have another article up over at SSNN.com.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a challenge date with Mario Kart Wii that I have to cowboy up for and then get to The Travolta's show. Take care & I hope you all have an awesome Memorial Day weekend!