… my count will be up sometime in the AM. Cheers!
Archive for July, 2008
Tale End 2008 – HNT
30
Jul
Yes, we are readying my play “TALE END” for the San Francisco Fringe Festival in September. The big bonus is that I get to work with these wonderful talents in the picture. Workshopping and rehearsals have begun. In more ways than one I have the opportunity to co-create 2 versions of this show… as the lovely ladies in the picture are sharing the part of Ms. White.
Yes, I realize I am pitching a shameless promo for HNT and I’m not even in the pic… but what the heck! Besides, the picture is hot! If you live or are in the Bay Area in early September… do give catching this show your consideration. BTW… I’ll be there the second weekend. Details are below.
What if the Kingdom was a run down Vegas casino on the brink of oblivion? What if its princess was willing to use all the cold charms of a black widow to preserve her birthright? TALE END blows the faerie out of the tale with a cold loaded Glock in this contemporary deliciously devious fantasy. A SELL OUT HIT at Rogue Performance Festival 2007!
” With a frenzied series of plot twists and enough emotional jacknifes to give whiplash to a soap opera, this cheeky and fast-moving one-act leaves the audience breathless.” Donald Munro – The Fresno Bee
Tale End
By Marcel Nunis
Theatre Ventoux
Fresno, CA
55 minutes
DRAMA
NOT FOR CHILDREN
WARNINGS: MATURE CONTENT, GUNSHOT, COARSE LANGUAGE
TICKETS: $9
PHOENIX THEATRE, 414 Mason St. San Francisco,
THURSDAY 4 10:00 PM
FRIDAY 5 8:30 PM
SATURDAY 6 10:00 PM
THURSDAY 11 10:00 PM
FRIDAY 12 8:30 PM
SATURDAY 13 10:00 PM
There will also be performances in the Big NO before the show travels to SF.
8 PM, Friday Aug. 15 – performing with Suicide Lounge @ Full Circle Brewing Co. – $10
8 PM, Friday Aug. 22 – performing with Scats on the Sly @ Full Circle Brewing Co. – $10
A third Fresno performance for Aug.31 is still being confirmed.
Cheers & Happy HNT!
earthquake in so cal
30
Jul
It was a 5.4… so, there was a whole lotta shakin going on. I was watching some live coverage via the internet and it is kinda funny when reporters are looking for news… and there really is none… except that the quake did happen. No major devastation or “hero” stories. Though news does travel faster now with the net and some of it is pretty funny. For the most part if you live in California you get a little blase about it… unless it measures at least a 6 and causes major damage. Really, the most excited are the new transfers here who have experienced it for the first time.
The lovely Joy was interviewed on the Beehive… check out that post. And yes, I did make it out to Veni’s after rehearsals last night and spent a lovely time winding down my day.
Speaking of Tale End and rehearsals. It’s going well. Both beautiful and talented ladies are bringing a unique flavor to the role. We shot some promo pics last night… the pic in this post is just a teaser.
More later… perhaps.
singing for her supper… on her birthday
29
Jul
That’s what the lovely Joy is up to tonight. (And yes… by gum, it is the girl’s birthday.)
THE PLACE: Veni Vidi Vici. THE TIME: 9 PMish. So, if you live in the Big NO… swing on by and wish her well. Suicide Lounge is always worth the time… and a good time it will be as well. If airfare is prohibitive for the rest of you around the globe… GO BY and wish her anyway.
I may just swing by after the read-through tonight. Ya all know how gorgeous the nights can be here in the Big NO and the patio at Veni’s is one of the better places to spend it. So, yeah… most definitely make an appearance… just turn up, dammit!
Well, another morning… another day. Another possibility that this may actually be a rolling post.
EDIT: 8:00 AM
RANDOMNESS
1. I have always been a little envious of individuals I run across who are blissfully unaware. “Really? Gas is up to $4.50? So that’s why filling up my tank for $20 happens twice a week now instead of once. I thought there was somthing wrong with my car.” Not that these individuals are stupid… it’s just that they have decided not to encumber their brains with information that most of us do. That’s really something to admire.
2. Have you ever noticed than when people use the phrase “God bless him/her.” it is usually followed by some disparaging comment about the person or their actions? For instance, “God bless him… he can’t (fill in random ability of your choice) to save his life.” is an example. My question is… does invoking the blessings of the Almighty make the person any less of a dolt… or is it used as a sanctified disclaimer so that Yaweh doesn’t think any less of you for making a snarky remark?
8:45 AM
Just felt like some Billy Joel to kick off the day.
up to my eyeballs with an adventure
28
Jul
This is the calm of the day I’m beginning to cherish more and more of late. It is also the calm of the day which will be my friend over the next few months. The quiet of the dawn is such a pretty time too… perfect for sipping on my hot mug of java and setting up the events of the day.
Due to medical circumstances the female role in Tale End has had to be recast. The 2 beautiful young ladies who tried out yesterday are both talented individuals… and each brought unique spins to the role. This posed a dilemma to the producers and me… admittedly a delicious one at that.
After much discussion (over several beers) it was decided that we would cast both in the role. Each of them would split performance dates at the SF Fringe. From my end as a director this also means double the rehearsals… but as a playwright this also provides 2 new versions of the show.
The adventure of workshopping and rehearsals will begin tonight and I’ll be blogging off and on about the experience. Just look for the “tale end 08″ category to catch this ride. Serious props go to Solitaire for graciously stepping aside and handling this situation in the most professional manner. I will always be grateful to you for originating the role.
Chances are this may be a rolling post today.
is someone out to get me?
27
Jul
A friend sent me this link last night. OK… it may be on the other side of the country… but still kinda creepy scary.
Maybe he was tired of looking at my ass too.
I was tired of looking at my ass…
26
Jul
… so I thought I’d change up the look for a bit. It’s a pretty nifty template… though I’m not too sure how long I will actually have it up. Not too sure about the template not allowing text to be wrapped around a picture either. (EDIT: I have since found a fix for this.) It’s not driving me bonkers yet… so, It’ll stay for now. Whatever the case… here it is.. Tah Dah! So, what do you think? Too “girly” for the manly likes of me? LOL.
EDIT: O.K. I personalized the template somewhat… look at the top left. Oooohhh… Aaaaah! (BTW… there are similarly structured WP and Blogger templates HERE.)
OF LATE…
… I’ve been contemplating spoons… and forks. Forks… and spoons. Tis be a strange thing to contemplate, Lecram? Aye, it be. (replied the James Earl Jones voice in my head.)
You see, there has always existed a superstition in our household that if one or the other drops to the floor… a visitor will be expected before the day is through.
A fork for a male visitor and a spoon for a one of the female persuasion.
Now, before I go any further… the stories you may or may not have heard about me purposely dropping spoons in my younger bachelor days with the hopes that the woman of my dreams would walk into my front door are blatant lies… and ugly ones at that. Complete untruths. Slanderous tales. Really. (Besides… it doesn’t work… not when you do it on purpose… at least, that’s what I’ve been told… by an uncle… who is dead now so you can’t have his number to ask him.) However, if it were true… which it is plainly not (the story of me dropping beautiful sterling silver spoons, I mean) … it would only serve to illustrate how entrenched the belief of this superstition is in Familia de Sinun. Every family has some myth like that, don’t they?
So, for the past 2 weeks… for some strange reason this superstition has been curiously following me around. I hadn’t thought about it in years… until it suddenly popped in my mind. Since then, whenever an attack of the butterfingers does strike… and the result was a dropped spoon or fork… this superstition has played out with deft accuracy. Seriously… one hundred percent on the nose, accuracy… proving my quirky family myth to be… well, true. At least for the last 2 weeks. I never doubted it was. It’s a long standing family myth. It’s in our DNA and we take it for granted. Don’t even bother refuting it with your silly skepticism… to us it’s true.
Tonight the thought suddenly struck me… if I happend to drop a plastic fork or spoon… would it warrant a visit from a flake… or someone who had a boob job? The probibility of this prospect made me recoil in fear and despair… but then it lifted when I remembered that I live in California.
Da Count – foreplay
25
Jul
That’s what I was engaged in with these fine gentleman (pictured below) 20 years ago this month.
We were young, hot and crazy in college.
We had stupid and questionable notions.
We seized the opportunity because it was there… and never looked back!
Now I’ll pause for a picture while you scrape your mind out of the gutter.
Foreplay (that started off as Fourplay… until we quickly were joined by a fifth Beatle member) was a half hour weekly radio show we started producing together on the college radio station KFSR. It was supposed to be a comedy program that was to be performed live (the first few episodes were) which we would write and produce. After the premier episode… we quickly changed our focus (and promo) and decided that it would be a program “where anything could happen”. Because… well… first episodes never go as you envisioned it in your collective rabid mind.
It was a grand crazy time of pitching ideas, writing, quick rehearsals, late night insanity, laughing, camaraderie… and yeah, a radio show that ran all of 13 episodes. During that time, we learned a lot about radio and sound production (achieved under the most primitive conditions) but more importantly… about each other. We continued to like each other in spite of being aware of the others insanity. Because it ran at 11 PM once a week, we estimated that we grew a regular audience of about… oh, maybe 2.
I suppose the point is… we are all still friends even today. Sure, some of us have less hair, some of us have grown a little more portly, we all lead different lives (some still highly questionable)… but on the occasions when we do meet (as all 5 of us original members did 2 nights ago for the reunion) we still enjoy each other ( ::wink, wink::) and make each other laugh. That’s really something, isn’t it? (Bet Dr. Phil is stumped for an explanation for this.)
The reunion evening was spent reminiscing and catching up. Stories and incidents regaled, a lot of teasing was inflicted and even a new sketch performed. There was fabulous food, great drink and laughter… but above all the company was stellar!
So, my count this week is having shared this unique experience with this motley crew of talents (as well as all the others who were conned with promises of fame, money and hot easy sex contributed your time and brilliance being sucked into the vortex that was Foreplay).
To the original crew (bottom row) Don, John, (top row) Ron & Jeff… you all count (more than you will ever know) for actually going with this crazy idea so many years ago and helping facilitate my writing chops back then (yeah the idea was fueled by selfish reasons… if you must know)… but above all… for (still) being my friends and continuing to make me smile. Let’s try to run into each other again soon. And this time, lets make a sincere effort not to involve the SWAT team, exploding gators or insurance companies. Cheers!
To find out what Da Count is all about click the flashing sign above.
BTW… check out what Ms. Cosima and 250, 000 of her closest friends were up to yesterday. UPDATE: She also posted her impressions of the event.
UPDATE: 4:40 PM
From the archives of Foreplay… here is a Kiddie Tale For The Deranged.
UPDATE: Zonthar also blogged about it HERE.
the reunion dinner…
24
Jul
… for Foreplay last night was a fabulous time. That’s all I’ll say about that for now. I’ll save the details for a posting of it’s own soon… perhaps even tomorrow.
Today I’ll continue chipping away at the mountain of work that I have ahead. I got a fair amount done yesterday but my goal is to finish everything off by Friday.
Yeah, I know… boring post… but hey, that happens. Perhaps more as the day wears on.
8:45 AM
so, I fiddled around…
22
Jul
… and came up with THIS. I found the template from a free site… messed with it a little… created a new header… the lovely Joy filled in the content. I’m working on THIS today… which includes content as well. (I’ll let you know once it is complete.) Yes, my plate is chock full and overflowing at the moment so please forgive my sporadic visits and tardiness at replying to comments for the time being.
Mum has been a little fuzzier of late and I have to wonder if it is yet another cycle (it’s happened before) or another slide. She is healthy though and eats well… so, from that standpoint things are good. But she will require a little more TLC at the moment. Though I think we could all use… and give a little more TLC in our lives in general, couldn’t we?
The good news is the source of the Nile that gushed from my face all of yesterday has subsided substantially and I can only wonder if I broke some kind of Guinness record while it was at it’s zenith. I guess we’ll never truly know.
If I am sufficiently inspired and can squeeze in blog time as the day wears on … there may be an update or two. Though if it doesn’t happen… have a great Wednesday.