December | 2006 | bharrington's Xanga Site

Month: December 2006

The Daily News

Everybody Loves Peter.
1 So...Peter Boyle walks into a bar...hey, wait a minute! Somebody is getting married! Well, we'll get back to that one...So...Peter Boyle walks into a bar...
2   It's a lot sadder than Lamar Hunt walking into a bar. The son of H.L. Hunt had more connections than a switchboard to the JFK assassination.
3   Well, no point ever in going there.
4   Now Peter Boyle was the man.
5 That was quite a hit, but Hunt...meh. But hey, shouldn't the Daily News be featuring a wedding or something?
6 Yeah, Peter Boyle. That was a hit. Good man.
7   So it goes.
8 Uh...let's see, what else...OH! I'm into my third night with The Nutcracker and holding quite well, mind you.
9   It's pretty awesome, but let's talk about OTHER things...
9 Somebody is getting married.

Evelyn and Christian
May you have the loveliest
wedding
in the world, and
an
absolutely BEAUTIFUL
marriage
to
match!

WOO-HOO!!!!
10 These two have a fun proposal story.
11 It was at an outside closing night of a Pigeon Players' summer production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in front of the audience. Christian went down on a knee and proposed. The audience loved it.
12 I don't have the picture at hand, but I do remember that I couldn't be there on that night because I was leaving for my annual trip to Mars. I KNEW he was going to propose to her at center stage, but I had to go.
13 The night before, I was watching everybody congratulating everyone after the Show, when I looked out at center stage. Nobody saw it, but I saw Christian on his knee practicing when nobody was looking. I stopped, and as I recall, grabbed my camera and took a picture of him. I thought it was wonderful that he had to choreograph the approach, the position, and all of it. Great dress rehearsal, by the way.
14 I was pretty amused, because it was such a great piece of their history. I don't know that you could find to finer human beings.
15 Great, good people, and it will be a wonderful day.
16 So here's looking at you kids.
17 And to the rest of you, please have a wonderful holiday. I may throw a special New Year's edition of the DN out there just to keep you all honest.
18 Meanwhile, I'm finally going to stop.
19 I'm going to go into a nice slumber, and then wake up and see my family, friends, and of course, that wedding coming up tomorrow.
20 May you all have peace and warmth this holiday. Count your blessings, bring our soldiers home where they belong, say a prayer for those guys, and love everyone that you can.
21 Life's short.
22 Love life.
23 And to Evelyn and Christian, live long and prosper..
23 Peace. See ya next year.

~H~

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The Daily News

1 Last night I took a break from watching the rehearsals for Nutcracker and went off to the new Chili's over at Eastridge.

2 It was great, actually, but I was seated next to the kitchen.

3 The guy who makes fajitas musta been WAY outta control last night. I was just sitting there when he flew by me with a HUGE plate of sizzling fajitas...and so much smoke coming off it that I literally couldn't see the lady who ordered it, and she was sitting right across the aisle.

4 I stood amazed that no smoke alarm went off. I thought someone had started a turkey on fire or something; the entire left side of Chili's was smoked in. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

5 And the stuff SMELLED burnt too!

6 The lady just acted like it was normal to put a blow torch to her dinner, and had this huge shit eatin' grin on her face, as though she was about to experience something cooked by the devil himself, and she was gonna LAHK it!

7 It all died down, and then some other customer had fajitas, which came over the normal way, sort of sizzling and sputtering, but smelling wonderful.

8 I just ignored all of it and ordered this rack. When the thing came, I thought it was for Fred Flintstone, and I sorta think they might have thought I WAS Fred Flintstone, because of the hair.

9 Anyway, around ten minutes later, the same guy went screaming by like a fire engine, only it looked like the platter was on fire.

10 The place filled up with smoke again, only this time it was so thick that the guy who was getting served could have cut off a piece of smoke with his butter knife.

11 At this point I realized that they must have been breaking a new guy in.

12 Anyway it settled down and I was able to enjoy a nice dinner with my daughter Nicole.

13 I've been stuck up at the Chill on the HIll for two days now. Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to have a nice dinner and a smoke.

14 <thud>

15 I also am getting a butt ache. You know what that is. You sit at a computer for around twelve years and then everything moves right into your rear end, and you get this sort of sitting pain thing going on.

16 Same guy who just four or five days ago was quoting Bogart in Casablanca.

17 I stick my neck out for nobody.

18 Sheyeahright.

19 That's the new way of saying, "Yeah, right!"

20 Sheyeahright.

21 Bogart.

22 I swear.

23 I stick my neck out for nobody.

24 Peace.

~H~

"I stick my neck out for nobody!"
Bogart gets it done in Casablanca.

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington
  The Daily News

1 Sometimes you blink and suddenly you are in a new world.

2 Suddenly I am back in a Theatre right smack dab in the middle of a production of The Nutcracker.

3 I kid you not.

4 The Chill on the Hill invited the San Jose Youth Ballet to do a performance this weekend in their Theatre, and a whole bunch of other people were going to be in on it, but somehow, everyone sort of bailed. Tech guys are suddenly out of town; custodians who normally would be here can't be; neither the current drama teacher nor the former drama teacher has the time, and there I was in the Theatre greeting the directors of the show. Big cartoon grin, stiff hand out. Wyle E. Coyote.



5   So last night I was going to go home at around 3 in the afternoon, and instead found myself surrounded by sleighs, velvet sofas, Sugar Plum Fairies, directors, choreographers, and a techie from Musson Theatrical. Time, as they say, has grabbed me by the wrist once more and brought me into Clara's dream.



6 Lucky thing I've done dance before, I imagine.

7 A very brief history: I used to help my daughters' dance company, Adage Repertory Company do an annual Christmas show called Once Upon a Midnight Magic. I used to LOVE working that, and I gained a tremendous appreciation for dance, and a love of ballet at Christmas.

8 Not bad for a big ol' dumb guy.

9 Don't tell anyone. That I love ballet, not that I'm a big dumb guy.

10 I like to keep my rugged exterior.

11 But I really do love ballet. Okay, so I admit it. I'm Artsy Fartsy.

12 Ah, what the heck.

13 So I'm now going to spend the next four days working on a ballet morning, noon, and night because a whole bunch of others have bailed.

14 Typical.

15 Ah, might as well learn how to use the Theatre around here. It's a gorgeous Theatre. It needs a guy like me.

16 Meh.

17 Sometimes you blink.

18 <poof!>

19 Peace.



~H~

      http://www.xanga.com/bharrington
The Daily News

1 So...Augusto Pinochet walks into a bar...

2   We're baaaack.

3   Man, when you help out on a Show, it sure eats up a lot of DN time that could be spent on more academic things, like trying to figure out how to get rid of ants, or what the best cure for baldness is.

4 Okay so I'm at the cast party the other night, the cure-for-baldness thing. John Le and Sparky started in on me that REAL aloe from the actual aloe leaf will make you look like a chia pet.

5 I reminded them that some students once told me that several things could get rid of baldness: eggs, or birth control pills.

6 Everybody seems to have a cure for baldness, yet I go to any supermarket in town and can't seem to find aloe leaves, or eggs, or even birth control pills in the pharmacy area, leading me to believe that there really ISN'T any over-the-counter cure.

7 Meh.

8 You sure fall behind, that's for sure.

9 Let's see: someone is getting married on Saturday. That much I know.

10 Aloe leaves.

11 sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssskl;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

12 Oops. Perdone moi.

13 That was just me starting to get the DN written, and then leaning on the keys, then drifting off from exhaustion.

14 I left this lean pattern on the DN this morning, because it reminded me of dollar signs.

15 But I tellya, I'm ready to pretty much doze right now.

16 This time of the year, everybody wants just to stay out of trouble, fly under the radar, and remain on cruise control until Friday. My theory is that the closer we come to Christmas, the more we spend time hoping Friday will get here faster.

17 Unfortunately, I need to keep my mind focused on school business.

18 Like yesterday I REALLY wanted to see if turkeys really drown when they try to drink rain water. I felt that sort of knowledge would make me a better teacher.

19 Ah, who knows? I say if you leave turkeys in the rain, their gooses will be cooked.

20 But that's what I mean. We become these robots who have no sense of how the other half lives, in this case, turkeys, and a storm.

21 I utterly couldn't research anything if I'm spending my entire night trying to keep awake. I've spelled ssssssssssssssssssssskl;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; a whole bunch of times tonight.

22 The alarm doesn't work, dawg. We need to finish the ark. The elephants seem alarmed. Sorry, biblical drifting. I'm conking out. For some reason, Noah. By number 22, I'm writing my dreams on the DN. For some reason, Noah. I'm about to hit the keys again. I nid some slip. sssssssssssssssssssssssskl;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

23 So it's time to hit the hay. I'll fix this in the mof dsahirehahifiognfaoning....................................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz;;;;;;;;;;;;

24   All in a Day's Work.

25   Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington
The Daily News

1 Closing night of Behind Closed Doors was one of the most memorable closing nights of any Show in recent history.

2 Allow me to back it up a bit. On Thursday evening, after the Show, I got home rather late and had to hit a DN deadline. But I was also concerned that the students putting on the Show were in the midst of a major rookie mistake, that of changing the Show in order to get more laughs. Common rookie mistake.

3 I knew I wasn't going to be able to begin helping them repair it the next day because I was booked from morning to late evening. I also figured that I would not be able to round them up and discuss things with them before they got to the Theatre on Saturday night.

4 There are times when my only alternative is to sort of throw notes to the DN, and it might fix things. When things need correcting in a Show, it needs to go out there. I placed my notes publically in the DN knowing full well that it would get a response.

5 The intention never was to hurt anyone, but really just to put a spotlight on the direction the Show was taking. It hurt some people. It wasn't intended to do anything but to make them realize that I might not always be around to keep their Shows detailed and as professional as possible, and they needed a sort of "final exam".

6 Some of the students felt that my tactics should be addressed and brought into question, and it created some very hurt feelings on Saturday night. I explained that it was the only way I truly could have reached them to the point that they would have listened seriously.

7 Granted, it was a bit Machiavellian, but I felt that showing some discipline and reverance for one's final work on a performance night would make them all think sharper, perform better, and produce a higher quality production. They were hurt, angered, and even felt betrayed. I just wanted them to sharpen things up, and feared they were going to have a completely undisiciplined closing night, and that the DN notes were definitely in the best interests of the entire production. Those notes and terse observations were intended to teach, because it was a lesson that was essential if they are to one day do this without me.

8 We never really did reconcile that completely.

9 What DID happen was that the lights went down, the Show began, and it was one of the best damned Shows in the history of the Drama Workshop. Period. Everything was magnified perfection. It ran smoothly; it instantly engaged the audience; flowers were everywhere, and it was one of those magic evenings when a Show just ran on all cylinders.

10 Every play worked, and worked beautifully. The concentration level was heightened, yet relaxed and controlled, and the lines all landed. Scene changes ran well; light and sound cues were right on the money; all props were used, and they probably cut ten minutes off the evening, always a sign of a well-run production. In short, it was so good that the audience ended up hooting and hollering. The Show ended to thunderous applause, at least as thunderous as you can get in the Theatre on a wet Saturday night.

11 The audience members swarmed the Cast and Crew. There were flowers, hugs, and mirror-ball madness as the music swirled around the most triumphant Show in the Workhop's history. Those students rose to the challenge and showed the world that they were indeed, now ready to fly, and to put out Shows that keep and maintain the quality that had been laid down by six generations of Drama Workshop productions.

12 This was perhaps the greatest triumph of them all. In the long history of the YB Drama Workshop, I'm proud to say that Behind Closed Doors' closing night will be remembered as one of the greatest single performances in the school's history.

13 And it was the students who did it. To Sarah, Cam,Trinh, Suny, and Nhat, my sincerest apologies for hurting you and for maybe not approaching those notes the way I should have. But I also want all five of you to know that I am so proud of everything you have done, and of the tribute you have shown to all the Shows that went before you. To the Cast and Crew, congratulations on a maginficent performance.

14 And to the readers of the Daily News, you need to know that the YB Drama Workshop performed with as much grace and style as some of the best productions we've ever done. And we can only thank Sarah, Cam,Trinh, Suny, and Nhat for hanging in there and never giving up, and for always accepting any challenge I would put them through.

15 I'm thoroughly convinced that once it all settles down, and the reality of that miracle evening settles in, that those student could now grow and create Shows with very little input from me. They reached the pantheon level, and I'm confident that they can take this experience and adapt it to anything that comes their way in life., whether it's challenging courses, lunatic professors, or seemingly conquering seemingly insurmountable odds. If they can do this, they can do anything.

16 Learning happened. And the community poured down to the stage in a scene I haven't seen since we did Godspell so many years ago. There were flowers, hugs, autographs, smiles, group pictures, and one of the most wonderful traditions at YB remained, and remained better than ever before, all because of the efforts and pains those five had gone through.

17 Congratulations to each of you, as well as to the entire company of Behind Closed Doors.

18 Much of the audience actually followed the Company over to Denny's after the Show. It was positively amazing! And then there was a classic Drama Workshop Denny's trip, in keeping with that tradition.

19 On a personal note, before we all headed over to Denny's, . I found myself standing alone inside the Theatre. Everyone had gone outside, and I was left in the silence, just standing alone in the back. I heard the laughter and shouts outside, echoing through the night air. I remained standing, pausing, unable to go out for some reason.

20 I kept staring at the stage. Just a half-hour earlier I had heard three clicks on the lighting monitor right before curtain call. When I finally approached the stage at that time, the song A Foggy Day by Michael Buble played.

21 Just a coincidence, but A Foggy Day was the music I used as curtain call music in my first show EVER. I thought back to when I first directed, and my very first Show, as I watched everyone else hugging and all, it was like I channeled them all out and as in a movie, I saw the post-show hugs of my very first Show, and then of all my Shows.

22 I stopped thinking about that, but staring down again at the stage, I began thinking of every great moment that ever happened on that stage, from my earliest Show, Silents, through all the great years and performances, the moments and memories, so many, too many surely to list here, but almost each one spun through my head in rapid-fire fashion and at warp speed, sort of like the crescendo in A Day in the Life.

23 It all stopped at with visions of the final performance of the Drama Workshop, the one we had all just lived through. It was nothing short of a miracle.

24 No amount of words will be able to describe that moment, and I heard voices shouting, "Come on H!!!" followed by laughter.

25 I looked back throught the darkness at the Theatre, couldn't help thinking of the final episode of Friends, when they all walked out of the empty apartment. I looked again down to the stage, and all around the Theatre.

26 "In a sec!" I shouted. I stood motionless in the silence. It was as though the entire world had stopped for fifteen seconds. This, I imagine, was my own moment. Nobody will ever know.

27 I looked back into the warmth of the Theatre, took one last look, smiled, turned, and opened the door to the night chill, and to the students waiting outside, ready to go to Denny's and to celebrate. We climbed into the TOOONDRA and took off into the night.

28 I never looked back.

29 I just never looked back.

30 I won't look back.

31 Have a lovely day.

32 Peace.

~H~

Congratulations

to the entire

Company of

Behind Closed Doors.

oh,

and

thanks angels.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington
The Daily News
Special Edition!!!!
TONIGHT AT 8!!! YB DRAMA WORKSHOP!!!

BRING A MILLION FRIENDS!!!!!

A Note to the Cast and Crew:

25 years ago I brought a small group of students out to the YB stage and did a Christmas scene for a talent show on the YB stage. I wrote a scene in which Santa's elves went on strike, and replaced Santa with a robot who mal-functioned. Chris Thompson played Santa Claus. Chris was around 6' 2", was skinny, and black. The scene was classy, funny, and brought down the house. The MC said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the YB Drama Workshop!" and people hooted and hollered.

Shortly thereafter, we did a mysterious play called Silents, a tribute to silent films, and it was artisitic, different, and soon, the YB community started to understand that this group was clever, artististic, and committed to doing experimental, vibrant Theatre.

25 years later, the YB Drama Workshop has survived over eight principals, ten assistant principals, various challenges, and has always emerged with the same feeling: bringing more than "just another high school play" to the stage.

It's become a tradition the first two weekends in December to look to the roof of the YB Theatre and see the flag flying, indicating that, as in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre over 4oo years ago, a production would be performed this night.

The flag should be flying over the Theatre tonight. Earlier this year, when I moved into my new realm as Activities Director at EVHS, I tried to put the Drama Workshop into the hands of some awesome people, the Pigeon Players, and their artistic directors, former YB Drama Workshop director Evelyn Huynh, and Angie Higgins, who just finished a stint this summer directing Taming of the Shrew for Shady Shakespeare in Los Altos' Sanborn Park. It was set up that the Pigeon Players, knowing exactly what the Drama Workshop was about, would keep that quality and that lovely tradition going.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out. The Administration at YB threw a few roadblocks their way, and soon it all crumbled. I personally told the students that sadly, this long tradition crossing over six generations of graduates would be ending, probably forever. I accepted that I had done all I could, and told the students that sometimes those things happen in life.

Well, five students, Sarah Mae Brooks, Cam Bui, Trinh Le, Ellen Nguyen, and Suny Um decided they were not going to let the Workshop die. They went to several teachers for help, approached the School Site Council, and came away with $500 in GATE money!

They soon asked current music instructor at YB, Paul Zawilski, if he would be their advisor. He said yes, and with the help of him and Tracy Wolcott, they began a show. They didn't really have a "home" because those teachers had other things to do also.

They contacted me and asked if I could help advise, so we did a lot of cell phones back and forth. At one point, Ellen was on a cell, as was I, and the others were somewhere, and we talked with the two cell phones on speaker. They said, "Hi Charlie!!!" and I just laughed, because it was very much like Chalrie's Angels, and I quickly responded, "Hi, Angels!!!"

And that was how I felt, that these students fought after even I had given up, and never lost hope that they could get a Fall show together, and to save the YB Drama Workshop.

The result is the show that closes tonight, Behind Closed Doors. These students have gone to Hell and back to make this show something really special, and it has been met with raving reviews from both staff and students. It wasn't always easy; there were times when they would get so frustrated and exhausted that I thought their ears might fall off.

But they never gave up, and Behind Closed Doors is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. I absolutely love the show, and I love these students for keeping the flame going. I thank Mr. Zawilski and especially Tracy Wolcott for all the support. Mr. Rocha and Mr. Cruz deserve a nod for allowing them to do this as well.

To the Cast, Crew, and entire Company of Behind Closed Doors, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I want everybody reading this to change your plans tonight and come out and support this lovely, lovely show.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you.

I'm beginning to believe in Angels.

Take it home tonight. We all love you.

Peace,

~H~
The Daily News

The major player in a show.

1 Sometimes when we are doing a show, we amazingly forget about the people for whom we have rehearsed. The audience.

2 Last night I was a paying customer, an audience member, and for the second time in a row, I was just that. It's fun seeing a Workshop show from that perspective.

3 It's funny, because as a director, I used to get so involved in the shows that sometimes the very scripts would lose their meanings. I often wouldn't even listen to plot after a while because I would direct the timing, the blocking, the enunciation, the articulation, the lighting, sounds, and all that stuff. After a while the words become meaningless. I know it sounds strange, but it's quite true, and also quite normal for both directors and cast members.

4 Sometimes I would literally forget what the scene was about. I would have audience members come up and say, "He didn't have anything in his bottle when he poured the wine! Didn't you notice?" And I would figure the audience wouldn't care, and that only someone LOOKING for that sort of thing would notice. We would always rehearse without it and I never noticed, so I never thought it was that big a deal. I thought those audience members were just being overly critical, and that nobody would really notice those little things...

5 Well, as an audience MEMBER, I now see things more clearly. Last night, for example, a scene where a gun was supposed to appear didn't have the gun, and the actress just pointed her fingers at the other characters. I thought it looked REALLY stupid, but then I just wrote it off as a student-directed show.

6 But then I also thought, "Hey, wait a minute! Uh...why is anybody even remotely scared if the person is threatening with four clasped fingers?" And I also thought, "Even if this is student-directed, that sort of thing should have been WAY obvious to the directors." They said at one time they were worried about a gun on stage, and my response was that it was ludicrous; a plastic gun aimed upstage is a theatre staple. Hundreds of thousands of high school plays with plastic guns are probably being performed this very weekend. So that should NEVER have happened, not in this life, and not in the next, student-directed or not.

7 Didn't work for me; didn't work for the audience.

8 But it has to come back to accountability. Who are we doing a show for? The audience. It has to make sense to an audience. No gun. Scene with gun. No gun. Uh...hello?

9 Another thing that was done was the scene Bedtime, a lyrical little play about a little girl who is frightened about the end of the world. This was a very sweet, wonderful play that suddenly turned into a horror story, and the entire ending of the play, and of the Show, was transformed. It looked and felt ridiculous, like a cast reaching for two many laughs and audience response, and it just ruined that lovely little piece for me. As an audience member who is a big fan of this production, I felt it was a huge, awkward change that just plain ruined things.

10 Listen: I was absorbed in this great acting and in listening to the flow and poetry of the scene when it became interrupted, and it kept getting interrupted by lines that clearly were not written. And instead of it ending lyrically and beautifully, the way it has, it ended with an ending that the playwright didn't even write.

11 It threw off the curtain call and looked ridiculously amateur. It disturbed me because it is such a beautiful piece, and seemed a literal horror to a patron who is a big fan of that play.

12 Sometimes students need to realize that trying to put TOO much into a show cheapens the show, and that more often than not, less is more. Several audience members were looking around with looks on their face that said, "Huh?"

13 It looked as though the students were having a ball changing everything, but that the audience was left out of the mix, so it wound up looking WAY self-indulgent and amateur. This is typical behavior during the run of a show, and the director usually steps in and tells the student, "Hey, do the show that we rehearsed, and the one that was written by the playwrights, okay?"

14 And the only reason I write this is so they will perhaps get this message and straighten it out so the show they originally staged is the one people pay to see.

15 It's pretty common behavior for casts and sometimes crews to try to add things that seem funny to themselves but not necessarily to anyone who came in to see it. It was a major blunder, but hopefully they will get this and realize that a playwright writes a play a certain way, and that the play should be very close to the writer's original intent. Not to do that is insulting to the writer, and very disappointing to a fan of that particular play.

16 I should hope the cast and crew would get this message. Ultimately, it's up to them to stage things however they wish, but it is also a VERY common thing for a company to try way too hard to get laughs, and wind up with a show that looks nothing like what they rehearsed for two months. Much of that sort of stuff looks and is thrown in hastily, and it measures in missed lines, slower cues, confusion, and in this case, a very confusing curtain call.

17 So I'm happy to plug Behind Closed Doors here if it is going to be the same play that was rehearsed, but this certainly gave me pause. It needs to be fixed, and fast.

18 Great intentions but poor judgment. It had the audience at the end scratching their heads. It came off as self-indulgent and not at all what the playwright had intended.

19 That being said, I still thought the overall show was kicking, live, but I've certainly seen it much better.

20 Hopefully it will be back to its original form by closing night. It's just too wonderful of a show not to.

21 I really hope they listen to this old brown shoe.

22 He's not a dumb man, and knows theatre.

23 Show me what you really have.

24 I'll be in the audience Saturday night, 8 p.m.

25 Take the criticism any way you want kids. But I can be a rough critic, or I have utterly no credibility.

26 Break-a-leg on Saturday night. Show me what you guys are made of.

27 Take it home boys and girls.

28 Peace.

~ a concerned audience member~

Go see this. It's awesome.

Oh, and the flag was up on Thursday night.

~H~
The Daily News

1 So as AOL is talking about the best places to get strawberries, Jamba Juice in San Francisco has people keeling over from tainted strawberries.

2 Actually, I can't really say that at all. I pulled in late last night after helping get programs together and all for the second weekend of Behind Closed Doors, the YB Drama Workshop's fall miracle Show.

3 I had to get the news together and heard that both Jamba Juice and Taco Bell were trying to poison everyone. Or something like that. I was just tired and picking up bits and pieces of the news, so take none of this at face value.

4 It just seems that anything can kill you these days.

5 So anyway, don't believe anything at all about eating fine products that can purportedly kill you. It seems nowadays that anything can and will.

6 Meanwhile, I just want to remind everyone that the play goes up once again tonight at 8 p.m. I'm hoping the flag goes up.

7 I walked past Buzz yesterday, over at YB, and he just hollered, "Hey Mr. H! I would have gone to the play last week but I didn't see the flag!"

8 Ah...tradition. As everyone who reads this can tell you, a flag flying proudly above the YB Theatre this time of year indicates that there is a play this night, at 8 p.m. We took to doing that years ago when I just thought it would be great if we flew a flag over the Theatre on performance nights, replicating what the Elizabethans used to do with the Globe during a Shakespearean run.

9 I was originally going to just come home tonight, throw up a sign that said GONE FISHIN', and then take off to bed.

10 But I clearly didn't. I needed to throw a huge holla out for everyone to get over to YB and see the first all student-directed show, Behind Closed Doors.

11 The Show is great, and it's all done in large part to a group of students who never gave up, and who got past all the critics to stage their own play, without so much as one adult director. Oh, a couple of us old brown shoes wandered in and out, threw a wrench on some lights, that sort of thing, but overall, these students did it, and they deserve all the support they can get.

12 On top of which the Show itself is quite an enjoyable evening in the YB Theatre, and feels every bit the same as any Drama Workshop show. Amazingly close. Go and be proud of these brave young directors and actors; they put it all together with monstrous obstacles and with minimal help.
13 It's Tonight and Saturday. Curtain at 8.

14 AOL must have eaten some of its own strawberries last night because all the fonts keep changing and messing this beautiful piece up. I gotta cut this one short.

15 Go to the Show and bring a huge group with you. These guys simply deserve it, and so do you. It'll do your heart good.

17 Peace.

~H~

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The Daily News

1 So I was watching a great episode of House last night when some commercial came on with the Claus', Santa and Mrs.

2 I was pretty much playing a little guitar, half-watching, half not, when Mrs. Claus addressed Santa as "Kris".

3 I thought that was great, never thought of him as being named Kris. But then he isn't Kris Claus, he's Kris Kringle, and I'm not so certain I'm even spelling that correcty.

4 And his name IS Santa, not Kris. Actually, Nicholas, or Nick. But I thought it was cool anyway, just goofing on Santa Claus's first name actually being Kris. Maybe it's Mrs. Claus' pet name. Mrs. Claus, so far as I know, has no first name.

5 Interestingly, the night before last I got a My Space friend request from a guy named Kris. Ah, nothing like a little dose of synchronicity.

6 And then last night, my dear old friend and confidant Geoff, of the infamous and famous rock band Daffy and the Ducks, told me he knew Santa Claus personally. I was Daffy, by the way. Front guy. Geoff was an awesome guitarist, and still is. We still jam any time we can get together.

7 AnywayZ, I asked if i could print our series of exchanges and then went ahead and did so anyway, because I needed to get to sleep, but I thought the series of e-mails was pretty fun to share. I don't think Geoff would mind, and I don't think Stan Nichols will either, because, well...read on. It's written in non-capitals, e-mailese. Here ya go:

8 From Geoff:

"i actually know santa claus...he lives in main, and runs
a chimney sweeping business the rest of the year. he brings megifts of perfect peace whenever i visit, and shoots a mean game of
pool.

"he also enjoys a vodka gimlet from time to time.

and he really likes cookies. a lot...

i'll put in a good word for ya, if ya like..."

9 From Me:

"half a minute. you're not in maine, right? anyway, yeah put
in a good word.

"i've gone totally commercial now, a complete
sell out, so that 50 -inch plasma teevee
at wal-mart would be just the ticket for a
cheery season, at least for me."



cheerio,

daff

10 From Geoff:

"santa claus is stan nichols, st. nick's chimney service
and masonry.

"synchronicity...stan nichols...st. nicholas...you can't make
that shit up...

"he has a big white beard, white hair in the classic vonnegutstyle (vonnegut is dark haired, but you get the image) and thin, not fat like all the santa claus advertising."

; )



                                   A Kurt Vonnegut Self-Caricature
11 From Me:
"haha, that's amazing...stan nichols...ya just get miracle on
34th st. stuff outta that one. any pictures of the fellow?"

daff

12 From Geoff:

"no unfortunately.
he looks like a skinny santa claus.

"if i did move to maine, i'm guaranteed a job with him."

13 The funny thing is, I think Geoff was being serious. He was actually a chimney sweep a few years back, you know, chimney sweeps, like Burt in Mary Poppins? I don't know that Geoff and his fellow sweepers ever popped out of chimneys and did rooftop dances, but it does add a bit to the magic of the story...

Dick Van Dyke, Julie Andrews ,Karen
Dotrice, and Matthew Garber enjoy the
rooftop dance in Mary Poppins.

14 Anyway, I'm enjoying the fact that someone I know may just be in touch with the very real Santa Claus. The story is as plausible as plausible can be.

15 When I was a lad, I used to love looking up in the sky on Christmas Eve and wondering if the airplanes were actually the sleigh, and the blinking lights Rudolph's nose.

16 One year I had awakened at around 2 in the morning and heard jingle bells on our roof. It may very well have been my dad, but I remember putting my head under my covers, hiding a huge grin. It was awfully tough getting back to sleep, but the miracle of that night was absolutely magical.

17 So Geoff, if even half of what you say is true, if you were, indeed, serious, then put in a good word for the plasma teevee. I've been good this year, and as you well know, I'm not always.

18 Or actually I'd just settle for a Martin guitar, any sort, just expensive.

19 Peace.

~H~



http://www.xanga.com/bharrington
The Daily News

1 Ah, good ol' Christmas. Nothing like the holiday season to really bring out the best in people. And the worst. And the ability to GOOF OFF!!

2 Tuesday already. And if we had gotten RID of Tuesday the way I said, it would already be Wednesday.

3 But nope.

4 Tuesday.

5 Nothing like the Christmas Countdown.

6 It's like we still have a LOT of time left until Christmas, but everyone is keeping an eye on the goof-off clock.

Even Santa likes to GOOF OFF at work
this time of the year!

7 Maybe they should KEEP Tuesdays, but get rid of the entire first third of the month of December.

8 Say...just start December on December 10. Just wipe December 1-9 out and start right in on the 10th.

9   Makes perfect sense.

10 It makes the month go swifter, saves you money on gas, food, and all sorts of things.

11 And yeah, it does shorten your shopping time for Christmas, but that also does your feet a huge favor.

12   It would suck if your birthday fell in there somewhere though.

13 Well, not really, because you could just celebrate it on the weekend anyway.

14 And you could save on parties, because so many other people would be having a birthday party that you could combine and have a huge bash.

15 Nope, can't see any purpose to the first 10 days of Christmas. Well...maybe if you're supposed to get a paycheck in there. You should just get it on the 11th.

16 Wait, are those days the main days of the song? Are they the first 12 days in December, or what the heck are they?

17 And I was talking about 10 days anyway. Hmm. Christmas shopping would be more rushed. But anyone can adjust to that. Yep, I'm liking the idea. I may think it through and begin some sort of implementation plan. It's all process, don't you know.



18 Actually I'm just killing time because it's Tuesday and I just don't have a heck of a lot to say today.

19 But I just may be on to something here.

20 I think I'll take it to the lab and have it analyzed.

21 Perfect excuse to goof off from the DN.

22 Life's good.

23 Peace.

~H~



http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

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