Art Hice
Weather Report for this weekend has changed drastically from sunny and warm to rainy and cold. So we're not going to Hershey. Nuts.
Disappointedness aside, that means I will be in town, brooklinegirl! Bring it on!
Last night I went out to Jersey City for The Art House. It took me only an hour to get there, and I'd planned for much longer, so I had some time to kill in JC. Wondering if Paula's Midsummer was anywhere nearby, I dropped by Van Vorst park. Rich Warren was there rehearsing Gory Ol' Anus, but I didn't see anyone else I knew in the cast, so I didn't stick around.
The night itself was good- Christine, Jack, and Stephanie were very excited to see me, as were other regulars who remembered the ukulele guy from last year. A lot of the poetry and music was really good.
Opening Band was a guy whose name I forget, but if his name was Jake, he's in a band called "Bi-Polar Jake and the Mood Swings" (what a kick-ass name!). His music was cute.
I sang "You're the Only One" by The Mr. T Experience, my "Under the Greenwood Tree" from As You Like It, and Pat Benetar's "We Belong". I managed, for the first time, to get all the way through "We Belong" in front of an audience without fucking up, which was nice. People held up lighters.
High points were Featured Poet Ishle Yi Park, the poet laureate of Queens, who just rocked. She read some poetry, then took out her guitar and sang some songs, including a cover of Bob Marley's "Stir it up". At intermission we saw each other from across the room and ran to express our excitment at each other's performance.
Also entertaining in a different way was Alexander The Poet, who stepped up on the stage and said, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen...how are you...doing tonight? Good? Good! My name is...Alexander The Poet...and what I do is, I read romantic poetry...while wearing tight black leather pants...while exposing some very good ole' moderate chest hair...in the shape...of a heart!...And when I read my poetry...I prefer to read it...to the music...of whales humping...It gets me...in the mood!!!"* He then explained that he didn't have the Whale Humping sounds with him, and he exhorted us, if possible, to make the sounds. We tried. He read some hysterically funny and indecently filthy poetry (his website is blocked by Pfizer), and removed a piece of clothing after each poem (he only did three) until he was shirtless, and we could see not only his heart-shaped chest hair, but his upside-down-heart-shaped belly hair.
A few of us (Christine & Jack, Bill & his girlfriend, Grisel & Toro, Stephanie & Evan, and I) went out for drinks afterward at The Merchant, which was having $3 Corona, margaritas, and tequila shots, since it was Thursday. Had a nice time. Jack is playing Theseus in yet another production of Midsummer in New York parks this Summer. It also has Bill Weeden in it as Ægeus and one of the Mechanicals. I'm going to be all Midsummered out by August.
* This is taken from his website, and is exactly what he said.
Disappointedness aside, that means I will be in town, brooklinegirl! Bring it on!
Last night I went out to Jersey City for The Art House. It took me only an hour to get there, and I'd planned for much longer, so I had some time to kill in JC. Wondering if Paula's Midsummer was anywhere nearby, I dropped by Van Vorst park. Rich Warren was there rehearsing Gory Ol' Anus, but I didn't see anyone else I knew in the cast, so I didn't stick around.
The night itself was good- Christine, Jack, and Stephanie were very excited to see me, as were other regulars who remembered the ukulele guy from last year. A lot of the poetry and music was really good.
Opening Band was a guy whose name I forget, but if his name was Jake, he's in a band called "Bi-Polar Jake and the Mood Swings" (what a kick-ass name!). His music was cute.
I sang "You're the Only One" by The Mr. T Experience, my "Under the Greenwood Tree" from As You Like It, and Pat Benetar's "We Belong". I managed, for the first time, to get all the way through "We Belong" in front of an audience without fucking up, which was nice. People held up lighters.
High points were Featured Poet Ishle Yi Park, the poet laureate of Queens, who just rocked. She read some poetry, then took out her guitar and sang some songs, including a cover of Bob Marley's "Stir it up". At intermission we saw each other from across the room and ran to express our excitment at each other's performance.
Also entertaining in a different way was Alexander The Poet, who stepped up on the stage and said, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen...how are you...doing tonight? Good? Good! My name is...Alexander The Poet...and what I do is, I read romantic poetry...while wearing tight black leather pants...while exposing some very good ole' moderate chest hair...in the shape...of a heart!...And when I read my poetry...I prefer to read it...to the music...of whales humping...It gets me...in the mood!!!"* He then explained that he didn't have the Whale Humping sounds with him, and he exhorted us, if possible, to make the sounds. We tried. He read some hysterically funny and indecently filthy poetry (his website is blocked by Pfizer), and removed a piece of clothing after each poem (he only did three) until he was shirtless, and we could see not only his heart-shaped chest hair, but his upside-down-heart-shaped belly hair.
A few of us (Christine & Jack, Bill & his girlfriend, Grisel & Toro, Stephanie & Evan, and I) went out for drinks afterward at The Merchant, which was having $3 Corona, margaritas, and tequila shots, since it was Thursday. Had a nice time. Jack is playing Theseus in yet another production of Midsummer in New York parks this Summer. It also has Bill Weeden in it as Ægeus and one of the Mechanicals. I'm going to be all Midsummered out by August.
* This is taken from his website, and is exactly what he said.