Super-Duper Update Post
So I guess this is my new thing, huh? Updating my LJ only once a month? *sigh*
It's not for lack of interesting things happening.
Let's see if I can keep this organized...
Lamplighters
Fun! Stressful and a bit demented, but fun! I mean, you have to love theater if you're going to work 12-hour Saturday shifts for a whole month and have all the music from My Fair Lady in your head every day, right? I'm done as a stitcher and I'm now working as a dresser, which means I'm helping actors change costumes and I'm involved in a few lightning-fast changes.
Very bizarre how dressers get paid more than costumers(about $18 an hour vs. $12)...making costumes takes much more skill than dressing, but dressing can be such a demanding job. I'm working with a guy named David, who's been a dresser, craftperson, and house manager for years now, and he's told me some horror stories. He was a dresser for the whole 5-year run of Phantom of the Opera in San Francisco, and in those five years he had NO LIFE. You work six days a week, eight shows a week, with NO HOLIDAYS (including Christmas). You have no social life, because you're always working when your friends are off work. But you get paid really well. It's basically the type of job you want if you're desperate to pay off your student loans. Fortunately the dressing experience with Lamplighters is nothing like this, but it is intense!
We finished our first weekend in Walnut Creek...can I just say that I hate the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts? Making us wear security badges on the premesis, not letting us check in before 6:00 even if we really needed to set up, locking up the theater without warning in between our matinee and evening shows (thus locking in some of our backpacks and personal stuff!), kicking us out at 11:30 even if we're trying to clean up for the next day, and double booking the fucking theater and telling us the night before opening night that we have to have all our stuff cleaned up and put away and that we could put it all back the next day...on OPENING NIGHT...I hate this goddamn theater. SO MUCH.
But ANYWAY. This weekend we're performing at the Napa Valley Opera House, and Lamplighters has booked a hotel for us. So I'll be in Napa through Sunday! The only real "free time" I have is on Saturday morning/afternoon (we don't have a matinee, only an evening show) so I need to figure out stuff to do. I don't have much money to splurge on wine tours and spa bills, so I might just turn into a shutterbug and go exploring with my camera. And find a tasty restaurant or two. We'll see!
Martha & Pierre
(If you're new to my flist and don't know the whole story on this, just click on my "Pierre" tag for some nice stories about my roommate's crappy ex-boyfriend.)
This has turned into a lovely little mess. We hadn't heard from Pierre in a couple of months (as it should be!) when he suddenly decided it would be a good idea to call the cops and tell them Martha had tried to run over him with her car in her parking lot at work. Yeah, my jaw fell open too. She did no such thing, of course, and informed the cops that she has a restraining order against this asshole, which means he's not supposed to be anywhere near her job. So he got arrested, and now I have a friggin' subpoena to show up in court on the 10th because I was a witness the first time he broke his restraining order. I want to kill this dumbass. UGH.
Tori Amos
I saw Tori Amos' San Jose concert with Melody and Megan! It was really fun...Tori is such a drag queen these days. Neon yellow dress and glow-in-the-dark leggings, hon? Alrighty then! I think my favorite part was her new version of "Horses" performed with her full band. Gorgeous! Also, when her keyboard messed up and a tech guy ran up and fixed it for her, she sang him a little song about being her "keyboard friend." Too fucking cute. ♥
The crowd was pretty hysterical. I've never seen such a motley crew...girls dragging their boyfriends, lesbian couples, hippie-types, gay boys, and WAAAAAY too many hoochie mamas. I don't know what the hell was up with the hoochie mamas...so many grown women wearing dresses they should NOT own. My eyes, MY EYES. @_@
Nine Inch Nails
I'm starting to think it wasn't meant to be. I tried to get tickets for their first swoop through California, but wound up out of town on those tour dates. Then I tried for Vegas, but those tickets were sold out. Finally, Trent announces added dates for Los Angeles at the beginning of September, but you know what happens? They fuck up the presale and ALL of the tickets are sold instead of some, so there weren't any tickets left to purchase on the 31st. So I STILL don't get to see them on their final tour.
Fuck it, I'm DONE. Just gonna accept the fact that all I have are Trent's excellent music and some NIN shirts, and that's all I get. No goodbye. *sigh*
I think that about covers it. I'm going to the de Young Museum tomorrow to see King Tut (and thus relive my middle school dream of being an archeologist), so that ought to be fun, if a bit crowded. And I'm trying to come up with ideas for Halloween costumes. Melody keeps insisting I go as Daria, but for some reason I'm just not feeling it. I don't know, I'm at a loss.
It's not for lack of interesting things happening.
Let's see if I can keep this organized...
Lamplighters
Fun! Stressful and a bit demented, but fun! I mean, you have to love theater if you're going to work 12-hour Saturday shifts for a whole month and have all the music from My Fair Lady in your head every day, right? I'm done as a stitcher and I'm now working as a dresser, which means I'm helping actors change costumes and I'm involved in a few lightning-fast changes.
Very bizarre how dressers get paid more than costumers(about $18 an hour vs. $12)...making costumes takes much more skill than dressing, but dressing can be such a demanding job. I'm working with a guy named David, who's been a dresser, craftperson, and house manager for years now, and he's told me some horror stories. He was a dresser for the whole 5-year run of Phantom of the Opera in San Francisco, and in those five years he had NO LIFE. You work six days a week, eight shows a week, with NO HOLIDAYS (including Christmas). You have no social life, because you're always working when your friends are off work. But you get paid really well. It's basically the type of job you want if you're desperate to pay off your student loans. Fortunately the dressing experience with Lamplighters is nothing like this, but it is intense!
We finished our first weekend in Walnut Creek...can I just say that I hate the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts? Making us wear security badges on the premesis, not letting us check in before 6:00 even if we really needed to set up, locking up the theater without warning in between our matinee and evening shows (thus locking in some of our backpacks and personal stuff!), kicking us out at 11:30 even if we're trying to clean up for the next day, and double booking the fucking theater and telling us the night before opening night that we have to have all our stuff cleaned up and put away and that we could put it all back the next day...on OPENING NIGHT...I hate this goddamn theater. SO MUCH.
But ANYWAY. This weekend we're performing at the Napa Valley Opera House, and Lamplighters has booked a hotel for us. So I'll be in Napa through Sunday! The only real "free time" I have is on Saturday morning/afternoon (we don't have a matinee, only an evening show) so I need to figure out stuff to do. I don't have much money to splurge on wine tours and spa bills, so I might just turn into a shutterbug and go exploring with my camera. And find a tasty restaurant or two. We'll see!
Martha & Pierre
(If you're new to my flist and don't know the whole story on this, just click on my "Pierre" tag for some nice stories about my roommate's crappy ex-boyfriend.)
This has turned into a lovely little mess. We hadn't heard from Pierre in a couple of months (as it should be!) when he suddenly decided it would be a good idea to call the cops and tell them Martha had tried to run over him with her car in her parking lot at work. Yeah, my jaw fell open too. She did no such thing, of course, and informed the cops that she has a restraining order against this asshole, which means he's not supposed to be anywhere near her job. So he got arrested, and now I have a friggin' subpoena to show up in court on the 10th because I was a witness the first time he broke his restraining order. I want to kill this dumbass. UGH.
Tori Amos
I saw Tori Amos' San Jose concert with Melody and Megan! It was really fun...Tori is such a drag queen these days. Neon yellow dress and glow-in-the-dark leggings, hon? Alrighty then! I think my favorite part was her new version of "Horses" performed with her full band. Gorgeous! Also, when her keyboard messed up and a tech guy ran up and fixed it for her, she sang him a little song about being her "keyboard friend." Too fucking cute. ♥
The crowd was pretty hysterical. I've never seen such a motley crew...girls dragging their boyfriends, lesbian couples, hippie-types, gay boys, and WAAAAAY too many hoochie mamas. I don't know what the hell was up with the hoochie mamas...so many grown women wearing dresses they should NOT own. My eyes, MY EYES. @_@
Nine Inch Nails
I'm starting to think it wasn't meant to be. I tried to get tickets for their first swoop through California, but wound up out of town on those tour dates. Then I tried for Vegas, but those tickets were sold out. Finally, Trent announces added dates for Los Angeles at the beginning of September, but you know what happens? They fuck up the presale and ALL of the tickets are sold instead of some, so there weren't any tickets left to purchase on the 31st. So I STILL don't get to see them on their final tour.
Fuck it, I'm DONE. Just gonna accept the fact that all I have are Trent's excellent music and some NIN shirts, and that's all I get. No goodbye. *sigh*
I think that about covers it. I'm going to the de Young Museum tomorrow to see King Tut (and thus relive my middle school dream of being an archeologist), so that ought to be fun, if a bit crowded. And I'm trying to come up with ideas for Halloween costumes. Melody keeps insisting I go as Daria, but for some reason I'm just not feeling it. I don't know, I'm at a loss.