i'm no threat to ella fitzgerald. don't worry.

hieeeee!

i have done no research like i said i would. bam. truth.

i have, however, continued to write my play, and this week, ladies and germs, i started singing again. shutup.

this afternoon, i had an appointment with a dude named Elliot (like the kid in E.T.), and he has some sort of higher education certificate (i think a master's degree) in jazz improvization. did anyone know that degree existed? no. so i was like, okay, i am interested in jazz singing. Elliot has the most education in jazz singing ever, even beyond what i thought was possible on earth. let's hook this up. so, we did. we hooked it up.

he taught me about back beating, forward beating, using pedal points on chords (which is where your lowest, most sustained note is the 5th of the chord), and straight-toning. i totally dig jazz music. Elliot was neat when he was friends with E.T. AND today when he taught me about jazz.

also, he tried to make me scat. i kind of wish i had had a tape recorder for that part. it sounded a lot like i was someone who had never met music before. and it sounded like music didn't like meeting me.

So, anyway, i have had a tangential few days. Which i think happens to people as they pursue their goal, so there you go. it happened to me. bam. truth.

i am going to do the equity research and more grant stuff; i'm going to continue writing the play. it's all on the agenda for this week. but also, i'm going to sing more, because not singing makes me blue... and in the immortal words of some guy, i've got to sing away these blues.

doo doo dee wabba.

The World (America)

Good Afternoon!

The Yankees won the World Series. Good job, George Fish and boys! Every time people talk about them being "world champions" in the news now, I think of the Eddie Izzard joke that America has won every World Series. Good job, America. Why do we call it the "World Series," by the way? And if we must persist in calling it that, shouldn't we let some other countries play with us?

I'm pretty sure I just proved my non-die-hard-baseball-fan-ness by suggesting such a preposterous idea. Please don't laugh at me.

ANYWAYS! SHOW BIZ!

I'm continuing to write this week and starting to percolate plans for a reading in December. I had a moment of inner-joy today when i realized that all the women in my play are over 30. Take that, youth-obsessed World (America) who doesn't let other countries play baseball with Derek Jeter!

I'm not exactly sure how to hold auditions, however. I've never done that before in NYC... how do i get an ad placed in Backstage? Also, because I'm in Actor's Equity, do i have to do the reading as an Equity Showcase? And if i do it as an Equity Showcase, do i need three buckets of cash instead of one? how many buckets does an Equity Showcase take?

These are things to be learned in this, my process of getting a play from my brain onto the stage in this, the theatre capital of the World (America).

I shall now go to learn things. And, as a multi-tasking thing, I'll Google why other countries don't play in the World Series. Google doesn't have the ability to mock me, right?

george fish

this week i've been writing a play and watching major league baseball.

what?!

i'm writing a play about scientists, and i'm watching sports?

the kate from 1997, who was interested almost exclusively in stephen sondheim and pointe shoes, is looking at the kate from 2009 with mouth agape and brow furrowed.

baseball and scientists? is that a musical?

anyway, as it turns out i'm a yankees fan, with a particular bent toward giving the players funny nicknames. Jorge Posada, for example, is George Fish. 'cause Posada sounds like pescada. which means "fish." George Fish. He likes it.

also, i'm submitting my NYFA grant today. i'm feeling good about it, but i can tell it's going to be the same situation as auditions: for every 100 auditions/grant applications, you get ten callbacks/interviews, and maybe 1 job/grant bucket of money. it's a numbers game. like in baseball when they put up that little graphic-design box with numbers that i can't decipher. RBI... means... Revolutions.... Baseball... Intense?

anyway, this week is another grant app and writing the end of act 1 in the bacteriologist play.

and, i can't believe i'm going to say it, this week means finding out who wins the world series. fingers crossed for the yankees.

what?!