Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout

"I've had a bit of a 'Talley's Folly' hangover today, and I mean that in the best sense. Overindulging on emotion and creativity and friendship and community and art! And yeah, probably some red wine and sweet potato fries, too. Much gratitude to everyone who shared Matt and Sally's story with us this weekend, including friends, family, and strangers!" --Facebook post from Nov. 15, 2015 What emotional and artistic cocktail causes a theater hangover? In the case of Talley's, the recipe looked something like: 2 parts self-doubt 1 part the emotional angst and vulnerability of my character 1 part gratitude for everyone who came to see us 1-2 dashes of terror Shake, blend, and mix the hell out of all the ingredients and serve over the hope that you really are doing something awesome and  garnish with a big slice of excitement. Combine this potent concoction with the generous amounts of red wine and sweet potato fries that I consumed after every sh...

Wanda and I both heard it. Two teams were tied in second place with THIRTY-NINE points. We had FORTY-ONE points. We knew it couldn't be true, there was no way we had won trivia...but... ...except? ...maybe?  we did get all of the anatomy questions and all the music questions correct. And only missed one superhero origin-story question (SAILOR MOON! Duh! I could have at least guessed that!) ...and we did hear wrong. Second place was FORTY-NINE points. (No idea what first place got, who cares, screw 'em, it wasn't us). Ah the thrill of (imagined, brief, fleeting, fantasy) victory, the agony of defeat. At least we solidly lost. It would have been worse if we had been close to winning but lost because I had a major fail on the Robin Williams question. I mean really, "Mrs. Doubtfire" was NOT an 80's movie? It came after "Dead Poets Society?" My Robin Williams-movie timeline is completely screwed. My internal clock is smashed. I knew Chad before ...

I don't believe the James J. Hill House is haunted by the ghost of James J. Hill--or anyone else--but I do like to think that after our three-weekend run of "Talley's Folly" there it will be forever imbued with a little piece of my heart. I had a director once who talked about how every place that we create theater becomes sacred and that the magic can never be recreated in exactly the same way again. I inwardly rolled my eyes at her a bit, but I was also intrigued, and this idea has come to mean more and more to me through the years. It's not just theater but any place we come together to create art and make music and share these experiences as performers and audience members. I've been lucky enough to experience this ephemeral and fragile magic in venues as varied as our church, the Driftwood Char Bar, senior living centers, and our garage (where we rehearsed Talley's this time around). Even a bathroom selfie at the James J. House is elegant Of c...

Everybody has weird dreams, but I seem to remember mine more that most people do, maybe because my sleep stages are messed up. I don't think they have any special mystical meaning, but are usually just a way for my brain to work through whatever I'm stressed out about. My subconscious also steals heavily from whatever television show or books I've been consuming for its dream imagery, which I'm sure contributes to the strangeness. This morning's dream was typically bizarre and random, but seemed to have a cool "message" (totally constructed by me)  that makes it worth of blogging about. And hey, I've been searching for blog inspiration, so why not?  In my dream, my friends and I were being terrorized by a fierce and seemingly indestructible monster. (This was definitely inspired by the episode of "Shield" that we watched just before bed.) One by one, my friends were being tortured and killed and there was nothing I could do. The monster ...

I was in the bathroom when I heard the crash. I was momentarily alarmed, but quickly decided it was no big deal. "One of the pets just knocked over the baby gate," I thought. (Don't worry friends I haven't seen in a while...you haven't missed any big news, we use the "baby" gate mainly to keep our elderly dachshund Oscar from falling down the stairs.)  I walked into the kitchen and discovered I was wrong. So very wrong. The victim was the coffeemaker. Knocked off the counter (by our cat Pepper, I had no doubt) and lying in pieces on the kitchen floor amidst coffee and grounds (also splattered on the cupboards, of course). Despair and panic gripped me.  If you're not a coffee person, I don't think I can explain these feelings to you. If you're not a coffee person, I both envy and pity you. I envy your freedom, that you're not enslaved to your need for coffee, but I also feel sorry for you that your life lacks that sublime desire fo...

Chad and I are unabashed tv-holics (and I'm NOT talking socially or intellectually redeeming PBS shows). We are also pathologically overbooked. So we just got around to watching the last episode of the "Daily Show" (and if I have to tell you that's with Jon Stewart you probably have no interest in reading this) a couple of days ago. It's funny how much a tv show can seep into your life. Watching The Daily Show has been a constant part of our lives for the past sixteen years, so I have to share my reflections: It's obvious, but must be said: this really brings home the passage of time, and yes, makes me feel old. We even watched the show when Craig Kilborn was the host.  Time and memory are very malleable, and it's strange how a television show can be such a maker of one's own personal history. I'm surprised that Jon didn't start hosting the Daily Show until we moved to Minnesota (I thought it was during our Iowa Era). I also can't beli...

Just as Resting Bitch Face has re-emerged as one of the great issues of our age, I've discovered I have Resting Bitch(y) Drummer Face. Or, to be more accurate, Active Scary (or Scared?) Drummer Face. (Don't try to figure out an acronym). I present Exhibit A from our most recent Twin Town recital at Whiskey Junction:  "Don't mess up or someone's going down."  Actually, this is a really cool photo, and we were very lucky that Twin Cities Media took professional photos of us and even wrote a blog post: http://twincitiesmedia.net/blog/?p=19252 . But I do look very "intense." I guess that's better than looking like I'm phoning (or should I say "IM-ing"?) it in.  I've given a lot of thought to my drumming stage presence in the last couple of years, as I've gotten the impression that it's disappointingly low-key and mild-mannered. (Or thankfully low-key for one of my older friends who was worried I was going to fla...