Welcome to Glenn's Blog!

Here I will periodically post random thoughts and stories about what's going on in my life and the world around me. As if anyone cared. But seriously, you've found your way here, so hopefully you will enjoy at least some of what I have to say, even if you aren't entirely interested in it. At the least, it should be a good way to waste time.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Rent

Rent, Rent, and more Rent. That's been the story of this month. No, not the monthly payment towards to real owner of your current residence. I call that "mortgage". But I've been playing the musical at the 24th Street Theatre - two of them in fact: the mainstage version and the school edition version.

So this weekend wraps up the end of the runs of both, and by tomorrow we will have played the show in tech rehearsals or performances 11 times in 10 days. And that's a lot of Rent.

It's actually quite a fun show to play, and very challenging for me since I'm not a rock musician by nature. The parts offer a lot of variety, a far cry from the oom-pa bass parts you see in a lot of classic musicals. But it has been tiring, and my left wrist has been hurting for a week now (tendinitis anyone?) It's been so bad that I've had to resort to taking ibuprofen just to make it through some of the shows.

Due to the playing position needed for the left hand on a electric bass, my wrist stiffens up after most numbers and I have to slowly bend it back to a straight position and loosen it up between numbers. And don't even get me started on the loss of dexterity I'm having on those fast moving rockin' bass lines!
But it's been really fun to play, as I've said, and the cast is uber talented (some folks have told me it's the best production they've ever seen RSP put on).

If you missed it, too bad for you. At the moment there's less than 30 tickets available for the final two shows, tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll get a bit of a break to rest the wrist before the next project begins: directing The Wiz from October 29-November 21. Good thing conducting uses the right hand...

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

There Went That Month

So, here we are in the first week of school, and indeed the first day of September. Where did August go? It must have been a figment of my imagination. But, a lot has been going on. Some recaps... First and foremost, I am currently sitting in the jazz studio at school, literally babysitting the room to make sure nothing gets stolen. The door was removed by the locksmiths today so they can router it out and install a new digital door lock. The old one crapped out in June, and after months of filing and emailing requests and generally being ignored, they finally got back to us a couple of weeks ago with an estimate. And now, finally it's being fixed. So life can move on. At least for the jazz folks anyway, who will now be able to access their studio instead of canceling classes since there was no way for them to get in the room.

This is also tech week for me; after a year and a half hiatus I am back at Runaway Stage Productions to perform in this month's production of Rent. Now, I'm not really a rocker, and this book is pretty intense, that is to say there's a couple spots that are really kicking my ass. But, if it doesn't kill me, I should be a better player by the end. I've also been arranging music for the marching band (oh yeah, THAT'S where August went!). Their pregame and halftime music is done, and i think the arrangements turned out pretty well. The drum staff has them now to write in their parts, though the pregame is done and the band is currently rehearsing it. It sounds really good! I think they like it. At least I hope they do. 

The other part of August disappeared with a camping trip to Rollins Lake and a subsequent cold that was fairly nasty for (fortunately) short period of time. Our camping spot had a little trail behind it that went off into the woods and eventually came to a dead end. So I put my hammock up at the start of it and enjoyed several afternoon naps. One day, I awoke and looked up at the trail and a deer was standing there, about 25 feet away maybe, just staring at me. So, we stared at each other for awhile, and he eventually decided I was okay and proceeded to wander off a little bit and munch on some plants. I watched him for about a half hour or so. Well that about sums up the last month. Is it kind of sad that one month of your like can be squeezed down into one online blog? Hmm. Perhaps that should be debated another day...