Shows # 55 & 56

Oh man, we have been back on the road for three days now with two new performances under our belt and the range of emotion I have felt in the last 72 hours just about spans all of the things one can feel.

I have felt exhausted, enraged, elated and exhausted (yes, exhausted twice). Things have been tense, peaceful and indifferent. The music has both rocked and sucked while in the van.
Basically, no two days are ever fully alike.

Take, for example, our first show after our days off. We loaded into a giant gymnasium, easily large enough to host two basketball games simultaneously while driving a tractor around them, and with the little amount of energy we had gave a completely mediocre performance to a suitably unimpressed crowd. Literally, the only honest moment I had on stage that day was when I yawned in the middle of a song. Everything else about the show was purely painful. We had a painfully early call after nowhere near enough sleep; the crew was present but not at all helpful and the stage was about 6 feet up off the ground. Oh, did I mention we had to do it in a thrust-space again? Yeesh.

Still, while that may have been par for the course, we then trucked from ME down to MA for a show in Auburn at one of the most beautiful spaces we've ever performed in (video images and photos to follow...) The Mechanics Hall (so named for reasons I never discovered) turns 150 years old this year (like Thalian!) and has truly stunning decor inside. It also has an extensive set of maze-like hallways and back stair-cases, which Michelle and I got thoroughly lost in while trying to find our way down to the loading dock.

As for how the morning went - we loaded about half the set into the freight elevator, lugged it on up to the third floor and realised the stage was WAY too small for the house. I LOVE WHEN THAT HAPPENS! It makes load-in (and -out) significantly easier and the entire day that much more bearable. Especially given that after lunch, we had to drive back to ME. Yes, we went from Maine, to Mass and back to Maine in three days. Not anywhere near the length of drive from North Carolina to PA, but still not the best planning, I feel.

After a stormy drive across MA (complete with the loss of my temper and my subsequent apologies to those who had to witness the outburst) we got into our hotel in ME, went out for a lobster dinner that couldn't be beat and came back to enjoy a drink and a smoke with the Portland ME law-students at their law-student prom. They were asking us what we were, and Michelle and I answered "We're travelling actors. It's... beyond words." Anyway, we had a few jokes on the front steps of the hotel and then I came up here. Our call tomorrow is at 7.50, the latest it's been in a while, and the hotel we're in serves breakfast in bed. I am THRILLED about breakfast in bed.

And the upcoming day off in the city.

Sometimes I ask myself when this will end. Sometimes I go out for lobster dinner. It is what it is.
Ah, touring.