Blah-ditty-blah

can't tell you how upset i am about this blog. . . i started it a couple of days ago. . . got about three written pages of it (handwritten on paper.. so i don't know how that equates to typed blogger paging) and somehow wasn't able to save it. .. in fact i may run into the same problem now! ahhhhhhhh. . . . please don't lose this.. . . high and mighty master and mistress of bloggdom. . .. please safely store my rambings!

ok here we go. . .

the second installment of my life through music part two, the fun album. . .

#1 all i care about is love (billy flynn from the musical chicago) this song made the list due to a competition a couple of my firends and i held between each other. swon, emily, and i fought over one of our fellow grad students. . . eric van baars, a very talented, funny, intelligent, handsome (-and taken!) gay boy! we would tally up special conversations, time spent over coffee and tea or meals, hugs, kisses on the cheek, and movie outtings against one another for points. all three of us enjoyed him in all his roles while at kent state, but his part as billy flynn in chicago was the best! we want billy, give us billy! forget that! i think we'd all take eric just as he is! -remember that one time in yuko's history class when eric had very little sleep and yuko made some quote about how a large percentage of theatre audiences were made up of mostly upper class white people. . . and eric blurted out, "go whites!". . . or something like that . . . i almost peed! and then the surprise birthday party you all threw for me, in the iron chef theme, where i learned to make sushi!. . . eric posed as chairman kaga, with wig, weird shirt, and poor japanese accent. . . -such a sweet man deserves o have silly, girly things written about him on the bathroom stall door(wonder who will write such things!), even if we have no chance with him. ;)

#2 comes love (billie holiday) i got a 'best of' billie holiday album sometime during my senior year of highschool. . . anyway. . . my second summer as a theatre technician at music theatre north i spent as a scenic artist apprentice. . . of course that year the company almost closed due to money trouble after the opening of the second show. about 80% of the company decided to stay on an work for no pay for two weeks and the community agreed to feed us for that time. every morning someone would show up in the green room with breakfast and stock the fridge. . . and the same would happen around lunch and dinner time, it was really fantastic. we ended up finishing out the season because of that two week period. a group of the apprentices held a meeting with the local newspapers to let the community know how much we appreciated having the summer theatre program, and how it was started as an educational program, and the people who had screwed up the finances didn't have the right to lose it for us- (i was a part of that group, yup, started early in the causing trouble business)- anyway, i ended up as the sole painter for the season after a few people left. . . with very little experience, but i did it!. . . and pretty well, i think! anyway, i remember spending some pretty late hours painting, and i made myself many mix tapes to help pass the time. one of the mix tapes was an all girls singers tape. one of the costumers-who i thought was a incredibly cool person (laura shrewsbury)-came in to check on me and was amazed by a billie holiday song i had playing in the background. . . she complimented my taste in music several times. another time i was listening to it that summer was while painting a backdrop. for big backdrops, i would take the cloth over to another, smaller theatre in order to fully open it. i had a 40' drop laid out, stapled (by myself) and i started painting a large map of italy, with different italian city names (from a song in kiss me kate) in large letters across it. some time in the afternoon my highschool art teacher was passing through the building and did a double take when he saw me, in the middle of a 40x20 foot cartoonish painting of italy with my walkman on splattered with paint. we chatted for a while, and ever since then he brings up that afternoon in conversation with me. . . how surreal the image on me was over a large map .

#3 count on me (trout fishing in america) i was introduced to their music back in my virginia days. during the highland festival in the late summer, the barter theatre scheduled in different events and entertainment along with their usual repertory. as the master electrician i would tweek the lights a little before each show, then tweek them back for the normal theatre performance. we had magician acts, egyptian dancers, storytellers, and 'trout fishing in america' i never heard of them, but was told by a friend, andria, that they were really good and a lot of fun. as normal, i was nervous about doing well for them, but they were entirely laid back and easy to please. the band is just two guys. . . one shorter guy with darkish hair who plays a bass and reminds me a bit of my father, and his close friend, a tall kinda lanky blond who plays a rather small guitar. i didn't realize their music is usually classified as children's so it took me a while to find any of their stuff. they do some songs which are really silly and fun . . . but some are really sweet. . . well you can count on your fingers and you can count on you toes, count the freckles on your freckly face, or the hairs in your daddy's nose, but you can count on me because i'll always be your friend. . . count to 10 if you're angry, count on me if you're sad.

#4 de doo doo doo, de dah dah dah (the police) ok, this song goes back again to music theatre north. . . only this time it was my first year, and i was an electrics apprentice, for some reason there were a number of people from arizona in the technical theatre staff, and in particular there was one incredible cute carpenter boy named quayyum. . . if i spelled it right. (pronounced ky-yoom) a sweet blond with really beautiful blue eyes. . . who was, of course, fating one of the more talented and beautiful actresses. i was pretty new to technical theatre and i was working with these really incredible people who were teaching me sooooo muc, kris, annemarie, jodi, kevin and so many more. many times, while carpentry and electrics were sharing the stage this police album was playing in the background. so i was my normal quiet self among people i didn't know well, and this incredibly cute carpenter walked by singing, 'de doo doo doo, de dah dah dah, is all erika will say to me.' i didn't even think he knew my name!. yeah.. . it made my day, and most of my summer.

#5 djobi, djoba (gypsy kings) back into my emerson days. .. . i don't remember it it was my first or second year. . . probably the second. . . when i was really immersed in the tech theatre program. we had a set of theatre spaces in one building on brimmer street, aptly nicknamed 'brimmer', (sadly, the school no longer owns it. . . they built brand new spaces for the students, and i feel that they are short changed without having to work with the crappy equipment we learned and flourished on. . . and without that fun fire escape that you could climb between theatre spaces to crawl into windows. . . but we went allowed to do that! muhahahahaha) brimmer was a few short blocks from charles street which was convenient, but not always cheap for food. there was also a coffee house which was rather populated with emerson students during almost any part of the day called bella vita. it was a great place to hang out after tech or a show. . . very large and good warm beverages, some good food, and great desserts. . . and with the high number of emerson students there, it was easy to run into someone to talk to, or have some food with, or as nana and i did- bitch about our classes or relate the latest traumas fromtechnical rehearsals. one afternoon, my friend nana and i were chatting and i guess this album had a lot of play in bella vita recently. this song came on and nana, joined with about 6 other emersonians each. . without disrupting the flow of their conversations clapped along, djobi, (clap clap) djoba (clap clap) . . . and everone continued to do this while the song played. . . it was rather surreal,yet everyone seemed natural breaking in an dout of conversation to clap along. it was still a rather long time before the bella vita employees retired this album from it's nearly continuous play.

#6 what you don't know about women (city of angels) i figured thus was a pretty good pick for all those boy troubles most straight girls, and gay or bi boys i know have. especially those touchy communication issues. i know i usually say that i'm not a fan of musicals, but there are some good ones out there, and this show has a bunch of good songs. . . really tough vocal arrangments too! and yes. . this was the final show of my first season at music theatre north. in fact it ran so late that i wasn't able to run it. . . i had to leave for college. what you don't know about women, could fill a shelf of books. . . . how long ago did good sense desert me?. . . . you've not in synch with your feelings. sound familiar?

#7 in your eyes i don't have anything major to go along with this one. . . other than it is just one of those great songs that was on a lot of my mix tapes for a long time. i do remember it was in that john cusack movie, 'say anything'. john cusack was trying to get the attention of some girl (and who wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that?) and he had this song playing on a boombax outside her house. . . like a 1980's serenade, in the rain. . . standing on top of his car? maybe?i don't remember completely. love. . i get so lost sometimes. . . in your eyes, the resolution, in your eyes, of all the fruitless searches.

#8 jumo, jive, and wail (brian setzer orchestra) sometime duing my college years swing had a large.. . but kinda short resurgence. a few of my friends took some swing dance classes. . . and one summer i got to work a brian setzer orchestra concert! my good friend, brian (and there were a lot of brians during my time at emerson) but this brian really had a thing for swing. he had a band for a while and i got to hear a handful of his amusing band stories. . .and well. . . he was way psyched about the concert, which was in-cred-i-ble. brian setzer leads the band with his guitar. for this concert he wore a lime green leopard print suit- hot! the whole orchestra wore brightly patterned jackets. . . and each section had their own choreography- the trumpets were by far, the most animated. the stage was a lot of fun too. . . tiki's all over the pace, brian setzer all over the place, and the lighting director for setzer was really on top of his game. he made our usually tame stage crazy with light sequences we didn't think were capable. he also called a tight spot light show. i was on spotlight- it was really fast paced and fun- from brian to a sax player ina head shot over to a trumpet player full body and back again quickly to brian. lots of fun. . . and a concert i would highly recommend attending. this song just makes you wanna get up and jump around.

#9 what a little moonlight can do (billie holiday) i had to put another of hers in. . . this song is so plucky musically. it really moves, but it is not overpowering. you'll get bold, you can't resist him, and all you'll saywhen you hace kissed is ooooooh. .. what a little moonlight can do -or for that fact, what a little whisky, vodka, scotch, or a little more beer can do! :)

#10 minnie the moocher (cab calloway) so, in virginia we had one touring show that came through called 'the blackbirds of broadway' it was a song and dance review from the black renaissance and this was one of the songs. . . all the performers were delightful to have around. they were new blood for us. and the show was a lot of fun. . . good voices for good songs and good dancers. there was a narrator that filled the gaps with poetry from langston hughes (which became our password into all our really fun techie parties) the performer that sung this song in our show had been in cats. . . i don't remember his name, but he was a total baby bear. he was a larger guy with an amazing voice. i think he had been put on a specail diet for his health. . . and the stage manager and other performers would keep an eye on him. . . but because he did most of the narrating, he would be offstage while others performed. he'd sneak into the greenroom to eat food he wasn't supposed to. i remember the stage manager would instrct the run crew and performers to make sure he wouldn't miss his entrances because he's be backstage eating. -he was also the first person that introduced me to kimchee. he had some leftovers that included kimchee. . . thought now i'm wondering where he got it from in that small town? huh. . . . anyway i remember he opened the container to reheat it, and this potent sour smell filled the greenroom in no time. he apologized for the smell but explained how good the kimchee was. i didn't try it then, but i have grown to love since.

#11 ny state of mind (sung by sgt. floyd pepper from the muppets) come on down to reality. . . . . i don't have any reason, left them all behind. .. . i'm in a ny state of mind. yet again, i had to put in some muppets. . . that's all. :)

#12 pinch me (bare naked ladies) so yeah. . . i got to work one of thie shows in boston. . . my last summer there. the lighting company that did our larger shows couldn't bring their usual lighting guy, so i ended up running lightboard for the concert (it happened a couple of times that summer, but the guys from that company trusted me enough, i guess. . . and hey! i got to do a bare naked ladies show!) they do have a really good concert. . .. i could leave but i'll just stary. . . all my stuffs here anyway. the concert was kind of insane. it was for the opening of their album stunt (which this song isn't from) and the cd would go on sale that night at midnght, but you could buy a voucher for the cd for $20 that would guarentee you a cd from a local shop at midnight. . and you got their autographs, which they signed for 3 hours after the concert. the event stadd only expected about 30,000 people and closer to 80,000 people showed up. . . there were people on the rooftops of nearby buildings, people across the street. . . and the plaza at gov't center was completely packed. on and evening such as this, it's hard to tell if i exist, pack a car and leave this town, and notice that i'm not around.

#13 roxanne ok, so there's a drinking game that can be played with this song. . .. everytime you hear them sing 'roxanne', you drink. . . pretty easy, or so you think. i've never tried to count how many times 'roxanne' is said, but i'm gonna try now. every time it is said i'll write down an 'x'. let's start. better have your drinks ready! x.x.i learned this from a few people at.x.santa fe.x.hold on.x.chorus.x.oh no!.x.x.x.damn. . . i can't write anything during the chorus. so yeah. . . never was good at drinking games sinci really don't.x.drink much.x.. . . and .x. i can't stand beer.x. damn.x. chorus.x.again .x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x. ok those last few are tough because they keep getting more and more quiet. so. . . how many drinks total? i count 26. . . . but that last one is questionable i think. anyway. . . have plenty around to drink!

#14 woke up one morning (sopranos theme music) i got my friend, swon, completely hooked on this show. she started off saying that she knows people talk about it a lot, but she didn't understand why. . . from that to staying up late watching all the episodes and the special features from the dvd's. this song was also used in a fashion show i did at kent. . . fun eh?