I just took a bath with Epsom salts in it and I fear it is not going to be enough to prevent my body from going into muscular shock in the morning. It has been a while since I've been in a dance class. :-)
Lately I've been thinking about video blogging, ala iJustine, because it seems easier to turn on the camera and talk about my day rather than type it out... however, I look like hell right now so I'm glad to be writing this (I'm invisible!). It seems the first week of my adventures in Community College caused me to break out like I'm in high school again. It's wonderfully humbling.
Today I had to dress in leotard, tights, leg warmers - the whole 9 yards - for Modern Dance and Choreography classes. Truth be told, it is a kind of fashion that I have secretly wished to participate in since I was a child. Leg warmers and "shrugs", half shirts over leotards with the tights on the outside pulled up real high and some short-shorts over the black tights. Walking with feet turned out and pelvis WIDE OPEN through the campus.... it's pretty ridiculously fun. I woke up terrified to go to school, but ended up in the library after class making copies in my thigh-high leg warmers. FREEDOM FROM FEAR!
My mother, as always, is incredibly supportive of my sudden and profound return to focusing on performance. God bless that woman. She's been doing a lot of Kayaking in Florida, drifting around and seeing manatee's up close and personal. I love it. There are rumors that one of her books (Tangerine) may get made into a movie. Things are in progress, moving and shaking... we shall see. It would be amazing if it all happened. Especially if it happened SOON! :-)
Tomorrow -- Voice, Movement, Mime, and Musical Theater. I am hereby immersing myself in every art form that I mocked and ridiculed as an arrogant artsy undergrad. Glory be.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Keep Art Alive!
The 1 Second Film & the Collaboration Foundation could win $10,000 to help develop their nonprofit collaborative arts organization... and all you have to do to help them win it is VOTE FOR THEM on IdeaBlob! It only takes a minute (literally) to sign in and vote. Please, give this link a click and help "KEEP ART ALIVE" as our friend Mike Alva says! :-)
The 1 Second Film & the Collaboration Foundation could win $10,000 to help develop their nonprofit collaborative arts organization... and all you have to do to help them win it is VOTE FOR THEM on IdeaBlob! It only takes a minute (literally) to sign in and vote. Please, give this link a click and help "KEEP ART ALIVE" as our friend Mike Alva says! :-)
Monday, February 18, 2008
Hello?
Who would have guessed that "Hello" would be the run-away mini-hit from the new Everlovin album? Patrick, that's who! It was always one of his favorite songs on the album, and it looks like that's the track that is proving to have maximum cross-over appeal.
Thanks be to Addi's balloonhat video for putting it all into perspective and into the public consciousness!
Due to popular demand, I have just added "Hello" to our songs on Myspace. Woo-hoo! Now folks can hear it whenever they like and add it to their profiles and stuff.
The message of the music... DON'T FORGET TO LOVE YOURSELF, PEOPLE!
You can grab the tune here: http://www.myspace.com/evangenitals
In other news, I just entered us into some College Music Contest in which we could win some money and some great opportunities, so please VOTE FOR US!
http://contest.cmj.com/bands/142
xo
juli
Who would have guessed that "Hello" would be the run-away mini-hit from the new Everlovin album? Patrick, that's who! It was always one of his favorite songs on the album, and it looks like that's the track that is proving to have maximum cross-over appeal.
Thanks be to Addi's balloonhat video for putting it all into perspective and into the public consciousness!
Due to popular demand, I have just added "Hello" to our songs on Myspace. Woo-hoo! Now folks can hear it whenever they like and add it to their profiles and stuff.
The message of the music... DON'T FORGET TO LOVE YOURSELF, PEOPLE!
You can grab the tune here: http://www.myspace.com/evangenitals
In other news, I just entered us into some College Music Contest in which we could win some money and some great opportunities, so please VOTE FOR US!
http://contest.cmj.com/bands/142
xo
juli
Sunday, February 17, 2008
I'm loving what's been going on with this Balloon Hat video. What a dope-ass mini-sensation. Now I'm going to watch "Battlefield Earth" and think about making a video for Ode to Scientology. Woot woot!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, February 16, 2008
What a difference a day makes...
Yesterday I became obsessed with getting radio play for the new Evangenitals album Everlovin. I was totally inspired by the recent success of the breakups on the CMJ charts (yay!) and figured that it's time for me to get crackin' on an idea that I had a long time ago.
When I quit my full-time "regular" job (if working at a sex toy company can be called regular) the plan was to throw myself into the Evangenitals full-time. I was working as a Marketing Director for a big 'ol company and thought that if I directed all that marketing savvy at the band, then maybe, just maybe, I could support myself on Evangenital Joy alone. A lot of good stuff has happened between now and then, but the band hasn't gotten the full force of my attentions that I would like it to. So, now is the time.
In the past 24 hours I have written to a BUNCH of radio stations that play something like "our kind of music" and over 1/3 of them have gotten back to me with a positive reply so far. 1/3!!! That's some good odds!
There was only one "negative" reply, which was:
"I suggest you rename your group if you want airplay on our radio station."
These are some of my very favorite emails to respond to. My reply:
"Thanks for the straight-forward reply! Though I would love to have our music on your station, we already have far too much invested in this name and have broken down too many semantic walls of judgement to abandon it now. :-)
As an ordained minister and student of philosophy, the word "Evangenital" (which I happen to own the trademark for) is not in any way meant to be offensive (playful, yes!), rather it is an incredibly valid linguistic combination that accurately describes the passionate joy that informs our music:
Evangelical: characterized by ardent or crusading enthusiasm; zealous.
Genitals: the organs of creation
Though our band name may not be a match for your station, I hope you give the music a chance. That's where the message is at.
Cheers,
Juli"
Kill 'em with kindness. That's what my momma taught me. :-)
So... let me tell you about today!
Addi (of Balloonhat.com and Unpopable) emailed me this morning to say that he used our song "Hello" in a video that he made of him doing balloon hats at a nursing home. It is a beautiful video and such a great use of the song I was reduced to gooey pudding inside when I watched it.
Then I went for a SUPER FANTASTIC bike ride with Patrick all over South Pasadena and Highland Park.
When I got back, I called Nirvan (of The 1 Second Film and the Collaboration Foundation) and it turns out he had seen the blog I posted on The 1 Second Film site and submitted Addi's video to BoingBoing, who then featured it on the front page!
The video has now gotten over 4000 views so far and "Hello" is showing up as one of the Evangenitals "top songs" on iTunes!
Then Patrick and I went to the LA Opera to see the final dress rehearsal of "The Broken Jug" and "The Dwarf"... which was friggin' awesome! The sets were AMAZING. I loved it... especially "The Dwarf".... and I don't even love Opera that much. And I saw Timothy Sellers from Artichoke there, a few rows in front of me... he didn't see me though. I was in the back a slipped out during the applause! Woo-hoo. Home in 13 minutes flat! I love it.
Upon returning home, I had gotten a couple MORE positive responses from radio stations, one of which even asked for the Evangenitals to do a "station ID" to put in their permanent rotation. Glory be!
Yes, I'm definitely feeling good about making the Evangenitals my full-time job for while. Radio waves, here we come!
Yesterday I became obsessed with getting radio play for the new Evangenitals album Everlovin. I was totally inspired by the recent success of the breakups on the CMJ charts (yay!) and figured that it's time for me to get crackin' on an idea that I had a long time ago.
When I quit my full-time "regular" job (if working at a sex toy company can be called regular) the plan was to throw myself into the Evangenitals full-time. I was working as a Marketing Director for a big 'ol company and thought that if I directed all that marketing savvy at the band, then maybe, just maybe, I could support myself on Evangenital Joy alone. A lot of good stuff has happened between now and then, but the band hasn't gotten the full force of my attentions that I would like it to. So, now is the time.
In the past 24 hours I have written to a BUNCH of radio stations that play something like "our kind of music" and over 1/3 of them have gotten back to me with a positive reply so far. 1/3!!! That's some good odds!
There was only one "negative" reply, which was:
"I suggest you rename your group if you want airplay on our radio station."
These are some of my very favorite emails to respond to. My reply:
"Thanks for the straight-forward reply! Though I would love to have our music on your station, we already have far too much invested in this name and have broken down too many semantic walls of judgement to abandon it now. :-)
As an ordained minister and student of philosophy, the word "Evangenital" (which I happen to own the trademark for) is not in any way meant to be offensive (playful, yes!), rather it is an incredibly valid linguistic combination that accurately describes the passionate joy that informs our music:
Evangelical: characterized by ardent or crusading enthusiasm; zealous.
Genitals: the organs of creation
Though our band name may not be a match for your station, I hope you give the music a chance. That's where the message is at.
Cheers,
Juli"
Kill 'em with kindness. That's what my momma taught me. :-)
So... let me tell you about today!
Addi (of Balloonhat.com and Unpopable) emailed me this morning to say that he used our song "Hello" in a video that he made of him doing balloon hats at a nursing home. It is a beautiful video and such a great use of the song I was reduced to gooey pudding inside when I watched it.
Then I went for a SUPER FANTASTIC bike ride with Patrick all over South Pasadena and Highland Park.
When I got back, I called Nirvan (of The 1 Second Film and the Collaboration Foundation) and it turns out he had seen the blog I posted on The 1 Second Film site and submitted Addi's video to BoingBoing, who then featured it on the front page!
The video has now gotten over 4000 views so far and "Hello" is showing up as one of the Evangenitals "top songs" on iTunes!
Then Patrick and I went to the LA Opera to see the final dress rehearsal of "The Broken Jug" and "The Dwarf"... which was friggin' awesome! The sets were AMAZING. I loved it... especially "The Dwarf".... and I don't even love Opera that much. And I saw Timothy Sellers from Artichoke there, a few rows in front of me... he didn't see me though. I was in the back a slipped out during the applause! Woo-hoo. Home in 13 minutes flat! I love it.
Upon returning home, I had gotten a couple MORE positive responses from radio stations, one of which even asked for the Evangenitals to do a "station ID" to put in their permanent rotation. Glory be!
Yes, I'm definitely feeling good about making the Evangenitals my full-time job for while. Radio waves, here we come!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Inspirado.
If you haven't notice, The Evangenitals are on a bit of a hiatus. Brett is working a film editing gig, the Valentine's Season has meant that Lisa got consumed by her Flower Industry job, George has been makin' bucks playing with Cash'd Out, and I've been trying to get my life in order and figure out what I really want to be doing with it at this point in time. I think everyone needed a big 'ol break after the Road to Oprah tour. Although, I am already excited about the next tour we take. I really liked touring, which is a good thing, considering that we're the type of band, I'm told, that is really going to make our mark (and money) on the road. I'm glad I'm cut out for it!
On Monday I'm meeting with a man from USC to talk about possibly doing something with my next theater piece there, which is super-exciting. On Tuesday I'm starting some mime/musical theater/improv/choreography/modern dance classes at my local city college, part of the 'ol "honing my instrument" routine. My new improv dream-team "Hammerspace" started getting together to practice for our upcoming show on March 8th. I'm working on a bunch of new songs for the Evangenitals. My student loan checks came in. It's Valentine's Day and I'm in LOVE. I'd have to say things are going alright!
Yes, you heard me right.... I'm taking MIME!!
The Collaboration Foundation (aka The 1 Second Film's parent organization) is currently on the front page of IdeaBlob. If we get enough votes, we could win $10,000 toward our "Idea"... which would be amazing. So please vote for the Collaboration Foundation if you have a moment to register and vote.
Today I got totally inspired and started seriously pursuing some more Evangenitals radio play for our new album. I sent out a gang of emails and got some good responses, so that's promising. Tomorrow I'll be getting a bunch of CD's "radio ready" and sending them off on their fantastic voyage onto the airwaves! I figure that's something I can really get into while the band is taking a break. That and launching semi-complicated sales. Ahh... to be obsessed.
On Myspace, the Evangenitals are approaching the 30,000 view mark, which seems like it should be some kind of a big deal.
Evangina is in the planning stages of a covers album, and the long-awaited Evangina album PEAS should be available on iTunes any minute!
So things are good, right?
How are you?
If you haven't notice, The Evangenitals are on a bit of a hiatus. Brett is working a film editing gig, the Valentine's Season has meant that Lisa got consumed by her Flower Industry job, George has been makin' bucks playing with Cash'd Out, and I've been trying to get my life in order and figure out what I really want to be doing with it at this point in time. I think everyone needed a big 'ol break after the Road to Oprah tour. Although, I am already excited about the next tour we take. I really liked touring, which is a good thing, considering that we're the type of band, I'm told, that is really going to make our mark (and money) on the road. I'm glad I'm cut out for it!
On Monday I'm meeting with a man from USC to talk about possibly doing something with my next theater piece there, which is super-exciting. On Tuesday I'm starting some mime/musical theater/improv/choreography/modern dance classes at my local city college, part of the 'ol "honing my instrument" routine. My new improv dream-team "Hammerspace" started getting together to practice for our upcoming show on March 8th. I'm working on a bunch of new songs for the Evangenitals. My student loan checks came in. It's Valentine's Day and I'm in LOVE. I'd have to say things are going alright!
Yes, you heard me right.... I'm taking MIME!!
The Collaboration Foundation (aka The 1 Second Film's parent organization) is currently on the front page of IdeaBlob. If we get enough votes, we could win $10,000 toward our "Idea"... which would be amazing. So please vote for the Collaboration Foundation if you have a moment to register and vote.
Today I got totally inspired and started seriously pursuing some more Evangenitals radio play for our new album. I sent out a gang of emails and got some good responses, so that's promising. Tomorrow I'll be getting a bunch of CD's "radio ready" and sending them off on their fantastic voyage onto the airwaves! I figure that's something I can really get into while the band is taking a break. That and launching semi-complicated sales. Ahh... to be obsessed.
On Myspace, the Evangenitals are approaching the 30,000 view mark, which seems like it should be some kind of a big deal.
Evangina is in the planning stages of a covers album, and the long-awaited Evangina album PEAS should be available on iTunes any minute!
So things are good, right?
How are you?
Monday, February 11, 2008
Today I did something I hardly ever do... I wore underwear. Why, you ask? Well...
I was having a theater-filled day with my main squeeze Patrick to celebrate the closing of the play (that he was starring in, that's right!) and one of the stops on our tour of Los Angeles theatrical offerings - right after seeing Del Arte's production "The Golden State" at the 24th Street Theater was the smash-hit sensation "Point Break Live" going down on weekends at Charlie O's Bar at the Alexandria Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles on Spring Street. Aww yeah...
Now, if you don't know already... Point Break Live is a live theatrical version of the awesome classic movie "Point Break" in which the Keanu Reeves character is picked from the audience. I had been invited to the show by friends involved with the production (Bill and his wife Anne - who's sister is the producer of the show) so I was real excited to go. My friend Shaughn Buchholz had recently gone and gotten picked to play the lead role of Johnny Utah, so I had a general idea of what we were in for.
So, the underwear. The underwear was for the rare chance that I got up the nerve to "audition" for the role of Johnny Utah AND was the audience favorite AND got picked by the director to play the part. If all of that HAPPENED to happen, then I would need to be able to do costume changes backstage... thus, the underwear.
As for why I never wear underwear... that is for another blog post.
As luck would have it... I *DID* muster to courage to audition for the role, and much to my surprise, I got it. That's right folks. For a few hours tonight, my name was Johnny Utah. I had to wear a wet suit, was soaked, smacked, fondled, tackled, squirted, and otherwise abused much to the delight of the crowd. I did exactly as I was told and delivered a most monotone and deadpan performance, only speaking what was on the cue cards, and only moving when told to move. I got to hang from the ceiling in a harness, chase a man through the streets with a gun, yell a lot, and learned to surf in the mix. It was exhausting and awesome.
I highly recommend the show. Tobias Jelinek, who plays Bodhi (the Patrick Swayze character) and Jennifer Jean who plays Tyler/the Lori Petty character (and studied improv at Second City AND we've had the same teacher - Scot Robinson of The Lampshades) were friggin' inspired. And Christi Waldon who was my personal PA and helped me survive the whole show was absolutely adorable. I will be eternally grateful and in awe of her energy.
Great cast, great concept, a great friggin' time at the theater. Thumbs up, yo! What's more... I got the whole thing on tape! Woo-hoo!
All in all, today was a very good day. I'm exhausted, I'm inspired, I've got fake blood in my hair. It's a wonderful life indeed.
I was having a theater-filled day with my main squeeze Patrick to celebrate the closing of the play (that he was starring in, that's right!) and one of the stops on our tour of Los Angeles theatrical offerings - right after seeing Del Arte's production "The Golden State" at the 24th Street Theater was the smash-hit sensation "Point Break Live" going down on weekends at Charlie O's Bar at the Alexandria Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles on Spring Street. Aww yeah...
Now, if you don't know already... Point Break Live is a live theatrical version of the awesome classic movie "Point Break" in which the Keanu Reeves character is picked from the audience. I had been invited to the show by friends involved with the production (Bill and his wife Anne - who's sister is the producer of the show) so I was real excited to go. My friend Shaughn Buchholz had recently gone and gotten picked to play the lead role of Johnny Utah, so I had a general idea of what we were in for.
So, the underwear. The underwear was for the rare chance that I got up the nerve to "audition" for the role of Johnny Utah AND was the audience favorite AND got picked by the director to play the part. If all of that HAPPENED to happen, then I would need to be able to do costume changes backstage... thus, the underwear.
As for why I never wear underwear... that is for another blog post.
As luck would have it... I *DID* muster to courage to audition for the role, and much to my surprise, I got it. That's right folks. For a few hours tonight, my name was Johnny Utah. I had to wear a wet suit, was soaked, smacked, fondled, tackled, squirted, and otherwise abused much to the delight of the crowd. I did exactly as I was told and delivered a most monotone and deadpan performance, only speaking what was on the cue cards, and only moving when told to move. I got to hang from the ceiling in a harness, chase a man through the streets with a gun, yell a lot, and learned to surf in the mix. It was exhausting and awesome.
I highly recommend the show. Tobias Jelinek, who plays Bodhi (the Patrick Swayze character) and Jennifer Jean who plays Tyler/the Lori Petty character (and studied improv at Second City AND we've had the same teacher - Scot Robinson of The Lampshades) were friggin' inspired. And Christi Waldon who was my personal PA and helped me survive the whole show was absolutely adorable. I will be eternally grateful and in awe of her energy.
Great cast, great concept, a great friggin' time at the theater. Thumbs up, yo! What's more... I got the whole thing on tape! Woo-hoo!
All in all, today was a very good day. I'm exhausted, I'm inspired, I've got fake blood in my hair. It's a wonderful life indeed.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Today I woke up (earlier than has been usual - I've been staying up REALLY late), wrote in my journal (my REAL journal, not online stuff), and did PILATES! Yes yes YES!
Any day that starts with Pilates is a success, dammit! I used to be much more regular with the Pilates when Lisa and I were neighbors and we could start every day the Pilates way... *sigh* now I have to self-motivate. I think my impending Modern Dance class is quite the motivation! Yee-haw.
THEN... I canceled my cable (hooray!) which made sense, seeing as Patrick and I stopped watching television 2 months ago, and went by The 1 Second Film office to drop off some tapes from the Road to Oprah tour and our bomb-ass fund-raiser at Mr T's Bowl with 8-Bit and saw some awesome new videos that they are working on, went to Target and bought an actual HOME PHONE (which is going to be ye 'ol "business line" for the Evangenitals central office) which will hopefully reduce my exposure to tumor-causing cell-phone radio micro-waves.
THEN... my friend and frequent actor in the theater I create Shaughn Buchholz came and picked me up and we went off to PCC to see Patrick's play. Post-play, one of the gals in the cast, who happened to be a huge fan of the show "Scrubs" (that Shaughn had the recurring role of 'Jason "Cabbage" Cabbaggio' on for a bit) and happened to be a HUGE fan of Shaughn's character, came out to have her picture taken with him, which was awesome. I love those moments of excitement and joy, on both sides. As Shaughn pointed out, actors spend most of their time auditioning for parts that they DON'T get, so to have someone get real excited about the work that you DID do is pretty nice.
Now we're going to get down with some "Glengarry Glen Ross". Awww, yeah.
FYI: Patrick's play closes tomorrow night, so if anyone lives in the LA-area and wants to check it out, there's a matinee at 2pm and I'll be at the 8pm show.
Peas,
Juli
Any day that starts with Pilates is a success, dammit! I used to be much more regular with the Pilates when Lisa and I were neighbors and we could start every day the Pilates way... *sigh* now I have to self-motivate. I think my impending Modern Dance class is quite the motivation! Yee-haw.
THEN... I canceled my cable (hooray!) which made sense, seeing as Patrick and I stopped watching television 2 months ago, and went by The 1 Second Film office to drop off some tapes from the Road to Oprah tour and our bomb-ass fund-raiser at Mr T's Bowl with 8-Bit and saw some awesome new videos that they are working on, went to Target and bought an actual HOME PHONE (which is going to be ye 'ol "business line" for the Evangenitals central office) which will hopefully reduce my exposure to tumor-causing cell-phone radio micro-waves.
THEN... my friend and frequent actor in the theater I create Shaughn Buchholz came and picked me up and we went off to PCC to see Patrick's play. Post-play, one of the gals in the cast, who happened to be a huge fan of the show "Scrubs" (that Shaughn had the recurring role of 'Jason "Cabbage" Cabbaggio' on for a bit) and happened to be a HUGE fan of Shaughn's character, came out to have her picture taken with him, which was awesome. I love those moments of excitement and joy, on both sides. As Shaughn pointed out, actors spend most of their time auditioning for parts that they DON'T get, so to have someone get real excited about the work that you DID do is pretty nice.
Now we're going to get down with some "Glengarry Glen Ross". Awww, yeah.
FYI: Patrick's play closes tomorrow night, so if anyone lives in the LA-area and wants to check it out, there's a matinee at 2pm and I'll be at the 8pm show.
Peas,
Juli
Friday, February 08, 2008
I went to see Patrick in a play tonight. He's the lead in Tina Howe's "Museum" at PCC. He was great and it's always awesome to see him up on stage living the dream. Glory be!
I've decided to go "back to school" in a sense... even though I *am* in school (working on my PhD dissertation for EGS).... I am also going to take some classes at the 'ol Pasadena City College. It seems I'm on a journey right now, getting back in touch with my love of being an actor/performer. It started with the classed at the iO WEST that I took in preparation for the Road to Oprah tour, where I was going to be filmed a lot and wanted to get as comfortable with myself as possible as soon as possible, and I totally fell in love with improv, the training, the theater, and all these old ideas and dreams about being an actor came back.
When I was in high school, I was OBSESSED with acting. My big dream, since my first play in Kindergarten where I played the Queen of Hearts and got to sit on a throne and wear a cool dress, was to move to New York City and be a STAGE ACTRESS. I got into NYU (Tisch School/Playwrights Horizons Studio), moved to New York, and started directing. I did a couple student films (directed by my then-boyfriend) and cameo roles in plays for friends, and eventually abandoned being the performer completely.
This wasn't a bad thing. I got really into directing and became really good at it.... good enough to get an MFA at CalArts in directing, do some pieces at the REDCAT & 24th Street Theater and gain the respect and admiration of some awesome collaborators. Pretty good! Directing totally changed my view of the theater. I got real experimental and enjoyed coaxing amazing performances out of other people. It seems I was going through a phase where I simply couldn't handle the attention/disappointments/pressure/etc of being an actor. It terrified me. Directing was akin to being the great OZ... I could hide behind the curtains, pull levers, flash lights, and blow people's minds. I love it.
The performance desire was still there, though - suppressed, repressed - and eventually it started kicking its feet and demanding expression. I think that's where the boxing thing came from, and why I was able to so passionately throw myself into it. And the band... the band was a huge step toward my getting back in front of an audience, facing them, performing *to* them... not just beating the tar out of someone in front of them. Improv was another step. Now PCC is one more step. Step by step... someday... I'm going to be on BROADWAY, dammit! Or something like that.... we'll see where the passions lead me next.
I've decided to go "back to school" in a sense... even though I *am* in school (working on my PhD dissertation for EGS).... I am also going to take some classes at the 'ol Pasadena City College. It seems I'm on a journey right now, getting back in touch with my love of being an actor/performer. It started with the classed at the iO WEST that I took in preparation for the Road to Oprah tour, where I was going to be filmed a lot and wanted to get as comfortable with myself as possible as soon as possible, and I totally fell in love with improv, the training, the theater, and all these old ideas and dreams about being an actor came back.
When I was in high school, I was OBSESSED with acting. My big dream, since my first play in Kindergarten where I played the Queen of Hearts and got to sit on a throne and wear a cool dress, was to move to New York City and be a STAGE ACTRESS. I got into NYU (Tisch School/Playwrights Horizons Studio), moved to New York, and started directing. I did a couple student films (directed by my then-boyfriend) and cameo roles in plays for friends, and eventually abandoned being the performer completely.
This wasn't a bad thing. I got really into directing and became really good at it.... good enough to get an MFA at CalArts in directing, do some pieces at the REDCAT & 24th Street Theater and gain the respect and admiration of some awesome collaborators. Pretty good! Directing totally changed my view of the theater. I got real experimental and enjoyed coaxing amazing performances out of other people. It seems I was going through a phase where I simply couldn't handle the attention/disappointments/pressure/etc of being an actor. It terrified me. Directing was akin to being the great OZ... I could hide behind the curtains, pull levers, flash lights, and blow people's minds. I love it.
The performance desire was still there, though - suppressed, repressed - and eventually it started kicking its feet and demanding expression. I think that's where the boxing thing came from, and why I was able to so passionately throw myself into it. And the band... the band was a huge step toward my getting back in front of an audience, facing them, performing *to* them... not just beating the tar out of someone in front of them. Improv was another step. Now PCC is one more step. Step by step... someday... I'm going to be on BROADWAY, dammit! Or something like that.... we'll see where the passions lead me next.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Last night at about 3am I suddenly was inspired to go on a wild "tagging" mission on Flickr. Part of the inspiration came from my discovery of the new features on Blogger which allow you to add slide-shows and videos to your page, based off of keywords. So I jumped on Flickr and went keyword crazy... making sure that I had "The Evangenitals" and "Juli Crockett" on every awesome photo from the Road to Oprah tour that I could find.
The thing I realized is... there are a TON of awesome photos from the Road to Oprah tour because, it turns out, we to a ton of awesome places and had more perfect moments and photo ops than you can shake a stick at. That's not to say there weren't hard times and disappointments and all that other goo that life flings at you... but holy moly, there are so many pictures of people looking downright glow-wormy with big smiles and amazing vistas behind them.
I still can't get over the fact that we actually DID it. We bought a bus, we fixed it up, and we drove it across the country in pursuit of a dream. And we're still pursuing the dream... dreams are funny that way. They are quiet pursue-able. One foot in front of the other, we keep trudging toward it.
Amen.
The thing I realized is... there are a TON of awesome photos from the Road to Oprah tour because, it turns out, we to a ton of awesome places and had more perfect moments and photo ops than you can shake a stick at. That's not to say there weren't hard times and disappointments and all that other goo that life flings at you... but holy moly, there are so many pictures of people looking downright glow-wormy with big smiles and amazing vistas behind them.
I still can't get over the fact that we actually DID it. We bought a bus, we fixed it up, and we drove it across the country in pursuit of a dream. And we're still pursuing the dream... dreams are funny that way. They are quiet pursue-able. One foot in front of the other, we keep trudging toward it.
Amen.
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