the last few days have been great to step aside from performing to catch up with my friends artistic work. i realize its been quite a while since i have been in the 'audience' and have more than observed that life doesn't stop even though you haven't been paying much attention.
highland park galleries
since the pbe has been rehearsing on sat nights and i have been unable to make any of the nela 2nd saturday's gallery openings since the summer. what used to be a few galleries has grown to a full fledged scene which make a great evening stumbling around the neighborhood.
the private gallery of clare graham (
mirrors) really caught my eye tonight. in what used to be a old grocery store and roller rink was one of the most interesting private galleries i have ever seen (ok, i haven't seen much but who needs museums when you have a space like that)
i also really enjoyed fellow arroyo arts collective member/den mother suzanne siegle's collection of women's slips that depict a my favorite emotions (yearning, regret, deception...)
theatre in la
fri night was spent watching my friend's nova jacobs and john sinclair's short plays performed by the
theatre of note company in hollywood. i freely admit that i haven't attended much theatre in la and my limited attempts to find good theatre have mostly been unsuccessful.
this production of 10 short one-acts was an unsuspected diversion. the show, a
lick and a promise, did have its requisite 'theatre' aftertaste, but did have a few diamonds and the acting was much better than i expected.
my main complaint of 99 seat theatre is the two dimensional conversations that pass as dialogue. both john and nova's productions were very natural and conversational. nova goes right for the carotid artery and doesn't let up. her audience and her character's don't get a pass and no lessons are learned. john's scene plays the other way, using what could pass as situational comedy a grandmother and her grandson make limited attempts to communicate, but without bending over for the easy jokes. mom and grandson are both lucky to get home with only hurt feelings.
don't get me wrong, i enjoyed the other shorts, i just like mine with a little less 'theatre' flavoring. the audience was rolling in the aisles all evening. i look forward to see how these pieces age over the 6 week run and plan to take my wife before it closes.
upcoming projects
as for the pbe i could still use a few bands for our nov and dec shows, but other than that playing once a month has its benefits. over the last few weeks i find myself much more productive and have been able to write a first draft of my next big work. i hesitate to call it a vocal piece because in the past few days its started to become a film. we are going into rehearsal of the instrumental parts next week. i'm looking forward to workshopping it on our november show at mr. t's (sun, nov 12th). by dec we should be able to add vocals and video and if all goes well the full premier should be at csuf in march.