MUSINGS - Dispatches from a 39 year old Clown in Vegas, 15

Job Insecutiry

A few days after I bit the bullet and got myself my first new car (a lovely Prius!) the clowns were called to a meeting and informed that one of our two big numbers (striptease) was going to be cut. We knew that the powers that be didn’t like the act so in some ways it wasn’t a surprise; but it hit hard.

We were told that our roles in the show needed to change. There is a new direction the show is taking and we need to find our place in it. They can’t keep us on if we are not on stage. If we are successful we should find ourselves gainfully employed indefinitely, if we are not we most likely will not be offered contracts come re-negotiation time.

The first few days after this news were pretty depressing, but after digesting the significance of the situation and brainstorming with the other clowns and the artistic staff the weight lifted. Whether I stay in Vegas for another contract or move on at the end of this one...I’ll be fine.

10:35 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

NEWS - Village Barbershop hits festival circuit, wins award!

The movie I made with John Ratzenberger (Cliff from Cheers) has started the film festival circuit. It won the audience award at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose

Check the website out for screenings: www.thevillagebarbershop.com

"...cannily low-key charmer ...this is precisely the sort of movie people who no longer go to movies often complain ’they just don’t make anymore.’...solid work by all principal cast."
Variety

"The Village Barbershop lathers up a poignant piece of first-time filmmaking that focuses firmly on the integrity in people."
Moving Pictures Magazine

"The Village Barbershop is the little boutique movie at its finest."
Metroactive

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News - Dick ’n Dubya Show Honored

The Dick 'n Dubya show, which I co-created with Ed Holmes (Directed by Bill Allard) and which ran for five months at the Marsh theater in SF, was chosen as one of the best 10+ plays of 2006 by the San Francisco Bay Times.

Read Article

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MUSINGS - Dispatches from a 39 year old Clown in Vegas, 13

Underwater Bliss

In order to keep the back-up clown, Terry, on top of his game, the powers that be decided to have him come in once a week; which means the clowns get rotated out of the show once a month. We still have to come to work and watch the show; which is great, but instead I asked if I could watch the show from in the water. I had to go ask the aquatics leader if it was OK and fortunately they were happy to oblige.

It was absolutely stunning; the divers going to and fro setting up the stage pieces, the hydraulic stage moving up and down and the performers seamlessly getting to all of their cues. The coolest thing was the sound the performers make when they crash into the water. It's much louder than you'd think, a sonic boom! It was especially nice to see the synchronized swimmers work, becuase I got to see how much work they do underwater.

11:46 AM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

MUSINGS - Midweek @ The International Improv Fest in Belgium

Trapists, Chocolates and Listening

The festival is in Leuven, a small city that is home to a sizeable University. There are enldess bars, restaurants, small windy streets and gothic buildings. The festival is host to the home group - Inspinazie (a combo of inspiration and spinach), a Finnish group Stella Polaris, a Slovenian group - Narobov, and us - True Ficction Magazine. As one might guess everyone is very cool and fun. Last night we had a freee for all with 15 people on stage and amazingly it went very well. Everyone was listening and supporting. It was definitly a high feeling.

When not improvising I spend my time sampling the chocolates (Cote D'Or is one of the better they tell me) and beers, specifically the Trappist Beers mad eby Monks: Chimay, Orval, Dunquel, Westmalle, etc. They are very varied and lovely tasting.

more to come....

7:49 AM - 3 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

MUSINGS - Dispatches from a 39 year old Clown in Vegas, 11

Clown Purgatory

So I have been offered a full-time contract - so far verbally, I haven't seen it yet - but since I had a pre-Le Rêve commitment to go to Belgium for an improv festival, they decided to not have my contract start until I get back and start working for them again in April. The weird thing is that I am here, in Vegas. The show is dark for a month for a theater make-over so they have set up classes for all the performers. Everyone is getting paid to attend these classes except for me. I decided to be here because I didn't see a way to get work for two weeks in SF and I could attend the classes for free. I took some synchronized swimming lessons and a week of viewpoints taught by Tracy Young (The Actor's Gang.) Tracy's classes were great. The work focused on learning how to physicaslly focus and be present using kinestetic response. The relationship of this work to clowning and improvisation is clear. So much of all the work I've been doing and teaching boils down to keeping it simple, starting from a neutral place and being open to what is happening in that moment and supporting that.

As it turns out the small theater company made of Le Rêve folks, The New American Theater Project, is producing a variety show created and hosted by another clown I know, Voki Kalfayan. It's called The Gazillionaire Show and I wll help out by playing a hippy troubabdor. We're spending this week building the set and doing some guerilla marketing at Vegas hot spots and will do the show this weekend.

Speaking of Vegas hot spots, one of the weeky magazines came out with their "Best Of" issue. This should give you an idea of the culture here: Best Cheap Eats - Del Taco, Best Electronics Store - Best Buy, Best Coffee Shop - Starbucks, etc. I'm in HELLLLLL! There are actually no coffee shops in Vegas that I can find besides Starbucks or Starbucks-like places, not one!

8:10 PM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

MUSINGS - Dispatches from a 39 year old Clown in Vegas, 10

I left my heart in San Francisco

Sunday night after the show I left a message for the Artisitic Director because I hadn't heard from them as to what their plans were for me. 1st they told me I'd know on the 20th, then they said I'd know by the 24th; I needed to start making plans for my future. Right away the stage manager called me back and told me to come in early the next day for a meeting. I met Ken, the artistic coordinator and he led me to a conference room where I also met with and Melanie (from admin) and Brian, the Artistic Director. I was in my gym clothes and bare feet since I was about to do pilates. Then they formally offered me a full time contract.

Pause.

This is what I wanted right? Security. A big name circus. Financial freedom. This is what I want right?

"Yes, you've made me very happy; thank you."

I shook hands with all of them and we spoke a little about contracts and stuff and then I went to pilates.

I was definitely satisfied, but not elated. The first bittersweet aspect of this development was that Terry, the back-up clown, didn't get the offer. he helped to train me and has been nothing but generous and fun since the get-go and I knew he'd be bummed. After pilates I saw him in the dressing room and offered a hug; and that was it. Not much more to do or say.

On my way to a bar after the show the second bittersweet element revealed itself in the form of misty eyes and a deep sense of melancholy: I am going to be living in Las Vegas, not San Francisco. How can this be? I moved to the Bay Area in October, 1990. This is where I live: The Mime Troupe, BATS, Tonal Chaos, The Bastard Brothers, The Mint, The Mission, The Rite Spot, BASH, The San Jose Sharks, Josh and Maryanne, Charlie, David and Brady, Eric, Victor, Ira, Kelsey and Mike, Charity and the JAMband, Silas, Jasper, Asher, Ronin, Julian, my studio in Glen Park. THIS IS INTENSE!

I

AM

LEAVING

SAN FRANCISCO (he's leaving home bye, bye...)

Two days later I'm still sad. I know I have to do this and want to do this. I've never hunkered down in the same job and just worked for a while. While I don't like the dryness, the strip malls, the gated communities, the neon nor the LA overflow, I do love the the people in the show, and the show is a good show; and so, on with the show!

5:52 PM - 3 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

MUSINGS - Dispatches from a 39 year old Clown in Vegas, 9

"The grass ain't greener, the wine ain't sweeter, either side of the hill"

I suppose the main reason I haven't posted anything in a while is that not much has happened since the last posting; except for that I've performed the show 24 times. The show ends at about midnight and whether I go out for drinks with other performers or go home and watch TV or a movie or read, I don't get to sleep until 3 or 4 am every night. I usually wake up at 10 or 11, read and fall asleep again until about 1pm and then make some coffee or tea, eat, shower, do some e-mails, and then, before you know it, it's 4:30 and time to head back to work. I arrive at 5:30 or so and work out with the trainers or the pilates instuctors and then I get dressed and put my make up on and am ready to start at 7:15.

Living the life of the type of artist that I am is a constant paradox. I am reminded of the Grateful Dead lyric - "The grass ain't greener, the wine ain't sweeter, either side of the hill." In San Franciso I did almost exactly as I pleased artisically. I started a band that played comedy bluegrass in the streets of Europe, I helped to start a wonderfull experiment in singing improvisation, I became a company member of a Tony Award-winning political theater, I created my own show that got rave reviews, I joined the company of, in my opinion, the best improvisors on the planet, I even co-starred in a film with a great TV actor; AND the gross income from all of these endeavors, totalling 16 years of work, doesn't even equal what I will make in Vegas if I stay for a year! I've known this about my path for a long time. it is no surprise. In fact, I've relished my status as "the struggling artist staying true to his dreams and aesthetics;" but I've always been bitter and angry that my friends and I don't get paid what we're due. Yes, I said due. I've worked as hard as any lawyer as any doctor to get where I am today and I want a house and a retirtement plan!

So now I am in the midst of a sea of performers from all over the world; all exceptionally talented, right here in Veags - in the umpteen shows here: Le Reve, O, Mystere, Ka, Blue Man, Love, etc., and when I talk to these artists they're all biding time, saving their money and looking for ways to be Artists again. I'm not complaining or painting a woeful portrait of the poor artist who gets paid a shit-load to be a moving set piece, I am simply relating the feeling of living "the other side of the hill." -- The wine actually is sweeter, because I can afford it now; any time I want -- The feeling of ongoing financial secrurity is almost an emotional vacation; I am on a beach with a cool breeze blowing and a cold Corona in my hand (with lime of course - just like in the commercials) with no bills looming, credit card accounts growing. I am just living and doing my job and the money comes and comes. But will I, like many of the performers I have met here (and only if I get offered a long contract), tire of the routine? Or, Will I be able to maintain a healthy artistic life outside fo the show - if I can wake up early enough and stay awake? This all remains to be seen. Tune in next time, same clown time, same clown channel.....

For now I have been extended until March 5th and they will tell me on February 24th what my destiny is. I have played the lead clown role and performed a very ridiculous striptease for thousands. My shoulder and back are feeling much better thanks to the training program and pilates. I love pilates; I am a 70's style telephone chord twisted, tangled and deformed from many years of misguided conversations and pilates is the unraveling, straightening and gentle, soothing guidance that promises to return me to my natural, balanced symmetry.

That's a nice note to end on.

8:09 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

MUSINGS - Dispatches from a 39 year old Clown in Vegas, 8

Celebrities Galore!

Earlier this week before we started the pre-show there was a frantic buzz that Alec Baldwin was in the audience. The clown posse approached the area he was suppossed to be in, but we couldn't find him. Later in the week we did see David Copperfield and he was kind enough to come backstage and meet us and take pictures. He's a surprsingly shy, nebbishy guy. Today we had comps to a dress rehearsal of The Producers with that master of erffeminate musical comedy, David Hasselhoff, as the Director! He wasn't pitiful and having him in the role made sense in a campy, cameo sort of way. His singing was fine, but he looked awkard in every dance step. I guess frequent star meetings and sightings are par for the course in Vegas with LA so close. While I was training and watching the shows someone sitting next to Allison Janey (West Wing) stuck his finger up the ass of one of the clowns!

So, I finished my first ten show week on Monday and was so happy to have the two days off ahead of me. After the bows for the last 10:30 show of the week all of the performers run off stage yelping and screaming "Happy weekend!" The relief of not having to do the show anymore for two days is a gift every week. Not only does doing the same thing again and again take it's toll, but being in this arid environment and in and out of the pool and into the air conditioned casino tends to make you always feel a little unfcomfortable. There's always a little water in your ears, your nose is always dried out and everyone always seems to have some remnant of a cold; a slight cough or a stuffy nose or the sniffles. Then there are the constant little injuries like my elbow/shoulder and back or the cracked corners of your fingers (due the dryness) that never seem to heal when you're in and out of the water so much. I'm not complaining, it's just part of the package. Between the shows each night most of the performers go to the EDR (Employee Dining Room) and you see at least half of them with ice packs strapped onto their various injuries.

The show must go on...and on, and on, and on, and on!

6:39 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

MUSINGS - Dispatches from a 39 year old Clown in Vegas, 6

Keep on clownin' on

I'm in the middle of my first 10 show week. Six down, four to go. The show itself is closing in on performance #750. It's weird being in a cast that's been doing it so long. They're so used to it and casual about it that we chat and joke all the way up to our entrance and then BOOM we're on stage dancing and jumping around. I think their "yeah, we've done this hundreds of times" attidue is partially what has helped me feel so comfortable with them and doing the show.

My back remains an issue, but between the massage, physical training and pilates I'm managing it pretty well. However, I've discovered another physical liability. For two days after the shows I noticed that my elbow was hurting and then I realized it was from throwing my underwear during the striptease act. I'm so old I can't even throw a pair of wet underwear ten feet without getting tennis elbow! I'm using a hook shot now and I'm feeling better.

I lost my first chunk of change gambling with one of the other clowns, Jim. I've been staying at his house since Wayne's room doesn't have a bed yet. Jim's from Chicago and was a member of Defiant Theater there; which was a staple company in Chicago for 11 years. We were playing blackjack. Every time I lost, he won. Oh well, what do I care? Next Friday I will receive the largest pay check I've ever received for being on stage!

I now find myself really hoping they offer me a long contract. All these guys here own their own houses. I've never thought I'd ever be able to afford a house...ever; and now I can almost taste it. I'd finally have the basis for an actual retirement fund! I could buy a new car, a hybrid! I try not to get too wrapped up in that dream 'cause it is also highly plausible that they'll offer me a back-up/sub position with no benefits and no gurantee of work.

The mystery of life continues except that, for now, I get to see really hot acrobats and swimmers in their underwear!

1:48 AM - 1 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment