Tenneseein’ Is Tennebelievin’!
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Crossposted from my running blog, Built For Speed!

I'm going to Tennessee!

I've signed up with Team In Training to run the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville in April 2008. Only a half marathon this time, but a half marathon laden with meaning, emotion, expectations and hopes for the future.

When I ran the Walt Disney World Marathon in 2004, I had something to prove. As I mentioned to many people at the time, until I began training for it the furthest distance I had run was one mile. In high school. Because I had to for the Presidential Fitness Challenge or some other program that required high school students to run a mile.
Within five months, the Team In Training program got me to the point where I could complete a marathon-- and I did. Sure, it took me forever to do it, but I made it 26.2 miles under my own power and raised over $5,000 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

This time... this time there's a lot more to the decision. I recently found out that 2008 marks the 20th Anniversary of the Team In Training program. Over the past 20 years, people like me have run marathons, completed triathlons, ridden bikes, gone hundreds of thousands of miles and raised over $800 million dollars for blood cancer research.

One day in August some 20 years ago, I met a guy named Hal Rather at the National Junior Classical League convention at the University of Colorado, Boulder, all thanks to a guy named Scott Clemons. Scott was hosting that year's "That's Entertainment!", the annual convention talent show. I didn't know Hal; he didn't know me. Scott knew us. And he needed material for the show. So he handed us a stack of blank paper and said-- as best as I can recall-- "I need more material for tonight. You guys are funny. Write me something funny."

So a friendship starts. There were other people in the room, other funny people-- Laura, Lucy, Joe, Jenny, other faces and names are flashing but not connecting-- and we threw together a ton of material that afternoon then headed off to eat dinner and go to the show. There'd been a running joke concerning one of the nightly dances at Convention that year-- it had a cowboy theme, and there was a country & western band, and smartasses like us who'd seen The Blues Brothers one too many times kept asking the band if they knew the theme from Rawhide.

They did not.

Hal and I did. We figured that out walking from dinner to the dress rehearsal. By the time we got to the venue, we were ready to go- we had a setup and we had a two-person a cappella rendition of the Rawhide theme. We pitched it to Scott, he bit, and... and because Scott didn't come back to Convention after that, we wrote and hosted that show ourselves for the next three years.

I don't remember exactly when I found out that Hal had leukemia. Sometime in late 1991 or early 1992. Hal had spent most of the previous year abroad at the University of Copenhagen- in fact, Hal is the only person I know who spent each year of college at a different institution. Ironically, he was at Boston University the year before I met him. Then he transferred to Vanderbilt University in Nashville. For his junior year, he was in Copenhagen, and when he came back to the US he was at the school at which we'd first met, University of Colorado at Boulder. He left Boulder early to go into the oncology unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. I don't remember the specifics of what he had, and for the purposes of this post specifics aren't necessary.

He died on August 4th, 1992. Hal was a funny, sharp, vibrant guy, as funny and sharp as I've ever
known (and I'm around some hilarious people on a regular basis). I'd known him four years, almost to the day. I was at that year's NJCL convention when it happened, flew to Nashville and arrived a couple of hours before the funeral. And then I help carry the casket to the gravesite, and watched them lower his remains into the ground. But Hal wasn't in that box. He'd already gone on to the next adventure.

I have not been back to Nashville since. Not deliberately; it just never happened. Twenty years is five times as long as I ever knew Hal Rather, and yet I think about him all the time.

There's another story, another victim of leukemia, that factors in here. My wife's Aunt Denise died of leukemia at the age of 39.

I'll be 38 this December.

It's time, y'know? It's time to go back to Nashville, to where the journey ultimately began. It's time to raise more money and run more miles. Please help me by donating whatever amount you can. The link is right over there on the left. You can donate online, and donations are tax deductible. But more than that, donations fund research. Research yields treatment. Treatment prolongs and saves lives. And lives, even one life like that of a 22 year old from Nashville, can change all of us just by being lived to the fullest.

9:08 PM - 89 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Caveat Emptor: Laughs will not abound.

If you act now, you can still get yourself a Hillary Clinton Nutcracker at a whopping 50% off list price from the fine folks at Overstock.com.

Disclosure: I own two watches that I bought through Overstock.com. At least I think they were both from there... at least one is. The other might have come from SmartBargains.com. The point is this: I did not pay full price for either of them. Not even close! And I think I got free shipping. But I digress.

The Hillary Clinton Nutcracker is alleged to have a list price of $60.00. But you can get it for $29.95, and Overstock.com promises in the product description that "Laughs will abound with this novelty Hillary Clinton nutcracker".

Now, I have had some experience in both comedy and retail (including stints at two different Lechmere locations back when the world was simpler and there still existed such a thing of brown and orange Optima Bold-clad beauty as a Lechmere location... though I think I was at one of them during the red and blue redress, but again I digress.)

I can tell you this, without fear of being wrong: Laughs will not abound with this novelty Hillary Clinton nutcracker. Oh sure, it's funny. Even my pinko liberal ass will admit that. And it's an admirably crafted bit of funny; the thing looks like Hillary, if Hillary had sharp metal teeth lining her upper thighs. Go ahead, insert your own joke there. You know you want to.

But laughs abounding? No. The most laughter you'll get from this is viewing the page on Overstock. Maybe you don't like Hillary and you'll buy one for yourself. Maybe you'll buy one as a gift, to needle a liberal friend or bring a smile to the face of your favorite Republican. But believe you me, laughter will not abound. Why? Because the joke is right there in the name. This isn't a $60 dollar joke, friends. It's barely a $5 clearance item at Spencer Gifts kind of joke. This is a bit, a bit that would get a big laugh on Carson if Carson was still alive and hosting a late night talk show.

Nor will it ever be "collectible that will be remembered for years to come". It'll end up in a drawer somewhere, dusty and unused until Thanksgiving rolls around and you're trying to crack walnuts or filberts or something, and your child or grandchild pulls it out while fishing around for a garden variety nutcracker and comes up with Hillary and asks very innocently why a woman would crack nuts between her thighs and you decide this really isn't a conversation you want to have on Thanksgiving with your child or grandchild and hey kids, look! Macy's Parade on TV!

Now if somebody can animate that Hillary nutcracker and get it to do a plie or pas de deux, set it all to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker with a Mickey doll as the Mouse King and post it on YouTube then maybe-- MAYBE-- laughter will abound.

Maybe.

7:46 PM - 89 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

"Pomposity is a virtue"

Sometime after I graduated high school there was formed a club formed there called "The Pomposity Club"-- I think that was it-- with the motto "Pomposity is a virtue." My wife will remember better than I will; she was a member.

I mention it because the full and true nature of my pompous ass found itself finally at home in a natural setting this past weekend, when my brother and myself took my father to the Harvard Faculty Club for brunch on Father's Day. I have duly informed my brother-- who as a Harvard employee is considered an 'officer' of Harvard University, and is thus entitled to membership-- that we need to begin a monthly ritual of having cocktails in the Conservatory... because it just sounds so remarkably cultured to say "Oh, this evening I'll be having cocktails in the Conservatory. Has anybody seen my bumbershoot?"

Bumbershoot, in this context, is not a dirty word. After cocktails, of course, all bets are off.

9:06 PM - 89 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

An Open Letter to CBS Television
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Hi! We haven't met, but I understand that you're looking for a new host for The Price Is Right now that Bob Barker has taped his final show and is going back to his career as an international playboy, or master of espionage, or whatever it is that extremely wealthy older gentlemen do when they've got time on their hands.

You should hire me. Yes, me.

I know, you're thinking, "TC, we don't even know you. No offense, but not only are you not on the short list of candidates, you were never on any list of candidates for the job."

Hey, I can sympathize. But really, given a chance you'll see that I'm clearly the best person for the job.

Like Bob Barker, I look really good in a suit.
Like Bob Barker, I'm damn charming.
Like Bob Barker, I'm a vegetarian.
Like Bob Barker, I can hold the suspense in a moment when I say "The actual retail price is..."
Like Bob Barker, my birthday is December 12.
(Which is also Frank Sinatra's birthday, so if anybody out there wants to give me a record contract or put me in a remake of Robin and the Seven Hoods, I'm all ears. Ring-a-ding-ding.)

Look, the public loves a Cinderella story. Pluck me from near obscurity, and we both benefit. You get a shedload of publicity. I'll come out, we'll do some press conference where Bob hands me the Gene Rayburn Memorial Pencil-Thin Microphone for luck, I'll tape a bunch of shows, and catch the red-eye home to the East Coast afterward. It's a win-win situation for all of us.

Call me. We'll do lunch.

Yours,
TC

8:10 AM - 89 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Thought for the Day

I'm listening to Styx.

It's like Air Supply for people with mullets.

2:36 PM - 89 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Apropos of nothing...

My oldest son is intensely interested in American history. He's reading a book about the Declaration of Independence. So I read some of it.

And I think "Divine Providence" would make a great drag name.

11:17 AM - 89 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

11 Strange Things About Me

I am no fan of the meme post, but improv goddess Jill Bernard tagged me, so I feel touched by the hand of God... er, goddess.


1) I spent several of my teenage years seriously considering the priesthood.

2) My refrigerator contains soy milk, rice milk, and skim milk at nearly all times.

3) My first car was a older than I was at the time by a year or so. (Me: born Dec 1969. Car: 1968 Volvo 144S; given it was a 1968 model year that means it was probably built in 1967.)

4) Me, my bride, all the groomsmen, all the bridesmaids, my father, my father-in-law and my stepfather-in-law all wore Converse Chuck Taylors at my wedding.

5) Unused names on my personal short list for names for my daughter (Annabelle) were Ruby, Lucy, Violet, and Victoria. Annabelle was chosen because in a glorious bit of serendipity, it was in the first choice position on both my list and my wife's.

6) I have never seen "Gone With The Wind".

7) I write the number 7 with a horizontal line through the middle, which I'm told is they way they do it in Europe. I've done it that way since junior high school or so and can't remember why I started doing it that way, though I'm guessing I was being deliberately pretentious and got stuck.

8) My wife and I were roommates before we got involved; as a result we have been living together since before we were ever a couple and the through the entirely of our relationship.

9) Whenever my brother and I have a conversation we start out in the these character voices we have been using since were were kids. My wife refers to this as "the Daniel voice" (Daniel being my brother.) Bonus fact: family tradition holds that my brother was named Daniel because my favorite character on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was Daniel the Tiger.

10) I have technically been to Greece but have never seen any of it. I spent 2 hours in the Athens airport in 1980 during a layover in which our charter flight from Rome to Boston went from Rome to Athens to pick up another charter group, then turned around and flew from Athens to Boston.

11) The TC in "TC Cheever" stands for Tom Cheever. My middle name actually begins with an M.


Tradition holds that I now have to saddle a bunch of other people with this.

But I'm not going to do that, because dammit, a stand has to be made.

By the way-- if ever in Minneapolis, go see Jill Bernard perform. Or try to meet her for coffee & conversation at the airport. She's stellar.

6:16 PM - 89 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

At midnight
Category: Life

A year ago tonight, I was tired.

Tonight, I'm tired.

Very different reasons.

A year ago tonight was only a few days home from my hospital sojourn, all the happy times detailed here, where every stair step I climbed was an effort and the kids decorated my IV pole with tinsel and little wooden Christmas trees, and I huddled under a blanket like an old man repeating that line from The Simpsons, "I'm cold, and the wolves are after me."

Tonight... Still recovering from my show, What the Dickens?!? People liked it. People I don't know liked it. A year ago while in the hospital I thought a lot about things I wanted to do, about the nature of mortality and the alarming speed at which time passes when you're not paying attention-- about the famous John Lennon quote, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

And to quote him again, "Another year older, and what have you done?"

I have wanted to write a musical for a long time, probably since the first couple of years of Musical Improv Company. Before I went into Mass General last year, I'd already started talking with Adam about turning What the Dickens?!?, which had been an annual one-off improv show, into a full-length musical. This year we were able to do it right, thanks to ImprovBoston's support by choosing it as the Holiday Show. And by casting it well. Oh, my God, did we cast well.

I fulfilled at least one goal in 2006. Now to capitalize on it. For the year ahead, a goal of retaining my health and worrying about other people for a change- the missus as she head in for her thyroid surgery, the kids as they bounce around the house, friends who are dealing with difficult situations (Watkinsville, I'm looking in your direction here).

There's a lot of people to thank for What the Dickens?!?-- Adam Brooks, for the music and putting up with my, uh, haphazard creative style, and for assembling what I decided to call the ImprovBoston Holiday Orchestra: Aaron Gelb on guitar, sax & bass clarinet; Brian Church on bass; Mark Nathanson on drums.
Don Schuerman & Will Luera & Elyse Becker for everything IB gave us, the time and the space and the promotion and above all the opportunity.
Joe Creedon & Dan Larabee of the IB tech crew for making it all run smooth and Alicia Curtis who ran lights and made us all look good.
Dave Totty for building the sets for the price of a quad espresso.
Katie Proulx for the choreography that made it look like a "real" show and for just plain 'getting it'- there was little I had to explain to Katie. She just came in with ideas that already matched what was in my head or were better than what I had in my head.
Kathleen Brophy for painting a hell of a brick wall and fireplace. Lesson learned: always have a frighteningly talented art teacher involved in your low-budget show.
Jacey Bokuniewicz & Joy Begbie for theatrical knowledge & advice.
Shala Donnelly for coming in with no experience and organizing the production into a smooth running machine.

The cast: Sara Faith Alterman, Joy Begbie, Jacey Bokuniewicz, Kathleen Brophy, Patrick French, Maitland Lederer, Will Luera, David Marino, Bobby Smith, Lindsay Strube, Deana Tolliver, Casey Williamson and Cliff Zawasky. They brought it all to life, brilliantly.

I thank Jenney, my wife. For the patience, for the opportunity, for what became the framework of the story and some important plot points and for some very funny dialogue. And for everything else for the past eleven years and change.

2:03 PM - 89 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

What the Dickens?!? THIS WEEK!

We're almost ready to open! Rehearsal tonight with the full band, dress rehearsal tomorrow night, open dress rehearsal on Wednesday night, and we open on Thursday! Here's the full scoop:

Charles Dickens. Charles Schulz. Two great Americans.

Except for Dickens.

More importantly, two men responsible for two of the greatest and most
beloved Christmas stories of all time: A Christmas Carol and A Charlie
Brown Christmas. Leave it to ImprovBoston to take these two great
stories, toss them into a blender with a little eggnog and rum, and
frappe to create the Sixth Annual ImprovBoston Holiday Spectacular:
What the Dickens?!?

An original musical with music & lyrics by Adam Brooks and TC Cheever,
What the Dickens?!? parodies the holiday television classic by
dropping the characters into Dickens' immortal Christmas story. Toss
lightly with love and you have a holiday recipe that has a good beat
you can dance to.

What the Dickens?!? has mature content and is not intended for younger
audiences.

Showtimes:
December 21 @ 8pm
December 22 & 23 @ 8pm & 10pm
December 29 @ 8pm & 10pm.

Tickets $15, available online at http://www.improvboston.com where you can also find directions to the theater and more information about ImprovBoston.

9:10 AM - 89 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Away in a Meatcase
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Away in a Meatcase

11:27 AM - 89 Comments - 5 Kudos - Add Comment