Another closing...

We have just one more performance left at the Plaid Tidings show. I'm truly mourning the end of this one. Once in a while a show comes along that feels like it ends too quickly. I expect this with short fun runs, but in a six week run like this, it's rare to have such a great time right up until the end. I can honestly say that I have never dreaded heading to the theatre during this show. It has occasionally been a challenge to get my body jump started, but I have always looked forward to jumping into this character and playing with this crazy gang.


I've been reflecting on the show quite a bit. It's not the easiest thing to explain, but I've rarely done a show where on one hand I'm so responsible for so much but on the other hand it has to look effortless and spontaneous. We have our own stuff to worry about of course, but we're always there for the other guys (and vice versa). There is so much concentration involved, but on the other hand if you think too much, you can get yourself into trouble. Does that make sense? So much of the show just has to fall into muscle memory, and you really have to live moment to moment or your can get lost or tangled very easily. For instance, I can't think too much about my monologue onstage because I have to play the piano and handbells before I get there... each moment its own little challenge. But each fun little hurdle in the show has been well-rehearsed and I just have to trust in my own prep and the support of my peeps. Plaidland is such a lesson in concentration, connection to cast and audience, spontaneity, and going with the flow. One also has to be genuine and let that inner "good guy" shine through. I can honestly say, though, that every person I've shared the stage with in Plaids is a genuine good guy. There's really nothing like the feeling of really clicking with your fellow Plaids and with a really supportive, responsive audience... when the harmonies are really locking in and the schtick is landing. It's really a glimpse into the truth that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole... or however that saying goes. It's such an amazing gift to be a part of it. I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity.


We have a mostly sold-out show tomorrow and will welcome dear friends and family to see the Plaids off. Then we are all on to our next chapters. Humps has his family, work, and the anticipation of another show in March. Paul is heading back to NY, his wife, and an off-Broadway show. Johnny heads right to MN to visit his fella's family and then heads back home to start rehearsals for another show. I have a ton of artwork to hack away at, a nice long visit to the Pacific NW and family, and then back to Escondido to start rehearsals for another show at the Welk. It's really amazing how time flies.


So, as I head into closing day, I give thanks for so much... for work, for work I thoroughly enjoy, a family that loves and supports what I do, health, for diving into a project that makes me strive to be a better performer and a better musician and a better person, for farts and fart jokes, for fire burps, for my actual bedroom which I will see very soon, for outings with peeps I wouldn't see very often if I weren't in their neck of the woods, for spearmint gum which will soon be on a well-deserved hiatus from my mouth, for $5 buffet dinners, for looking into an audience and being surprised by an old friend who is now going on this two-hour journey with you, for Saigon Noodle and World Best Pizza and Stone World Bistro and Target and BevMo and Millers Field sports bar and the little flower truck on Champagne Boulevard, for friendships tempered by time in the Plaid colored trenches, for being a good guy and not having to apologize. I am so grateful.

Peace and love to you all. May the end of the year bring plenty of reflection on what we are thankful for. And may the new year bring an amazing new chapter for us all. Take care. Love your neighbor.