day and nite in the city...

The play was quite good. The acting was quite, quite good. Too good to be stuck in some 80 seat theatre on the Upper East Side. That was weird. The theatre was the size of my living room... the stage the size of my kitchen. I couldn’t help but think – God, how weird must it be to stand up there and act in front of only 50, 60 people?? It’s just too weirdly... close. But then I realized... well... how many gigs have I played in bars and coffee houses in front of HALF as many people? Was it weird? No... it was terribly fun and exciting and I gave the performance everything I had, just like these 4 guys did. It’s just a different mode of expression that I’m not used to, I guess.

Anyway, it was really the first time I’d seen any of this guy’s plays. You’d think I’d have checked that out before I asked him to collaborate with me, wouldn’t you? Imagine if it had sucked! Luckily it didn’t. Even though the subject matter couldn’t be more different than OUR play, it kind of helped me get a sense of what ours might “sound” like when it is finished. His dialogue is very... what Aaron Sorkin would call “crackling”. I’m not gonna claim that he’s in anywhere near the same league as Aaron Sorkin, but... it’s in that vein.

The earlier part of the day was 50% productive, 50% relaxing. I worked on the train... got into the city... headed to my office... printed some stuff out... made some copies... grabbed my Copernicus book... went to lunch... ate curry chicken and took notes... went back to my office... grabbed my computer... walked down to the SoHo Apple store... shopped for iPOd accessories... played with the Macs... walked down Mercer Street... felt very unhip in the way that only SoHo can make one feel... stopped by “Toys in Babeland” for some early anniversary shopping... played with the vibrators... marveled at the one with the LCD screen, not to mention the “twisty” ones... got a call on the cell from the wife... our daughter has taught herself multiplication... walked aaaaaallll the way up to 14th St. to catch the subway.... took the #6 up to Lexington and 86th... walked down to 80th and waaaaaaaay the fuck east to the theatre. And then... well, I already told you about the play. After the play I chatted with my collaborator and met a bunch of weird theatre people, including the “producer” who was about what I expected. It was a long way to go for a 3 minute chat, but...eh... whatever. Maybe some day MY play will be performed in a living room sized theatre in front of 60 people!

The only other interesting thing that happened was that I took a cab from the Upper East Side down to Penn Station and got a Japanese cab driver with Tourette’s Syndrome. Yeah. Lucky me. Riding in a NYC cab is bad enough normally without a cabbie who periodically goes... hoo-WAH! a-HYOOK! (**) for no apparent reason. Freaky! But I got to the station in time to make the 10:29, which is good. I expected to have to catch the next train, which would have mean getting home at 2:30 AM. As it is, I’ll get in at 12:30. Big difference!

So... that was my day. Now I’m gonna try to have another productive hour on the train before I crash.

d.

(**) Try to imagine that with a Japanese accent. It doesn’t really do it justice. I seriously considered pulling out my iPod and plugging in the voice recorder that I use to tape my lectures, recording the Tourette’s Cabbie, and then uploading the audio file here. But those are the kinds of clever things I never actually follow through on.