Social Hibernation

Over the past month and a half, there's been a slight change in nightly habits. The winter with the cold and snow has seemed to have the effect of keeping us inside. Well, that's of course when we're not out shoveling. That 28 inches of snow we received between last Friday and Monday had to go elsewhere if we wanted to get out of our driveway and receive regular mail delivery.

It's not like we haven't seen some of our friends, we just have avoided late night drinks out in favor of wrapping ourselves in flannel, slippers, and fleece. Socializing has taken place during the day or early evening over lunch, coffee, or in the house. I think, "Is it age? Am I abandoning the 'scene'?" but then consider that if it was 40 degrees outside and the roads were clear, I probably would feel less hesitant about venturing out.

With another weekend of bitingly cold, snowy weather predicted, I'm hoping to take care of some items like reading the books I borrowed from the Prendergast Library before it reopens on Wednesday. Then we'll break out of the stay-at-home theme a little bit with a dinner/movie on Friday, a post-holiday party at a friend's house, and maybe a little Improv Saturday night. We'll see how it all goes and whether the burst of social activity returns us to familiar ground or if it chases us back to our house to huddle under blankets until March.

The Producers - Casted

If you're a Facebook type and want to see the full cast list for JCC Uncommoners' production of "The Producers" then click here.

A very short list:
Max Bialystock - Tim Smeal
Leo Bloom - Gary Peters Jr.
Franz Liebkind - Len Barry

I singled out these three because they have main parts and they all have the distinction of having worked together before in the local improv group, The Unexpected Guests. While I bet it's not unusual to have a cast where people have worked together before, I'm guessing that this kind of collaboration doesn't come along all too often unless you're talking about the Christopher Guest movies.

They're also friends of mine so I'm unabashedly biased. Congrats to them and the rest of the talented folks who were cast! Performances are scheduled for the first three weekends in November. I'm sure there will be more to come.

Unexpected Guests in Pontiac

Some Unexpected Guests, current and former, do a little show for the John Hughes Party. Where else can you get prosthetic glow in the dark horse legs, a business that involves crapping in cars as art installations, and kites stuck in uncomfortable places?

"Super Clyde 3" Coming to the Reg Lenna Civic Center

Jamestown resident and friend, Kipp Reynolds, will premier his full-length film, Super Clyde 3, this Sunday at the Reg Lenna Civic Center.

The film has been described as an action, science fiction, comedy about a young spatula wielding super hero who comes out of retirement to save his brother.

Kipp has spent the last year and a half working on the project. He's drawn on a large pool of talented friends to act in and help produce the film.

When I asked if audience will ever have the opportunity to be delighted by Super Clyde 1 and 2, he laughed and admitted there was no Super Clyde 1. The consensus is that he may go back and do a Super Clyde 1 much in the vein of the Star Wars prequels.

If you want to share the experience of seeing this movie hit a big screen, pre-sale tickets are being sold at the Reg and Labyrinth Press Company. They're only $3 pre-sale, $5 at the door the day of the show. The movie begins at 2pm at the Reg Lenna Civic Center in downtown Jamestown. See you there.

Super Clyde 3: The Trailer


Super Clyde 3: Official Website
Post Journal: Super Clyde 3

It's Time for the New Media Conference in Buffalo!

I will be in Buffalo this weekend for the New Media Conference at Buffalo State College. See the WBNY Alumni website for the full schedule, including the alumni line-up on WBNY. I will be on the air from 8-10am tomorrow (Saturday) spinning a selection of cover tunes. You can tune in online if you're outside the listening area (which most of the world is) by clicking here

Even if you're not a Buffalo State alumni, I encourage you to drop by to hear some interesting seminars about media issues. Plus, Tom Calderone is now our featured speaker this afternoon since Judith Regan canceled due to illness. Tom is not only an alumnus, but he's also the VP of VH-1. It's all good!

Conference presentations kick off at 2:30 this afternoon in the Bulger Communications Center with Buffalo State alumnus, Ralph Cipolla, a programming consultant for Jacobs Media out of Southfield, MI. He will share results from the Jacobs Media's Technology Web Poll III, the largest study of its kind. This poll reveals the new media trends, habits, preferences, and impact on radio listening from a collection of over 25,000 respondents.

The conference is mostly free aside from an alumni reception tonight (mere $20), the English Beat concert tomorrow night ($20), and the brunch at Cole's on Sunday (order off the menu). You can register at the door for any event.

Sidenote: If you live in Jamestown, you should cancel all other plans for this weekend and go see The Night at the Living Reg on Saturday at the Reg Lenna Civic Center. This concert features Buffalo's Juliet Dagger, Agent Me, and The Audience. Tickets are only $10. After the concert, head over to the Reg Studio Theatre for an 11pm performance of The Unexpected Guests. If you go to the concert, the UG show will only cost you $3. Then, if you're drinking age, I'd recommend a few beverages over at Forte. Go out! Have fun! And don't complain that there's nothing cool to do in downtown Jamestown! See you all on Monday!

Unassuming Hostess

Several ideas are floating around in my head for a new iTunes mix, but I haven't completely nailed down the theme. The subject of this post is probably going to be the title for the mix.

The great thing about iTunes mixes is that they can be as small or large as you want. When I first got my iPod, the first thing I did was create a "WBER Vicariously" mix that featured all the music I had that I knew had been played on WBER at some point. Then I would drive around, pretending I had my own digital link to the station. Unfortunately, I haven't kept it updated and now it's more like "WBER Vicariously Circa 2003."

Last year, I started creating mixes that I actually burned to disc for one of my friends in The Unexpected Guests. That evolved into making mixes specifically for that group, even if they didn't request them, because it was fun (ahem *whispers* fan girl). Suddenly, I had a challenge to compress the list of songs buzzing in my head down to fit onto 80mb of disc space.

The latest mix, whether for them or my amusement, has boiled down to two thoughts. One is a mix of interesting covers of songs. Maybe covers that stylistically are not what you'd expect. The other thought is to do a mix of interesting sounding songs that maybe sound pretty ordinary alone, but paired up might perk someone's interest. That kind of theme is ordinary and what everyone tries to do, but it works. We'll see. I'll post it when it's done.

Addendum: I worked on it some more over lunch, and it's evolved into something that will sound perfect in my car, with the windows down, driving along a 55 mph highway, singing at the top of my lungs. Very happy with it so far. It rocks a little, shakes a little, and has a certain element of cool. No one else may like it, but it's pretty damn fine to me. Final play list forthcoming.

Improvathon 2007

Matt and I will be headed north tonight for Improvathon 2007 (Some details here) at SUNY Fredonia.

Our lovely friend, Jane of The Unexpected Guests gave me the heads-up earlier in the week that five improv comedy groups from around Western New York would be there with a massive Improv Mixer the last hour of the marathon.

It's free and goes from 5-11pm in the Williams Center. If you bring a canned or non-perishable food item, you get tickets for prizes.

All proceeds benefit Rural Ministries of Dunkirk.

Spontaneous Head Implosion Averted

As I sip a medium double-cream Tim Horton's coffee, I wait for my frayed nerves to achieve normalcy. Ingesting caffeine does tend to have a calming effect on me when it's in the form of tea. Crap. I'm drinking coffee, aren't I? Oh well, I can be assured that I'll be able to stay awake for the 10 pm show of The Unexpected Guests.

Matt stopped down to the Arts Council on Friday and signed me up for UG's Improv Workshop that took place today. It was under sheer duress that I gave my blessings to him to do this. I think there's a special place reserved in heaven for my husband who has to put up my random, paranoid worrying.

The verdict? I had a good time. I laughed quite a bit and enjoyed trying to come up with things that were entertaining. I turned up the Sabres' gametime song, "Hurricane 2000", on my iPod while driving downtown to psyche myself beforehand. Thinking about the Sabres kicking arse on the ice tends to put me in a good mood. And once I got to the workshop space, it was comforting to see participants who looked like they might swallow their fingers for all the nail-biting they were doing helped.

I should disclose the fact that I have performed in front of large groups of people before. The largest was my high school graduation when I played a Mozart Concerto solo on the stage of the Eastman Theatre in front of 2,000 people. But that was a one-time thing never to be duplicated. Um. Shoot. I can't say that anymore, can I? Damn. Well, only one ulcer-inducing step forward in my journey needed for now. Excuse me while I go relax to some Bob Ross.

Overcoming That Which Holds Me Back From Self-Actualization

A couple weeks ago, several of my friends who are involved in an improv-comedy group asked if I was going to attend a workshop they were holding about improv-comedy. It sounded like fun to me, but I decided I wasn't going to sign up for a variety of reasons. The list included my statement that I have a sense of humor but I don't spontaneously impart humor all too well, that trying to do comedy is beyond my comfort zone, that I can't act, and that the living room did need to get painted once and for all.

My reluctance and resistance to my friend's urgings made me think of other things I declined:

"Oh, I only play violin with orchestra or chamber groups because I don't like to play solo."
"You really don't want to read the book/short story I started. It's in very rough form and I suck at writing dialogue."
"I can't go into the morning show on Kiss FM because I'm not good at that morning banter thing. I don't think of stuff to say quick enough."

The last one was my mantra for almost a year until I actually went and hung out with the Morning Show. It was a blast, and I found I could just play the straight-woman, imparting information and other truths. Listeners seemed to like me as a radio personality, which I didn't expect. The thoughts started creeping up on me that if I could do this, why not open myself up to the other stuff? The voice of self-doubt said, "Well, courtesy-compliments generally suck and you don't want to put something mediocre out there that will be snickered at or pitied by people you think are your friends."

The inner-dialogue even went as far as to point out my last post on here. The only comment I got on it was a criticism from a friend who couldn't see that I was being terribly sarcastic. I only just moved his comment from moderation today because I didn't feel like having to explain in a follow-up comment that I was being sarcastic.

The date of that improv-comedy workshop is growing closer. The fact that I want to go, but fear failure keeps everything else on the top of my "thinking" list. I thought to myself, "Self, I want to change. I think I'm missing out on doing some good stuff in this world because I'm too afraid to share it and too afraid to take the risk of failing."

Rather than explain my next thought, here's the link for Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I think most people get stuck at the self-esteem level. I heard once that Eleanor Roosevelt is one of the few people who could be considered self-actualized. I'm not sure if I totally agree with that, but on the surface level it makes sense.

A new life goal for me is to try to break free from that which I perceive as holding me back from being a total person. I have no disillusionments about how much work will be involved. I think that's why it's considered a life goal.