Expatriate post

Just an update for its own sake, really. I don't have the time to think of anything clever or interesting; I'm at my mom's house, borrowing online time because our internet has been shut down for two weeks. If it persists, I will hunt koala bears to extinction.

James and I began filming for www.pianoanytime.com today. His content is brilliant, but we'll have to reshoot everything from today because I apparently have this nigh-undetectable mini form of Parkinson's which renders me completely unable to hold a camera still. And it wouldn't hurt us to have more lights either. We need a taller tripod for sure, and we'll resume tomorrow. I hope no one who subscribes to the site ever reads this and discovers its humble-bordering-on-the-ludicrous beginnings.

But I think it'll be awesome. I really do.

Rehearsal for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is lots of fun. We've had seven sessions now and are making huge progress. I encourage you all to see it; we open July 10th-ish, I think. All the information is at www.nacc.edu/nacctheatre/abouttheshowshkspr.htm

Also, my group The Clever Animals will be playing a concert with the talented singer/songwriter Ms. Katrina Barclay at the DeKalb Theatre in Fort Payne on the 24th of July. Kyle Putman's band will be there, too (are you out there, Kyle? I don't know the name of your band yet). I think it'll be like five bucks at the door, to cover our rental cost and whatnot. But we plan to debut as many new songs as possible, and it will be our drummer Ashton's first show with us. And in fact, our first show with a drummer. Yikes. Anyway, it should be lots of fun. Come out and support local art, then talk to me after the show. We'll hang out.

I've been writing a crap-ton of fiction lately, staying up all night and sleeping during the late morning and early afternoon. There's a short story called "Gold in the Hills," which is in no way about the West, or gold, or prospectors, or, God forbid, cowboys. It's set in a fictionalized version of Fort Payne/Sand Mountain, and I quite like it. If I can find a way to post it here in .pdf so nobody can get in and edit the text, I'll post a link to it.

(Christ. How paranoid I am. Why would anyone want to edit the text? But still.)

There's also a novella in the works, tentativly titled "God's Stomp." Yes, I realize the word is actually supposed to be "stamp," but as it is also set in my mythical Fort Payne/Sand Mountain area, you can imagine that regional vernacular certainly plays its part. And "God's Stamp" sounds terrible. Like a postage stamp, not a skull-crushing footfall. Which is what my story hints at.

So I'm off to work at the studio a bit, then tonight, the Campsite. Sounds great.

Ooh yeah, here's some stuff. You should see: The Hangover, Drag Me to Hell. Both worth a few chuckles in very different ways. I love adult comedies and fictional hell, so both these were right up my alley. Enjoy. And tell your friends about the shows, both of them. I'll post more often once they get our internet working again.