Category Archive

ok, i’m working through my europe pictures and will be presenting them in 3 installments - the installments will be my favorite pic’s from a given place (i took over 400 pics in total; don’t want to bore you by posting all of them - i already forced cb to see them all… i can’t imagine how painful that was for him.

the first installment (today’s) is all about the big show (aka, the reason i was in berlin to begin with).

#1 - things sound so much better in french.

#2 - goodie bag’s for the attendees.

#3 - cool as shit light bulb.  the theater was swimming with these things…. they were all about 12-15″ long with a single filament running through them.  i loved these bulbs.

#4 - my job on this show was stage manager.  next to my post backstage was a mirror ball.  how can you not love a mirror ball.  they rock.  i call this “self portrait with mirror ball“.

#5 - this may very well be my favorite pic from the entire show, and keep in mind this is still in rehearsals.  the finale for one of the acts was to have his models come out in black under a boat-load of white netting/fabric (they were wearing black sheath dresses) and then they were illuminated with black light.  it was incredible and otherworldly.  they had these kick ass wigs on too that you only saw at the very end of the segment.  i love the movement in this pic.

#6 - i call this one “charlie’s angels shadows“.  you should of seen it when they were in full hair/wardrobe (hey, what can i say - i have more free time to take pictures during rehearsals).

#7 - ok, i’m completely in love with this woman.  seriously - i think i would switch teams to be with her.  she had the most kick-ass walk i’ve ever seen.  and the boots - the boots were amazing (ok, maybe i really am too gay if i noticed the boots… i have a pic of them somewhere).  she was just so damn sexy walking down the catwalk.

#7a - ok, here are the boots.  rock on!

#8 - rehearsing the men’s hairdressing segment.  ummm… can we say “gun show”?  i had the pleasure of having this guy change clothes down to black bikini briefs right next to me.  ummm… i need a moment.

#9 - for obvious reasons.

#10 - ok, now were on show day… i like the look of this pic, tho’ i wish the one girl wasn’t wearing a sweater.  it was pretty cold backstage tho’.

#11 - obvious reasons pt 2.  they just got done “spritzing” the boys to give them that “just worked out” look that’s so popular.  by the way, they were wearing shorty athletic shorts too.  double drool.  i love my fucking job!

#12 - this is the same girl as the above (the one with the boots).  great do, no?  pure sex.  behind the girl you’ll see someone with white and black face paint - that’s one of the girls that’s pictured in the above charlie’s angels shadow shot.

#13 - bringing the afro back baby.  and trust me this chick (all 6′2″ of her) was working the fuck out of this hair.  nice.

#13a - here’s another shot of her

in other news:  day 2 was just as successful as day one.  double yay me.

more news: hey, guess what - i’m packing.  flying to berlin tomorrow.

in even more news: michelle bachmann is a twit:

and no, this isn’t an april fools joke.  twit!

1 more to go.

it’s 8:11pm as i write this.  day one of my event is complete and it was a smashing success.  now, why is this a big deal you ask?  sure i’ve produced other events solo - but this is by far the most high-profile event i’ve done solo.  virtually every vice president (not to mention the president) of my company as were some of the greatest minds in science as key note speakers were there.

so yay me. 

one more day to go…

in honor of my trip to berlin (i leave on wednesday), here’s nena’s ‘99 luftballons’. enjoy:

meanwhile… i loaded into a theater today for my show that is sunday & monday (rehearsal is tomorrow) - might be a bit sparse around here.

wow - is it flashback friday already…. sorry gang for the lack of posts.  of course, i was in atlanta last week for the tornado’s (i got some cool pics of the destruction - i should share those one of these days)… 

the truth of the matter is that i’m super busy at work - i have a major show next week and then i’m on a plane to berlin for a show the following week. 

so i guess what i’m saying here is, just chill for a bit - i’ll post when i can.

in the meantime, i was lookin’ for something on you tube and ran across this one… it’s a flashback from 1995 - holly cole doing tom waits ‘little boy blue’.  i do indeed love me some holly cole.  enjoy:

note, there will be a photo essay documenting the forthcoming points following said points.

a) i’m on a plane to new york tomorrow morning at 7am minneapolis time.  this will be my first proper vacation in over two years (oh, if your wondering, i don’t consider vacations tagged onto the end of shows or aids rides as “proper” - so therefore, this is my first proper vacation in over two years).  i really really really am ready for this vacation.  and i am not bringing my computer with so unless i use landry’s computer, you won’t get any updates from me until next monday <gasp!>.

b) i voted.  i’m part of the machine.  dammit people, it’s time for change!

c) it’s finally for real (i.e., plane tickets are booked) i’m off to berlin (work) & prague (vacation) in april.  very happy/excited.

d) fucktards who drive escalades with eco-plates need to be anally abused until they realize that spending the extra $30 a year for “natural habitat” license plates does not negate the detrimental effects their vehicles are doing to the planet.  oh, and to anyone driving any varient of an suv - when was the last time you actually took it off road?  oh, and the safety thing?  it’s a myth.  least you can do if you own one of these monstrosities is to offset your carbon footprint.

e) oh, did i mention that landry and i are seeing siouxsie sioux on saturday night in ny?  mabye i forgot to tell ya’ll that.

f) j made me very happy last night.  dopey grin on my face all day (no photo essay for this one).

things you should know that have direct bearing on my mood today:

sometime between saturday evening and sunday morning, my work-laptop’s hard drive decided to commit suicide in a most bloody and gory manner (ok, not really, but i’m imagining a battle of epic 300 proportions happening on my hard drive).  it’s fried crispier than the colonel ever thought possible.

my companies mis team has thus far been unable to salvage anything.

what this means?  it means that i’ve lost:

• all current documents related to the 4 shows i’m currently in production on
• photographs of the last 2 years worth of shows and events
• banner idea’s folder for this lil’ blog
• 30 gig’s of music in my itunes folder

now, before you so politely ask me “why, oh why didn’t you backup your files” - well, yes - that would have been a good idea.  but you must realize i’m on the road about 70% of the year… i need access to my files and music on a fairly consistent basis.  thankfully, just in december, i moved most of my historical 2007 files onto our network so i have those in my back pocket. 

but still - fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck!

unrelated:

i want nothing more than for this day to end.  it was an absolute bear of a day, one that makes me question the company i work for (which, trust me - does.not.happen.very.often.).  honest to god, all i want to do is crawl under my blanket and block out the world.

then to find out that heath ledger died.  fuck what a day.

so instead, i’m gonna concentrate on the only good thing that happened today.  the oscar nominations came out.

best picture - there is no question on this for me - i’m all about no country for old men. 

best actress - hard one for me ’cause i’ve only seen 2 of these films.  i loved ellen page in juno, but it’s not her year yet.  i’m going sentimental (for me) and giving it to cate in elizabeth 2.  yes, the movie sucked, and no she won’t win (see below for the reason), but i love my cate.  i hear amazing things about julie cristie & la vie en rose is on my netflix so i might change my mind.

best actor - no question at all.  daniel in there will be blood.  brilliant performance,

supporting actor - again, no question.  javier all the way.  (hal holbrook could be a dark horse/sentimental win, but i think it’s javier all the way.

supporting actress - i’ve not seen gone baby gone or michael clayton, but all signs are pointing to cate(plus the reason she won’t win above is ’cause she’ll win here).  i have a glimmer of home for saoirse as well. 

in the coming weeks i’ll cover off some of the other categories. 

but now i’m going to make my self a massivebowl of ice cream then hide under my blanky.

well it’s official; the 5 city sales meeting tour i’ve been producing is finally over.  thank god!  it went off more or less without a hitch - a couple of the hotels had an issue here or there, but for the most part it was a success.  now, just 3 more hair show’s this season (cincinatti next weekend, washington d.c. the following and then miami at the end of the month) and i can finally spend some quality time at home. 

took a friend around a bit of san francisco tonight - she’d never toured it.  jumped in a cab to get to the haight for my amoeba fix.  that store never fails to provide me with a treasure (or three):

first up, the uk version of siouxsie sioux’s new (and first ever proper) solo album ‘mantaray’.  now, yes, i could have waited a week for the u.s. version - but i prefer things the way there were meant to be and this import, limited edition copy is gorgeous.  have only listened to the music on the crappy in room dvd/cd player - must import into the iphone for my day tomorrow to give it a proper listen.  (fyi, it appears as if siouxsie and budgie have split after some 26 years together and that siouxsie may have come out of the closet… no shock there i suppose).

next up, my mental hard-on lloyd cole with ‘live at the bbc’ - i didn’t even know this existed.  lloyd in so many ways is the perfect man for me… soulful, british, talented with dead sexy eyes.  ‘course he’s also straight so fuck ‘him.  this is a collection of tunes recorded live in 1990 and 1995.  very excited with this one.

and then there’s my new robbie williams treasure.  a semi-are cd single for a tune called eternity that doesn’t appear anywhere else, as well as a non-lp track toxic.  as much as lloyd is the perfect british guy for me, robbie just get’s my rock-star- rock’s off.  + you know how i like the boys with ink.  again, sigh - he’s straight.  so fuck him too.  lol.

also picked up a couple of multi-disk set’s put out by the fine folk’s at bar de lune - can always find a treasure or two for use in future shows.

whilst in the haight, we passed a cool asian artifacts store where they had a number of fine balinese puppets - i’ve always wanted a one of these; i couldn’t resist.  here she is:

here’s a close up of her face:

(kinda siouxsie-esqu in’she?)

tomorrow is just a day off in san francisco - how perfect?  first up, sleeping until whenever the hell i feel like wakeing up, i wonder what i’ll do after that….

it’s iphone bitch.  (only my new iphone would have so rocked that dance number at the vma’s - britney could learn a thing or two).

 yup, i succumbed to the awesome power of iphone.  i’m officially no longer a crackberry user (and one wonders, which device is more addicting).  while i really had every intention of waiting for v2, the price reduction did help.  and so did playing with a friends last weekend while in detroit. 

i gotta say, this was the easiest, most non-problem/head scraching phone installation ever.

—

while you may not be able to tell from the pic (it’s the last pic i took with my blackberry - it’s an amazingly bad camera)… macy’s has already started setting up christmas displays. 

that’s. just. wrong.

it makes me want to not buy anything from macy’s - it’s only sept 13 for fuck sake!

—

off to cleveland tomorrow for a show this weekend, then to baltimore for a sales meeting. 

i’m

almost

done

with

the

travel

insanity.

wish me luck.

… also known as the city that stole my beloved north stars.  f’ing bastards.

so, i sat on the tarmac for an hour last night in detroit en-route to dallas for sales meeting no. 3 of 5.  being sealed in a flying disease tube and forced to sit on the tarmac next to some middle aged woman who wanted to bond with me over our mutual love of tattoos (it’s important to note she had 1.  just one, the size of a pea, on her big toe).  said woman was oblivious to the headphones stuck in my ear and proceeded to grab my arm whenever she wanted me to hear something.

it was the perfect end to a weird weekend in detroit.  the show went off well (part of the stage fell down at one part - that was fun!  sometimes i miss the action of being the stage manager (i was directing the show from out front and was really quite helpless to fix the falling drape) - but at the end of the day the audience really seemed to love the show… the evaluations were off the hook!  yay me!!

as i mentioned in my previous post, the radisson detroit-livonia is ghetto.  i’m not in the sumptuous ritz carlton dallas.

i.

f’ing.

love.

the.

ritz carlton.

more later….

hi all -

just hanging out in a ballroom at a hotel in atlanta for the 2nd of the five retail sales meetings i’m producing… 

not much to report (other than there are no hot guys in this group! how discouraging).

more later…

so i’m home from boston with just the slightest beginning of a cold.  ugg… this is so the wrong time for me to get sick

—

boston went well.  very well.  so well in fact, we are changing things!  boston was the first of 5 touring retail sales meetings for the management team from our stores.  it seriously did go well, but in so many ways it was certainly a dress rehearsal (being the first)… lots of changes to the music, decor and presentation. 

—

very little down time in boston - was staying at the fairmont in copley place right across the street from trinity church.  i did get a chance to do a bit of a walk-about last night.  anxious to see if my pic’s turned out

—

reason #8594 ipods rock.  whilst on the plane today (comp upgrade to first class, can’t beat that) had my ipod ‘catch‘ on random and was reminded how much i love the album ‘things to make and do’ by the band moloko.  i’ve always enjoyed that album, but it tends to not be in the forefront for me.  when the track pure pleasure seeker came on, i immediately got a smile on face and restructured catch to play the whole album.  i love moloko’s sense of play and whimsy.  if your not familiar with them, they’re similar in a bunch of ways to goldfrapp, but much lighter.   while the band is alas, no more - it was a great reminder how much i love them.  roisin murphy’s (the singer) new solo album comes out in a couple months - very psyched about that.

here’s the video for the track ‘the time is now’ from the album:

—

it’s cb’s birthday on sunday.  i finaly figured out what to get him.  it fuckin‘ rocks.  can’t wait for him to see it.  he’s gonna dig it sooooooo much.  i love spoiling my friends. :-) 

—

i have another hair show this weekend in minneapolis and then leave for sales meeting number 2 in atlanta monday morning.  as such, posts will continue to be sporadic for a bit.

wow - what a weekend…  this past weekend saw the start of my busiest time of year (as if i was just twiddling my thumbs before - i know, but i’m about to get insanely busy).

this weekend i supported my team at a training for our educators that flew into minneapolis to learn our fall/winter collection and now i’m about to board a flight to boston where i’m producing a sales meeting….

following that:

thursday i fly home and promptly ramp up for a hair show next weekend in minneapolis. 

monday, i fly to atlanta for another sales meeting.

then i’m home for a week - woo wee, time off.

the friday after labor day, i’m off to detroit for a hair show, then sunday after the show i’m off to baltimore for sales meeting #3. 

home on thursday, then friday - cleveland for a hair show.  directly after the show i’m off again to dallas for #4.

the following monday i’m off to san francisco for the final sales meeting.  then home for a full two weeks before i’m back out on the road to cincinnati for a show…. home for two weeks (and hammer’s wedding), then the final show of the season - miami. 

sshhees, i need a nap just typing that out.

in other news, cb moved to the twin cities last week.  i haven’t had much time to hang with him, but did help him shop for a new tv on friday.  always fun spending other people’s money.

and of course today is his first day at work at his new job in minneapolis, so if you have a minute, send him a note of encouragement here.

see ya’ll in boston!

p.s., i’m exceedingly disturbed that i like the new nickleback tune “rockstar”

while jesus may indeed “save”, apparently he doesn’t really advocate his followers to be detail oriented…  has this guy never heard of a straight edge….? i particularly love the jaunty angle on “saves”

—

saw the bridge today… the pictures and the tv coverage don’t begin to do it justice…

—

spent the morning out in the “garden” with our president shooting a video message for a meeting i’m producing.  picture it, french-guy president making jungle jokes, myself and cameraman up to our waist in our native plant’s garden with a dewpoint of 74º and humidity level of 94%.  it’s positively tropical out there.  was pretty cool tho’ ton’s of bumble bee’s doing their thing and a woodchuck roaming about.  i love my job!