Back on the air.

Howdy,it has been a long time since I've posted here. I was plagued by numerous injuries and illnesses once we returned to work and never seemed to get the time to write. But here I am now and I will try to update as best I can. We returned to tour in Hershey PA,and that was the last week I was completely healthy. The following week we were in Pittsburgh PA,where I aggravated an old knee injury from my Pony days. Then on our second-to-last show there,a flying prop went haywire and clobbered me on the head. I got knocked out for a second but somehow managed to keep on my feet. I finished the shows and went to the doctor as soon as we got to our next city (Spartanburg SC) and lo and behold,I had a concussion. So I did all the shows that week with a concussion. Not fun. At least my knee was feeling better. The following week was Kingston RI and I came down with a bad cold. Then we started a 3 week run in Detroit where my cold got worse and worse. Turns out I had a bronchial infection. I'm finally over it,and we're out of Detroit. We are now in Cleveland for the week. I like Cleveland and I'm familiar with it,so hopefully things shall start to go better.

I've been asked about my tourmates,so here's a quick primer on Who's Who in Sesame Street:

Caitlin - Elmo. She was on the Pony tour with me last year. She got hurt back in October,missed 2 months and was temporarily replaced by Tiffany,but is now back and healed. She's my LOST buddy.

Justin - Big Bird. At age 20 the youngest member of the cast.

Tim - Oscar. My 3rd year with Tim. He was Rainbow Dash both years of the Pony tour.

Christina - Ernie. Her twin sister has been with Vee for years,but this is her 1st time. Also Tim's girlfriend.

Beverly - Zoe. Probably the best dancer in the cast.

Krystal - Grover/Baby Bear. She was on the Pony tour last year.

Chris - Count. He started the year as Cookie Monster and switched over to Count when the previous one left.

Antwaun - Cookie Monster. Replaced me as the oldest one in the cast. (I'm 9 months younger.) A former Mr.Black Gay Universe!

Megan - Abbycaddabby. Just joined us at New Year's. A fellow MA native from Leominster.

Ashley - Rosita. Our resident Canadian.

Rebecca - Prairie Dawn. She was our assistant company manager on the 1st year of the Pony tour before she went back into performing.

Kyle - Telly Monster. Knows more about the Muppets and Sesame Street than anyone I've ever met.

Jason - Purple Honker/Tall Understudy. Our resident body builder and Rebecca's boyfriend.

Natalie - Grundgetta/Medium Understudy. Knows this show better than anyone and absolutely saved my butt when I was trying to learn it.

Laura - Roxy Marie/Small Understudy. Originally came on as a replacement for Abbycaddabby and got switched over.

So that's the cast. There's also Jeremy and Bridget,our 2 Company Managers and Jerry,our Performance Director. Tim and PJ,our carpenters. Chain,the props guy. Dave and Sam,the electrics guys. Jon,the sound guy. Kayce and Star,the wardrobe crew. Plus 7 merchandising people.

The show is still a killer,but the recovery time between seems to be getting shorter. We're past the halfway point now.

...and all through the night...

It is Christmas Eve as I write this. We finished up our last week in Bangor and Durham. We had 3 shows cancelled in Durham because of the snow,so I got home Saturday instead of Sunday. It was not only the last shows for Tiffany and Liz,as I mentioned last time,but also for Chris Mick who plays the Count. He decided to move on as well,mainly to spend more time with his boyfriend who's on another tour. Sad to see him go. He and I roomed together for a bit this year and he's a good guy. So they're moving the OTHER Chris,who plays Cookie Monster,over to Count and bringing in a new Cookie Monster. This in addition to Laura moving to Roxy Marie,a new Abbycaddabby,and Caitlin returning as Elmo. And all this will be happening our 1st show back. Eeeeek.

9 days at home. Basically that just means LOTS of Rock Band 2!

So Merry Christmas to all! The tour and the blog will resume next week(and next year)in Hershey PA.

As the cast turns...

Portland ME and I got to get out of the hotel for a bit this week. My mom has a new place about 20 minutes down the road so I stayed with her and saved a few bucks.

More cast changes - Liz,our Roxy Marie and small understudy,is leaving next week. Just wanted to move on to other things. So Laura,who was our new Abbycaddaby,is becoming the new Roxy. She'd been Abby for all of a week and now has to learn 5 more tracks! So we're getting yet another new Abby after Christmas. Tiffany,our temp Elmo,is also leaving at Christmas and we're getting Caitlin back,healed foot and all.

Split week next week - Bangor ME and Durham NH. We've been lucky with the split weeks. This will only be our 2nd. One of the other tours is currently in the middle of 8 in a row!

Turnover

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! We were in Nashville TN and while we had quite a nice dinner that the hotel provided for us,the venue was not so nice to us. Hot and dry,which was a combination we hadn't experienced yet. The venues are supposed to be kept cold for us,but this one wasn't. We've done the hot and humid thing enough that we know how to deal with it,but hot and dry made it very hard to breathe. It almost felt as if we were doing a high-altitude show in Colorado or something like that. We're also at that point where people are starting to drop like flies. This is a killer of a show and it's starting to take it's toll. Our 3 understudies have been quite busy lately. I haven't crapped out quite yet,but my shins might make me before too long.

Couple of personnel changes recently - Ruth,our Head of Wardrobe left quite suddenly while we were in Ohio 2 weeks ago. Kind of took us(the cast) by surprise but several of the crew,especially ones who had toured with her before,said they saw it coming and that she wasn't happy. I wish her well and hope she figures out what's bugging her. She was a good egg. So her assistant,Kayce,got promoted to Head and we have a new Assistant Wardrobe. It's none other than our old buddy Star,who played Minty on last year's Pony tour! She didn't come back as a performer this year because she had another job that has since ended. So she was just kind of bumming around when this opened up. She was also hoping that something on this tour would open since her boyfriend Kyle plays Telly Monster.

And just a few days ago Rachel,who plays Abbycaddaby,was let go. She had injury problems and attitude problems,so mangement decided it would be better to replace her. Rachel was a replacement on the Pony tour last year. She took over as Spike the Dragon right before XMas,and is one of those people who was on tour just to be on tour. No work ethic whatsoever. She would mark through the show and had no interest in working hard,and that carried over into this year. She got injured early on and wouldn't take care of herself. Instead of resting and healing,she would go out drinking and partying,so she never would heal and would miss several shows every week. And when mangement would tell her she needed to rest,she would talk back and give attitude. She's one of those people who honestly thinks that she's superior to everyone else because she's from New York. I am NOT gonna miss her. I was stunned she was brought back this year and annoyed that I had to tour with her again. So we get a new Abbycaddaby who I believe arrives today and supposedly will go into the show maybe as early as the end of this week. I guess she's been an understudy with the company before so she can pick up stuff quickly.

Salem VA this week,where nothing interesting has ever happened,and Portland ME next week. Long drive between them.

Finally wearing a coat.

We are now in Columbus OH,and this should be a better week than the last. San Antonio,as charming a city as it is,was quite a dreadful experience. We played this same area back on the 1st year of MLP. It was bad then and it's still bad now. It's an older arena that's now used pretty much just for livestock auctions. Hot and stuffy inside,which makes dancing in a muppet costume unbearable. But that wasn't the really bad part. A bit of exposition here - we travel completely self-contained. We have our own lights,grid,rigging,trusses,curtains,and floor. This enables us to perform pretty much anywhere. The only thing we don't carry is the deck,or actual stage. When our crew arrives at a venue to load in,there is supposed to be a platform waiting for them. It's supposed to be a certain height,width and depth. Well,this stage in San Antonio was 2 feet higher than normal. Not a big deal,you think. But our set has a ramp that leads down from the main stage to a smaller "satellite" stage in the center of the arena. We spend a lot of time running up and down this ramp,as well as stairs from the stage to the audience. The high stage meant more stairs to run up and down,as well as a much steeper ramp. The steep ramp and extra stairs,combined with the hot and stuffy air quality only served to wipe us all out. I've gotten my stamina up to a pretty good level,but this place made me feel like I was brand new again. Tired and sore like I used to be back when we started. We arrived in Columbus yesterday afternoon,and I slept for SEVENTEEN HOURS! Passed out around 6:30PM and slept straight through till 11:30 this morning. Not so much "sleep" as it was "Jedi healing trance".

So Columbus all this week and Nashville TN next week. Only 5 weeks till our break!

Can't think of a title so I'll just say OBAMA!

We're in Lafayette LA and I'm sore. More sore than I've been in awhile. This show is finally starting to take it's toll on me. I feel like I'm doing better in terms of having mastered the choreography and also in terms of stamina. It's more that my 37 year old body is breaking down. Very frustrating. I'll stick with this as long as I can,but there's a very real possibility I'll crap out before the tour ends. Thinking about trying to move into the management end of things if I stay with this company.

San Antonio next week.

There and Back Again

Last week was New Orleans. Possibly my favorite place in the world. One of the other tours was only 4 hours away,so I got to see both Jamie and Arlee,my 2 bestest buddies! I miss those girls like crazy. We had a rough show schedule,but I almost didn't care because of where we were.

RANT ALERT * * * *RANT ALERT * * *

I need to take issue with the way that the media has been handling the issue of post-Katrina New Orleans. The storm was a little over 3 years ago and rebuilding,while slow,has been proceeding. There are still neighborhoods that have not recovered,but much of the city is back to normal. All the major tourist areas - the French Quarter,the Garden District,Downtown,and the Faubourg Marigny district - were largely untouched. Shops,bars and restaurants are all up and running,and they need your business. Bourbon Street this past Friday was as hopping as I've ever seen it. But when CNN reports from New Orleans,do they show you JazzFest,Mardi Gras,or VooDooFest? Nope. They send Anderson Cooper to stand in the Lower 9th Ward and talk about how the city is still "a scene of total devastation". Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes,there are those neighborhoods that are still ruined,but that's because the media continues to scare away tourists. Those neighborhoods were home to the musicians,waiters and bartenders. They can't get their homes back until they get their jobs back,and they won't get their jobs back until the tourists return. This city is safe. This city is vibrant,and it needs you. CNN and FoxNews need to stop scaring people away,and report the good news that New Orleans is open for business. I don't know who reads my blog but I urge all of you spread the word - the Big Easy is back. Please come.

Our first casting change - Caitlin,who was on the MLP tour with me last year and was our Elmo,fractured 2 bones in her foot and is out indefinitely. So we have a temporary Elmo,Tiffany. She played Elmo in this show last year and was able to jump right back in. She's only with us till XMas,at which point Caitlin should be back.

We're back in Florida this week for a split week - Gainesville and Fort Myers.