Schenectady, you were great!

It's 1am and I'm fading fast, so let's get this post written!

We had a school show for over 700 kids this morning, no surprises, no problems. After that was a good five hours for lunch and whatever before a 5pm theater call. We found a nifty modern Italian restaurant that let us call in our dinner orders at 9pm so we could have a hot dinner after the show whilst discussing how things went.

As for the show, I had a blast! We're not sure of the final count, but it was probably 700-800; very respectable. I avoided errors and felt stronger at this show than any other on this tour so far! The kulingtang held no terrors for me tonight and a few of my solos were even more creative than I've allowed myself to be in the past. During one of our more physically intense songs, there was a "drum incident" that I had to play off so the audience wouldn't notice a thing. Wasn't easy, but when taken as a fun challenge rather than a horrible happenstance, it became something to overcome instead of something to freak out about.

I do have to mention the awesome set up of the hotel and theater; it had an effect on our comfort and morale. The Parker Inn is connected to an arcade (think mall, not video games) which is connected to Proctor's, the 2400-seat theater we played at. Once we figured out they were connected, it was only a five-minute walk from hotel room to stage, which meant never having to go out in the rain and no panic should you forget a piece of costume. Little things like that go a long way in making the performers comfortable, but are pretty rare indeed!

By the way, that last picture is the tape ball the theater's been collecting from shows over the past 8 years. Shows use tape to mark where to stand, where to go to, scenery, etc. It's about 250 pounds and seriously dense. Soccer, anyone?