Thanks for the support. Have to go to rehearsal now, but wanted to touch base. If it's ok, I deleted my post. I don't want to read it anymore...y'know...
anyway ! cheers Auntie :)

i am directing an original play (one act) "One More To Go". It's my third play this year. I like directing, but I have to say there are alot of great moments and there ate a lot of frustrating moments to it. I have acted, produced, so I thought it would be a good idea to direct to get the full experience. I totally respect directors- there's a lot of tug and war from actors- unless you are lucky and work with actors who are unselfish. It's just a two character play and I like it- it's just hard at times. I'm not complaining---but I just like to bitch a little- I think it's important. If a play goes great- the actors get the praise. If the play goes bad, the director gets the blame, unless the actors are so bad, but as a director I would not work with people who suck. It's a learning experience. I am learning. I will use it when acting or writing. I saw a friends show tonight. It was in a person's loft midtown and I showed up 15 minutes late because the subway was all screwed up because of the weekend schedule. I showed up to the show all sweaty and out of breath. To be honest, I zoned out after my friend had done his monologue. I just sat there feeling sorry for my sweaty self. I know- pathetic, but I got over it. I am still sick, so it was no surprise when after the show was done, one of my other friends said that I looked "beige". Yeah, it's exactly what I wanted to hear. Sometimes I am not sure what to do with my life. I do know that I do not want to take it for granted. Without sounding too "kumbaya"- I want to really take part of life. One of my friends just took his life last week. I am angry,sad, shocked, devasted. I don't know how to react. I have been abrupt and rude to other friends. I feel like I can sleep for days, and yet I can't get enough sleep. I am stuck. sorry- I don't know if this is something to share on someplace like this. I guess I will try to sleep tonight. Tomorrow I am supposed to see my first baseball game at Shea Stadium. Brewers against the Mets. Funny thing is, that I grew up in Flushing, Queens, home of the Mets and I never went to Shea Stadium. Go figure.

Yeah, I was an actor musician back in the day, then after I got sick I went back and got a theater studies degree. I directed Oliver recently at the community theater I am writing the book about. Not my cup of tea, but I did it as a favor and I did enjoy working with a large cast of kids. What is the play you are directing?

love the story. no worries. Trying to get over a flu-cold thing that won't leave my body and just trying to deal with the goings on around me. So you taught drama too? I am directing a play for a 15 minute festival that's going up next week.
be well B

How I made the transformation from bottom feeding musician to bottom feeding music biz person and back again is a story in itself...

I 1994 I got really sick and it took me three years to get anywhere near healthy. I went back to University planning to teach drama and music. The day I was leaving college (1998) I had arranged to go to a club in Camden Town to see my all time musical hero Peter Green play. Peter founded Fleetwood Mac in the Sixties, took too much acid, became a paranoid schizophrenic, left the music biz, made a brief comeback in the 80s and then returned again in the mid 90s. I was going to the gig with my best friend Bill and a friend from Wales, who I had met online as a result of a fansite I ran in Peter's honor. We turned up at the gig and were fairly drunk by the time we got inside the club. So much so that we felt the need to sit down. It was pretty much standing room only, but there were a few chairs vacant next to one table which had an old guy with a walking cane and a few very odd people in fishing hats sitting round. Someone who worked at the club (Dingwalls) told us we couldn't use the chairs, but the old guy with the cane said we were in his party. It turns out that he was Stuart Taylor, Peter's manager. He bought us more drinks, I wasn't supposed to be drinking at all at the time, and things got very relaxed. Peter played but I can't really remember much about the gig. My friend Bill had to get up in the morning so he went home, leaving the two of us there. It turned out that one of the guys in a fishing hat was Gary Moore, a rock guitarist of some repute, but I was not impressed. My Welsh friend was if anything more drunk than me, and she started telling anyone who would listen that I did a web site about Peter and that I should do the official site.

The gig finished and there were a bunch of people waiting for Peter to emerge from the dressing room. My friend just waltzed in there and came out with Peter on her arm. He came over to us and asked for coffee. This was overwhelming to me. I had met a fair few musicians over the years, but this was different, I had idolized this musician since I was 16. He took one look at me (I am somewhat rotund) and asked if I was one of the bouncers. I was crestfallen, and his manager Stuart explained that the only subjects that Peter would open up on were food, guitars and travel. I tried food and travel to no effect, but when I got on to guitars, and asked him about a specific concert the year before, he became animated and for a few minutes we had a real discussion. I was like a kid at Christmas. Then, he was gone, off up the motorway being driven to the next nights gig. We stayed talking to his manager some more, he took my number, but I had forgotten why he might have wanted it. I was keeping quiet that I had been a musician up till a few years before.

Finally my friend Jen and I got up to leave. We went out of the main exit, but there seemed to be a ramp that was not there on the way in. She was ahead of me, and she seemed to hit this wooden wall that stopped her from walking any further. She kept walking anyway. It was about this time
that I realised we had actually walked into the back of one of the equipment trucks that was about to be full of Peter's PA, etc! I just turned her around and she walked straight out of there.

I thought that would be the end of it, my one meeting with someone I had always admired. However, a few days later I heard from his manager, I was hired to do his official web site, and within a year I was sharing an office with his management, and in fact was managing another old Brit blues legend myself.

I actually once planned to write a book based on my dealings with Peter, I in fact wrote most of it, but I left it for other projects. Peter is a trip though. Some folk that meet him don't see beyond his illness, but he has a wicked sharp sense of humor. When asked once if he believed in life after death, he said he wasn't sure he believed in this one yet. Another time when he and Stuart were sitting outside a pub, a sad old fan liked me saw him and asked for an autograph. Peter looked up at him and asked "What's the alternative?" I could go on.

I thought you might be fed up with my stories. I get like that every now and then. It has not been too good a few weeks here either. I have plenty of ancient stories to go, plus a few not so ancient ones.

oh no was it something i said? been a tough week- only got miserable stories, not worth sharing.....yet

hey there- not a really a story but- One of my local hangs is throwing in the towel. It was a good place where I had great surprise birthday parties, sharpened my pool skills (until they got rid of the pool table), saw some great bands, took great black/white photobooth pics, played family guy pinball (which rocks), hung out with friends but regrettably never took advantage of their live band karaoke. DAMN. Bottom line is I will miss the place. Then I realized that I hadn't been there in such a long time. Bartenders left, the crowd changed a little, hanging out seemed less appealing. I fell in love with my couch again. Things changed I guess. Still feel sad though. It's like losing a friend- not to death or anything, but more to divergence. You know...you say potato, I say potato(e). I am sure I am not the reason for the closing, but wouldn't it be interesting if they laid that sort of guilt on me. I wish. The clencher is tonight, they are having a surprise concert with Yo La Tengo (not such a surprise anymore) and I will be celebrating a close friend's surprise birthday party- elsewhere. DAMN. I have to remember friendship is deeper than beer, a crowded hot room and music- RIGHT- Hah who am I kidding!!
I know I will miss the place. I know it. I will. I do already.
RIP Magnetic Field

cheers

Excellent!! One step beyond!!!! Food fights come in handy sometimes. hope you had a great mini vacation! I'll send you tale later too.

ps --- it's actually Poppo and you can see his shows on youtube--- i just watched some and it brought back some memories--hee hee-- you might find it interesting- cheers again! B

ok here I go- I used to video tape performance artists through a company called Rehab Video and there was a performance artist that liked what I did, filming wise and pretty much requested me all the time- so I became like his own "taper" if you will. His name was POPO- he was from Japan and he and his troop were always painted white - like kabuki (sp?) with a very modern twist.- He always ended his pieces wearing a wedding dress- I know- very 80's. So POPO was performing at PS 122 - (independent artist spot that used to be a school) and I had to stand on the window pane to film POPO , at his request. So while I was trying to balance myself on the ledge with a tripod and camera and trying oh so hard no to fall, I saw Iggy Pop come in and sit down right in front of where my window was. It was funny because through out the whole performance I was checking out what Iggy was doing instead of concentrating on Popo's dance moves. After the performance I joined everyone one the floor and was still a little googly eyed from seeing Iggy. I turned toward my friend and said in " Iggy Pop's here." Then I heard someone near us say, "Yeah he was." It was David Byrne and I just looked at him and was like " whhhaaaaa". I was embarrassed, but I remember thinking that it was such a cool night. -- I am easy to please, I guess. Cheers.

THANK YOU!!!!! I am eating up your stories!!! I love it!! Thank you for taking the time to write, I really appreciate it!!!! I miss the early rawness of music sometimes. I know there is some rawness now, but it's a little "shiny" if you know what I mean. I walked by where CB's used to be--it's going to be a clothing store- so I think it's important to keep stories alive! In return I'll trade a story with you. Cheers friend! B

That's pretty awesome about all the gigs!! I would love to hear about the punk festival of 1976 sometime. Maybe a weekly or monthly story? I am sure you got some great stories.
ps- i am glad you like my mix- i consider that a prize!
Cheers! B

you know, Killing Joke is reuniting for a tour ---minus Raven of course, but it will be the original group. And by the way Congratulations on the May blues gig! I am real happy for you!!

Swap yes! Hmmm, I really have to give dig deep in my archive of music to make you the most specialestest mix. Artwork included. :)

Oh good ole community theater. It sounds interesting anyway. could i purchase a copy if it's out?

apple juice-nice and cold, raise high, drink fast, piss later. CHEERS!

It's not very exciting. It's called "Raising The Barn" and is about community theater. The local community theater is 60 years old this year, and I am using that fact as a frame to hang a hopefully funny short book about the whole CT thing! My third book, which I hope to have out by Christmas is already half written and it is back to a music theme, a personal history of blues music in Britain. I certainly don't pick best seller subjects do I!

Anyway, I raise a glass of apple juice to you! Cheers

Hey there, you can still lift a glass no matter what is in it, so I lift a glass of yummy cherry soda your way!!! Happy New Year!! What is the title of your other book?

Happy New Year. Have a bloody great music filled twelve months! If I still drank anything fun, I would raise a glass

I am doing pretty well, and am lifting up an imaginary hot toddy (they have to be imaginary these days I am afraid) to you. Cheers!