Posted 1:03 PM
The Dunnville Experience - A recent conversation reminded me to write this down. Every time I think back to this gig it makes me smile.

It usually happens in the summer; middle of August, or the beginning. I can't remember. I do remember it being unusually warm, even at night, the air full of mosquitoes. It was the kind of weather that sticks to your skin and brings out the sweat on your upperlip.

We were in Dunnville. It's a small town just west of Hamilton, I believe? The streets have no names; the addresses there are preceded by R.R.. For example, someone could live at R.R. #13, Dunnville. As we drove nearer, we saw farms, cows, goats, horses. It feels like half the country away intead of just outside of the city.

The dance was held in an airplane hanger. A real one - not the museum at the Hamilton International Airport, but a real, still in-use airplane hanger. The stage was made with the back of a flatbed truck. It was uneven, riddled with holes, but it had a lot of room. Room enough for a 23 piece big band to play on. The band was decked out in our tuxedos and dresses; the multi-colored stage lights and smoke machine completes the illusion. We were back in the 1940's, the soldiers were on leave, and a dance is held.

The musicians arrived on stage by way of a make-shift staircase made up of a picnic bench and cement blocks, stepping over the cracks of the truckbed. We swat the flies out of our faces gracefully, and incorporated them into a part of our act.

Some of us were surly and tired, bitten in multiple places, too hot for words. But that night, though we may not understand it, we worked time magic. We brought ourselves back 60 years.

Posted 8:09 AM
Christmas Choreography Session #1 - Santa Baby.

"Sally's much better at seducing the wall than a bunch of men." - Jenny
- I can seduce anything I can't see.

The boys tried to lift me up. Falling sideways.
- NOOOO! I'm afraid of heights!
"Put her down! She's scared!"

"Sally, you know that 'elusive' sexy thing that you do? Make it BLATANTLY sexy!"

"The lifting has to stay."
- But
"It has to. It's showy."
- But..
"Don't worry. You won't fall."
Now how does he know that?

"Look at her like she's hotstuff! Stare! Drool! You're attracted to her!" - Choreographer #1
"We are attracted to you." - One very honest singer.
"Well that'd help you!" - Choreographer #1
- It sure doesn't make me feel any better.

"You guys look like a bunch of stalkers!" - Choreographer #2

"Man#3! You look like a lech!"
"He's gay."
"Nice acting."
"Thank you."

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Session #2 - Christmas Island

- We should put hawaiian outfits on the boys and make them dance behind us.

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Session #3 - Cold, Cold Winter

"This is the one where we dress the lead singer up." "Dress him up?" "Yeah. We dress him up. In drag."

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Session #4 - Poppa Santa Claus

"Sit on the lap only in the end of the song! We're over using the lap thing."

"'And tried to rope an Indian of course!' Oh my God this is so politically incorrect." - Melissa
- We used to have a set of songs meant to be politically incorrect, remember?

"Now we kick off our heels and dance like a bunch of mo mo's." - Jenny

Posted 7:56 PM
A friend told me about Jame Joyce's "vulgar" letters to his wife, and so I told myself I had to read them.

OH. MY. GOD. That's really dirty. I was expecting a romantic sort of vulgar (A N Roquelaure), but it's much more vulgar than I expected. His friend is right. I can never look at James Joyce the same way again. That cuts my favorite Irish poets to three. Yeats, Wilde, and O'Reilly. Although I have to admit that Joyce has a wild, unkempt romantic aura to him that I could not resist if he was alive in this age.

Posted 7:10 PM
G & Me in the subway.

Me: I was thinking we should watch a comedy tonight.
G: let's rent a gory horror movie.
Me: How about I shove you down these tracks and make a gory horror movie right here?