A Washington Renewal

We have made it to Washington!! And we had a great show tonight!!

We arrived here in Olympia yesterday, and about an hr later my great friends Erin and Kevin came and picked me up, and took me back to their house in Seattle!

I had an absolutely fabulous time, I don't think I haven't gotten to see them since I sang in their wedding which was 2yrs ago, so it was a long awaited visit. And you know what was really awesome for me, this: Kevin is a pretty quiet guy( doesn't mean he's not listening though), and poor fellow broke his foot jumping down from his bunk on his Navy ship, so he was seating in the back seat, listening away as his wife Erin and I gabbed away and caught up. Well I made a comment apologizing for not singing the best I could at their wedding, to which he chimed in and said that was his favorite part of the day, and at which the moment when He let go, and either almost cried or cried. Hearing this Comment from him floored me, and I quickly shut up about it, I don't think he knows how much that meant to me.

Anyway we had a wonderful time talking over this wonderful roast that Erin made, and then baking cookies, and brownies, ( which of course I brought all back for the cast), only after I had my share in a delicious ice cream sundae!. All we did was hangout and watch disney movies, The Incredibles, and the new one Ratotouie (it was alright).

Seeing them was wonderful and restored me some more for being on the road. But I ended up getting closer to a new friend as well today, and that also made me lifted, my energy level for the show was awesome tonight, and man I was able to look over peoples crap, and just smile a lot more tonight. I even felt good enough to be the bigger man, and I went and had a talk with someone in the cast that I had been harboring ill judgemental feelings for, and asked for their forgiveness for. Man did that feel good. So though it has been raining here, surprise surprise, If it is God crying , it was because he was happy that I am doing the right things.

Today I am thankful for new beginnings with old friends, taking risks with new friends, and for the freedom of forgiveness!

oh yeah, and for these sweet new water bottles we got tonight!!!

Love people as hard as you can!

next stop a night's rest in redding ca

a ponder on a bus

We are traveling,

That's pretty much all we ever do. We had a stop last night in Eugene Oregon, actually stayed at the same hotel from when we performed here, you know from earlier posts where I talk about the goobers, and the video of little gabby. We are now in Olympia Washington, which completes my upper left corner of my map. The only thing I'm missing from the west coast is Arizona and New Mexico, though for some reason I feel as if I've been to the phoenix airport before. We perform here tomorrow night, so we have the night and day off to go crazy. What's great for me is that I have a great friend from high school, and college n Seattle who are on their way to pick me up, to give me a night in a home rather than hotel, which is absolutely wonderful.

I think one of the hardest things for people to do is be grateful.

and it makes me wonder how often I live my life with, or in gratitude. I've just been thinking. A lot of people in the cast feel they're entitled to things. You hear alot of complaining, whining, and dislikes about any and everything. Now it's not always hunky doree out here. We've had some pretty disgusting hotel rooms, with mold and mildew, long bus rides with ever changing food stop times, to places with slim to no food options(pity the veggies), an over smelly bathroom that at times reeks throughout the bus, and that is without all the work aspects. But it seems that people will more often complain first rather than be patient and see thru the situation. There's alot of speaking before you think, sometimes I wonder if half of us here have even heard of that before. Now on top of all this, and long tiring days, I still have manual labor to do of unloading, and loading the bus, and from dealing with every ones luggage you see who's considerate and who isn't, If I wanted to I could be the foremost runner for bad attitude, so I've decided that every night I am going to try and sit down and write out what I'm thankful for, and to tell someone what I've written. I don't want to live life grumpy, or have a complaining attitude, or have people remember me as one who always notated the negative.

So right now, I am thankful for a strong back, that is healthy and can allow me to do hard work after a long ride, and the pain of knowing my muscles have been used.

remember

love people as hard as you can.

The smell of wine in the air!

One of the coolest things about being involved in a tour,
is traveling from place to place, and the experience of choosing to not live in fear. See one can have an attitude that says, hey what do I got to loose, I'm only here for one night, I can be anybody I want, or talk to any one I choose. It gives you an heir of courageousness so to speak. Well Being a people person, I am already inclined to talk and connect to strangers, and the added attitude just makes me super out going Alfie! hahahaha

Let's see, I now am friends with the waiter from Tupelo MS, the bar tender from Billings Montana, the dance studio receptionist from Santa Cruz Ca, and today solidified a new friendship with Eldon, and his wife. Eman was the runner for us yesterday, the one who had to just hang around until somebody needed something. So as usual, I forced him into conversation. We ended up sharing alot about each other, and feeling free to get into a real deep conversation, even in the midst of everyone else. It was pretty awesome, he turned the whole day around. If you remember from before, this was the long start at 5am day that went into a 2 show day, where we spent over 13 hrs at the theatre, SO needless to say everyone gets tired and annoyed of each other, and it was great to have a whole other persons energy to connect with. He was able to bring his wife and niece to see the show the next day, and afterwards they were gracious and took me out to dinner. And now I have friends here in Nappa Valley Ca! How sweet!

The other very encouraging thing that happened here in wine country was this, a reviewer came to see the first matinee we did on sat, and apparently picked a couple of people she wanted to talk to. Not being able to put face with name( cause no pics in the programs) she went up to the merchandise guy and described who she wanted to see. Well it was me, I mean all you really have to do is ask for the deliciously dark chocolate guy, and everyone knows who you're talking about. Anyway, she didn't need me for long, she just wanted to tell me that I really stuck out from the ensemble, and that I was a good dancer. That's all I needed. In this show where there is only 1 dance number, and I have none of the featured dance roles, and just keep feeling like I am getting fat and ugly, to have someone say that I stand out in a good way(besides being black) is such a needed affirmation.

We are now headed to Olympia Washington! It will be my first time in that state as well. It will take us 2 days to get there, with a stop in Eugene Oregon again, same hotel too. So I will try and post some fun video, and pics from the bus or something. Oh by the way I made it so anyone can comment on any posting, so if anyone has any questions they want answered, or anything you want me to talk about, or take pics of let me know!!!!

love people as hard as you can

A Thanksgiving to remember!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!

(you 'd better believe right now I'm listening to Christmas music, Thank God for Free web radio!)

As you know we have had the last week off here in San Luis Obispo, And for those of us who didn't have the pleasure of going home, and stayed here had an incredibly blessed experience being enthralled by the quality and service of the embassy suites hotel.

It has been a pretty fantastik week! As soon as we got here we set it Lauren had it set up for us to be able to take a free Ballet class, and since it was free, we all went( um, all the dancers). We had a great time, and the School was ever so generous, and welcomed us in with open arms. The great thing about it was I didn't feel so fat and ugly, and un-dance like like at the class we took in Santa Cruz, Yeah!! I am so excited to go home, cause the first week all I will do is dance! You know I think Half of the kids dance company from the school got to see us perform tonight, cause apparently they were screaming their heads off for us, and I think stopped by the stage door tonight. I love having my arts family extended.
Anyway, I haven't done much all week, which has been absolutely fabulous! Again let me just say how great this place is, I opened the door, and walked into my living room. That's right each room has a seperate living room with tv, and a hall way bathroom, that goes to your bedroom with another tv. We had a card for free complimentary breakfast, so I went down the first morning and asked what I was able to get, and the woman proceeded to give a visual tour, here's where you get your omelettes, potatoes, thats the cereal bar, there's the juice bar, pastrybar,pancake,waffle,eggs,fruit, bar. Umm Oh ok. I was fantastically floored! And on top of that there was a happy hour every night from 530 to 730 where we also had a free comp card to, Which is just a bad thing for this cast. Since it was free, one night I decided to partake an a distilled beverage. Now I don't drink, I hate the task and pretty smuch the smell of alcohol, So I told the cast if they could find me a fruity drink that is sweet and doesn't taste like Alcy I would have it( they want to see me drink, and get crazy). Well Phil comes to meet later with this big class of some mixed juices and said just sip it. So I went to the store, bought some cheese,crackers,salami, and lobster patte, and had myself a nice time getting know my friends, ME Myself, and I, people It feels I don't get to see often for quality time alone. I also got a chance to walk downtown, and see the new movie Enchanted.I know you're probably saying why'd I choose that with all the good movies out now, well, I like fantasy movies, especially disney, hey come on I worked there, and because I wanted to so there!

So Thanksgiving, Well we tried to make it as special for us as possible. So James decided to have everyone over in the morning for pastry, juice and merriment as we watched the Macys parade, the only requirement was to come in your Jammies, I wish I got a picture but to no avail. It was great to was great to watch our peers performing in NYC, made us all home sick. For dinner Troika decided to take us all out cast,crew,and pitt to Marie Calenders, a popular place to eat here on the west coast. People described it as a mix between Shoneys and Dennys, maybe equivalent to a Perkins. Ok, so it's going to be a different Thanksgiving, we accepted, and pretty much new were having a broke dinner, but we stilled dressed up, and made our spirits brite. Well we get there, and from the other clientelle, we looked at each other and said,"exactly what I was imagining!" Well it ended up taking almost 30mins for us to be seated, cause of some people who were taking their sweet time leaving, which I don't blame them for it was a holiday, but the restaraunt should have had something ready. Well It would make this whole thing such a long story to tell you all of it's indivisual ghettoness. But we ended up making it a special moment for us. We got them to turn the lights down, find candles, and give us more food than was alloted to us, haahahaha by the end they were just bringing out whole pies, and tins of whip cream, and bottles of whine. We even ended up eating pie straight from the table, it was truly ghetto but we thoroughly embraced it! Thanksgiving 2007 San Luis Obispo, never forget it.

We had 1 show black friday night, and after 4 days off it was good and energized, and everybody seems to be back to their usual selves, bad or good. Oh well christmas is coming! Only 22 days til we have our layoff!WHHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO.

better go to bed, 5am call, 7hr drive, straight to theatre, a matinee, and then an 8pm show, One very very long day.

Hello Hello!

Praise God, We have 4 days off!!!

And let me tell you it is so needed. We're on our way to San Luis Obispo, Ca, that's where our next show is on friday. A third of the cast is gone, including my roomate trip, and my busmate Chris, and let me just say the less people, and this total relax attitude is truly fantastik. It's nice to just chill out. Right now we're staying at this great hotel in San jose. Really beautiful, and the best thing is that all the rooms have this awesome sony radio. I have done nothing but listen to this awesome hiphop dance station all night rockin it out. Another great thing is when we get to SLO tomorrow we can just totally chill out, cause we'll have 2 days off there, oh and apparently something happen with our DAYS INN reservation, so now we're going to be staying in a Hilton, Ha! I'm not complaining at all. I think a couple of us are going to try and have Thanksgiving dinner there. I think some of us are going to try and take a dance class or 2, I'll let you know. So nothing really going on accept random fun.

Oh yeah, so apparently all of these people who I don't know are reading this now, one day on the bus Malia says that her grandmother had found it and was staying updated, same thing happened with James family, so now I really have to keep this as updated as possible. The only thing to talk about now is the craziness that we're doing. Here's some fun from Burger king.

the call,jet's turn,and goobers

Well it has been one crazy kind of day here in Eugene Oregon.

It was a 2 show day which already means that things are going to be funky, and everyones going to be tired and over it. And we also know by now one of the leads will call out for one show.

Well while I was in the dressing room getting ready for the matinee show, a good friend called me from a number I didn't recognize, so I didn't answer, once I listened to my voice mail I immediately was broadsided by guilt and grief. My friend Eric had called to talk to me, console in me, and tell me that his mother passed away early friday morning. I knew she had been battling cancer, but the last time we talked which was a couple of months ago, she doing kimmo, and was I thought on the up and up. She was only 44. SO needless to say it was kind of hard to take this after not being in touch for a while. Of course I immediately called him to talk. I am glad that in this time of heartache he knew he could come to me and be consoled, and encouraged,or that he even wanted too. it was great to hear his voice and to even hear some joy in it. He was happy that God wanted another angel by his side, and he told me he was even happy to be talking to me. He asked how and what I was doing, which I clearly retorted how much it didn't matter, but he was happy to know that I am living my dream, we Even shared some fun memories and laughed.

Again needless to say, it changed the whole mood and attitude of my first show.Energy level was kind of down, and I was thinking about him, and my own mother alot. Please keep my friend Eric, and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

That was kind of the thing that just set me over, I was done with whatever anybody had to say that was negative, so I decided to stay between shows not go back to the hotel, and chill out. Went and found a place to have some beer cheese soup and salad, which has become a favorite, inexpensive staple for me, and then went and moved around in the studio. Oh yeah, we performed at this beautiful space, it seemed to be a new theatre the way it was clean, and the condition it was in, but we found that there has been many a tour for years that have come thru there. How? you ask, well there is this small black hallway and steps you have to go up to get to the stage from the dressing rooms. On the walls are paintings of the logos of the shows that have walked thru the hall to perform on this stage, with the signatures of the cast around it. The walls were full, it was awesome! People were just glancing thru and finding friends all over the place.

Our biggest adventure for the night was our 8pm show where Omar for the first time called out. I give it to him, he was trying to make it all the way to Christmas, but after 52 shows of screamin Che lyrics, he finally had to call out. Which meant that Jet had to go on for the first time. We like when things like this happen for it gives us fresh energy and a show to anticipate!, and Then we find out that Cameron called out! Whooo, 2 leads, so that meant Malia had to be Evita( now there was some formal mess about it all, but I don't understand any of it so whatever). Anyway, It was a great show, it was kind of nice Malia could go on cause, almost all her family was there, since she is from Portland. It was fun running the show seeing what things Jet was going to do, It makes us all have to be on our toes, cause you have to be ready for anything, and expect things to not go right at all. You prepare yourself to whatever's neccasary to keep the show going well, like moving out of the way when your dancing and Che comes right infront of you cutting off all your space, hahaha. We had a great show though, and it was really the only one people gave us a standing o for, so there.

The most fun aspect of the evening was meeting Jame's Family, for he too is from Portland, so almost all of his world was there including the "goobers"! These are his 2 nieces that we all know about from his semi daily updates on them, oh and cause of his adventourous pursuits to find a postcard in every city we're in for them. They have become our Mascots. Well Last night His mother invited us all to her room to have some Oregon Wine, and gourmet chips, and hangout with his family, minus the kids( his 2 nephews were there as well). We had a great time!! Every single cast member who came was greeted by a Hug from who is now deemed as our tour mom. All we did til 2 in the morning was tell stories of tour, and listen to crazy relational situations about their family. I must say I was truly surprised at how they could all exist in such crazyness, but Hey they do, and they embrace it, we all said they out the fun in disfunctional! HAHA, but we have already grown to love them. The next morning Lisa and I had breakfast with the full crew, and got to hear even more stories, and fully be adopted into the family. FANTASTIC. We had the most fabulous send off today, all the kids got to get on the bus, and we got to run around with them and get them all wound up for there trip home. They all left us with an excitement for the next leg. In march we go to Thousand Oaks California for a week, they said they had already had plans to be there and go to Disneyland, well let's just say we're already making the schedule for who gets to take the goobers and the boys on the rides!

There's so many last names with them all, I'll just say thanks Evita extended Family!! We Love YOU!

ps. the pumpkin cake, ohh, yesss!

Weed City

Well We just came from Eureka/Arcata Ca, which we were formally told, is one of the biggest marijuana growing cities in the whole North America.

We performed at Humboldt State University. It was a pretty weird town, I'm not going to lie. There wasn't really any good looking people, and it really looked like everyone was just stoned, which was probably true. We even felt like our audience was pretty high. Not gonna lie. We ended up having a brush up rehearsal, which is fine, but they didn't plan it wise enough, so people ended up having to go early and hangout at the theater all day waiting for there slot. So I ended up just watching Muppets Take Manhattan, (which is fabulous by the way), and oddly enough is about a bunch of kids, well animals, and muppets or different people, graduating from school, and trying to make it big on Broadway. Nothing real exciting to report, right now we're in Eugene Oregon, And there seens to be nothing going on here either. Keep me in your prayers though, especially for my voice.

Relaxing Waves

Santa Cruz,

This will be a place remembered by all of us as great relaxation!

and here's the story.

We were originally supposed to go to San Fransisco for a fabulous 2 night,and day off to explore the city and go crazy. We were all excited, Lord knows I couldn't wait to be in this place that I once again, had only seen from tv, movies, and posters. But then before a show we got the bad news, nothing in San Fran was open because of some oracle convention. Every hotel was booked up, the closest we could get was almost an hr and a half away in Santa Cruz. So our dreams were crushed. Well then we found out that the hotel that the company put us up in was absolute trash. The crew arrived there a day earlier, and couldn't stand it so much they ended up renting a car and traveling some where 2 hrs away, and then called our comp. manager. SO he decided to put himself in harms way, in terms of the company and his boss, and place us in a great hotel. The only hotel that is on the beach here, with every room having a ocean view.

It has been really wonderful, and hearing the ocean has been just a fantastically soothing experience, so much so that we have not closed the balcony door since we got here. At night when it gets cold we just turn the heater on.(and then we turn it off right before we go to bed, so the waves crashing will rocks us to sleep. This morning I was awoken by the shore, and well sea lions barking like crazy.hahaha. At the end of the pier there is a whole sea lion platform where they hangout.

Last night Sam called me and wanted me to take a ballet class, so we went and got lost in downtown SC looking for this dance studio. On the way we found this bikram yoga studio, and a fabulous street to hangout and go shopping on. We thought we had missed our chance cause signs were hidden like crazy, we were late, and almost decided to give up when Sam Spotted it behind some trees. So we get there, and bless their hearts they waited for us to take class(cause we were the only 2 there to take class). OH Ballet class kicked my @#$@%! I felt absolutely pathetic, and thick, and fat, and like I had lost everything. Oh well.

Today I decided to try something new, so I went to that yoga studio and took class. Now for those that don't know bikram yoga is yoga in a room that's like 100 degrees in tempt. So you're sweating like crazy when you're just standing there. It was absolutely hard and fabulous! And then later on met up with Sam and Lisa for some fun shopping. I got a real navy Pea coat for only $55!!!

Onward to Arcata!!

Magic mountain

We've been in Long beach Ca for 3 days now. We had 3 shows here, and lets say they weren't abywhere close to being sold out, in fact they weren't even close to half house capacity. But oh well, we still had fantastik shows. Had a whole of good support too, seems like half the cast has some kind of friend or family connection here, and of course they were the ones screamng their heads off in the audience. I actually got to meet Kari's friend who happens to be a film and tv stunt double, and I mean the real deal, she's actually been Tori Spellings double in "SCary movie 2"!! Anyway she gave me great tips for getting into stunt work, and gave me great encouragement for learning how to tumble, which I am going to do. I will be tumbling by the end of next year.

Today was actually a golden day! That's right another full day off!! WHOOHOOO, and guess what I did today, go to SIX FLAGS, MAGIC MOUNTAIN BABY!!!!!!! That's right road roller coatsers all day long, screaming my brains out. It was so awesome. James, Lisa, Geoff and I got a car and drove about 45 min away up north to have a fun day away from everyone else.

It was a fantastik day of laughter from screaming, and of fear. We road some of the beast rides I have ever been on. These are the days where I absolutely love being on tour. whoo boy am I pooped

The Endless Night in SIn City

Well, let's be honest
it wasn't an endless night at all, but hey talk about a title!
I'm sorry it has been a week, I would have posted on wed. but we were at a hotel that didn't provide free wifi. In fact the hotel we stayed at was none other than the Famous HOOTERS hotel. Yes yes I know. Wasn't my choice, or anybodies really. And let's just say it was everything I would expect a hooters hotel to be. But whatever, I'm not going to lie, the rooms were kind of nice, and we up in the high rise able to look down onto the pool. I tell ya it was real cool coming into the city and being able to the strip from miles away.

Oh and a quick word on the drive down, Oh My Gosh! Driving around the west has been absolutely breath taking at moments, at many moments. Traveling all thru colorado, and montana, some of wyoming, seeing the Rockies, has been some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. It was such a shock to me that, it felt unreal, I kept saying how everything in the movies is true! I felt so naive, Cause it felt weird that this was all here, and I've never seen it before. The saddest thing about it all, is that I couldn't capture it. NO picture I took gave it justice. Especially when we drove from Utah to LAS V, we ended up driving thru this canyon like valley, surrounded by these beautiful rocky cliffs, and boulder mountains. It was amazing, and all of this makes me miss my best friends more and more, cause they are all outdoor guys.

I must say coming into Las V, was a pretty exciting feeling, looking at all the sites, buildings, and attractions. Again feeling like I was entering a set on a movie. The best thing about it all was the fact that it was warm and beautiful, and the sun was shining for Jesus! After unloading the bus, and getting up to my over looking room, I saw Mikey( our fly guy) at the pool, so Of course I called him to bug um, and found out that HE has a friend who works on the biggest Cirque Du Soleil show, KA, and that he was getting an escorted backstage pass, and got special vip box tickets. You'd better believe I tried to get in on that, but to no avail.

Anyway we walked around the strip a little bit, went into the famous MGM Hotel, saw the Lions, which by the way was very sad, there glass cage looked worse than anything I've ever seen at a zoo. One thing I was surprised about was how diverse the employees are here, again another form of my naivety. Of course we had to go into new york, and to the new york hotel. We do anything that reminds of us home. Since we were there we had to ride the famous Manhattan roller coaster. Now I wouldn't normally spend 14 dollars on a ride, and almost didn't, but hey I did. Now the only thing I absolutely wanted to do was go to the M&MS World store. You see ever since my freshman year in college I have been a collector of things that are assoicated with them. I love the Characters, and over the years have found some awesome figurines, and candy dispencers. My mother even stayed up all night one christmas to sow m&ms material to a bathroom set for me. I love her, I call her milk chocolate.

Being in the M store was great! I loved being overwhelmed by the things I like. 4 stories of this crazy madness, and a 3d theatre!!! Of course I made them and stay and watch the movie, It was called I lost my m in vegas. It was how Red gambled away his letter, and how they searched to get it back, it was cute. Las V is a pretty crazy place, I have to say I felt way out of place there, for one I do not gamble, so the biggest thing to do there I didn't want to do. But the whole place is surrounded by a sort of bad vibe for me. The only reason why I would even consider living there would be to be in a Cirque Du Soleil show.

Well, the only other thing for me to do would be to see a show. Now George, our substitute Company manager got a whole bunch of free front row tickets for The Blue Man group. So that was the plan, he couldn't get any Cirque shows cause they are so in demand. So we decided to head back to the hotel when it started getting dusk, wash up and get some dinner before the show. In Vegas most shows are late, Blueman was a 10pm curtain. Well As I am about to leave my little owls nest room to meet them in the lobby, I get a text from Mikey asking me telling me he still had 1 ticket to KA. WHAT!!!!! Yeah let's just say I totally dumped my friends to go there. SOrry! I know I know. They understood fine. I ended up joining Mikey, Trish(spot girl) his friend Bridget who works for the show, she actually deals just with all the shoes of the 80 cast members, for dinner, Wolf Gang Puck, and Mikey was the big brother who payed for it all, Absolutely fabulous!

The SHOW was absolutely splendiffricallamazatasicallyawesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and I ended up buying the stuffed turtle.

re-ignited my passion and dream to be in a cirque show, so you'll probably be hearing more about that in the future,since I ended up meeting 2 Penn staters who work on 2 different cirque shows, and told me alot about whats going on in the future for cirque, I have started applying and getting in the frame of mind to audition for them.

The next morning It was still beautiful so I layed out by pool, got to give the reason to call me dark chocolate!We are now in Santa Barbara California. For the first time what is going on in the world hit us, as we drove in the city and saw the haze and layer of fog above the immediate sky that is from the smoke from the fires. There is this eery feeling over the whole place because of it. We had a show tonight, it went well, it was in a beautiful theater that is made to llok like the outside of a an old spanish town, It was really cool, Everybody voice felt so much better too after having those 3 days off. The nice thing about today was getting up at noon, getting a breakfast burrito from some small shop, heading to the beach, and having breakfast with peace. It was the total contrast to Las Vegas, and very much appreciated.