Back in Berkeley

The last show went great. Sherry Weaver of Speakeasy Stories turned up -- and booked me for June!

A week on the NYC stage, a booking for spring ... and an engagement. What a wonderful, wonderful week. Thank you, FRIGID, and thank you, NYC.

Second to last performance ... with a twist!

The show was AWESOME tonight. I riffed a lot and it felt good.

Then I finished the show and was giving my little spiel when Adam came out from the audience and got down on one knee. Out came the ring.

I said yes.

By the way ... last performance is tomorrow, 1 pm!

Let's hear it for Costco rings. :) We're very, very, very happy.

A few things ...

- Very sad to hear about the Greenwich Village shooting. I was in the East Village at the time, didn't hear anything until today when (1) I heard some cops talking about it on the subway platform ("Lotta crazy shit in this world, ya gotta be careful, keep your head up.") and (2) my mother emailed me. So sad.

- Had some great Ukranian food last night. How appropriate, since the show is set in Eastern Europe (though it's Central Europe, if you ask Czechs).

- Now at the Tea Lounge in Park Slope. Makes me want to move here!

- Am I the only person who can go to Williamsburg and not find a hipster?

Hope to see people come out tomorrow!

Third performance

Five people, sweet audience. Thanks for coming out, everyone.

Tomorrow is a well-deserved break. Then things pick back up on Friday, 10:30 pm! Can't wait!

ANDREA review

Check it out here! I really appreciate Frank Anthony Polito's generous and honest assessment.

The show continues through Sunday, March 18.

Opening night was fantastic!

I want to thank everyone at FRIGID central -- you guys are so relaxed (and at the same time, so hardworking!) and down-to-earth ... you made it so easy for me. Justin, tech god, you're a doll, and Morgan, thanks for the kind words before I took the stage!

Five more performances ... but the hard one's over and now the real fun begins!

ANDREA debuts tonight!

I'm sitting at the Yaffa Cafe across from Under St. Marks. Tech time starts in 20 minutes. The show starts at 6. I can't wait!

In Las Vegas!

Free wifi at the airport ROCKS!

Can't wait to take the stage tomorrow!

Opening night: Monday, March 12, 6 pm!

Join me!

Is bad art fraudulent art?

Time Out New York's David Cote on that subject.

"Art" is a huge word. Does it connote that something is of high quality -- or, for that matter, of any quality? My cat can call himself an artist. What does that word even mean?

The suck of it all is that someone can put their heart and soul into a performance, a book, a painting -- and it can still, well, suck.

Hence comes talent.

Talent comes from that place that's indefinable. It can be honed, for sure, but I really think it's there or not. It's pretty unfair, but it's (to my subjective mind) a fact.

So who are the frauds? Totally another post altogether.

I work my ass off to make a good show. I want people to applaud because they feel it, not out of politesse. That's part of why I'm looking forward to having a New York audience. San Francisco audiences are very kind -- almost too much so. It's hard to gauge how you're doing, because they want to like you, and they want you to feel good, and somehow the truth gets a little muddled.

I'm not looking for tomatoes to be tossed at my head, but if I'm a fraud, please, call me on it.

Free and discounted ANDREA tickets

Interested members of the media: Please contact me if you're interested in attending/reviewing ANDREA. I'm happy to provide comps at the door.

If you're a member of the general public interested in discounts, please contact me.

Upcoming.org

A great event-listing site: Upcoming. Check out the ANDREA listings -- and other FRIGID events!

T minus less than two weeks!

Check out the interview!

It's at NYTheatre.com. Scroll down.

FRIGID Fest gets publicity!

Check it out!

Mike Daisey, solo performer

This guy is my hero. I'm re-reading 21 Dog Years, and I wish I'd taken the chance to see him when he was at the Berkeley Rep years ago.

Seattlest got a great interview with him earlier this month.

A few of my favorite lines from it:

"I also like the live wire aspect of the work--people watching know that the story is driven and created fresh right at that very moment, and will never be recreated, which is a terribly rare thing in our theater. I think I do it because I believe in the supremacy of live experiences, and I am dedicated to doing theater that justifies its existence now, in today's world, and isn't mouldering and festering 19th century warmed-over bullshit. It is also enormously gratifying when I survive the performance."

"

Audience want to be surprised and subverted, upturned and unmoored from the familiar--the best theater does that, and I aspire to reach that end by dissolving the boundaries between the audience and myself. There is no script, and as little pretense as possible, and this allows a degree of honesty in the bounded space of the stage that is rarely achievable. Whatever investment audiences are willing to put in any piece of theater is an enormous responsibility--it is their time being gifted into your hands--and I think audiences want to be paid back for their time with insight, pleasure and catharsis. In a very real way when an audience roots for me, they are rooting for themselves, because it's the sum of all of us, audience and performer together, that determines just how any given evening is going to go down."

Inspiration for my stage time next month.

ANDREA expansion continues

Today I'm writing about office jobs and their dullery (and, in the words of the show, is that even a word?) -- and how I was scared of having to get one after coming home from the Czech Republic.

I can't sit behind a desk. I should never try. I should have learned that long ago.

On another note, I used to write poetry. I still do, but not as much. Here's an oldie that just got published on one of my favorite (and local) lit sites. Enjoy.

Paying it forward

Deb Ng runs an incredible blog that's a great service to freelance writers like me. She's not only a pro but a helpful one -- every day she collects job leads from which I and writers all over the country (all over the world, really!) benefit.

And she plugged ANDREA today! Thanks, Deb!

The Moth

After my performance on March 13, I'll be hustling over to put my name in the hat at The Moth. I've been wanting to tell a story there and I hope I get the chance!

Know thyself

Self-awareness is a major theme behind ANDREA.

When I moved to the Czech Republic in 2002, I wanted to believe I would be happy teaching 300 elementary-school students in a small town. I wanted to believe I could get along in a place where I spoke only snippets of the language. I wanted so much to believe that life in Europe would make me happy and carry me along to a better place.

This brand of desire is mirrored in ANDREA's opening lines:

I want to like her.

If I like her, then I'll like the room. And if she likes me, I can rent the room. And if I rent the room, I can move to Prague. And if I move to Prague, I'll be happy.

It's the if-then brand of thought. That carried me through my time in Europe. It didn't make me happy, but it did give me plenty of material.

From the expanded ANDREA

I’m amazed at how they managed to put me out in the boonies of a place that really isn’t all that bad. You can cross Pardubice in 20 minutes, but this part of town feels like it was exploded out, far-flung, set off in the Czech version of Mars. To get there you walk down a pissed-off feeling street framed with hedges that look like lesbian haircuts, cruelly chopped and asymmetrical. It’s bordered by houses whose backs are turned toward the front in the Czech style, cold architecture, hidden and removed. All the houses are protected by gates, and behind each gate is a barking dog.

I like to curse at the dogs as I walk by, trying out my few words of Czech: dopre dele, kurva. Roughly translated: Up your ass, whore. My students taught me the curse words one day, and in return I told them the story about how I once freaked out on acid-laced pot in Amsterdam. It’s all about bargaining.