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Below are the most recent 8 friends' journal entries.

    Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
    gruyere
         		12:22a
    Note to Self
    Self: Do not--repeat, DO NOT--use tax refund to buy a Wii. You will not play it enough.

    Also, cutest thing ever. Link from Neatorama.
    Monday, May 12th, 2008
    starkeee
         		11:27p
    neat website - signal patterns
    www.signalpatterns.com

    Sign in and try out the music survey. You listen to about 30 clips of audio, and rate them according to how much you like or dislike it. It then pulls up sort of a generalized view of what your musical preferences are.

    If you check it out, let me know how you compare - or compare on there, I'm "starkeee".

    Here's mine:

    Relaxing

    You love music that calms you down.

    Romantic

    You love music that's brimming with sensuality.

    Percussive

    You don't like music with a prominent drumbeat.

    Loud

    You don't like music that's best when played at an ear-shattering volume.

    Distorted

    You don't like music with over-amped guitars, feedback, and other nasty sounds.

    Electrical

    You don't like music with amplified instruments.

    Inspiring

    You like music that makes you feel good to be alive.

    Tempo

    You like music that's fast.

    Intelligent

    You like music that's articulate, literate, and wise.

    Aggressive

    You're indifferent to music that's borderline violent.
    Thursday, May 8th, 2008
    gruyere
         		8:57p
    Spoils of War: Mount Pleasant Public Library Used Book Sale
    Same as it ever was. Not much in the way of commentary this time.

    ( The Books )
    starkeee
         		5:02p
    Glory Days - can't say I'm surprised, but I feel bad for 'em.
    New Broadway Musical Glory Days Has Closed After One Performance

    By Kenneth Jones
    07 May 2008


    Andrew C. Call, Jesse JP Johnson, Adam Halpin and Steven Booth.
    photo by Scott Suchman

    Glory Days, the new musical about four young men reuniting one year after high school, closed at Broadway's Circle in the Square May 6 following its opening-night performance, according to a production spokesperson.

    The 90-minute pop show opened on Broadway following previews from April 22. The shuttering was one of the fastest in recent memory. In 2003, The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All closed on Nov. 17, the same night it opened at the Longacre Theatre.

    Glory Days, which played 17 previews and one official performance, received kind but dismissive reviews that largely sought to protect and encourage its 24-year-old librettist James Gardiner and 23-year-old songwriter Nick Blaemire. Most critics took the producers and director Eric Schaeffer to task for shepherding a show that was wet behind the ears.

    Glory Days was produced by John O'Boyle, Ricky Stevens, Richard E. Leopold, Lizzie Leopold, Max Productions and Broadway Across America in association with the Signature Theatre.

    Producers O'Boyle and Stevens said in a May 7 statement, "We adore Glory Days and everyone connected with this production. Sadly, given the over-night reviews and our low advance sales, we believe it is prudent to close the show on Broadway immediately."

    *

    The four twentysomething buddies are played by Steven Booth, Andrew C. Call, Adam Halpin and Jesse JP Johnson.

    Like a teenager's unexpected growth spurt, the show came out of the blue at the tail-end of the 2007-08 Broadway season. After a critically acclaimed, hot-selling January world premiere at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, Glory Days was picked up by commercial producers who thought the mix of pop, emotional candor and young testosterone would play to a wider audience. Think of it as Altered Boyz.

    Schaeffer, who shepherded the show's development and directed the premiere at Signature, where he is artistic director, again directs. The Signature cast transferred to Broadway. All freshly scrubbed, they might have stepped out of a production of the popular musical Altar Boyz; Johnson and Call, in fact, are alumni of that pop show.

    Blaemire and Gardiner told Playbill.com that Glory Days — set on a high school football field — doesn't try to tackle all The Big Issues of all human experience. The writers are serving a slice of life — life as they know it, drawing on less than a quarter-century of experience.

    "One of the things Nick and I were really trying to do with this show was capture what it's like to be a member of our generation, and to talk about the things that we love about it, and also to talk about the things that annoy us," Gardiner said at an April 10 press event that introduced the college-graduate writers to the New York theatre community.

    Blaemire explained that the show is "a commemoration of our friendship and the friends we've had and lost between high school and college — and what happens when you're a kid, and then you realize that you're not anymore."

    Booth (of Avenue Q in Las Vegas) plays Will, a young writer and the "glue" of the foursome. The show is an ensemble piece, but Will's voice is heard in most of the 18 songs of the score, which flirts with the kind of pop that would make fans of John Mayer and Jason Mraz sit up and listen.

    In the summer after his first year attending the University of Michigan, Blaemire wrote a couple of songs ("After All" and "Open Road") inspired by a painful breakup with friends, and played them for Gardiner, a student at the University of Maryland. Blaemire had also sketched out a treatment for a musical about high school buddies who find themselves on different paths following graduation. He sought Gardiner's advice, and a collaboration sparked.

    How did the young writers get the attention of Helen Hayes Award-winning director Schaeffer?

    Every summer Schaeffer teaches a master class called Overtures at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Three years ago, Blaemire and Gardiner were students there and shared some of their work with him (including a song called "Open Road," which remains in the show). Schaffer thought they showed promise.

    The writers and their pals later presented their formative musical (then called Ass Backwards) to Schaeffer in his home, and he was moved. He helped guide them over the next two years until he offered them a world-premiere slot at Signature.

    The Signature production received a rave review from the Washington Post's respected critic Peter Marks (and from other scribes), and it became a surprise regional hit — and managed to lure a younger demographic to Signature in the process, Schaeffer said.

    "Rehearsing it with six guys, I felt like I was at a frat party for five weeks," Schaeffer said. "It took me back to my college days."

    He later admitted with a laugh, "It made me feel old."

    The producers officially bill Glory Days as "the story of four best friends who reunite a year after high school graduation, only to find how much they have grown apart. As they attempt to understand each other's differences, they soon realize that nothing can compare to the glory days of high school when life was simpler. Set to a vibrant score, Glory Days is a witty, unflinching look at four guys who refuse to be defined by generational stereotypes as they struggle to find their place in the world."

    The creative team also includes James Kronzer (scenic design), Sasha Ludwig-Siegel (costume design), Mark Lanks (lighting design) and Peter Hylenski (sound design). Ethan Popp is musical director. Vocal arrangements are by Nick Blaemire and Jesse Vargas. Musical supervision, arrangements and orchestrations are by Jesse Vargas. Production stage manager is Gregg Kirsopp.

    Understudies are Alex Brightman and Jeremy Woodard.

    For ticket refunds, go to point of purchase.

    *

    For more information about the Broadway production of Glory Days, visit www.GloryDaysBroadway.com.

    Circle in the Square Theatre is located at 235 West 50th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue.
    starkeee
         		8:58a
    for those in the DC area -- ([info]byzantinespy esp.)
    Hey, just posting this -- a former colleague, Daniel Hoffman, is doing a piece in DC and he's an incredible musician.

    ---

    I hope this finds you well. This week at Theatre J in Washington DC, David in Shadow and Light will open. This is a new musical based on the King David story written by Yehuda Hyman and set to music by me. Its taken much of our creative energies for the last four years, and if you have friends in the area, i would be very grateful if you passed this message on to them. It runs from this Saturday night until June 22, usually five shows a week. For tickets and more info visit:

    http://washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/theater-j/

    heres a bit from the press release:

    An epic musical of King David’s astonishing trajectory from boy shepherd to superstar ruler to aging king, as he wrestles with the lowest and the purest form of human impulses, this visually stunning production incorporates thrilling dance sequences and a post-modern frame through which the triumphs and travails of the Bible’s most charismatic character are brought to life. The earthy sexuality of the story—David’s marriage to both King Saul’s daughter Michal and his paramour Bathsheba, as well as the ardent love he shares with Saul’s son, Jonathan—combined with its portrait of blood, war and passion is at once relevant to a modern world and classically powerful. This re-envisioning is cleverly framed by two characters, the Archangel Metatron and Adam, who according to ancient midrashic legend, chance upon the infant David and are compelled to watch his life. In this musical version the story unfolds on film, the action of which plays out on stage as a live movie.

    This stellar cast also includes some of DC’s finest musical theater performers including 2008 Helen Hayes Award Nominees Will Gartshore as Jonathan, Donna Migliaccio as the Angel Metatron, Larry Redmond as Uriah, and Bobby Smith as King Saul. “The musical,” notes Roth, “will be the biggest undertaking in Theater J’s history. We’ve workshopped the play for several years and brought together a superb team to make this incredibly well-told story come alive with relevance and immediacy.” The cast will also include Russell Sunday as Goliath, Peggy Yates as Batsheva, Norman Aronovic as Adam, Matthew Anderson as Nathan and Carolyn Agan as Michal.
    Theater J Resident Director Nick Olcott and Musical Director George Fulginiti-Shakar will lead a talented creative team. Composer and world-class klezmer violinist Daniel Hoffman will head the four-piece band. Peter DiMuro, Artistic Director of The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, and Dance Exchange company member Shula Strassfeld will choreograph. Three-time 2008 Helen Hayes Award nominee, Colin Bills will light a set designed by Misha Kaufman.
    Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
    starkeee
         		10:14p
    starkeee
         		12:05p
    cartoon, from my mom
    Monday, May 5th, 2008
    starkeee
         		10:27p
    thanks [info]hoyvenmayven...
    ...for this illuminating look at Anderson Cooper and his predilection for bears.

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