Tekserve. Busy Little Bees!

With a service quote of "four business days" on Sunday, the lovely angels at TekServe called today to say my computer was ready for pick up. All is good.

Although, getting a new hard drive is like getting a whole new computer, hence the blog post at nearly 1am. I've been cruising through this blank little machine for the past two hours. I'm waiting for Will to get home to really get cracking on re-installing all the programs the big bad old hard drive ate (no matter how much he tries to deny it, I know Will loves nothing more than installing software on computers and setting up mail accounts!)

I ended up being without my actual computer for less than 48 hours and was able to retrieve all the stuff that was either almost lost for good or lost until I coughed up $800. It's as if nothing ever happened.

Life is good.

Unexpected Breakdown

My two-month old computer is in the shop! Will and I spent the greater part of yesterday either at TekServe, on the phone with TekServe or cursing my little white internet machine. After our trip to the geniuses (no sarcasm there) at TekServe, and the purchase of the external hard drive I'd been meaning to buy, we were luckily able to escape the EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLAR data recovery charge. Doubly luckily, the little machine is still under warranty, so the defective drive is being replaced at no cost to me. Phew!

So I'm borrowing my old computer from dear sweet Carrie Haugh for the night so we can go on with the Crush Project recordings at the bar night tonight. If you're in the city and anywhere near the East Village, do stop on by and lay down some tracks!!

Needless to say, posting here will be sporadic at best over the next Four Business Days, or as long as it takes TekServe to install a new drive. Work hard and work fast, little geniuses!!

I am a Shallow Pool of Water

I just had a massage at this place in my neighborhood. I'll be out of commission for the next chunk of time in an attempt to preserve my chilled-out state. Mellow Robin doesn't happen often, so let's all rejoice in these fleeting moments.

Happy Rainy Weekend!

Another Spot on HGTV

Yesterday I recorded a Public Service Announcement for HGTV regarding the wildfires in California. If you were looking to do some donating, now might be a good time to visit the American Red Cross website.

Return of We'll Be at the Bar!

Back in September, we kicked off a monthly performance series down in the East Village at No Malice Palace. It was a good time, and we're doing it again!

Next Monday, October 29th will feature Frank Anthony Polito reading an excerpt from his upcoming novel Band Fags!, the angst-ridden stylings of The Bitter Poet, and my own brainchild, Cardium Mechanicum's The Crush Project.

If you've been dying to be a part of the Crush Project, now's your chance to step up to the mic and lay down a track or two. We'll have scripts available, or bring your own!

I'm totally psyched about this lineup and hope that you will all come and join me!

Hiatus

I took somewhat of a break from writing this past week. It was a chaotic time-- I finished up fight class* (see photo), recorded two voiceover gigs, had improv class, acting class and a smattering of work at the day jobs, all the while chugging away at The Project. And a birthday. Chaos!!

I should be back in action this week, now that my schedule seems to have returned to normal.

*just in time to almost use my fighty skills in a battle on my block with a big meat-headed dude over -- wait for it -- a parking spot

Not Checking Your Calendar May Lead to Stand Up Comedy

This fall I decided to throw myself back into taking classes in the hopes of opening any and every channel of inspiration toward The Project (I'll explain more about The Project in the coming weeks).

I have been taking an ass-whomping Fight Choreography/stage combat class with Qui Nguyen and the Vampire Cowboys. I rejoined my on-going acting class with Kelly Kimball just in time for Bootcamp Month. And I have dipped my toe back in the pool of improv comedy-- I'm taking class with Armando Diaz at the Magnet.

I had studied improv at the UCB what seems now like a hundred years ago, and though I never pursued performing at the theater, what I learned in my classes has been invaluable to me as an actor. It can be such a terrifying form of performance, flying without the net of a script, but doing it puts you just a millimeter closer to feeling invincible, at least on stage.

Taking class at the Magnet makes you eligible to perform in The Magnet Mixer, a Thursday night show that forms improv "teams" based on who shows up. Newbies can perform with pros. It's very socialist.

After an inspiring class at Kimball Studio last night, I was ready to head up there and get my improv on. I wanted to go last week, but a combination of shyness and going out for a drink with people from class kept me off the stage. Mixers also happen at midnight on Saturdays, but I was long asleep by that time this weekend.

So I trudged up to 29th and 8th last night, raring to go, only to find out that the Thursday Mixer only happens ever other week! This week was a stand-up show, which I stayed to watch. The comics (Sean Crespo, Larry Murphy, Greg and Lou, and Joe Derosa) were pretty funny, so it wasn't all for nothing.

Even though I basically ended up with the performance equivalent of blue-balls. I did have a five minute fantasy of throwing all caution to the wind and improv-ing a stand-up routine. Luckily (?) that was not an option.

I Have Tasted Heaven

And it comes in the form of cake!

I met a friend of a friend the other day named Rebecca and she and her roommate Anne just started a business called Caked.

The story is that Anne was bequeathed a secret recipe that has been passed down to only one member of her family for generations. Caked makes just this one flavor cake (with a choice of chocolate or vanilla butter cream icing) though you can get it in full cake or cupcake size.

When I first heard about it, I kind of thought it was a bonehead idea-- why on earth would you make just one kind of cake? The Magnolia Bakery* makes tons of different cupcakes and they have a line down the block. How on earth can you have a successful business on just one cake?

Then I tasted it.

One cupcake, a delicious chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing. Magical. It was a day or two old but still tasted like the best thing my grandmother had ever made-- there was definitely a heavy dose of love running through this tiny treat! The icing is butter cream of the most delicious variety, and it doesn't leave your tongue and roof of your mouth all coated with butter like some crappy versions do. It is rich and chocolatey without being too sweet. I think they balance the sweet and salty just perfectly (that is not to say that it's a salty cupcake-- no, no, this will definitely feed your sweet tooth jones). I can only imagine what one of these puppies would taste like fresh out of the oven!

The girls are a small 2-person operation now, and they've only just begun. They only take orders, there is no storefront, so you have to order a batch at a time. But trust me. Yum. Treat yourself! And, they'll deliver them straight to your door in the NYC area!

*The Magnolia Bakery, though still extremely popular, entirely pales in comparison to a Caked Cake. It's just no contest!!

I Knew It! (notes from the old neighborhood)

Back in my East Village Days, I often pondered this: I couldn't imagine anybody buying soft serve at 11pm, so why was there always Mister Softee blaring his jingle outside my window? My guess was that someone was up to no good, and now I see that I'm apparently an omniscient super-sleuth!

Ice cream vendor arrested in Flushing -- Man arrested for selling drugs
(Queens - WABC, October 7, 2007) - He wasn't just selling ice cream from his Mister Softee Truck. Police say he was selling drugs -- just feet from a playground in Flushing.

Read the rest of the article here. (thanks again, Gothamist!)

John Clancy Explains It All For You...

Sometimes Will doesn't understand me. And that's ok. He's been posting about all kinds of crazy computer stuff that I completely don't get, but I still like him just fine.

One topic that utterly baffles him about me, though, is how I am able to somehow magically repel money.

Money and me, we're like opposing magnet ends-- it's fun to try to push us together and even though we might touch for a second or two, there just ain't no way we're gonna sticking (try as I may).

John Clancy, one of the original founders of the New York International Fringe Festival (info included for the three of you who read this blog and don't know everyone in the indie theater world), just posted on his blog about a trip he took to BAM to pitch his stuff. On what he sees, he writes:

"Goddamn. Am I in a theater or an investment house?"

And if you're really like me, you don't even know what an investment house is.

My obvious point is that for those of us who learned how to make our art in the funding wasteland of the 90s, that much cash makes us nervous and a bit disoriented. And if you let it, it makes you angry. You can go childish angry:

"Look at all this fucking money, I never had any fucking money, why did they get all this fucking money, fuckers."

Or righteous angry:

"The money spent on this furniture would fund two dance companies for four months."

To see what else he saw, read the rest of the post here.

I'm not wearing it like a badge, though, friends. I swear-- I'd love to give it a whirl with the limitless funds. But I've just chosen, like many of the artists I call friends and colleagues, to go the non-I-Banker route. Well, a lot of us have chosen to go the where-can-I-find-an-under-the-table-cash-job route, but you get the point. We're not the kids with the 401Ks and a lot of us (not me!) see nothing wrong with producing an off-off broadway production on credit cards and bartending tips.

Sooooo... while we're on the topic, if you're looking to fund the arts, why not make a tax-deductible contribution to my theater company via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas? You can donate online-- just be sure to go down the drop-down menu and look for Cardium Mechanicum.

I know, I know, you're thinking, 'hey, dumbass, you just said you're brainless with loot, why should I give you any?' But see? See, even though I don't handle the monies so well, I'm smart enough to know to ask someone else to manage it for me! Fiscal Sponsorship. It just smacks of being responsible. Maybe I should manage an office or something!

For My Birthday I Want... a subscription to Texas Monthly??!!?

Ok, maybe not a full-blown subscription, but I'm totally curious about this article on Jenna Bush. I don't like her daddy's policies and somehow I'm comforted to know that she might not either.

(Thanks, Kevin)

A friend of mine is in grad school and her class took a field trip to a museum here in the city where they were led on a tour by the other Bush daughter. For whatever reason, I found that fascinating... the same way I find it fascinating that another former Presidential daughter lives across the street from my friends in Gramercy Park.

I don't know... obsession with six degrees of separation?

Thank Goodness I've Moved to Brooklyn

Because seriously, what fun is left in Manhattan anymore?

West Village Parents Take on the S & M Fest
Parents in the area are voicing concern and flyering around Greenwich Village public schools P.S. 3 and P.S. 41 and at Bleeker Playground. An email we received from them stated when they called to complain they were told by District Manager Bob Gormley that their complaint will do no good, however the CB2 Board Members will be in attendance at the fest to monitor it. Maybe they should team up with PETA, surely there will be a lot of leather on parade!

Full article at Gothamist.

What am I talking about? I live in the Stroller Capital of the World -- anyone know of anything resembling an S&M Parade in Carroll Gardens?

I Am Many Things

One of my dayjobs is for a botique HR firm in Brooklyn where we have handfuls of downtime and free-flowing internet access. (also, thanks to someone who used this laptop before me, I managed to find this little gem of a photo)

I'm not often one to Google myself, but it's sort of an eye-opening affair (and it's killed the last 20 dead minutes here)-- I am amazed to find that I am so much more than I could have ever imagined, including

• a Midwestern Meterologist


• a Sci Fi novelist and cartoon contest winner


• a Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard


• a firecracker-peddling English dude


• and arguably the greatest American amateur wrestler

The real me comes up sixth on the Google. I may have an existential crisis over this before the day is through...

The Handy Recorder is Getting Quite a Workout!

Tonight I'm headed out to Sunnyside Queens to record an interview and rehearsal audio footage with the avant-garde group Temporary Distortion. It will air as a podcast, nay, an nytheatrecast on nytheatre.com on or around October 10th.

Temporary Distortion's entry into Fringe 2001, Alien Even Then, was the first show I ever reviewed for nytheatre.com (you can find that piece of championship writing in the archives here). It was an adaptation of Kafka's The Trial, and though I sat fairly rapt through the whole thing, I remember being especially taken by their design-- walking the line between dark and sexy and fucked up and scary-- on the Fringe Festival time frame (you have 15 minutes to set up your show, then 15 minutes afterwards to break it down).

Tonight I'll interview Artistic Director Kenneth Collins and sit in on rehearsal for their new piece, Welcome to Nowhere (bullet hole road) that opens October 12th at the Chocolate Factory in Long Island City.

Oddly enough, this is my third podcast in this sort of "on-location" style, and the second at the Chocolate Factory. They put good work on there. Go support them.

Are You Back to the 3-Martini Lunch?

Will got me hooked on this blog FFFOUND! that posts these beautiful and crazy images for you to see. The folks as FFFOUND! say that the picture above is not animated.

Oh, eyes! So funny with the tricks they play...

Maybe the G Train Ain't Half Bad...

Last night on my way home from Williamsburg, I was dreading taking the infamously non-running G Train. I trudged down the stairs and was met with a literally underground concert by this band called La Strada.

Their music reminded me of a New Orleans band called Bingo that I saw three times over a 4-show run at the Collapsable Hole about five years ago. They had this amazing carnival rock/folk trippy circus sound and blended some crazy instruments (electric fiddle! squeak toys! bullhorns!) into the show. La Strada seemed to be a tamer Brooklyn version (what?!) of the band, but had an equally diverse representation of musical instruments on hand, including a portable xylophone, accordion, violin, a couple of guitars and a handful of shaky percussive things.

Luckily, I've started carrying my Handy Recorder around with me, so I managed to get a little sample of their stuff. Check it out! I especially enjoy the line in the beginning about checking them out sounding better "up there" referring to the fact that they play in locations beyond the subway.