teenage wasteland

this was my dad.
i need everyone to look at this pic because ...it is badass.

this week for obvious reasons, and every really, i've thought about my dad. i've also met a few new people this week, and in two of those conversations by chance, it came up that i lost my father at an early age. it really sucks, because i sure do miss him, and he was just the best. i could go on with a million stories about my family here, and someday, hopefully will, because what are blogs but musings and remembrances? but this time, this time, i see this picture of him now, a much younger person that i am currently, and i'm able to see him as something else. old pictures force you to remember that the person is something else than what you know - that they had a whole different life without you - and if you look at that right, it's the coolest thing. my dad had no idea who i was here, or that i'd ever be.

and, as i look at this kid and think of what a badass he was, i sure wish i could've known him as an adult. i mean, a place where we were both adults... because anything that was cool before would be a million times cooler. i think we were pretty good pals for a teenager and a parent, but just as i've grown to know my mom differently as a woman (the coolest), i wish i could've known my dad more as a friend rather than a guardian. you know, you're stupid when you're a teenager. you just are. you can't seperate the person who grounds you from the person that flew in the air force, or was almost a priest, or got a zillion ladies.

my dad was super smart and fun and hardworking and kind and full of italian rage, which only rarely came out on me. pretty much, i was daddy's little g. i miss him. so hey, those of you with parents out there? trust me on this one. get to know them as much as you can. because likelihood is high that they're worth knowing and are way cooler than you let them be before.

it's frrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiii daaaaaaaaaaay

do you ever think something a bunch of times and suddenly notice that you've thought it a million times and never vocalized it? there should be a name for this.

this week, as i was riding back to chicago with A&T, i realized that it was time for me to take some daily drugs. as i took them, i said aloud, "AZT break". amy and tara laughed, but startled laugh, half at how inapprop it was, and half at the fact that i had become someone who referenced Rent. seriously, nerd alert. after i said it, i thought - have i never said that out loud before? because i think it twice a day. and then i thought, no, i hadn't.

when we were driving around columbus, we took a strange route at one point that just happened to be the back way from my grandma vera's house to my childhood home. as we drove it, i realized that one hill in between the two places always ran through my head when i invision driving, even though i hadn't driven it for years, and probably didn't drive it much once i had a license.

...and the title of this post. when i feel stressed out from a week, and friday hits, i almost always think the above. say it with a screechy female voice with some strange bravado, and you have the 80s disc jockey Suzie Wadd, from Columbus, who wailed her patented tarzanian cry at the end of each workweek. can i get some columbus love up in here? when i was little and dj images weren't so readily available, i imagined Suzie Wadd looked like Grace Jones, only to find out she looked more like Jean Smart. anyway, the irony of me belting this anthem that is intended to be a shake off of your week is - well, typically, mine has only just begun with 7 shows ahead. either way... thanks for nothing, wadd.

you've gotta have something you do this with. dig deep.

and, sidebar: why don't i ever play suzie wadd in scenes? mental checkmark.

the weak in review

this week was long, and difficult. seeing my family after a delayed flight (thanks southwest!) was wonderful, and that was a silver lining. we ate pizza very late in my brother vince's gfs house and just sat around together. my beautiful friend chrissy and her fam are strong and wonderful. the funeral seemed to have a buoyant feel to it - as people would begin to be sad, it just wouldn't stay there, as we focused on all the wonderful things mr. swartz brought to everyone's lives. still, as all catholic funerals may - start the strains of "Eagle's Wings" and i'll probably go. we all should. on monday afternoon, my dear pals amy & tara and i drove back to chicago, a long drive to make after a funeral, but it gave us time to breathe as we came back into another work week. we didn't feel done with the day as we hit the city, so we went to a pub and raised a few to the swartzkopfs. it couldn't have gone any other way.

came back to a bunch of rehearsals and a shitload of techs for a big gig (more on this later) - early rising and pass outs. had an exhausting conversation with a friend into the late hours that i think is looking better... i hope. i have hope. this week i also paid off another heap of debt - 5125, to be exact, which was the scariest thing. but i'm glad it's gone. now i just have to live off ramen again. college! hot pockets! plasma!

anyway, it's friday now. and usually, i have shows all night (typically iO and baby wants candy). but not THIS week... somehow, i like, skipped giving availability to csz and baby in my calendar as if two pages had been stuck together in my planner. i have iO tomorrow night, so tonight? freebie. maybe it was a blessing, but right now, i feel stir crazy. i'm in the mood to get wasted or curl up and watch some shitbox of a movie - but since I have bunny breakfast* tomorrow, the latter must win by a landslide.

**a breakfast hosted by macy's (marshall fields in yesteryear) where children and parents see a skit performed by two fucks (this year, Deanna the chicken and Rance the cow) and visit with the Easter Bunny (yours truly). i'm adorable, p.s.

on temptations

i have a lot of corporate work this week here and there so i wanted to upkeep the package, as can be expected. i went to nail bar on southport and got the ladies done. (not breasts.) (maybe.) as i was there, i wanted to buy a new nail color so i wouldn't have to come in there every time i wanted it. trouble is, seemed they were out. but the wall of colors (like, the ones you yank to have a pro do those bad boys) held one last polish, an excalibur staring me in the face.

for about 20 minutes, while i was getting my junk done (not vag) (maybe), i thought about stealing the polish. and during this time, i thought the following things:

*they won't notice the polish is gone (true)
*they don't have the color i was going to buy, so it's not my fault that i want to steal (not true)
*i could easily do this (true)
*i am too bored to find this anywhere else (truth city)
*if i take this, i will feel guilty every time i wear this polish (true, but maybe i'd forget)

as i sat and debated everything, i wondered about morality and whether i was about to embark down a quite slippery slope. also, i think the guy giving me a pedicure got a bone. this isn't a bit. he was very nice, i'm just saying.

at the last minute, i made one last hunt for the polish. and over on another shelf, in a container of their own, sat several of the colors i had been hunting for. i had no more convenient excuses (put your polish where i can find it, you're causing stealing! - not good enough), so thank g, i bought the damn thing.

just as i thought i was in the clear walking home, i almost stole an adorable beagle-mix puppy (he deserves to be where love is) and then, a baby in a stroller (could've been a good fight).

the can has been opened.

swartz = sports

my dear friend chrissy's dad, charles, passed on wednesday.
when real things happen, it seems like a fucking idiotic thing to blog about them. blogging? come on. it's fun, but grieving over the internet is a little too gen x - or maybe gen y - for me.

however, to not acknowledge it seems a tragedy, so it must be said. this family, the swartzes, have a lot of parallels to my own. old school itals, most of which were rooted in grandview, stuck in catholic conservatism but still with hearts wide open. chrissy came out to her family i don't remember when, but long after she knew, due to fear and worry. her fam, after some notable struggle, supported her at her wedding to her partner tracy not long ago. it was a beautiful, super amazing moment.

mr. swartz, by far, was the sportiest man you'd ever have met. at our high school, he was a constant at games, always smiling and nearly always around. he always supported his boys and 2 girls by running drills with them in the back yard and shooting hoops, and later on, video taping nearly every one of Chrissy's Ohio Wesleyan Lacrosse games in college. this guy loved his family and lived for sportin'. his sportin' with the fam was a sure sign of his adoration. because of this, it's also sad that anyone can pass away due to fucking stupid cancer that was so young, vibrant, and active. no one is safe, i suppose, and that's the only thing that even resonates.

because i know chrissy and tracy read this, i don't want to get too dramatic or say anything that isn't my story to say. all i can say, chrissy, is that your dad loved you very much. you know. god willing, i'm getting home for you this weekend. you were there for mine, and i'll be there for yours.

i love.

take me to the pilot

my friend waltien sent me a text the other day, with just this in the body:

for a minute, i thought it was a picture of the geico guy, but turns out steve is shooting a pilot in LA for a show called "Cavemen". the idea? a regular caveman falls in love with a southern socialite, and vice versa. hijinks!

i hope this gets picked up, if only for all of us.

if you like pizza and edie falco...

...then you'll be sure to be all about me, rance rizzutto, and two other actors playing an italian-american family at a new in-store product launch this weekend! you guys know how much i love patricia heaton (raaaay!) - and now, imagine her little sister having a pizzeria. if you want a slice of free pizza and you work downtown, come break up this fun, ridiculous day.
see!: us doing bits!
taste!: the delicious new ultimate pizzas!
hear!: how we're not allowed to be "too italian"!

666 n. michigan (the pizzeria of the dev), 11:30-4pm.also sat from 11-4, and sunday 4-8pm. thanks for the rent, corp comedy!

dead zeppelin

okay, so, my roommate and bane of my existance, tim, is making me read the Zombie Survival Guide. he is a nightmare of a person.

he told us he was reading it and started referencing knowledge he'd learned via the book (quite literally 272 pages long; i'm on page 34). so, i started asking about things i knew, pretty much only from shawn of the dead and the thriller video, like can i use a coffee cup or do they dance?, and he yelled at me.

you'd be the first to go, he said.

since, i've learned that a zeppelin is the best way to escape a hoard of zombos. you heard it here, folks.

the keswick - 1400 or bust

so, saturday night, we got to the beautiful old keswick theatre in Glenside, PA. this house was union (meaning you can't move much on your own, there are people there that operate the house, and there are different rules at play). this place was also about 4.5 times bigger than the nights before, so we had different sound equipment and staging to set. getting across this stage took about twice the time, so, between each blackout, for instance, we ran to places to get there in time.

the set here was super fun and the show was a nice cap to a well-run weekend. at this show, though, right at the end, i realized my voice was obliterated. even though it shouldn't have, it made me feel like i'd earned a badge of honor for a obstacle course of shows.

and there it is. thanks, greenco.

innnnnn west philadelphia, born and raised

saturday was a day of driving. we took two cars about four hours northish to philadelphia, where our saturday night show was. luckily (?), we got to stop for cheesesteaks, which was a big goal of anthony leblanc, not so much a goal of robyn or abby (they had pizza).

still, we went to the heart of it all, good ol' Pat's, supposedly the originator of cheesesteaks. the line was around the block, and a police car even came up, sirens blazing, to get the line out of the street. truth be told, um... it was really nothing to write home about, but the fries were delicious. another low/highlight came here, when upon ordering his cheesesteak, the Dick's Last Resort-like assholes behind the counter thought they heard Joey order three sandwos, and told Joey to "get the shit out of his mouth" while he was ordering. yep. yeah, he ordered three. you guys are idiots.

if i wanted the shit out of my mouth, i wouldn't eat your sandwich!

right?

right?

(mic feedback)

p.s., thanks to weitberg for this fun photo - he snapped a ton, y'all.

DC, in-between

a fun thing about being in vienna besides the shows was our chance on friday to get to the city. we took the metro into DC, which was about a half an hour by train, and essentially ran the mall all day. we were worried after about 6 or 7 miles of walking that our show would suffer somehow, but it really didn't. it just made us sore and have to try harder. these are the perks of touring, right? the cramming in the fun around the shows you live to do... you gotta try and do it all. sleep when you're dead. right? RIGH (zzzz).

we ran for it between monuments after seeing the constitution and visiting the holocaust museum... and got to the lincoln memorial, the newest WWII monument, vietnam wall, korean monument, and washington monument. at the lincoln was probably my favorite moment of the day; a little girl who we had seen with her family at the WWII memorial had been singing to herself about wanting to see lincoln. her parents responded with the Lincoln, Lincoln song, which she'd gleefully parrot back to them. we all went over, and joey, seth and i got caught up in the monument (one of the coolest still).

joey noticed a soldier admiring the statue and seth was reading the words over on the walls. all the sudden, i turned around, and the little girl was there with us again, staring up at abe. her family told her it was time to go, and she, all hearts-eyed, started to wave goodbye. Bye bye, Lincoln, i love you, she said. every few steps, she'd look back, just to make sure he was still there. Bye bye.

Wolf Trap - Vienna, VA

What a fun time.


Traveled a bunch this last week. Our trip with SC started very early Thursday morning, only to lead us to a cancelled flight and tons of delays thereafter, I believe due to tornado-y weather all over the midwest. Luckily, our stage manager Angie was in line to make arrangements just as the flight got cancelled, so we were the only 8 people to get shifted to another flight to Dulles Airport. Even more luckily, our flight was safe and sound... and we landed just in time to scramble to the theatre, glow tape the stage, run tops and bottoms, and get dressed.


On Thursday and Friday nights, I sat in with GreenCo in Vienna, Virginia. We performed at a place called Wolf Trap, which essentially is a beautifully renovated old barn (see right) that has been transformed into a theatre arts complex that holds about 300. The shows were awesome - and additionally awesome was that the Blands got to come to the Friday show, so they were a welcome treat for everyone. It was a special treat for me, who is not always in this group as an understudy, to see them. The only time it wasn't welcome is when Joey and I had to do a scene called "Loving Couple", in which we have to bone a lot. Sorry, Blandersons! Everything really hit, and the audiences were warm and sweet. The shows went off without any big hitches, which was lucky since I'd had a very short put-in and stuff, and getting in the space was fast. We did it, comedy!



Up there everyone jumped in a little self-timer action, and in a rare feat, we got the whole cast, MD and SD in the shot. We are in front of the ol' Wolf Trap wolf after the Friday show. How about that? That guy knows how to party.

playing catch up

hi all!
had a great week traveling with SC. just the most fun. tons of pics to come shortly.