Back to Back

Yesterday and today were pretty much the same day, just in different cities. We started early at 7am and loaded in the show, getting ready for a 2pm performance. Yesterday, we had another performance at 4pm, then we loaded out and travelled to Clearwater, FL. Today, in Clearwater, we could load out immediately after that show, and then head back to the hotel for a much deserved nap. We went for dinner at Shells, a seafood place along Clearwater Beach that we found completely by accident. And although some of the group wanted to go to the mini golf place just down the street, we headed back to the hotel for a relaxing and lazy night.

Which is just as well, since we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. We will be hitting the complimentary hot breakfast buffet around 6:45, and then we will hit the road at 7:30. We will be travelling over 500 miles, getting ready to load into our space at 6pm. Following that, we will hit the hotel and be back in the morning for two performances. After we load out, we'll make the best time we can to head back toward Glenside and our home base outside Philly. We are planning to be back in town around 1pm, which will give us plenty of time to go out with our families. It will be a great break, that I will be really happy to have.

Look, up in the sky!

Halloween '06 in Chapel Hill

Over the hump

So we're staying in a Hilton Garden Inn, one of the best hotels yet. Jacksonville is a big and sprawling city, and we're a good twenty minutes outside of it. But it's still a great hotel, and some of the company spent some time in the outdoor hot tub tonight after dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Lucky for us we had fridges in our rooms to hold the leftovers. We have two shows tomorrow, and then we hit the road again to head toward South Carolina. We had a great crew helping us today; they were hard workers and really useful. They were very hands-on, looking for ways to help out when they finished another task they were working on. So at this point, it's just a week or so until we're home for Thanksgiving. It's all easy after that. In fact, we are approaching the halfway point of the tour, if we haven't hit it already. I don't keep track of things like that...

Walking in Memphis

We spent the last three days in Memphis performing at the historic Orpheum Theatre. It was a gorgeous space, and it had gold stars in the pavement outside listing all the stars who have performed there – Bill Cosby, Louis Armstrong, Helen Keller, Harry Houdini. All the greats were there, and we followed in their footsteps across those stage boards. The band Death Cab for Cutie will play the space in late November, and some members of the company are very excited by that.

We also spent Saturday night on Beale Street, the popular street in downtown Memphis with blues clubs, restaurants, bars, etc. We ate at the famous Blues City Café, home of the best ribs in Memphis, and then got a drink at a bar down the street where we saw an Elvis impersonator. He did some things really well, but there were other elements of the King that he completely missed. Then on Sunday afternoon, three of us went to the Memphis Zoo to see the pandas. They had a fantastic cat country, as well as a “animals of the night” house where we all saw a lot of animals that we had never seen.

After a nice long dinner break, we went out for some mini golf and Laser Tag. It was a really fun night, and I came in second overall for mini golf and third for laser tag. Running around in a dark room, lit with black light, while firing laser blasts at each other was a lot of fun, and dare I say it, a wonderful form of therapy. We’ve been on the road for quite some time now, and we’re about to head into a very long stretch of time in Florida. We’ll be very busy down there, and then we’ll be home in a few weeks for Thanksgiving. It’s going well, but that break will be just what we will need.

Referees, Indiana Jones, and Bumblebees, Oh My!

We’re currently on the road toward Pembroke, NC, coming from the Red Roof Inn just outside of Chapel Hill. We had a really good time at the Halloween celebration in town last night. Six of us dressed up and went, and we saw some amazing costumes on other people there. There was a guy with a perfect Sandtrooper costume from Star Wars, as well as a couple dressed as Adam and Eve. There were a lot of men dressed as Indiana Jones, but only one was running through the crowd being chased by a group of aborigines like the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. A group of young coeds had dressed up as a box of toxic Crayola crayons, and there was a Pac-Man being chased by a group of ghosts. Then there was the normal share of Batmans, cowboys, nurses/doctors, vampires, and the like. Although there were many Supermans who had purchased the bagged costume from Party City, I only saw a few Clark Kents, and I had the best assembled costume out of any of them. There was a trio walking the street as Clark Kent, Superman, and Lois Lane, but I only saw them from across the street.

All in all, it was a really fun time. We headed into town at about 9pm last night, walked up and down the street, grabbed some food for a late dinner, and then continued walking around. One of our company was dressed as Shaggy, so we went looking for a Scooby-Doo, but found nothing. There were several Velmas, but no other member of the mystery machine crew.

We have another load in today in a college theatre, and then the show is at 10am tomorrow morning. We have a day to kill in Pembroke, and then we head off for Memphis, TN. We’ve been warned about the town, but the hotel is very close to the theatre in downtown Memphis, so there will hopefully be some fun stuff to do.

Costume considerations

Sitting just outside a coffee shop in Chapel Hill, NC, we are preparing for a city-wide Halloween celebration tonight. Most of us on the tour have our costumes ready. We've got Shaggy, a vampire, Twiggy, and Clark Kent. I will leave you only one guess as to which costume will be mine. I had given thought to my costume before we left on this leg of the tour, and I knew that I wanted to bring a costume that I could wear as normal street clothes. Knowing I was going to dedicate room in my bag to any books or other products I would pick up in my travels, I did not want to dedicate any room in my bag for a costume.

So I grabbed a thick-rimmed pair of glasses, a Superman t-shirt, and a button-down shirt, and I knew I would help piece it together on the road. In Chapel Hill, I bought a new pair of pants and the perfect tie to complete the wardrobe. Another company member volunteered to help me get the perfect Superman S-curl in my hair, and I promise that many pictures will be taken of the event. We're heading back to our hotel in less than an hour so we can shower/nap/dress/prepare for the party, and then we'll be fortunate enough to catch a shuttle service into town. It should be a wild night.

Up, Up, and Away

Just across the border between Kentucky and Illinois, a small town lies almost forgotten by the rest of the country. That town is Metropolis, Illinois, and it is the home of the Super Museum, the only museum in America dedicated solely to the adventures, career, and history of Superman. Now, those of you who know me are fully aware that I am a huge Superman fan, and I’ve heard about this town before in many capacities. But knowing how close I was, I knew that I had to visit this museum.

So Friday morning, some of us piled into the van and headed to Metropolis. After weaving through the gift shop, we headed into the museum. The collection was extraordinary! While primarily pictures, photos, and movie posters, they also had a collection of props and costumes from various versions of Superman. In glass cases on mannequins, they had an original costume from both Christopher Reeve and George Reeves. The George Reeves costume is one of the only complete ones known to still exist. They had the wigs that both Chris Reeve and Marlon Brando wore in Superman: The Movie, and Dean Cain’s first Superman suit from Lois and Clark.

While the museum could have been a little more organized, it was a stunning collection. More explanation of certain items or areas would also have helped; as it was I played tour guide to the people who were with me. I could go through the history of Superman for them, following the actors and artists who have interpreted the character.

The next morning I went back to the museum for the chance to take some more pictures. And then on the way back to the hotel so we could pack up and leave, I stopped by and met Chuck, who was the first man to portray Superman at the week-long street fair Metropolis hosts every summer. He was a lovely, generous, friendly man who talked with me for about fifteen minutes about Superman in general, and his experience in particular. He told me how he got the job, why he did it for a decade, and what it was like to wear the red cape. At the end of our interview, I thanked him for his time, and I asked him to sign a postcard I had picked up at the museum gift shop. I’m almost 26 years old, and one of the highlights of my life is meeting Superman and getting his autograph.