As Mr. Batali might say. We’re gettin’ mighty close. We’ve been busy little beavers getting ready for the opening of the Italian show which is only a few days away now. It seems to have gone so fast - but I have to say having few more days than normal (ESPECIALLY after the whirlwind seven day lunacy of the Judy/Mickey show) really helps things feel less nutty. The cast is doing sooo well. They are really focused, really fast, and all sound just terrific. In fact I have a little preview for ya, if you’re interested… I actually took this the first day that we finalized the big ending of the Sinatra medley…and since then it’s been cut in half. So the version you’re seeing is like a ‘dvd extra features ‘director’s cut’ version. It’s rough in spots cuz they were just learning it - but you can sure tell how great they are…
REHEARSAL OF ‘MY WAY’
Thank goodness we have Jordan and his Italian language skills - cuz I didn’t even REALIZE how much actual Italian is in this show… so many of those great Dean Martin songs etc. have big chunks of italian in them. And apparently half the time Dean isn’t even singing correct Italian! So it ain’t easy. And sometimes, when we are doing songs that don’t have printed sheet music (and Tim has to chart it from a recording) without Jordan we never would have had a CLUE what they were saying. Of course, on one or two occasions I’ve reassured Carl that the per capita in Huntington of those fluent in Italian is not allllll that high.
CAN’T I JUST SAY ‘BOYARDEE’ OVER AND OVER???
Although we’ve had several ticket orders under the name “Gallucci” - which certainly has us all excited for at least one group who might recognize our attention to detail. Or possibly put out a hit on us if it’s incorrect.
We’ve had the latest addition to the Supper Club family. Our stage manager Nathan arrived a few days ago from Philadelphia. He’s bunking at Jean Anne’s and he’s fit into the chaos just perfectly. Finding a stage manager you get along with is actually kind of like trying to find a perfect date… it’s all about personality compatablity. Nathan is just awesome - organized… dedicated…funny. And most importantly, he gets every obscure musical theatre joke that I make. i think he’s a keeper.
We’ll just chain him and keep in Jean Anne’s doggy cage during our off season  Tragically I do NOT yet have pictures of him yet. I’ll remedy that soon, promise.
Meanwhile - some of these photographs don’t quite seem to illustrate quite how hard we are working…
It actually makes evertything a lot easier having people return who have already worked in the space. The newbies can kind of watch how they work the audience angles, and pick that up really quickly… and it also really helps to have two people be able to reassure new blood that a) Rich and I and his Mom may look like the strangest production team on the universe, but we actually do pull it off… and b) Tim is actually human and will eventually remember what song he is playing in what show in what key by opening night. Or soon thereafter
Carl’s birthday was yesterday and thanks to his parents ordering a beautiful surprise cake from Brocks cakery, and us ordering him a cake, and MARGARET making two deserts for a special actor barbeque that night… basically no one in the cast can move for the next three days. I am also VERY VERY VERY excited for the shows to start because I am craving the ravioli that Jean Anne is making. At the taste test it was instantly my favorite Supper Club meal ever… so I’m very excited. Apparently the Berlin show is getting prime rib as an option which Rich and Janice have been campaigning for since before Joan River’s first face lift.
We had an ALMOST very very surprise visit from the Arts Council in Bluffton. We only found out that they were coming for a tour of the theatre when we read about it… in the newspaper! Apparently letting us know had slipped through the cracks… so it’s good that Rich is up on his current events! They were a lovely group and we let them watch a fifteen minute rehearsal for them…we picked a few songs that showed a range of what’s in the show and were in really good shape. I think they particularly liked Three Coins in a Fountain which Angie does just beautifully.
Usually some of the songs go through more flux than we’ve had on this show… the only real big change we’ve had after day one was the cutting of ‘Santa Lucia’ which I had given Jill. It’s unfortunately not a song designed for a girl, and I thought it would be fine in her voice… but there is apparently a reason why only guys sing it. It’s range is really odd, and it just sits strangely in a girls voice (I was really astounded to learn after the fact that none of the big divas have ever recorded it - i’m sure for that reason). So, since we hadn’t managed to represent Bobby Darin in the show, when Jill finally said she just didn’t think she was happy singing it, we pulled out an alternate for her that’s gonna really kick butt. So - as we almost always find in rehearsal - fixing a problem makes for a way cooler solution.
Meanwhile, as we’ve been working on our stuff, Rich and Janice have been cleaning and spraying and working on the twenty new chairs we need for the additional seating. Today Margaret and Janice got half of them uphoulstered (thank GOODNESS Hobby Lobby still had the same fabric!)
The wireless mics really make everything a whole new world for staging. It’s sometimes a little overwhelming because I have so many more movement options than before… we haven’t once had to be concerned about UNWINDING - everything used to be choreographed in a pattern that then went back around on itself so that the cord untangled again… or at least managed to wind and wind until the end of the number when they could unravel during my talking. People may not notice the difference - but we are doing countless little staging things we never could have done before now. Such as tamborine acrobatics….
Today was day one of tech. We’ve started a whole new calendar which is working a lot better I think. We used to tech the show the day before opening - and we’re now starting several days before that. Because of the slightly longer rehearsal time we’re able to be ready by then, and it means we can split it over two days rather than a icky marathon which runs late into the night and gets us all testy and tired. Of course the danger is that Rich and Nathan are up in booth together for two full days…which means he’s in great danger of being brainwashed and indoctronated into being a Najuch. Before long he’ll be salivating for Black Friday.
xo
Jojo.
Well, it was QUITE the undertaking - but the chicks are all now in the nest and we are chuggin’ away. In fact Rich and Tim and I all are really excited about how quickly this group picks everything up. They’re rockin’ and rollin. And we’re not even at the sixties show yet - when they kind of HAVE to be rockin and rollin.
I am very happy to report that the magical new missing wall is still missing - and the rest of the building is still right where it was. Snaps for George and friends… I sit under it all the time - and apart from that hard hat and the pillow I have duct taped to my head, I feel totally safe Kidding. It’s awesome. Sooooooooo cool - Everyone who walks in (who we’ve told about it) is amazed - and most people don’t even notice! Which is exactly what we were hoping for… cuz the rooms looks like it SHOULD - not like we’ve done something weird to it.
First to arrive was Angie at around 10:30 am - from Fort Wayne. She’s our first native Hoosier which is a kick. Jordan wasn’t going to arrive until about 12 hours later, and it was Sunday, we felt morally obligated to introduce Angie to brunch. Which was kind of hysterical since she just left waitressing in NY at a place that specializes IN brunch. I would like to point out to all my detractors that she agrees that the bread pudding tastes better than any substance ever created on this earth. Case closed. We got Angie back to Peckerwood and settled in… and since she’d slept about thirty minutes in 24 hours, she pretty much crashed pretty much faster than a narcoleptic at Poppy-fest.
Jill was supposed to arrive, via parental limosine door-to-door service around four. Which turned into six. Which turned into eight. But she and her complete wardrobe of 1000 various costume options (including… and I am not making this up…”I got this in case I ever do Camelot.” Because whenever you audition for Camelot the first thing they ask you is ‘do you have your own medieval trousseau?’.) But - Ms. Garland is back in the house - with a pretty killer tan that she has acquired especially for the Italian show.
That evening Rich and I headed to Indy to pick up Jordan, it was the first time we’d been to the funky cool new airport. Yup, it is modern and sleek and very impressive EXCEPT it’s sooooo new that it is no longer on ANY GPS whatsoever - and so getting in and out of the place is like travelling through some space time continuum blackhole. While we were waiting for Jordan we perused the display of artifacts dedicated to the dude they named the terminal after - Harvey Wier Cook. He seems to be some renowned fighting ace who then created a flying school or something. On display they had one of his schools instruction manuals for flight:
Please note that this is LESSON ELEVEN. If you are on lesson eleven (LANDING) and they still have to have an arrow explaining which part of the plane is the propeller - I think you might be in trouble. Just sayin.
Jordan apparently had to walk like eight miles from his gate to the baggage area… which might explain why Jordan has lost like 10 pounds. And yes, saying Jordan has lost ten pounds since last summer is like saying Kate Moss finally got rid of that baby fat. The boy is LEANNNN and I’m force feeding him Twizzlers as often as possible. Luckily Jordan’s mother agrees with my nutritional plan and sent him with at least 40 pounds of candy… for instance, this Hefty garbage back sized sack of sour gummi worms…
She also was sweet enough to send along a famous Idaho delicacy called an “Idaho Spud” which apparently involves chocolate an coconut and no calories whatsoever…
Please note a) Jills tan and b) her determination that we change everything and do French show so she could wear this beret.
So - his flight arrived at 11:37. By the time he walked through the terminal it was around like 12:00 - and by the time we got his luggage it was around August. But we were all hungry so we detoured to Steak and Shake (who I am still trying to convince to put the ‘low fat yogurt shakes’ BACK ON THE MENU). While we were there we noticed a new item on the menu that might be the definition of the general culinary philosophy of the Mid West.
Wait, wait…. that hamburger and French fries just looks too healthy. Let’s SMOTHER IT WITH BUTTER!! I mean really??? Butter???? And of course, it has to be ordered with a shake. I mean… there are rules They say it’s a Wisconsin specialty - which must be why the state bird of Wisconsin is this guy:
So - anyway - we had three out of four! Whoo hoo. Carl was gonna be coming two days later than the others cuz he was finishing up an early session of summer school classes at University. So - we got lil’ Jordan home at around 2:00 (seriously) and the next morning at 11:00 we got leapt into action.
Jordan has been away studying for a semester in Florence for the past like five months (which was an amazing experience for him… and pretty great for us since we have an automatic Italian pronunciation coach - and boy do we need it!). But he hasn’t been singing every single day…
WAIT - WHAT ARE ALL THOSE DOTS ON THE PAPER?
Actually - he’s voice has matured sooo much. He has the same incredible tone and range - but he’s now able to sing more legit mature stuff - it’s really awesome. I was so proud of him and I think the audience is going to be so excited to see how his voice is maturing. He’s at that age (cuz he’s always been the baby of the Supper Club family). Boys vocally don’t really land in their true vocal pocket until like 23 - so he’s still really discovering his instrument. It’s fun to be a part of it kinda.
Any one who just made a dirty comment about discovering Jordan’s instrument needs to go sit in the corner for five minutes.
The great thing is that Tim now has started to get a rhythm for what we need to have ready for the first few days of rehearsal - and Jordan and Jill are used to Tim and the schedule - so we really were able to get things done quickly. And Angie is smart as a whip and super fast - so we were doing great. Without Carl there was certain stuff we couldn’t do, but we hit all the solos… picked keys…learned harmony for all the backup to Carl’s solos - and most importantly - we got through the trickiest part of the process which is hashing through the medleys and how they piece together from each person’s key and blend etc.
The funniest thing in the world is how unstressed Jill is. She keeps saying “can someone give me a 50 page script to memorize in three days…because I’m feeling lazy.” I mean seriously - compared to the 18 solos she had to do in the last show and the two zillion lines of dialogue she had to memorize…in someone else’s VOICE… this is a walk in the park. Of course - we try and confuse her every few days just to keep her feeling at home…
WAIT - ARE WE SINGING THIS CHORUS IN THE ENGLISH LYRICS, THE ITALIAN LYRICS, THE NEOPOLITAN LYRICS?
She has also apparently been working on her Italian moxy…
ARE YOU TALKIN’ TO ME????? ARE YOU TALKING TO MEEEEE?
Angie seems completely mystified by the fact that we think of her as sexy…despite photographic evidence like this:
Frankly - I think I’M the one who should mystified I find Angie sexy…no? I was like…Angie, if Rich and I notice that your sexy it’s really not debatable.
But of course butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Even if it was on top of a Steak and Shake burger I suppose.
So. We were all working away to try and get ready for Carl’s arrival on Wednesday. Tick Tick Tick. This was the plan. Carl had his Dad’s car at school in New Jersey. His Dad wanted to have the car back home in Minnesota for the summer. Carl’s dad was travelling to New Jersey and driving said vehicle back to Minnesota. So. Carl, rather than have us fly him, elected to drive with his dad, take a small detour, and get dropped off at Huntington. Sounds like a nice father/son bonding field trip Lifetime movie of the week… awesome.
Except.
Apparently a short while after their departure from New Jersey the car apparently suffered some kind of cardiac arrest. They were now too far in the middle of no-man’ land to really return to their place of origin. So. They had to wait for the mechanic. Who finally arrived about five hours later or something. At this point Carl calls Rich and, being a very efficient person and already concerned about being two days late, mildly starts to freak. So we wait and see. The mechanic says that he won’t be able to tell them until the next day whether or not the car will be WORTH FIXING. (PS - if you ever decide to drive to a job across the country in a car that might NOT be WORTH fixing… have a backup plan. That’s just my two cents.)
CARL’S DAD AND THE CAR…
So. Now we have Carl in the middle of nowhere - outside of Harrisburg, PA to be precise, and his Dad has to stay with the dead car. So - the Najuch’s go into action and begin seven hundred various attack plans involving Janice driving halfway to meet him…and Rich meeting THEM half way… and sled dogs… and teleporters…and flux capacitors. It was all very complex. Particularly since he was nowhere near an airport. After exploring all the options this was the plan: Carl would get a train from outside of Harrisburg. To Philadelphia. He would then take a light rail TO the Philly airport. He would then fly from Philly to Detroit. And from Detroit to Fort Wayne. And he would arrive at 10pm on Wednesday having no recollection of his name and probably Kurt Russell could convince him that he was the mother of six children and he was supposed to design a miniature golf course.
The most hysterical part of all of this was that Carl and his dad had to borrow the mechanic’s car to GET him to the train station. So - poor Carl is basically zooming around the country like a vocally gifted pinball. To add fuel to the fire - because Rich and I had placed an advertisement in the Wagon Wheel Theatre’s season program, we had been given 6 complimentary tickets to the opening night of their production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (or, apparently, Joseph and his Slightly Sparkly Maroon Paisley Smoking Jacket). And we had figured since we had four actors, one rich and one jo jo - we would take them to see the show. But we didn’t have Carl. And Carl was arriving at 10. So after travelling eight zillion miles we had to ask Carl to wait another forty five minutes for us to get there after the curtain came down. The good news was that we were able to find a stunt-double for Carl in the form of Ann Siegried who bravely accompanied us on our theatre-going adventure. Rich even had rented a minivan for the occasion (since 6 people in the Blazer is a squeeze) so Ann felt just like she was back teaching highschool on a field trip. Except she never taught preschool and they weren’t giving out Ridilin like tic tacs. Hey - we were excited.
ARE WE THERE YET?
So - after the show… which was the first Andrew Lloyd Webber musical I’ve ever seen that had Indiana Jones, a giant boulder and music from West Side Story… we ALLLLL went to get Carl. Which was kind of fun. And he was there. In one piece. If not a little frazzled. So - after four days and a little drama (hey - what would our rehearsals be like without a few hiccups????), the family was pretty much complete… And after 8 hours of throwing three days worth of music at Carl’s brain…he was still in one piece - which was comforting.
PARDON ME - WHY ARE YOU SMILING?
The only thing that added to the hilarity of Carl’s ordeal was at around 11:00 this morning (Carl’s first day) the doorbell rang. And it was Carl’s dad. Who had managed to make the drive… detour to The Huntington… and arrive. So basically Carl circumnavigated the Globe and his Dad almost beat him here!
Anyhoo - now the final puzzle piece is in place and we spent the day putting everything together like gangbusters. I’m sooooo excited about the Italian show - it’s so much fun and they sound wonderful. I’m gonna try and get you some preview footage tomorrow if I can.
Tickets are really selling steadily now… We’ve passed the mark for last summer - which is great! By the way - if you have season tickets and you haven’t picked your dates yet, you might want to, because even with the added 20 seats a night, a few nights are already sold out. We still HAVE TICKETS AVAILABLE (so ignore any nasty rumors that always hound us that we are sold out (we had that problem with the Judy Garland show… people thought there were no tickets left)… You can get tickets for all the shows still (so you should, right?!) but some nights are all full. If you want your season pass on a weekend particularly, get those dates locked in, ok kids! Cause if you don’t get the night you want… Well…
THAT MIGHT SUCK
xo
jojo.
Or ‘the beginning’ for those of you, like me, who don’t speak a word of Italian.
Today is arrival day for the actors - or three out of four of them. So I’m trying to slam out a blog for ya, cuz I’m sure in the next day or two I’ll be swamped. In fact we’ve been pretty swamped till now as well. Primarily the past week has been spent with me trying to bang out the program - which is always a huge freakin’ undertaking. I’m so proud of them when they are done, but during it I’m always wigging out about getting the thing finished. I’m super super happy that this time round Ann Siegrfried (former high-school teacher to the entire state of Indiana) subtly suggested that we let her proof read it… last time we had to get the rushed so quickly that a bunch of goofy mistakes slipped through. And this time she caught a bunch of stuff that was a Godsend. One of these in particular was very fortuitous. As always, the ads are all themed to the shows… and for the summer the ads are a range of the three shows. For one particular vehicle rental facility - the owners of which are friends AND always kind enough to advertise with us - I had thought it would be really cute to have a picture of a sixties kind of scooby doo van and have the phrase “For all your Magical Mystery Tours”. Cute - right? Sixties… groovy. Fun. Except when ad read the program she noticed that I had typed “For all your Magical Mysery Tours”. Which doesn’t create quite the same positive spin. Oops. So - snaps for the Siegfried. We were over there for dinner the other night, and for the first time I was actually exposed to this Guitar Hero/Rock Band craze thing. All this time I THOUGHT it was supposed to teach you how to play the guitar. No. It seems like a lot of fun but I don’t think Rich and Paul should start a Queen cover band any time soon. While we were there Ann managed to seduce me into joining the Arts Council - which I’m kind of excited about. The Pack Leader is usually the one on all the boards and stuff - so I’m pretty happy about it.
I’ve also been churning out sixty thousand advertisement it feels like. The GREAT news is that as of yesterday we have officially sold as many tickets as we did last summer - and we don’t even open for two weeks. YAY. However, we are running for a longer period this summer so we can accomodate more people. AND we picked that schedule before we decided to take out the wall. And NOWWW we can accomodate 70 people a night as opposed to fifty. So - that means we have the capacity to accomodate more people. And tickets are selling well too… Even with the capacity of seventy, several of the nights are already completely sold out. So - if you’re coming - and I hope you are - book your tickets sooner rather than later to get your choice of dates!
The Italian show (which is first) seems the be the one selling a little bit slower than the others (but not by much). We have determined that because it’s the least clearly defined subject, people aren’t sure quite what it is. So we just sent out a nifty postcard to our mailing list with a big list of all the songs we’re doing in the show that everybody knows…and I think a lot of people will read it and go “Ohhhhh - well I wanna see THAT”. Songs like Come Fly With Me, My Way, Young at Heart, Sway, Volare, Papa Loves Mambo, Mambo Italiano, That’s Amore, The theme from the Godfather, Santa Lucia, Funiculi Funicula, Three coins in the Fountian, Cara Mia…. seeeee you know them!
As soon as the program was done I was already way behind on my planned work schedule pre-actor arrival. ERg. So I started really hitting the books to try and get the research and scripts underway. I think I told you that the Italian script is now in a good draft form - so that’s one checked off the list. The past couple days I’ve been doing nothin’ but Irving Berlin and I have about 60% of that script written…which is a lot better off than I thought I was gonna be about two days ago. Rich was all on his own working on the wall (cuz I had so much script stuff to do) so I started working downstairs just in case something fell on his head or somethin’.
In order to try and multi task I managed to get my hair cut, have a little color slapped over the grey - and then hurry back to help Rich cut wood with the plastic cap still on my head. I looked like i was a really cheap Star Wars extra from that Wookie Christmas Special in the 70’s.
Rich has been zooming around like a Tazmanian Devil on a caffeine-high taking care of bits and pieces. Fixing the hole in the lobby wall kept being put on hold because the rain wouldn’t stop long enough for us to go get plywood. Rich was really concerned that even if we wrapped the ply in a tarp, it might get damp, which would contribute to it warping, which wouldn’t be good for the wallpaper - etc. etc. So we waited. And waited. And finally the rain stopped. The wallpaper arrived right on schedule - which is a huge stroke of luck. Last time we ordered the stuff we discovered that they print it to order… which can take weeks of waiting. But they happened to have a roll of our pattern in stock - so we got it in just a few days. The problem was is that we had to get this repair/renovation job on the lobby done SOON because we have an event with the Sciotes on Monday. (Remember the Sciotes? They are a sorority… but not like the ‘Girls gone Wild’ kind… More like the “Mature Women Gone Philantropic” kind. So we didn’t really want them to be having their annual initiation even with a giant hole in the ceiling.
On top of that Rich had tracked down new chairs (since we now need to be able to seat 70 a night). So he found the same style of chair that we previously refinished (this is easy to do on ebay EXCEPT you have to find them within driving distance unless you want to pay for shipping of twenty metal chairs). So he found them… and he and Madge went and picked them up. When the gentleman who sold them to us apparently heard Rich and Margaret say something about upholstering them he said “why would you want to refinish these? What’s wrong with them?”. Allow me to present you with the chairs current visual appearance:
Purple and Red checks. Nice. So - with all these chairs - and the 2×4 supports and all the other stuff - around Friday the lobby looked like this (keep in mind we had an event in three days…
I don’t know how, but every time we think this room is done…we manage to mess it up again!
So - after we finally got the wood, he took the big plunge and removed the temporary support 2×4s. Rich removed them when I wasn’t here because he said if anything did go wrong he’d rather be crushed than have to witness me panic. The 2×4s came out - and it looked sooooo freakin’ big. It’s an amazing difference how much it opens the room.
And Rich got to work on making the new wall plug/facade thingy.
First he built a series of stud type things so that he could attach stuff inside…
Then, in accordance to my handy dandy blueprints (that apparently did him no use whatsoever…but they sure looked pretty) we cut out the plug itself from this 1/2 inch MDF he got. (He was worried ply would warp…don’t ask me… i’m not in charge).
And then it went up in the air…
And one on the other side as well… The one on the side in the picture we designed to marry the wallpaper panels further inside the lobby… to create continuity. The one on the opposite side of the wall is a simple rectangle because it’s gonna be behind a bunch of hanging stage lights and seemed less obtrusive. Deciding on the panels was a gradual process…at first we thought we were gonna have to plaster the whole wall smooth again…and I had no freakin idea how we were gonna pull that off. The thought of trying to fill that hole in perfectly smooth gave me hives. But then Bob realized that because there are no air vents in the other half of the lobby, we might be able to use the hole to help circulation. See that archway wall stops any hot air from travelling from the outer lobby vents into the inner lobby (which is why we have ceiling fans in both rooms now)… but if Rich designed the wallpaper panels with a little gap between the wall and the panel, then air could still circulate through. Brilliant! And Rich managed it. But when we looked at that big wooden slab in the middle of the wall we were both like…”um… not sure we’re gonna think this looks that attractive”. But rather than panic we figured - we’re too far along now… let’s hope it looks better with the wallpaper. Which frankly, has all the same colors as the wall - so it will blend a lot better than a football field of MDF hanging on the wall.
Then - with all his spare time - he managed to finally get the final coat of stain and polyurethane on the bar floor… so it looks a lot more rich now…
And then…. back to the panels and the wallpaper. We determined since Margaret and I wanted to continue being friends past the weekend that the two of us would not embark upon another wallapaper adventure together. I thought Madge and Janice would be able to do it - and so did Rich - until we realized that Janice wasn’t gonna be back until the day of this Sciotes event. So - Rich, having never wallpapered before - decided to just take the bull by the horns. I had no recollection of how we had done it the first time - I think it was a case of post traumatic stress syndrome wiping it out of my mind to prevent emotional scarring. But after Rich made a few attempts and had bubble issues I remembered the main trick was to no put the whole sheet down at once, but to kind of spread it in one direction pushing about an inch of paper down against the surface at a time as you roll it out. Or something like that. He did great. And he had the big-time smarts to do the panel hidden behind the lights before he did the one that’s in full view.
Even without the framing on, we could see that with the wallpaper it looked a whole LOT better.
THEN he had to measure out the molding - which took forever last time, but he had learned from his mistakes of a year ago, and now managed to do it in a pretty painless fashion. He trimmed down the framing pieces… used the router to make the custom molding a-la Rich, and then, with the help of the old pneumatic brad gun… it was install time.
Because the darn thing involves so many angle cuts, the long day and late night got the better of him… so the next morning (today) before we had to go pick up Angie, he corrected a few boo boos, and got both frames installed.
And voila! No wall. No hole. More space. More seats… HURRAH.
And in case you forgot - here’s what it was before…
The wallpaper panel actually looks REALLY nice now, (the frame really finishes it off), and it ties the two rooms together in a great way. And here is the reverse side…
Doesn’t the room just look HUUGGEE??? i’m so excited. We have way more centre view seats, a way more unified audience experience (which really does make a difference - because it was kind of like playing to two separate groups sometimes)… and the ability to have a whole lot more events and meetings and stuff.
Way to go pack leader.
We’ve picked up Angie… who has brought along a ukulele (how excited an I about THAT!?), Jill is on the road right now, and in a couple hours we go pick up Jordan… Yaayyyyyy.
And tomorrow - it begins. Eep.
I think we need a nap….
Hey there,
So this weekend the Najuchs were back in town, so while I’ve been plugging away trying to get the shows written before the actors arrive in a week and half (I’m not quite sure if I’m winning or losing the battle yet… I’ll keep you posted ☺ ) downstairs was a hotbed of activity.
The main event by far has been one a long time in the making. Over a year really. See you may remember that in the middle of our lobby there is this wall.
It separates the two spaces and for the supper club the audience, therefore is kind of seated toward the stage in a kind of horseshoe formation. Now Rich hates this wall. He has carried a personal vendetta against it for quite some time. When we first renovated the lobby we took out the doorframes in the middle of the archways… but the main wall we were just too nervous to tackle.
Since then every so often Larry would tap on the wall with his ear to it, Bob would pound on the wall… Rich would kick the wall… And George would…well you know George.
So. After a careful calculation of the most substantial window of time we had between events and shows… Rich decided that this weekend was Death of Wall. First he poked around upstairs a lot in the kind of attic weird space above the lobby (that is sort of an enclosed cave between our kitchen and my office). He determined that there was DEFINITELY a large steel I beam running along ceiling above the arch holding up the building above the arch, so this section of the wall wasn’t structural. Hurrah. He also determined that there was an lentil running along the bottom edge of the arch-way. So there was support for – you know – the whole building, and there was separate support for the wall itself. It was pronounced that they were 99.9 percent sure that the wall could come out.
This did not stop them jutting four two by fours on each side of the arch as support beams JUST IN CASE. The plan was to keep the bottom half of the wall and create a kind of a little bar shelf thing (behind which I would have my same perch for the shows), but that would be the height of the tables and not create any obstructed view. So basically the middle of the wall was going to disappear. And hopefully, hopefully, I would not have TOO much repair work to try and blend with the existing paint treatment, plaster etc. I was quite quite nervous about this.
So – on Friday I had to go to Fort Wayne to pick up some stuff for my mac (I very very happily discovered that although there isn’t an apple store in Fort Wayne there is a man dealer who’s really pretty cool. So now I don’t have to wait until a trip to Indy if I’m having computer issues. Because Rich is a PC dude, and reacts like I’m asking him to stick his hand up a rhino’s butt when I ask him to try and fix a problem on my mac. So – while this great wall excorcism was being undergone I was not in the building. Before I left they had scored very nice clean line along where the wall was going to remain…
LOOK HOW CLEAN THAT LINE IS… I’M SURE IT’LL BE SO EASY TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE.
and they were starting to whack away at the wall. I would point out that the manner in which (I was informed) the whacking had to take place meant that if we DID have to rewind, abandon ship, and abort – the repair work was not going to be insubstantial.
MR. NAJUCH - TEAR DOWN THAT WALL.
Please note - it was at the exact moment that I took this photograph that I learned that they had still not determined if the plan WOULD work… so I’m now looking at possibly repairing this little scratch.
This had me very, very, very much hoping that this project was going to go through without a hitch. So – Jo Jo off to Fort Wayne. Whereupon Jo Jo got lost. With a GPS. Yah – bite me. Anyway – I got back on track and every so often I would call and just check in…
First phone call: “Hi” “How’s it goin.” “Fine” “Everything ok?” “Yup – coming along fine”.
COOL
Second phone call. “What?” “Um… how’s I going”. “It’s going FINE”. “Fine?… really?” “Look, I’ll talk to you about it when you get home.” Click.
NOT SO COOL
So as I was driving (incredibly calmly (not)) home I had a vision of Rich and Bob standing there holding up a wall like Atlas waiting for Po to come dig them out of the rubble. It did not wound promising.
In fact when I drove up outside the theatre George’s van was outside. The presence of George means two things…
a) oh shit.
b) plans have probably changed, possibly involving a swimming pool in the lobby.
See you know that lentil that ran supporting the arch below the I beam… well it did indeed support the arch. But it did so on the left and right OF the wall in question. Not though the middle. And so – as they reached the end of their rubble demolition wall destruction journey – they saw…
A gap. Gaps, in case you didn’t know this, for large areas of brick, concrete and say ARCH SUPPORTS are not considered optimal. This was not good news. Apparently they had just discovered this when I last called and Rich and Bob were discussing that probably the best thing to do would be to cut their losses, forget about the idea, and Jo Jo would have to basically replaster, recreate and repaint the wall. With nothin’ to show for it. Fun times.
HOWEVER - the Pack Leader, being the all knowing clever little critter that he is, at the last moment, suggested that they call George Eckert - just in case he could come round and tell them whether or not they were as screwed as they thought they were. And George arrived with his truck and his tools and his son. And if George can’t fix it. No one can. Basically the Najuch’s just stand aside. And I’m sure you know it takes an awful lot to get two Najuch’s to just sit and WATCH.
Sooo. George determined that our best bet would be to get a welder to come in and connect that gap. Then we’d be able to get away with a small support column in the middle that would be a whole lot better than the whole wall. And was a whole lot better than having to rebuild the destroyed wall.
And then George sat and thought.
And the plan changed.
I was like “Gosh - are you sure there’s no way we can support it….” So George looks. And thinks. And then he climbs up into the upper cave secret space with Rich and pokes around. And he has a plan!
Rip more crap out. Well - it’s George. Frankly, that’s always his plan… but this did have reasoning. If we took out MORE of the arch header and could get access to the beam above then we could weld the two cross beams together AND weld a cross piece that would connect it up to the main I-beam for support from above. Genius. Goodbye middle of wall. Rich said to me “It’ll be more work for YOU” and I said “I’d rather do more work and have it be open then do work anyway and have a pole”.
WHY DOES EVERY ECKERT MAN HAVE A GIANT DRILL? GOOD GENES.
AND - it turns out that it won’t be that much more work for me either. We have an aesthetic scheme that is gonna look cool. Anyhoo - here is how it looked when George was said and done…
HE’S GOT THE HOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS…
George’s last words were… I wouldn’t move those two by fours.
Of course it was the memorial day holiday and so we couldn’t reach a welder… so the two by fours held up our theatre very nicely for the weekend.
But see how much it’s opened up the room… it’s kind of incredible.
On Tuesday morning Rich called Kevin Amick, a welder/Supper Club patron. He came over, took a look at what needed to be done and said that he could come in the NEXT DAY! He is a very very very nice man. He came in, brought a great big hunkin’ piece of i-beam in with him.
Rich laid down plywood over the carpet (the sparks can, y’know, burn carpet) and he got to work. I wish I could have gotten some more exciting pictures - but you’re not really supposed to like stare close up at a guy arc welding. If you want to maintain vision, of course. Depends on your personal priorities, I guess.
In just a few hours he was done. We were so grateful - and he did a beautiful job - the thing looks perfect.
Isn’t that wild? And Grant said to me (when i expressed my wonder/disbelief at how something like that can hold the arch) that apparently something that has been welded together is like six times stronger than the steel itself. Isn’t that cool? So, apparently, the arch is not going to land on my head while I’m sitting there doing a show. Voila.
Our plan is to make a really sexy little wallpaper panel in the 45 degree wedge shape like the ones in the inner section of the lobby and use that as a header to cover the hole on each side… it will also allow some air ventilation which would be great - because in the winter the heat always gets stuck on the one side of that arch because there are only vents in one half of the lobby. The wallpaper company got right back to me - and even though they hand print the stuff, they had a roll of it in stock and it’s on it’s way. Hurrah.
So - that was our Memorial day weekend. Just another lazy holiday!
While all this was going on I have successfully managed to get the whole Italian show researched and written. I’ve got to start on the Berlin show next - time is ticking away. I’ve also FINALLY at least managed (now that my mac is all video-editing-friendly (which was quite the ordeal)) to get some of the videos from last summer up on youtube. Which is great because it will help sell tickets, and the actors really deserve to have the stuff for their reel. So now I have to catch up on the xmas show and the judy show - which I’m gonna ‘pencil in’ to do when the last show opens up in august probably. Right now I’ve got about a week and a half to write the other two scripts, scan the next 100 pages of music, and design the whole program. Eeep.
Ticket sales are picking up really nicely. We’ve also hired a stage manager from Philly that seems really nice. So it’s full speed ahead. The Italian show is shaping up to be super cool and tickets are still available so get with it kids… And if you don’t remember HOW great Jordan is (he’s back all summer) just remind yourself with this little clip…
WING AND A PRAYER
But tomorrow - we are officially declaring a day off!
And clearly - some of us really need it.
xo
Jo Jo.
Howdy kids.
Well I would like to congratulate you on the power of the blog. Margaret has people calling her about her freakin’ kayak. People who apparently read the blog. And need a kayak. So, now Margaret is all sucky-uppy trying to get me to blog more about her sale. Well… Rich has been over there most of the day helpin’ her set the thing up, so I’m assuming there are some amahhhzing goodies. And Margaret promised me that if I blogged about it she would make me a texas sheet cake.
Ok she didn’t.
But now she has Ha ha!
I helped out a little too and snapped some pics… The amount of plants is just mind boggling - there are like seven full truck loads of them…
PLANTS N PLANTS
AND IF YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW WHAT I LOOK LIKE WATCHING A SPORTING EVENT…
Plus all the lawn furniture she’s selling:
And the carpets… and this garden bench thing which I kind of covet…If i had a lawn.
And this ottomon - which we both kind of covet…
vaccuum sweepers by the gaggle…
THIS GARAGE SALE REALLY SUCKS
And did I mention a kayak?
Plus a priceless collection of Victorian kiddie porn?… something for everbody!
We finally seduced Jean Anne into checking out the Honeywell Center brunch with us.
They raised the price a dollar (BLAST!) but it’s still only 10 bucks for like the most amazing brunch in a 2 million mile radius. This time I had a definite plan however. See I always eat too much stuff for Brunch and then I don’t have room to try all the desserts. Sooooo…this time I had a brilliant strategy. Desserts first.
DESSERT OASIS
By the way - we have never discussed how stressed out I get about the difference between spelling the big sandy thing and the gooey fattening thing. It always causes a minor brain melt down.
Anyhoo… You see in the plate above you a turtle brownie (superb), lemon bar (mega yum) something forgettable (see I forgot what it was) and, of course, the bread pudding with whisky sauce. Apparently everyone has vetoed my bread pudding suggestion as an Irving Berlin show dessert. So I strongly encourage all you bread pudding fans to write your congressman, pack leader, start a protest and apparently Mia Farrow will be doing a hunger strike in support of my cause. And frankly, if you don’t like bread pudding - have enough of that whisky sauce and you’ll forget you DIDN’T like it.
After brunch Kenny and Jean Anne and Rich and I decided to go explore the Charlie Creek gardens which Kenny had never seen and, after apparently being abducted by aliens, was quite excited about exploring. So they drove over there in Kenny’s clunker…
Which he actually asked if I would like to drive…
Asking me if I want to drive your corvette is about as safe as asking Ray Charles if he would perform your appendectomy. I declined. After Jean Anne threw herself in front of the vehicle screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. She taught me to drive. She knows my limits.
Charlie Creek gardens are really beautiful - they have a meadow and a waterfalls and all kinds of purty green stuff…
Including a greenhouse my mom would kill for…
And this fun labyrinth thing which Rich was determined to follow entirely without crossing any lines.
The bizarre thing about Charlie Creek Gardens is that it that it’s attached to Richard Fords property. Or it is Richard’s proprety and it’s open to the public. Or whatever. Anyway - I thought it was odd to be in a friends backyard and not say Howdy… So i called richard and said… “um - hey. This is joel. I’m in your back yard.” At no point did Richard say “Why?”. He just invited us over…So we hung out with Richard for a while which was nifty surprise.
Well - not that much has been knocked down or ripped apart or nailed together this week… but that’s because we’ve had one event after another. It’s actually been quite nice - and having events at the theatre is also a wonderful little bonus way that people help contribute to the renovations - so it’s all good.
The first one of the week was a Red Hat group for Wabash. We love the red hats soooo much because a) red hats love theatre trips and b) well they are just inherently goofy. And they love that they are goofy. So we get on well together. These Wabash redhats were quite subdued in their accoutrement. There were no sequined plungers… it was kind of the DKNY version of red and purple feathers. But they were delightful, and Rich and I were the waiters (during which I panicked about how to serve coffee because I’ve never done that before… I know…it’s the little things that cause Jo Jo to melt down) and then we talked to them about the theatre and they were a great crowd and a bunch of them are comin’ to the sixties show…which is selling pretty darn quickly, I’m happy to say.
I actually got some nice pictures… I’ve been making a real effort to try and get pictures of the lobby with folks in it, because Rich is in the process of building a brand new sexy Supper Club website, and we need images… and the red hats are so colorful and fun I was thrilled that I got a few decent pics…
BETTER RED THAN DEAD
PURPLE REIGN
So - we did the Red Hats. The next DAY Karen Parker (cougar hairdresser extraordinaire), who has always been a big supporter, had a group arranged for an event to celebrate a scholarship program for disabled youngsters. I was feeling really under the weather (thanks to a hefty bout of antibiotics I’m now a lot more functional that I was a few days ago), so I helped Rich set up the room and everything and then came upstairs and collapsed. Cindy was on hand - and really, one Cindy is worth about forty Jo Jo’s when it comes to serving food. And childbirth. She has me beat there too I guess.
Karen was thrilled with how it all went - and she’s bringin’ a bridal shower or a baby shower or a meteor shower…not sure… sometime later this month. Yay.
Then we had a night off… and we hung out with our bud Derek. I had this completely mental idea… Derek has a dog that is larger Godzilla but since Po hasn’t gotten to socialize much with other canines in Indiana I thought we could take her over for a play date, have pizza and Derek had just rented Benjamin Button. So - Guys night out. Or in. And po.
On paper this was a good idea. Ok - on paper it probably looked like a stupid idea as well. Anyhow. Po zooms into Dereks house, and despite a hefty walk before hand… poops. Like in four seconds. And then, I didn’t think about the fact that we have pizza. Po likes pizza. So Po was less excited about hanging out with Hesburgh the giant dog than eating the pizza. Po would not notice Michael Jackson turning into a werewolf (or turning black even) if there was a pizza nearby. So we now have Po and giant dog interested in pizza while we are trying to watch Benjamin Button. Which is apparently a film in which every single actor was instructed to abandon any and all consonants and mumble. Just mumble. So we basically spent the evening with…
arf arf
pant
mumble
bark
mumble
pant pant
mumble mumble.
But we had fun.
In case you didn’t know… and I didn’t… Hesburgh was the first president of Notre Dame, hence Derek naming his dog Hesburgh. So I particularly like this picture of Hesburgh and Derek’s slippers…
I’m assuming when Derek has kids his first born child will be named Rudy. Even if it’s a girl.
YESTERDAY in the morning my phone rings. I was in bed working on my laptop. Rich was in his office dressed not unlike this…
Yes those are weiner dog boxers.
I am wearing… well not freakin’ much kids. I grab the phone and Jean Anne says “The governors wife just left Nicks and she’s walking over to your place - she wants to see the theatre.”
The walk from Nicks to the theatre is approximately seven seconds.
The scene which took place in the next TEN seconds was pretty darn loony. Rich and I managed to throw on something that resembled clothing (he might have been wearing Homer Simpson pajamas…i’m not sure) as I hurtled downstairs in my pajama shirt and a pair of jeans I had jumped into faster than Batman changing while he’s sliding down that pole in the sixties.
And we gave the Governor’s wife a tour. I hope she thought our hair was Robert Pattison inspired rather than… well… slept in. She was really nice, and said she’d like to come see a show this summer… so I’m glad we didn’t just hide behind the door and pretend we weren’t at home! Which for about one second of the ten during battlestations, was a distinct option.
Last night we were invited to be the speakers at the ABWA annual dinner. ABWA is the American Business Women’s Association. Rich vetoed my idea to do a variation on the YMCA dance to ABWA - which I thought was completely fitting a formal event. There was only one microphone so luckily I managed to let Rich do most of the talking - not improvise - and stick my foot in my mouth as is wont to happen when we decide to ‘wing it’. We were asked to speak by Marj Heiner - whos husbands name is Homer. Marj and Homer are pretty much the most extraordinary philanthropists in Huntington, Marj is like on every board of every committee on every organization from here to Pluto. Ok - Pluto too. And, just for the sake of full blog research I DID just (even though I confess I’ve wondered for two years now) check out if Matt Groening ever happened to live anywhere near Huntington Indiana…. and the answer is NOPE. In fact his parents were named Marge and Homer and his grandfathers name was also Abe. So it’s all based on truth. Or, at least, I hope for Mr. Groening, not entirely.
Their big fundraiser of the year is a bratwurst tent which they do during the Heritage Days. And, since they are all busy business gals and didn’t have time to do lots of little events during the year - this is their one big fundraiser. Eight tons of sausage sends kids to college. They call it the Brat Tent. As in ‘you wanted sausage…we’ll we Brat it”. etc. I think they should print t shirts to raise money that say:
It’s also the German culinary sequel to Bring it On…. “Brat-en”. Etc.
Anyway - it’s a great organization and this was their annual awards dinner and we were invited to be the keynote speakers. And it was fun. And I got cake. German chocolate cake in fact - which means Janice will now be very jealous. Marj’s mom is a real hoot - she was at our table, and she’s a great broad. Everyone was talking about the green beans that were with dinner… “oh aren’t the green beans good”. “Oh i love the green beans”. “The green beans are delicious”. And Marj says “Mother, do you like the beans” and Marj’s mom says “Well I’m glad YOU like them.” Hee hee.
We had a great big full page ad in Aboite and About (which is a free newspaper that in a nearby reason called “Aboite” (I really want to take 1,000 issues to canada and try and sell them there as “Aboot and Aboot”). It was a full color page - and half of the ad was done up as an article. You can buy a package where the paper will write an article for you - but you may have noticed I’m a control freak… so we opted to just do the whole page ourselves and provide the content. So I wrote a fun little article all about the shows, and there are color pictures and I figured out the font that the newspaper uses, and matched the font so it looks exactly like their editorial content. And people have been calling since it was published (it’s a monthly publication) saying “We saw this wonderful ad on you in the paper”… which is great. The nice thing was is that the people AT the paper loved the article too and were really pleased with it. And then the bottom half of the page was a big season ad for the shows. It was kind of exciting - kind of like our first New York Times full page ad… except in Aboite. Hey, baby steps, people. 
We also had a great little article that we DIDN’T write in a paper in Bluffton - so ticket sales are going steadily (Rich sold a bunch of them today) so I’m really happy. It’s great to get the word out to farther climbs beyond Huntington, so we can start building our audience base.
And of course, the Governor’s wife will be back… to see what we look like with our hair done.
Don’t forget Madge’s sale.
xo JOJO.
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