Singing again

So, last night was the first night of the Last Chance Festival at the Hunger Artists. I’m in a parody of Brighton Beach (The Real World: Brighton Beach), and there is a parody of The Glass Menagerie.
The reason I’m writing is because I also sing in the show. I’m doing a Parody of “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” from Guys & Dolls. Those of you who really know me, know what that means to me.
Margaret McGurr wrote the lyrics and I added to them. It feels good singing again, even if it is just a silly little song making fun of one of my favorite shows.
I really, really want people to come out for this. Mostly for selfish reasons. I think I sound pretty damned good. Considering I haven’t sang the song in years (The real one I mean), I was a little worried.
So, if you’re curious about what I sound like when I really sing, come one out. Only one more night, then you’ve got to beg for it.

If only...

From Fox News

WASHINGTON — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,'' long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means said.

A delegation of Lakota leaders has delivered a message to the State Department, and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the U.S., some of them more than 150 years old.

The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free - provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship, Mr Means said.

The treaties signed with the U.S. were merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists said.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution,'' which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent,'' said Means.

The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974, when they drafted a declaration of continuing independence — an overt play on the title of the United States' Declaration of Independence from England.

Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because "it takes critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted to make sure that all our ducks were in a row,'' Means said.

One duck moved into place in September, when they adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples — despite opposition from the United States, which said it clashed with its own laws.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children,'' Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.

The U.S. "annexation'' of native American land has resulted in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere "facsimiles of white people,'' said Means.

Oppression at the hands of the U.S. government has taken its toll on the Lakota, whose men have one of the shortest life expectancies - less than 44 years - in the world.

Lakota teen suicides are 150 per cent above the norm for the U.S.; infant mortality is five times higher than the U.S. average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.

Note to Self

The Blood Pressure-Friendly Cold Medicine makes you sleep. Forever. Like 12 hours. I'm still a little groggy.
Yipes.

An update

I spent most of the day working on my script for “Jungle Book”. Mostly what I’ve been doing is catching up with what I’ve already done. I haven’t touched it in weeks. I was pretty caught up in “Brighton Beach Memoirs”. It was a Hell of a show. Emotionally draining. Super glad I did it, glad it’s over.
I’ve been crawling over “Jungle Book”, seeing what I had. Turns out, a lot. It kinda looks like a play. I looked over a couple of passages that Kipling just skims over. Ooo! I actually get to write some dialogue. So far, it’s all been Kipling. I wrote my first non-Kipling dialogue today. Got to write some Shere Khan. Pretty cool. It’s fun.
Still thinking about Claire’s music offer. I think opening and closing the show with some drum work would be cool. Maybe some dancing. AND FIREWORKS!
OK. This is Hunger. I’m just hoping for a set with levels. I’m hoping for something that the cast can climb all over. Slinking like wolves or scampering like monkeys. Yeah, I want scampering…

The Actors Life?

I had a strange moment last night during “Brighton Beach”. I walked on stage in my first scene and sat down, and I heard a woman in the front row (which means they were close enough that I could touch them) say “It’s Joe Smash!”.
I didn’t recognize the voice at all. I spent the rest of the show trying to spot who it was. As it turned out, it was nobody I knew. I was approached after the show by the group they were sitting with. They were fans of the OCUBS shows and recognized me from that. The guy who approached me said he was surprised I wasn’t just grunting on stage. I pointed at the woman, “It was you I heard!”. She was embarrassed, but we had a good laugh.
Sometimes, acting gets so surreal for me. Just the other night I had one of those moments where I’m on stage, saying my lines and I become hyper-aware that I am on stage.
I’m in a show.
People are watching me.
What happens if I just… stop?
What do I do if I screw up and can’t recover?
What if I just walk off stage? Can they get someone to play my part tomorrow?

I get these thoughts every once in a while. I remember opening night of my first Guignol, three years ago. I was backstage, about to walk on and deliver my first lines of “Gorge Rising” and started to panic. What the Hell was I doing here? I couldn’t do this? I’m not good enough to do this! I can’t ACT!
Then I took a deep breath and walked out there. Most of the time, I walk out there and I’m fine. But, sometimes that little voice creeps in…