Another silent "no"

It's been over two weeks since my audition, and I haven't heard back from them. At about day 3, I figure it's a pretty definite "no". It's just annoying that people don't follow up to say "Thank you, we won't be using you." They make certain they have all kinds of contact info, and then they don't use it.

It was a good audition. I know, because I was there while two guys ahead of me auditioned. The first one did his songs, and then they talked to him about the show and had him tell a story (because the show doesn't have much actual dialogue to check speaking style). The second one had a bad audition and didn't get anything beyond singing. I got the long form. At the end, they ask if you have any questions. I think the question I should ask in the future is, "Will you let me know if you're not going to use me, or at what point do I assume a 'no'?"

Drawing a political cartoon

You might be able to tell I'm not a real artist. I just thought it was a pretty good concept.

Audition Preview

This is the ballad I'll use for my audition. I wanted to see how effectively I was presenting it. I tend to have a stand-and-sing style that doesn't really sell the song, so I worked on that.

The left half of my face is lazy. Gotta work on that.

Another audition

Well, the audition at Rice didn't work out. They wanted a maniacal, bombastic madman, and I don't have one of those in me. Not that I'm not evil, I'm just not loud.

But I have another audition this weekend, so that's something to look forward to, rather than moping about the part I couldn't get...I'll mope later, when I don't get this part. No, really, I'll try not to mope. The odds are usually against you at an audition, and I understand that (I do wish that they would let me know when I don't get a part, though — Update: just got the "thank you but" email.). And this would be a paying gig, which makes it even more competitive.

But it looks to be a pretty neat two-man show. The Broadway version closed down after one weekend, but I consider that a plus. I specialize in unsuccessful shows. Most of my early roles were in such shows.

You can hear a couple of the songs from the show at the show's website. Quite charming. And one of the characters was played by Malcolm Gets, who played Richard on Caroline in the City. We used to watch that show. We liked Richard. So that's a sign, right?

Back from vacation

For about 10 days, Shelly and I were away from Houston's August heat, exploring Oregon. It was beautiful. Temperatures seldom above 80, often in the 50s. Ocean, mountains, big old evergreen forests, wineries... What a great change of pace.

Came home to an answering-machine message from the director of the Theater program at Rice (I didn't know they had one!) She was inviting me to audition for The Threepenny Opera at Rice. She'd got my name from Rebecca Udden, at Main Street Theatre. It flabbergasts me to know that Ms. Udden even remembers me. I never know what's going to lead to something else, or when.

Paid Protesters

Amazing. I've captured a PDF-converted-to-PNG below, for posterity.

Think it's an isolated incident? Think again. Verum Serum does some digging to find who these people are.

Meanwhile, Obama works out a quid pro quo with Big Pharma. Who's in cahoots with industry, again?

Worrying

Not only do I think that "health care reform" is likely to be a horrific boondoggle, I find it disturbing that the political majority are working so hard to marginalize and dismiss those who oppose it. I get the strong sense that Democrats believe that people who are not on board with their agenda comprise oh, maybe 10% of the population. Just the far-right extremists, you know. A small but well-financed group of agitators out for themselves who are staging protests that aren't real, and who are stating concerns that aren't real, and who must be excluded or subdued. Vilified. Or at least informed upon.

You know who else was maligned and scapegoated this way? That's right, and look what happened to them: they got Israel! So I don't know why I said I'm worrying. The future looks greaaaat.

But just in case you've never met anyone who thinks Barack Obama is a bonehead full of bad ideas starting with his first executive decision (choosing Joe Biden as vice president), we exist.