been too long...

it's been a week since i posted here, and that is indeed too long. but the reasons for it are good ones, at least.

one, last week i went and saw "A Child's Christmas in Wales" down in Boulder, and did another review for the Denver Post. very exciting stuff. the drive down there itself was exciting enough, in a horrible kind of way: it was one of those nights when it was maybe 10 degrees out, and although they had cleared the snow from the roads, the entrance ramps onto the freeway all had snow - and therefore ice - dragged onto the road. in addition to the patches of ice and snow, there was also low-lying fog in nasty, blinding patches periodically on the way down and back.

now, in colorado there are apparently two schools of thought on dealing with fog on the highway, both of which are quite fun. one involves slamming on your brakes hard, despite the fact that fog is moisture, and when the temperature is so low, that means more ice. not to mention the cars coming up behind you who won't be able to see you until they're right on top of you.

the other school of thought says you should just keep going at exactly the same speed you were traveling at before, vision be damned.

along with everyone else on the road.

somehow i survived. to make matters worse, i was running late, of course. but i made it to the show, and it was a lot of fun. if you've only read dylan thomas, and not heard his works performed aloud, i recommend it. his language is so playful, using words as much for the way the sound and feel coming off the tongue as for their meaning. you can also access some recordings of the poet himself reading his works at this site, and audio interviews from the BBC at this site.

i also had a story published in westword about will hoge, an awesome musician of the blue-eyed soul/southern rock persuasion, an article that may have gotten me in trouble with my tenuous position at the post. they have exclusivity agreements with their writers that i was unaware of, though i should have been. oh well--we'll see what happens.

at any rate i had fun talking with him--one of those easy-going, unpretentious musicians who is easy to talk to. you'd be surprised how many musicians are either completely unequipped to deal with having a conversation with a stranger, or who are so full of themselves that an honest conversation is nigh-impossible. hoge was neither, just a regular guy whose job happens to be playing music.

the other thing i've been working on in my full-length play. i've got a newfound enthusiasm that is bordering on obsession. i've been waking up at these ridiculously early hours, and devoting myself every day to working on it--but not because i'm forcing myself to. rather, i am COMPELLED. which is a nice feeling. i have the story just about where i want it, and i'm heavily into chopping it down to a manageable size. i don't know if it's any good, i don't know if it will ever be produced, or if people will even like it when they read it on the page, but i love it, and that is all that matters to me at this point.

that, and that i will by god finish the bloody thing. i'm on revision #5, if that gives you any idea of the work i've put into it.

three, we've started rehearsals for "the harvey project," a really cool new play that has never been produced. i'm playing the lead, harvey smith a writer (heh heh) who has trouble staying in relationships (heh heh) and who is actually living in a world that is the final project of capricious God, who, it turns out, is a callow student. (!)

i'm having a lot of fun, and the director seems to have made good choices in casting. also, my dear friend nikki is AD-ing the show, and Judi, who directed 'noises off,' the last play i was in is probably going to play god's professor. heh.

well, that's my massive update. c ya.

--k