for your VINformation

The anaomy of a magical day:

4:29 AM – Wake-up.

• It was one of those mornings when you’re anticipating the day so much, your body wakes up with no prompting.

4:30  AM – Alarm goes off.

• It was still jarring, I wasn’t quite awake yet.
• I had laid everything out the evening before so only need a short time to get ready. I didn’t make coffee, ’cause I figured it was going to keep me awake and well, wouldn’t it be better to try to catch a nap…

4:50 AM – Leave apartment.

• The first 123 bus of the morning is at 6:10 AM and since I needed to be at 48th (10th & 11th) at 5:45 it was going to be the short walk to viaduct. I wasn’t even sure what would be coming my way, it’s been some time since I’ve needed to head into the city that early in the morning.
• Funny note – I ran into a friend of mine just getting home as I was on my way in. Ah, youth! Remember getting in at 5 AM?

5:15 AM – Arrive Port Authority.

• I’ve got 30 minutes to walk eight blocks so I decide to stop and get a breakfast sandwich at the new deli that took over the old Ben & Jerry’s on 8th Ave. No Point.
• After getting before mentioned breakfast sandwich – egg white, bacon and cheese on a sourdough roll – I ran into a friend also getting on the bus. we walked up to our respective locations together, separated as he headed to the Audry MacDonald and I went over to the Marissa Jaret Winokur.

5:45 AM – Meet up with Tom 2i’s 2e’s and Brian. The three Bruces – together again, on another adventure.

5:46 AM – Arrive at bus meeting space.

5:55 AM – Check-in.

6:00 AM – Get on bus.

• The buses were sponsored by Sutton Foster, Gavin Creel, David Stone, Audra McDonald, Broadway.com, The Broadway Company of Memphis, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, John Ellison Conlee, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jonathan Groff, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Sieber and others through the all volunteer group Broadway Impact.
• The kickoff went flawlessly.

6:00 AM – 11:00 AM – Ride to D.C.

• During check-in we made our way to the front of the line to get the best pick of the seats. We headed to the center of the bus and settled in for the 5 hour ride.
• Aside from the three of us, there were a few others our age  – the median age on the bus was, I’d say, 23, which made me feel rather proud – and we all seemed to settle in around each other.
• On a side note, I thought it was really funny that all the youngsters fell asleep ten minutes into the trip when all the “old-timers stayed awake and chatted up a storm. It made me wonder if we were there only ones who got a good night sleep?
• Being on the bus with like-minded people heading to what is sure to be a historical event filled me with an energy that could ignite is I stood to close to an open flame.
• The conversations and stories told spanned from the inane to the absurd; connections were made.

11:00 AM – Arrive D.C.

11:10 AM – Starbucks!

11:20 AM – Metro to staging area.

• In Washington D.C., they call the subway “the Metro” it’s so cute.
• They don’t allow food or drinks on the Metro, the cars actually has carpeting – and it was clean!
• Bruce, Bruce and I hooked up with another group of like-minded gays we’d met on the bus, Well, we met one of their boys on the bus. It took all of about five minutes before three out of three Bruces agreed that, I’ll call him Schiffly, would be a great addition to the day.

11:30 AM – Staging area.

• We meet up Bruce’s friends, took a gander at Judy Gold & Cynthia Nixon and watched as the staging area filled up with people.
• Broadway Impact brought a lot of people down from NYC. The all volunteer staff did an amazing job. I don’t event them the task – there were 25 busloads of gays and gay supporters.
• We were right at the beginning of the march and to feel the masses of people filling in behind us was electrifying. You could feel the energy.

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM – The March.

• We marched right past the White House on our way to Capitol Hill. It was empowering to know that while he may not’ve been there, Obama couldn’t ignore us any longer…
• I ran into so many people from the community I chose to be a part of – there really are no people like show people.
• I was really quite surprised to see that there were hardly any protesters there. I guess, the gays can organize faster then the haters can. Along the route I saw only two – a really badly decorated mini-van and I single older man spouting scripture.

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM – The Rally.

• While the rally was going on, Singers from Hair, the Washington Gay Men’s Chorus, Cynthia Nixon, Judy Shepard, Lady GaGa – all spoke inspiring word, but I spent my time talking to Patrick.
• Patrick was 61. He came out three years ago. He’d traveled up from Miami for the march he came alone because he wanted “to be a part of something bigger” hen himself. He told me his story, he’d divorced years earlier and fought for custody of his daughter. He raised her alone, and “did the best a single father could.” After retiring and moving across the country from her, he decided it was time to finally be himself. He grew up in a different time, “boys were expected to act like boys” and he did what he needed to do to make his family proud and stifle all the feelings he felt. “The past three years,” he said “have been the best years of his life.” His greatest fear, that his daughter would reject him, never came to pass – though he did lose his brother, which he mentioned, “…wasn’t so bad a trade off.”
• I too felt like I was a part of something bigger then myself. I heard there were just over 300,000 people gathered on Capitol Hill, I was proud to be one of them.

4:00 PM – The search for food begins.

• I don’t think Washington D.C. was expecting as many gays to show up. While it was a Sunday, of a Holiday weekend, I would thing all the street sellers would’ve set-up, they would’ve made a fortune.  There were no, I repeat, no food vendors at all. To be fair, we did pass one hot dog cart and one ice cream truck – but come on, there were 300,000 hungry gays there!

4:30 PM – Lunch.

• Chicken Teriyaki – yum!

5:30 PM – Sightseeing.

• As a group, we took in the sights of D.C. before heading back to bus. It was a day full of riding, marching and walking.

7:00 PM – On the bus.

8:00 PM – Leave D.C.

• I’m saving the “on the bus” story for another day… you’ll have to keep coming back to find out exactly what happened between Schiffly and I… have I whet you appetite gentle reader? Are you waiting for more?

12:00 AM – Manhattan.

12:30 AM – Home in NJ.

• Exhausted and elated, one of the most magical days of my life!
• To view pictures of the day click on the cock, oops, cake, cake, that’s c-A-k-e  -  above.

-

Vinnie is not here right now, on October 11th he’ll be taking part in what’s sure to be a history making event = he is marching for Gay Rights in the capitol of this our great country.

Who knew he’d cross an item off his bucket list ( no. 20 ) this soon after it’s creation?

-

REFRESH WITH PART ONE & PART TWO…

PART THREE:

Mayhaps I wasn’t having a stroke, but it sure felt like one…

After looking at my phone I realized I still had fifteen minutes of copy machine time, I wouldn’t be able to get all the music I needed for The Last Piece of Cake, but I certainly had time to get the sheet music for the songs I wanted to add to my audition book  – as mentioned, I was leaving the next morning on a four day tour of Buffalo, Niagara Falls and the Erie County Fair, and I knew a free voice lesson was in my future.

I went back upstairs to retrieve the pile of scores I’d spent a half an hour pulling only to find that they’d been "re-shelved."

"Excuse me," I said to the librarian, "I left some scores here while I was in the bathroom, do you have any idea where they might’ve ended up?"

"The girl took them."

Pause.

"…and do you know where the ‘girl’ may’ve put them?"

"No."

Pause.

"Would you know where the girl might be?"

"Downstairs, maybe. In the stacks, maybe…"

Pause.

"Thank you."

With only ten minutes to copy, I wanted – no, needed – to copy at least one usable song – I’d been at the library almost 4 hours and had nothing but a stroke to show for it – I rushed to the stacks…

"Hey!" the Librarian called out.  "Here’s the girl."

"Great!" I said, finally something good will come from this. "There was a pile of scores right here…"

"What were the numbers?"

"Really? What were the numbers? I spent thirty minutes on my hands and knees pulling books off the shelves, I don’t have the numbers…if I’d known they were there three hours ago I might’ve had the numbers…"

"Well, the books are downstairs for resorting and without the numbers I can’t help you."

To the girl, "Thank you."

To the Librarian, "Thank you for all your help, it’s far to late now to get anything do, I’ll just come back next week, you’ve not been very helpful. Sorry to have bothered you."

I down the marble staircase one last time, I’d almost made it out the door when a sudden calm took over me.

I U-turned back to the front desk.

"Excuse me," I said to the person who looked like she was in charge. "May I ask you a question?"

"Of course, what can I help you with?"

"When did they change the non-circulating score policy?"

"About four months ago."

"And at that time they added all the Selections From… books to the circulating collection?"

"If you say so…"

"So, my question to you is this, why didn’t one of your clerks who, when I asked for the Selections From, Mame for example, didn’t they tell me most are now in the circulating collection?"

"Well, they only know what we have down here, they wouldn’t know if the Selection from Mame is upstairs. When they type your request into the computer it only tells them what’s here."

"I understand, but why didn’t anyone let me know that there are now scores available upstairs."

"Like I said, they don’t know what’s upstairs…"

"I understand, but you’re telling me that all your clerks don’t know that there are now circulating scores?"

"No, they know that, they just don’t know which ones are upstairs."

"So, again, I ask, why didn’t any of the clerks tell me that the Selections From…’s are now part of the circulating collection?"

 "They don’t know what we have upstairs."

"They don’t know that there are scores shelved upstairs?"

"Of course they know that…Oh, I see what you mean…"

"Yes, I would have saved a lot of steps, money, trees and headaches if someone had simply said, ‘hey you know there are scores in the circulating collection now, did you check upstairs?’"

"I’m really very sorry. How can I make this better for you?"

"Well, since you’ve asked, you see these copies, they’re useless to me. If you’d recycle these for me…and could give me my money back…"

"Not a problem. Let me take those and give you a twenty dollar copy card. Will that work?"

"It would be lovely. Thank you."

END OF PART THREE

TO BE CONTINUED?

As a money saving measure, many musical theatre performers use the library at Lincoln Center to procure sheet music. It’s one of the best resources for actors in the city.

Excuse me, I mis-spoke, it was once the best resources in the city…now it a freakin’ mess.

About four months ago, I was told, they moved all the non-circulating music down to the first floor behind the check-out counter, they used to be on the second floor, right next to the copy machines, which was very convenient, since you can only have one book at a time, now they let you have two at a time, but there are no copy machines on the first floor.

I have no issue trudging up and down the marble staircase, I figured I could just count it as activity points as I was sure to be breaking a sweat, my issue was the fact that everyone who works there are idiots.

I was getting music for The Last Piece of Cake - Duplex, December 7th @ 7pm, one night only, to fill out my audition book and a few songs for a friend who, because of location, can’t do it himself – my list was long and varied and I’d given myself three hours to complete my task.

I first asked for Joseph…Dreamcoat and Bye, Bye Birdie. The disinterested clerk brought me the scores with an attitude projecting "why are you bothering me, I hate that all these faggots have to come to me now, why couldn’t they’ve left these upstairs, now I actually have to work…."

"Do you have the Selections From…? I really don’t need the full score."

"No. All we have are the full scores."

"But you used to have the Selections From… for almost every show."

"All we have are the full scores."

"Did they get rid of all the Selection From…?"

"All I know is, all we have are the full scores."

"Ok, give me the full score."

Knowing Gerry Dieffenbach is a brilliant musical director and can work with anything, I figured, it wouldn’t be a problem, so I started copying.

"What Did I Ever See In Him" was 18 pages log with all the dialogue and incidental music from Bye, Bye Birdie – 18 pages! – and it’s not like I needed the dialogue or the incidental music, but, ‘it’s all they have…’

Up and down the stairs I went, getting score after score and cursing the fact I was wasting money copying music I would never be able to use again, at an audition for example, ’cause one can’t hand an accompanist music from an original score and expect them to play it well, I mean, some of the music didn’t even have the piano line written out and other had so much music it was almost unreadable.

For example, I wanted to get "Close Every Door to Me", from Joseph – not for me, I’m not delusional – and in the show, it starts off as a solo and ends with everyone singing. If they had the Selections From…, I would only get the lead and the piano line, with this mess, I was getting lead, the piano, the soprano, the alto, the tenor and the bass lines. To put it simply I was fucked.

After making about $20.00 worth of copies I went to the librarian to simply ask why they would get rid of the Selections From… books and he told me, "We didn’t get rid of them, they are part of the circulating collection now. They’re all stacked by composer in the 948 section."

"What?"

"Here, I’ll show you."

You have got to be fucking kidding me!

But lo and behold, there is all was – shelved really wacky, Andrew Lloyd Webber is filed under "L" instead of "W," Liza Minnelli is files under "L," Wacky!- but everything I needed was right there all along.

"Thank you."

I said to the librarian.

"Any idea why the girls downstairs didn’t tell me these were here when I asked them for the Selection over and over again?"

With a raised shoulder he said simply, "Nope" and walked away leaving me to my task.

It was now five o’clock, I only had 45 minutes of copy machine time – all copy machines turn off automatically at fifteen minutes before the library closes and if your copy card is in the machine, it’s does NOT get returned.

I start digging through the books, selectons from Joseph, from Mame, from Chicago, from Song and Dance, from Dreamgirls, from Hello, Dolly!, from Bye, Bye Birdie – they were all there, everything I needed, all along!

Suddenly, my phone rings – actually it vibrates, I wouldn’t want to disturb anyone working in the library with my phone – it’s the producer from Bartender Wars…

END OF PART ONE – TO BE CONTINUED…

6:20 AM – Alarm goes off – coffee maker starts brewing

7:20 AM – On the bus to Manhattan

7:45 AM – First Starbucks

8:00 AM – At the "Desk"

Customer: "I need ten tickets to Avenue Q."

Agent: "Avenue Q is dark on Wednesdays…"

Customer: "Fine, you don’t want to sell ‘em to me, I’ll just go to the box office."

9:30 AM – Second Starbucks.

Agent: "Good morning."

Customer: "I’m hoping you can help me."

Agent: "I do my best…"

Customer: "I promised I take my daughter to see Wicked and I can’t get tickets anywhere, I’ll pay anything…"

Agent: "Say no more. It’s a done deal. I can get you a pair, fourth row, on the aisle for $239.00 per ticket."

Customer: "Two hundred thirty nine? Wow, I don’t think she’s worth that…"

Agent: "Well, she’s your daughter…"

1:00 PM – Leave the desk, head to Powerhouse Productions (37th & 5th) – to shoot webisode for FLN’s Bartender Wars.

1:15 PM – Third Starbucks.

1:30 PM – In the make-up chair…

2:00 PM – On set.

2:30 PM – Two takes later, done.

2:45 PM – Head to Rehab (Ave B & 2nd) to film interstellars* for FLN’s Bartender wars.

3:35 PM – Arrive, Rehab – All make up gone from sweating in the subway…

4:00 PM – On Set.

4:30 PM – Wrapped* – One take.

5:30 PM – Vacation Starts!

*INTERSTELLERS – Network promos.

*WRAPPED – Finished.

I didn’t have to work at any of my survival jobs, so I took advantage of the free time…

6:00 AM – Wake-up. Coffee pot programmed…in a split second, my entire plan for the day was changed as I reached over and shut off the alarm…

8:00 AM – Get out of bed before the coffee pot shuts off.

10:00 AM – leave house to get on bus.

10:30 AM – On bus. Why is it so freaking late!?!

11:15 AM Arive at Port Authority – I stand the entire time on the over-crowded bus as we slowly make our way through the Lincoln Tunnel – halfway through, I see why it’s taking so long, I hope no one was killed…

11:30 AM – 46th & 7th – AEA Center – get on the alternate life for the combined Off-Broadway auditions – I’ve gone on this EPA, at least three times – mayhaps third times the charm?

12:10 PM – Audition for West Side Story – the only reason I did it was to practice the monologue I plan on doing for the combined audition I’m hoping to get into before lunch…

12:30 PM – In line for second EPA of the day…

1:00 PM – 45th & B’way – Toys ‘R Us -  pick up a gift card for a surprise Baby Shower I’m attending later today.

1:30 PM – 34th & 9th – B&H Photo – to return the $40.00 cable I got on eBay for $7.00. The whole transaction

2:00 PM – On the E to the A to the G train.

3:00 PM – In Brooklyn for Hung Jury final Juror call-back.

5:30 PM – On the G to the A to the 1 train.

6:30 PM – 76th and West End Ave – Upper West Side for above mentioned Baby Shower.

7:30 PM – Surprise!

11:10 PM – 42 & 8th – Port Authority.

11:15 PM – On bus.

11:30 PM – Home, naked and in bed!

fyi: I did this whole day with lugging around my laptop – in case I had a few minutes here and there – and two bottles of wine in my bag for the party…to think I used to carry three times that extra weight all the time…

oh, and btw, it’s exactly one month until my birthday…

July 15, 2009

6:20 AM: New Jersey, wake-up, turn coffee maker – which was prepped the night before, on

7:15 AM: On the Bus

7:45 AM: 40th & 8th, NYC, arrive Port Authority

7:55 AM: 46th & B’way, arrive at the "the Desk"

9:25 AM: First customer…

2:30 PM: Leave desk

2:30-3:30 PM: Wander around Times Square looking for a strong wireless service, killing time

3:30 PM: 40th & 6th, Reproductions – pick-up headshots

3:45 PM: Find out headshots won’t be ready until 5:00 PM

4:00 PM: 42nd (9th &10th) Playwrights Horizons – tech We Appear To Have Company

4:45 PM: Finally get on stage

5:30 PM: 40th & 6th, Reproductions – pick-up headshots

5:45-7:00 PM: Wander around Times Square looking for a strong wireless service, killing time

7:15 PM: Call time – 42nd (9th &10th) Playwrights Horizons – We Appear To Have Company

8:15 PM: On the Playwrights Horizons mainstage, acting

8:30 PM: 43rd & 9th, Zuni – Frozen Strawberry Margarita with the cast

10:10 PM: On the bus from the PA

10:25 PM: Home in NJ

10:30 PM: In bed.

On that day, 75 years ago, my father was born.

You’da think, after 40 years, I’d remember…but NO, I forgot to call my father on his birthday!

I saw him this past Sunday and snuck a card into his jacket pocket – there’s really nothing to buy a 75 year old man who has just about everything he could want, and anything worth getting is currently unaffordable…and wholeheartedly wished the old man a Happy Birthday, but that’s not the point, I didn’t call my father on his birthday and I feel awful about it.

In my defense:

• 6:00 AM – I woke up.
• 7:22 AM – On the 123 to Manhattan. Port Authority.
• 8:00 AM – Weight Watchers – a 2 lb gain   – not happy!
• 9:00 AM – On the B Train to Brooklyn. Prospect Park.
• 10:00 AM – Begin Voice Over Demo recording. it went incredibly well. I should get a preliminary cut by the end of the week and a full cut early next week, I’ll post as soon as it becomes available.
• 1:30 PM – On the B Train back to Manhattan. 47th Street.
• 2:15 PM – Stop by Debbie and Cris on 46th street to see if the Diamond ring I found was real – it wasn’t…
• 2:45 PM – On the F Train down town.  23rd St.
• 3:00 PM – Pick up fixed MAC @ Tekserve (23rd & 6th), buy a new computer bag – I just wanted it, it’s hemp!
• 3:30 PM – Walk over to EAT (25th & 10th)
• 4:45 PM – Visit Post Office to mail the first of the ended EATbay Auctions.
• 5:30 PM – Back to EAT. Deal with further EATbay issues.
• 7:30 PM – On the M11 bus Uptown to Port Authority
• 8:45 PM – On the 123 back to Union City
• 9:15 PM – Home
• 9:30 PM – Make dinner
• 10:00 PM – Restore MAC to previous settings via Time Machine.
• 11:30 PM – Go to bed.

Just because I hada busy day, with a lot on my mind – weight gain, computer problems, EATbay, another day without internet access, etc., etc. – is no excuse for forgetting to call my father on his birthday, I blame my sister – I saw her in the middle of the day and she didn’t remind me!

I called first thing this morning, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that I am a rotten son…

Curses! Mac has fallen ill!

First my unnamed, unexpected ankle problems  – which will end up costing me $1500.00 – and now my faithful Mac is stricken!

It’s beyond inconvenient! If she is fixable we’re good, but if I need to cough up $1500.00 for a new machine, I’ll be screwed. Luckily, Mac was backed up just a few weeks ago, so I’m not concerned with any data loss – I have all my contacts, calendar info and most of my music on my iPod Touch so there is no scare there – I’ll just sinc it all up…

The first available appointment that fits into my schedule at the Genius Bar at the MAC store, isn’t until Wednesday afternoon, so I’ll have very limited computer access for the next few days…

Wow, disconnected from the Internets for two days?

I really don’t think I’ll be able to handle that!

I need it man…

…you wanna say somethin’ ’bout it?

Today…

• …I lost another 2.4 lbs following the Weight Watchers program reaching and surpassing my 10% of body weight gone and they gave me a key chain.
• …I found 5 lucky pennies.
• …I cashed in coins at TD bank and when you do they give you the option to guess the total and when you do, you get a prize. I guessed $69.00 and I cashed in $69.53. I guessed right! I won a key chain and collapsible Frisbee. Two key chains in one day, score!
• …I bought the envelopes and another set of 100 post card stamps and paid for it will eBay money – which really isn’t money at all, so it like I got it all for free…
• …a tennis skirt was found for me to wear as Ruby in the up-coming EATfest, meaning all that’s missing from her costume is a red cardigan – it’s nice to find a character so soon in the rehearsal process, but I think I really know this woman.
• …I took a nap.
• …was a good day.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

My goodness, that sounds so trite this time of year, doesn’t it?

But, this year, damn it, I mean it!

I’ve gotten a good head-start, what with joining Weight Watchers in December; being 13 pounds lighter than I was in 2008 makes me feel empowered.

To keep that momentum going, I’m using this day off to get myself prepared for the year ahead:

• Christmas 2008 will be put away – I’m not sure if I’ll be getting a real tree again – if I get it for free, sure, but if I have to pay for the privilege of having pine needles in my ass-crack, no way!
• tax prep will be started – I love Polly, the paper shredder!
• an eBay push will get organized – Extra money, here I come!
• comic books will be catalogued for sale – It’s time to let-go of the past…
• mattress flipping – I haven’t been sleeping well, I’m hoping this will help, I just wish I had someone to help me with it, it’s not easy flipping a queen size pillow-top on your own…
• Mailing prep – Printing out resumes, cut, staple and stuff!

…I have no words.

Rest in peace, Maryann Acocella.

You’ll be remembered fondly…

…I realized:

1. My apartment looks much better in the dark…
2. You must dust EVERY week…
3. I make a mean low-fat pasta salad…
4. Cleaning day is a hell of a lot shorter when you keep a tidy apt…
5. Three days before Thanksgiving is too late to send out Thanksgiving cards, I’m gonna do it anyway…
6. Everybody wants something from you…
7. I’m a Scramble addict.
8. Chuck sucks!
9. If I don’t start my Christmas cards, they’ll be late as well.
10. I need to go to the post office…
11. It’s going to be a very lean Christmas – token gifts all, next year will be much better, I promise…
12. My oven bakes like crap – overcooks in in the back/undercooks in the front – how do I ask for a new one?
13. Joining SAG before an eminent strike may not’ve been such a great idea…
14. White cornbread is not as good as yellow cornbread
15. For one person, I generate a massive amount of trash; my carbon footprint must be huge!

I wanted to get lots and lots accomplished on my only day off yesterday, but aside from doing the laundry – what I wouldn’t do for cheap disposable clothing – I didn’t get much else done.

I would really love to know how someone like my sister does it with a husband and kids!

I guess I’m lucky I’m alone; or, actually, I guess a kid does make a great indentured servant…