Crazytown

MEETING A HERO: A MISADVENTURE

The story of how I finally met one of my idols... and completely screwed it up.
By Michael Kras (Actor, Director, Playwright)

They say that you should never meet your heroes. I now think that's because there's a good chance that you'll come across as a creepy stalker. And with that, allow me to begin my story.

As you can see from my byline, I'm a playwright. And the other night, I attended the premiere of a new show by one of my idols... a young, extremely talented up-and-comer in the playwriting world (who shall remain nameless). I'm a big fan of this playwright's work... you might even say I consider her an inspiration. Now, I've seen quite a few of her shows but have never had the opportunity to meet her.

So I get to the theatre, buy my ticket, and tell my friend I'm heading upstairs to the bathroom. I start climbing the stairs and, as I do, I see the playwright descending toward me.

And this is where it all starts to go downhill.

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE TWEETS

These are all tweets you should check out. Because they're awesome.
By Michael Kras (Actor/Director/Playwright)

In my travels across the world wide web, particularly Twitter, I've come across some things that just made my life that much better. This social network is mammoth in size, but sometimes, you just strike pure gold. Let's cut to the chase. Here are some of my favourite Twitter accounts.

#1: Ghetto Hikes

This is one of those tragically abandoned Twitter accounts that hasn't been used in almost a year. It's a darn shame, because I spent about half an hour going through every single tweet and laughing myself silly. Ghetto Hikes is an account by someone who claims each tweet is based on thing he or she hears urban kids say on hikes. Here are some examples:

Comedy gold, am I right? You're welcome. Go forth and enjoy.  

THE BEST OF THE WORST

An unapologetic celebration of the worst advertisements on TV, and the true (or not-so-true) stories of the actors who star in them.
By Ali Gordon

I’ll be the first to admit it: I love bad television ads. Do you understand me? I don’t just like them, I don’t just find them entertaining, I don’t just like showing them to friends… I love them. I want to kiss them. I want to personally thank the people who created them for bringing so much joy into my life.

A bad television ad doesn’t have to be shoddily made. Sometimes they’re for a product that is so ridiculous it’s hard to believe someone took the time and money to create, patent, produce, and market it. See: The Potty Putter.

Not only is the Potty Putter a (yes, pun intended) crappy idea, but also a Lance-Bass-circa-2001 impersonator stars in the ad! Wow! Not to mention the horrid production values.

But lo, an ad can be well-produced and can still leave you reeling on your couch wondering how many people said “yes” to the production of this ad before it made its way onto the airwaves.

THEY'RE BAAAAAACK

This holiday season there's only ONE music video that should be circling the faces of social media. 
By Pam Quinn (Writer)

You're welcome.

  

PAM QUINN Moved to California from New York at age 14 and entered the professional world of writing at 17 on the west coast. Rising from sketch comedy with a background in theatre, Pam collected what she had learned over the years and compiled it into playwriting. She co-founded The Unknown Artists (www.theunknownartists.org) with Emily Clark and continues to be qchref="http://www.thepamquinn.wordpress.com" target="_self">www.uaplayclub.wordpress.com
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DRAG QUEENS & DANCE TRAXXX

Mimi Imfurst may have been LAST in RuPaul's Drag Race ALL-STARS this season... but her music video is definitely THE BEST of all the former Drag Race queens' post-show releases... and the only one this queen is twirling to....
By David Davila (Playwright / Songwriter)

So Mimi gets a lot of smack from her sisters of fierceness on Rupaul's Drag Race. Those girls be reading her like 50 Shades of Gay, and they don't be lettin up! Personally I think the other girls are dead wrong about Mimi. They don't seem to understand her mix of Camp and Party Monster styles; and with that, the popular East coast queen came in last this season on Rupaul's Drag Race All-Stars.

It's that very same party monster style that makes Mimi stand out when it comes to party music, and Mimi's new song with her girl group XELLE is everything that her sisters wish they could create on the dance floor.

Overall, the many queens of RuPaul's Drag Race have created quite a few music videos on their quest to become the next Drag Superstar, but many of the videos are duds. Some of them are high quality vids, with bad quality songs, and some are hilarious songs that though funny, would never actually get radio play. The difference with Mimi's song is that it's actually good enough to be played on the radio. Here's Mimi's fierce video for "Queen."

 
(XELLE's music video for QUEEN.)

I peronally can't wait to see XELLE's music video play at XL dance club, so I can do some hostile vogueing. Just kidding, I don't vogue... anymore...

In honor of this fierce Queen's hot dance track with XELLE, I bring to you the best and the worst of those Drag Race All-Stars' music video offerings. You can decide which is which. ;)

How many times can I say "fierce" in one post? That's a trick question.

LAST MINUTE COSTUMES FOR HALLOWEEN 2012

Oh yeah... that...
By Rachel James (Treasurer/Writer) 

It’s Halloween weekend!  And if you’re anything like me, you have zero idea what your costume will be.  I always start October with the greatest of intentions, but then the 31st rolls around, I’ve prepped nothing, and I go as a leprechaun.  Again.

 
Not included in photo: carrying around a bottle of Goldschlager as my pot o' gold.

So for any other procrastinators, here are some great last minute costume ideas.

Robert Palmer Back Up Singer

 

You’ve got a little black dress in your closet.  You’ve got a pair of black heels.  Slick your hair back, put on some red lipstick, and you can be totally 80’s without all of the work of neon and a crimping iron.

Paul Ryan

 

Red baseball cap, gray t-shirt, ear buds and a ridiculous grin are all you need to pull off this look.  Bonus points if you walk around carrying a dumbbell all night.  Extra bonus points if you also have the Ryan budget plan and a calculator.

Grunge musician

If you have a baby doll dress and combat boots at your disposal, slap on some red lipstick and a bored expression and you’re good to go.  Or grab some torn jeans and flannel... and a bored expression and you’re good to go!  If you’re in a couple, put on these outfits, tell everyone you’re Kurt and Courtney and ask them what they think about the alleged Nirvana musical in the works.

Sexy animal

Finally, if nothing else is happening, stop by Duane Reade, pick up the last pair of animal ears they have, and you can quote Mean Girls to people all night.

I’ll leave you with the ladies of EmotiStyle giving us some extra ideas of this year’s festivities.  Happy Halloween!

 

RACHEL JAMES is a native New Yorker and theatre baby. Her plays have been produced by The 52nd Street Project and Starfish Theatreworks. She currently makes a living as a Broadway treasurer.
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LEARN SOLFEGE WITH MITT ROMNEY!

Did you know that Mitt Romney is a musical master? 
By RSO

You know solfege already because you've seen The Sound of Music.  You know... DO, RE, MI, FA, SO, LA, TI, DO.  Sing it...  I'll wait.

Great work.  But did you know a man named Kodaly invented hand signals to better understand pitch and pitch relationships?  It looks like this:

This is something Mitt Romney knows very well, as you'll see below.

Do. Just a fist.

Re.  A slanting hand, climbing from Do.

Mi, flat hands, stablizing from Re.  Mitt gets really excited about it, so sometimes he uses two hands, but you only need one.

On Fa, it's a thumbs down.  This one can be tricky to find me doing!  I like to stay POSITIVE!

So is a flat hand, palm to chest, very stable and strong.

La is this weird shape.

Ti is a finger pointing up.  I LOVE pointing the finger, making this one of my favorite notes. Ti points up, leading to...

Do!  Again!

Got that?  Try it again, this time going in reverse!

Do!!  Be proud!

Ti!  Get angry!  So fege is so important!

La!  This is SERIOUS!

So!  Tell the world! 

Fa! Get others involved!

Mi!  Show them how it's done!  (Two hands again!)

Re!  This is so fun!

And that brings us BACK to DO!  Am I right, Barack?  Eh?  Eh?

 

RYAN SCOTT OLIVER wrote the music and lyrics for Darling, Mrs. Sharp, 35mm, Jasper in Deadland and more. www.ryanscottoliver.com
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WHAT'S YOUR BACON NUMBER?

Thanks, Google
By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Composer-Lyricist)

So yesterday I read an article about a new Google easter egg that has since served as a huge procrastination tool for me. You know that game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon when you name an actor and have to connect them back to Kevin Bacon by naming another actor who was in a film with them and so on until you get to Kevin Bacon? I’m not very good at it because I don’t watch very many movies (TV’s my thang). Well, now if you go onto Google and type in “bacon number [actor’s name]” the top result will be how many degrees separated said actor is from Kevin Bacon.

I had a lot of fun with this yesterday, and at one point I started checking the bacon numbers of Broadway stars:

 

Hm. That’s interesting. They’re all only two degrees. Maybe if I try slightly more obscure Broadway babies I'll get a longer result…

 

Really?

Huh...

Wow. Can I find anyone out there who is more than two degrees? Let's forget theatre actors and just try someone who’s been dead a long time:

What the fuck?? Okay. We can do this. We can find someone with more than two. Think, Roseman. We need an actor, preferably dead or only worked a long while ago. Someone you don’t really think of when someone says “movies.” I know…

YES! Got one!

Anyhoo, try it out for yourself. It’s super fun, and my favorite new method of procrastination. If you find a really high numbered one, post it here.

Also, for the record, I have no Bacon Number (but I already knew that):

GREGORY JACOBS-ROSEMAN is a composer/lyricist and theatrical sound designer currently developing Save The Date: A New Musical Comedy. www.gregjr.com
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TGIF BONUS VIDEO: HERE IS A CAT SINGING THE THEME FROM "GAME OF THRONES"

By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Composer-Lyricist)

A friend of mine showed this to me recently and I simply had to post it here on Crazytown. Yes, it's an internet cat video, but it's also the internet cat video to end all internet cat videos. Enjoy:

Winter is coming.

Watch this whenever you need to smile.

GREGORY JACOBS-ROSEMAN is a composer/lyricist and theatrical sound designer currently developing Save The Date: A New Musical Comedy. www.gregjr.com
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(NOUN)! THE MUSICAL!!!

An annoying trend? A new party game? yes!...Maybe...THE MUSICAL

By Ryan Bogner (Producer, Wingnut)

I was struck with a flash of inspiration after recieving a text from my friend, Broadway's Jason Michael Snow. That was just the following image:

...

This of course plays into two trends of the off-off broadway, off-broadway and festival scene...shows about quirks of the theater that no one in the general public knows or cares about... and shows that are about random subjects titled with just the noun and the words "The Musical" trailing after them.

We've had Golf the musical, Balls the Musical, Boobs the Musical and even Sistas the musical. All of which got me thinking. Why don't we just open the dictionary to a random word and write a show about whatever word we land on?

In the first experience my friend Travis landed on the word Cerise, which is a color name for a reddish brown color. I landed on Mesothelioma which is a type of cancer that is caused by exposure to Asbestos, which clearly would make the better musical of the two.

MESOTHELIOMA: THE MUSICAL! Its a story of a courageous huckster law firm, fighting for YOUR RIGHTS.

All of which is to say, I think this could make a pretty excellent party game (or a great musical theater improv show at UCB).

All you need is a dictionary. Flip to any page in the dictionary and point to a word. You must come up with the plot, a song title and what star will star in (word you randomly select) the musical! Also it has to be a noun. So if you land on a verb or adjective or god forbid an adverb,  pick again.

Here's a few to get you started (selected at random):

Screech Owl: The Musical! 

Knuckle: The Musical!

Progesterone: The Musical!

Enjoy!

 

RYAN BOGNER is a New York based Theater Producer. He has produced Yeast Nation, Here Lies Love, Hurricane and Hey, You Know What Movie Would Make a Good Musical? among others, and is working towards an MFA in Theater Management and Producing at Columbia University. www.heyyouknowwhatproductions.com

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