Didn’t I Say I Needed a Break?

Okay, so I’ve gone from having one project on the stove-top to having no less than four projects in various stages of development and with my having various degrees of involvement. Since I’ve been a bit lazy getting the latest Baby Hippopotamus newsletter out or updating the webpage (goals I have for the next week or so), I’ll use the ol’ blog to break the news. That way, after this thing is posted, three or four more people with know what’s coming up. Yippee!

First on the agenda is a filmed version of “She Said Maybe.” I’ve been trying to get this thing filmed for years now, having shot some very poor video for that purpose back in 1999 in Greensboro, NC. After I moved to NYC the script was workshopped at the Brooklyn Lyceum as a short play, then it was published by Original Works Publishing as a ten-minute play, included in Abnormal Stew and then re-worked it as part of Weasel Erotica. The script has been with me for a while.

So enter my old friend JB, an aspiring filmmaker, who wants to shoot and direct it. Okay, I’m game! And with Weasel Erotica in the very recent past, we have actors who have been fairly well rehearsed. So now JB and I are knee deep in preparation (getting storyboards done, shot lists created, blah blah blah) and hope to commit the thing to digital tape in a matter of weeks. In many ways it’s an exercise for the both of us as aspiring filmmaking-kinda-guys and I think we have a chance to maybe make something pretty special out of it. Even if it winds up on YouTube a year from now hardly ever being watched, it’ll be worth it.

On a side note, you can catch Talented Talent Brother video on YouTube here and here and here.

Also on the agenda (it has been there for a while) is my solo show Majestic Dementia. Not much to report there … it’s in pretty much the same shape it was in a month ago. I’m feeling quite a bit remiss in not visiting it as much lately as I had hoped and that may push back my ability to start performing it until after the first of the year. I’m still shooting to workshop bits and pieces of the show in a couple of months …

Also on the agenda is a production of Don Nigro’s Seascape with Sharks and Dancer featuring the ever-talented and delightful Jennifer Sandella. Performances are scheduled at Where Eagles Dare Theatre on Nov 30, Dec 1,2,7,8,9,11,12. This is a great little script and a very good vehicle to showcase a quirky and wonderful talent like Jennifer. So, needless to say, I’m throwing the whole weight of Baby Hippopotamus behind it … and trust me, it being a hippopotamus and all, that’s a pretty fair amount of weight. Lots of news on this project as it gets nearer.

Finally, the next Talented Talent Brother vehicle is well on its way to being ready to roll. Just as Weasel Erotica kind of grew out of Abnormal Stew, this new show has grown out of Weasel Erotica … and this time it’s a full-fledged musical! I know, I know … “what the hell are you getting yourself into, King?” Well, this script (this idea!) has literally come spilling out of me in recent weeks and I’m quite literally almost to the point where it’s time for me to start assembling the pieces (those who know how I write will get that) and putting the first workable draft of the script together. It is tentatively titled Bob’s Burlesque and tells the behind the scenes story of one of the locations visited in Weasel Erotica. I’ll be playing the worst comedian in the world (stifle that laugh, mister!) and it looks like Tony King will be playing an Elvis impersonator. There will be music, burlesque, dance … yeah, just what the hell have I gotten myself into?

Everything is still in its primordial stages (one of my favorite stages), so you’ll forgive me for not spilling the beans any more … it’s all still early yet. But early is exciting … the sky’s the limit early. It’s a good time in the creative process …

C’mon … get it together!

I have a bad (well, some would call it “bad”) tendency to live all aspects of my life at 100 mph until I reach a breaking point and just crash and burn. I’ve pretty much always been that way. I don’t really mean to, I would much prefer to live a life of moderation, but it’s just not in my blood. I approach most everything, whether personal or professional, with a sense of urgency. Quite frankly, I’m often frustrated when others don’t do likewise. I think of it as a level of laziness. Life is meant to be lived with all the energy and power we can muster.

I’m most often frustrated professionally when others aren’t up to the task … when others simply don’t have their sh*t together. “A lack of preparation on your part should not constitute an emergency on mine.” That’s my work place motto. Unfortunately that’s exactly what I deal with day in and day out … unprepared people with their own deadlines to meet who depend on me to become a miracle worker of some sort so that their collective a$$es are covered. So I wind up working long and hard hours when I could do my 9 to 5 and let them rot. Problem is, I treat my clients like I treat my loved ones … and go above and beyond if and when I can.

What’s all this getting at? Well, nothing really. Other than the fact that I need a vacation. Soon.

'Nuff Said

New York Mets: 2006 National League East Champions!

Return To Sender / Address Unknown

For the three of you who might be interested, today’s blog entry is really nothing more than an update on what’s been going on in the wonderful world of the big bad Daddy Hippopotamus. For the rest of you … well, I guess you’ll have to wait ‘til next time.

We’re Movin’ On Up

I hate moving. Hate it. It’s just an exhausting process and I would rather avoid it in the future. As I mentioned a little while back, I’ve now moved to a new place. It’s much smaller than where I’ve been living the past four years and it is a fourth floor walk-up (which is bound to get old after a few more weeks) but the view is magnificent. However, the view was the last thing on my mind as JB and I moved an overly heavy chest-of-drawers across town in a torrential downpour.

Packing up all of my belongings and trashing various things I’ve had for a dozen or so years was, in some ways, a very educational experience. Sometimes it felt like I was throwing important elements of my past away. Sometimes I was shocked to realize that I had held on to meaningless crap for as long as I did. I was literally bombarded with memories (both good and bad) as I cleared out closets and filled boxes. And now as I try to organize the new place and find a home for all that junk it’s like a poor man’s Christmas … “look at all the neat stuff I have!”

You know who loves you when they come and help you move for only a few slices of pizza and beer or two or three. So much thanks must be given to JB, Mel and Rebecca … they spent a lot of hours moving a lot of crap … and they did it all with a smile on their face. Well, except for Mel, who constantly reminded me that I’m hated by both her and God … not necessarily in that order.

Once I get this place in some semblance of order, I guess that’ll be reason to have a house-warming party … so be ready, all of you house warmers.

Crickey! That Was A Surprise!

After moving the last of my stuff on Monday (a nice sunny day) I found myself in a coffee shop watching CNN report on the death of The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. What a tragic, tragic loss. I’ve always been a bit of a fan of Steve-o having been first turned on to him by my son Derek. His energy and enthusiasm were infectious and that’s what I admired about him. Granted, there were several times when I thought, “Man, this guy must be on the most intense speed ever!” If only we all could be that excited and passionate about something.

Of course, my thoughts and prayers are with his family … especially his children … and the continuation of the conservation he was so dedicated to. Although I never planned on using the blog to ask folks for money, I hope you will join me in becoming a Wildlife Warrior – the only proper way to honor the man and his work. I imagine there will be more than a few scam-artists out there trying to make a buck on this tragedy, but Wildlife Warriors Worldwide is the only true home to support the protection of injured, threatened or endangered wildlife – from the individual animal to an entire species.

Sad that it took the loss of someone I honestly admired to follow-up on my previous post … support the hippo, support the wildlife. Go on … if I can do it, so can you.

Great & 48

This little blurb appeared in the Daily News a few weeks ago and as a Met fan, I just had to share it:

‘Julio Franco received a cake from Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya on the field before the game on his 48th birthday. "Getting older and younger doesn't matter, it's how you feel," Franco said. "Yesterday is the past, tomorrow's the future and today is a gift. ... I woke up this morning, that's the gift. I'm here, I don't want anything else."’

Thanks for the inspiration, Julio Franco. I, too, woke up this morning and that’s a pretty decent little gift. The gifts that I’m not so crazy about is the pulled muscles, aches and pains that still linger in my body from the move … the knee that’s still swollen from carrying a sofa up four flights of stairs, the back pain from lifting boxes of books that weighed more than they should, the stiff neck from spending the other night sleeping on the floor because I hadn’t put my bed together yet.

So, you’re right, Mr. Franco. Today is a gift. Unless you’re moving.