i know! i thought i was the only one who actually visited whiskeyandacigarette (dot org) from time to time, but apparently: I AM NOT ALONE.

it IS kind of eerie. how can i feel confident in spilling my rambling, incoherent guts knowing full well that another Human is actually reading along, every so often? i tell you, it’s unnerving.

so how do i know? what is the evidence?

i actually got a NON-robo piece of hate mail just 6 days ago! here it is, in all its totally Human glory:

so why are you back all of a sudden? we’ve gotten used to your neglectful ways regarding the practically defunct Whiskey and A Cigarette, and now we’re expected to set aside our theatre desires to make room for your triumphant return to Playground-hood? and even start marking our 2009 itineraries for a De Young Museum event?! my advice: get employed, get main-stream, and forget your unique, poetic and even at times poignant individualism. comic-rockstar, my ass…

thank you, anonymous hate mail sender. now i will have to actually update the totally outdate hatemail page on this site.
in other news: i’m participating in a series of new play readings! including my own! in North Beach! i’m a bit frightened, and am still writing the script, but i will be joined by theater artists extraordinaire Acquenetta Summers-Wong, Leon Goetzen, and Dan Weil, who will make me look good. November 6th and 8th (series runs November 1 - 8).

other playwrights on the bill are Adam Chanzit, Christopher Chen, Ignacio Zulueta, & David Bernbaum.

hey there.

i’m not cheating or anything, but i’m starting a side blog called Jealous Gods with my friend daniel tien simon.

perhaps he wishes i hadn’t said anything.

anyway, please read this blog for a bit - it’s here at http://jealousgods.wordpress.com/

i even blogged about my recent performance at APAture 2008 (an ! epiphany! but a personal one; i guess all epiphanies are personal. but i digress).

also, while i’m blogging (this is the “more” part of this post), i was recently awarded the honor of being admitted into the 2008-2009 San Francisco PlayGround writers pool! i couldn’t be more pleased. i was a member of the writers pool in previous years, but didn’t make the cut last year (i take all the blame for this event of unacceptedness; besides, being rejected builds character). anyway, should be an exciting season. check out PlayGround here. oh, the thrills!!!!

more later. in my new unemployed lifestyle, i should make more time for bloggery. so by the time the employment comes raining down on me, i’ll be in the habit of regular bloggery, and being employed shan’t stop me.

i’m participating along with dozens of other APA artists in ksw’s 10th annual APAture festival - holy shit! can’t believe we’ve gotten to ten. this will be the 8th one i’ve attended in some fashion - every september since i moved to this godforsaken city by the bay…

(ahem: i don’t really think it’s a “godforsaken city” but “godforsaken city by the bay” has such a lovely ring to it; i do loves me some sf.)

my friend & writer/blogger claire light is liveblogging at apature! this is very exciting. visit it now and read the blow-by-blow apature commentary.

i’m performing as the apature featured artist in performance/theater on wednesday, september 24th, at intersection for the arts (446 valencia, bet 16th & 15th sts, sf). also performing are Robin Sukhaida, Irene Faye Duller, Rogel Camba, and LIKHA. i’m performing a sort of Frankensteinian abomination incorporating elements from some of my older pieces, and some newer pieces, and a totally new narrative framework that will be premiering at apature - it’s an experiment, and i’ll probably be reading from the script in the totally new parts - but it should be fun.

APAture 2008 graphic design (left) by Michael Yap.

we are approaching the remaining two shows of the NYC production of “Lydia’s Funeral Video,” part of the 12th annual New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), a production of The Present Company. You will be pleased (or pissed, if you don’t like me or the show) to know that the festival thus far has been going very well, and director Thomas Connors & I, along with Authorized Company Representative Daniel Simon (you don’t mess with the Authorized Company Rep, by the way) and light/sound designer/operators Anton Delfino & Whitney Mosery are quite enjoying ourselves.

RANDOM BLOG INTRUDER: No one’s interested in your uninspired summary. And when are you going to start blogging regularly? This shit is pathetic.

i’m sorry you don’t approve, but i think, sometimes, being unpredictable and adding posts at irregular intervals makes this site even more fascinating and compelling.

RBI: Not really. But carry on.

i see you’ve started capitalizing the first words of sentences, as well as first person singular pronouns. impressive.

RBI: I don’t take kindly to sarcasm.

anyway, we are fortunate enough to have two new online reviews of the show:

Lingual Tremors Blog (NYC):
http://fervidus.typepad.com/lingual_tremors/2008/08/lydias-funeral.html

NYTheatre.com (NYC):
http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/fnyc08_rev.php?0=S&1=441

thanks much to these kind folks for blogging about the show.

after a grueling week of rehearsals for LFV, director tom and i sit down for a gchat conversation. join us, won’t you?

[here begineth gchat]
8:53 PM me: get on chat bitch.

8:55 PM finally.

8:56 PM i think this is a better idea than exquisite corpse.

gchat has more authenticity.

like Lydia’s Funeral Video. ALso authentic.

clearly, i type more quickly than you do.

Thomas: Very authentic. Paticularly today’s rehearsal

me: today’s rehearsal was quite eye-opening, actually.

8:57 PM Thomas: There are times, and they are growing in number, where the acting stops feeling like acting and becomes very real. This is exciting to watch.

Today’s rehearsal: eye opening how?

8:58 PM me: because i think at the start of the rehearsal (and actually, this process has been going on all week), i wasn’t trusting the characters to speak for themselves

(on a subconscious level, of course)

it was cool to feel that as a performer, i don’t need to force anything - which i think i was doing a little bit without realizing it
it’s the whole character versus caricature question

8:59 PM Thomas: Sure

me: on the one hand, outlandish extreme caricatures ARE funny and arresting and engaging, and i think i did a lot of that in the first run

which made sense, because the play was really fresh

but now it’s had some time to breathe, and as a director, you’re bringing out a lot of the nuances and the depth in each character that we didn’t have the time to address in the first production - not as much

9:00 PM Thomas : Well, the earlier incarnations had their uses.

For one thing, you’re very comfortable with these characters’ voices and physicalities now

You know how they sound

and you’re using it

9:02 PM And so now that we have specific actions and needs for each character and a sense of what they all desperately, desperately want…

9:03 PM You’re able to play these actions in their voices and mannerisms in a way that’s interesting, quick, and real.

So we sort of have the best of both worlds…

Distinct, real needs

And unique, distinguishable characters

All this in a solo play. That’s impressive.

9:04 PM me: it had better be.

Thomas : Oh yeah

New York audiences

They’ll eat us alive if they don’t like it

Good thing they will

me: yes. mediocrity not celebrated anywhere, i don’t guess.

9:05 PM
Thomas : True

Let’s brief our readers on where we are with this, shall we?

Readers:

To date we have worked on each of the play’s scenes individually

and run it through in sections, though not yet in its entirety

It’s in that second draft stage

Tighter, leaner, meaner

Not fully nailed down yet but getting there

Tomorrow Sam goes back to SF to take care of other artistic business (traitor).

9:07 PM me: (distance makes the heart grow fonder)

Thomas : When she returns, we go about the business of nailing everything down, working on transitions, scene changes, etc.

Then tech

me: (and totally hones the performing muscles)

Thomas : And then our show!

me: (and then we drink)

and we’ll have a trailer up soon

which you’ve been editing

9:08 PM Thomas : YES

That goes up on Sunday

me: it has some of the music our composer Kendall Li created

very exciting.

and we get our final postcards next week, too

Thomas : They’re foxy

me: i think so.

9:09 PM okay, i guess it’s about time we put this gchat to bed.

or took it out back and shot it, or something.

Thomas : Look for our trailer on Monday!

me: should we say anything noteworthy, memorable, and/or profound as a closing?

Thomas : Just take a look at the trailer. It will answer all your questions about the show. It’s there for your viewing pleasure

Signing off

9:10 PM me: okay, i guess we could also say something forgettable. signing off. thanks for reading.

In preparation for the FringeNYC production of Lydia’s Funeral Video, director Thomas Connors and writer/performer Samantha Chanse convened a Secret Meeting to discuss the show, the characters, the production, and the Significance of the Universe. Below is an excerpt (a Whiskey and a Cigarette exclusive!) of the conversation that transpired between Tom and Sam this evening.Thomas Connors (TC): It’s getting late and between the two of us we’re a bottle of whiskey drunker than we were just three hours ago. We’ve spent the past four hours on Sam’s roof, arguing about everything from what the show is really, like really, about to where each character fits into the show. And finally we’ve arrived at answers we’re both happy with — it’s about choice–

Samantha Chanse (SC): –but it’s also about purpose (I can use italics as well as you can, mssr. directeur) and wanting and finding a purpose. (also, we’re only half a bottle of whiskey drunker than we were three hours ago, since it was half full when we started.) But in addition to the general themes, the piece is also a cautionary tale, as well as a (dare I say it?) coming of age tale. But an unconventional kind of coming of age tale, I think. Do you agree?

TC: I see we’re getting stuck in a blogging version of exquisite corpse. Yes, I do agree with all your points. Although coming of age is a little too reductive — it makes it sound like once the right choice is made, all will be gravy, and neither of us is interested in something that simple, I don’t think. It is about growing up, and about standing up, though, so in that respect it fits. Certainly it taps into something so universal that even though I have very little in common with your main character, I felt an immediate and real empathy with her, even though she does some dumb things. A whole bunch of dumb things, actually.

SC: Your mom does dumb things.

TC: Well, that’s all we have for you fine folks tonight! The point is that underneath all the joking and the barbs, we’ve unearthed something really meaty and universal that I think is really interesting. Tomorrow we start the more meat and potatoes work of getting Sam on her feet, inflamed Achilles tendon and all. In other words, tomorrow she begins working while I sit on the couch and fan myself and say things like, “Do it again, but better.” We’ll see who’s laughing then.

SC: My inflamed Achilles tendon wasn’t meant for public consumption; thanks, old friend. But I agree with you that this is a very exciting and complicated show, with no easy answers, in spite of the easy jokes, and for me it’s kind of a dream come true to be doing this show in our hometown. I just hope people show up to share the dream. Otherwise it’d be kind of depressing.

hey all.

my solo play, Lydia’s Funeral Video, was accepted into the New York International Fringe Festival, and there will be five performances of the full play at an undisclosed location in NYC between August 8 and 24, 2008. !aiya! how exciting.

for those of you who don’t know, i was born and raised in NYC, although i’ve banished myself to the west coast these last seven years, so this Fringe festival represents something of a homecoming to me.

and one of the very best parts of all this is that filmmaker and director, and dear friend from high school, Thomas Connors, has agreed to apply his considerable skill & talent to directing this show. both Tom and i are honored to have recently had Daniel Simon join the Lydia Fringe crew as technical director and the Authorized Company Representative (ACR), which sounds like, and actually is, a mysterious position of Awesome Significance.

anyway, we will hereby be blogging about the development of this production. Tom will be starting it off - here is his first post about the show (dated June 24, 2008; i was late in my response. feel free to send me hate mail).

Blog 1: from director Thomas Connors (June 24, 2008)

Here’s what we’ve been up to lately: talking. Lots of it. After all, this is a different production from the Bay Area show and so Sam and I have been carefully going through every aspect of the show and parsing what we want to keep from that production and what we’d like to try differently. And we’re finding quite a bit of both. The first run went over like gangbusters but we’ve also done some paring down and as we muddle through our first conversations about the play we’re both discussing things about the production we might like to change. Rehearsals don’t officially start until July 1 and the really meaty, on-our-feet work begins then – right now, it’s more picking at it, arguing anything that needs to be argued, and making sure we agree on the fundamental direction. So far it’s going great.Also, we’re doing marketing. Lots and lots of marketing. This is the part of the show where we go out and drum up business so both Sam and I and our awesome new tech director Dan Simon are throwing ourselves into getting the word out to as many places as possible. It helps a lot that we have one very well received run under our belt that we can refer to, as this lets people know that the show’s already been through the ringer once and came out fine…

Back to work. We’re going to try to make a pretty comprehensive survey of this whole Fringe process, so check back in soon.

– here concludes Tom’s post–

and, for your viewing pleasure, here’s the advertisement image we submitted for inclusion in the official FringeNYC program guide:

it’s thursday night. january 4, 2008. of course, technically january 5. Obama and Huckabee just won in Iowa*. and i realized how far behind i am in the life of bloggery.

perhaps i’m just not cut out to be a blogging type person. that’s okay, there are other paths, and more than enough bloggers out there who LIKE calling themselves bloggers. i can use blogger technology, like wordpress, but still not be a blogger. i’m perfectly fine with not being a blogger. i like not being a blogger. that’s why, long ago when i first set this thing up, i was fairly adamant about this section being “the rambles,” and NOT being a blog. but Random Blog Intruder enjoyed showing up and contradicting me.

anyway, not calling myself a blogger takes off a ton of pressure. it’s that crushing weight of high expectations that gives me problems.
anyway.

i have been working on a new solo piece, “lydia’s funeral video.” it opens january 31st at a place called the dark room theater, in san francisco’s mission district. it’s a very small space, only 40 seats or so, so if i don’t fill it up i will have totally won the Game Of Failing. and i don’t need to win that game–i’ve already won a few times, someone else should win**. so i encourage you to come see it–there are nine shows total, thursday - saturday, january 31 - february 16, 2008.

so here’s how the postcard sums up the show (i wrote the postcard text, so i don’t exactly feel like i’m cheating here by repeating copy i already developed [yet somehow a part of me still feels guilty]):

“The not-so-distant future. A dream-invading embryo. An obsession with the apocalypse. And four weeks to shoot a video, do some standup comedy, and terminate a pregnancy. Holy shit.”

yeah, that about sums it up. although perhaps i should have changed the order around, to read thus:

“The not-so-distant future. An obsession with the apocalypse. A dream-invading embryo. And four weeks to shoot a video, do some standup comedy, and terminate a pregnancy. Holy shit.”

i think the guilt comes from summing up the show without using a single complete sentence.

so it’s a new year***. and a new show. and i find both of these things to be not insignificant.

information for LFV is here:

http://www.whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=203

*From this simple statement about the Iowa caucus, the Gentle Reader might infer that whiskeyandacigarette posts are topical & political, and potentially insightful, incisive, and illuminating; also, alliterative. The Gentle Reader would be right. Whiskeyandacigarette is, truly, magnificent.
**IMPORTANT NOTE: some might infer from this double-asterisked sentence that i’m feeling down, and am making defeatist remarks about my habit of failing in life. not so; i simply liked the general notion of winning at the game of failing, and followed my fancy to its inevitable conclusion.

***ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: happy new year, fuckers. thought i wasn’t gonna say it? i just did. haHA.

****I really need to use numbered foot notes instead of this multiple-asterisking bullshit. what the fuck? i can’t work under these conditions.

i figured i might as well make it go TWICE as far by copying and pasting my email into this rambles section, so i actually have some content that’s not two-months old. here we go:

SUBJECT: stuffs: punchline monday, APAture tuesday, LFV, and beyond.

hello.

you have not heard from me in a while. okay, some of you heard from me earlier today, or last night, or the day before, but not about THIS stuff. well, mebbe i mentioned this stuff once or twice, off-handedly.
but i didn’t write to you about it in such a formal way. not that this email is any where near formal. have you even made it this far yet? congratulations.

anyway, i am announcing a couple things that are right around the figurative corner:

————————————————————————————————————
1. monday, september 17th
punchline comedy club
444 battery, between clay & washington, san francisco
8pm
$10 (i think)

official event name: drennon davis’ san francisco values

this evening is actually in honor of a new on-line tv show. like, it’s a tv show, but it’s not on a tv. and so i played a very small part in the pilot episode (and who knows, the part could have been cut at this
point), but everyone in the pilot is doing a short comedy set. i may be doing 3 minutes, or 5, or 7, so it won’t be very much time. but OH! what fun we’ll have. there are many wonderful comics performing, such
as drennon davis. and kurt weitzman. and moshe kasher. and others. i, also, expect to perform.

you can get tickets here:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C003EFAD3E25247 artistid=1145213&majorcatid=10002&minorcatid=51

[or if that link doesn’t work, trying going to punchline’s site.]
————————————————————————————————————

after performing at punchline, i will be returning to KSW’s space180, where i expect to work throughout the night like a rockstar, but without the fame or the coke, finishing up preparations for:

2. the opening night of KSW’s 9th annual APAture festival!
TUES, SEPT 18th, 2007
KSW’s space180, 180 capp street, @ 17th street, sf
Gallery Opening Reception/Festival Kick-Off
exhibition showcases the work of about 30 artists include visual feature Misako Inaoka.

suggested donation of $5, or $10, or something, but it’s FREE to go to the opening. please support if you can with suggested donation, but don’t NOT go because you think you have to pay.

festival runs 9/18 - 9/29, at various venues in the mission district and chinatown, and it is Arts Festival Most Wondrous and Highly Acclaimed. you must go to as many events in the 12-day time span as is
humanly possible, which would be not all the events, since a few overlap. but hardly any overlap.

look, information is here:
http://www.apature.org

how convenient!

i also will be hosting the apature comedy night on 9/28 at the make-out room. what fun!

please check out the festival. it is my blood, my sweat, my tears…
————————————————————————————————————
also my blood, my sweat, my tears:

3. Lydia’s Funeral Video
opens January 31st, 2008, at the Dark Room Theatre

no other information yet, just trying to generate buzz. i hope to get people to create Lydia’s Funeral Video stickers with a link to the nonexistent LydiasFuneralVideo.com website, and go LFV crazy by stenciling the nonexistent Lydia’s Funeral Video (LFV) logo on the street, brazenly flouting the law, and then have people start engaging in conversations such as the following:

Person 1: whoa, what are you doing?!!!??!

Person 2: just typing out the three words “Lydia’s Funeral Video” over and over for the next post on my blogspot blog, with no spaces and no carriage returns. and i am doing this strange activity with the lights
off and no one else in the apartment–which reminds me, hey! who are you, and how’d you get in here, anyway?

Person 1: i broke in. i’m engaging in guerrilla marketing techniques by breaking into people’s homes and leaving a pile of fliers on their kitchen table. and one flier taped up in the bathroom, because that’s
where most people will notice it.

Person 2: wow. sounds like you and i have both caught the same thing–

P1 & P2: Lydia’s Funeral Video Fever!

(stupid cyber-laughter ensues).

RANDOM BLOG INTRUDER: this is the stupidest dialogue i’ve read this decade.

sam: this isn’t a blog, fuckface, it’s an EMAIL**. so get back to the blogs where you belong. before i CUT you.

RBI: fine. but don’t go blaming me when you get, like, fifty comments for readers agreeing with random blog intruder.

sam: i can’t get comments. because it’s NOT A BLOG. i’m gonna go start a website called www.notablog.com

person 3: hey, Not A Blog is a grrrrreeeat band name!

sam: who the hell are you?

**okay, so NOW it’s a blog. but it wasn’t when i first wrote it. and besides, the rambles is not a blog; it’s a rambles.

okay. i think it’s time to take that scene out back and shoot it. anyway, it’s fun writing LFV so far. the way being trapped in a dark, airless room with no doors or windows is fun.

just kidding. i am loving it. the parts which don’t make me feel like running in front of traffic.

anyway, look for more updates.

————————————————————————————————————
4. oh, and i’ve recently started blogging on www.8asians.com, a blog about all things asian american, so check it out.

you’ll notice that i have barely posted at all, and i will probably get fired from www.8asians.com unless i pull it together and start generating some somewhat interesting commentary. oh, the pressure.
i’ll just stick with not-so-interesting commentary and hope it invites more interesting comments.

but the other folks involved are very cool, and i highly recommend reading the posts of the folks who actually post.

————————————————————————————————————

wow, i really went on for a long time there. if you read the whole thing, you are a Very Impressive Human, and i commend you.

take care

sam

[the following post was written yesterday for 8asians.com, an API group blog which i was recently invited to join. we’ll see how long i last before i am politely invited to un-join.]

as some of you gentle readers out there are perhaps aware, august 4th of this year marks the 30th anniversary of san francisco’s chinatown/manilatown I-Hotel eviction. today, july 26th, starts off the week dubbed “I-Hotel Home Week” by the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, and what better way to start off the somber (yet festive!) commemorating than a (H)API hour happy hour featuring performances (irreverent and/or irrelevant, you be the judge) by standup comics who were being evicted from their mother’s womb roughly around the same time elderly, low-income filipino tenants were being evicted from the I-Hotel? and drinks always make things better. and festive. and commemorative-y.

the idea is to build community & interest around the new I-Hotel Senior Housing & the Manilatown Center that now stand at the site of the original & iconic I-Hotel, which was torn down a few decades ago. so from now through 8/4 there’ll be various events (a youth organizing workshop, a Kearny Street Revival Poetry Night with sf-based poetry all-stars Al Robles, Janice Mirikitani, Jack Hirschman, Nancy Hom, Oscar Penaranda), culminating with a street fair the afternoon of saturday august 4th (the skyflakes and a bunch of other musical peoples & collectives will be performing throughout the day).

i guess i’m kind of promoting a multi-event here (full disclosure: i am one of the [possibly irreverent, possibly irrelevant, you decide] comics performing tonight, and i work with KSW)–but the 30th anniversary of the i-hotel looms large in the minds & memories of many, so perhaps there’s something worth considering & remembering here. you know, considering & remembering, like commemorating or something.

or perhaps not; you decide. anyway, some memories of the i-hotel stuffs and a bit more detail on exactly what is being commemorated can be found here. there’s also a fairly innocuous yet informative entry about it on wikipedia. commemorate, bitches.

next post: probably about vampires & piles of dead babies (you decide [not really, i’ll decide]).