Experience the Music - Indianapolis

I’ve spent the entire weekend in Indianapolis for the LGBA/Pride of Indy Experience the Music event. I don’t know if any of the Indy folks read this, but they put on a stellar event.

I arrived into Indy around 3:00PM and Aaron was in the airport ready to pick me up. He took me to the hotel and I got settled in. I did get a nice surprise though; Gwen from BandTogether was going to be staying with Lisa and me. I really like Gwen. She’s hip, she’s forward, and she has no shame. Pretty much everything I look for in a roomie.


Shortly thereafter, Kevin from Houston Pride Band showed up at my door and after a little Cosby show on television and some gossip about HPB. We then hooked up with one of the conductors, Brian from New York Big Apple Corps and we headed over the Music for All/Bands of America headquarters to register for the event.

Indy Pride Band president Shelly was greeting people at the door and handing out welcome packets. I helped her out for a while, greeting everyone as they came in and After getting caught-up we sat down for sectional rehearsal. The music was pretty difficult, but it did us some good to read through it prior to the big rehearsal on Saturday.



After sectionals, we hung around for a while and had a small reception in the Bands of America office. You could tell, everyone was geared up for a fun and exciting weekend. After a little co-mingling, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner around the corner.
By this time, it was closing in on Midnight and you can see that I was starting to fade.


Saturday morning, everyone met at Southport High School for rehearsal. From 9AM until 6PM we played. You could tell everyone was getting quite tired by the time we were done.
After rehearsal, we went for a quick dinner with Shelly, Travis and Laura at Pizzeria Uno and then back to the hotel to get ready for the social event.
Laura and Shelly picked us up and off to The Metro bar for some liquid refreshment. After goofing off for a while, Gwen, Kevin and I decided it was time for us to turn in. We hitched a ride back to the hotel with Roller Derby Princess Snide Piper. After a quick shower, Gwen and I started talking and, I hate to say it, I fell asleep while Gwen was talking. Sorry Gwen!


Today had us up early and at dress rehearsal at 9AM. After running some of the music, we broke for lunch and went to the hotel to change. The concert started at 2PM and went very well. Like every other musician, I’m normally more critical of myself (and others) but I think the audience enjoyed it and we were all glad to have pulled it off.

Now time to start thinking of next year’s Experience the Music event… wonder where it will be.

The Big Black Travel Cloud…

Well, the big, black travel cloud has reared his ugly head again.

Since I started working at the new company late last year, I’ve taken quite a few business trips and even more personal (read: LGBA) trips. My co-worker PJW has this joke that I have a horrible black travel cloud that follows me.

It started back in October of last year. The new company asked me to attend a export/import symposium in San Diego. Upon arriving in the city, I found the city up in flames, people being evacuated, and so forth. The morning the symposium was to begin, the head of the group came in to the meeting and stated, “we have to cancel due to the fires. Please check out of the hotel and go home.” Well, that would have been fine and well had my plane ticket going home, but I was on my way to Houston for a camping trip. Luckily, I was able to talk American Airlines into letting me fly to Dallas, stay there a few days (and work with a co-worker) and then continue my trip to Houston.

Then in November, I was asked to go to Denver to help with a site audit. The Frontier flight was about 6 hours delayed leaving DCA, so I missed the first day of the audit. On my final day, a leak in the hotel room above mine caused my bathroom to flood and I had to move to a new room at 5AM. Finally, when I came home, Frontier misplaced my suitcase. The audit went well though.

Now, it is 9:56PM EDT and I’m supposed to be well on my way to BWI, back from Indy. Evidently, there were some crazy-storms in Chicago this afternoon and they shut the whole airport down. So what does that mean? It means that United Airlines has been playing catch-up all day and my flight doesn’t leave Chicago until 11:50PM (ironically, very near the time I’m supposed to be landing. Lets also add in that I think I’ve come down with a cold/flu thing (again… didn’t this just happen 2 weeks ago???) and I can tell you my wait is miserable.

So my schedule for the next 24 hours has me leaving ORD at 11:50PM (all times EDT), landing at BWI around 1:50AM, hopefully in my car by 2:30AM, at home by 3:30AM in bed and asleep by 4:00AM and up at 7:00AM so that I can be perky for a training class that I am teaching at 8:30AM, 10:30AM and 2:00PM. I think as soon as that class is over, I’m probably going to go home and take a nap. With luck, I’ll feel better and can make it to band rehearsal. If not, it may be a 2 Nyquil night and sleep through until Tuesday morning.

South-WORST?!?

Well, I’m on my way to Indianapolis for LGBA’s Experience the Music event. I’m really looking forward to spending the weekend with some of my fellow band geeks and get to know the Indy Board of Directors a bit better.

In order to get there, I found a cheap flight from Baltimore to Indy on Southwest. I haven’t flown Southwest since going to Gay Days at Disney last summer, but I don’t know why not.

Minus the 45 minute drive to BWI from my house (without traffic at 10:30AM), the experience has been great. The check-in line was quick. The lady who checked me in was sassy and funny (and offered to sell me a seat so that I wouldn’t have to check my French Horn) and the security line – well, I was it. There was no line.

Now, I’m sitting at my gate in these WONDERFUL chairs charging up my laptop. Southwest at BWI has finally figured out what the traveling public needs – comfy chairs and power ports. I don’t know why everyone at every other airport in the country has a problem with this. And to put the cherry on top of this sundae of a trip: my flight is on-time. When was the last time that happened?

Now for what will probably show to be the jinx of the trip - the new boarding process. I will admit, I'm not sure I understand it yet, but come 12:55 I guess I'll have to figure it out.

WANTED: Creative Minds

Everyone, I need your help. I’ll talk about it in a later post, but I’ve decided to start my own little travel agency as a part-time job. I’m currently going through some training exercises, investigating affiliations with whom to partner and am putting my little plan together. However, I have one small problem: I need a catchy name!

I do have a couple of rules, however.
1. Keep it clean (my mom reads this)
2. Nothing dealing with “gay”. Yes, I’ll be able to book your Olivia and Atlantis cruises, schedule your Pride trips, or book you in romantic little B&B’s, but I don’t want it to be all about the gay.
3. I’d rather keep my name out of it.

Other than that, knock yourself out! You can either use the comment tab (preferred) or email me with it. Thanks so much for your help.

Lingering in the Loo

What is it with the darned janitors at my office? They are really starting to get on my nerves!!!

Let me start with saying that I have every bit of respect for those who work in custodial services. It is a job that I would not want. Cleaning up after everyone else’s mess gives me the willies. I have so much respect, I’ll even admit to having a small crush on “the janitor” on Scrubs. But the janitors at my office give the rest of them all a bad name.

My very first day at the new company had me in an All-Hands meeting. At that meeting, there was an announcement that some of the bathrooms had been remodeled and the recruiter leaned over and told me, “you’re so lucky, your office is right down the hall from the new bathrooms.” I thought that was an odd thing to say.

After being at work for a few weeks, I have to say that, indeed, I was very lucky to have the remodeled bathrooms down the hall. I’ve even heard that some folks from other parts of the building come to our annex just to go to the bathroom, and after seeing some of the other bathrooms, I don’t blame them.

The problem, though, is that they are always closed for cleaning. I’ve always kidded my co-workers that it seems that every time I need to go, the janitor is in there cleaning, but today took the cake. I attempted to go to the restroom three times today, and each time, they were closed and I had to go to the other annex. THREE TIMES! ONE DAY! What in the world are they doing in there? I don’t think its cleaning as it never looks “recently cleaned” when I am able to get in there. Maybe they’ve got a flat screen hidden in there and are watching Scrubs?

The Power of Suggestion

I think I might be becoming a hypochondriac. You know one of those persons who hear about a disease or disorder and suddenly they have it. Well, my neurosis raised its evil head again today – 2 days in a row!

Yesterday, I was reading the news and saw an article about a man who reached into his suitcase after returning from a trip, only to find that a rattlesnake had gotten in the bag. The snake ended up biting the man's hand and the he had to go to the hospital (but will make a full recovery). Yeah, this guy lives right up the street (figuratively) from me. That could have been my suitcase! So what happens? My left hand hurt all day yesterday.

This morning I wake up and turn on the television and an infomercial is on about “good colon health”. So I watch a few moments of people talking about how bloated and fat they were before taking the supplements. Once they took Dual Action Cleanse, all the mucus and backed up waste just flowed out of their innards into the best BM they’ve ever had. They are thinner, happier and by far “cleaner” than they’ve ever felt before.

So what happens? The logical side of my brain knows it is a hoax, but I still feel bloated and backed up today… damn you Dual Action Cleanse!

The Dating Haitus

Ok, I made a comment in a previous post that I was currently on a dating hiatus and I’ve had multiple people ask me why. I have this theory that I’d like to share for the whole world to read and ponder, debate, and share with the masses.

People hate to be alone during the winter. If you take out the snuggly times by the fire and romantic walks during a gentle snowfall, the winter is a pretty selfish time of year. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look.

Halloween is really the last big hurrah of the summer/fall season. Everyone dresses up, goes to parties and when it ends, everyone thinks, “Oh crap, it is almost time for the holidays!” At that point, its task #1 to find someone to date. Lower standards! Overlook flaws! Just don’t let me be alone for the holidays! So what do you get? Well, you often meet people who are so desperate to not be alone that they will date anyone (even those repulsive on the outside or inside, mostly inside though).

Thanksgiving comes and you part ways for the long weekend. I mean, you can’t take someone you’ve known for 2 weeks home for Thanksgiving dinner with mom & dad, can you? There are countless text messages going back and forth professing how much you miss the person and can’t wait to see him at the airport on Sunday night. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and you might even be bold enough to mention to the family, “Hey, I met this great guy a few weeks ago” to everyone’s relief.

Then Christmas is upon you. You get to put time thinking, planning and shopping for that perfect gift for Mr. Right (Now), which studies have shown makes you happier. You also get warm fuzzies knowing that he is out there doing the same thing for you.

Holy cow! Next up is New Year’s Eve. Big plans are made – vacations, parties and don’t forget you’ve got someone to kiss at midnight.

Then comes the biggest day of the year, the make-or-break day: Valentine’s Day! You sit at work waiting on the florist to show up with those roses. Then comes a romantic dinner in a fancy restaurant before the fireworks of your own making.

Then things start to change. Memorial Day is a long ways off. You both get tied up with “life”. Taxes are due. You both put on a few pounds so you need to spend more time at the gym and less time snuggling.

Then it happens. Someone decides its time to cut bait and the relationship ends… just in time for some “Summer Lovin’ “

Personally, for me, its even worse. With my birthday being on March 2, as soon as Valentine’s Day is over, he would bring the relationship to a screeching halt in order to save the time, money and effort into helping me celebrate my day.

So that is the theory of winter dating, and why I’m currently on hiatus. Is it bitter, jaded and highly negative? Probably, but I’ve seen it happen to many, many, many people and I’m sure you have too (heck, it probably has even happened to you). But what can you do? Do like me and endure until April 1!

Bad Dates

A friend of mine is working on a short documentary where people tell the story of their worst date on around 90 seconds. It really got me thinking about my “worst date”, so I thought I’d share. God knows I’ve had my fair share, but I think the one that sits on my mind was the last person I went out with prior to going on a self-imposed dating hiatus on Dec 1.

Let’s start by saying I’m not really a religious guy. I believe in some level of higher being, but who is to say that it is Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha or Donald Trump? Worship whoever you want, just don’t expect it from me. This evidently caused a problem when I went out with a guy last fall. Hyper-sensitive, judgmental holy-rollers and I do not get along well.

It started simple enough, we were both on an online dating site and started chatting. He worked for a government agency that had him stationed at various points around the world, and I wished I did. I was really interested in his job, so I probably kept the conversation moving by asking more and more questions. As a side note, he wasn’t bad to look at in his photo, either.

We chatted quite a while online before finally deciding to meet. We decided on a day shortly after I returned from a trip back home to KC. In our conversations, we had discussed how he had spent a short period in Baghdad. It was there he “found Jesus” and when his job brought him back to Washington he quickly found and became very involved in a local church. I made it very clear up-front that religion doesn’t play a large part in my life and if that was going to be a problem, maybe we shouldn’t meet. He as very insistent, however, so we found ourselves at a local burger joint.

When we met, he seemed very awkward and I could tell he was nervous. After a while, I realized that that awkwardness from his nerves has turned into more judgment. It turned out it was that he was extremely uptight and hyper-critical. While talking about my life and my friends, he started asking probing questions that just seemed a bit too accusatory. After a while, I made a comment that I needed to stop talking about myself or else his head would explode. To his credit, he played it off coolly – at least for a few minutes - but I could tell he was definitely ready to get out of there.

At that point, I figured I had nothing to lose and decided to play with his head a bit by trying to see how riled up I could get him. I started telling him stories of my old “party” days in New Orleans. I told him about my friends and their careers in the adult film industry and finally ended up with a story about a friend who had an infection due some of his actions at a fetish festival. I have never seen anyone so anxious to get away from me. I gave him a ride home (slowly just to torture him) and he hopped out of the car almost before I could stop.…

All I can do is chuckle.

On the Town

Well, with this being one of my only weekends in DC this spring, I decided to make a party of it. The only problem was that I had no clue as to what to do. So I decided to make a visit over to the Metro Weekly and see what was going on in town Saturday evening. On the calendar of events, I found a listing for a “Gay Guys New To DC” meet-up event Saturday evening. Evidently this is a fairly new meet-up group for folks who are somewhat new to the DC area and wish to meet others in similar situations. I mean, DC is not exactly known for its hospitality, right? One of my favorite quotes about the city is, "Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm” which is attributed to John F. Kennedy and I’ve found that 'northern charm' to be very true especially when dealing with the people.

I figured, “what the heck?” so I registered to be part of the meet-up group and emailed the coordinator to make sure it wasn’t too late to RSVP for the scheduled dinner and outing. Clyde, the groups organizer quickly emailed me back to confirm. I was registered, and off I went.

The group met up at Alero at 13th and U NW. When I arrived (20 min late – as normal) there were only 3 guys who had showed up. Evidently the holiday weekend had taken a toll on attendance, but we were not deterred. Clyde, Andrew, Mike and myself sat down for dinner and were joined shortly thereafter by CK.


After dinner, we decided to go over to the new bar Town. I had never heard of the bar before, but I have to say that I really enjoyed myself. It really reminded me of the Cabaret in Kansas City before it closed. You walked in to an area with a stage and drag queens trying to embarrass shirtless twinkie boys (oh The Flo Show, how I miss you). And from what I gather, after the show is over, the dance floor turns to more contemporary music. After a while, we went upstairs and watched the masses gather. The music there was more trance-ish, not really my style, but I did enjoy people watching.


It is weekends like this that I realize how few friends (not acquaintances) that I have here in DC and I realize that is something that I need to work on. Clyde has already scheduled the next meet-up for April and I’m looking forward to another function to where I can meet more local people. Thank god that I’ll at least know a few already.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all of you out there so inclined to celebrate the holiday. Mine has actually been pretty good.

Shawn made brunch reservations at Chef Geoff up in Northwest for 11AM for himself, Verne, Larry and I. I was initially opposed to this, merely because the name is so cutesy, but I’m glad I went. It was a cute little place with a decent brunch menu. I ended up eating the Texas Scramble which was very good, but I could have done without the tortilla chips. Larry was very thoughtful and brought each of us a chocolate Easter Bunny. As you can see, it didn’t take long for me to rip into it as soon as I got home.

I think the rest of the day will be pretty low key. Watch some TV, do some work, might go to the gym for a while. And in honor of Jesus’s raising from the dead, I might take a nap as well.

TiVo-licious - Breaking Bad

Thank goodness for Tivo. Being on "the go" as much as I am, I'd never really ever get to watch TV without it. That being said, I've had some time over the past few days to really tear into the long, laundry list of shows waiting for me...

Breaking Bad: The new show on AMC was really hyped a lot on the blogs that I read, so I set the TiVo to capture it. Week after week, the episodes in my list grew and grew, all the way to the season finale without even a hint of me watching it. Finally I broke into it and watched all 7 hours over the course of 2 days earlier this week. WONDERFUL!

If you haven't heard of it, the dad from "Malcolm in the Middle" plays Walter, a high school science teacher who finds out that he has terminal lung cancer. Knowing that he has very little time to live, and through some odd circumstances, he meets up with a former student and they start cooking crystal meth. Chaos ensues -- murder, violence, theft, this show has it all. The only problem that I have with the show is that the characters are a bit over the top. Walter is this meekly guy who has to come out of his shell to survive; the folks in the meth underworld are stereotypical bad guys and the brother-in-law, who is a DEA agent, is a know-it-all alpha male.

Its not a show that I would typically watch - very heavy; lots of serious themes; lots of violence... some a bit too graphic for my taste - but I can see why it got all the hype. I don't know how realistic it actually is, but it was very dark, entertaining and definitely worth the time.

Marching in a New Direction

Well, it looks like it is finally official. On Tuesday evening, March 18, the Board of Directors of DC’s Different Drummers made me the new Marching Band Director. I don’t think it would be considered “speaking out of turn” to say that the DCDD Marching Band has lacked in attention the last few years from the current artistic leadership and I plan on turning that around. I’m pretty much going to run the operation similar to the way I ran the band in Kansas City, with a focus on “fun”.

I’m meeting with the President of the Board tomorrow morning to go over the contract and give him my ideas on how I would like to proceed. I’ve got a lot of work to do so that we can hit the ground running as soon as Capitol Pride Symphonic Band wraps up their season in late April.

By the way, if you are going to be in DC the weekend of April 25-26, go to www.dcdd.org and buy tickets to see CPSB in concert (including me in the French Horn section).

You Suck?

Ok, I’ll admit it, everything that I know about vampires, I learned from Buffy. Back around 2002 or so, I often heard my co-workers Scott and Lisa review the Buffy that was on the night before and rave about how clever the show was, how well it was written, and so on. It sounded like a quirky show, but really, what educated adult over the age of 20 watches a TV show about vampires?

Then one day Scott comes up to me and asks, “Are you going to watch the Buffy musical tonight?” I had no clue what he was talking about and he explained that an episode of Buffy was being made as a musical, and knowing my affinity for musicals, he thought I might watch. I was hesitant, but watched anyway. They had me at “Hell-Mouth”.

As luck would have it, a few days later, FX started re-runs of the show in episode order from the beginning – 2 episodes a day. I had the TiVo fired up and quickly fell in love with the “Scoobies” and that cute little hamlet of Sunnydale. I became obsessed, watching every episode two or three times and learned that the Slayer’s not only concerned with vampires, but also with demons, gods, and everything in-between. But I’m off the subject – this is a book review.

Let me set the stage. I have a conference in Miami and I’m en route. I get on the Metro headed for the airport, I put on my iPod and dig in my backpack for the book I’m currently reading, “Next” by Michael Crichton (talking monkeys anyone?). What? It is not there? What am I going to do on that 2 ½ hour flight to Miami? So without pause, I enter the Borders at National Airport and instinctively grab a book about Afghanistan or Sudan or Mongolia or some other country that is suffering and some author wanted to make a buck on it. As I’m standing in line, I hear the little voice of my friend Chris who criticized me for reading too many “heavy” books. I turned around and a vampire book was before me. With the knowledge that Joss Wheadon gave me concerning vampires and my affection for them, I picked up the book “You Suck” by Christopher Moore. I remember Chris recommending him as an author of the lighter fare. I picked it up and I was on my way to South Florida.

I have to say, it was an decent read. Something you’d find in the “easy reading” section of your high school library, only with a few more f-words and a great deal of violence. The beginning was quite slow, the middle got better and the end was just downright… well, lets put it this way, I felt he was given a quota of 266 pages and at page 230 he said “crap, I need to wrap this thing up”. Strangers who were nameless and never referenced earlier just showed up, and single-handedly wrapped things up in about 10 pages. Not to mention the character Steve and his light-machine that was somewhat convenient. It definitely was no Buffy.

The one true bright spot in the book was the chapters that shifted from third-person to first-person from the perspective of Abby - the teenage, goth-ish minion who wanted nothing more than to be a vampire herself. As she wrote in her journal, her observations were so funny that I was caught many times laughing on the train, the plane or wherever else I was huddled.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 5. I don’t regret reading it, but I wonder if I’d have been happier reading about pain and suffering in some far-off land. As for Buffy, my interest has faded somewhat over the years since cancellation. I heard that most of the cast recently re-united for a roundtable discussion at some television convention in LA that might have been fun to see. And I do really wish they’d start back up with the Buffy, the Musical sing-a-longs… “they got, the mustard out!”

Trying again...

Hello!

This is Zach, the kid from Arkansas who lived in Kansas City for almost 10 years before moving to Washington, DC. Consider this the “Life and Times” of Zachie. This will be my fourth incarnation of this blog, but this time, I hope it will stick.

What will this blog contain? My ramblings mostly, little pieces of news and information that I find funny or interesting. I doubt anyone will actually read it so I’ll just keep it as my own little diary. I’ll talk a bit about my life, my struggles, my neurosis, my friends and whatever else comes to mind.

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Zach