You Really Did Have To Be There

Epilogues And Prologues

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If you’re in San Antonio, it’s hard to think of a better place to spend New Year’s Eve than the roof of the Cameo Theatre.  You get a great show, and if there’s room for you up there, you get a fantastic view of the downtown fireworks.  Much as I loathe the term “bucket list”, seeing in a new year at the Cameo, alongside friends both old and new, really is one of those things you just have to do.

For me, standing on that roof last night, watching those fireworks unfurl, became a strange kind of meditative experience, much like staring into the candle.  That moment when the old year and the new meet is one of the few times when you can simultaneously look back and look forward.  And there was a lot to look back upon in 2010, just as I know there’ll be a lot to look forward to in 2011. Continue reading →

Rumors Control, Finale and Coda: So Falls The Curtain…

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The Little Carver Civic Center now bears no trace of the Brocks, Gormans, Ganzes, Cusacks, or Coopers.  There’s nothing left for Officers Welch and Pudney to investigate.  We struck the Rumors set today, and all the props and set pieces that helped bring the play to life have been taken down and returned to their respective places of origin.

Needless to say, it was a rather bittersweet two days.  From the cast’s final bow yesterday afternoon, to our post-show celebration at Pappadeaux last night, to the drive home after returning the last of the props in my care, it’s been a time heavy with goodbye.  And I kinda hate goodbyes, especially after the experience I’ve had these last two months. Continue reading →

Rumors Control, Week 4: Is This How Mark Valley Got Started?

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LEE
You won’t rest until I’m up there on that stage, will you?

NIKKI
Nope.

It’s my fault, of course.

Since I wrote that blog about my acting class, some three years ago, she has concluded that I have some manner of secret desire to be an actor.  I’ve tried to dissuade her, but she persists nonetheless.

I suppose it doesn’t exactly help my case that I’ve enjoyed my ‘onstage’ moments as much as I have.  Which brings us back to Rumors. Continue reading →

An Unexpected Sequel

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It was surprise enough when Nikki was invited to MC a Luminaria stage last month.  We could hardly have expected that an even greater surprise would come of that.

But as it turns out, representatives of The CE Group, the event management firm for Luminaria, were among the over 200,000 in attendance that day.  And after seeing Nikki’s performance, they were very impressed.  Impressed enough to consider her for another event they were working on… Continue reading →

The Luminarian Annual

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I know it’s just slightly late for a Luminaria blog.  Or it’s way too early.  I haven’t quite figured out which it is yet.

But having written about it for two years running (year 1, year 2), it was always my plan to share my perspective on this year’s incarnation – or regeneration, as it were.  That’s one thing about Luminaria – you can throw in a gratuitous Doctor Who reference like that and it actually fits.  Because each year brings with it its own personality, its own energy, its own life… and that’s about as far as I got with the analogy.  So I’ll leave it to you to decipher where, on a scale of Hartnell to Smith, the 2010[th] Luminaria would fall.  Meanwhile, I’ll approach the point… Continue reading →

2 Days Ago, In An Auditorium 20 Or So Minutes Away…

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Spend enough time with me (or just check out my iPod), and you’ll figure out pretty quickly that I’m … let’s severely understate it and just say I’m rather fixated on film music.  I know next to nothing about current pop trends, but give me a Herrmann or a Goldsmith and I’m completely in my element.  In fact, being a film composer has been a near-lifelong fantasy of mine.  (Which I know will inspire at least one comment from a certain individual asking why I never did anything about that…)

So it goes without saying that I was thrilled when one of my birthday presents a few months back consisted of tickets to Friday night’s performance of the San Antonio Symphony, “Star Wars & More John Williams”.  That title more or less says it all – Williams is arguably the most famous of all film composers, and even if you don’t know his name, you know the soundtrack that introduced film music to my generation.  My day was made two months before I even had to wake up to it. Continue reading →