Boston, June '08
Finally got around to journaling about my weekend in Boston with Denee! Good thing I'd written notes.
(my photos from the weekend.)
Friday, June 20th, 2008: the first day of another trip down to Boston for the weekend, with only Denee this time. We planned on two BMG shows (Fri. + Sat. late shows), and some time to just enjoy the lovely city. :) Less than a month before, I'd moved from NY (the Albany/Saratoga area) back to my hometown in northern NH. It's a small, quiet, mountain-town, and I was totally ready to hang out in the city! Even on the T (I drive to a suburban T station and ride the rest of the way in--saves parking money, not to mention driving in Boston looks scary, haha), I thought to myself, ahhh, PEOPLE! Signs of life! ;) Even the weird janitor guy trying to tell me all about his yellow duster-thingy was charming at this point. I got to our hotel a few hours before our show, knocked on the room door, and woke up Denee. We lazed around and chatted for a while, before getting ready and heading the couple blocks to the Charles.
When we got to our seats--4th row in the center section, one seat from the aisle--we ordered a couple drinks (wine for me, a "decent margarita" for Denee) and soaked in the atmosphere. We had first-timers on either side of us (including Helen from England!), which is always pretty fun, since part of the good time is the audience reaction. The Blue Men were Matt (Mattpart/Stage Left), Karl (Philpart/Stage Right...), and Jake (Chrispart/center). This was our first time seeing Karl perform, though we'd met him before and had already seen his fun personality. He turned out to be a really great blue man--he was totally silly and kind of a jokester. And he just looked so happy and bouncy, like a kid at a playground. His "loosen your pelvis" reaction looked more like a mock model's pose than the usual awkward "unhinging"... and when Center tried to put the flowers on the table-catapult (after the jello is launched), Karl got SO EXCITED. His eyes got all wide and he sat up straight in his seat, looking like the cartoon rabbit that spots a carrot. I have never seen a better "Oh BOY!!" look on a Blue Man's face, hahahah.
I would say that was my favorite Karl-moment, but... just before audience exploration, when the Blue Men are smoothing each others' paint... I love this part--it's such a pretty moment every time, and there is a certain quietness about it. It may just be the first time in the show where the Blue Men go from weird and entertaining to something more serious and personal. Annnnyway... so Karl was tracing Matt's face, and suddenly did this little "coochie coo!" tickle under Matt's chin. Denee and I lost it--her with her belly laugh and me with my I-can't-breathe, silent cracking-up. Thanks for making us laugh at a totally inappropriate time, Karl. ;) We were actually talking with Karl later about how fans watch the show vs. the average audience... how we notice little things (like this chin tickle) that the rest of the audience overlooks (or just doesn't realize is out-of-the-ordinary and damn funny). Karl described how when he watches a show, and sees little things like that, he'll crack up and the people next to him will give him that "what is so damn funny?" look... I can definitely relate, hahaha. It seems to be pretty fun for the guys to have people in the audience that will notice the "inside jokes," and appreciate when they particularly nail a skit or song. The Boston guys, at least, are always so gracious, friendly, and accommodating. Sometimes it seems pretty backwards (as a fan, I expect to be the appreciative one!), but at the same time it is not all that uncommon with BMG, and a part of the reason the whole experience/community remains special to me after years of seeing the show. Some pretty sweet icing on the cake, eh?
Anyway, back to the show. Matt, who we'd seen once before, seems to lean more to the serious side of the Blue Man character... but he will still pull the random funny stuff, and it's a different kind of funny when the stern/alert-looking blue man does something totally goofy. Whereas Karl seems to have a big happy smile just under the surface, Matt has more of a smirk. (Does that make sense?) During opening paint drumming, Matt was doing the slow-pour thing. Most guys will raise the bottle up high, lower it almost to the barrel, move it around, and be all dramatic about it. Instead, Matt stayed perfectly still and just let the paint pour out in a thin stream for what seemed like a very long time. He looked like a fountain-statue, with never-ending fountain paint. It still had the "haha, that is a lot of paint!" emphasis, just in a different way. I've never seen that and I thought it was pretty great. There are many reasons I am so attached to the Charles (besides it being the closest venue to me), and one of the biggest ones is that I always, ALWAYS, see at least one thing I have never seen a Blue Man do before. Sometimes it turns out to be a "Boston thing" (like how the Blue Men check in with each other between drum-hits in Klein), and other times it is just the individual Blue Men improvising. Either way, it's part of the reason I've always enjoyed myself at the Boston show, no matter how many times I've seen it (and despite still missing old skits like "House"!).
Jake, who I'd seen a few times before (years ago) but Denee hadn't, has the ability to look extremely calm, open, grounded--though as the "leader" (Center), he was more edgy and mischievous than I remember. During Crunch, he danced around pretty much the whole time (Karl too), so by the end all three Blue Men were bouncing around and looking silly. :) In feast, the girl had gum, which she gave to Matt. Jake reached over, and took a bit of the gum, but not all--so that when he pulled his hand away, it stretched the gum into a long, drooping rope. (haha!) Karl joined in and tried to drum on it with his plastic knife. All three were focused on this gum spectacle (see what I mean about them improvising?), and I don't even remember what got their attention away from it, heheh.
During the History of Animation video, Karl peered from behind the screen, looking out at the audience like "hi everyone!!" When he had his "cereal moment," Matt (in front of the screen at the time) reached around and squirted some shaving cream right on unsuspecting Karl's face, hahaha! I love when they mess with each other. After that, both Matt and Karl were in front of the screen smoothing out the canvas... Matt looked over at Karl with a hint of smirk and deliberately smacked his trowel on the screen, making a little *FWAP* sound on the shaving cream. Hahaha! It was really subtle, and I only caught it because we were sitting close (and I wasn't paying attention to the video), but a funny moment to notice. Matt was all "how'd you like that? Heh, heh."
[other random stuff, and the meet-and-greet:] PVC IV especially was excellent, and the band was A+... they seemed to be mixing it up a lot, giving the music a real "fresh" feel to it. Victor was playing Stick, and I /think/ the drummer's name was Michael, but I'm not sure. I don't remember who the zither player was (or if I even recognized him --final bows go by so fast!)... We got completely covered with paper during KLF, and at some point Denee turned to me (under a canopy of paper) and said "it's like we're camping!" LOL! Final paint drumming seemed different--a bit more dramatic, with more dynamic changes and a complete stop somewhere in the middle. I'm not sure if this is new, or if these guys just accentuated it more than usual (Jake's doing?). :) So the show ended with a bang... sadly some audience members thought it would be fun to continually throw paper up at the Blue Men during bows (like, chucking it AT them, not just throwing it like one throws one's graduation cap out of celebratory joy). Karl caught a piece and looked kind of proudly excited that he caught one, before tossing it back. Jake on the other hand, wasn't digging it, and started getting visibly ticked. He threw a piece back while staring down one of the throwers, but totally missed and it hit some innocent dude in front of us (oooops). I have to say it was somewhat un-Blue-Man-like and a little intimidating (though I understand audience-jerks being frustrating--I think they even threw the jello mold back up during Feast, narrowly missing the guys' heads)...
Fortunately though, Jake seemed kind and patient in the meet and greet (phew!), even with a hint of a smile he hadn't allowed much in the show. Matt had to put up with a group of kids (middle school or young high school) including a couple boys who seemed to be trying to get under Matt's skin. He dealt with it in character though--when one of the boys shied away from Matt's blue hand, Matt tilted his head to one side and made a fist, as if to say "oh, tough guy, huh? Pfft." My interpretation, anyway. ;) We got photos with/of all of the Blue Men as the crowd thinned out... with the crowd sparse, Karl took a photo of Denee and Matt (while I took a photo of him with the camera), and Denee got a photo with all three guys (Jake as a photo-crasher, hehe) before they headed out.
Still revved up from the show, we headed to the bar where we caught up with our favorite bartender, Billy (who jokingly lent us his Connect-4 game to keep us occupied, later in the night), witnessed karaoke night (Bohemian Rhapsody! haha!) and talked with some of the guys on and off. Denee found out that Billy and Karl (at least) had seen her journal from the last time we were there--Karl scared her at first by asking her about it all seriously, before assuring her he thought it (along with her one-line descriptions of the guys at the bar) was hilarious. I'm aware of BMG folk seeing our photos and sometimes reading our posts/journals, but it is still always kind of surreal if they mention it. It sounds like they like reading about shows they were in though, 'cause they get to see what they did on a particular night, or what funny things we noticed, etc. :) Personally, I write my journals mainly so that years later, I can read and relive all the fun times and great show moments--some of which I wouldn't remember otherwise--but I'm cool with others checking them out, too. :) Well, obviously, since I go and post them online. (Dur.)
We ended up being at the Playhouse Lounge (the official name of the bar at the Charles) until closing, with a midnight break for pizza down the street at good ol' New York Pizza. The whole evening was a really fun time (well, duh)... and for me, after transitioning to quiet NH, a welcome night out in the city. !
Saturday, we slept in and relaxed. Denee had just finished a seriously busy last week of work before coming out to Boston, and was content to just hang out and take it easy. We laughed about the good times the night before, and took our sweet time getting ready for more fun at the Charles. We ended up at the nearby Rock Bottom for dinner, and headed to the theatre a little early. As we walked towards the bar to wait for the doors to open, a Very Informative Staff Guy asked us if we had our tickets already, then proceeded to tell us about a dozen tidbits of information, like how long the show is, that there is no intermission, the location of the bathrooms, the time in the show we should NOT leave for the bathroom (lest we not be allowed back in during the finale), that we can bring our drinks into the theatre,... all very helpful things, but it was pretty amusing since we have been there enough to be aware of all of it. ;) Once he realized this, we joked a bit with him and praised him (not mockingly!) for being so helpful. In the lounge, we had a quiet drink... Informative Staff Guy kept directing large gaggles of women to the tiny 2-person bathroom in the lounge (apparently because of a line at the one in the lobby), to the point that they started using the men's bathroom too (with women guarding the door). It became a sort of running joke, and eventually I realized I should get in line before he brought in another 8 more (which he did, LOL).
When the house doors opened, we headed up to our seats. This time we were in 5th row, in the middle--only a slightly different angle than the night before. The Blue Men were Mike (Chrispart), Meridian (Mattpart), and Brian (Philpart), all of whom we have seen before. :) [It was pretty cool to see 6 different Blue Men in our two shows--the only one we didn't see was a new guy named Shane.]
Meridian's sense of humor onstage is pretty subtle, and mostly shows through his hilarious facial expressions (especially his eyes). He is constantly "checking in" with the audience, all "did you see that?" To wiggle the Magic Eye Mermaid poster, he moved it with just a couple fingers, in a way that made it look like the poster might just be moving on its own, hehehe. During Wands, the Blue Men focused on one of the front rows, which had a couple empty seats in the middle of it. So instead of using the two sides of the theatre, they used the two sides of this row to mess with. When Meridian got the wands, he sent Mike to one side of the row, and Brian to the other (LOL). Then, when it was time to move on, he called Brian back with the wands, then gave him an extra "get going!" nod as he passed. Hehe, the funny of that is hard to describe... like I said, Meridian is pretty subtle. But awesome.
Mike is my all-time favorite Blue Man, because of his excellent balance of high-energy hilarity/spontaneity, and very real/believable portrayal of the character. Whenever he's in a show I find myself keeping an eye on him, 'cause I don't want to miss anything. After the other two Blue Men had put down their welding masks during opening paint drumming, Mike threw his head forward to slam down his mask, too (since his hands were occupied with drumming)--only a few minutes into the show and Mike's already thrown in something I've never seen before. During paint/cheese, he kept a marshmallow that the audience had thrown back up on stage, which he popped in his mouth after missing the first one thrown to him. (Nice save, heheh.) His "cute one" dance was quite possibly the best I have ever seen (and if it's not, it's beaten by another of Mike's, LOL)--he did this high stepping sort of thing, then added this weird shake-y hand thing... he looked like a gangsta rapper wannabe except kind of awkward and way, way goofy... and then he gradually just degraded into hilarious chaos. Had to be my favorite Mike-moment of this show... though there are countless little things. The whole show, he had crazy energy--wailing on the big drum, leaning over his paint drum at the end so that the paint splashed all over his face, checking himself out the video screen whenever he was on camera, draping paper over some audience member's hat... When he got the vacuum out during Feast, he pulled it up far enough to let it flop/whirl over everyone's heads... When Meridian spewed goo, the Twinkie girl started rubbing his back to comfort him (hahah! awwww), and Mike copied her, all "you okay, buddy?" Oh, and at some point, Mike accidentally snagged Brian's fork with the vacuum--it landed on the nozzle sideways, so it was just stuck there, until Brian possessively snatched it back (LOL).
Speaking of Brian, he was PRICELESS. He is still a pretty new Blue Man, and our first time seeing him was in March--he'd done really well then, but since then he has really gotten impressive (not just "good"! hehe). Drumbone was flawless (not one stick click!)! He's definitely getting the hang of the serious/comedic balance, and is comfortable enough with the show to improvise and mess with his fellow Blue Men. During feast, he examined the twinkie's plastic wrapper with such a careful focus, hehe... I noticed him holding upstretched hands to move over the audience (chair-walking)--something we saw Mike do in March (one of those never-seen-THAT things, at the time), and I'm glad it's caught on. It seems like a great little personal/connecting sort of thing. I said before that I like to keep an eye on Mike, but Brian was so hilarious that he stole my attention away a lot of the time. I love when all three Blue Men are so good that it's hard to divide your attention! Anyway, Brian totally picked on Mike... during Tributes, when Philpart snaps a towel at Center--usually twice, in time with the music... Brian snapped it two extra times (getting a genuinely surprised/"what are you doing?" reaction from Mike--who seemed to suppress a grin, while Brian kept a completely straight face--classic), and then kept winding up the towel through the rest of the skit whenever Mike wasn't paying attention... with the veil on, and then during Freebird before using the extinguisher. Meridian noticed this (while Mike didn't), and barely held in an amused grin of his own. Also, Brian held the never-ending vibraslap out towards Mike, looking like he had no intention of stopping it, and Mike used the now-infamous towel to dampen the thing, hehe.
Another hilarious Brian-moment... Normally the Philpart is "caught" eating cereal twice (after the power out, and during the animation video), but... towards the end of History of Animation, after the shaving cream was all set, Brian somehow still had the bowl of cereal and was munching on it while watching the video--hahahahah!
All the music was great, and Meridian always nails the overhead drum part in "Time To Start," but the standout piece of the night had to be Klein. They were all killing it, especially Brian. We mentioned this to him later, and he said that he loves Klein, and also... "ever since Mike broke the big drum head" he's been trying to live up to that. Mike BROKE the big drum head?! Hahah! [He was nearby during this convo, and seemed pretty proud of himself, too, LOL.] Anyway...
The audience was so loud after KLF that it took a reeeeal long time for the group-clap (when the Blue Men are hitting their sticks together in the dark, before the final paint drumming). Everyone was loud and excited but not rude like the night before (no chucking stuff at the Blue Men, thank goodness), and even gave a standing ovation. :)
The meet and greet was pretty fun--again, Denee and I were at the tail end of the crowd (part by choice and part 'cause we sat up front). Just before us, someone gave Brian a high-five, which started a chain reaction of people high-fiving him. A few minutes later I went up for my picture and said "Hi!" Brian looked down, straight-faced, and put up his hand for a high-five. Haha, Brian is great. :)
On to Meridian... the group before us was a bunch of younger kids getting a group photo. They were trying to decide which hand signs would be coolest to do, and while they were doing this, Meridian noticed us and totally goofed off, making mock sideways peace signs and crazy eyes (he was behind the kids so none of them noticed--LOL!). Later, Denee had a paper she wanted him to hold in a picture (it said "My Favorite Fan" and had an arrow)... she went up to him and asked, "Can you humor me and do something?" Without waiting to find out what this "something" was, Meridian threw his hands up and made a silly face... to humor her, you know. hahahah! After Denee got her photo (but Meridian still had the sign), I joked "it should be like this!" and stood where Denee was standing. After I stepped away with a "haha, I'm kidding," Meridian held the sign pointed at each of us in turn... still humoring us. ;) Meridian is one we are more familiar with and it was fun to have him be all silly with us in the meet-and-greet. :)
I spent the rest of the time trying to get a decent candid shot of Mike with other audience members... I got a decent one of him kneeling down to be on a shy young girl's level (before she actually got close to him). :)
After we got our Blue Man pictures and they headed out, we went downstairs, expecting to have missed the band. But two of the three were there (Victor, and the drummer who I think is Michael)! Yay! We donated to charity, chatted a bit, and got a group picture taken by Informative Staff Guy.
At the bar, the first thing Billy the Bartender did was plop that Connect-4 game in front of us--LOL. He'd been working since something like 11am, and had warned us the night before that he would be pretty tired. But he was still so friendly with us, and the bar was pretty quiet so he had a fairly easy time of it. He ended up playing a few Connect-4 matches, and there were a couple card tricks in there, too. Billy just got his Master's in Creative Writing, which is pretty awesome, if you ask me! Anyway, rewind--during our first drink or two, a few of the guys (Mike, Karl, and Brian) stopped to say hello and chat a bit. :) We got a few photos and hugs, and said our goodbyes to Karl, who was about to leave Boston in a month or so. He was such a friendly/funny guy, and a great Blue Man, so it's sad... but I'm really glad we had a chance to meet him, see him perform, and get to know him a little before he moved away and on to other things. :)
After the guys left (with a bunch of other people, including a staffer named Lauren whom we talked to a bit earlier), there were only a handful of people hanging out in the bar, all at the counter. There was Sammy, who'd worked at the neighboring Shear Madness show since it opened back in... 1980? Apparently it is the longest running theatrical production in the country, or something crazy like that. There was also Informative Staff Guy, who turned out to have a real name, which was Kenny (if my memory is working right). Both nice guys! Another guy on the other side of us, looked ridiculously familiar to me, so I asked if he was in the band. He said yes, a drummer, and he was filling in from NYC. It ended up being Matt Hankel (hope I'm spelling that right), which was kind of neat--I actually have photos with him from an NYC fanmeet several years ago! Small world. Small Blue Man world, anyway, hehe. Denee and I had a good time chatting with these nice guys, plus Billy--definitely a different vibe from the energy the night before, but it was cool for it to be quieter and a smaller group. With only a few of us there around midnight, Billy closed up a bit early, recommending a nearby bar if we wanted more drinks. It seemed like a good ending to the night, though, so Denee and I went back to our hotel to hang out and get some sleep.
Sunday was our day to just enjoy Boston. :) It took a while to get going, but once we did, we headed in the direction of the Common and Public Gardens. This is one place in Boston I feel absolutely content--like I could imagine hanging out there reading a novel or writing some amateur poetry or just laying around and people-watching. Also, in the summer, all the greenery is really pretty, especially with the mix of historic and modern buildings around the parks' edges. After walking through both sides and taking a bunch of random photos (duck statues, squirrels, guys almost napping on benches, a bride on the bridge), we headed in the direction of Copley Square in search of a Chili's the phone book said was on Huntington Ave. I know, not very cultural, but I had gift cards, and a basically free meal is always welcome. ;) On the way, we saw Arlington St. Church, Trinity Church, the Public Library, probably a bunch of other things from a distance (the Prudential Center, for one)... Denee seemed really awed by the detail on some of the older architecture (especially on Trinity Church), which is understandable because it's so intricate and very European-looking. There was also some dude who had hooked up a tattered garbage bag to his scooter to make an urban sailboat--which worked pretty well since it was a really windy day. He could also balance the contraption on his face, and other random things like that. I wondered if he was a street performer on his off day, or just a quirky guy who was also a huge ham (totally stepping up his game when we photographed/videoed him).
Well, we never did find a Chili's--apparently, it doesn't exist (anymore?). So instead, we opted for the Cheesecake Factory, since we were really close to it anyhow. The food there was excellent, as I expected, though there was SO MUCH OF IT, and it was probably a good thing we had a bit of a walk back to our hotel afterward. ;) We had a very smiley waiter named Kevin who said "ennnJOY!" after every single dish or drink he dropped off. I feel like there was some awkward-yet-funny joke that made Kevin blush, but he seemed to have a good time with our silliness. I am a big fan of fun, friendly servers--a good tip was in order. ;)
Walking through our hotel lobby, we noticed that Chris the Bartender was working--he's the one who'd been there Easter Sunday, on our last trip. It'd been a few months, but he recognized us right away and, happily, it seemed to be a positive reaction. ;) We planned to hang out at that bar a little, but took a little break in our room first, where we digested and watched the tail end of the women's gymnastics Olympic trials. Pretty sure neither of us knew we were both interested in gymnastics, so that worked out well... some definite WOW moments in there. And the balance beam makes me friggin' nervous. Fun to watch, though... I can't believe some of the things human beings are physically capable of.
Later in the evening, we headed down to the bar, where we got a couple glasses of wine and chatted with Chris. When he gave us our bill, Denee noticed a comment card tucked in the folder, which she of course filled out favorably... and it became a big ol' joke with Chris, too. He was listing off things we could write (haha!), and saying how this would be his quota of happy customers for a while. I ended up filling out a card too, as did a random older lady who was sitting nearby. LOL. We busted out the cards to play some Gin Rummy (like last time), when a 20-something guy named Brice a ways down the bar noticed and wanted in. We ended up playing regular Rummy for a while past last call, with Brice refreshing me on the rules and Denee learning them from scratch. I, at least, was pretty content with my wine and card game and chatting, until we eventually headed up to bed (Denee had an early flight to Orlando the next day!).
It seems like whenever I am in Boston with friends, I end up talking or joking around with random people in the city, which is usually a good time and makes for a different "flavor" of trip every time I go. :) And as much as I love the Charles and all the performers/regulars there, I also really love Boston in general. I probably wouldn't have spent so much time there if it weren't for the whole BMG hobby thing, so I am thankful for that. :) And the Charles is definitely one of my favorite places ever--the shows are always great, and the people there are even better. Well, which is probably why the shows are so great. ...I could get into some cyclical explanation here, so I'll just leave it at that. :) Said it before and I'll say it again... yay Boston!
(my photos from the weekend.)
Friday, June 20th, 2008: the first day of another trip down to Boston for the weekend, with only Denee this time. We planned on two BMG shows (Fri. + Sat. late shows), and some time to just enjoy the lovely city. :) Less than a month before, I'd moved from NY (the Albany/Saratoga area) back to my hometown in northern NH. It's a small, quiet, mountain-town, and I was totally ready to hang out in the city! Even on the T (I drive to a suburban T station and ride the rest of the way in--saves parking money, not to mention driving in Boston looks scary, haha), I thought to myself, ahhh, PEOPLE! Signs of life! ;) Even the weird janitor guy trying to tell me all about his yellow duster-thingy was charming at this point. I got to our hotel a few hours before our show, knocked on the room door, and woke up Denee. We lazed around and chatted for a while, before getting ready and heading the couple blocks to the Charles.
When we got to our seats--4th row in the center section, one seat from the aisle--we ordered a couple drinks (wine for me, a "decent margarita" for Denee) and soaked in the atmosphere. We had first-timers on either side of us (including Helen from England!), which is always pretty fun, since part of the good time is the audience reaction. The Blue Men were Matt (Mattpart/Stage Left), Karl (Philpart/Stage Right...), and Jake (Chrispart/center). This was our first time seeing Karl perform, though we'd met him before and had already seen his fun personality. He turned out to be a really great blue man--he was totally silly and kind of a jokester. And he just looked so happy and bouncy, like a kid at a playground. His "loosen your pelvis" reaction looked more like a mock model's pose than the usual awkward "unhinging"... and when Center tried to put the flowers on the table-catapult (after the jello is launched), Karl got SO EXCITED. His eyes got all wide and he sat up straight in his seat, looking like the cartoon rabbit that spots a carrot. I have never seen a better "Oh BOY!!" look on a Blue Man's face, hahahah.
I would say that was my favorite Karl-moment, but... just before audience exploration, when the Blue Men are smoothing each others' paint... I love this part--it's such a pretty moment every time, and there is a certain quietness about it. It may just be the first time in the show where the Blue Men go from weird and entertaining to something more serious and personal. Annnnyway... so Karl was tracing Matt's face, and suddenly did this little "coochie coo!" tickle under Matt's chin. Denee and I lost it--her with her belly laugh and me with my I-can't-breathe, silent cracking-up. Thanks for making us laugh at a totally inappropriate time, Karl. ;) We were actually talking with Karl later about how fans watch the show vs. the average audience... how we notice little things (like this chin tickle) that the rest of the audience overlooks (or just doesn't realize is out-of-the-ordinary and damn funny). Karl described how when he watches a show, and sees little things like that, he'll crack up and the people next to him will give him that "what is so damn funny?" look... I can definitely relate, hahaha. It seems to be pretty fun for the guys to have people in the audience that will notice the "inside jokes," and appreciate when they particularly nail a skit or song. The Boston guys, at least, are always so gracious, friendly, and accommodating. Sometimes it seems pretty backwards (as a fan, I expect to be the appreciative one!), but at the same time it is not all that uncommon with BMG, and a part of the reason the whole experience/community remains special to me after years of seeing the show. Some pretty sweet icing on the cake, eh?
Anyway, back to the show. Matt, who we'd seen once before, seems to lean more to the serious side of the Blue Man character... but he will still pull the random funny stuff, and it's a different kind of funny when the stern/alert-looking blue man does something totally goofy. Whereas Karl seems to have a big happy smile just under the surface, Matt has more of a smirk. (Does that make sense?) During opening paint drumming, Matt was doing the slow-pour thing. Most guys will raise the bottle up high, lower it almost to the barrel, move it around, and be all dramatic about it. Instead, Matt stayed perfectly still and just let the paint pour out in a thin stream for what seemed like a very long time. He looked like a fountain-statue, with never-ending fountain paint. It still had the "haha, that is a lot of paint!" emphasis, just in a different way. I've never seen that and I thought it was pretty great. There are many reasons I am so attached to the Charles (besides it being the closest venue to me), and one of the biggest ones is that I always, ALWAYS, see at least one thing I have never seen a Blue Man do before. Sometimes it turns out to be a "Boston thing" (like how the Blue Men check in with each other between drum-hits in Klein), and other times it is just the individual Blue Men improvising. Either way, it's part of the reason I've always enjoyed myself at the Boston show, no matter how many times I've seen it (and despite still missing old skits like "House"!).
Jake, who I'd seen a few times before (years ago) but Denee hadn't, has the ability to look extremely calm, open, grounded--though as the "leader" (Center), he was more edgy and mischievous than I remember. During Crunch, he danced around pretty much the whole time (Karl too), so by the end all three Blue Men were bouncing around and looking silly. :) In feast, the girl had gum, which she gave to Matt. Jake reached over, and took a bit of the gum, but not all--so that when he pulled his hand away, it stretched the gum into a long, drooping rope. (haha!) Karl joined in and tried to drum on it with his plastic knife. All three were focused on this gum spectacle (see what I mean about them improvising?), and I don't even remember what got their attention away from it, heheh.
During the History of Animation video, Karl peered from behind the screen, looking out at the audience like "hi everyone!!" When he had his "cereal moment," Matt (in front of the screen at the time) reached around and squirted some shaving cream right on unsuspecting Karl's face, hahaha! I love when they mess with each other. After that, both Matt and Karl were in front of the screen smoothing out the canvas... Matt looked over at Karl with a hint of smirk and deliberately smacked his trowel on the screen, making a little *FWAP* sound on the shaving cream. Hahaha! It was really subtle, and I only caught it because we were sitting close (and I wasn't paying attention to the video), but a funny moment to notice. Matt was all "how'd you like that? Heh, heh."
[other random stuff, and the meet-and-greet:] PVC IV especially was excellent, and the band was A+... they seemed to be mixing it up a lot, giving the music a real "fresh" feel to it. Victor was playing Stick, and I /think/ the drummer's name was Michael, but I'm not sure. I don't remember who the zither player was (or if I even recognized him --final bows go by so fast!)... We got completely covered with paper during KLF, and at some point Denee turned to me (under a canopy of paper) and said "it's like we're camping!" LOL! Final paint drumming seemed different--a bit more dramatic, with more dynamic changes and a complete stop somewhere in the middle. I'm not sure if this is new, or if these guys just accentuated it more than usual (Jake's doing?). :) So the show ended with a bang... sadly some audience members thought it would be fun to continually throw paper up at the Blue Men during bows (like, chucking it AT them, not just throwing it like one throws one's graduation cap out of celebratory joy). Karl caught a piece and looked kind of proudly excited that he caught one, before tossing it back. Jake on the other hand, wasn't digging it, and started getting visibly ticked. He threw a piece back while staring down one of the throwers, but totally missed and it hit some innocent dude in front of us (oooops). I have to say it was somewhat un-Blue-Man-like and a little intimidating (though I understand audience-jerks being frustrating--I think they even threw the jello mold back up during Feast, narrowly missing the guys' heads)...
Fortunately though, Jake seemed kind and patient in the meet and greet (phew!), even with a hint of a smile he hadn't allowed much in the show. Matt had to put up with a group of kids (middle school or young high school) including a couple boys who seemed to be trying to get under Matt's skin. He dealt with it in character though--when one of the boys shied away from Matt's blue hand, Matt tilted his head to one side and made a fist, as if to say "oh, tough guy, huh? Pfft." My interpretation, anyway. ;) We got photos with/of all of the Blue Men as the crowd thinned out... with the crowd sparse, Karl took a photo of Denee and Matt (while I took a photo of him with the camera), and Denee got a photo with all three guys (Jake as a photo-crasher, hehe) before they headed out.
Still revved up from the show, we headed to the bar where we caught up with our favorite bartender, Billy (who jokingly lent us his Connect-4 game to keep us occupied, later in the night), witnessed karaoke night (Bohemian Rhapsody! haha!) and talked with some of the guys on and off. Denee found out that Billy and Karl (at least) had seen her journal from the last time we were there--Karl scared her at first by asking her about it all seriously, before assuring her he thought it (along with her one-line descriptions of the guys at the bar) was hilarious. I'm aware of BMG folk seeing our photos and sometimes reading our posts/journals, but it is still always kind of surreal if they mention it. It sounds like they like reading about shows they were in though, 'cause they get to see what they did on a particular night, or what funny things we noticed, etc. :) Personally, I write my journals mainly so that years later, I can read and relive all the fun times and great show moments--some of which I wouldn't remember otherwise--but I'm cool with others checking them out, too. :) Well, obviously, since I go and post them online. (Dur.)
We ended up being at the Playhouse Lounge (the official name of the bar at the Charles) until closing, with a midnight break for pizza down the street at good ol' New York Pizza. The whole evening was a really fun time (well, duh)... and for me, after transitioning to quiet NH, a welcome night out in the city. !
Saturday, we slept in and relaxed. Denee had just finished a seriously busy last week of work before coming out to Boston, and was content to just hang out and take it easy. We laughed about the good times the night before, and took our sweet time getting ready for more fun at the Charles. We ended up at the nearby Rock Bottom for dinner, and headed to the theatre a little early. As we walked towards the bar to wait for the doors to open, a Very Informative Staff Guy asked us if we had our tickets already, then proceeded to tell us about a dozen tidbits of information, like how long the show is, that there is no intermission, the location of the bathrooms, the time in the show we should NOT leave for the bathroom (lest we not be allowed back in during the finale), that we can bring our drinks into the theatre,... all very helpful things, but it was pretty amusing since we have been there enough to be aware of all of it. ;) Once he realized this, we joked a bit with him and praised him (not mockingly!) for being so helpful. In the lounge, we had a quiet drink... Informative Staff Guy kept directing large gaggles of women to the tiny 2-person bathroom in the lounge (apparently because of a line at the one in the lobby), to the point that they started using the men's bathroom too (with women guarding the door). It became a sort of running joke, and eventually I realized I should get in line before he brought in another 8 more (which he did, LOL).
When the house doors opened, we headed up to our seats. This time we were in 5th row, in the middle--only a slightly different angle than the night before. The Blue Men were Mike (Chrispart), Meridian (Mattpart), and Brian (Philpart), all of whom we have seen before. :) [It was pretty cool to see 6 different Blue Men in our two shows--the only one we didn't see was a new guy named Shane.]
Meridian's sense of humor onstage is pretty subtle, and mostly shows through his hilarious facial expressions (especially his eyes). He is constantly "checking in" with the audience, all "did you see that?" To wiggle the Magic Eye Mermaid poster, he moved it with just a couple fingers, in a way that made it look like the poster might just be moving on its own, hehehe. During Wands, the Blue Men focused on one of the front rows, which had a couple empty seats in the middle of it. So instead of using the two sides of the theatre, they used the two sides of this row to mess with. When Meridian got the wands, he sent Mike to one side of the row, and Brian to the other (LOL). Then, when it was time to move on, he called Brian back with the wands, then gave him an extra "get going!" nod as he passed. Hehe, the funny of that is hard to describe... like I said, Meridian is pretty subtle. But awesome.
Mike is my all-time favorite Blue Man, because of his excellent balance of high-energy hilarity/spontaneity, and very real/believable portrayal of the character. Whenever he's in a show I find myself keeping an eye on him, 'cause I don't want to miss anything. After the other two Blue Men had put down their welding masks during opening paint drumming, Mike threw his head forward to slam down his mask, too (since his hands were occupied with drumming)--only a few minutes into the show and Mike's already thrown in something I've never seen before. During paint/cheese, he kept a marshmallow that the audience had thrown back up on stage, which he popped in his mouth after missing the first one thrown to him. (Nice save, heheh.) His "cute one" dance was quite possibly the best I have ever seen (and if it's not, it's beaten by another of Mike's, LOL)--he did this high stepping sort of thing, then added this weird shake-y hand thing... he looked like a gangsta rapper wannabe except kind of awkward and way, way goofy... and then he gradually just degraded into hilarious chaos. Had to be my favorite Mike-moment of this show... though there are countless little things. The whole show, he had crazy energy--wailing on the big drum, leaning over his paint drum at the end so that the paint splashed all over his face, checking himself out the video screen whenever he was on camera, draping paper over some audience member's hat... When he got the vacuum out during Feast, he pulled it up far enough to let it flop/whirl over everyone's heads... When Meridian spewed goo, the Twinkie girl started rubbing his back to comfort him (hahah! awwww), and Mike copied her, all "you okay, buddy?" Oh, and at some point, Mike accidentally snagged Brian's fork with the vacuum--it landed on the nozzle sideways, so it was just stuck there, until Brian possessively snatched it back (LOL).
Speaking of Brian, he was PRICELESS. He is still a pretty new Blue Man, and our first time seeing him was in March--he'd done really well then, but since then he has really gotten impressive (not just "good"! hehe). Drumbone was flawless (not one stick click!)! He's definitely getting the hang of the serious/comedic balance, and is comfortable enough with the show to improvise and mess with his fellow Blue Men. During feast, he examined the twinkie's plastic wrapper with such a careful focus, hehe... I noticed him holding upstretched hands to move over the audience (chair-walking)--something we saw Mike do in March (one of those never-seen-THAT things, at the time), and I'm glad it's caught on. It seems like a great little personal/connecting sort of thing. I said before that I like to keep an eye on Mike, but Brian was so hilarious that he stole my attention away a lot of the time. I love when all three Blue Men are so good that it's hard to divide your attention! Anyway, Brian totally picked on Mike... during Tributes, when Philpart snaps a towel at Center--usually twice, in time with the music... Brian snapped it two extra times (getting a genuinely surprised/"what are you doing?" reaction from Mike--who seemed to suppress a grin, while Brian kept a completely straight face--classic), and then kept winding up the towel through the rest of the skit whenever Mike wasn't paying attention... with the veil on, and then during Freebird before using the extinguisher. Meridian noticed this (while Mike didn't), and barely held in an amused grin of his own. Also, Brian held the never-ending vibraslap out towards Mike, looking like he had no intention of stopping it, and Mike used the now-infamous towel to dampen the thing, hehe.
Another hilarious Brian-moment... Normally the Philpart is "caught" eating cereal twice (after the power out, and during the animation video), but... towards the end of History of Animation, after the shaving cream was all set, Brian somehow still had the bowl of cereal and was munching on it while watching the video--hahahahah!
All the music was great, and Meridian always nails the overhead drum part in "Time To Start," but the standout piece of the night had to be Klein. They were all killing it, especially Brian. We mentioned this to him later, and he said that he loves Klein, and also... "ever since Mike broke the big drum head" he's been trying to live up to that. Mike BROKE the big drum head?! Hahah! [He was nearby during this convo, and seemed pretty proud of himself, too, LOL.] Anyway...
The audience was so loud after KLF that it took a reeeeal long time for the group-clap (when the Blue Men are hitting their sticks together in the dark, before the final paint drumming). Everyone was loud and excited but not rude like the night before (no chucking stuff at the Blue Men, thank goodness), and even gave a standing ovation. :)
The meet and greet was pretty fun--again, Denee and I were at the tail end of the crowd (part by choice and part 'cause we sat up front). Just before us, someone gave Brian a high-five, which started a chain reaction of people high-fiving him. A few minutes later I went up for my picture and said "Hi!" Brian looked down, straight-faced, and put up his hand for a high-five. Haha, Brian is great. :)
On to Meridian... the group before us was a bunch of younger kids getting a group photo. They were trying to decide which hand signs would be coolest to do, and while they were doing this, Meridian noticed us and totally goofed off, making mock sideways peace signs and crazy eyes (he was behind the kids so none of them noticed--LOL!). Later, Denee had a paper she wanted him to hold in a picture (it said "My Favorite Fan" and had an arrow)... she went up to him and asked, "Can you humor me and do something?" Without waiting to find out what this "something" was, Meridian threw his hands up and made a silly face... to humor her, you know. hahahah! After Denee got her photo (but Meridian still had the sign), I joked "it should be like this!" and stood where Denee was standing. After I stepped away with a "haha, I'm kidding," Meridian held the sign pointed at each of us in turn... still humoring us. ;) Meridian is one we are more familiar with and it was fun to have him be all silly with us in the meet-and-greet. :)
I spent the rest of the time trying to get a decent candid shot of Mike with other audience members... I got a decent one of him kneeling down to be on a shy young girl's level (before she actually got close to him). :)
After we got our Blue Man pictures and they headed out, we went downstairs, expecting to have missed the band. But two of the three were there (Victor, and the drummer who I think is Michael)! Yay! We donated to charity, chatted a bit, and got a group picture taken by Informative Staff Guy.
At the bar, the first thing Billy the Bartender did was plop that Connect-4 game in front of us--LOL. He'd been working since something like 11am, and had warned us the night before that he would be pretty tired. But he was still so friendly with us, and the bar was pretty quiet so he had a fairly easy time of it. He ended up playing a few Connect-4 matches, and there were a couple card tricks in there, too. Billy just got his Master's in Creative Writing, which is pretty awesome, if you ask me! Anyway, rewind--during our first drink or two, a few of the guys (Mike, Karl, and Brian) stopped to say hello and chat a bit. :) We got a few photos and hugs, and said our goodbyes to Karl, who was about to leave Boston in a month or so. He was such a friendly/funny guy, and a great Blue Man, so it's sad... but I'm really glad we had a chance to meet him, see him perform, and get to know him a little before he moved away and on to other things. :)
After the guys left (with a bunch of other people, including a staffer named Lauren whom we talked to a bit earlier), there were only a handful of people hanging out in the bar, all at the counter. There was Sammy, who'd worked at the neighboring Shear Madness show since it opened back in... 1980? Apparently it is the longest running theatrical production in the country, or something crazy like that. There was also Informative Staff Guy, who turned out to have a real name, which was Kenny (if my memory is working right). Both nice guys! Another guy on the other side of us, looked ridiculously familiar to me, so I asked if he was in the band. He said yes, a drummer, and he was filling in from NYC. It ended up being Matt Hankel (hope I'm spelling that right), which was kind of neat--I actually have photos with him from an NYC fanmeet several years ago! Small world. Small Blue Man world, anyway, hehe. Denee and I had a good time chatting with these nice guys, plus Billy--definitely a different vibe from the energy the night before, but it was cool for it to be quieter and a smaller group. With only a few of us there around midnight, Billy closed up a bit early, recommending a nearby bar if we wanted more drinks. It seemed like a good ending to the night, though, so Denee and I went back to our hotel to hang out and get some sleep.
Sunday was our day to just enjoy Boston. :) It took a while to get going, but once we did, we headed in the direction of the Common and Public Gardens. This is one place in Boston I feel absolutely content--like I could imagine hanging out there reading a novel or writing some amateur poetry or just laying around and people-watching. Also, in the summer, all the greenery is really pretty, especially with the mix of historic and modern buildings around the parks' edges. After walking through both sides and taking a bunch of random photos (duck statues, squirrels, guys almost napping on benches, a bride on the bridge), we headed in the direction of Copley Square in search of a Chili's the phone book said was on Huntington Ave. I know, not very cultural, but I had gift cards, and a basically free meal is always welcome. ;) On the way, we saw Arlington St. Church, Trinity Church, the Public Library, probably a bunch of other things from a distance (the Prudential Center, for one)... Denee seemed really awed by the detail on some of the older architecture (especially on Trinity Church), which is understandable because it's so intricate and very European-looking. There was also some dude who had hooked up a tattered garbage bag to his scooter to make an urban sailboat--which worked pretty well since it was a really windy day. He could also balance the contraption on his face, and other random things like that. I wondered if he was a street performer on his off day, or just a quirky guy who was also a huge ham (totally stepping up his game when we photographed/videoed him).
Well, we never did find a Chili's--apparently, it doesn't exist (anymore?). So instead, we opted for the Cheesecake Factory, since we were really close to it anyhow. The food there was excellent, as I expected, though there was SO MUCH OF IT, and it was probably a good thing we had a bit of a walk back to our hotel afterward. ;) We had a very smiley waiter named Kevin who said "ennnJOY!" after every single dish or drink he dropped off. I feel like there was some awkward-yet-funny joke that made Kevin blush, but he seemed to have a good time with our silliness. I am a big fan of fun, friendly servers--a good tip was in order. ;)
Walking through our hotel lobby, we noticed that Chris the Bartender was working--he's the one who'd been there Easter Sunday, on our last trip. It'd been a few months, but he recognized us right away and, happily, it seemed to be a positive reaction. ;) We planned to hang out at that bar a little, but took a little break in our room first, where we digested and watched the tail end of the women's gymnastics Olympic trials. Pretty sure neither of us knew we were both interested in gymnastics, so that worked out well... some definite WOW moments in there. And the balance beam makes me friggin' nervous. Fun to watch, though... I can't believe some of the things human beings are physically capable of.
Later in the evening, we headed down to the bar, where we got a couple glasses of wine and chatted with Chris. When he gave us our bill, Denee noticed a comment card tucked in the folder, which she of course filled out favorably... and it became a big ol' joke with Chris, too. He was listing off things we could write (haha!), and saying how this would be his quota of happy customers for a while. I ended up filling out a card too, as did a random older lady who was sitting nearby. LOL. We busted out the cards to play some Gin Rummy (like last time), when a 20-something guy named Brice a ways down the bar noticed and wanted in. We ended up playing regular Rummy for a while past last call, with Brice refreshing me on the rules and Denee learning them from scratch. I, at least, was pretty content with my wine and card game and chatting, until we eventually headed up to bed (Denee had an early flight to Orlando the next day!).
It seems like whenever I am in Boston with friends, I end up talking or joking around with random people in the city, which is usually a good time and makes for a different "flavor" of trip every time I go. :) And as much as I love the Charles and all the performers/regulars there, I also really love Boston in general. I probably wouldn't have spent so much time there if it weren't for the whole BMG hobby thing, so I am thankful for that. :) And the Charles is definitely one of my favorite places ever--the shows are always great, and the people there are even better. Well, which is probably why the shows are so great. ...I could get into some cyclical explanation here, so I'll just leave it at that. :) Said it before and I'll say it again... yay Boston!