Neutrino goes to Seattle! and Staten Island!

[The Nation]

[James Brown]
Alright!
[Deep coming attraction voice]
This is the story of one team. This is the story of two seperate towns, divided by a vast country. One is the home of coffee and rain, and... probably mountains and stuff. One is the home of ferries, and cars, and Rebekka Johnson, a.k.a. Precious. This weekend, these two places, seperated geographically by a vast country, will be reunited as one, as a new nation - <b>Neutrino Nation.</B>
[Old country twang]
Well, I guess it goes back to December or so, when Neutrino found out they'd been invited to the Seattle Improv Festival to perform their gosh darnin' new form, the Neutrino Video Projects. It's like a movie while you wait! Heheh. Sure does sound fun! Well, gettin' to Seattle to do some improv show is costly! So it turns out only half of the Neut could make it. But they didn't let that stop them, they called up their crew and found out what the deal was and figured they'd make it work no matter what! And so they're goin' for it!
[James Earl Jones]
But half of Neutrino was staying home to man the fort. And thank god they were. Because an emergency call came in. A show. In Staten Island. It's in all the papers, everyone's expecting us. We need to bring joy to the oft-maligned island.
[Kurt's voice - if you don't know it just imagine]
So anyway, yeah, this is gonna be our journal. Half of us will be going to Seattle, and half will be going to Staten Island, so you get two bits of heaven, right here in the journals. We'll all be posting in it and having FUN with it (I mean, how can you not have fun with a JOURNAL!) and letting y'all know about our big dreams, and our little fights, our public love, and our secret meetings to kick Steve out of the group, our plane trips and our boat rides. And man, I for one am gonna hike the fuck outta that Mt. Rainier. Yeah!

So anyway, if any of y'all have ever lived in Seattle or been there before and can send me an email with things you think are cool in Seattle - underground shit yo! None of this Space needle crap. Ok, space needle crap too. Especially about any special beers I should try, or who can sell me awesome weed (Totally joking FBI!) (Guys, I'm totaly not)(It's just a bit all intrusive governemnt agency!)(Guys, its me here, really, I want some.) then pm me (kurt) or email me. Yeah!

OK. I think this is the start of a beautiful thing.

Viva Seattle! Mi Amore Staten Island!

the neut
via +k

 

[The Nation]

The Details

OK. So here's the details on the Seattle front

Who's going from NYC:
Kurt B.
Ptolemy S.
Bob W.
Rachel B.
Ed Z. (camera)
Lisa A. (crew)
Nina M. (producer)

Mullaney's gonna be out there teaching, so he generously offered to perform with us as well.

We're getting two other performers from different parts of the country - one from Fuzzy Co. - the group that has been performing the Neutrino Video Projects out in Chicago (check it out here: http://www.fuzzyco.com/productions/neutrino/index.html)

And one from a D.C. based improv troupe - WIT (http://www.dcwit.com/)

We'll also be grabbing a camera person from WIT, and board operator from FuzzyCo. As well as some local Seattle, Washington crew memebers.

We're basically putting together a west coast crew. We've got two rehearsals scheduled - one for Friday day and one for Saturday day. Should be very interesting, training people we've never worked with before. But it'll be very fun.

We're all leaving tomorrow evening outta JFK. I'm very excited. Can't wait in fact. I'm gonna go look up some stuff about Seattle now.

werd.
+k

 

[The Nation]

So, while looking for things to do in Seattle, I have found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2910059963&category=1469
It is someone auctioning off a carrot they grew that has a vagina.
Hmmm.

I also think I'm gonna go to the Snoqualmie Falls. Not only because it sounds so snuggly and warm but also because it's the waterfall in the beginning of Twin Peaks. And I'm totally gonna go to that fuckin diner and have some pie.

sweet. So far I've gotten no hook-up.

+k

 

[The Nation]

2 hours to go!

OK!

2 hours left before I meet Rachel outside my office and we take the train to JFK. Our plane isn't until 8:30, but with all this terror alert crap we're leaving a good 2 hours for check in. Last time I was at JFK it took a long time to go through the line.

Nina (our producer) and I have a running bet that Ptolemy will miss the flight. He's got a meeting in Manhattan at 5:30 p.m. Should be interesting to see if he makes it. I'm rootin for ya Ptolemy! (Even though I bet against you.)

Bob is taking an earlier flight out of LaGuardia. Have a good flight Blob! We'll be meeting up with him in Seattle Airport. The Seattle Improv Festival is sending someone out to the airport to pick us up (which is super awesome.) I'm trying to get the guy who's picking us up to wear a driver's cap. I'm not sure how succesful I'll be. I might just buy one and give it to him when we first meet and call him "my driver" repeatedly.

Like, "Hey guys, leave your bags here, let <i>my driver</i> get them."

(With the above I've already prepared Seattle that they're recieveing an obnoxious east coast improv group. I plan on playing this up. Should be fun.)

I'm looking forward to the train ride out to the airport. I love riding the A train out. It reminds me of summer days going out to Rockaway to go surfing. Ahhhh. Summer.

I'm gonna pack a dinner cuz it looks like Jet Blue only gives you snacks. Which is fine with me cuz I hear they have little TVs in the back of every headrest. Nice.

OK. More later.

+k

 

[The Nation]

Thursday Flight

OK!!

OK!!

Sunday morning here in Seattle. Bob, myself, and my lady Melena are in an internet cafe in the captiol hill area of Seattle. The last two days have been insane. Completely insane. I had so much fun on Friday that I made my self sick for our huge day of tech and the show. But I powered through it, refusing to stop and I think I might eb better. I have no idea how that would happen. Anyway, I'm here to catch y'all up on Thursday to Friday.

Thursday flight.
OK Ptolemy made the flight, he made it just in time in fact. Meanwhile, Rachel, Lisa and myself had been chillin at JFK for over an hour at the bar in the airport, so needless to say we were all pretty lit up (excluding Lisa of course, she don't no drink-o.) One interesting thing about the Jet Blue gate at JFK - beers at the restaurant are $4.50 - while directly across the hall at the cheesy "bar" the same beer is $5.50. Just wanted to send out that shout out to any y'all airport drinkers. Be wary.

Nina got there right on time as well and found out a friend of hers was also on the flight, so that was cool. Nina, our producer, immediately pointed out, as we got on the plane and had already spoken to every single flight attendant, captain, pilot, and support crew about the plane, how long it had been in service, did bits about the pane and were generally loud and obnoxious, that "At least no one will mistake you for an improv group."

right so that sealed the deal.

While the attendant showed us the various exitways and rescue vests, Ptolemy waved repeatedly, with a dead fish expression and, as always, a methodical commitment to the bit that makes everyone in a ten foot range uncomfortable. Unless you're us of course. But the flight attendant took it well and after the presentation came over and and told Ptolemy that she was "Going to kill him." later. So we were immediately ingratiated to the Jet Blue support staff. They liked us so much that they even told us an insider joke about the name of the aircraft. Apparently, they named the aircraft "Song Sung Blue." "You know, just making fun of Delta. You know?" We all nodded and laughed at the amazing wittiness of Jet Blue and how they certainly served up a biting mockery of Delta. Later, Rachel leaned over and whispered, "Why is that funny?" I had no idea. We just kept smiling.

So the majority of the rest of the flight involved us watching three in-seat TVs at the same time, set to VH-1 classics (the awesomest video show ever) Animal planet's constantly running funniest animals EVER, and Telemundo - those mustaches are so fabulous!

OK. I'm getting kicked out of my interent cafe to go meet all the kids for breakfast... more later.... much more.

+kv

 

[The Nation]

OK! I'm workin it people! Here I am back atcha! I'm not gonna let this thing die! Swear!

I was sick yesterday, well, I've been sick since Saturday, but yesterday is when I let my body rest so I could get better. It sucked. So where was I, ahh, the plane ride.

So we get off at Seattle and bob is waiting there with our drivers. None of them were wearing driver's caps, which was upsetting. But what was weirder wad that none of them were improvisors and i think they were a little thrown off by us being all "in your face" with them. Lets just say they were a little shy.

and when Ptolemy asked them in the car (moments after meeting them) "So if you had to kill one of us to save humanity, which one would it be?" you could tell they didn't really jive with us. Oh well. We never saw them again after that ride.

So Bob and I got droppped off in the Captiaol Hill area where I had the hook up with a Fatty apartment from one of my brother's friends who was out of town that weekend. We got in around 1:30 Seattle time (4:30 our time) and Just could NOT get to bed until 2:30. Ugh. Then Bob and I both woke up around 8:30 a.m. and were ready to go - this might have something to do with me getting sick later.

We went out and got coffe at the awesome B&O coffee shop, then proceeded to walk into downtown. At some point in the previous evening Bob had decided that he would only pose in pictures as my retarded brother - so, every picture I have from that day has a prominent Seattle landmark with my retarded brother in the foreground. He really does a beautiful retarded face. Oh blob. (Pictures with captions will be coming soon)

We met up with Rachel, Lisa, and Nina that morning at their Hotel. they happened to be staying next door to Fuzzy and Shaun (the peeps from chicago) so we immediately went o find some breakfast together. Here are some highlights from our day:

-we paid a man $5 to throw a very large fish directly at my retarded brother's head. it hit him. beautiful.
-bob started drinking at 10:30 a.m. it was good.
-rachel bought a hat that said "here fishy fishy" and proceeded to wear it the whole weekend
-rachel also bought a lighter in the shape of a revolver. lighting cigarettes was an extremly stylized ritual after that which involved me doing a james bond theme song dance and then lighting someone's elses cigarette sexily.
-going and playing laser tag at "the fun forest"
-smoking, chewing gum, and taking pictures on the ferris wheel
-doing bits non stop for 8 hours straight. we were HILARIOUS
-going to the experience music project and ROCKING OUT!
-eating
-rehearsing
-drinking
-watching shows of other groups:
notable: WIT from DC did a nice short form mixed with long form set. And Jet City Improv from Seattle did an excellent Shakespeare piece. I don't usually go for that crap - but it was REALLY well done.
-Bob I and freaking out one of the Chicago groups after their show by being overly friendly and drunk. I don't think they quite knew what to do with us.
-Going to sleep very late.

You know what, i promise that in picture form all of this will make much more sense. More later.

+k

 

[The Nation]

Bob's account of Friday

bob wrote this on sunday but couldn't post it at the time. so here it is now another recap of friday.

Friday...February 14th:

Bob here. Day started for me by opening up my Valentine's Day gift from Jill. Awesome. Got a light blue sweater vest and a Dave Matthews CD. You know you're getting old when you're genuinely excited about getting and wearing a sweater vest. With the gift, I had my wardrobe for our performance Saturday night.

Kurt and I walked from the place we're staying to the Moore Hotel...where Nina, Rachel and Lisa are staying. As we walked, we took photographs of Seattle sights (downtown, the Space Needle, etc.). At some point, we made a decision that I should be retarded in every photo we take during our trip. It's politically-incorrect I know but, I have to admit, it's pretty fun to do (more on this later).

When we got to the Moore we also hooked up with Fuzzy Gerdes and his improv partner Sean from Chicago. They're the group who are peforming the Neutrino Video form at IO in Chicago right now. They're cool guys and have been a lot of fun to hang out with. While hanging out, we've had a chance to talk about our official Chicago Improv Festival invite from Jonathan Pitts. Pitts is basically offering both us and the Chicago troop a double-bill show at the WNEP Theater on Thursday night during the festival. Lots of good advantages to this slot and venue so it was nice to touch base with those guys and see what we, as a collective, want to do with it. It's also been nice to pow-wow with them about things they're doing and learning about the form in Chicago...basically comparing notes on how to tweak the form and make it better.

Fun, fun, fun for the rest of the day...as a group we went to fisherman's market where we paid a guy $5 to throw a huge fish at my head...posing as a retard. Photos taken by all. Had a brunch a place that I was systematically chided by the group for having a beer at. Moved on to Music Museum at Space Needle. Great museum! Long story about the adventures there but one of the highlights was taking a rock-n-roll photograph with instruments and everything. Also played a game of laser tag and rode amusement park rides.

At 5, we went to the performance space for first rehearsal. Matt Grabowski got us this sweet, big projection screen for the show. Hooked up with Mullaney and did a good rehearsal of the form, trouble-shooting technical crap along the way.

Afterwards, I stayed and watched the shows for the night...ranged from very good to so-so. A group out of Seattle here is doing a very cool show with Shakespeare stuff and I really enjoyed WIT out of D.C. They do long-form and short-form together which was different and cool. Other groups I saw were decent but I think would benefit from some workshops on basics...agreement, build small, play it real, etc.

After the shows, we hung out a bar nearby where I talked to Ptolemy and one of his friends about Iraq. Closed the place down, went back to our place and crashed for the night.

That's it for now! Like Seattle a lot.

Bob

 

[The Nation]

The WHOLE STORY!

OK! Screw this talky talky words crap!

I wanna let you people know how it REALLY was out there.

With pictures and captions. God this took a long time. Good thing my work isn't real!

http://www.braunohler.net/kurt/album/seattle/index.html

Check it out peeps. 5 full days of love fun and awesomeness.

Enjoy.

Some pages are much bigger than others. Two of them (day 2 and day 5) are very large and I would not recommend viewing them on a dial up. the others should be fine.