Riding the Rails

[Pennyfeather]

Oh my god, surely this isn't another rainy weekend? No, no, it is, there's no denying it, meaning I have to get high. Oh well, I knew full well what I was getting into when I made that deal with myself. That's right, one morning I looked around at my apartment, then I watched a train video, then I looked in the mirror and said, "It’s time to stop smoking pot." And then I laughed at myself. But then I said, "No, I'm correct here. I must stop."

But at the time I made that deal, I had just bought a bag, so instead of giving it to Becky or something, or another friend, I put it in my freezer with the rule that I was only to remove it on rainy weekends.

Oh man. (Inhale.) That was sweet. Now to put on a little Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. (Pushes play.) Oh, doubly sweet.

(Inhale. Inhale. Burn fingers. Drop bat. Inhale.)

What time is it? Almost noon. Cool.

Well, I have to say, Harold Night continues to rock the microphone. After a respectable new-team show (Mullaney's 3 I think), the 8 and the 9:30 shows were very solid...especially Dr. A's 8:00 show...very smart. Oh, and of course the cage was a blast, with Ice-Nine retaining the champion-spot with an extra-saucy set. And of course, congrats to PCR on their debut, and "you'll get 'em next time". Right? (Inhale).

Oh, it's a Pennyfeather Caboose teammate's birthday tonight, so a bunch of us are meeting at the Rodeo Bar at 8:30 to celebrate. That's cool I guess. It'll be a Pabst Blue Ribbon night for me. Yup, just like the old railroad men who lived on Cherry Wine because of how inexpensive it was, I'll drink PBR. Oh, and Becky made a joke that Conroy was going to be her date tonight. She sent us all an email saying that she sent Sean an email, and that he wrote back and said, "Yeah, cool, I'll go with you." I'm sure she's just fucking with us and all, which is pretty funny I guess....

Then the team will head over to the theatre for KILLGORE. The 10:00 show, I guess. Should be awesome!

Anywhooo, I feel like I go to a lot of Pennyfeather Caboose birthday parties. But I guess with 17 members it's unavoidable. Oh well. I like trains.

It really is cool that the Pennyfeather Caboose is still around after all this time together. Oh wait, am I allowing myself to get all sappy about the team, just because I'm high? That's not cool. What is cool however is how the Caboose is still completely intact, just how we started it way back in May. Or April, I forget. I mean, it's amazing all 17 of us still seem completely committed at this point to RailroadProv. Who would have predicted that? Certainly not me.

I mean, I have loved trains and classic Railroad nostalgia for almost 10 years now, and then I found improv last year, and who would have believed I could have found SIXTEEN other people who had the same interest in railroading and improv. It's absolutely stunning. As well, I've heard that a lot of students and/or people who don't know me or any of the Caboosers think this jounral is a joke. Which is cool. I know it seems really stupid when you've only read about our team, without seeing us perform or at least having a drink with us at McManus, or something. Whatever....we just have to keep riding the rails. Cause eventually we’ll leave Practice Team Depot and arrive in Stageville. At which time we’ll hopefully have passengers who want to get aboard and ride with us. At which time we’ll open the old girl (by girl I mean the team) up and see what she gives us. Hopefully hilarity.

Well, I better get back to my rainy weekend, and it’s time for my favorite internet talkshow, Let's Talk Trains.

So here’s your TRAIN OF THE RAINY WEEKEND :

A rainy train, from me…..

 

[Pennyfeather]

Oh man, what a weekend. Killgore was as awesome a show as I've seen in a while. Man, what a terrible sentence. Oh well, just try and make me write it over. At least half of the Caboose made it to the 10:00 Killgore on Saturday, and stood around in the back, laughing and drinking....

And yesterday it was Sunday. And now it's Monday, and I'm at work, thinking about work, and trains, and, or course the Pennyfeather Caboose. As well, since the theatre is now in between session for another week or so, I've got no class tonight. Which is a bummer. But at least I can take a couple of days off, breathe, concentrate on RailroadProv, breathe again, and then start looking forward to Level 4. Yup, I'm moving on up, joining at least 10 other Caboosers in crazy Level 4. As well, a couple are moving up from 3 to 3b, while a few decided to stay in 3b for another session. Which is cool...

It's really windy and nippy out today. It feels like a Northern wind rolled in late last night, bringing with it not just cold air, but a spooky, Halloween atmosphere. I'm so lame.

One Cabooser is currently on the fence about a PC Halloween party. He can't decide, but if I had to guess right now, I'd say he's leaning towards saying, "YES". Which would be a blast.

I think the 'boose has agreed to do some more Haunted Railroad scenes this Wednesday, if our rock-awesome coach is cool with that. During our hour-long Haunted Railroad scenes last week, he seemed into it. And, of course, he managed to see through all of our railroad crap to the real truth and heart of the scenes. And gave great notes.

Oh, and I was thinking about one of the scenes while going to sleep last night. Someone came out and initiated that they were in North Carolina, walking the railroad, inspecting track. Now, most of the Caboose is quite aware that North Carolina is known for their ghostly lights, the most famous being the Maco Light, which was first seen in 1867, following a terrible tragedy.

Then someone jumped out off the backline, starting walking the tracks as well, and then introduced himself as Joe Baldwin, which got a huge laugh from the room. Well, at least from everyone but our coach, who didn't know of the famous Maco Light story.

Anyway, Joe Baldwin was a train conductor for the Atlantic Coast Railroad. One evening, when nearing their final destination of Wilmington, the last car of the train that Joe was on got separated from the engine, just outside of the tiny town of Maco. To make matters worse, another train was following closely behind. Baldwin ran to the back of the car, and frantically waved his lantern to warn off the other train, but to no avail. The second train collided with the car, and Baldwin was decapitated.

In the 100+ years following the accident, thousands of people reported seeing an unearthly, white light swinging back and forth along the railroad tracks near Maco Station. It became such a common sight, that train engineers that made the Wilmington run would mount green and red lights on their trains as signals, so as not to be confused with the Light. In October 1894, President Grover Cleveland himself saw the Light from his Pullman. In 1925, two farm boys claimed that the Light “chased them for several miles through the woods”. During World War II, a soldier home on leave also claimed to be chased down the tracks by “ghostly lights”.

Many believe that the Light is the ghost of Joe Baldwin, still trying to warn off the other train. Others prefer a more scientific explanation, such as ball lightning or marsh gases. We will probably never know, as the tracks were pulled up in 1977, and the Maco Light has not been seen since.

But during the scene, the two just played a pretty straight scene, with Joe talking about how he thinks he gets premonitions about his own death, and his partner was playing it straight, saying, "No, no way Joe, you've just inhaled too much diesel fuel." Or something....

Anyway, hopefully this Wednesday will rock, with all 17 Pennyfeather Caboosers bringing it hard!

You know what else brings it hard? That's right, your TRAIN OF THE DAY :

BOO! Happy Halloween….from me…and the ‘boose, even though I’m not officially allowed to speak for any other member except myself now…

 

[Pennyfeather]

Well, it's Wednesday, meaning Pennyfeather Caboose practice night. AND, I just got a call from our rock-awesome coach that he may be unavailable tonight due to some acting business things that came up. He told me he's doing a Conan bit this afternoon and as soon as that ends he's got to run over to loop some commercial or something.

But whatever, that's cool! The real world comes before the 'boose. Actually almost anything, including other practice teams, comes before the 'boose. EVERYTHING!

Holy cow, was that bitterness? Where did that come from? My belly?

Anyway, practice, with or without a coach, is going to rock tonight. Especially on Halloween-eve. We could go for a full out set of SPOOKPROV tonight....which I know, how lame, but the Caboose likes to have fun and fuck around, so why not tonight?! Did I say fuck around. I mean structurally fuck around. The Caboose always attempts to play smart and at the top of our intelligence using awesome railroad details....but tonight, perhaps we've earned the right to let our hair down some. Or at least loosen our neck-bandanas some. BANDANAS! Yes, I should send out a group email right now telling the 'boose to bring their Team bandanas tonight....if for no other reason to just feel in "costume".

Hey, wait. You...yeah you, reading this Pennyfeather Caboose journal right now. Come here. A little closer to the screen. No, closer still.Take a look at this right here. Check out what this sentence says. And come closer again.

BOO! Did you just jump? Or better yet, fall out of the seat you were sitting in? Or, god forbid, spill your juice drink all over your jeans?

I'm sorry, it's that time of year to be a little bit lame and spooky. Just like an old railroad hobo. Who drinks out of his hat, and eats out of his shoe. Drinks cherry wine in the morning and turpentine at night. The type of hobo who'd ride all the way from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon just because he can.

MMM, maybe the Caboose could try some "Haunted Hobo" scenes tonight....or not. I'm not the only member of the 'boose who comes up with ideas of what to try in practice. I'm just the only one who currently has a journal...

Here's your TRAIN OF THE DAY :

This is what the Caboose will attempt to avoid TONIGHT!

 

[Pennyfeather]

Big happenings with the Caboose...since Wednesday....at least I think so. My mind is all over the place it seems this Saturday morning, and I'm not even high. Although I wish it were raining so I could make that happen, but oh well, rules are rules.

The 'boose had a great practice on Wednesday night, despite the fact that our rock-awesome coach couldn't make it. Right from the very start, I knew we'd have a good practice when at 6:55, all 17 of us were already de-coated and de-bookbagged, and in our warm-up semi-circle. The Caboose lives by the rule that if you get there at 7:00, you're late. So we have a five-minute rule on all PC events, including planned drinking binges at McManus and/or Halloween parties, WHICH DID NOT HAPPEN! We suck. All 17 of us suck. I mean, we rock at RailroadProv, but suck the rest of the time. Wait, did I just say we rock at RailroadProv? I shouldn't get cocky....I should remain humble, like a Chinese Rice Beetle.

Anyway, the 'boose warmed-up with a little "Follow-the-Leader” which mostly just turns into the 17 of us simply hammering railroad spikes for 10 minutes. That was followed by some of Mullaney's "Made-up Children's Games" which is always fun. Although, I've noticed, that most of our children's games are just variations on the "Ride the Train" game.

One person becomes the locomotive, and then someone else (usually a girl) will get on the locomotive's back as the engineer. Then someone else will come up behind the locomotive and latch on as the tender. Then another girl will get on the tender's back as the fireman. And so it goes with baggage cars, and porters, and dining cars, and conductors, and passenger cars, and passengers, and the caboose, until all 17 of us are hooked together like one massive train. Then we, of course, snake our way around the room, as if we are going up Mt. Shasta Mountain. And we whistle and bellow smoke and sputter and rumble. It's a blast.

We finished the warm-up up with the deadly "Big Booty", which all 17 of us hate with a passion. Which is why we force ourselves to do it. But, to make it more palatable, we have changed it up some. A couple of weeks ago, we came up with nicknames for each spot in the circle, eliminating the numbers. So spot 1 isn't spot 1, it's always Brakeman. Big Booty is still Big Booty, but only because we couldn't think of anything else. Here's a quick breakdown:

Big Booty: Big Booty
Spot 1: Brakeman
Spot 2: Engineer
Spot 3: Fireman
Spot 4: Pullman Porter
Spot 5: Ghostown Shanty
Spot 6: Rock Island Liner
Spot 7: Allegheny Big Boy
Spot 8: Caboose Man
Spot 9: Coal Lung
Spot 10: Tender Filler
Spot 11: Roundhouse
Spot 12: Widow Louise
Spot 13: Becky
Spot 14: Hobo Joe
Spot 15: Choctaw
Spot 16: Sharknose Diesel

It’s just plain fun to hear: tender filler-coal lung, coal lung-rock island liner, rock island liner-brakeman, brakeman-ghosttown shanty, ghostown shanty-hobo joe, hobo joe-big booty.

It's a lot to remember, yeah, but it's a lot more interesting then numbers....and no one said being a member of the Pennyfeather Caboose would be a breeze. Except for this one guy, Dustin, who only lasted one practice, before being systematically removed.

After warm-up, we jumped into character work. Then character wheeled. Then we La Ronded with that going right into a monoscene using those character from the la ronde.

We set the monoscene at, what else, a depot. It's our go-to location when we have a lot of different characters. I know, it's cheap, and unoriginal, but for the sake of practice, I think it puts the group on ease to make the location a depot. Otherwise we tend to get stuck in over-justifying every enterence. I mean, yeah, we should perhaps get a little crazy and initiate a monoscene at say, a tunnel in Montana. Or in a Lima roundhouse. Or in the Continental Divide. But we don't...we almost always choose a depot in Birmingham.

Oh well...the monoscene still worked I think. Everyone was getting in there, making active, smart choices. Being affected. Not completely playing plot (which is easy to do in a monoscene), and our Railroad details were all spot on. Oh, and Becky pulled her awesome move of catching an Eastbound train only to reappear as the same character on the first Westbound train that pulled into the station. She always justifies the move by saying that her character jumped from the caboose of the Eastbound train, and then hopped on the back of the moving Westbounder. It's not really smart, but it's funny....

MMM, I should probably move onto the big news of the week. Two days ago I received a PM from someone asking if the Caboose might be interested in performing. Which is pretty cool?

The offer was to share the bill with his team at a weekly spot they've got at Cinema Classics. I'm not sure of the dates, but I assume Nov/December...one of those weekends. His team is one of the more respected and funny practice team-turned performance team around right now, and he's a super nice guy.

I forwarded the PM to the team via email, and have been getting mixed thoughts so far from everyone. While the Caboose is desperate to perform, many of us feel like we could be even better in a couple of months. We just got our coach, and he hasn't even really gotten to get in deep and give us tough/good notes yet. At this point, the PC debut is a big deal to us, and we just don't want to screw it up. And we're nervous. And scared. No, not scared, just cautious.

If the 'boose would have never gotten a coach, then yes, we'd probably be up to hitting the stage. But after 1 1/2 practices with our new rock-awesome coach, we see better things on the horizon. We see better relationship-connected scenework. We see stronger needs and wants. We see smarter, active choices. We see patient Railroad details. We see hilarity and less making-out. And, yeah, perhaps all of that can come together in one or two weeks, but just think if the team worked to make it happen HARD until the New Year. Just think...

Oh, whatever, I'm not the leader of this team. Personally I want to perform, I'm very respectful to the team’s needs as well. 10 members are yet to get back to me anyway, and if all 10 of them are up for it, then yeah, IT'S ON.

I'm so wishy-washy. Like a Chinese Rice Beetle. Those little fuckers...

You know what else is a little fucker? Your TRAIN OF THE WEEKEND :

A modified Ottaway belonging to the SSLRy in spring 1998…from me.

 

[Pennyfeather]

I really do like trains. For all of you out there who doubt my true love for them, let me make it clear, here and now, forever clear that I LIKE TRAINS. If not love them. Some people like comic books, or movies, or music, or video games, or photography, or Japanese animation, or yoga, or shopping, which is of course cool, but I like trains.

And I'm only saying this because of the awful week I seem to be having. Monday was bad, things happened, I got angry and that turned into big depression, and then Becky invited me late Monday afternoon to see Willie Nelson at the Beacon, so that cheered me up for a couple of hours, but even through the show I still felt miserable. I think I know what's wrong with me, but I'm not sure about it, so I've just been staying up late stressing and worrying. I mean I was watching Willie sing "City of New Orleans" and Becky was showing some 'vege, and I have this knot in my stomach. And the knot was mocking and laughing at me the whole night....taunting me to cry and/or break down and eat a shitload of fast-food, and/or attempt a move on Bec....

And my depression has nothing to do with the team, at all....those teammates of mine who are reading this and then will see me at Harold night tomorrow.... nothing is PC related.

It's really complicated and personal, but fixable....

Anyway, I've been depressed all week, and staying up late listening to BBC and the only thing that has made me smile all week is thinking about tonight's PC practice. Tuesday morning when I called in sick to work so that I could lay around in my boxers all day watching Train Videos and eating Clusters cereal, the only happy feeling I had all day was when I remembered next day's team practice.

I'm a bit drunk right now, can you tell? After practice most of the 'boose walked a couple of blocks over to GH's apartment (since it's so near) and shared some tallboys...since we're all on such a budget these days. Then I wandered home, and here I am....and I can't tell if I'm depressed or not still....I think I'm cool. Practice was good. 15 of us (2 out of town), and our rock-awesome coach was in good spirits. He expounded for a good 20 mins after our warm-up which was cool. He hadn't really just "talked" to us yet as a team.....I wonder if it was because there was so many of us....maybe with 2 of us gone that’s eased the atmosphere some... I don't know.

Warning: I'm about to start babbling without real focus. For those with time crunches- skip to the end. Thanks

Anyway, he talked about team goals, and our form and how it's ok to be loose in form. And how most of us seem to over justify things sometimes instead of just living in the moment and taking things as they go. And the fine line between blatant yes-anding and "calling it out"....

Then we went into some groupgame work with the focus on making choices and excepting proposals. "Make an entrance and do something." I don't know....the 'boose did ok, at first. Someone initiated that they were waiting for a board meeting of the Central Pacific, then someone came out and said that he was sorry but that the meeting had moved across the street to the fishing pond. So the board member walked across the street to the fishing pond, where he was greeted by 14 board members...all of us came off the backwall and started fishing and smoking cigars and taking leaks behind the tree and laughing at naughty girl jokes...and we just started having fun. Then we were told to edit and start another one....which took place in a Model Railroad Convention, in Booth number 14. We took turns entering, visiting the booth, making a proposal or stating our philosophy, or doing nothing at all, then moving on....it was pretty funny. I entered as Dannon Walsh, a model trainer from Spokane, who was hunting for a 1934 Red Fox, Model 33445. Amazingly, even though only 10 were ever made, and almost half of those were destroyed in a factory fire, Booth #14 had one. Which they gave me in exchange for a jug of cherry wine.

I'm an idiot. And just babbling....

Oh, the Caboose voted on Tuesday (ironically) not to perform until at least December. I need to email that dude.... The team just feels like, now that we've found a coach we like, lets see how we change under his guidance, before we hit the stage...

Whatever, it's all good. I'm ok, not great, getting better. Oh, and the why I started off by assuring everyone of my love of trains, well, it's times like this week that really remind me just how important they are in my life. I think, read, watch, listen, or write about some aspect of railroading pretty much EVERY DAY of my life. The same can be said about improv, and that's it. I think. Food or showering doesn't count. Anyway, when I was at my lowest this week, railroading made it better.....and the Caboose. Thanks everyone...

And much thanks to your TRAIN OF THE NIGHT :

The McCloud Railway hosted the PLA on a spectacular winter excursion…from me.

 

[Pennyfeather]

I start with an apology to all you faithful readers of this journal...I'm not actually sure how many are really regulars...probably around 14 I'd imagine, but to how many ever of you that are out there, check this apology out: I AM SORRY.

I am sorry for letting this journal fall to the SECOND PAGE for the first time EVER. As well I'm sorry to all of my Pennyfeather Caboose teammates who I haven't seen or talked to since last Wednesday's practice and who read this journal as a way to keep in touch with team happenings (SINCE TWO OF YOU REFUSE TO GET A WORKING EMAIL SERVICE!!!)---I'm sorry for lacking off.

But, as proof by the drunken and babbling entry I wrote a week ago today, I've been really depressed. I don't know, I just can't seem to shake this funk. My first Level 4 class over the weekend helped some, but by Tuesday I was back to watching train videos and eating Clusters cereal all day again...and I ask you: Is that anyway to spend a day? I don't think so.....not unless you've earned it, and I don't think I've earned JACK SHIT the last couple of weeks...

I mean, sure, I did some cool NON-RAILROAD scenes in class, and I thought made a GOOD first impression on my classmates, and seemed to enjoy everyone else's work. And then after class when we all went out to McManus, and drank, and hung out...that was cool too. There are 4 Caboosers in the class with me, but at the bar, we made a point to get to know other people and NOT SUBJECT THEM TO TRAIN CONVERSATIONS...

Oh, I have a new crush. She's a brunette in my class. Very cute, cool, smart....tight improviser...meaning her shit is tight...and she seemed to laugh a lot at my scenes....And at the bar she let me put the flirt on, and she would smile, and flip her hair, and then go to the bathroom. At which time I would run over to my 'boose buds and ask them if they thought I was playing it cool or not. Their answer? I was indeed playing it cool.

Yup, that's me: depressed and yet still able to pull my shit together to play it cool every once and a while. Just like Douglas Harbourne, the legendary engineer on the old Chesapeake & Albemarle Railroad who is famous for making his scheduled 11:15 am run on the same morning that he learned his entire house had burned down. Man, that’s good engineering….

Oh well, the Caboose had a good 2-hour practice tonight. Coachless, due to our coach having a gig. Which is always cool. Tonight we just decided to take a break from train stuff…and worked on some spineless Harold stuff, strong character work, and making smart yes-ands…NOT just blatant agreements….and then we all fucked.

Not really. Although come to think about it we were all wearing our bandanas tonight, so it would have been an easy clean-up.

Oh man, that’s an edit. And this is your TRAIN OF THE NIGHT:

A man working hard….from me.

 

[Pennyfeather]

So, I've had a crappy, crappy two weeks. I've been Miserable. Depressed. Enchanted. Wait, I think I misused a word. Oh well.

SO, I've been really really low, but this morning I wake up to some awesome, uplifting news. IT'S RAINING! RAIN! WAHOOOO! Which means, of course, that my one-hitter gets to make a much-needed appearance.

Every time I wake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning to find it's raining outside I always get excited, but honestly it doesn't automatically mean I always get high. I usually think about it, and debate the joy of the high verses the business of that particular day. Although, this morning, there was no doubt. I need a break.

(Inhale. Cough. Giggle. Cough. Inhale.)

Wait, who wants to see a photo of rain, which I'll go search for on Google right now? Wait, keep your hands up. Why? Cause I need to count hands....Ok, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14. FOURTEEN?! See, I knew there were only fourteen regular readers of this journal. I'm right! Boo-Ya....wait, I shouldn't gloat. Especially since I'm about to spend 10 minutes of my day Google searching a picture of rain to post here for no real good reason....I suck. Hold ON!

OK, I'm back, and as promised here's a picture of rain:

Wait, that's not a picture of RAIN, that's a picture of two guys walking down the middle of the street, which doesn't seem very safe. Although that one guy is so attractive that surely no car would want to hit him and mess up his beautiful face or damage that cool, beige Member's Only jacket he's wearing.

OK, here you go:

Wow, after all that searching I'm pooped. Better take another hit. Where's my dug? There it is, behind my Cluster's cereal box.

(Inhale. Open window. Cough. Think about Trains. Inhale.)

Nice. Real nice. You know, I just realized something. I have nothing to talk about in this entry. Not one cool thing. Which means I'm basically just wasting precious time. My time. Your time. And a bad entry just doesn't waste the present time, it can waste time from RIGHT NOW on to whenever. Forever. Or at least until Mullaney deletes this journal from the system. Which hopefully he won't do for a while. Especially if Kevin likes trains as much as I think he does. Which probably isn't much, but who knows.

But seriously, in 3 months, on February 16th, a new Level 2 student could be making his first visit to the IRC, and so he's super excited and reading as much as he can. And after all of his searches for old "Harold Auditions" posts and "Hilarious Cleavage" posts, perhaps he starts looking at old On-Topic journals. And he stumbles upon this journal, and is intrigued by the title. Maybe because he likes trains, or he sees the name Pennyfeather and since he heard we just won our first Cagematch, he's interested in reading about our team history. And he reads, and reads, and comes upon this post, and then is BORED out of his mind.

Oh wait, if a Level 2 student, on February 16th is reading this right now, and is reading about me writing about him. WOW, mind blowing. It's like that scene in Bill and Ted's when they say, "Remember the keys," and then they look behind the bush and the keys are there. WOW.

Check this out. "Hey, Level 2 student, remember the juice."

Now look behind the monitor and hopefully there will be a nice, tall, cold, enchanted glass of juice. Just for you.

You know, I debated about whether to post the above picture of a glass of juice or an awesome picture of Bill & Ted. I’m not sure if I made the right decision, but perhaps that’s just my high being wishy-washy. Wait a minute, this entry can’t get any worse, so I might as well post an awesome picture of Bill & Ted too. Right?!

Man, those guys should really use the sidewalk.

No train of the day. I’m tired of looking for photos….And trains are stupid anyway!

 

[Pennyfeather]

I've been neglecting this journal, but I've had a very good reason for doing so. The Pennyfeather Caboose hasn't rehearsed in more than 3 weeks... or since my last entry. It was always my intention of this journal to document the long struggle and hard work of the team, but without team news, this journal is just railroad-fluff.

I've been drinking.

Anyway, right now, I have major news about the team. Over the last 3 weeks, the members of the Caboose have been going through major personal enlightening...as it's been called. Enlightening, boredom, frustration...it's all the same. It seems at least 10 members of the 'boose have, "come to a crossroad", and must jump track.

Basically, 10 members of the 'boose want to get off at the next station. Which was Yesterdayville. Those 10 members, who I obviously love and always will, just felt that, as we all grow as improvisers and advance in skill, should probably think about EXPANDING away from just Railprov. Others felt frustration at never performing. One thought having 17 members was simply ridiculous. One member admitted to really hating trains. And another still just went along with the move because she's dating another member who left.

Oh well, I understand. 17 members on a railroadprov team is a really stupid idea. And pointless. And difficult.

BUT, here's the good news, 7 of us are still committed to the team. That’s right! The PENNYFEATHER CABOOSE is still on the right track! AND, better yet, the seven of us who agreed to see this through, all really know each other's tendencies and likes/dislikes train-wise. We all make active choices, and strong railroad callbacks, so we should work well together. I’m excited.

If I would have wrote this journal entry 2 weeks ago, after the separation was finalized, this would be a very different entry. But I waited, and thought, and grieved, and healed, and drank, aand broke into my rain-weed on the day it snowed, and now I’m totally sycked about the future of the ‘boose. I mean, yeah, I’ll have to pay a little bit extra each week for practice, but I think just 7 of us, rocking the LOCOMOTIVEPROV out of the roundhouse, will be so much fun.

Man, I am depressed. Don’t get me wrong, I feel like I’ll never play with at least 10 of my best friends again. But, like I said, I totally understand. There’s an old saying among railroaders that goes, “You can’t ride the rails forever.” Which I guess is true.

I mean, I don’t want to ride the rails forever. Right now, Pennyfeather Caboose is what I love, and that’s because I love improv and classic American railroading. And I love my friends who also love improv and classic American railroading. So I’m happy. But, yeah, like an old railroad man who dreams of someday retiring to a fishing cabin in the Appalachians, I dream of getting on a Harold Team. And rocking the house. Or at least CageMatch!

As you can tell, I’m holding back a lot right now. I don’t know why. Perhaps it will all come out in due time.

I wish my 10 old railroadprov brothers and sisters good luck with their new practice teams and classes. May your tenders always be full…of coal and strong initiations.

Suckas!

For the rest of us committed to reaching BIRMINGHAM, here’s your TRAIN OF THE DAY :

An awesome train heading into the unexplored. And excited about doing so…from me…and the other 6 that make up the NEW PENNYFEATHER CABOOSE

 

[Pennyfeather]

First off, thank you to everyone (especially Chris Kula who started the thread) who kindly responded and wished the Caboose well during the team transition. Oh, and I’m sure Becky appreciated all the kind words aimed solely at her as well. I didn’t want to respond to that thread, or youngcat’s directly, so I’m doing it here….of course. Ahh, the “Riding the Rails” journal, my non-imaginary friend.

Ok, look, I’m not happy about losing 10 members of the team, especially in such a drastic and swift way, but it happened, and for the sake of IMPROV the team has to move on. Just like an old engineer who gets scaled by some boiler leakage. He must curse, spit on the burn, and move on. So, the seven of us ‘boosers that are left, are carrying on. We aren’t bitching or moaning or cursing, we’re simply booking space, reserving a coach, buying some tallboys, and moving on. AND THAT’S ALL THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID!

As far as my email to youngcat about a team debut on Feb 1st at Flipside….I kind-of remember that email. It sounds totally like an email that I would send, but hey, things happen. I mean, for god’s sake, TEN MEMBERS of the CABOOSE LEFT! That’s pretty harsh, and to hold me to a half-commitment with all 17 members, that’s not really fair. And, sure, I think the 7 of us left, as the Pennyfeather Caboose, would love to have a debut show on Feb 1, at Flipside, but that doesn’t really feel possible at this point. I mean, maybe the Caboose is going to add some members, or lose some members, or have auditions for new members, or whatever…so when we are ready, in our final form, that is when we should have our debut… Oh, and if you need a team to fill in our spot, joe, why not ask one of the two teams that will be formed by our 10 departing members. I’m sure their NON-RAILROADPROV will be awesome.

Ok, enough of this….I have more important business to quickly get to, such as, WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!

First up, a South Shore "Little Joe" T-Shirt, $11.95, it depicts one of the famous South Shore Railroad "Little Joe" electric engines.

If sold out, any of the following shirts would work as well: BNSF Heritage II T-Shirt $10.99 ,Here's a t-shirt of a modern diesel in the current paint scheme of the BNSF Railway.

Norfolk Southern Heritage T-Shirt, $12.95 , it depicts the Norfolk Southern horse, a modern General Electric widecab diesel, and the emblems of the major railroads of the past that make up today's Norfolk Southern.

Rock Island Rocket T-Shirt, $12.95, Rock Island E-8 diesel #652 pulling one of the "Rocket" passenger trains during the glory days of the Rock Island Railroad.

I don’t need anymore videos, I have too many. Or hats, or trainsets….although any other Railroad gift is fine too. I’m not picky.

I really am excited about the new Caboose. And I’m serious in the fact that I don’t know how many members we will add or not. I just have a funny feeling that 7 is not the final number of us. It just doesn’t feel right.

Who knows…

What does feel right? Oh yeah, your TRAIN OF THE DAY :

A Denver & Rio Grande Western 473 class K-28 (2-8-2 ng) on train #461 in the station at Durango, Colorado….from the Pennyfeather Caboose…all 7 of us, for now.

 

[Pennyfeather]

Well, I'm at home now....my hometown that is, hanging out, going through the attic and all my old shit, pulling out my collectibles and forgotten t-shirts and/or interesting papers I wrote in high-school and college. I read my senior thesis from college last night for the first time since I wrote it, all 100 well-written pages of it. And NO, it's not about trains...it's about acting, and the exact process I used to establish my characters.

But mostly I've just been drinking and reflecting and thinking about improv and my team; my new team and my old team. I've also been pumping myself up for the new year, and how in 2003 I want to blow the lid off New York and really crank up the boiler and open up the Pennyfeather team engine and see how much horsepower the ol' girl exactly has. Hopefully a lot.

Oh, and from here on out I will NOT go into any more details or even mention the Caboose's old teammates....after this statement:

I understand that two practice teams have been formed from the 10 members who left the team....I don't even think they have names yet or coaches, but whatever...GOOD LUCK to everyone...and I'm sorry, but like I said, from now on, I'm not mentioning you guys or your new teams in this journal. I'm not even going to mention it when you make your team debut at Siberia or Flipside or the Taco Cantina. Sorry, but for the sake of the Pennyfeather Caboose, I must set those rules.

Wow, I really have been drinking. That above paragraph is very scrooge-like, which is unlike me. For anyone who knows me you know I'm not a bitter or mean or grouchy or dickheady person....but I got do what I have to do...wait, let me reread the above ultimatum.

MMM, I'm going to let it stand. I mean for CHRIST'S SAKE, 10 teammates LEFT the team....And I still have no idea why. Well, I mean, of course I know WHY, but I still can't grasp it. Whatever, I will move on, and more importantly my other 6 teammates are really psyched about everything in the new year as well. 2003...the year that RAILROADPROV rose to greatness.

Wow, what a cocky statement...but who cares?! It's Christmas time---it's the season for cocky statements.

So the team hasn't practiced since all the shit went down, as we decided to take December off, get remotivated, and come back strong in 2003. And see a bunch of shows together, which we have done. Some of the highlights? T.J. Monkeys and Dark Champions at Siberia on the 15th. Charlie Todd's debut w/ the Van on Harold night on the 12th. Respecto's Saturday show. Delaney and Conroy...and all the other great shows I saw but am forgetting. Oh, and I guess the days of the Caboose standing in the back of the theatre are over.....which is cool....

Man, I haven't done one single Railroad scene this month. I started one in my Delaney Level 4 class last Sunday, but only because I was really jonesing and needed my fix. But I didn't initiate strong enough and my partner named the location as a boat, so whatever.

Tomorrow I'm going to go shopping and then hopefully hook up with some sexy 22 year olds at some bar. Cause I'm horny. Wait, is that the Coors Light in me talking...or is that just me? Who cares, it's a great goal for tomorrow.

I'm going to bed now.

Happy Holidays everyone in the world--minus 10. Wait, that sucks....I'm better than that. Happy Holidays EVERYONE!

Here's your TRAIN OF THE HOLIDAYS:

From me...and the rest of the 'boose.

 

[Pennyfeather]

2003. New Year. New Team. Same ol' work ethic and attitude. And Love of Trains. That's right, after taking a break from rehearsing in December (after the break-up), the Caboose is back and ready for good things. And the 7 of us got back on the right track last night w/ 3 hours of coachless RailroadProv.

It was so frickin' weird. I'm not going to lie; for the first 45 minutes the 7 of us just kind of stood around, half-assing scenes, or just hanging on the backwall, avoiding doing anything at all. I mean we warmed-up ok, like old times (w/ a little Shovel-That-Coal), but once we jumped into 3-minute scenes, we sucked balls. And it wasn't just "we're rusty" sucking which can be worked through, it was down right "we aren't into this" sucking which means we need to first get something off our collective chest before proceeding. So we stopped, and talked.

We all expressed fears and anger and sadness over the lack of our friends and past-teammates. And we wondered out loud if we are doing the right things for our improv-lives and growth by sticking with the Caboose. And we acknowledged that the team is indeed a stupid little niche-team, and we may never earn the type of kudos and respect that other "normal" improv practice teams get. And after about an hour of expressing all of our negative feelings about our future, we all suddenly shut the fuck up. And looked into each other's eyes. And just stared.

What everyone else saw in my eyes, I'm not sure. But what I saw in the eyes of my 6 teammates was nothing but great things. I saw yardmen, directing rail traffic in a switchyard in Rochelle, IL. I saw a Train robber hiding in a New Mexico cave after looting a Westbound passenger run. I saw a Norfolk Southern EMD4500 forcing it's way up a winding mountainside on a foggy night. I also saw bandanas, and drinks at McManus, and Becky, and laughter, and our rock-awesome coach encouraging us to take chances and trying to give railroad specific notes when it's obvious he knows nothing about trains. Most importantly, I saw COMMITTMENT.

Then we all laughed, and hugged, and circled-up. And agreed to NOT STOP. To keep on doing RailroadProv, and laughing, and trying our hardest to get really good. But we also agreed to slightly broaden our focus some--not as a team, but individually. Perhaps try out other practice groups, or classes, or whatnot. BUT, when we are together, as the PENNYFEATHER CABOOSE, we were a RailroadProv TEAM!

Then we jumped into our favorite scene, just to start our new committed future off on the right track. That's right, it was BIRMINGHAM DEPOT scene time. Becky jumped out and was sitting on the depot bench when someone came out and started sweeping, and the two of them had a nice scene about homemade candy and love. Then the other 5 of us jumped off the backwall and walked on as a group of children on a fieldtrip. And it turns out one of the kids was the depot janitor's lost son. And they went over to the corner to make-up for lost times. And then Becky began showing the school kids how to fall in love. And that played out for about 10 minutes, but by that point any forward action in the scene had completely stopped. The 7 of us were completely at a loss as to what to do next.

And it wasn't until today that I figured out why. We had come to the point in the depot scene, when normally an eastbound train would roll up and many new characters would get off the train and move the scene forward. We you have 17 people on a team, you have the luxery to sort-of sit back some in a scene and let others play. But last night, was the first time the 'boose didn't have that luxery. Everyone was on stage, and not making any moves to leave and get things done. Oh man, reality check. The team dynamics are completely new now, and we are going to have to learn a new way to play.

The bright side? We have much more room to maneuver in the studio. But downside? More responsibility from each player.

Oh well, we'll be fine.

I can't wait.

Oh, and I'll be at new team tonight for anyone who cares. But besides me, EVERYONE SHOULD GET TO HAROLD NIGHT TONIGHT. It is going to ROCK! Especially you Level 2ers out there. You're about to enter Level 3, it's time to start stepping it up and getting your face out there, and watching shows, and hanging out, and watching train videos!

You can even borrow some of mine. Here's the TRAIN OF THE DAY:

A Yard shot at Charlotte, NC, from me....

 

[Pennyfeather]

Awesome Harold Night last night, what I saw of it...which I guess was only half, considering I caught New Team and the 9:30 (MKV & Ice-Nine). But whatever, I can still say it was good. First of all, I went by myself, seeing as how no one called/emailed me back. But then Becky joined me halfway through New Team, so that's cool. I haven't really had any quality one-on-one "Becky" time in the last 2 months, which I realized I miss more than I know. It was fun. Like old times, whispering notes and moves in each other's ears regarding the new team sets. "Edit!" "Stop saying no!" "I'd do that guy." "Commit!" Actually that's been my main note for most New Team shows this session. "Commit!" I know Delaney always says, "Truth will set you free", but I think commitment can set you free as well. I mean, if you are playing a huge mechanical tree-saw, then fucking be a tree-saw. As best you can. Don't laugh, and shrug your shoulders as if to say, "I can't believe I'm doing this, I must look stupid", cause now you do look stupid. Plus, you are always saying, “I just made a terrible move”, since you were the one who decided to run out and be a tree-saw in the first place. If you just play has hard as you can and commit to everything you do and say, you can look like an instant pro.

Plus, even crappy scenes (with no game or forward movement) can be saved with commitment. Just saying, "This is what I am" and embracing it can make bad scenes watchable. So say I!

I didn't mean to get notey or nerdy...nor are these specific notes for the New Team show, but rather notes for myself, or the Caboose even. Cause every show is a class for me. If I'm not there to learn and think, I'm wasting valuable improv-learning time.

Holy cow, I should be beaten up. Not hard or rough or anything. Maybe just some light soft pats, on the shoulders.

OH, and the 9:30 show, like I said, rocked the microphone. MKV had one of their better shows in a while. Fun, smart, committed. I especially love the second group game, all started by Charlie's initiation of, "Hey, I think we lost that Tour Guide. Now we can finally discover Africa on our own." They ended up finding a whole flock of angry ostriches...fun, fun.

And, I also have to say that I love Ice-Nine. They've easily moved into 2nd place on my Team Rankings. The games are hit so hard and smartly. And their walk-ons are always spot on, and definite. And they have Gelman. Oh, and they always remind me that group games can be anything at all. Cause I seem to often just get bogged down into "meeting" group games, or games where it's all about the location. "Here we are on this passenger train."

When it was time for Ice-Nine's first group game, Kevin edited and walked out and took a beat, and I leaned over to Becky and said, "Mullaney group game." Meaning it was going to be started simply by a statement and that the rest of the team would be heightening with their own statements, but not really interacting with each other in scene-form. And even though Kevin's statement was the most ordinary and reasonable, he continued to drive the entire game. He started with, "When I was a kid we had two pets, a dog named Spotty and a cat named Puma." And then people followed with, "I had a maid and a butler", and "I owned Nova Scotia" and after the first round was played out, Kevin just went to back to another ordinary statement (a truth) about his pets, and fed everyone else who heightened using their first statements...

Holy cow, I'm a nerd.

At least my love of trains is cool enough to balance my improv nerdiness.

Oh, and I got into my Delaney Level 3b class. I just took his Level 4 last session, but missed the Harold and the New Teams, so I'm going back to 3b. Oh, and only Becky is in the class from the 'boose, which is weird since we haven't had a class together since Level 2. So, cool, cool, cool.

I think Amtrak's funding is getting cut--big time. I know most people don't care, but it was suck to lose the only passenger rail service this country has. Again, I know most would say, "Who cares? I'm never taking the train", but believe me, some day you'll notice it's missing.

This is way too long of a post, so here's your TRAIN OF THE DAY:

Amtrak's California Zephyr leaving the Moffat Tunnel, west of Denver Colorada in the heart of the Rocky Mountains from your friends on the BOOSE!

 

[Pennyfeather]

Holy cow it's cold outside. I can't believe how bad it is, outside and in my apartment. Which is why I've laid around all day, in sweatpants, eating Clusters cereal and watching train videos. Actually, I took a break from the trains just long enough to watch MTV's MADE, a reality show that took a crappy/nerdy high-school rock band from New Jersey, gave them a MTV Talent guy, who for 2 months tried to turn them into a decent band---which kind of happened, but not really. They still lost a battle of the bands, and still played crappy music, but they were nice kids, so I rooted for them.

Then I watched MTV's True Life "I'm Going to Fat Camp," about 3 young people who went to, you guessed it, "fat camp". Then I went back to watching the history of ol' Santa Fe line. But, I gotta say, MTV produces some pretty good fluff shows. All their Cribs, and True Life, and Undercover crap....including when they follow the cheerleaders around....man, good stuff.

Anyway, that's my day.

I want to be on a Harold Team. I just thought I'd get that off my chest a little. I mean, I know there's a lot of students who badly want to be on a team, but I especially do. I'm not saying I deserve it. I'm not even saying the committee would even considering thinking about me. I'm just expressing my desire to be on a team.

I don't know, I feel like I'm a pretty good player at this point. I mean, sure, of course I have a ways to go. But I think I need to reach another plateau in my improv training. I mean right now, I've been on the "student plateau" for over a year now. Perhaps if I was on a kick-ass practice team that was starting to get some buzz because of really strong gigs, I'd be content...on the "pretty good practice team" plateau. I mean, ideally I dream of the "Harold Team" plateau, but of course, I know that takes time.

Plus there are lots of quality improvisers ahead of me. Those who've played around town with teams. Those who's names are known by the committee. Those students who always get talked about as being talented. Those who aren't obsessed about Railroad-based improv.

I mean, come on, just because I'm on the Caboose, an all RailroadProv team does not mean that all I am capable of doing is RailroadProv scenes. I've actually heard a couple of people say that about me, but come on, I'm a well-rounded player. Trust me. If I was added to Neutrino tomorrow, I wouldn't even say the word "train" in front of them for months....I mean, seriously, do you think if I got added to Neutrino tomorrow, I would go into our first team meeting saying to Wiltfong and Jessica, "All right guys, I've seen how you guys play and it's good and all, but I think more RailroadProv scenes would just kick the team into a higher level?!" NO WAY.

I'm just saying this because I don't want to get pigeonholed into only being one type of improviser. Because I am not. I simply have a strong passion for trains, and was lucky enough to find enough students who had that same love of trains and who wanted to meet weekly as a team to perform solely RailroadProv.

So, if either Kevin, Billy, Julie, or Delaney is reading this, please consider me, Penny, for any Harold Team movement coming up. And if any members of Neutrino are reading this, perhaps request feedback about my play (I was just in Delaney’s level 4), or perhaps email me and ask about coaching the 'boose one night, again, to check out how I play. Or even Becky, not that Neutrino needs another Becky, but she's good too.

Holy cow, I'm lame. I blame the freezing cold.

Oh, plans for tonight? I'm hitting Dark Champions/The Office show at the UCB @ Midnight. I saw their first show and loved it. So committed, skilled, smart, and fun. And SOLD OUT! So I'll hit them up again, show my love, and drink a tall boy.

Oh, and I'll be sitting in the back w/ at least 4 other Caboosers (including the Beckster), so swing by and say "hi" to us. And bring a tall boy!

Here's your TRAIN OF THE WEEKEND:

A night train…from all of your non-Harold team friends on the ‘boose.

 

[Pennyfeather]

I'm breaking my rule about only getting high on rainy weekends, and I'm taking a one-hit right now. Just one. Because I'm depressed and tired, and I've been really good for a long time now, and deserve a hit every once in a while. Plus, I need to finish what little stuff I have before it goes stale in my freezer, if that's possible.

Hold on. (pack. toke. inhale. cough. giggle). There.

I know how lame it is to actually go through the trouble to type that process, but I did it anyway. Plus, I know I'm lame; it's not like I'm trying to run away from that fact. I mean, for Christ’s sake, I'm a member of a RAILROAD IMPROV Practice Team, and worse yet, I document all of our lame stuff in this journal. Oh man.

Ahhh, I feel better already. Now to throw on some Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits. Maybe a little "Lady" or better yet, "Reuben James". OMG, this totally calls for a Kenny PIC!

Holy cow, Kenny does not look happy. In fact, he looks down right pissed and/or disappointed. Perhaps he's not happy about me smoking...who knows...

OK, so the reasons for my mood...there are several. First off, I just got home from CABOOSE practice. Actually I'm just getting home from the bar and a 'boose drinking session, which followed a not-bad practice. We did 2 hours tonight, 8-10, coachless, bandanaless, active choicesless. Well, there were a couple of active choices being made, not by me, but I did “yes-and” at least two active choices. Oh, and I threw down FOUR "swinging doors" tonight, and a COMET BLAST, which I totally just invented on the spot!

That's right, I'm taking a completely random but fairly ordinary improv move, and I'm naming it, and patenting it. Yup, the COMET BLAST is bound to become the "next-big-thing" around the theatre, and I can't wait to teach it. Once I get on a team and then become an official UCB Teacher.

I suck so hard.

Anyway, the Comet Blast is kind of like a TIME DASH, only instead of just the time in a particular scene being changed, the atmosphere in a scene becomes changed as well. As if a comet hit the earth somewhere during a scene, altering the environment slightly. Perhaps it's a noticeable change, perhaps it’s not. Honestly, I only attempted one Comet Blast tonight, in a rough (but fun) montage, but I can easily see it’s potential.

There was a scene, actually it was a callback to something 20 minutes earlier, with two farm owners in the middle of Missouri discussing their fears about how the new ROCK ISLAND LINE near their fields will affect their lives. "Will the train bring an economic boom? Will it open the door to the East? Will it bring lots of trouble and outlaws?" Then, I come off from the back wall, shoot behind the players, and shout, “COMET BLAST!”

No one knew what the hell happened, so of course I have to justify it (I don't believe that everything has to be justified, but new "Blasts" perhaps should be), so I run back on and as a son of one of the farmers and say, "Papa, I just heard a big thud that sounded like it came from Norwalk Country. And look at the sky. It looks like it's angry at us, it's all black and heavy." Then someone says, "The sky could be angry about the train coming through."

Then it starts to rain.

The rest of practice was good too. We mostly 'taged (my abbreviation of montage) for the night, since it's the most fun, and the laziest structure-wise. But sometimes a lack of structure is the hardest structure of all, since there is no "built-in" order to the form.

Some highlights from the night:
-Becky playing a lonely brakeman, walking the dark tracks alone at night, looking for the body of a missing engineer. She played out an awesome scene, ALONE, for almost 10 minutes. There were some "ghostly" walk-bys, but she didn't really acknowledge that they were visible to her.
-I played a Toll operator in a tollbooth in Charlotte, NC. I wouldn't let trains pass without first singing me a jazzy tune.
-There was a cool group game with all of us playing Pinkerton's, from the famous Pinkerton detective Gang. We were hot on the trail of Bucky Tankshot, the biggest coward of the West.

Good practice…

In other news, I took some hard flack for my saying in my last entry just how much I want to be on a Harold Team.

Some members of the 'boose gave me some shit for it. To which I agree. And perhaps all that helps add to my depression tonight.

I should just be confident and not worry about my future in improv or the theatre or the community. I should just shut my mouth, keep working hard in class and practice, and keep choo-chooing...instead of babbling like a jackass. Not that that's all I do, but you know...

Oh man, maybe I'm just feeling this way because I had one beer before practice, and 3 more afterwards, so I'm a bit buzzed but still funky feeling.

I'm hungry. And in need of a bowl of Clusters.

Here's your TRAIN OF THE NIGHT:

7 feet of snow will never stop the TRAIN! Choo-choo!

 

[Pennyfeather]

When life's got you down
Turn things around
With something POS-itive

When you wear a frown
Bring good things around
With something POS-itive

I'm talking 'bout POOOOS-IIIIIII-TIVITY!

Thank you. Thank you. I call that the "Get Positive" song, and I just wrote it in the shower. Around 6:00. The shower being the first part of my "get-ready-for-Harold-night" routine. A routine that ended roughly around 6:10 when I ran out of shaving lotion for my Norelco Advantage Electric Shaver, HALF WAY through the shave. So now I'm sitting hear in my towel w/ half a scruffy face, having given up any hope of making it down to the theatre.

Which sucks since at least 6 caboosers were going to check out New Team, and then Ice-Nine at 8, and the "almost-sure-to-be-packed" 9:30 show. Maybe I can still get down there for it...although, how can I? Only half of my face is shaven. The other is not.

I suck.

Well, I've been avoiding the journal some, sorry. After this weekend, when the PENNYFEATHER CABOOSE DEBUT AT FLIPSIDE plug showed up on the IRC front page, I kind of went into hiding. Here's the deal with it. Around Halloween, Joe PM'ed me asking if the 'boose wanted to have their first show at FLiPSiDE that next Saturday. At the time, the 17 of us agreed we weren't ready, and told Joe, “Not yet, Joe.” He told us the team should just get on stage and have some fun. To which we agreed, but still backed out of the offer. But, the Caboose told Joe to put us on February 1st, which would give us a nice set date in the near future to strive for.

But then the break-up happened, and then the 'boose (the 7 of us) took basically all of December off, and have just now started practicing again, and feeling out the situation and new style we've taken on as a team, due to the lack of 10 extra players. And last Friday, Joe PM'ed me again, reminding us of our upcoming show, but as everyone knows by now, we backed out of.

Cause we suck.

Actually, the Caboose does not suck. Actually, we are pretty good, and I think people will agree once they finally see us, and realize that we just don't improv about trains. I mean, yeah sure, all of our scenes have an underlying theme of classic American railroading, but that is not what our scenes, or montages are about. We strive for cool, railroady scenes about human relationships and specific character wants and points of views, and emotions, and reactions to personal contact and cool, unusual events, and also, trains.

But of course, we try, as a team, to make any PENNYFEATHER CABOOSE show enjoyable for everyone, regardless of their level of railroad knowledge. I mean, even if you’re a person whose only railroad contact are daily rides on the 6 train, you could probably enjoy a Caboose show. Not that we've ever had one...but SOON. S-O-O-N!

Man, I am positive tonight...even though one side of my face has hair and the other side does not.

Last night's 2 hours, coachless practice was pretty good. Our strongest by far since "Christmas break". We spent the first 45 minutes doing "Western-Pacific Logging" scenes. Or basically a montage involving tons of information regarding the short-line railroads that service solely Logging companies in Northern Washington and British Columbia.

Improvising logging scenes is always fun, because of the shear massiveness of the scale of trees. When we had all 17 of us, we'd been lifting huge tree trunks and loading them onto flatbed cars. Or 14 of us would all in unison carry a whole tree to a plaining deck or drying shed.

But last night, we didn't have enough people to do that, so we basically did scenes which took place in more enclosed locations. Like in the Logging superintendent's office. Or inside the cab of a Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad "Harbor Train" engine. Or inside a homemade cabin in the woods near Kettle Falls, Washington.

Oh man, Becky started that scene inside the cab of the Timber train, and initiated with, "It feels like we're making good time with this haul of timber." And I stepped in with her and yes-anded with "Yup, this ol' Puget Sound & Pacific EMD4550 sure can boogie'." Then a nice pause. Then I say, "What about the name, Calvin? I know we're not sure if it's a boy or a girl yet, but if it is a boy, I like Calvin." Then Becky gave me the controls and tried to shine a Brakeman's lantern up to her belly to discover the sex...then the rest of the scene played out to hilarity...

I know I'm not going into much detail about the practice, but whose journal goes into deep, deep details about team practices? I don't see Brandy writing in her journal, Completion: A Thesis Fable : "Last night at Van practice, we did this exercise, and this scene, and then Berman said this, and I giggled...." No way!

Actually I forgot the last hour of practice cause I hadn't eaten enough, and got a headache...

OH, speaking of the Van, did anyone see Jane Borden's Boxcar scene she did a couple of weeks ago? I can't remember who was in it with her, but it was HIGH-larious. The type of boxcar it was and the actual railroad company it belonged to was never said, but the scene was really cool. Both were running away college students, out exploring and creatively/cheaply seeing America. Although they eventually realized that their views of America would only be what they could take in from a moving boxcar, which was a lot of backyards.

Which I find very funny. Cause as anyone knows who's ever taken a long Amtrak trip, you do see a lot of backyards, and farm fields, and even when you go through a major city, you go around the back of it.

MMM, I just had a thought. I wonder if Jane is a railroad fan. Who knows if she is, but wouldn’t that be super cool. Maybe she can coach the CABOOSE....I don't know if she coaches, but she is the first Harold Team member I've seen that I thought could really, possibly be a Railroad fan. Back in September I thought maybe Billy was, but he wasn't. And I thought Pete Bosniak was one, for like a minute, but he assured me he was not. But, I don't know...I just have a sneaky feeling Jane could be a fan. And if she doesn't want to coach us, maybe she'll join us. Wow, the The Pennyfeather Caboose, now w/ Borden!

I'm an idiot, I know, and shouldn't be dreaming about things that will probably never happen. Although perhaps the Caboose should think about adding more members. I mean, after last nights practice, with NOT ONE Log being lifted or moved, perhaps we could us some more members.

OR BETTER YET, 10 MORE CABOOSERS..That’s right, the Caboose being at full 17 member strength, AGAIN!..Oh, dear lord, I do miss having that many players, watching each others backs and creating huge spectacles of scenes.

Ok, enough of this. I'm just way too POSITIVE tonight, and should chill. And give up any hope at all that Jane Borden would ever join the Caboose.

I need a drink. Of Vanilla Coke. Maybe I'll wrap a scarf around my face and hit Cagematch. And yell out the suggestion: Coal Mine!

We shall see….HERES YOUR TRAIN OF HAROLD NIGHT:

Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad's 1001 heading to Portland....from all your friends on the-----wait, maybe Porter Mason's a rail fan....anyone know if that's true?

 

[Pennyfeather]

From what I can gather from the IRC Community, this weekend was a pretty good one for everyone. Which is cool.

The highlight for most, it seems, was the Amy Poehler workshops on both Saturday and Sunday. I met Becky for some beers after she got out of Amy's Saturday workshop, and Becky was beaming. It was cool to see, since, as most of you probably know, Becky can be down right grumpy sometimes. Becky kept saying, over and over again, that the biggest thing she gained from spending five hours with Amy was Positivity. Which seems cool, considering my entire last journal entry was based on that very thing.

Becky told me that Amy said something to the effect of, "even given all of my recent success, all I want to do is improv." Becky also said Amy talked about how lucky we were to be studying and performing improv, to getting into this art form that has become her religion, and how it's so great because no matter what kind of project you're working on or what kind of people you're working with, you can always turn to improv -- and specifically the Harold -- for inspiration. Which is just so comforting.

I think Becky needed the pick-me-up. And I too needed it, even if mine just came from hearing Becky recount the workshop. We are very much the same kind of improviser at this point. We both have a tendency to get depressed about our current "status" as students, and as performers. I mean, class is ok, but class is class. And we often feel that not being a part of a practice team that performs may be hurting our status as students...especially when/if future team auditions or whatever occurs.

At McManus I had a cool conversation with a current Harold Team member and respected coach...about what it takes to advance in the "scene". I definitely get the vibe that it's vital to be part of a good group of talented people who will make you work harder -- and the commitment to this group shows the committee you're in fact committed to doing improv in general....which I know I am, but maybe am just involved in a bad group.

Not that the caboose is bad, improv-wise, but maybe concept wise. And definitely performing wise....

Maybe I just need to get into another group....and expand, instead of change...maybe Becky and me could start a 6 person team, with Porter, Borden, Eli, and Joe Wengert called, "Dungeon Mall".

Or maybe I could start a 4-person team, consisting of me, Chris Gethard, Dan Powell, and Angeliki George...called, "Maximum Voltage in D Minor."

Or maybe a 5 person team, with me, Mullaney, Conroy, Delaney, and Katie Dippold called, "The Arizona Diamondbacks".....

Alright, this is dumb....and just wasting time...although it's fun...

Wait, ONE More: How about an 9-person team, with me, David Martin, Bret from T.J. Monkeys, Adam Koppel from the AK team Esto, Kate Spencer, Anthony King, Curtis Gwinn, Calhoun, and Sarah Burns, called, "Randy Diplomatic". Wahoo!

Ok. The point is, I should NOT put all of my lumps of coal into one firebox, and should expand my improv-focus some. So if anyone reading this, has seen and liked my work (which would mean you'd seen one of my new teams), and wants to work with me (wink, wink-borden), shoot me an email.

Thanks.....TRAIN OF THE DAY:

Royal Canadian Pacific travels west over a bridge at Ottertail, B.C….from all your friends on the ‘boose.

 

[Pennyfeather]

I've been drinking beer. I'm not going to lie to everyone who reads this journal and say I haven’t been drinking beer. That wouldn't be fair...to anyone.

Yes sir, beer has been what I have been drinking. How many, you ask? Mmm...probably 6. I paid for 3 of them, and 3 were bought for me by my teammates to get even with me over some old rehearsal costs. Yup, beer.

I drank these beers at Harold Night...which was really great tonight. Packed, sold out, really a lot of great faces in the audience, and the teams seemed to feed nicely off the vibe. It was hot though, and a little packed, but it was no worse than a normal Harold Night at the theatre. And god bless, Joe. I didn't envy him as he was running around as both the usher and stage manager. Plus, he was yelling for people to buy beers, which the 'boose was happy to do.

PCR seemed to have a good show. High energy. A bit silly, but some nice sincere moments and connections. It was cool.

And OI was without Morris, Huskey, Schmidt, and McBrayer and performed with just 4. Which was fun. And smart. And rowdy.....and touchy/feeling…as normal.

It was just a good "community" night all around. Same ol' faces, new spaces, lots of beer and heat, and classic, quality “Harold” work.

OH, so, now about me. Your friend. After close to 4 months of being without ANY UCB Crush what-so-ever, I now have one. Man, I forgot how crushes just come at you out of nowhere. I mean, one day you don't have a crush, and then, BLAMMO, the next day you do.

Mine's a cutie....and really cool. And I think she likes me, but we've only ever had one McManus conversation ever, and I doubt she'd even remember my name or the fact that I'm not just a level 2 student, but a Level 3b student who has already had 2 Level 3's and a 4.

Oh man....I should move off of this subject for now....just to make sure this crush of mine is actually true or if it's just the fancy of the evening. (Did I mention I have been drinking tonight?)

Good Practice last night. Two hours. All 7 of us. Coachless. 15 minutes of “Run-away Train” warm-up. Which we hadn’t used in months, but decided to break out for the hell of it. It’s a great, high-energy warm-up. The 7 of us form one long train and start off, chugging around the room, like we are slowly building up the energy to get to the top of a high-grade hill. Then when we get to the top of the hill, we explode with speed and chug around the room as hard as we can go, until the engine (the guy at front) yells, “LOOSE PIN”, which of course means that one of the pins that was holding the cars (each of us) together is LOOSE. Then one-by-one, we start breaking off and heading down our own tracks, until eventually all 7 of us are on our own moving around the room. Then we try to get back together. Like I said it’s really dumb, but good for energy boosting. Then we just did some short pattern work.

Then we jumped into 45 minutes of “Dead Man’s Curve” scenes. A form Becky has been tossing about for the last 2 weeks based on a kind-of “Choose Your Own Adventure” form. It’s basically this: all scenes take place inside the cab of an engine, making good time down the tracks. The scene inside that cab can be anything in the world, and is played just like any scene. Smart games, relationship driven. Strong wants. BUT, at some point in the scene, the train WILL go around DEAD MAN’S CURVE. And there are two possible outcomes. One is that the train will make it through the curve with no problems and the scene continues. The other is death. The backline determines the scenes fate.

It worked ok. Not great. And then we decided it was probably a bit complicated, so we just montaged for the last hour.

Man, I’m tired. I think I drank too many beers.

Oh, well, I’ll learn. Here’s your TRAIN OF THE NIGHT:

Grand Funk Railroad…from all your friends on the ‘boose.

 

[Pennyfeather]

I have no idea what I'm doing in New York City.

I should be out riding the rails, through Iowa, on a night train, hauling 75 boxcars of coal to Portland.

But instead, I decided to live the complete opposite of that life. My choice? Coming to NY after college, living in a tiny and overpriced studio apartment and finding a crappy job. A job which ended about 5 months ago and I have only managed to work part-time since then. Oh, and I have no girlfriend, and worse yet, I've only kissed 3 girls in the past year. That’s right! THREE! That's depressing....especially given how much I like to kiss.

I kissed Becky back in April. Once. Well, we've kissed several DRUNKEN times since then....mostly after downing a few at a party or a rowdy Harold night. And usually at the steps of a Subway entrance or in a shared-cab ride.

And there was this chick Maggie, who was on the 'boose for like a day. I knew her from my Level 2 Conroy class. Cute, funny, punky. I think we made out for like 10 minutes in a round booth at McManus back in late April. I think I copped a quick a feel, but that’s as far as anything went.

Oh and I also kissed this girl who was in my Level 3 class. I think it was after our first New Team show, again at McManus, at the end of April. Wow, come to think about it, all 3 of my kisses this past year were in April. What a great month that was.

Anyway, this kiss was one of those kisses that you ask for. I'm a really bad "game" player. When I'm getting my flirt on, I never make the first move, or second move...but rather I usually wait, and watch for signals and invitations from a girl. And maybe do the ol' "rub the knee" move. Girls like to have their knees rubbed. Right?

But I said to this girl (whose name I can't remember), "Hey, would you mind if I kissed you?" And she said yes. And we weren't really having much flirty interaction; we were just hanging. But I got one of those "guy" moments where all I could think about was how great she looked, and what it would be like to kiss her. And apparently, I must have thought about it hard enough to make me just ask her. But she said yes, and we kissed, for a little while. Then I probably tried to feel her up, or she tried to feel me down….or maybe neither of those things, I’m not sure. I do remember it was fun though.

Man, April. I'm such a non-maker outer. April. That means I went kissless for the entire SUMMER OF '02. That's something I'll remember forever.

Man, I have no idea why I'm talking about all of this. Perhaps because there isn't much 'boose news since we haven't seen or emailed each other since Harold night. So I'm talking about myself.

Oh, as I mentioned in a couple of entries back, I have managed to develop a nice, healthy crush. And yes, it's a UCB community crush, AS IF I was capable at this point to develop a non-UCB community one. And this one is full blown. It's just not a common one, or general one, like those mentioned on the official IMPROV CRUSHES thread. Nope, this one is full-blown.

All I'm going to say is that she may or may not be on a Harold Team. But she is a good improviser. I like to think of her as a "sparkplug" on stage. Oh, and she’s quite hot too.

I really do love trains. I feel bad that I'm seeming to neglect my massive steel friends lately, but they know I love them...they don't need my reassurance.

Two hour practice tomorrow night. Full 'boose attendance. I'm working on a coach, but at this point it doesn't look good.

I'm tired. I'm off to dream about "my new cutie"....

Oh man, she’s hot!…..zzzz....zzzz....(that's me dreaming...)

 

[Pennyfeather]

Hurray for Harold Night!

Two great shows. 4 fun Harolds. Me and Becky and 4 other 'boosers sitting in that cool, high booth area near the wall. I had 3 Red Stripes and tried yelling out the suggestion "Field Ranger" for the Ice-Nine show, but it wasn't taken. Which is actually for the best, because Ice-Nine turned it out tonight, fucking up their suggestion, "Tinkerbell" with one-hell of a show. They are insane, truly, but still emotionally invested and always on game. And it's all about patterns with them. Every scene has something that is brought back over-and-over again in future scenes...even things that at first seem like throw-aways.

And MKV had a sweet Harold. My favorite scene being Berman and Charlie Todd's "chore-wheel"/roommate scene. Charlie: "Well, now the spoon is on the floor, and I believe you have Floor duty this week." (or something like that)...OH, and Tarik was a group game maniac tonight. His "spice up your life" old man in the elderly Lock-in the first group game was high-larious.

The Syndicate and Dr. A had good Harolds too, but I want to get to last night's Caboose practice. Cause it rocked.

It was easily our best practice of 2003, with all 7 of us being in peak form....or so it seemed.

We started off with our own version of "Big Booty" called "Big Booty". Except, as I explained in an earlier entry, the 'boose calls each other by appointed "boose" names instead of using numbers. And before, when we had 17 members, this warm-up was a real pain. It's hard to remember 17 names and exactly which spot around the circle that name corresponds too. But with 7 of us, it's pretty cool, and we can really get moving with it. And it's much more interesting that just numbers.

I mean who wants to do this: Big Booty-number 2-number 2-number 5-number 5-number 6-number 6-number 1-number 1-big booty.

When you can do this: Big Booty-Brakeman-Brakeman-Tender filler-Tender filler-Boilermaker-Boilermaker-Track builder-Tracker builder-Becky-Becky-Big Booty....much more fun, right?

And then, the 7 of us decided start off practice the same way we started off our very first official PENNYFEATHER CABOOSE practice we ever had, way back in May. We just wanted to reminesce some, and do something fun. Man, just saying that sounds a bit weird....I don't know how much a practice team, that has been together for more than 6 months without PERFORMING ONCE, should be reminiscing, but we did anyway.

The exercise is really just a montage, with the idea that it's a cross-country night train montage. We start a scene somewhere on the East Coast, preferably in a major railroad hub, like Atlanta or Raleigh, and then each scene that follows takes place in a city that's West of the city in the previous scene. The montage moves across the country so that by the last scene we have arrived in our West coast destination, which again, is hopefully a railroad hub city, such as Portland or Sacramento or better yet, SWEET CONNECTIONSVILLE!

Man, it was so much fun. The 7 of us kicked the shit out of the Cross-Country Night Train Montage. The suggestion, which was picked at random from a "girly" book that Becky is reading, was "Monetary". I started a scene in Savannah, GA as a Short-Line Railroad Owner who was attracted to Gardens. Becky played a flowerbed of Tulips.

The montage made a cross-country tour which kind of weaved up-and-down, all over the place. From Savannah, it went: Atlanta-Birmingham-Memphis-Monroe City-Des Moines-Spencer-Park Rapids-Bismark-Rapid City-Denver-Albuquerque-Tucson-Las Vegas-Ogden-Boise-before ending in Portland...with a scene about a wife who put her mailbox in her bedroom to try to lure her mailman into her house. That led to a ton of tag outs, involving characters in previous scenes, where one person placed an object or idea somewhere to try to lure the other person to give them what they wanted...

Man...I love trains. And Harold Night. And Kenny Rogers.

I'm so blessed. And so are you...cause here's your TRAIN OF THE DAY :

Hurray!

 

[Pennyfeather]

I GOT A LOT TO COVER TODAY, SO I MAY NEED A COUPLE OF ABRUPT TRACK SWITCHES. I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE TO THE POSSIBLE BUMPY RIDE! Hold ON!

I don't want this journal to just become a "Harold Night Analysis" Journal, but that's what it's been for the last couple of entries...which I guess is cool...SHORT TERM.

Long Term I want this journal to document the awesome rise of the Caboose; through our early struggles and ups and downs to our "new beginning" with just 7 members. And hopefully....some day, I'll be able to write all about the 'boose's Friday night, Midnight shows at the UCB that run for 2 months in late July and August....

Oh man...wouldn't that rock!?

Lord knows the Caboose does not deserve a two-month, Friday night at Midnight show at the UCB right now. Especially since the team has been together for close to a year, without ONE stinkin' performance.

Look. I'm laying it all out right now. Right here. On this Journal Table.

THE PENNYFEATHER CABOOSE KNOWS WE SHOULD START PERFORMING, WANTS TO START PERFORMING, SO PLEASE STOP JUDGING US, SIMPLY BECAUSE WE ARE YET TO PERFORM...

It's coming, SOON....we just need some more time to get a bit more comfortable with our new situation.

And come on, we are attempting to do RAILROAD IMPROV exclusively. Which, to my knowledge, is something somewhat new. I mean, sure, I wasn't around in the old Chicago days...so perhaps there have been teams with a similar concept, but I doubt it. So, please, don't judge us like you would other UCB student practice teams...we deserve special treatment...

Oh man…time for a TRACK SWITCH!

Becky just called me to say she just left from signing me and her up for the Harold Team auditions. We're in the same slot. Which I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. Probably good. I think there's something to be said for going into a somewhat "stressful" (yet cool) audition with a buddy.

Actually all 7 members of the boose are signed up, but I am yet to hear about what time-slots the others are in.

There are so, so, so many people who deserve it right now...all over the place. I wish everyone the best.

Personally, as a previous entry will show, I really want to be on a team. I don't know if I deserve it, but I've done the work, and hopefully that will show through. But if not, I'm just so happy to have improv in my life....and will keep on chug-chug-chugging regardless of what comes in my future.

TRACK SWITCH!

Harold night was kick-ass last night. Me and Becky were there for all 4 harolds....well 3 Harolds and Monkeydick's Monoscene, which could have been the best thing I've seen in months. I couldn't believe it. I was just sitting there...well actually standing there (in the back) in awe. Such tight, fun patterns. Everyone had awesome specific characters. Tight connections and cool discoveries...with Hines and Mitch finding an inspiring connection at the end.....

And my favorite move? Rob's walk-on, giving the Coke Vending man "5 minutes".....

I hung around for a while, but eventually decided to just go home after not seeing EL JAFE anywhere. Me and Becky really want to get our pictures taken...

TRACK SWITCH!

GOOD BOOSE practice on Wednesday night. Coached by Jane Borden, of MKV.

And after almost 2 months of weekly-coachless practices, the ‘boose was in much need of some guidance. And Jane was so kick-ass. It was cool.

Again, I have no idea if Jane likes classic, American Railroading or not, but she loves improv and thankfully kicked our asses last night…in a good way…

Since it was our first time working with someone in a while, we avoided any and all railroad based work, until the last 30 mins. So, we spent a majority of practice concentrating on solid, patient 2- person scenework. Just smart stuff. Not really silly…

Then for the last 30 minutes, we rocked a cool RAILROAD montage for Jane. Lots of Depot stuff. Some Lumber mill work. And a dash of Coal miner scenes…..her reaction to it was good. She mostly just saw through the railroad specifics however and our notes were very basic “improv” skill based. Listening, anti-questions, relationships, active choices, using heavy gloves when refilling a firebox on a 4-8-8-4 Alco.

Quality, quality practice!

TRACK SWITCH!

MY crush is still a big crush. And I saw her last night….oh man.

TRACK SWITCH!

Here’s your TRAIN OF THE DAY:

I feel like the Pennyfeather Caboose is about to turn the corner. The improv corner!