Bar Tack Tales.

Nine days until Breast In Show opens. Five until Hay Fever closes. Next Monday as we're striking HF, BiS begins Tech with First Dress. There is not a lot of time./It's going to be fine.

 

Tonight's endeavours featuring my all-time favourite machine stitch: 

Introducing ...

that little squiggle of pink thread, right there?

The humble yet most excellent Bar Tack.

(We love the Bar Tack almost as much as
we love the Zigzag & that's saying something.)

 I was introduced to Bar Tack whilst first working on Producers.
It's certainly a stitch worth getting excited over as it's inherently useful
for stabilising & securing fabrics, just catching the end of an overlap. Wonderful.

I've also been learning the maths of men's suit sizing!

Waist measurement of Pants + 6 inches 

= Chest measurement of Suit Jacket. 

  

Ish.

Now to size every suit that's over in Stock. This could take a while.

Spontaneous Unicorn Discovery.

An Evening At The Oscars

There was a whole load of Tech happening last night so company
was kinda on the scarce side; nonetheless Doug & I went ahead
& had our very own Oscars party

~ complete with newly-installed-to-the-wall movie reels! :   

We didn't quite manage to check all the boxes
but the ceremony certainly ticked a few of them off.

Keeping Ginny company.

Taking a guess at likely winners, Doug & I were neck & neck for most of the night. 
I was definitely happy to see Anne Hathaway score gold as Best Supporting Actress, likewise Jacqueline Durran's Best Costume Design for Anna Karenina. Doug nailed it in the end though, with his Best Picture choice of Argo. Les Mis sure missed out on that one. 

A free goat with every beer!!

Decorated.

"No" (which means "No") which eventually means "Yes".

Once Upon A Time in a land far, far away, there lived a wee lass who couldn't say No.
Luckily she had a friend who was wise & succinct with words & helped her not have to costume a show for thirty people in seven days between college & work & homework. Very wise.

Fast forward a few years to 2012 & a similar proposal was made of the costuming type.

"No" was the given answer, along with "I don't have a car." Hurrah! 

Another few months in & the costuming-type proposal was broken down into bite-size chunks. "No" transformed into "happy to help" & "assuming that..." & "see you tomorrow at 1pm". 

Billy-Christopher is directing & producing "Breast in Show", that is the "new original musical about saving the ta-tas!" (i.e.: Everything Pink. Here's a link.) I'm his Ass. Cos. Des or Wench #2. This was initially intended for Firehouse until the December furore so it's now happening at Willow Lawn, in two weeks, in partnership between Carol Piersol & the Rep.

So far I've been spending my afternoons drinking free coffee at our local, pulling from stock
& working alongside one of my favourite theatre friends. So far, so good!

Everything Green.

We're making ready for the next children's show at Willow Lawn. Every surface in the shop, every sewing machine & serger rigged up.  Everything - fabric, sequins, thread - Green.

Is there perchance a crocodile in the house?!  

Yes! It's Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile!

..................

I took to bed on Tuesday night post-work. 

 Anything to shake off the cold I had no actual time to be having. 

From one French-inspired film to another as BC came round & I finished with An Education & we started on Paris, Je t'aime.

I'm preparing him for next month when the French Film Festival comes to town. (Yay, my favourite!) Not sure yet what I'll go see at the Byrd but the offering of a series of shorts sounds fairly enticing, even when screening at 8am on a weekend.

A Walk in the Park.

Hurray to having synchronised Mondays off work, long lie-ins;
cosy cups of tea to combat an encroaching cold; 
a walk outside in the bright afternoon air.
                                                                                      Lovely!

The neighbourhood park is Bryan Park on the city's Northside.
Fairly woody, with a stream running through it & places to play a round of frisbee golf. The trees were still bare but it won't be long before the azaleas are making the place look vibrant again. Even with the fountain turned off, it still looked pretty & tranquil by the lake.

Plus awesome signage for any visiting canines: 

That is, tell your Humans to bag it up & take it home!

There'd been talk of lunch out on Saturday but time got away from us so instead The Manly Man opted to make me dinner on Monday night. It was going to be Fish & Chips. That happened, of a fashion. (Note to self: Never question aloud a man's prowess at cooking fish on a grill.)
 We visited "Yellow Umbrella" to pick up some Irish trout. Chips were homemade too!

With a certain culinary twist.

Asking after accompaniments didn't get us too far, especially after I started listing off "mushy peas, curry sauce, buttered tea-cake, cup o' tea." So another bottled beer apiece it was then.  ;) 

Loving the wordiness of the Dogfish Head labelling.

Katie's Quarter Century.

Another February birthday!

"What's on the menu? One very confused party. I couldn't pick just one theme, and
I love dressing up, so in honor of being alive for a quarter of a century, I’m holding a costume party with multiple themes (see below). Major bonus points if you dress up as all of these things at once. There will be a prize* for the best costume!

Themes: Germany, Harry Potter, Glee, pug dogs, 80s pop culture, drag queens, Broadway musicals that don’t suck, etc. Basically shit I like."

 Now that last theme I could work with! Katie's favourite song to sing at Triviaoke? 

"99 Red Balloons" sung entirely in German. 

                                Done.
  

99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont

(Joey happened to rock a multiple character look, diversifying his answer to encompass Glee Kurt-style, a Harry Potter character & a Germanic Pug Owner. Awesome.)

"Hay Fever" tech usurped the weekend so I missed the Hardywood social to debut their new beer. Sarah was in attendance though & brought me the following back: 

 Pretty interesting to taste. Gingerbread's still the winner though.

*There’s no prize.  

(Booo!)

Fauxpening.

...  Matt named it. 

We were all ready, officially functioned & set to go on Friday. Spotted Dick, English muffins & ginger biscuits had paved the way in anticipation. 

                    

The weeks of finding the most perfect Twenties fabric to befit our characters were behind us. All trousers pressed, hemmed & creases unpressed. Shirt studs placed, wigs brushed & set.
   We got through Tech minus Michael (Daddy Bliss) for four days due to sickness. Friday night came & as the Half came round, we were forced to cancel. The sickness had caught on. Irene - our Mama Bliss - despite her best efforts, was too sick to take to the stage. Such a shame for our cast & crew & the audience waiting outside. A unprecedented night for the Rep but with no understudy to fill in for the character of Judith, a fauxpening night it was indeed. 

Luke (my fellow "on deck" SL crew & chef buddy) & Jason (Sound) & I went to see Cadence's opening for "Sons of the Prophet" in Theatre Gym instead. Not quite the evening we'd anticipated but I was glad to be able to support Cadence's opening & catch their show.

Actual.

Joey: 
         "The scaffolding's down AND the parking lot is open. It's like an actual working theatre."

*grin:

As Cope writes,

"Write it in fire across the night:
Some men are more or less alright."

 I'm glad to have met one or two of those 'alright' men here in Richmond.

      For my girls today, 

 

  Shared amongst us in the costume shop,

Hehe, with the dye turning the water pink!

Plus Vanilla & Cherry 'Tootsie Rolls'.

 

 
I prepped for my Valentine on Monday here, 

Carytown Teas.
Mmmm, jars upon jars of loose leaf. 

But tonight, Joey, Luke & I have an extremely hot date with Noël Coward
& some scrambled eggs.

Preview's today, Opening tomorrow. 

Tech & time wait for no man.

Reeds, Rain...

... & a hot cup of coffee. 
Or two.

I'm back working mornings & nights again over the next four weeks of HF run. I decided to spend my free in-between hours at VMFA yesterday. I enjoyed my walk through their Pop Art collection & then refuelling in the cafe whilst I waited on my museum date. 

(Meanwhile we wrote ourselves a movie trailer by text message: 

"Trying to get a bus in the rain to meet a cute girl at an art museum, how romantic.
I'm hungry."

We agreed that, unlike a real rom com, ours would show a detailed shot
of wet feet at the bus stop.)

The Chihuly exhibition is coming down but the red reeds outside by the lake are set to stay.

"Bold as a donkey's kick
Strong as love."

Always read the label, especially when it has something fun to say!

 

Neon. Terrifying.

(Incidentally, as a colour comparison,
consider the colour of BC's "Gourmet Soda":)

' as sweet by another name? '

Shrove Tuesday.

Mardi Gras.
Fat Tuesday.
"Pooshki" Day.

....  Pancake Day! 

Pancakes had to happen. 

Over lunch, I was gladdened somewhat by the ensuing confusion which I'd started by wielding British terminology over the day's name. Lauren was reminiscing over Mardi Gras celebrations back home in the (proper) South & expressing surprise over the lack of comprehension with regard to 'King Cake'. Likewise Emily was talking of some doughnut-type pastry that we'd never heard of, "pączki" : popular in certain areas of the States due to the influence of Polish immigrants. For once it wasn't just me talking weird. We all took to Facebook to express our disbelief & discontent over other people's ignorance.  ;)

Joey had thrown me somewhat by packing a sausage for supper to go with his pancakes. There was talk of syrup too so I just put it down to them being Yankish. It was only as I looked up ingredients online (my trusty tried-&-tested recipe being back on the blessed isle) that I began to understand their expectations. The Independent gave me three basics: milk, eggs, flour. Using Martha Stewart as a comparison to convert from grams back into cups, I kept seeing baking agents appear in the list. Then it dawned on me. Uh-oh. 

They were expecting American pancakes. 

Not on my watch! "Crêpes" it was. British/French/European, whatever. Still tasting as sweet by any other name, my pancakes were flat & frying-pan-sized. Lemon & sugar proved the novelty topping of the evening. (We had a lesson in how to correctly top & roll lengthways.)
   I cooked for The Manly Man & Emily: lovingly transported over to them in Tech for Cadence's upcoming show. Joel dropped by to issue us an invite for the Valentine's Weekend Book Sale so had two purely by being in the right place at the right time. Joey learnt a whole new skill in making them & took to the challenge of flipping like a pro, turning out one after another ... after another... after another for himself, Lauren & I.

"Flliiiip!"

A very successful Shrove Tuesday indeed!

 

(Plus "Shrove Saturday",
 

                                              a revisit:)

  We should've taken pancakes over for the cast of HF. Blowing fuses whilst trying to prep the Act III breakfast was not our finest moment of the night. It's a full & fine array too: bacon, "haddock" (chicken patties),  scrambled eggs, toast & marmalade. Plus lots of tea.

   Hunt-the-missing-haddock-dish adventure on the following night wasn't too cool either. Hm. For a play where hardly anything happens save bitching or making out, there's an awful lot of set dressing to be done between times. Enough to impress a reviewer any way: 

Sue Griffin’s period costumes are stunning, Schaum’s set is detailed down to the clutter under the sofa, and Steve Perigard’s sure-handed direction makes the three-act, two-hour comedy fly. 

Organised Clutter.

Wall Art #7: Kuba Kuba

Allergic Rhinitis.

And I'm back in Tech again.

It's been a week of tidying up enough loose ends to be ready for Saturday's Dress. We sent our last tour out on the road on Thursday so are now free to focus on immediate happenings at the November.

I've been finding felt & feathers to conjure up Twenties' headpieces; turning trouser hems, shifting fastenings; adding snaps, sourcing shirt studs; making a maid's cap, an exotic cravat. We're almost there for now, at least until the next set of Notes comes back in post-Dress. It'll be a busy Monday After. 

It's a play of three acts. Nine cast members. As a comedy of manners, it couldn't be further removed from the all-singing, all-dancing Producers. Not a single QC in sight so my duties are shifting towards set & stage. There's a full English breakfast waiting to be served nightly in Act III - I may yet be microwaving the bacon in Act II. I'm thinking a dab of HP & some spaghetti hoops wouldn't go amiss though... I am the native expert in these delicate matters of authenticity, right? (Black Pudding could always be saved for the badly-behaved...) 

That & my cunning plan is to talk in as broad a Northern accent as possible around the cast. That way I'll see if I can sneak some Yorkshire dialect onstage. Worth a shot anyhow!

A Purrrfect Peanut Butter Birthday Treat.

Happy birthday dear Sarah!

OF#7: 

 

With thanks to The Freckled Fox.

Initiation XLVII: Super Bowl Sunday

It started in the costume shop with my colleagues asking what my weekend plans were, if any Super Bowl parties were on the horizon, whether I knew owt or nowt about the Event itself. I referenced Janet Jackson's faux pas of the past & left them to fill in the rest for me. 

 "Beer, chips & wings", it turns out.

Oh, & some American football on the side
     as highlights to a Beyonce concert. 

 Emily: "We just watch it for the commercials". 

This theory confused me at first. You watch a game in order to catch all the advert breaks? Then I found about how the commercials make their premiere that evening & the millions of dollars invested.
(This one from Budweiser on the night made me go all "War Horse"-soppy. Seriously cute.)

Packers, '97 ~ New Orleans

Furthermore, 

Me:  "Why are they called the 49ers?"
 
Doug: "Umm.... because ... it's.... I can't remember.
            I don't know anything about sports!"
 
Me: "Then why are we watching this?"
 
Doug: "Because it's Superbowl Sunday!
 EVERYONE in America watches Superbowl Sunday!"

(FYI, the Californians are the "49ers" after the prospectors from the Gold Rush of 1849.)

Out in the wider world, NFL controls rights to the name itself so related marketing has to use generic terminology like "The Big Game". And they absolutely do want to market - the above photo was taken by the sausages & mustard shelves of K.Roger. We're talking the second-largest day for U.S. food consumption after Thanksgiving. 
   The Manly Man definitely got that memo. We kicked off our Super Bowl celebrations as the pre-game coverage began at 2pm. The Game itself was not due to start until 6.30pm - by which point we'd already cleared plates of chips & dips (TMM's homemade Super Guacamole) plus skins & wings & there was still a chicken roasting & sausages for hot dogs. Seriously.   

As an end to the debate over whether buffaloes can have wings (technically they can,
if you trace the dish back to its origins in Buffalo, NY) or whether it'd be better phrased
as buffalo-sauce-dipped wings, we ate legs instead. Buffaloes certainly have those.

[The Manly Man coming in from the grill outside.]

Doug:  "You have charcoal on your face."

The Manly Man: "I'm trying to be like the football players."

Half six finally came,  

       "Turn it up, we've got to feel the bass!"

 Some final pre-game moments like the Sandy Hook chorus singing something which sounded familiar & which I enjoyed. Then Alicia Keyes sang something else & warbled a great deal & didn't really enunciate any of the words, causing me to turn & ask Katie:
"What song is that?"

Katie: "Are you serious?! That's The Star Spangled Banner."

Me:  "Oh. What was the other one then?" 

That one being America The Brave. Easy when you know what's what.  (Heathen.)

 
There was a kick off! They ran. Then as soon as they ran, they stopped again. It sort of looks a little bit like rugby except that the players never seem to go anywhere fast. Doug did know enough about sport to explain why they &/or the clock kept stopping.
   The boys wanted us to pick teams to cheer on. I went for the Baltimore Ravens as i) they're Northerners; ii) friend Joey had gone home to MD to watch the game so I thought I'd join him in spirit & iii) loyalty to Ginny. (Plus, iv) their team colour's Purple. I was almost tempted to swap when I saw the shiny gold & red attire of the 49ers but it turns out that - Life Lesson Alert - not even shiny pants can help you win a game.)
   (Katie & I borrowed a birdy hand movement from one of the players in the parade, to be deployed whenever the Ravens achieved something good, such as a touchdown. The boys retaliated with bravado & zest in pickaxeing us back when the 49ers also happened to score.)

One of the key elements of this particular game was that the coaches of the opposing teams were in fact brothers. Which meant that when minutes into the third quarter, part of the stadium was plunged into darkness, we reckoned it was Ma Harbaugh fixing it so that John would give his younger brother, Jim a chance to make a comeback. 'Poor Jimmy, he never gets a fair go...'
  Stadium Power Outage lasted about thirty minutes with all play suspended. Oops. Being sat by Mr. Electrics & hearing feedback from a bunch of witty techies from Facebook ("If you like it, you should've put a fuse on it") meant that their guestimate was on it having over-powered due to wrong panel/wrong sequence.  ~ Yeah, I'd thought as much too.
  Lucky for us, unlike the folks at the Super Bowl, there was a ready diversion in waiting. Puppy Bowl! God bless Animal Planet. (Hopefully this video link will work okay for you! Be prepared for the utter cuteness of the Cute Cam! And the hedgehog cheerleaders too; eeek!) 

I sort of slept through the last quarter & woke up to a silver trophy (named for the Packers' coach, Lombardi - we've seen his statue) being passed out, purple confetti & two slightly disgruntled boys. All that's gold does not glitter.

Go the Ravens!