Thursday, February 12, 2004

Fireball (Not XL5)

Our dear ami avec des avantages Jason has contrived to lure us to Chicago this weekend, coincidentally the occasion of Fireball and various other entertainments of a libertine nature.

By turns appalled and intrigued (the latter largely by a big ol' gay dance party in a working steel mill -- can you imagine?!), we have assented to make the trek and will be pleased to entertain any social invitations (glass liftings, bar mitzvahs, group gropes, etc.) you may wish to proffer.

Monday, January 5, 2004

I want to be a part of it…

This is a rough time of the year for me to schedule travel, with three shows opening this month and a major event I've got to flack for keeping me close to home. Still, promises are promises, and I promised my old buddy Paul I'd be in New York to toast his 40th birthday and I promised several friends I'd get around to seeing their shows. So it's a happy accident that some necessary business coincides with the former and yet permits me enough spare time to do the latter.

I'll be voting myself onto the island next week, essentially for a long MLK weekend. The agenda includes the aforementioned natal day drinks, odd moments to catch up with friends, and a few (!) hours in the theatre

• finally getting to see Joey in Gypsy;
• seeing what Pam has managed to make of The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!;
• cheering Michael McGrath (and Donna Murphy, too) in Wonderful Town;
• wondering if I'll still love Swing Shift after seeing Never Gonna Dance with Jeff's book;
• laughing at appalling lives in Aunt Dan and Lemon, one of my favorite Wallace Shawn plays;
• and hoping Caroline, or Change makes up for Homebody/Kabul and Violet.

Oy vey. Sometimes "a life in the theatre" is meant very, very literally.

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Go east, not so young man…

Go east, not so young man: I've been trying for the past couple of weeks to consolidate two planned trips in October and November into one, and I think I've found the magic mix. It appears, then, that I'll be a doing a mini East Coast tour in November, just before the beginning of the Season of brAdvent and my 35th birthday.

If I can juggle another meeting or two, that means I'll make it to Washington DC in time to catch Bounce in its latest (pre-Broadway?) incarnation at the Kennedy Center, and to see if that cutie Mark is still tending bar at Cobalt. (Does anyone know? Be in touch, please!)

That'll leave me with five or six days to spend in New York, where I plan to welcome The Boy From Oz and to see more Hunter Foster in Little Shop of Horrors. Other entertainments and daytime diversions wedged around more mundane obligations are up in the air. Social opportunities, suppers and other events will be announced as plans evolve.

Wednesday, August 6, 2003

Up in the air

It's funny what you run across when you attempt to tidy your office. I'm not sure why I've kept it except perhaps to remind myself -- as though it was possible to forget -- that I was on a plane when it seemed like the rest of the world was up in the air.

Thursday, August 15, 2002

Sort the SFO details

It is proving difficult to arrange affordable air travel to match my schedule for a westward jaunt to attend Fray Day 6 in San Francisco, but I think I've got it puzzled out. The difficulty is opening our theatre season on Friday night, flying out Saturday morning, and then getting back to St. Louis in time to teach Tuesday morning. It appears I can fly into Oakland (with a connection at O'Hare, something I'm ordinarily loathe to do) and leave from SFO on the red-eye (which was the flight I was on last September 11) for something approaching a reasonable fare. But hey, wasn't the SFO BART extension supposed to be open by now?! Remaining decisions: What story to tell and whether to arrange a bread-breaking.

Saturday, July 27, 2002

The finest in duplex living

LIVE FROM HOLLYWOOD: Yes, poodles, I've arrived safely in California and am comfortably bivouacked at The Finest in Duplex Living and being shamelessly pampered by my hottie homey Eric. Met cool people last night? Check. Drank a bit too much? Check. Mattress danced with a cute boy until the small hours? Check, check and check. Love from La Vida L.A., kids. See y'all on Wednesday.

Monday, December 24, 2001

London’s calling!

In what seems to be becoming a more or less biennial tradition, I'll be making a trip across the sea as a holiday treat to myself. Yes, friends, that means Brad is jetting to London for seven decadent days of theatre, shopping, museums and the pulsating vibe of the city's infamous nightlife.

Neither this weblog nor The Daily Brad will be updated while I'm away, but you can be sure I'll return in the new year bursting with news from abroad. I'll be taking in a lot of shows (including The Royal Family, Dangerous Corner, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Privates on Parade, Private Lives, South Pacific and Quidam), maybe a few parties and, if I'm very, very lucky, I may have an audience with the queen.

I shall have very limited access to e-mail until I return to the United States on or about January 2. If you have an urgent need to reach me while I'm in England, you probably already know how. Otherwise, we'll chat when I get back.

The traditional BradLands Year in Review and recitation of resolutions (dear me, I don't seem to have done very well on last year's batch) will probably have to wait until then as well.

Here's wishing each and every reader of The BradLands a bright and happy holiday, however you celebrate, and best wishes for a safe, happy and healthy new year. Mwah! Mwah!

Thursday, October 25, 2001

Brad Abroad

My birthday's still a month hence, but I've decided to go ahead and treat myself to an early gift: airline tickets! Look for me to be haunting Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Soho — among other London environs — for a week starting Christmas Day. I am now entertaining social invitations for my visit, as well as suggestions for swank ways to ring in the New Year among the Brits.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

My Manhattan weekend in brief

Saturday: When they say arrive at the airport three hours in advance, they mean it. With the increased security and a minor snafu with my e-ticket, I miss my early morning flight and end up arriving in New York five hours later than I'd planned. I collapse for a nap in my groovy digs at The Paramount (all hail Judith for the recommendation), then spend a couple of hours exploring Times Square with my buddy Andy, then another few hours exploring Andy.



Sunday: Never believe them when they tell you a show is sold out. Thanks to the miracle that is Telecharge, less than 48 hours before I leave St. Louis I obtain a ticket (third row, center mezzanine, thankyouverymuch) to The Producers.

After the show, it's a quick face-splashing and then off to the Village for dinner with Anil and Mike at Mirchi, then drinks at Kettle of Fish.

A few more drinks at Whiskey Bar with — what was his name? Keith? Kevin? — and it was half past sleepy time.



Monday: Every day should begin with muffins from Dean & Deluca, but this is the only one that did. Muffins and coffee, and then more coffee still, with my friend Terry, understandably a little jumpy since his office at NBC was swarming with investigators rooting out potential anthrax threats.

A quick browse through the Virgin Superstore (and some flirt-ignore, flirt-ignore with a hottie in the games section) then off to lunch with Sparky and special recurring guest star Mike. I'll let you in on a little secret, and here you'll just have to trust me: a hour with a sick Sparky is better than a day with most healthy people, and any time at all with Mike is delightful. Despite his head cold, my too brief visit with Dan further fortified my admiration for his Rumpus.





Damien offered me an extra ticket to see a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman Monday afternoon and I was glad of the opportunity to visit the Ed Sullivan Theatre but moreso for the chance to meet Damien (the second Barrett I need to complete my goal of meeting the New York trio) and his friend Lisa.

I finished the evening at a fantastic performance of Urinetown (see it if you get the chance, not least for a two-hour opportunity to ogle the dreamy Hunter Foster) and a late supper with Andy and James the Third.

Tuesday: Lunch with The Twins' friend Carl in the Village and then a long, healthy walk through Tribeca. I didn't really look up until I crossed Houston and then I couldn't take my eyes off of the Thing That Isn't There Anymore. I went as far as a police perimeter at Chambers before I grabbed the train back uptown, picked up a care package of bagels at H&H and hailed a cab for LaGuardia.

Monday, October 15, 2001

Postcard from New York

I happen to like New York. I spent yesterday knocking about midtown with an old friend, saw The Producers (after turning down an offer of obscene proportions for my ticket) and had dinner and drinks with two fabulous folks, the sort of guys who put the "man" in Manhattan.

And later today, I'll be lunching while enjoying The Sparky Experience, seeing The Late Show with Damien Barrett, having dinner with two queens from Queens and a Staten Island fairy, and taking in a performance of Urinetown. I happen to like New York!

Wednesday, October 10, 2001

I’ll be there ‘ere long

My Manhattan Weekend is planned, booked and paid for, so I'm voting myself onto the island Saturday through Tuesday. I assume there will be a welcoming reception of some sort. Do let me know, won't you dears?

Tuesday, October 9, 2001

Travel forecast

There is a 75 percent chance of Brad in the New York City area this weekend, with gusts of up to 90 percent. Radar indicates a swiftly-moving front of Urinetown, The Producers and tick, tick...BOOM!.

I am now entertaining social invitations from the city's cultural elite. There will likely be no official "Bread Breaking", although a few Triscuits may be snapped. Further bulletins as events warrant.

Friday, July 27, 2001

On the way to Fray

What a friend I have in Orbitz! I have to say I'm favorably impressed with the new travel site, a collaboration among several airlines, since it has found fares saving me a lot of scratch for several trips recently. It's convenient, very usable and reliable.

Happily, a few minutes spent with Orbitz has convinced me I probably can plan on attending Fray Day 5 in San Francisco this year. A particular bit of bad timing, placing the seminal web/real-world storytelling event on the same weekend as our opening performances at the theatre, left me dubious of my chances to make it this year, but things are looking up. Now, then, what story to tell?

Saturday, July 21, 2001

It toddles

A brief update from the road: Chicago is, as ever, lovely and energetic and, just footsteps from my Lakeview hotel, throbbing with activity on this sultry summer evening. I had dinner earlier — a mini-edition of the increasingly popular "Break Bread With Brad" event, perhaps coming soon to a city near you — with a convivial crowd of the city's web elite, wherein we gossiped mercilessly and traded esoteric trivia and ate stuffed pizza and terrorized the remaining restaurant populace with a lightning storm of flash firings from many, many digital cameras.

Three more days in this city of oh-so-big shoulders and perennially snack-worthy men...my professional obligations satisfied, you may call on me at Sidetrack, the convent at which I worship when away from home.

Saturday, June 30, 2001

June 30, 2001

The trip to New Orleans (the land of dreams...) has been postponed for better times and cooler climes. Meanwhile, I'm spending the weekend with pals in our nation's capital.

As expected, it took me longer to get from the airport to my digs near Dupont Circle than the flight here from St. Louis. I hate flying into Dulles; I ordinarily come into National Aiport, but the TWA soopa-savah fare (~$100 roundtrip) was only good for IAD, so I had a bit of a train schlep to get in.

I ran into two folks I know on the short walk here from the Metro station. I love this city. I've been away too long. On tap shortly: dinner and/or drinks with the local web cognescenti and other attractive fauna. Woot!