Graduation: Euphonics Style
Well folks, this is it. This will be the last post on my blog for two weeks while I'm in England. I will, of course, keep writing while I'm across the pond... but, with nothing to tide you over until I get back, I had better make this post a good one. And, while I'm at it, I had better wish everyone an awesome mid-May. It will be quite some time before I'm back blogging again, so *hugs and kisses* take care. Now... time to gather around the good stuff:
Wednesday afternoon, I drove to Albion. I wish I could say that I wasn't nervous during the drive... but I was quite nervous. I was, basically, asked to be "album ready" with songs I had never sung and a group I didn't know in about a week. And, being the perfectionist that I am, I wanted to be as good as if I had spent the past few months rehearsing with them. And, being the pessimist that I am, I knew it wasn't going to be that good.
But that's the funny thing about being with good friends... it doesn't really matter. Bohne and I, instead of focusing on my worries, we watched Arrested Development. Bones humoured me a bit in that he let me look over the sheet music for all the songs... but I honestly equate that to letting me read a page of a foreign language in preparation for speaking it: I recognize some of what's going on, but it helps more to hear it than to see it. I think that's probably the way I've always been, as I used to memorize entire musical scores when I was in band in high school because of what I heard and not necessarily what I saw. This also made "sight reading" one of the most difficult portions of being in band... and was a constant source of frustration for me.
Speaking of music, to my surprise, after a few episodes of Arrested Development, we headed to a choir practice. I know I should have spent more time rehearsing and studying the music I'm supposed to sing over in England... more time being some time. It was good for me to get a chance to hear the music... because otherwise I might have had to 'wing it' in England. It didn't FEEL good to try to sing the music and look lost the whole time, but I know it was good for me. "Puts hair on your chest" as my dad would say, if I wasn't going to eat my vegetables.
Speaking of hairy chests (huh?), after the rehearsal we went to DRRs for the end of the year choir party. I waxed and waned between feeling like just another one of the choir and feeling like I was completely out of place. I suppose, overall, I didn't feel awkward. Bones was the big dog... and whenever you align yourself with the big dog, no one sniffs your ass. I think I got lost in my own metaphor. Regardless, we decided to try to get some sleep after the party was over, just so that we wouldn't suck at recording. Did that work? Not really. Bohne and I were up late talking, and then we got a phone call, I got poked (unfortunately not like that), and we shared the Euphonics' general overall nervousness, as, in retrospect, I don't think any one of the Euphonics said they got a good night sleep Wednesday night.

And, before I knew it, it was Thursday and time for recording. I unfortunately was chosen not only to drive, but to lead the convoy of vehicles from Albion to Ann Arbor. I hate leading... I think most people hate leading in that situation. Therefore, I am most people. That isn't a very good logical argument, I know... but the point still remains that I hate leading. And we, at one point, lost two of the four cars because the car behind me kept up but I couldn't see the other two cars. So I had a nerve-racking two minutes while I slowed down to let everyone hopefully catch up. Fortunately, we arrived safe and SOUND at the STUDIO. Sound studio, get it?! Ah ha ha haaaa.... nevermind.
After the group had gotten settled in to the recording studio, we received a LONG distance gift. Jim had sent us a gift box of all manner of breakfast food. It was a delicious blast from the past... I'm not exactly sure what I meant there, but you know what I mean. Thank you James P, the group really appreciated it. And I forget who said it, but one of them said, "I love Jim Shilander." So there you go. Buy people stuff and they will love you... love is as simple as that.
I then proceeded to sit back and watch the Next Generation of Euphonics (NextGen... or maybe Eu2?) RIP up their set list. They got through all 13 songs the first day of recording... and it was just another reminder of the amazing musical ability of this group. Yes, they still had fun, but even when they went "off task" it took about 2 seconds for them to go back to focusing on the music. They are incredible musicians, this group, and I proudly watched them tear some poop up. And then reluctantly watched them sing. I think I got lost in my metaphor again. Whatever... I nervously watched them, worried about phuking up the awesome musical chemistry of the group.
I realized almost too late why I thought I was a good vocal percussionist in the first place. I had spent so much of my time rehearsing the songs trying to figure out how I was going to impress everyone. I wanted the NextGen to say, "Wow... that guy's good," which is, of course, the complete opposite of what I had strived to do while a member of the group. Voc Perc is supposed to keep the beat... to keep the group together... so that the soloist (and the rest of the group) can shine. It's not meant to distract the listener, but to support what the listener is focused on. I remembered that important lesson just in time to lay some fairly good, if simple and basic, beats. And regardless of my apprehension, I still managed to somehow squeak myself onto about half the album.
After a day of singing, I could think of nothing I wanted to do more than attend a choir rehearsal. So, by-yiminy, that's what I did. I went to the England trip official pre-trip rehearsal/practice and felt a little better about singing those pieces since I had done it the night before.
After rehearsal, I took a dear friend to Denny's because I owed her eggs. Why? Because she owes me her eggs... for children! Get it?! I know I went to far... and I'm sorry. After that I find myself in the most delicious Chelsey/Chelsea sandwich outside of the Mae. That's something I've never understood, by the way. When people make "sandwich" jokes, they always refer to the people on the outside. No one says "I could really go for a bread sandwich." People refer to what's in between the pieces of bread. As such, I was in a delicious John sandwich later that night. That didn't work... and that's why people don't do that. Okay... moving on.

Friday's Recording went so smoothly it's disgusting. All the tracks were already laid... so all they needed to do was hammer out some of the rough spots. They also had plenty of time to talk about album titles and adding fun stuff to the CD (which I'm not going to ruin by letting you know about... heehee).
When I got back to Albion, I had a really good talk with Bohne... which was unfortunately cut short for both of us by various things. But, stupid Bohne, being someone good to talk to *yell face* even though that makes no sense. Actually one of the reasons I had to leave early was to go for a walk with MC Dubs. We talked for hours... and she even let me ramble on and on about how I want my house to be when I'm older. We also got caught out in the rain and were forced to seek shelter... in Ferg.

Graduation 2005... This event is way too important for me to glance over here now, as I'm kind of running out of time before I need to go. So, when I get back from England, I'll blog a little about my Graduation experience. But, to those who graduated... good luck and I love you. This world isn't as scary as it might seem.

Sunday I went and sat in on the other Conservatory class in preparation for the Level 2 audition I'm going to be missing on the trip. It didn't go as well as last week... as, when we did the fake audition, I quasi-froze up. I was so nervous doing improv with people I really didn't know that, during the montage I froze up and didn't step out. But I also found myself standing in the back line thinking "You're all going to fast... slow down! A montage isn't a race... take your time"... and I had trouble getting into it because it seemed to move too fast. I also nailed some woman in the head with a door on my way out. It was her fault for standing right next to a door... and she was pissed at me, like I'm the asshole for opening a door. What a bitch :)

Monday I spent running errands. I tried to get out and do them before it rained here in Chicago... the weather forecast said that it was going to thunderstorm all day. Did it? Ah... no. It actually only rained for about half-an-hour pretty late at night. But I'm getting ahead of my day. I started my errands running the library to return my Sherlock Holmes book. It pained me to do so, because I have visions of reading Sherlock Holmes on the England trip... a la smut in the US.
I then went to Dominicks to get Bohne's folks a little candy as a thank you. You know, for driving us to the airport and picking us up (I hope). Plus they're keeping my car for FREE in their drive-way... saving me mucho money on parking. So, yeah, a $20 box of candy isn't asking too much of myself, I don't think.
Right... anyway, I went to Second City after the grocery store and, on my way, I was stopped by a huge line outside of Zanies. Fortunately for myself (and my curiosity), I knew someone in the line. Sal, who I was in a show with, was one of the people standing in the line... so I asked him what was up. There was someone from NBC? looking for amateur stand-up comedians... and they were going to give everyone 3 minutes to make them laugh and show them what they can do. So Sal introduced me to someone who had just been on the Green Co (one of SCs touring companies), and I wished them both luck. If I had had the time to stay in line for a few hours... I may have auditioned for the hell of it. But the call-backs, surprise!, are while I'm gone... so that wouldn't have worked for me either. I was on my way to SC to get my SPP DVDs. A husband of one of the performers in the show made a DVD of the fourth show of SPP... which just so happens to be the show my folks and Jim came to see. So I spent some time Monday afternoon checking out the show and being fairly indifferent towards my own performance. It's still too new for me to hate myself yet, I think.
Before I saw the DVD, however, I made one last stop at Barnes And Noble. I purchased the same Sherlock Holmes book I painfully returned to the library earlier in the day. I also got "Truth In Comedy" a book by Charna Halpern and Del Close which is the basis for everything that they do up at Improv Olympic. Keith had Charna as one of his teachers so he's got his copy of the book signed. I, however, am still not ready to make the jump from SC to IO just yet. I'm young... and I've still got plenty of time to study up there (buy that?).
Speaking of SC, I just want to take this opportunity to discuss with you my Conservatory Level 2 Audition worries. I'm worried about my Level 2 Audition. Done.
Tuesday was also a day of errands. I started simply by going downstairs to see what could be done about the mail I'm about to have piling up whilst I'm gone. The building, of course, has nothing they can do about piling up mail... and I can't stop it in the building (I would have to stop it at the post office). I decided to ask Adam if he wouldn't mind checking it for me. He said he wouldn't... and I had to go to the South Loop to drop my keys off. It had been a long time since the last time I hung out down there... and Owen and Chip both seemed happy to see me. In all honesty, once I got there, I didn't want to leave. Particularly because the rest of my errands Tuesday were kind of crappy.
After I pried myself away from my friends and the world's largest free TV, I headed North to TJ Maxx. It had been pointed out to me very recently by the world's most attractive natural red-head that my belt is brown. This didn't pose a problem with my old shoes (also brown)... but the new shoes I own are far more black. I had forgotten to anal retentively take notice of my fashion faux pas until this past week. The quick and easy remedy is a new black belt... which is actually pretty kick ass looking.
After leaving the Maxx, I headed to a little luggage place called That's Our Bag. In light of recent travel advice, I wanted to get one of those backpacks that slings over one's shoulder (as, apparently, people like to steal stuff out of backpacks which are on one's back). I also wanted to get a power converter for my camera. The former proved to be the easier part of that plan, as I easily found a very cute little Swiss bag made by the same fine folks who brought you Swiss Army Knives (it's true). The latter, however, not to easy. They had converters and power adapters and plug adapters and the snozberries tasted like snozberries. I asked the men behind the desk what I would need for a camera and got a very complicated response basically boiling down to "You need to know more about your camera before I can answer your question." So that was a kick into my nuts. But I quickly eased the pain with some delicious Chipotle. Mmm... over-priced goodness.
Speaking of over-priced, I've been toying with getting new shoes for a while and after eating I headed to Kenneth Cole. I love their shoes... they're so comfortable. I wish I could say the same about their store. I did NOT feel comfortable surrounded by the judging yuppies (which, by the way, would make an awesome name for a band). So I left Kenneth Cole shoeless... and then went back in and got the shoes I was wearing when I entered the first time. I don't know why I left them. But then I went to Ralph Lauren... because I'm an idiot. I liked the vibe there better because I went up to a cute young lady behind a desk and said "What's on the second... oh!" when I noticed a big phuk-off sign right next to her telling me what was on each floor. She smiled and laughed... yes, I liked it there. But I didn't like the thought of spending $325 on a pair of shoes... so I left there too. I'll just go with the same ol' shoes I've been wearing since high school... and, maybe when I get a job, I'll go back and hit on, I mean buy those shoes.
After unsuccessfully shopping for shoes, I came back to my apartment and called Canon to ask them about a converter. They said my camera was already "travel ready worldwide" and that all I would need was an adapter plug. That was awesome news to me... as I had been toying with not bringing my camera at all. I was then actually so tired from all my walking that I needed a nap before I could go back out and finish my errands. I don't remember dreaming, but I do remember waking up after only a half an hour thinking I had been asleep for hours. Meaning I was in a VERY deep sleep... which is good for me. I then headed back to TOB for round 2. This time was much easier as I knew exactly what I wanted/needed and right where it was. Uneventful. So why am I mentioning it? I don't know. But the rest of the night was spent doing miscellaneous chores to try to get further ready for the trip. TOO MUCH TO DO! So much so, in fact, that I need to get going. And now, my final thought...

Well, kids, all that loot plus this last little tidbit will have to hold you over for a good long while. I hope it does. The last little bit? A few of my fellow trip-takers are keeping a blog of the trip for Albion's website. The Albion blog of the England trip is here. I expect it to be a very tame version of what's actually happening... but, if the gods are good, perhaps they'll let me post something. As I am obviously an expert blogger. And very modest to boot. Take care everyone... and I'll be sure to try to get a hold of you all in one way or another when I get back from England. I love you all... Bye for now :)