Rochester NY - Week Fourteen

Ah Rochester. How I haven't remotely missed you. I know many of you reading this are from this area, and I think you will agree with me that the theater here, The Aud, is a complete crap hole. Filthy, Musty, Cramped, and Difficult are the words that come immediately to mind. At least this year we aren't doing a show in January, to add sub zero to that list. However, it rained all the dang time I was here, with small bursts of sunshine.
Now before you start thinking "Oh great. Fran's going to complain for another entry (yawn)" I have to eat a little crow. I am not sure what venue I was thinking of when I said to all of you that the crew here blows, but I was waaaaaaaaay off the mark on that one. I am going to blame it on the early onset Alzheimer's I have been having bouts of recently. As soon as I saw this lot of ladies, I remembered how awesome they were. These gals are great. I truly believe they are some of the best in the country. Not only are they good at their jobs, but there isn't a bad attitude to be found. Tons of laughter, everyday, make the short comings of this space just seem non existant. This crew is so used to every show having trouble with the space and reworking all the notes for each track. Opening Night was so smooth considering the fact that at least 4 of the dressers had notes that were basically useless. One must give credit where credit is due. Mike Lipsitz is a rock star. Nothing fell through the cracks. He figured out EVERYTHING! Working in a space like this is challenging. It tests your memory as well as your creative problem solving skills. He was unreal! Not a single cue was missed. That just blows me away.
Jaki has been out this week, and Erica Alderson, who some of you might remember from Hairspray and The Producers Tour, came in to cover her. She has worked her ass off this week, trying to pick up any slack and figure out the laundry, as well as, deal with issues on stage right that she has no clue about. Hats off to her as well.
So work wise the week was pretty good. Everyone on the Spam crew was helpful and cool during load in, which was a huge change from the last few. I mean, no one is ever mean to me, but they have been just evil to Mike. So much so that, it is the main reason he is leaving. It just pisses me off. He is so damn good at his job. He has been doing this crap for years and the people on this tour that have been torturing him are just substandard at best at their own jobs. It makes me ill.
Aaaanyway.

I don't want to talk about work any more.


The week was made fantabulous by the fact that I got to spend it with Kricka!! As I have said in the past, for me, there is just nothing more calming than having my people around me. I was reticent to stay at her family's house. I had this image of me waking up every day - "Morning Mr Kissack, Morning Mrs. Kissack. I am just gonna grab my bookbag and head off to school." Might as well be wearing ponytails and draw my freckles in darker.
However, if I had stayed in a hotel, the family Kissack would have never seen their daughter, so I acquiesced. It was a good thing. My room at the house was so great. AND my bed was a Temperpedic mattress. I have never slept on one before and I gotta tell you, they totally KICK ASS and the next time I buy a mattress I am getting one. I fell asleep so quickly. Usually I am a complete thrashing violent dervish while I sleep. The whole week it was as if someone had konked me on the head, and I woke up in the same position I feel asleep in every night. Kricka and I even did the wine test. As you can see from the picture, the ads are TRUE! Kricka's parents house is beautiful and warm. Her parents themselves are just groovy. Sharon is an artist and the entire house is full of her work. The house itself is her design. Barry is a hot shot eye doctor who used to work for Bauch and Lomb researching contact lenses. He gave me the most thorough eye exam ever, was appalled at how off my perscription was, hooked me up with some groovy new frames, is gonna put new lenses in my cool old ones, and fitted me for contacts. My experience with contacts has been varied and extensive, and these are the best I have ever ever worn. Barry Kissack ROCKS!

The week with Kricka was so wonderful. Wednesday after the SAT eye exam her dad gave me, we were supposed to go to a baseball game, but much like Hartford, it has done nothing but rain here the whole time...so no game. Instead, we went out to lunch, shopped at Wegman's (which is extremely famous out here.) and got our eyebrows waxed. So no baseball, but my eyebrows are FABULOUS! Wednesday night we hung out at Cosmo's, which is the local towny bar. Ericka walks in the place and this woman, completely loaded out of her gourd, throws herself at Kricka, squealing and freaking out. That was pretty funny. Once the drunk lady took off, probably to drive home, we just settled in and started chatting. That's the thing about Kricka. I have known her for so long, but we have yet to run out of things to talk about. I love that. We also monopolized the Megatouch video game. Those of you in cyberland who have toured with me before, know how much I just LOVE the Megatouch Music trivia game. I have left the name GirlFran across this grand country of ours dominating the top spot in various cities. However, I believe I have reached the pinnacle of the music Megatouch scoring system. 54 million points. I think the highest I have ever had before was 16 million. Kricka and I were whooping and cheering...you would have thought I had won the lottery or something. I knew none of you would believe me, so there is the proof right there.
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO. I wonder if this means I have to retire my Megatouch Music Trivia tournament with myself that I have had since I was 23? meh. I will never top 54 million. I suppose I should retire.

Thursday Kricka and I hung out in her house and then went to dinner at Dinasour BBQ. It's a famous restaurant out here. It was really good, but BBQ just doesn't sit so well with me. This of course, doesn't keep me from eating it. I just have to deal with it a little longer than other people might have to. I went off to work and Kricka watched our skit. She thought it was hilarious, so there's that. That night we met up with Don and hit some of the bars on Monroe St. Don is hardcore, and invented some shot called a Sunday Morning. I don't know what is in this thing, but it is yum yum yummy. Too yummy. You don't realize the damage you are doing until it is too late. There was a ton of laughter and we had just the best time. Don rolled out the red carpet for us and fixed up his spare room and we crashed there for the evening. When we woke up, we had to boogie home cuz Dr Kissack wanted to check out my eyes some more and take pictures of my retinas. That was wicked cool. We got back home and caught up on the TV shows we both like to watch together at home. The simplest things are the the best sometimes. Just sittin' around with a good friend watching tv might sound boring to some, I guess.

Friday Night we went back to Cosmo's and I got to finally meet Kricka's BFF, Deanna. I have been hearing so much about her for the last 6 years. She was somewhat of an enigma. She said the same of me. Actually she said I was this mystery person and before I got there she told Kricka she might miss the mysterious element of it all. She was cool. Smart, gorgeous, and obviously just loves our girl, so she's ok in my book. It was nice to meet a best friend of a best friend and have them be as positive about meeting me as I was of them. After meeting Yenni's best friend, I was a little gun shy. (No offense, Jenn...I think you would agree about that meeting. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.)

I haven't done anything crazy exciting in Rochester ( is there anything crazy exciting to do here?) but what a great week it was, once we got past opening night. I slept in the most comfortable bed known to man, in one of the nicest houses, with some groovy parents one of my dearest people. Kricka just flat out rocks. No two ways bout that, people. I always get sad when I have to say goodbye to her. Sometimes I feel like a spoiled brat who just wants to stamp their feet and pitch a fit about it. I will always try to get her to stay longer. One time I tried to make her hang out longer in Minneapolis and she said no, but then her plane got snowed in. I tried to be all "Ohhhh man that just stinks. I am so sorry." but I giggled and laughed and clapped my hands when she knocked on the door. Unfortunately it's not snowing, so no chance of that happening again.
Balls.

Bye Rochester. You didn't suck nearly as much as I thought you were going to.

Bye bye kricka. love you big.






Extra Pics:

When I first arrived, Kricka picked me up and instead of going to get my rental car right away, we went over to her friend Don's house and woke him up. Don, being the ever groovy host, pulled out the lawn chairs and we sat in his driveway drinking coffee and chit chatting for an hour. Don cracks me up. I met him when he came to visit in NYC.





This was Dinasaur BBQ. Just looking at this picture makes me stomach ache. Hurl.





Oh this is funny. We only had a minute to eat during load in, and Mike decided we should go to KFC.(ewwwwww) This is my first experience at a bulletproof KFC. They wanted nothing to do with their clientele. I laughed my head off.





Don serenading us with one of my favorite Don originals "Huevos"





OK C'moooooooooon. You HAFTA love these ladies. This is part of my crew. Look at them laughing and having a ball. That is what they were like all week. They had this tailgate party, called it the Car Bar. LOL. Now before you get all judgemental and crazy. They weren't knocking back shots and driving home. They had a glass of wine, enjoyed each other's company, and just yukked it up. I think they are just riotous.






Kricka at her high school locker. On one of the days our plans were destroyed by rain, we walked around her old stomping ground.





On Friday the Methodists were advertising a SUPER SALE. So we checked it out. I dunno bout the super part but it certainly was a sale. Kricka is right there at the counter purchasing 2 shirts. Lord knows where they have been. (giggles...get it...Lord knows....Methodists. oh nevermind.)





This is Nigel. He is one of our male swings. He originally was wearing jeans, and I was explaining to him that he legs would still be all ghostly white. His solution was to go inside and grab a pair of Frenchie ruffle bloomers that he wears during the show. I know you guys might not get it, but trust me, this picture is HILARIOUS.