Tom Lorenz

Okay, I know that this only a vanity site and I shouldn't take it so seriously. After all, There's not much about me that I do take seriously in the first place. Music? Yeah, I guess. Acting? Yup.

My own vanity sites? Yeah, I'm afraid so.

The shrewd observer will look at the previous line and puzzle as to its plurality. Yes, I do have more than one vanity site. This one is public as all get-out. The other one is safely tucked away behind Comcast's fortified walls, away from the prying eyes of crawlers and indexers and anybody else who doesn't have my exact URL. But that's actually kinda cool, because I can use that site for my more personal stuff, and this one for my more professional (snicker snicker) stuff.

I'm now realizing that you probably neither needed nor wanted to know all that. Bummer.

What I'm getting at is that I'm currently dividing my web design attention among no fewer than four projects simultaneously, one of them being the site upon which your eyeballs currently rest. I have been back and forth and back again on its design, and I have finally come up with an idea that works.

The hitch is that I am now a born again CSS user, so I'm filled with all the resulting fervor about separating structure from layout and all that. What that translates to is me pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to make things work with a language I barely know. Imagine traveling abroad and trying to talk philosophy with people, armed with only an English/Whateverthefuck dictionary. It ain't easy, sister.

But I feel that I'm getting close. What especially maddening, however, is that pages look extraordinariyl different when viewed with different browsers. I can get everything to look good in IE, then go to Mozilla and it looks like shit. Then Safari, where it looks somewhere between the two extremes. Aaaaaargh!

But I'm getting there. The beauty of toil like this is that the skills and knowledge I gain can later be used on other projects, so once i wrestle my own site into submission, I can then wreak havoc on my other projects.

I am now the proud owner of a mighty Apple Workgroup Server 9650/350. I do mean Mighty, too: this bastard weighs 45 pounds! Not a very dainty machine, to be sure.

Unfortunately, the first thing I noticed when I opened the box is that it came from a smoky environment. It wasn't a strong smell, but it certainly was immediately noticeable. Worse still, it had been used in a smoky environment, because when I brought it up to my studio and fired it up, it quickly filled the room with a faint, smoky funk. Not too bad, but unpleasant none the less.

I'm now in the long, tedious process of loading it up with everything I had on the old PowerCenter Pro. I spent much of the weekend doing that, and I'm sure I'll spend much of this coming weekend doing the same, but once it's done, it's done.

Now all I need is some cheap backup software so I can actually use the tape drive that came with it.

A few weeks ago I got an email from my buddy Don about Steve Hackett making an in-store appearance at Borders books at Broad & Chestnut in Philly. That being a five minute walk from my office, I decided to go.

I got there around 12:10 and was totally surprised to see Pam Mackrancy, the music director of and keyboard player for The Rocky Horror Show. It was surprising not just because she lives in north Jersey, but also because I didn't think she was a Genesis or Steve Hackett fan. Then she pointed out her boyfriend to me and it clicked. One night before Rocky I was tuning up on stage and he was there at her keyboard, playing the intro to "Watcher of the skies". I jumped in at the appropriate spot and we knew that we were both Genesis fans. Then I started playing "Firth of fifth" and he jumped in at the appropriate spot. It was pretty cool.

So that explained that.

Steve Hackett came out right on time at 12:30, did some introductory chatter, and got right into playing, armed only with a pair of classical guitars. There's something inspiring about seeing someone perform who is so technically facile. The ease with which he played was just marvelous to watch.

He's a very interesting player. While in Genesis his weapon of choice was an old Les Paul cranked through some Marshall amps - a mighty sound, to be sure. In his solo years, he quickly transformed into an acoustic player, favoring the nylon string sound of the classical guitar. However, his technique is far from traditional. I'll spare you the niggling details, but if you'd see him play, you'd never mistake him for a trained classical player. Even so, if you only heard him, you'd never know the difference. Once again, he was inspiring to watch.

I couldn't identify a whole lot of what he played, I'm afraid. I'm just not a big enough fan of his solo material, I suppose. I recognized "Horizons" and "Blood on the rooftops" and some bits from "The lamb lies down on Broadway", but that was about it.

The last piece he played was in dropped-D tuning, and he explained that it's something he's working on with an orchestra and hopes to release soon. It was a really nice piece of music. That tuning suits classical guitar quite well.

After his half hour set he began to sign autographs, and that's when I beat a hasty retreat. Autograph sessions I find to be awfully depressing. I always feel like the artist has given me enough, so why would I ask for more? It would have been nice to meet him and thank him personally, but not like that.

I hooked up with Don on the way out and the two of us went to Reading Terminal Market for lunch. We went to Rick's Steaks, where I had a veggie sandwich: mushrooms, onions, sweet peppers and provolone on a steak roll. Not bad.

So that was my two hour lunch break. Considering the time I put in at the conference for the last three days, it was the least I could do, quite frankly.

The Ritz Theater Company is mounting a production of The Music Man this fall and I decided to audition. Seems kinda obvious, but what the heck.

Since I have already played Harold Hill, I thought that if I'm going to devote a chunk of time to a show, I'd like to get a different experience out of it, so I went for the role of anvil salesman and antagonist Charlie Cowell. What appeals to me about the role is that I believe there to be a lot of untapped comedy in it. The actor in the 1962 film played him like a big blowhard, while the 2003 version was played a bit more for laughs. That really appealed to me, but I feel that there are more laughs waiting to be tapped - and I'd like a crack at them.

8:45 was my audition time and I got there at 8:25. I promptly got a form to fill out, filled it out, handed it back and began my wait. The first face I recognized was that of Jason Mangano, with whom I did Titanic a couple of years ago. He also attended a performance of Music Man at the Scottish Rite, plus The Rocky Horror Show at Triple Threat. The other friendly faces I saw were David Mooney's and Kim Adler's, both of whom I know from Titanic. I mentioned to Kim that Cristin (Charlton, from Music Man) had nothing but great things to say about Kim, based upon their mutual appearance in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1994. Kim shot right back with recognition that she had heard that Cristin did a great job in Music Man, and that she's a great "kid", as she put it. Of course, Kim knew Cristin when the latter was but 14 years old, so I can understand the juvenile appellation.

At about 9:05 I was called into the auditorium, shown to my seat, and asked to wait until the next guy was done. I did all of the above, then handed my music to the accompanist, hopped up on stage and did my thing. I decided to sing "Gary, Indiana" tonight. In hindsight, I should have gone with "Trouble" because I know it and like it so well. Plus, the cat before me did it and hacked it to bits. It was awful.

But I stuck with my song, did it, thanked the director and left. It was quite the assembly line operation, really. Quick & dirty, but effective. What struck me as odd was that everybody - regardless of role - was expected to sing. Charlie Cowell is a completely non-singing role, but my audition was a song. No monologue, no nothing but that song. Odd.

So I did my song, packed my bag, and left. Callbacks are next Sunday, and the cast list will be posted by the 23rd. My fingers are crossed, but if I don't get it, I won't be too sad. There's enough going on in the fall without my adding to it. Still, I'd love to play Charlie Cowell!

Oh yeah - I did see a few people there from the Colls production: Bobby Rodriguez (teen dancer), Ron Eichman (bass from the quartet) and Gerry Hogan (tenor, I believe, from the quartet). Rumor has it that Natasha Gibson (pick-a-little lady) was going to audition, but I didn't see here there.

Here's something I just thought of: it has been exactly two and a half years (well, tomorrow, actually) since my first audition, which was for Barefoot in the Park. It's amazing how much confidence I gained from doing Music Man. Two and a half years ago my heart was in my throat and I was seriously contemplating leaving before going on. Tonight I was cool as the proverbial cucumber. Yeah, I had a few butterflies, but that's it.

Come to think ot if, I was a big ball of nerves at the Music Man audition, too. Interesting.

Here's the email I got tonight:

From: "Art McKenzie"
Subject: Callbacks for The Music Man 
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 18:43:24 -0400 

Hi Folks,

Thank you for auditioning for The Music Man. Sunday night
was pretty much a zoo. We’ve never had MORE than the number
signed up show up before. We auditioned 115 people in 5 ?
hours!

Callbacks on Sunday 8/17. If I gave you music, please bring
it with you. If not, we’ll learn something short together.

Here is the schedule for Sunday night:

6pm – new auditions

6:30-7:30 – dance auditions for teens and kids

7:30-8:30 – reading and singing for roles (Harold
possibilities are needed as well)

8:30 - reading and singing for Harold and Marian

If you’re getting this email I’m expecting you at 7:30 based
on your audition form information. You might also be
considered for Harold or Marian, in which case you’ll
already be there!

Please RETURN this EMAIL so I can be sure you got it. Those
I don’t hear from, I’ll call.

Thanks, and I’ll see you then.

Art 

I guess I did something right after all!

I was supposed to hear by last night whether I got the part in Music Man or not. The silence of my cell phone stands as strong evidence of my not having gotten the part. Bummer.

On the other hand, Fall and Spring are always crazy seasons for us with the kids, so keeping my schedule open is a good thing. Still, I would have loved to be in this production. Oh well. I'll probably go see it anyway.