I just finished watching a fantastic interview with some of the cast and creative people behind the musical, Avenue Q. It was put on as part of a seminar with the American Theatre Wing, the organization who founded the Tony Awards. The interview was an extraordinary look into the process of these two young composer/lyricists Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. I encourage any of you who are interested in Avenue Q or writing a musical or Broadway in general to check it out. It’s an hour and a half long but it offered a ton of inspiring stories and information into the world of writing a show.

Before I start on this blog, I just have to say that Friday I stayed up until 4 in the morning watching the entire season 2 of The Office on DVD. I know I speak for other guys like myself when I say that when Jim stole that kiss from Pam in the season finale episode (Casino Night), I was just about in tears. I think I’m in love with the show and Pam. Honestly, The Office may be my single most favorite television series I’ve ever watched (the English version is just as brilliant). Ok, I just needed you to know that. Just once.So the real story starts last night. After our premiere of Conan two weeks ago, the Gaumont’s have been planning something of an “After Party” where some friends and family drop by, have a drink, and watch the 17 minute short. Then, as Ryan says, the film will be “locked in the Gaumont vaults” forever! That is, he and I are very done with the film. Very done.
We all had a great time the rest of the evening–some of us more than others . Ryan’s brother, Adam, came down from NAU for the holiday weekend. Always good to see him. Ryan contemplates growing a mustache. Someday, Ryan. Someday.Such a good host, he entertains my parents with a funny story.Good ol’ Brian Weeks stopped by later in the night. Ryan and I were very glad to see that he was able to make it. We even had a surprise visit by none other than Mike Decamp, first assistant director on Conan. But that wasn’t the end of the night for Ryan. Nope. He still had plenty of people to hit on–I mean talk to. Well, as far as I’m concerned, unless something short of a miracle happens, I will never blog about Conan: The Musical AGAIN!!!!!!! *confetti*

At least it’s kinda dwindling out of my life. I’m in the process now of authoring the Conan Musical DVDs now–been spending the last few hours designing some cover art. This (above) is more or less what it will end up being. So, aside from the artwork and working out those damn errors in the subtitles, we might finally have a final project worth giving to the cast and, ultimately, sending to NBC. So yeah, it’s almost out of my life! Yay.

You would think that the guy who made Conan - The Musical would love the guy and, perhaps, he once did. But like any project, you come to hate it. Maybe this was our biggest fault. Rather than bathing in the glory of our late night hero, I don’t want to see or (especially) hear any thing that has to do with Conan or musicals for a very long time. But, I don’t want that to stop you from watching it online at:

www.conanmusical.com/watch/

For those of you who don’t know, we featured the short musical film in the Catch All Short Film Festival Sunday night. It was a pretty good time and we had a pretty good turn out for a first time festival. All in all, things went pretty smoothly. There were a few people interested in sponsoring the festival for our next screening sometime in the Spring so things are looking bright. So, if you’re a filmmaker, get those films ready to submit! We’ll actually be advertising this months in advance this time–not just an after thought.

Now that Conan is (in my mind) done and over with (with the exception of authoring a few DVDs and sending them to people and festivals), it’s time to move on. Oh, it’s a beautiful feeling. Moving on. I’m pretty sure that Mike Decamp and I met up last Thanksgiving for our very first draft of the thing. Almost a year in the making for the 17 minute song and dance and, on top of that, it’s been over 5 months since we started principle photography. Like I said, it’s a beautiful feeling to move on. But to what? I’ve been in a few plays/musicals and I always get that same feeling after closing night. I’ve ate, slept, and dreamed Conan since this thing really started going and now it’s finally done (and I still use the term loosely). I’ve said it before but I really think I’m going to only do concert music. I miss writing for band and there’s still a helluva lot more I’ve got to learn about it.

Just on a side note, if I ever tell you I’m going to write a musical about a celebrity again, hit me really hard in the face.

Tonight was a great night! We had our Salsa Competition earlier this evening and wouldn’t you know it? We got called back to the semi-finals and the finals in all four dances (Cha Cha, Merengue, Rhumba, and Salsa). Linh thinks no other couple got called back for all four. And on top of that, we actually placed! We got 2nd place in Rhumba (it’s all in the hips ;-)). So Linh and I were way excited about that. We had made a couple of finals last semester in ballroom but never placed (probably because I couldn’t waltz to save my life). Not to mention, I’m over a foot and some inches taller than Linh and more than twice her body weight. To celebrate, we got dinner and headed off to see a little-known film called Borat. And let me say, Borat is the perfect date movie–it scarred her for life. But seriously, it’s everything everybody says it is. Dzienkuje!