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taz_39**DISCLAIMER** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer.
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This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
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MONDAY
Fitful sleep because I was excited for a travel day :)
Also, right before bed DPAC posted this clip of our last show finale. You can hear the orchestra!!
When I got to see our show in Chicago, my biggest disappointment was that you could not hear us at all over the KeyComp software. It seems that has been rectified in this city. This clip is the first time that I am able to hear myself, on bass trombone, in the house. I listened to it several times. This may be hard to understand, but sitting in a pit with in-ear monitors, surrounded by plexiglass and fluffy sound absorbers, things sound different than they do coming through the mic and out into the house. That is why this clip was surprising and exciting :)
Anyway, up early for coffee and breakfast. The bus call was 10am, we left at 10:30am. An easy 5-hour drive to North Charleston with a stop at a Buc-ee's halfway there.
They told us we only had 15 minutes to pee and get out, and I thought that would be impossible (it's BUC-EE'S!) We did all get back within 30 minutes, which is pretty impressive.
At the hotel, the usual drop-and-shop. I went to Earth Fare first because it's rare to come across one and they always have interesting things to try. Picked up just three items there and then walked to a Whole Paycheck about a mile and a half away. The walk was on a greenbelt, and it was incredibly pleasant with cicadas singing and the smell of late honeysuckle and the soft sound of slow-running water.
Got my Whole Paycheck goodies and came back to the hotel. I've avoided buying bread, nuts/nut butter, or fruit because I suspect these things will be available for pilfering at free breakfast tomorrow. Here are my grocery foodie finds from this trip:
- 18 Chestnuts Carrot Ginger Dill soup: 10/10 Very good indeed! Warm and gentle spice from the ginger, and the fennel and dill were so herbal and lovely. Smooth sweet texture from the carrots, apple, and sweet potato. I loved this very much. There is erythritol in it but it must not be very much, it didn't bother my guts, I will pick this up again if I see it. They had several other flavors that sounded excellent too.
- Wowza Buttery Pancakes Rice Crisps: 5/10 Aaaah you guys I fell for it. The words "buttery pancakes" made me drool, and I forgot that this is a health food. They aren't BAD...the texture is better than that of a rice cake, more satisfyingly crispy. But boy are they are bland. Tastes like someone might have waved these over a bottle of maple syrup and a few molecules of flavor happened to attach themselves to the snack. Appreciate getting to try these but no reason to buy them again.
- Freshe Barcelona Escalivada: I've had Freshe tinned fish before but usually stick to the Caponata flavor as it's lowest in fat. This is salmon with eggplant, peppers, onions, misc spices, and quinoa. I'll probably get to trying this later in the week.
- Corpse Reviver Botanical: An all-natural electrolyte beverage, low in calories. Flavors are listed as cardamom, anise, pomegranate, lemon, green tea, and an electrolyte blend. Another one I'll get to later in the week.
Unpacked and got settled in, ate dinner, and had chill night.
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TUESDAY
Up around 8am and scrounged the hotel breakfast. I was able to get some single-serving nut butters, but the fruit selection was poor (brown bananas, green apples) and carbs as well (very dry English muffins and no bagels.) That's ok, it gave me an excuse to walk to Ruby's NY-Style Bagels just a few minutes away and pick up a Cranberry Orange, Cinnamon Crunch, and Egg :)
Packed a meal and snacks to bring to the theater. The theater is just a few blocks from the hotel so I could walk back to eat dinner, but on opening night I like to stay, explore...and now, get into my trunk! The backstage here is very small so the band does not even have a dressing room; we'll have to make do with the pit. Thankfully it's a large spacious pit so we will be fine. Our trunks will live in the truck, though, and we'll have to ask a member of crew to open it for us if we need to get in there.
Anyway, how about a sneak peek. Here is the pit! The WHOLE pit starting from the drum booth, then walking through the whole thing so you can see where all the instruments sit. The conductor is on the riser in the middle (I kind of brush over it quickly.)
Audio is removed because Sound was playing Purple Rain and YouTube flagged it as a copyright infringement!
Sound check went normally. This pit and hall sound good, and are not as big of an adjustment as we had to undergo in Durham's narrow pit.
When we were done I explored and was able to find the My Fair Lady wall tag.
I was just here in February last year. That is strange to think about.
You know what else is weird?
I referenced a Beauty and the Beast clip in the blog post from this visit with My Fair Lady. (CLICK HERE to see that if you like.)
I know I say it like every five minutes in this blog, but LIFE IS CRAZY.
Ate my packed dinner and wandered to look at other wall tags.
I found the "Chip kids" dressing room, and this sign was on the door:
They are young children and still have to go to school while on tour! If this sign is on the door, they're having their lessons or homework time. How cute!
Our opening night show went well, good audience. We had an understudy for Mrs. Potts, and though you could tell she was a bit nervous, she did an excellent job. Tomorrow there are no rehearsals scheduled so for once everyone gets the afternoon free before the evening show!
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Wednesday: One evening show. I just found out that the restaurant next door has banana pudding sweet corn ICE CREAM so I might have to get that. And then I might have to walk it off. And I'm definitely practicing at the theater.
Thursday: One evening show, and a Foodie Find across town at King BBQ.
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