We haven't talked since John Hughes' death. It was a huge blow to me. Okay, not really; he made his mark over two decades ago and, like, Michael Jackson, probably nothing he would create currently would affect me as much as that stuff. So... let's move on with it, eh?
The recap of the past 8 months:
- I was in "The Skin Of Our Teeth" with Girl Friday Productions in July 2009. Here's a picture of a scene (I'm the Dinosaur! ROWR!) by Richard Fleischman
- Then I was in the play "Sideways Stories From Wayside School," adapted by John Olive from the novels by Louis Sachar. The show was produced by Four Humors Theater, one of my very favorite companies here in the Twin Cities. I played Mrs. Jewls and I was super honored to do this show, which happened to break the record for single-night ticket sales in the Minnesota Fringe Festival. DEEEEAAAAAOOOOMMMMN. Here's a photo (by me) of our wonderful "kids" from tech rehearsal:
- At the same time during the Fringe, I was in the Rockstar Storytellers' show "Axed!" which was a great experience because I got to work more-closely-than-usual with my fellow storytellers Dave Mondy and Rik Reppe. We even got the encore slot for our venue, our homebase Bryant Lake Bowl, meaning we sold the most tickets of any show in our venue. I also received some not-very-favorable reviews for my performance in this show (I swear it was the one performance where I was unusually exhausted to which all the reviewers attended), but it was quite the learning experience: rest up for shows, yo! People can tell! The Rockstars also did a new thing this year, where we set up a deal for our fans: Collect all our trading cards (!) during the Fringe & you get a 2-for-1 pass for the entire 3rd season (Sept - July)! Here's the cards:
- My co-worker got a motorcycle and I rode it!
- Tori Amos, my very favorite musical artist, came to town on my birthday!! It was a good show.
- My friends Steve & Angie got married! Well, they had a reception as they got married IN SECRET a couple months earlier.
- I went to see President Obama talk about Health Care Reform at the Target Center!
and ran into my buddy Nick, of the aforementioned Four Humors Theater, being his usual witty self:
- I introduced the world to the first incarnation of my band, Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls at Bedlam Theatre:
We recorded our first demo in St. Joseph:
And made a video on Marne's parents' farm (NSFW, if you don't already know).
- I saw Ani Difranco in concert for the first time in a decade!
Here's a random awesome picture:
- I went back to New York City for a week for my good friends Adam & Nell's wedding (Reidstock!). I stayed with my old one-month roomie, Isobel (I was her first roommate in NYC):
Isobel's boyfriend is a really good friend of the Beastie Boys and though I didn't meet them, I did attend the softball game at which Ad-Rock was the coach and Mike Myers played center field.
I reunited with some of my very favorite people:
Oh, man, there's so many pictures... but one last one from that week (duh!)
No wait, not that one... this one:
- And another wedding! My friends Trixi and Jonny tied the knot on Halloween with a James Bond themed ceremony... Bunny officiated!
- I performed again with Four Humors in the show "Love Is Blind And Furry" - here's a really cool video from 3-Minute Egg:
- Then I did "A Christmas Carol: The Golden Girls Remix" with Theatre Arlo:
Photo by Craig VanDerSchaegen
I had a blast with both shows!
- Me & The Dirty Curls did our first hour-long show at the Theatre Garage:
- I went to California for Christmas with Marne!
I got to hang out with my younger brother, just he and I, for the first time in like 14 years:
My besties from high school, Nicole & Stacey:
I got to the ocean for the first time in I don't know how long:
My brother & sister-in-law came to see Marne and I perform at the Cinema Bar in LA:
Marne & I stayed at Deebs' house after our show and molested her Oscar:
The McLean fam (with whom Marne had to deal for about 4 days) and some weird orbs (Grandma?):
Then, once 2010 rolled around, I decided that I wasn't going to do theatre for a while. 2009 was a blessed year for being in a virtually non-stop run of shows, but the theatre rehearsal schedule is too much for me: 5 or 6 days a week of 3-4 hour rehearsal? That's too much when it's for something that's not mine. Hence, I'm currently committed almost full-time to CMC & The Dirty Curls:
Photo by Craig VanDerSchaegen
We released our EP "Cowgirl the Fuck Up!" this past Saturday to a packed house at the Beat Coffeehouse. What an evening. Go to 3-Minute Egg again and scroll down a tad to catch our profile video on there. It's got some clips from the party.
Okay, so I really breezed over this past year and I hope I didn't miss too much. Now we start from now, m'kay?
I missed you. You had a pretty interesting 8 months....so inspiring!
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