Beer + Good Friends + Good Times = The Bing

This past weekend I went back to my Alma Mater, UW-Madison, to see the last football game of the season. We finished off the season in truly epic fashion, beating the somewhat arbitrary team of Buffalo 35-3 to finish off the year 11-1. Exciting as the win was, this weekend represented something else to me and a special group of people. It was bigger than the game, it was the end of an era.
There is a house located just off of Park street on Dayton that needs no address. It is simply called The Bing. For those that are not a part of this landmark, it is just a house. Just a small house compared to the large apartments and dorms that have sprung up around it over the years. It is rickety, two stories, green and white, and for me and my friends it is the best home we could ask for. Some years ago four gentlemen lived in this house. They had an idea of creating a place for good music, Badger love, sports fanatics, and celebration like no other. The upstairs contained a room too small to be a bedroom, built in a high traffic area between the hallway and the second floor bathroom. This was the birthplace of what was to be The Bing. A makeshift bar was built, complete with a bell rung each time a shot was taken. It was a loud cheers to those that graced The Bing's doorstep.
Over the next three or so years this house was the sight of weekly Badger football parties in the fall, Halloween, St. Patties Day green beer and exuberant Celtic music, and countless theme parties and events. It was a house of friends, dancing in the streets, loud music, movies, drinks, good food, and some of the best times of my life.
At the center of all of this was a love for our school. This weekend marked the last game of the season and the last Bing Game Day for all of us. At the end of this year no one in the Bing family will reside at Dayton and Park. For one last time we raised our voices to Sweet Caroline and Ring of Fire. We danced our hearts out to Jump On It and the Chicken Dance. Those of us who were lucky enough to have tickets to the game Jump(ed) Around one last time with 35,000 of our fellow Badgers. We raised our Bucky Shots in triumph to all of the good times. We toasted The Godfather, Ry, Gino, Joey, Buns, Rory. And I was honored with a picture framed and hung on the wall of fame. My picture includes the following words:
"Live the Bing. Love the Bing. - The Dizz"
Although I was never a resident of the house, I spent much of my time in its rooms. I will never forget all of the great times I had in that house. The friends I made will last a lifetime. I am so honored and grateful to be a part of the Bing family.
I have often reflected on my choice to come to UW-Madison and now, more than ever, I am convinced that I couldn't have made a better decision. I will always be a Badger and The Bing will always be a home for me.

The DIZZ

I Might Start Temp-ing

I'm trying to figure out why the Cake sucks so much. I mean, just bitching about stupid things can only go so far in explaining bad days at work. Yes, I bartend in a restaurant where, due to my days-only availabilty, I might not make consistently good money. That is my fault, not the Cake's.
But there is daily shit that is not right with it that I can't explain. They hire people with awful attitudes. I hear rumors that other locations have staffs that are like a family. I don't need a family but I would take some mutual respect. They hire managers, spend months and months training them, and they can't smoothly run a restaurant day to day. This should include handling problems with the building, caring for their staff (slightly) more than anyone else, and overall keeping the peace and cool under pressure.
Bottom line, a place of business should not make their staff dread coming to work. Corporate or not, the staff makes the money for the business and should not be treated like shit.
Friends, help me find a new job.

bye bye,

nate

Three Things As Of Late

So here's the scoop mah babies..... (kinda short and sweet cause I noticed I haven't updated in over a month)

I still hate my job but I am making more money as solely a bartender. A bartender at the cheesecake is code for blender whore but I am making rent for the time being.
Moby Dick: Rehearsed opens tomorrow and runs Saturday and Sunday throughout July. It should be a good show with many a shakespearean turn of phrase, and a revel or two. Come on out to Lisle, IL to the Morton Arboreteum which might just be the middle of nowhere, but there are trees.
My birthday is Monday. I think I'll rent a car and have a quarter life crisis.

More to come,

nate

Grrrrr...Just Grrrrr

I haven't blogged for a while which could be a result of everything pretty much sucking right now.
Well not everything, the new pad is pretty decent. Nikki and I painted and we can see the lake from our living room. That gets the positive stuff out of the way, on to the sucking (that sounds vaguely porn-like), the good stuff, the rant.
It's pretty humbling when you realize that you can't find anything good in where you work. I think as a result of the past two weeks I officially hate the Cake.
The managers sorta suck and then they turn around a do a nice little thing which makes you feel bad for thinking they suck, which sucks.
I am getting quite disillusioned with the human race when they are in customer form. It appears as if everyone is becoming whinny, demanding, crabby, and cheap. Maybe when people go out to dinner as a group they should all make it a point to listen (to me and each other) so I don't have to repeat the answer to the same question four times, know where they are going to eat so they bring enough money (maybe then I won't get the question "How much is the soup?" or "I'll get the lemonade but, are there free refills?, cause otherwise I'll just get water."), and/or choose their dining establishment according to their lifestyle... i.e. if you are a vegetarian, have fussy kids, have crazy food allergies, or aren't that hungry don't even think about the cake.
The money is not worth the time. Putting in forty hours a week in a corporation that nets a billion dollars in a fiscal year should not result in a server (me) coming home on any given day with 15 dollars in his or her pocket.
If the yearly weather report for the city of Chicago indicates that the month of May has a frequent pattern of rain, wind, and cool (sometimes cold) temperature, do not set up an outdoor area for people to eat. It is not cost effective when it is shut down 20 out of 31 days of the month with the labor costs and its just mean to taunt customers in winter coats with the possibility of enjoying their tamale cakes under the Chicago skies.
The end of May and a small film by some former UT kids allowed me to spend some time in Madison. I have heard the "grass is always greener" expression and found it to be true a lot of the time but I think it can happen multiple times with the same thing. I was excited to leave Milwaukee for college in Madison but desired to get back to Milwaukee around Christmas time only to yearn to be back to Madison shortly there after. I felt that I had gotten everything out of the city between the lakes and headed to the exciting new city of Chicago but every chance I get I want to be back to Madtown.
I think I am crazy, restless, and confused at the moment.
I have no thoughts.

nate

Choice Of Two

I chose Moby Dick. It's a play within a play, a la Six Characters In Search of an Author, but not as f-ed up.
We don't start until the end of May.
More to come when I get my hands on the play.

Bye bye

nate

Outdoor Theatre Likes Me

This week was the week of impromptu auditions. Bambi is still rolling but I was thinking ahead to the summer. So Monday...
While the cast of Bambi was rehearsing downstairs, the musical Heidi was having callbacks. I thought, what the hell, let's audition for something just to practice auditioning. I popped in and read a small scene for the character of Eric. We read the same scene 3 or 4 times so the director could see different actors for the leads. As I was about to leave, the director (who could be described as kooky) asked me to read with one of the potential Heidis. I said....sure, why not. The end of the scene called for a solo song by Eric. I thought, we don't have a piano, I don't know the song, we'll stop the scene right before the song. But she said, try the song, speak sing, see what I can do with it. I said....sure, why not. I played with it, through some notes into the words. I have no idea what the song should sound like. Then I was about to leave but she asked if I would stay in the room while the little girl had her vocal audition. I said no problem. By the way, the little girl (who was about 9) was awesome, ridiculous pipes. Then the director said, Nate, do you have a song to sing? I said....uh....sure, why not. I sang a couple lines of a ballad I used in the past. She asked me for something up-tempo. I said....uh....um....sure, why not. My mind raced in unpreparedness for something up-tempo, without bad language (because of the nine year old in the room), and that I could remember. And my mind was a blank. The director asked what I'd been in and we picked a couple numbers from Charlie Brown. I haven't sang those songs in a couple years. Yeah, two more songs, only a couple lines. Not a big deal. I thought I was done but the director told me to go outside and learn the dance audition. I said....sure, why not. So after 2 hours of what was supposed to be a Bambi rehearsal, I was done auditioning for Heidi.
I was cast as Eric.
2 songs, fun character, 12 shows. She described me as "most fun".
So Tuesday...
While the cast of Bambi was rehearsing downstairs, Moby Dick: Rehearsed was having callbacks upstairs. This time I thought, lets get in this show. So I popped upstairs and asked if I could read for the director. He said word. Actually he just said, ok. I read for three characters: Ishmael, Stubb, and Elijah. I had fun. Played with accents, joked around with the other actors. I did two scenes and one monologue. Much less demanding than the previous night. I walked away feeling great about it and I made it to rehearsal on time.
I was cast as The Cynical Actor/Flask/Daggoo/Sailor.
Accents, swash-buckling, 10 shows. No notes about my audition but my roles were called an "assignment".
Theatre-Hikes is lovin' Nate this summer. Unfortunately, I can't do both shows. I've gotta make the call, deal-or-.... actually more like Switzerland or a big ass whale.

More to come mah babies...

nate

Slowly Finding My Inner Deer

As I approach this next week, we are at the half-way point of my stint as a deer. So I thought, why not an update.
To transform my human body into something that would resemble a four legged quadruped, I first had to get used to sore knees, calves, and feet. My version of a deer walks on his toes with my ass out, my chest out, and my arms rigidly at my sides. Can you see it? It seems easy enough to pull off but to keep that pose up for a two and half hour show while moving and acting, requires more strength that I had when I started.
So far I am really enjoying my cast. We are fun, unapologetic, and goofy as hell.
I am once again a child in this show and once again a "whipping boy" of sorts. I play a weak, sickly, and somewhat sad deer but the audience is in for a treat because Nate is in a role with an arc. Watch out.
I don't want to give too much away because I want people to see it.

Stay tunes mah babies.

Nate

Forest Creatures Unite

Audition number three.
Last Monday I found my way to the north side, to an old building that looked like an old boarding house. Maybe a brothel. It was the North Lakeside Cultural Center.
I had a audition for Bambi for Theatre Hikes. The whole house was empty save myself, the director and the stage manager. Every step I took creaked but not in that cool old house creek, it creaked like a crappy floor. Much like the crappy floor in my apartment.
So my monologue happened. I did my Santa mono from Daddies. It went well, they had me do it twice after some direction. Fine fine good good. I felt good about it. So I went home.
I rolled through Monday night, through Tuesday morning, and Tuesday night I get an e-mail inviting me to callbacks occurring Thursday night. Pretty sweet. For those that are keeping track of my career in Chicago that makes 2 of three auditions resulting in call backs, or 66.66%, not bad.
Thursday found me back at the creeky house reading for animal characters. I read quite a few times for a couple deer. I thought it went real well, I showed funny innocence for young Bambi, believable hate and anger towards the villain, and hot deer chemistry with Faline, the female deer. I was the first to read, and the last. Usually that means good things. So it ended, and I went home.
And I waited.
After work today I saw that I had a message from an unfamiliar number. I checked it and it was the director. He was calling to offer me the part of Gobo, the buddy deer that dies mid-way through the show. Sweet. I took it.
I'm a deer. More sweet deer updates to come.
Rrarr!

Bye Bye

nate

The Lips The Teeth The Tip Of The Tongue

Yesterday I had an audition. It was for Chicago Shakespeare Company. Very prestigious, very cool. I, however, am not equity, therefore I was only able to come in for the open call. The eight hour wait for the open call.
So here's how it went.
I went downtown to the equity office. Which is housed in the Chicago Public Schools building, I found that odd for some reason. I got there around noonish/noon 30 ish and was told to come back after lunch. K. I come back around 2:15ish with two decent monologues prepared. Comedic contemporary and dramatic classical. Contrasting, with levels and all that crap. So I re-check in and start waiting. And I waited. 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 4:30 o'clock. The line didn't seem to be getting any shorter. In the meanwhile I met some fellow non-equity, walk-in actors who seemed cool and just as eager as me to get in there.
Well it seemed as if we weren't getting in there. Around 4:35ish the moderator asked for all the non-equity headshots. After a bit, she comes out and announces 5 names that should stay and the rest should come back at the next open call in March.
I was asked to stay.
Woo hoo! right? My headshot was hot or interesting enough that they wanted to see me speak. Or my name was high enough on the check-in list that they felt guilty about making me wait around all day. But I'm gonna stick with my intriguing looks, it helps the self-esteem.
Next was more waiting because I was 4 on the list of 5. So, of course, I proceed to over pound my two monologues into my head and start the process of freaking out my nerves. Great.
My time has come. I walk into the freezing, but non-intimidating room where two people sit, awaiting my work. I have chosen a Posthumus monologue from Cymbeline. "Yea bloody cloth..." and such. So I have a hankerchief that I have cast as my bloody cloth and I begin to speak the speech, trippingly on the tongue. I begin fine but somewhere around the middle I go up. Wonderful. I concentrate on my bloody cloth, not dropping focus but silently "searching for the words on my prop." Oh, they weren't there. I tried to skip ahead in the speech but realized I wasn't making any sense. So I thanked them, they thanked me, I walked out, no apologies.
These things happen. Even to the best of us. Unfortunately, I would have liked to wow them with my contemporary monologue but given the late hour and my "biff" as it were, they did not need to hear it.
Well maybe me and Shakes will meet again next year. Here's hoping.

Struggling but forging.

Nate

First one in the bag, then out of the bag

It has begun. I have arrived on the acting scene. And this blog, in addition to many other mindless posts, will chronicle my attempts at creating a life in the acting world. I join the ranks of nikki, laura, rachel, and all you other wonderful acting hopefuls.
Here is show one....
Tape produced by the semi-cool but achingly small Oracle Productions. I auditioned last Sunday with a fresh smelling new monologue. It went well, they asked me questions about my look, about my monologue. I left that theatre with that rare feeling of nailing an audition, or at least pinning in down for a moment.
So the next night I received a call from the stage manager saying they would like to see me at the callbacks on Friday. Pretty sweet deal, first shot out of the gate, a call back. This wasn't normal. But I liked the feeling. I read the script and it turned out to be a longish one act of two guys and a girl with pretty heady but do-able dialogue. I enjoyed the read and patiently waited for the sides to be e-mailed to me.
That patience turned into anxiousness which turned into frustration while the days between the audition and the callback became fewer and fewer. Then, Thursday night, I received the e-mail IDing the sides and information about the next day's events.
Well today rolled around and I had a shit-tastic day at the Cake complete with very little money, inattentive managers, and I didn't get out of there until after 5.....to put the time complaint in perspective, it takes me near an hour to get home during peak rush hour times and the callbacks were at 7.
I made it there in time to find a fleet of people that were called back. Most of whom seemed to know each other. I felt like the invited guest at a family dinner, but I know no one. This incestuous theatre family created a somewhat tense feeling in the room but as I was about to settle in to my own prep world, my name was called first. Lovely.
Oh and on a side note, here is some advice that everyone knows but I decided to forget. Don't bring your life's problems onto the stage. I happened to carry my work pissiness like a blanket over my head. I wasn't focused, I was unoriginal with my voice and my movements weren't organic, they were floppy and unmotivated. Awesome.
So I go out to the lobby and incidentally, the place is so small, you can hear everything that is going on on stage. I listened to 5-6 versions of the scene I had just done. All the while plotting my next reading, thinking of movements, character, line readings. I was ready to go back in.
Then...
My name was called and I was thanked for my time.
Keep getting thanked for your time. I was less than happy. I grabbed my coat and bag and left, but not before the stage manager told me that I could be considered for a role as an extra in the video portion of the show. I think I responded with a slight laugh. I steered clear of being a spoiled sport but I didn't know anyone, therefore didn't feel the need to chat as I was being rejected.
Word to the wise for future directors. If you do hold callbacks, it would be worth the extra time for you to see the actors read more than once. If anything, its just a nice thing to do.
So despite my good luck with my first call back after my first Chicago audition, I also received my first harsh rejection. Whoopee! I can feel myself getting a thicker skin already.

Stay tuned for more.

Nate

A Rant: Stamps

So apparently it is possible these days, in the days of constant television, e-mail, internet, cell phones, free flowing conversation and information, to slip through the cracks and be completely out of the loop.
Recently I found out the United States Postal Service had increased the price of stamps, again. One stamp is now 39 cents. This increase is but two pennies more than the old stamps. However, my nice sheet of 37 cent stamps is bunk because they are too small of a denomination to mail a letter, a bill, or anything. Oh well, you say, its not a big deal, just start buying the new stamps or buy two cent stamps and use up the old ones. Great fricking idea USPS but you changed this stamp price 9 days ago. Since then I have sent a bill and a check through the lovely mail with a stamp totaling 37 cent. Super.
When did the country start to suck with delivering the country's residents important information? How about letting us know around Christmas, how about a quick e-mail or a banner on Yahoo!. But no, I had to overhear a conversation of my roommate and go to usps.gov to see a miniscule ad that say 39 cent stamps now in effect.
Here is my 2 cents on the matter, take my two extra cents and shove it USPS.

bye

nate

Nice Trip

I think one time or another we all have experiences. Ones that are embarrassing and at the same time, if they had happened to someone else and we witnessed them, are frickin' hilarious. This is one of those experiences that I would like to share.
I had a day off. One of few so I was relishing in it by doing very little. After dropping off some laundry at the laundromat or, as I like to call it, the mat, I got a little thirsty. So I left the mat and headed to the Jewel for some refreshment.
As I turned the corner, at the end of the aisle I find a large stack of Pepsi products featuring one nectar of life, Mountain Dew. These 12 packs of dew were on sale for $1.99. I went, shazaam (with my fist in the air) but all in my head. With such low prices I had to get 3. Well, I didn't have to but I did.
With some struggling I began to carry them home in stacked formation. They felt like a small child, if that small child was boxy and, well, green. I arrived at my apartment. I climbed the flight of stairs and upon reaching the top step my shoe caught the top of the step. And then BAM my feet flew up and I hit the ground along with my packages of dew.
I lay there for a few seconds too long.
In the midst of the crash two of my three 12 packs ripped in half, exactly in half. Pretty cool.
I hope that my humorous crash resulted in many a exaggerated story/blog entry for the many douchebags watching my from across the street.

Bye bye

nate