To call him one of my best friends will not suffice. A brother from different parents, one of my mother’s other sons, a partner in crime… all of these may verge closer but still not encompass everything that was Robert Alan Paul… RP… a nickname I bestowed upon him… that stuck. We met in college – thrown together by Sandy Shafer, a music professor when I was in need of a musical director for my …
Da Count is a day early… not that I’ve been consistent with that or any such thing… but here it is anyway. Figured it is apropos since it is Thanksgiving and all. Here’s wishing you a good one with your loved ones today. So, what is this count all about then? Well, I am presently in the throes of creating a new theatre piece… that’s what. In so doing I rely on my memory to …
“How long have you been at this, Lecram?” “Long enough to know better” is my standard reply. It happens every time I embark on a creative project… every damn time. Especially if I’m creating from a personal place. One could argue that everything I create comes from a personal place. That accumulated perception, knowledge, experience and the self (to this point and time) is funnelled through the sieve of craft to it’s eventual display for …
Every parent has gone through “the talk” with their kids. For some it can be excruciating and for others a breeze. Then there are others who avoid the talk completely. (Yeah, like your kids are never gonna have sex?) Well, I have news for you parents… there is also “the other talk”. (cue: stab theme from “dragnet”) It usually begins with a cringe worthy set of words strung together such as, “If anything should happen …
Truth be told this happened quite a while back… and I was quite happy when it did. Relieved actually. So, what am I talking about here? Two words: peer fear. Yeah, we all succumbed to it especially in our teen years. Remember when you were a closet ABBA fan? Or when you participated in a group scoff whenever someone let it slip that they liked that CARPENTERS song? But secretly you melted every time you …
What a strange count, Lecram. Well, it has been on my mind of late. Truth be told it has been on my mind ever since I was a wee tyke. Perhaps it was all the funerals I attended as a kid… but most probably because I have faced that delicate sliver between life and death on more than one occasion. Just part and parcel of growing up as a sickly child, I suppose. I was …
Every so often there is that one project that grows into the bane of one’s existence. It may even be within the medium that you love working in. But something about it just feels like drudgery. And that perception perpetuates to the point where one feels like one is harnessed to and dragging a sack of shit and it’s disposal cannot come soon enough. I just emerged from one of those. It was a do-able …
Last week I posted a couple I grew up with as status updates on FB. They were fun postings. Several friends of my generation (growing up where I did) got a kick out of them. The rest probably found those both amusing and charming. Others might have found them strange and/or confusing. Colloquialisms, just like everything, fall in and out of favor and victim to the ever changing zeitgeist. Remember when “bad” meant “good” or …
No, it’s not a post about music… not in the conventional sense. In a status update yesterday I posted that I spend at least 10 minutes a day listening to the sounds of my neighbourhood. It’s true… I do. I think I always have. This was probably inspired by my Dad. During the times when he was bed ridden he could describe everything happening outside the window. And when it did it almost seemed like …
