Seven Days and counting. . .

James here.

Just returned from another Baltimore Blitz.  I've spent so much time recently in the back and forth they should give me a brass plaque on the bus armrest.

We've got one week to go before the premiere and all pistons are firing now.

The production crew has almost all gathered and we spent a good couple of hours together, revisiting the piece and synchronizing our ideas for the task at hand.  Dutch Vandercook and Jamie Johnson (Lighting) have been working together on other projects during the summer months and seemed glad to put Machine Gunner back on the front burner.  Although we've been in constant contact over the last few months, its nice to have them with us physically as we turn up the heat on this baby.  With our stage manager Cat Hagner back with us as well, I think we're all feeling the familiar joy of running the Machine Gun.

 Photo:  Mario Iati's poster design surrounded by a halo of spent casings.

Rebecca and I papered a few more districts of Baltimore with the poster.

Dave and I spent a good chunk of time rehearsing and polishing, taking a break for a City Paper photo shoot with photographer Jefferson Steele.  The shoot happened relatively last minute, as I arrived in Baltimore on his deadline, and the photo (accompanying the interview conducted last week) is set to run in next week's issue.  Despite it being a last minute affair, I think the end product is going to turn out very well.  When he heard what our show was about Jefferson took us under a bridge in Baltimore, where he could fire a couple of shots in front of a large swath of graffiti.  I'll be sure to post a link as soon as it drops.

One week to go before the green light on Operation: Charm City.

Its sure to be a fast and furious seven days that, for me, can't come soon enough.


Out

Distressing Days

James here.

I’m freshly back from another trip to Baltimore, having spent a few days getting things ready for Operation: Charm City, the premiere of I am the Machine Gunner.  Since I am currently in a show in New York my time in Baltimore is limited, making it all the more important that we have a clear game plan when we get together.

We spent two days going full throttle on the show and knocked out a variety of tasks: rehearsing new beats, purchasing new costume pieces, publicity runs, videoconferencing with Dutch, and an interview with the Baltimore City Paper, among other things.  I’m not sure when the City Paper interview will be published, but I’ll be sure to post a link in the blog when it comes out.



Another big task that we accomplished was testing the new tattoo ink that we’ll be using in the show.  We had to make sure that I wouldn’t have any adverse skin reactions to the ink, as well as making sure that it would be durable enough to last the whole show without running.  I’ve put up a video montage that shows the application and some of the tests we subjected the ink to.  As always, we had a good time working on it.

Photo: Rebecca uses a razor to distress the jea

Besides heading up the tattoo trials, Rebecca also spent a good chunk of time distressing the jeans that I wear in the show.  We felt like I looked too "clean" in the workshop performances, so she went to work with razor blades, dyes, and safety pins to rough me up a bit.  Thankfully, she let me take the jeans off before attacking them.

It was a fast and furious couple of days.  We pushed it every moment and in the end we accomplished even more than we set out to do.  If the rest of my trips to Baltimore can be this productive, we are going to be more than ready for Sept. 2.

Out