2017 was a very, very good to me, I might say in the role of immigrant Pasquale. Here are some of the things that delighted me most.
January
Did a major translation of 120 pages, a private contract of a book of days for a Czech serving in the Austro-Hungarian army from 1906-09.
February
Played the role of Pasquale in The Most Happy Fella, my first time in a musical.
July
Appeared in Young Frankenstein: The Musical as Inspector Kemp. This summer production by North Street Playhouse was fun and hard work. The professional actors/singers/dancers hired for the program also served as mentors to the young people interning. While I was “local adult talent,” their presence really raised the bar for me. I was flattered to have the opening lines – well, the first of any length, that is, and the ones the get the opening laughs and set the tone. I also had the vocal solo in the opening number to Act II, which challenged me with holding a high F for six measures.
August
In another translation job, I had to decipher hand-writing in a letter from the 1960s, written by an elderly lady in Rusyn, in an old, Hungarian-style script (nowadays it’s written in Cyrillic). I’ve had zero instruction in Rusyn and it was in a thick dialect, but I was able to interpolate from my knowledge of neighboring languages. For the most part—some phrases were too difficult to figure out reliably. But it was enough to give the client a picture of life in the Old World—and to make contact with previously unknown relatives here in the States.
Began work as Chess Coach at the Eastern Shore Community College.
September – finally figured out all the words and chords of the Russian Gypsy song “Poy, zveni, moya gitara.” I couldn’t find guitar tabs, and even the lyrics I located online didn’t quite correspond to the version I’d seen on YouTube that I liked so much. Anyway, after three years of off-and-on attempts, I finally got it and premiered it at the (Cape Charles, VA) Lemon Tree Gallery’s open mike night on the 15th.
November
Played three (small) roles in “The Man Who Came to Dinner”
Gave a talk at the Science and Philosophy Seminar at Eastern Shore Community College: “Travels with Franz Ferdinand: Or How WWI Kicked Off.” It was a mix of slide show, video, and history on my trip around the former Austria-Hungary in summer 2014.
Finished a first draft of my book on that trip, “Travels with Ferdinand and Friends.”
December
Added several songs to my Christmas repertoire and played a really nice Christmas Eve gig in Bizzotto’s restaurant in Onancock, VA, in addition to three open mike appearances.
January
Did a major translation of 120 pages, a private contract of a book of days for a Czech serving in the Austro-Hungarian army from 1906-09.
February
Played the role of Pasquale in The Most Happy Fella, my first time in a musical.
July
Appeared in Young Frankenstein: The Musical as Inspector Kemp. This summer production by North Street Playhouse was fun and hard work. The professional actors/singers/dancers hired for the program also served as mentors to the young people interning. While I was “local adult talent,” their presence really raised the bar for me. I was flattered to have the opening lines – well, the first of any length, that is, and the ones the get the opening laughs and set the tone. I also had the vocal solo in the opening number to Act II, which challenged me with holding a high F for six measures.
August
In another translation job, I had to decipher hand-writing in a letter from the 1960s, written by an elderly lady in Rusyn, in an old, Hungarian-style script (nowadays it’s written in Cyrillic). I’ve had zero instruction in Rusyn and it was in a thick dialect, but I was able to interpolate from my knowledge of neighboring languages. For the most part—some phrases were too difficult to figure out reliably. But it was enough to give the client a picture of life in the Old World—and to make contact with previously unknown relatives here in the States.
Began work as Chess Coach at the Eastern Shore Community College.
September – finally figured out all the words and chords of the Russian Gypsy song “Poy, zveni, moya gitara.” I couldn’t find guitar tabs, and even the lyrics I located online didn’t quite correspond to the version I’d seen on YouTube that I liked so much. Anyway, after three years of off-and-on attempts, I finally got it and premiered it at the (Cape Charles, VA) Lemon Tree Gallery’s open mike night on the 15th.
November
Played three (small) roles in “The Man Who Came to Dinner”
Gave a talk at the Science and Philosophy Seminar at Eastern Shore Community College: “Travels with Franz Ferdinand: Or How WWI Kicked Off.” It was a mix of slide show, video, and history on my trip around the former Austria-Hungary in summer 2014.
Finished a first draft of my book on that trip, “Travels with Ferdinand and Friends.”
December
Added several songs to my Christmas repertoire and played a really nice Christmas Eve gig in Bizzotto’s restaurant in Onancock, VA, in addition to three open mike appearances.
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