Is It Me?

I went to Mix last night. Very cool room to do stand up in. However, I was surrounded by at least 40 comics and that's about it. I signed in around 8 PM to only be thrown into a raffle-type jar and have my name picke out at random to determine the order. So, I went on 31st of 40 around 11:15 PM. Once again, nothing better than telling your jokes to a dead crowd of comics. *sigh* Hopefully tonight my new material will make somebody laugh.

Not all was lost however. I was able to jot down 5-6 solid ideas for new material. Hopefully jokes talking about my mom calling me all the time and asking me weird questions can be made into a funny bit! I love you , Mom!

Currently listening : Home By Sevendust Release date: By 24 August, 1999

The Other White, Brown, Yellow Meat

I went to rehearsal last night after the Chicago Rush game at Allstate Arena, which, by the way, is one of the places I can go to and feel completely different from everybody since I don't have 5 kids running around in pee-wee football jerseys and I don't sport a mullet like it's 1982. I had made a fateful decision to eat a hotdog there, which contains pork along with cat, pheasant, and a hint of Chinese laborer as well. Since I haven't had a hot dog in such a long time, by the time I got to rehearsal I felt weird. I was incredibly emotional, sluggish, unfocused, and ready to strangle individuals that looked at me the wrong way. So, I ordered my usual diarrhetic from Starbux (luckily a cast mate was more than willing to go get if for me!) and drank it to flush my body of the crap I had eaten before. I drank a bunch of water as well to ease the passage of the items in colon and continue flushing myself out. After a lengthy visit to the throne, I felt way better.

Why I chose to poison myself, I haven't quite figured out. I must've felt the need to suffer for some reason. So, today, I will be eating salads and stuff to continue flushing my body. My next cleanse is coming up next week and I won't be doing the "cold-turkey" thing I did last time (hmmmm...Turkey....wait, that's poisonous too!).

On a lighter note, I will be hitting Mix to do some good ole fashion standup comedy. Hopefully some of y'all can come out and make it! Feel free to message me for more information if you wish!

Oh, also, heard the latest mix of CR songs last night...WOW! Check out the Courageous Rue Website for more information.

Currently listening : Rage Against the Machine By Rage Against the Machine Release date: By 10 November, 1992

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&FriendID=16074757&blogMonth=2&blogDay=25&blogYear=2006

Got the callback; Don't got the time!

I got my call back results from my audition for the Chicago Comedy Company's casting of their next musical comedy "Retail". I was told I was a good candidate for the cast, but, due to my availability (and you all know my schedule) I would just miss out too much on rehearsals and shows. I had a feeling that was going to be the case but I had a blast preparing and auditioning for it! I met a lot of really cool people at the CCC. Now that I am in their minds hopefully their next production will be something I can be a part of once the starts align, the mountains crumble, and the seas roar!

In the meantime, Salsation stuff is kicking up and I now will have a bit more time to work on material for standup. Stay tuned kiddos!

Peace Out G Funk Money!
Nelson

P.S. According to one website I saw, the Nixon's "Foma" album is the number one record in the cutout bins at used CD stores...and I've bought 3 copies of it!

Currently listening : Foma By The Nixons Release date: By 23 May, 1995

Safe Karoake

Check out this clip from my February 3rd standup. Nothing better than telling jokes to an empty club and a bunch of comics! But hey, it's funny stuff! I should warn you there is use of adult language, so, kiddies, ask your parents for permission before you check out the filth-florin-florin-filth coming outta my mouf!

Currently listening : Eddie Murphy By Eddie Murphy Release date: By 05 May, 1992

MyWait

I feel for Tom. With the challenge of having the fastest growing website in North America(and maybe the world), there must be a lot maintenance and upgrades going on in MySpace.com along with a lot of bitching and moaning.

I just tried to add one of my idols D.J. Jazzy Jeff and got a note saying their improving the functionality and to wait a little while. He also put a note telling people to not mail him about it. LOL. I can just see it now:

"Uhm, Tom. You f*ckin' suck! I can't live without MySpace. MySpace sux because you're always trying to make it better! I want to add 30,000 people who don't know me at a single whim. I can't leave badly written messages on these people's pages or put my favorite 50 Cent video on my page! Oh, and I want to customize my page with a pink background with light blue lettering so no one can actually read it! I need to post up two-hundred fifty 3.5 Mb pictures on the front page. I want to post bad hit up lines on this sexxxy girl's page who I am sure my mother would love to meet. Get your sh*t together, Tom...cuz if I can't do it within the next 5 seconds, I will mail you! I WILL MAIL YOU!"

Tom, keep truckin', bro. You are a pimp and a scholar. Thank you for putting together "a place for friends".

Currently listening : Songs I Heard By Harry Connick Jr. Release date: By 23 October, 2001

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&FriendID=16074757&blogMonth=2&blogDay=19&blogYear=2006

525,600 Widgets

Hello all:

Had an excellent time at rehearsal last night! We got hardcore with our improv and started seeing a lot of outrageous characters and great scenes. Y'all are in for a big treat when once the shows start!

I have started learning the lyrics and melodies for songs for the callback. I'm learning stuff from popular musicals, and, honestly, it's a little challenging since it's a bit more "heady" than the simple pop music I normally listen to. Arrangements are a lot more lush and flowing. As usual, I am working through it and gonna have it kickin' by next week.

This is my first weekend I get to chill (and chilling means reduce my activities from 30 things to 20), so, I look forward to some R&R before I decide to fill up my life with things to do. The funny thing is I am going to start living my life on a calendar again! I haven't done that in years cuz I felt it was too limiting to always refer to it every time I wanted to do something. I guess I've outgrown the ego a bit and now realize it's a helpful tool to keep stuff organized. Plus, I can now tell the ladies, "Uhhh...let me check the little black book...*giggity*"

Allllllrrrrrrriiiiiiiiigggggghhhhhhht,
Nelson

Currently listening : Rent (2005 Movie Soundtrack) By Jonathan Larson Release date: By 27 September, 2005

Firsts Come To Those Who Wait...

Sup people!?

I was checking my email, taking care of some bidnez, and then - BAM! - I get an email. I've been called back for the audition from Friday! Very cool! This call back is going to be a bit deeper than the first one, so, I look forward to the experience! More so, I had so much fun with the first one that this one should be a blast!

I'm leaving the house now to go to the studio to grab one more track to get mixed for the Courageous Rue EP. Don't know why but I forgot our "hit"! DUH! Oh well, look on the Courageous Rue website for more updates!

Currently listening : Freaked Out & Small By The Presidents of the United States of America Release date: By 02 November, 2004

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&FriendID=16074757&blogMonth=2&blogDay=15&blogYear=2006

BEST WEEKEND EVER for the weekend of 2/10-2/13!

This weekend was fun! Friday afternoon I went to an audition for a musical. I prepped up my version of "New York, New York", got my monologue on lock, and jumped into my first musical audition. Overall, it went really well. I learned a lot about the auditioning process and had an excellent time doing so.

I ended up working late Friday night to make up for the time I missed for the audition. I got all my work done. Nothing to worry about for Monday! Whoah! I then hit the studio to dump 5 of the 6 songs eligible for the Courageous Rue EP to an external harddrive. I'll hand it over to an engineer from Alloy Sound who I am going to meet up with today for mixing. I am scared and excited at the same time. I am handing over my baby of many years to a guy I hardly know. But he's pro and hopefully will make it sound "warmer" and balanced than it does now. Next steps will be getting it mastered, art lined up, and duplication.

Saturday was acting class in the morning where we went over our monologues and established our beats, wants, obstacles, and actions. I felt I did a pretty good job. At least I got the thing memorize. I need to start looking for a few more to have in my repertoire. Then I continued the script writing frenzy for my Sunday rehearsal I had started during the week.

Sunday also had lots of writing/rewriting going on. Sunday night I had rehearsal and it was a lot of fun reading all the scripts. I am really excited at how much the writing has changed and improved over the last few weeks. There are a lot of talented people I am working with and I am learning a lot! Can't wait to see all of it up on stage!

Well, that's about it. More to come, yo!

My Life is Flowing

Hello all:

Not a whole lot new has been going on, hence, why I haven't posted up anything lately . The stand-up/Salsation/Second City activities are going well. Thanks to these efforts, my skillz have improved and I am getting more comfortable with writing, acting, and improvising comedy.

I made another change in my life where I will essentially be on my own for guidance for a little while. I have plenty of good tools to use if I ever feel I've lost my way, so, I feel pretty courageous for doing it. Thanks Sheryl for everything and I will see you soon to begin a new journey!

Otherwise, all is well and well is all!

Timing is Everything, Mr. Bond

I got asked to do a stand-up showcase in March, but, alas, I had to turn it down I have a recurring prior commitment that formally starts the night I would do the showcase. I asked to be put into a showcase within the next month or after May.

On a lighter note, I am checking out audition material for an upcoming musical. I've never done an audition for a musical, but, it looks like something I would like to pursue someday. I wish I knew some songs from Broadway musicals! LOL. I heard that Dr. Dre's "Ain't Nutin' But a G Thang" has recently been added to the list of acceptable showtunes!

"Uh...uh...uhh....yeah...uh...uh...WHAT?!"

Note: this was oroginally posted on MySpace with comments at:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&FriendID=16074757&blogMonth=2&blogDay=4&blogYear=2006

The Sound of Crickets is the Sound of Applause...

I went to Hoghead's last night hoping to find a new crowd of people to do my new material. I showed up around 9 PM to sign up and got slot #5. Cool, I was guaranteed to not go on at midnight. I saw a few of the same comics I normally see at the open mics but a lot of fresh faces too. So, that was nice. However, the room was pretty much just full of comedians, thus, making the job to get laughs 3-full.

Every comic that went up went down just as quickly with chuckles. What is it about us comics that doesn't let us laugh at jokes from other comics at an open mic? It's really dumb. There were some real good jokes out there I did laugh at but the majority of us were being pretty quiet. I wonder if it's ego, the fact we've probably heard these acts before, we're all tired...maybe we're just all a-holes! LOL.

I busted out my new material and completed it. I even did a little bit of improv by adjusting my introduction jokes to the venue and the crowd. They all elicited laughs and chuckles. Perhaps I'll get a chance to go out Friday night to BW3 with a more receptive crowd.