Sleep Is For Suckers: The Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday:
Finally, the first performance of Waltzing in Memphis. The crowd really seemed to enjoy it. I got a lot of laughs as Rickey Peete, especially when I turned from Rickey Peete into Guy Who Should Never Wear Costume Tights Man. My parents enjoyed it, but my mom was talking about she didn't know I could sing! I guess singing around the house doesn't count. My father enjoyed it, and so did my good buddy Paul Briggs. Bryan Newcomb (Mail Call, Just the Two of Us) also enjoyed it. He greeted me with the theme song from Robin Hood: Men in Tights, making reference to the black tights I wore. Har, har. Bryan should definitely take his act on the road. He should start in a place I like to call The Hell Out Of My Face...I'm kidding (kinda). Shout out to my parents, Paul Briggs, and Bryan Newcomb for supporting a brotha. We went back to a place called the Variety Club and we ate food and performed karaoke. I wowed them with a rendition of Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places". I knew it would rock the crowd. Then, I left and went downtown to support humorous rapper Muck Sticky (www.mucksticky.com). My good buddy/fellow Actors First affiliate Jon "Sparky" Sparks (www.jonwsparks.blogspot.com) was there shooting behind the scenes footage for the Muckster. I arrived in time to see Muck's act. It was weird, but kinda cool. His sister opened the show, and at one point, his mother, Mama Sticky, came out. She once referred to herself as a "Mother Mucker" when I had met her previously. That's cool, to have your mom on stage with you, especially considering that Muck's act is a little profane and talks a lot about hookups and marijuana. He has the fratboy/stoner/slacker demographic on lock. He invited us out back to chat with him after the show, but the mean security guard began cussing and telling us to leave, so I did. It was still a good show.

Saturday:
I and the rest of my fellow Gridiron Members set up the Al Chymia Shrine Center for the Saturday performance. This was the bigwig, $60 a head politicians and socialites night. We set up, I learned about the magic of chair covers. I passed on tying pretty bows on the chairs. I have enough trouble tying my shoes! Afterwards, we went to Panchos on Summer and White Station. Good meal, and I think the margaritas were pretty good, because my fellow Gridironers were awfully "thirsty". After that, it was home for a quick nap, then I arrived at the Shrine Center, where we poured champagne for the bigwigs. We had a good show, mayor AC Wharton was there, Jerry Tate(formerly of News 3) was a part of the play both nights (playing himself) and he was also presented the Headliner Award by Joe Birch, who we also parodied in the play. Joe was a good sport. Most of the polioticians politely laughed, but it seemed that they were scared to step on any toes. Cowards! After the show, we went back to the Variety Club for food and karaoke. I wowed the crowd with a pretty decent rendition of Santana and Rob Thomas' "Smooth". We hung out, shot the breeze, I left after a few hours.

Sunday:

I met a few of the Gridiron gang for brunch at Owen Brennan's. I felt like quite the country mouse: $21.95 for brunch?! Goodness gracious, I would've been straight with a Big Breakfast from McDoanld's. It was cool to watch my own waffle being made. Eggo can't give you that! There were begs and pleas for me to come back next year. I couldn't commit. King Indie is a vagabond who goes wherever the wind blows...or something like that. Later, I dropped Bryan Newcomb (Mail Call, Just the Two of Us) and Paul Briggs off at my good buddy Shomari's and met up with Rod Pitts (director: Imagine, What Goes Around) and our leads for Spin Cycle, Derrick Engleberg (Hell's Kitchen) and Nataki Caver (What Goes Around, Just the Two of Us). They were rehearsing for the laundromat scene that we planned for that night. Unfortunately, the tornado warning canceled that plan. I went back to Shomari's house and caught the last ninety minutes of Wrestlemania 22. Denna Greer (What Goes Around) was there. I have to put Bryan Newcomb on blog blast. Who brings their own sugar and packets of Kool-Aid to someone else's house? That's just too ghetto! You're my boy, though, "Ghetto B". He also told me that he wants a grill. Not a Foreman, mind you, a mouth grill. I have not seen a lot of Caucasian people with grills (except for rapper Paul Wall), but if anyone can pull it off, Bryan can. Oh, yeah, extra special shout out to Furious Styles, who I met during my college days at the U of M. We called him Steve back then, but now he's Furious Styles and he has a rap album out called First Two Letters of My Name. For the slow ones, that's a nice way of saying FU. I had to buy the album and show support. The album is available at Spin Street in the Memphis artists section. I've gotta find his e-mail or something and holler at that dude. Be easy, readers.