Trust me

No matter where you are right now, it probably doesn't look as bad as this:


Burlington, VT 1/30/09

All good things must come to an end..

...like one nighters. It depends what your definition of "good" is. We've been without internet (oh no... HOW will I survive?) since Panama City -- 5 days of Facebook Mobile. I wonder what people did before the internet. Oh wait, I was there. Probably just watch reruns of "Legends of the Hidden Temple" and Cosby.

So here's a conversation that I neglected to add last entry:

Dave: "YEAH MAN, SATURDAY, USF VS NOVA"
Jason: "Pffft... dude, no way"
Dave: "Dude, lets GO to the game!"
Jason: "Dude, we have a show in Daytona that night..."
Dave: "Yeah, but what time is call?"
Jason: "530" Dave: "Wait... dude the game starts at 1200pm... it'll be 2 hours..."

.... It was then the entire room started freaking out -- we were going to Tampa. So we needed to rent a car, split gas 4 ways (Gregg, our illustrious percussionist wanted to hitch a ride), and it was decided that we were going to stay at my condo in Tampa Palms. We were going to drive to Tampa after the Gainesville show on Friday, go to the USF game on Saturday, drive to Daytona for Saturday Night, drive back to Tampa, and then drive to Sarasota the next day. Read on to see if it was worth it...

Panama City was nothing short of amazing. Great crowd, great show, great reception. They had these meatballs, Jesus. I must've eaten 40 of them... at once. They had strawberry cheese spread, southwest chicken rollups, and your other typical finger food/hors d'œuvre.

Gainesville on Friday... first of many 'home shows' I have labeled -- if you classify a home show as "I have friends going". Goldberg, Kim, Nic, Phil, Andy, Becky, and other assorted companions were in attendance. We got to Gainesville around 200pm and Nic picked us up from the hotel and brought us to AVIS. Goodbye bus, hello Chevy Cobalt. Really?

Hung out for a little, deposited a check, went to Chipotle, missed Chipotle, went over the Phillips Center, gave Nic the grand tour, shoo'd him out, and got ready for the show. Gainesville was a great crowd - very involved, lots of laughs, excellent response. We all went to Ale House afterwards... Becky and Andy had to bail before the pic was taken... THANKS! :(

After Ale House, my carmates had to take their sweet time leaving the city. Essentially, all you really need to know is we arrived in Tampa circa 336am to a very groggy Harry Freeman. Thanks for the keys to my car/foreclosed condo -- I owe you my life.

Let me tell the world how great it was to be home. Without internet... without cable... without any amenities... just laying there in my bed -- Dorothy was right. There really is no place. I was in heaven -- I can't believe how much I missed it. It will make it all more special when I head back to Tampa on my March layoff.

I decided to forego the USF game to go stop by Tampa Palms. I surprised one of my old chorus parents and her kids by showing up to her house. They were the ones responsible for holding my "going away" party about a month ago, and it's been forever since I've seen them. I was greeted with piercing screams and the ever so predictable "what are you doing here?'


It was great to see them. Boy, I miss Tampa Palms -- those kids were phenomenal. Picked Dave, Sukh, and Gregg up at the game and bolted towards Daytona. Made it just in time. The setup in Daytona was reversed so I got to see the show from the wall of the pit (closest to the 1st row). Mike Livingston made accomodates because I had the large instruments -- how considerate. Went to Friendly's afterwards (obligatory), got back to Tampa at around 1230am, and crashed for the night.

Sunday was a day from hell:

9am - Wake
9am - Missed alarm
1030am - Wake
1100am - Gregg wanted me to drop him off at the Casino
1120am - Hard Rock for Gregg
1130am - Drive to Sam Ash for reeds / Bed Bath and Beyond for AeroBed
100pm - Back home to clean up and pick up the trumpeters
130pm - Drop them off at USF to get reacquainted

... uh oh.... I have to be in Sarasota by 3pm to hang with Ryan and gang.

That just became 4pm.

And call... was at 5pm, instead of 530pm. The window just got even shorter...

220pm - Pick up Gregg at Hard Rock
237pm - Pick up Dave and Sukh at USF
250pm - Pita Republic
258pm - BK Lounge
303pm - Shell
410pm - Sandcastle Hotel in Sarasota

Oh no... this is awful... I got to Sarasota at 415pm amid much of the 'darkness' that occured in the car. Don't worry about that -- I'll explain some other time

420pm - Wings, Carrots, Salad (without forks) Coke, catching up quick with Ryan/Trista/Trista's Family at the Beach park
430pm - Picked up Gregg, Dave, and Sukh
440pm - Finally left the hotel...
456pm - Made it on time for Call... phew

Then I got a text from Gerard (who graced the Van Wezel hall that night with Harry and Dan)

"We can't find Harry's ticket. Is it in the same place."

UGH. I ran up to the box office to go find them, exchanged tickets out, and matters were clear. Hey! Dan, Gerard, and Harry! Good to see those fools!

Quick stop at Publix between the curtain and the soundcheck and we were off.

Sarasota's crowd -- a bit dead. Just like the populous. But having my friends there made it all the worthwhile.


730am Bus Call today... stopped in Gainesville for lunch -- ugh, I really can't escape this gator garbage. Show in Tallahassee tonight -- ARENA SHOW. That was... disgustingly fun. What was better was the fact that the first row was literally 3 feet away from my bari sax. Hope you had fun staring at me, blue haired lady with the well dressed husband.

We ate like kings and queens afterwards -- the "Drowsy Chaperone Celebrity Club" threw us an enormous buffet that could feed a third world county and its neighboring jurisdiction(s). Wings, meatballs, pasta, turkey, ham, spinach dip, pastries, ice cream, dessert shooters, fruits, cheeses, etc... it just never stopped. The ice sculpture was a hit as well...


Taken before the inevitable. Great times, great friends, great food, great ice.

North Charleston, SC tomorrow. Bus leaves at 630am, up at 600! God, help us all. Tomorrow ends our one nighters -- we'll finally be able to wake up after the sun! End of the week, Northeast United States. Get ready :(

One night, yeah, and one more time...

We've started the trail of one nighters on Tuesday and continue until next Tuesday, January 27th. For those of you who are not in the know, this is the protocol behind the one nighters:

Morning: Leave to next city
Afternoon: Arrive at next city's hotel
Afternoon + X: Depart to Theater
Early Night: Sound Check @ Theater
Night: Show
Night + 1:39: Pack up, Load out, back to hotel

Lather, rinse, repeat (if necessary) the next 7 days. The farther the distance we have to drive, the earlier we have to wake up. This is a welcome change from the morning wakes I'm used to -- commuting for 45 minutes and dealing with kids who destroy music stands and come to me with stories about the kid in 8th grade who posted drama on their myspace.

Now I just fall back asleep...

We left Tennessee on Tuesday morning and were met with an unexpected act of God on the road - a blizzard. Really? In northern Mississippi? I'll take it! After listening to the inauguration botch and speech on my phone, we detoured to the Hoover Mall in Hoover, Alabama. This was a chance to pick up amenities for my home away from home (if you call a hotel room your home) - the bus! I decided to forgo the pillow/blanket combo out of sheer stupidity, but realized it was a necessity after witnessing the comfort of my contemporaries. Thank you Sears for your polyester filled hypoallergenic pillow and fleece blanket -- all for $17. After snoozing and snoring, we had our first stop in Montgomery, Alabama where supposedly every place of commerce after 6pm closes down. No joke -- between the sound check and the curtain, Dave, Sukh, and I checked out downtown in hopes of dinner. See "I am Legend" to recreate this awful scene.

The theater in Alabama was packed as tight as sardines. Had to fit 2 rows of reeds and brass across in a 7 foot space (and that's being quite generous). Nonetheless, it was a hair uncomfortable.

Woke up next day at 850am to a beautiful and frigid Alabama morning. I learned a new craft on the road... how to operate a spigot shower. No latch, no level, but this thing right below the faucet that I've never encountered before. It took 10 minutes for me to figure out where this was until Matty showed me while I was still in my half-sleep stupor. Supposedly for the folk who've been on the road in many hotels, this device was commonplace. I am the rookie's rookie.

Alabama to Florida was about 3 hours, and finally back in the Sunshine State. We stayed in Destin (currently the site of this blog) about a block or two away from the beach. Too bad it's... still cold. Low was 32 last night. Foreign temperatures for us natives, right?

The theater at Okaloosa-Walton County College was nothing short of amazing. What a welcome we received when we stepped into the footfield field... otherwise know as the pit:


Look at the smile on Jason Mink's face. This is the heaven that all pit orchestra musicians go to when they die.

Off to Panama City in about an hour, and then some great news later!

I found a new place to dwell...

3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard


Otherwise known as Graceland, the home of the one and only, (besides the impersonators) Elvis Aaron Presley. I will be the first to admit that I wasn't completely sold on spending the $30 that I don't have to check out this hodgepodge of an estate. But a day of speculating turned into a day that was very memorable.

Elvis' Mansion, left in tact was so elaborate (even if it was decked out a la 1970s), so charming, and so eloquent. There was much history to be found and stories to learn and to tell about. We toured everything -- the kitchen, the living room, the jungle room (heh), the racquetball building, the carports, you name it, we did it.

Interesting fact that I wasn't aware of was that Elvis was quite a philanthropist. Dude threw down 40 G's in one day to 40 different charities. The King just bought houses for people in need and donated all of this money to these struggling organizations.

We went into the trophy room where there was no room not to be envious. This guy had it all, and then some. Makes me feel like my life has gone nowhere! But hey... not all of us can have sideburns

It got pretty dark when we visited the gravesite. It was definitely a moment that I'll keep with me, to pass by his grave accompanied by his mother, father, and grandmother in the Meditation Gardens.

The automobile museum was fabulous. To see all of his cars, including the token pink caddy was outright stunning. This guy was loaded! Speaking of loaded, we checked out the accompanying placard for each car. It had his registration for his vehicle

Name: Elvis Presley
Address: 3764 Elvis Presley Blvd, Memphis, TN

HA! To be that young, still living, and have a street named after you!

Maybe someday I'll do something worthwhile and they will dedicated a Litt Avenue somewhere. Probably somewhere that has little to no traffic.

Initially, I wanted to visit just to say "I did it"... but in hindsight... it was worth much more... long live the King...

Cold Feets

Can anyone tell from the picture?

Welcome to Memphis, Tennessee. It seems all people do here is eat pork, drink until 4am, and ask you for change/food/instruments on the street. Thankfully, I have not relinquished any of my own. We are starving musicians you know, and we need to hold onto whatever we have. How republican of us...

So that's me, standing in front of the Orpheum Theater in downtown. Many entertainers have graced the stage here at Orpheum. The smell is much left to be desired, but that's history! It's quite old to say the least, but in return I'm sharing the venue with many great entertainers of the past. Along with Mary the Theater Ghost...

It's pretty cold here, I'm not going to deny that. I've been reading facebooks from people in Florida who are complaining about the freeze. Well, it's going to be 6 degrees here tonight, so thanks. Now I know why northerners always whine about how us Floridians think its so cold (like when it hits 60 degrees)

I can't wait until the northeast in about 2 weeks. Please send all moisturizers, chap sticks, mittens, beanies, and warm thoughts to:

Jason Litt (C/O The Drowsy Chaperone)
NETworks Presentations
7135 Minstrel Way
Columbia, MD 21045

...or don't

Rocky Top Tennessee

Florida was great -- I would know, I live there.

I'm sure it will sink in when we're in Burlington, VT in 3 weeks. I hear it was 10 below zero... like my credit score after I get back from tour and my condo forecloses. We can only hope!

The Kravis Center was the greatest venue yet. Out of the... 2 we've been in. I had a great time and caught up with some great friends. I had a mini-epiphany (yeah, I know right, me?) over the week I was there. I've thought about picking up many times to leave Florida to start from scratch, but I'm not so sure now. It's really true - no place like home.

Our reign ended in West Palm on Sunday, and I took it easy and watched Iron Man with the weatherman, packed up, and Northwest Airline'd out of Miami today. See you in a week, Sunshine State. We'll be back with the "one-nighter" marathon.

We arrived in Memphis about 2 hours ago. I'd love to say downtown Memphis is beautiful, but there's no merit in my opinion if I see it in the dark. I'm sure our 8 day stay here will be full of blues, BBQ, and more compromising pictures of Dave Torres.

More to update later - Beale Street, here comes the Drowsy Crew!

Donde Esta Mi Amor?

Well, the Florida Gators are National Champions once again... here they all come!

Well, we got our instruments back the next day, praise the Lord in heaven. So far so good... had a couple of good crowds, nights of debauchery, and a Message from a Nightingale. The Kravis Center is a breathtaking venue. A little crowded for my tastes in the pit. When the bari sax keeps jutting into Mike's leg, it poses a problem.

Dave Torres elected to stay a couple of nights in West Palm Beach, so he forced majure'd me out of his place... which was ok as I had another place to stay. Eric Burris, West Palm Beach's own morning news weatherman...


Geez... good morning, America. He and I went to Lake Howell together. He was a freshman when I was a senior when we were both in band. Needless to say, his large grotesque figure transformed into Palm Beach county's most trusted source for weather. Didn't think he'd win the "Most Likely to Succeed" superlative at band banquet -- but alas, his presence dawns the screens from 5am - 9am every day. And for me, I'm snoring on the couch at those times.

We went to go see the best of West Palm yesterday, because he woudn't let me see the worst (where the cast is staying, up in Palm Beach Lakes). Juno Beach and the Gardens Mall were some of the hot spots. Being an inlander for most of my life, and a west coaster for 9 years of it, I've never had the chance to see the sun ascend... until this morning...


Stayed far away from the Portuguese Man-of-War... not messing around this time. Serenity at its finest. I know the picture may not do its justice as I don't consider myself to be a photographer (not even in the most amateur sense!), but it was a nice way to start the day.

I ended it by going back to sleep again.

Opening Day Massacre

Before I get into the subject line, it's been a long couple of days coming into the opening performance. I've been limited access to the internet (my GOD, WHAT will I do?), and found better things to do with my time.

The flight back to Florida was memorable. It was the first time I sat in seat "E"... for those of you who don't travel often, there's an "F" and a "D" between those letters. In-flight awkward sandwich. It wasn't as bad as the airport though -- Miami International was much left to be desired.

I've been staying at Dave Torres house, of course, against my will. But, it's been pretty satisfactory to my standards (surprisingly!). His parents are legit -- his dad marched drum corps back in the 70's, so at least we had a connection. His mother was from the Bronx, so at least I had stories to tell... all 3 years of my existence in New York.

On Monday, Dave toured me around South Florida (no Universities in sight, sorry.... Go Bulls). We went to the Everglades and saw Peafowl. It was the highlight of the trip. I initially tried to court one, but it kept leaving for some reason. Went to downtown Ft. Lauderdale, Las Olas, back up to the Sawgrass Mall, and then out to Hard Rock Hollywood for the night where I lost $40 on the penny slots. Their low-limit tables were $15 minimum at the blackjack and hold-em, so forget that. I have faster, any more entertaining ways, to lose my money.

TUESDAY TUESDAY TUESDAY. YES, this day will go down in history. It all started off 40 minutes into the trip when Dave started shouting expletives from the back... and took about 55 seconds too long to tell us

"I forgot my music"

AHHHPFFFT. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls (for you kids reading), that's our STOCK DAVID TORRES. We were already late as it is because someone had to stop for a Powerbar™. Got to the theater around 10 after 12, no worries. Kravis is stunningly gi-huge-ic inside. Very impressive venue. As we were covering our grounds, our music director greeted us with this story:

"You guys heard about the hamper? (hamper is a giant basket that theaters use to transport large things in large quantities) Well, the reed and brass mute hamper was loaded, and went with the hampers to New York. They tracked them down in Pennsylvania, stopped them, and re-routed them and are shipping them freight to Memphis, back to WPB, and they should be here shortly"

........

Wow. Epic madness. So, we wait for the next, I don't know, 10 minutes? He calls us back on stage

"Jason, Jason, and Mike, I need to see you on stage right now"

I had a feeling our instruments were here... or something catastrophic happened. Namely the latter. Turns out the plane with our hamper was grounded in Memphis due to thunderstorms, and we had 6 hours to find 2 flutes, 3 clarinets, 2 alto saxes, 2 tenor saxes, a soprano sax, a bass clarinet, and a bari sax. Hello, company credit card.

Thus, the "Drowsy Chaperone Freak-out we need instruments STAT tour '09" has begun. We initially hit music stores in WPB, but to no avail. We tried down in Ft. Lauderdale, but nothing to write home about (see?). Let me tell you, it's quite difficult to find instrumentation like this, all at once, at the same store. Finally, Sukh remembered "ohsha, INGRID!". His former band director, who is now at Coral Glades HS, was willing to lend us all 12 of the instruments, for a nominal fee of course. Show must go on!

We drove down to Coral Glades, saw Ingrid, hugs ensued, stories told, and instruments apprehended. Then to Sam Ash where we spent... oh... close to... a lot... on reeds, mouthpieces, ligatures, mutes, the whole kit and kaboodle. Sans kit.

Being the reed players, we had no opportunity to try any of the equipment out because we we're on time crunch lunch. This whole debacle took 4.5 hours by itself, and we hadn't stopped once. We got back to the theater, set it up, and let the beautiful music of high school instruments fill the air. Of pollution.

IT ALL HAPPENED AT ONCE... disgustingly crazy! Dave's music, the hamper mishap, the grounding of the flight, the props fell during rehearsal, finding instruments, renting instruments, touring the greater Ft. Lauderdale area for any sign of life, oh, and did I mention

...the music was in that hamper too? I'm sure I didn't cover all of the bases.

The staff was pasting together music from the 4 corners of the world. Needless to say, we had a scotch-tape fest going on once we got back.

All in all, we prevailed... by the skin of our teeth. Capped it off with opening night party full of delicious delacies, endless conversations, the cha cha slide, the cupid shuffle, and some generous words by company members. Fun times had by all.

Torres has begun to yell at me, which is the cue for me to stop. Hope everyone has had a great start of the week so far... because I haven't! ;)

You'd expect nothing less... or more...

I apologize in advance for the integrity of this entry -- it's not the best of offerings... although with me, what is?

This may be the most innate posting thus far, and perhaps for the rest of tour. But this one is dedicated for Adam, Celeste, and Ethan. Maybe you too, mom.


Passed by one on the way to a music store today in Saint Charles. Some things never change.

Bee Dubs?

It seems like the musicians need an excuse to go to Buffalo Wild Wings... tonight was $0.60 Boneless Wings. Even if there wasn't an incentive we were going to end up there anyways...

Some of you have been asking about the AVIOM...


To begin with, it doesn't have Facebook, so it automatically fails at life. However, if you use it to keep yourself together with the rest of the company, then it works wonders. Essentially it's a personal mixer that allows you to have independent control over what you hear. Everything in the musical is fed through the headphones (to the right, below the microphones) and is separated through the different channels. Illustrated on the bottom of the AVIOM are the channels... keyboard left hand, keyboard right hand, reed 1, reed 2, reed 3, trumpet, drums, cast, XM radio...etc...etc... cte...

Turn up what you want to hear, turn down what you don't. Downside -- still no facebook. Maybe the new model...?

Tomorrow is our first preview performance.

1:00pm - 5:00pm - Run sound/tech samples with the cast
7:00pm - Hour before Call
8:00pm - Showtime!

Poker downstairs in T-minus 12 seconds. Hope everyone had a great new years!