Final Days

I have 3 days left in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, including today. Tomorrow my first second-series (don't think too hard about it) exam play goes up. The final one will follow on Monday. Then I'll be leaving New York City for the summer a mere few days afterward. Crazy.

This is from some time ago, but it still inspires me every single time. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever; happened on national TV, at a mainstream, secular music event. Watch everyone's reactions. Gotta love country music. I hope one day I can be of use like this. I hope you enjoy it. Taken from yahoo.com, the video is at the bottom.

 

Carrie Underwood's 'How Great Thou Art' Moves The Masses

It's no surprise that country music fans were anticipating the TV special Girls Night Out: Superstar Women of Country, which was taped at the 2011 Academy of Country Music Awards weekend earlier this month and aired Friday night on CBS. However, it was a gospel song performed at the show that unexpectedly crossed all boundary lines and created a viral sensation over the weekend.
Carrie Underwood was just one of many huge names in the allstar lineup, but her duet with Vince Gill of the classic standard "How Great Thou Art" managed to bring down the entire house--and internet, at that. According to Yahoo! data, searches for Underwood's rendition of the tune spiked a whopping 362% on Saturday.
If that weren't enough, the video of the performance has received nearly a million views, and has drawn extraordinarily high praise--with comments ranging from "Wow! God was in the house," "I am not a Christian but this is truly beautiful," "She is an angel" to "This is the most moving version of that song I have ever heard," "She rocks 'em and socks 'em," "I'm speechless."
One user even went where most dare not tread, and compared Underwood to the King himself--"I thought that nobody could come close to singing this song like Elvis did during his concerts. I was wrong, Carrie put her heart and soul into this amazing version!"

Underwood and Gill's fellow stars in the audience appeared moved by the performance, as well. Martina McBride stares transfixed at the stage, the ordinarily humorous Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert watch reverently, while Sugarland's Kristian Bush nods his head and Jennifer Nettles mouths "What a voice."
After hitting the final, climactic notes, Underwood wrapped the powerful performance up with a hug for Gill. Then, she wiped away a few tears...and faced a standing ovation from her peers. How great, indeed.

Only in New York

Saturday night Amy, Julie, and I decided it was time for a Chipotle run (a ridiculously common occurrence for me), and walked our way down to the nearest one on 85th. Being dinner time, it was crowded and the only seats left were at the bar facing the large window that looked onto the street. We finished our food, and idled in our seats. There was music playing overhead, and a particularly beat-tastic song came on, and, naturally, the three of us began to dance in rhythm together. The response from passersby on the street was overwhelming- every person that walked by began to laugh or cheer or join in the dancing- I couldn't keep a straight face myself. This all culminated in a group of teenage boys walking by who became especially enthralled in our dancing... They walked on, but one of them returned moments later and mooned us for all to see. I don't know about the rest of you, but I consider this ultimate praise! I also appropriately recently discovered a new favorite quote: "We are all fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well just dance."

The night before that was one of the most fun I've had in the city, having a grand old time with all the people from school. Let's just say it involved a rooftop (with a view of the Empire State Building!), music, dancing, and lasted (for me at least) until nearly 5 in the morning. It was fantastic.

A few weeks ago, a clearly deranged and drugged out man got on the train with me, talking quite loudly to someone who was not there. I think he may have been finishing a conversation from earlier- You know how we all think of the things we should have said after we've talked to someone? Well this guy was saying those things out loud as if the guy could still hear him. Little gems like, "Got a fine woman on your arm, can't take care of her. I take care of my women!!" and  "I fear no man! I walk with the LAWD!!!" At first he was just annoying the crap out of me- how many crazies can there BE in this city??!- and I was quite tempted to speak up and force him to stop. While I was trying to figure out the best way to run quickly after saying something, I began to want more than to make him shut it. I genuinely started considering asking him, "Excuse me, who are you talking to?" The answer could have been fascinating. Unfortunately, an old man got on the train and the crazy dude started addressing the general assembly asking, "What has happened to this country?! Tell me! What has happened?!" The old man asked him what he thought had happened, prompting crazy dude to stand and say he asked first. Old man began to explain exactly what had happened to this country- successive bad administrations, which caused Crazy to exclaim how he was an idiot and successful administrations weren't the issue. I began dreading the inevitable saving of the Old Man I was going to have to perform, but luckily Crazy got off at the next stop. Old Man turned to all of us and said those always-true words: "Only in New York."

Tonight... I guess I could talk about the stuff that isn't so great. But there's not much point in focusing on that, is there? And though half the time things still don't really make sense to me, I'm beginning to think I might be thinking a bit too much.

So carry on, folks. Keep that head up, even when you would like nothing more than to bang it against the table repeatedly. Song that has pretty much been my anthem for the past few weeks:

Successful Weekend!

Okay. Last October, me and my friends Alex, Jake, and Kyra happened to be in Madison Square Park at around 11 in the morning checking out the Shake Shack. As is usual with that park in the fall months there was some kind of music festival going on, and as we sat down a little band took the stage called Tim and the Space Cadets, singing fantastically cool kids rock songs like Superhero and The Greatest Party Ever. We instantly became the group's biggest fans, heading backstage like stalkers and making our way to lead singer Tim. Six months and several Facebook requests later, today we found ourselves at Kindiefest in Brooklyn catching the Space Cadets once again. Before we knew what was happening, we had T-shirts and CDs, were chilling with Tim and friends, pulling roadie duty and helping load up the merch, and heading out to eat with pretty much the coolest band ever.

It turned into a pretty awesome afternoon, folks. These guys are rockin', and Jake, Alex, and I were definitely starstruck, flipping out, and every other version of excited. Tim is legitimately our hero, and now we don't have to feel like creepy stalkers when we say that- We know that guy! If you wanna check out the band you can go here: http://www.timandthespacecadets.com/. I recommend 'em, yo.

Yesterday evening was spent at Coney Island with friends, and all I can say about that is LOVE. Between frisbee wars, volleyball, picture-taking frenzies, and eating dinner at McDonalds like true Americans, I had one of the most wonderful nights in a long time.

One half of my first series of Exam Plays at school is done; I performed in Bury the Dead on Friday. It's such strange work, acting. When you're performing, it's difficult to ever know whether you're doing well or not. I'm guessing this is particularly true of deeply emotional roles, which Bury the Dead certainly was (Dead soldiers rising out of the grave, refusing to be buried despite begging by the significant women in their lives. Ya, it's heavy.) The compliments I received from friends and faculty afterward were probably the most humbling experience I've gone through in awhile. Tomorrow is the final performance of my second show, The Shadow Box, and then it's on to two new plays! I can't believe this school year will be over in just a few weeks. That's crazy.

Day by day, I try to stay strong. It's not easy; it still hurts. I still don't really understand. But I guess I don't have to. Days like these, moments of wonder, joy... I'm grateful for those. The rest I'll try to let go and let Him take care of.