May Candle Preview...

The full photo shoot will take place tomorrow, but till then, here is the living room preview of the May Candle, that is scented with Bamboo Leaves, Fresh Cut Field Grass, Jade Lotus, and Lychee Nut. It's scent is refreshing and clean. It smells of fresh cut grass, and the emerging scents of summer to come. It's bright and pleasing colors will bring a highlight to the darkest corners of your home.
More tomorrow evening after the official photo shoot is completed.

Much love,
Steve

Quickly...

Last day to order April Candles!
candlesbystephen@yahoo.com

I'll make this brief...

Jenna Sokolowski sent me this. This photo is from backstage at the Kennedy Center on the day of the reading of Dani Girl. Since Marty, my character is obsessed with Superman and other heroes in the movies, I thought I would dress the part, even down to the basics.
Here is me sharing those basics with Jenna's camera.
Yes. A grown man can wear underoos.

PS...(A CAUTIONARY TALE)

No one from Arlington County has answered my e-mail. Anyone know something else I can do to try to get an explanation of this from someone?

Candles By Stephen News - New Options Available!

I have some more news from CANDLES BY STEPHEN. I am now offering two other candle options available for sale immediately. One is the wax tart, an option for those who aren't really candle burners but have a candle warmer to enjoy the scents of a lighted candle. The other option is a floating candle.
These candles are perfect centerpieces in a bowl of water or in an outside pond.
Pricing is the same:
2 Tarts or Floating Candles = $3.50
3 Tarts or Floating Candles = $4.00
6 Tarts or Floating Candles = $8.00



The sizes for both are about the size of a Reese's Cup (a Regular one, not miniature). But the Scent is really packed into the Tarts, and the Floating Candles, well...float!
Subscribers also have the option to switch votives for tarts or floating candles upon request at any time even if just for one certain month!






Also in "CBS" News, As I stated in my first posting on the CBS blog, Custom Orders and Designs are available upon request. I wanted to share such a Custom Order with you as an example of what I can do for your special occasions.
I was asked to make an order of 100 votives and 4 Star Pillars for a special event. The theme of the event was a Beach theme.
I bandied this thought about and then a thought came to my mind. I took a photo while at the beach this past January, and it sprung to mind.









So I crafted a candle that represented that picture, tried to match it for color, and created a little wax snapshot of the beach that everyone who attends the event can take home with them.








I then made them all, keeping the original design as a road map for the rest.







So whatever your large group function, either Bat Mitzvah, Bar Mitzvah, Wedding, Banquet, Opening Night, etc., use Candles By Stephen and support local arts through your order.
Visit www.candlesbystephen.blogspot.com

Tornado Safety

As we see from yesterday's tornadoes in Southern Virginia, and the many more that have passed through Maryland in the past several years, we are apparently getting more of these nasty storms than we used to. Global Warming? Maybe so.
At any rate, I was sent this by Arlington Alert today, I'm sure as a brush up for readiness in lieu of yesterday's Virginia tornadoes. So, I thought I would pass it on to you as a gentle and helpful reminder to those of you who have either never experienced a tornado, or think that they can't come here. They obviously can come here, or near to here. So refresh what you know or think you know and read this tip sheet below...
Tornado Safety Saves Lives
Know the difference between a tornado watch and warning:
Tornado watch: Tornadoes could develop in your area. Stay tuned to your local radio, TV or NOAA weather radio for further information and possible warnings. Be prepared to take cover if necessary.
Tornado warning: A tornado has been sighted or has been indicated by NWS Doppler radar. Warnings are given to individual counties or cities and include the tornado's location, direction and speed. If you are in or near its path, seek shelter immediately. A weather alert radio is an important part of being ready for an emergency. These radios will deliver weather watches and warnings from the local National Weather Service offices, 24 hours a day. They can be programmed to receive alerts for specific areas, and some have a tone alert that will activate a weather radio even if the audio is turned off.
If a Tornado is Headed Your Way: Shelter immediately in the nearest substantial building. Go to the building's basement. If there is no basement, move to a small, windowless interior room such as a closet, bathroom or interior hall on the lowest level of the building. Be sure to use the stairs to reach the lowest level, not an elevator. Protect your body from flying debris with a heavy blanket or pillows. Take precautions if you can not get to a substantial buildings.
If you are in:
Open buildings (shopping malls, gymnasiums or civic centers): Try to get into the restroom or an interior hallway. If there is no time to go anywhere else, protect yourself right where you are by getting up against something that will support or deflect falling debris. Protect your head by covering it with your arms.
Automobiles: Get out of your vehicle and try to find shelter inside a sturdy building. A culvert or ditch can provide shelter if a substantial building is not nearby — lie down flat and cover your head with your hands. Do not take shelter under a highway overpass or bridge, because debris could get blown under them or the structures themselves could be destroyed.
Outdoors: Try to find shelter immediately in the nearest substantial building. If no buildings are close, lie down flat in a ditch or depression and cover your head with your hands.
Mobile homes: Do not stay in mobile homes. You should leave immediately and seek shelter inside a nearby sturdy building or lie down in a ditch away from your home, covering your head with your hands. Mobile homes are extremely unsafe during tornadoes.

Helen Hayes Awards 2008

Congrats to all of my friends who received the award tonight! Congrats to Eric for Best Direction in Meet John Doe. Jon Kalbfleisch for Merrily We Roll Along. Heidi Blickenstaff for Meet John Doe, Marc Kudisch for Witches of Eastwick, Nancy Robinette and J. Fred Shiffman for Souvenir, Matt Gardiner for everything he won (I've lost track)!
And for everyone who was nominated as well. Congratulations all around, and in the immortal words of Tory Ross: "Well Done!"
Here are some photos of the mayhem...

A CAUTIONARY TALE - GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT

My tale of woe and tow has been picked up and posted over at DC BLOGS today!
I have written Arlington County inquiring their tow policy in the Shirlington Garage.
Will I hear back from them? I don't know. We shall see.
Thank you all for your support and comments. I will keep you posted on what the County has to say back to me.
SGS

A CAUTIONARY TALE - PART 2

So I rolled into the cursed garage of Shirlington at 6:57PM, as my picture shows, to rehearse for an upcoming extension of the Kander and Ebb Celebration at Signature. Of course I could not park in a Signature parking space, as they were all taken. (See my comments below on the last post where I tell the story of an Arlington County Police officer parking in a Signature Theatre Employee space).
I noticed as I came in that the spaces that were designated for Library customers were full.






Yet...
How is this possible?
As I reiterate, these are the hours of the Shirlington Library...








And to add further hypocrisy, the Police are added as a secondary number to the over zealous and money grubbing dirt of the earth towing company, A-1 Towing. This is even more funny since a Police car was parked in a Signature Theatre Employee space earlier this week. I guess that is ok?!
So the Library has been closed for one hour and fifty seven minutes, yet, these are the cars who are parking there...





Now the reason that I was towed was that I was parking in a Library spot. Even thought the Library had closed 8 hours earlier. Well, here are many parked cars in the Library spots and the Library was closed. Why aren't they being towed?
Is there a certain time that towing starts to get enforced, and if so, why is that time not notated in signage in the garage? Why is it ok for these people to park here and they don't get towed, yet I did?
Let's look at the ONE small sign outside the garage again...

It says Permit Parking 24 Hours a Day/ 7 Days a Week Towing enforced.
Well...obviously not. There is a hypocrisy here. The tow trucks really tow at a certain time. Why is that time not posted? If it was, I would have not parked where I did. The $100 that I had to pay left me with $75 to get through the week on. This will make things very tight for me. For what?
There is already limited parking in Shirlington, so why does the Library horde these spaces even when they are not open?
SO I left my rehearsal at 9:07PM, 4 hours and 7 minutes since the library had closed.

Look at the cars behind my cell phone. As you see, they are still there. No one is towing them. Why? Why is it ok at 9:07PM, but not at 2AM? If there is a certain hour in which it is forbidden, it should be posted. I cannot help the fact that I keep later hours due to my jobs, and if all of these people who parked here illegally at either 6:57pm or 9:07pm were not towed, then why should I have been?






I am not done exploring this, and will be e-mailing both Federal Realty and the Shirlington Library tomorrow. I will also be in touch with WTOP's Shirley Rooker with Call to Action, and Channel 7 on Your Side.
It is not in your best interests to park in this garage, as there are obviously rules that are being made up at random that don't apply at all hours of the day, and you could be towed within 5 minutes of parking there.
Stay away from this garage at all costs.
SGS

A CAUTIONARY TALE - UPDATED

Why am I awake at 4AM? I just got back from the impound lot. My car got towed from the Signature garage tonight. I ran into Harris Teeter for 5 minutes (seriously 5 minutes) to get a loaf of bread. When Matt and I came out, there was no car. We parked in a Library spot. But guess what? The Library was closed for hours before we parked there.
So I was there for 5 minutes and the company patrolling Shirlington at 1AM towed me. There is no signage that tells you that you will be towed if you park there.

Now I know that no one towing or whatever knows or cares about that, but it burns my butt that I am awake at 4AM because of this. It burns me up so bad that instead of falling asleep like I should, I chose to write this to you.
It took FOREVER for me to even get my car from impound and cost me $100 that I DONT HAVE. Is it really that important that the Library enforces towing on its spaces after it is clearly closed?
I am going to speak to the head of the library tomorrow to discuss this. I took pictures, and there is no signage to support this.
So be wary, Shirlington parker...5 minutes in the lot can cost you HOURS of time and $100.
It would burn me up less if I didn't have to fight for parking during KISS and know and SEE people parking in the "Theatre Employee" spaces who were clearly not there as a "Theatre Employee". But are they towed? No.
UGH.
UPDATE:
So I went down to the garage this morning to specifically take pictures of everything.
Here is the outside of the garage. Keep this picture in mind for later.




Yes, I did park in a spot that was reserved for Library Visitors. But since I was literally running in for a loaf of bread for the morning (It was 2AM), I thought it would be ok for me to park there to just walk in and walk out. Nothing there said that it was going to get towed, right? Nothing says Permit Only, or Tow Away Zone, or Reserved 24 Hours, right?







I know that the Library is quite closed at this hour, so I can't imagine that I am preventing anyone from visiting the library.







But after I was towed, the Harris Teeter checkout girl went out with us, and got the number off of this small sign which is outside the garage to the right, which I have never seen before, and definitely did not see in then dark of 2AM.

But still, it says Permit Parking 24 Hours a Day - you need no Permit to park in a library space. Even if I would see this sign, I would imagine that it pertained more to the Residential Parking on the top floor.
This is simply inadequate signage, and I am not going to take this lying down. I am going to contact Federal Realty (Thanks, Googla Monster) and fight this out. I may also have to "Get 7 on my Side".
I am sorry, but in economic times like these, I CANNOT afford to lose $100 for something this idiotic.
Wish me luck.
SGS

Dani Girl

(Pictured are George Fulginiti-Shaker, Jenna Sokolowski, Michael John Casey, Gia Mora, and me)
Today was the reading of Dani Girl at the Kennedy Center's Family Theatre. I have had a wonderful time this past week working on this show with this fantastic cast of actors and the creative staff. This show was written by Christopher Dimond and Michael Kooman. It is about a little girl of 9 named Dani (Jenna Sokolowski)uses her creative imagination to escape and understand the harsh facts of her life. She is battling Cancer for the second time, and is on the quest to find out "Why is Cancer?"
She enlists the help of her imaginary friend Raph (Michael John Casey) and her hospital roommate, Marty (me)to aid her on her quest. Bringing her back into reality is her mother (Gia Mora), who would much prefer that she get more rest than use her imagination.
This is a smart and uplifting show, and the audience responded very well to it. I enjoyed being Marty, who is a movie buff (big stretch for me to play that, huh?) and escapes his own realities through the movies. Hmm? Maybe it's because I just closed Kiss of the Spider Woman, but that sounds a bit like Molina Jr., doesn't it?
There are other characters in the show, too. There is the late Sir Floppy McFloppersby, pictured below, whose memorial we see when the show opens.

There is also Mr. Fritz, the teddy bear. I loved this little bear so much. The actual physical bear is Christoper Dimond's Father's childhood teddy bear, and he wrote the song "Requiem for a Teddy Bear" looking at the bear. It describes him to a tee. That song in and of itself was so beautiful and sad. I cried every single time I heard it. Here is Mr. Fritz...

I know that the piece is moving on to San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater this summer. I hope that it comes back to the DC Metro Area sometime in the near future, as I loved the show!
This was the first year that I have ever done the New Visions/New Voices Festival, and if this year is any indication of the quality of the works done in it, then I can't wait to do it again next year!
Thanks to everyone at the Kennedy Center, and everyone in the cast. It was truly a great week!

FINAL DAYS OF APRIL CANDLES!

Final 6 days to order April's design over at Candles By Stephen.
Recent April Candle Testimonials:
"I love the way they look and smell!" -E. Rosman
"I am receiving such positive feedback for the candles both for look and smell."
-W. Gilbertson
So get yours today!

Over the Wall

We closed Spider Woman last night. I loved this production and everyone in it. I am blessed to have been a part of it, and am very thankful and grateful to all involved.
I started a the New Visions/New Voices Festival at the Kennedy Center this morning at 9:30AM. The musical that I am involved with is called Dani Girl, written by Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond. It is a fantastic and touching piece about A girl grappling with Cancer and trying to understand why what is happening is happening to her. I play a hospital roommate (9 years old) who is also suffering from Cancer, and befriends her in her search for the Why? of their situations. This piece is gorgeous and makes me cry just talking about it.

So I am still a busy boy this week. Details to follow about Dani Girl.
Here are some photos from closing.

Catch Up

Here it is 1:34 AM and I am up and blogging. I am making candles and pondering the Pope's visit hindering my commute tomorrow morning. I also just got another job today! A fantastic day all in all!
I want to share with you some of the Fairlington Spring time offerings that I have had the time to take pictures of. Enjoy!