John McCain's Senior Moments

8:08 on 8/8/08

umm...i was bored and we were realizing that it was...um...gonna be 8:08 on 8/8/08, and um...so....so i made these 8's out of construction paper, and um....see i made these 8's and i thought that...like umm....we could take a picture holding them...so we could have a picture that reminded us forever that when it was 8:08 on 8/8/08...umm...we were sitting in my living room doing nothing.
So..umm...uh...that's this picture.

















See...heh...see there are Matt and Eleasha even pointing it out.
heh.
8:08 on 8/8/08



















he-he...heh...see?



I um...i took those numbers that I made and then put them..um...put them on the front...front door...cause...it's 8/8/08...and um...now it is 9:56...so...umm...umm...i guess that's stupid now, huh?
umm...
well...
see you next September for 9:09 on 9/9/09..
cause we can only keep doing this for 2 more years....so...uhh...
yeah

1000

Well here we are folks. Post 1000. Not to shabby of a little ride it's been. Ups and downs and a lot of bad spelling and punctuation. Thanks for reading this for the past 3 years. It has been very fun for me to journal out the journeys I have taken with my loved ones and friends.
I thank you for all of the encouraging support, emotional and otherwise.
Thank you for your continued comments on my posts. Your fun and witty replies that make my day and keep me smiling.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy days to check to see what I am up to, and what I have to say about whatever it is I am running my mouth off about.
Thank you for being here and let's keep on keeping on.

Love,
SGS

Why So Serious?

I saw The Dark Knight today. Like the press everywhere, I was bowled over by Heath Ledger's performance. He was the closest in true accuracy of the comic book's depiction of The Joker. I was truly unsettled whenever he was on screen. I never knew what he was going to do. He was amazing. I found myself thinking back to Jack Nicholson's performance, which I like as well, but let's face it - that was nearly 20 years ago. Times have changed, and this is definitely the definitive Joker for our times.
I found this fan video that intersperses Jack's Joker with Heath's. Unfair, to be sure, but still interesting.
Enjoy.

Ps...this is post 999.

Back on Track

We now have a new computer at home. Our new computer is a used computer, so not new, but newish. It is from Hilary Clinton's campaign, and we got it through a friend who knew she was selling them off cheap and we took advantage of it.
I am glad to be back up and running at home, where I write the best.
I am discovering and uploading photos that I forgot I had. I have been offline at home all summer. Hard to believe.
So...
what is up?
Insomnieoke is over. I loved doing it, but am glad that it is done. I got very naked doing that one. Very naked.
Emotionally, that is.
And somewhat physically, I guess.
Thank all of you for coming, and for coming to Signature's Open House.



It was fun, if not exhausting.

















Fred, Kurt, Matt and I went to see Jerry Springer the Opera tonight.
What a funny show. The cast is great, and I laughed VERY hard.
The problems I had with the show are directed at its book, and the direction the show goes in Act 2. That being said, I still had a great time.

We did quick cocktails pre-show at Playbill, then went and had a blast.
I don't think I have had as much profanity in one day since the last tech rehearsal that I have had.
What's up with me other than that?


I will be performing at Kensington Arts Theatre's Benefit, which in their words "Saturday, August 23rd, will be hosted by and starring KAT favorite Diego Prieto (Side Show, Cabaret, Closer Than Ever, The Rocky Horror Show, Company) and Brad Oscar, who originated the role of Franz Liebkind in the Broadway production of The Producers and received a 2001 Tony nomination for his performance. Brad later succeeded Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock for over 1200 performances on Broadway, on tour, in London, and he originated the role in the Las Vegas production at the Paris Casino. "
Matt and I will be appearing there. I will be singing from One Red Flower and 110 in the Shade. A package of my September Candles will be up for auction there.
Check it out HERE.

Also, On Monday, September 1st, we will be back at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center for our annual Signature Theatre hour. This time it is a little bit more exciting for me, because it is an hour of totally my husband, Matt Conner's work.
New things that no one has even heard yet.
Here is their take:
"September 1, 2008
Signature Theater presents a showcase of three new musicals by one of The Next Generation–commissioned artists, composer Matt Conner—Crossing, Senior Moments, and Sleepy Hollow (with book writer Hunter Foster)"
You can even watch it LIVE on the day of.
My August Candles are doing VERY well.

The smells are amazing, the design is one of my best, and they are flying off of my shelf.


Get yours at my link over there on the right.
So that is what is up right now. Expect to hear more from me now that I have a computer at home now again. I have missed this.
I have MUCH to share with you.
My 1000th post is like 2 away, so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading, and goodnight (morning?)
NIGHT.
Love,
Steve

Thank You...

I recieved a letter delivered to me at Signature Theatre from the Arlington Animal Welfare League. It was a letter letting me know that a donation had been made in Rusty's name by an anonymous donor.
Since the only way I figure that someone would have known about all of the Rusty saga is through this blog, I am thanking you, anonymous donor for this truly touching gift. It means a great deal to not only me but also to my family.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
With the Highest Regards,
Stephen Gregory Smith

LAST CHANCE: INSOMNIEOKE @ SIGNATURE THEATRE

Ok...this is the last chance to catch INSOMNIEOKE, my one man cabaret/sleep over/karaoke night at Signature Theatre. The last performance will also be the last performance of Signature's Sizzlin' Summer Cabaret Series, which will be tomorrow night at 9:30pm. Tickets are priced at $15.
This will be the official last time to catch the full shebang.
The next day (Saturday) Signature is having it's OPEN HOUSE, which I will participating in several events. One of which will be "Selections from INSOMNIEOKE", which will NOT I repeat will NOT be the same as what you will see tomorrow night.
SO come for the full shebang tomorrow, and hopefully you will come to Signature's Open House on Saturday. It is a full day of free events and should be a fantastic time. I might drop dead from exhaustion by Saturday night, but other than that, it will be a blast.
:)
Hope to see you over the next 2 days!

Candle News

This is the last day that July's patriotic pillars are available, and also the LAST day that one year subscriptions may be ordered. If that means nothing to you, then ignore this post, but if not, send your order right away!
Also, Orders for the August Beach Candles have been pouring in and I have been slaving over a hot stove most of the past few weeks. These candles smell AMAZING, I must say.
So go ahead and send in your August Candle orders ASAP!

Full details over at CANDLES BY STEPHEN.

Blast from the Past

BREAKING NEWS: California Quake

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake has rattled Los Angeles, California.Visit CNN.com (a link to the right hand side) for further details.

A Bumpy Night...

So...how was it? I have to say, it was really cool to see this film with a large room full of people who know and love it. The anticipatory giggles that started to erupt during the INFAMOUS party scene were too much. Several of the famous lines:
"Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"
" Nice speech, Eve. But I wouldn't worry too much about your heart. You can always put that award where your heart ought to be."
- got rounds of applause. Even small looks from certain characters got huge bouts of laughter from the loving audience. I laughed at lines that I never thought of as funny, but couldn't help myself once sucked into the group mentality of the audience.
That all being said, we arrived there at 5:50pm, and we were the LAST people let in the door. This film was screened NOT in the theatre, but in a long area upstairs.

It was nice to see that Bette could still haul in a nice crowd. Of course, it was free. While in line, a youngish teen asked the gentleman behind me "What is the line for?", to which the man remarked, it is for All About Eve, a black and white film starring Bette Davis".
The teen said to his friend, "Man, let's go - it's not for a real movie, it's for an old movie."
Apparently old movies aren't "real".

We were very lucky that we just got let in the door. I will say that it was not the most comfortable temperature in there, and felt like there was no air circulating at all in the screening area. That being said, I would not have traded the experience for anything. The chance to see one of my all time favorite films on a big (ish) screen was priceless.

A full schedule (only two weeks left) of the Bette Davis film festival is available HERE. Mr. Skeffington is next Monday, August 4th, and...wait for it...Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?is August 11th. I will definitely be there if at all possible on the 11th! That will be TOO much fun!

Best Bette...

Me and Matty are going to see All About Eve at the National Theatre tonight at 6:30pm for free! Details HERE!

INSOMNIEOKE - FINAL PERFORMANCE - AUGUST 1st - 9:30PM@ SIGNATURE THEATRE

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Tranquility on the Potomac

Matt and I are going out on the boat again tomorrow, and I wanted to share some more peaceful shots I have taken from other boat trips from this past Summer.



Matt loves this one solitary tree growing defiantly off of a rock in the middle of the Potomac. This is located at a spot called "Three Sisters", named so for the three large rocks in the middle of the river. I want to get a better picture of it tomorrow that is perhaps closer, so I will kayak out to the rock and get a close up.







I thought that this picture was dripping in romance. The small boat, the umbrella, the sun on the water. Heaven.
I picture them reading poetry to each other. *sigh*






Light on water is hypnotic.






The river bank of the Potomac is full of many interesting little nooks and areas. I loved this one. It looks magical for some reason.








Summer is winding down, with just one week of July and the month of August left. Enjoy every remaining moment of it.
Luv,
SGS

Dizzy Miss Lizzy's Roadside Review Presents The Oresteia

Last night, Matty and I went to see Dizzy Miss Lizzy's Roadside Review Presents The Oresteia at the Capital Fringe Festival. DMLRR is the brainchild of Debra Buonaccorsi and Steve McWilliams, both long time friends of mine. I had known that they had been working on this show for quite some time, but had no idea what to expect as I sat in the packed Fringe Tent on New York Avenue.


Matt met me at TicketPlace and we went up 7th, catching a bite on the way at Potbelly's...which made me feel like a big ol' potbelly the rest of the night, but I digress...We took in the lovely sights of the neighborhood...









As we crossed on to New York Avenue, a young lady yelled at the window to Matt "Looking good!".
Matt loves the city.
After we passed the Eagle, we saw our destination in the distance...











I have to say, the former sight of the AV Restaurant is an odd, yet somehow perfect venue for the Fringe headquarters. The tents looming behind the odd and somehow tacky Greek looking statue add just the right atmosphere.









Speaking of that statue, the touch of the Fringe Tee Shirt and the string of Christmas lights was inspired.









Actually, that statue's butt was being ogled by most of the people I talked to on the outside deck. But then again, it's pretty easy to have a perfectly sculpted rear when your rear has been perfectly sculpted.





And as a sidenote, in the Fringe Headquarter's restroom, they had painted words and phrases on the walls to tart up the look of the place, and on the door of the restroom is painted the word "Consume".
I know what they are going for, as in consume as many shows at Fringe as you can....but...I dunno...I don't think that consume is the best word to think of while in the restroom. Bad form there...
Anyway, I digress again...
The Show.
If you are not familiar with the plot of the Oresteia, it doesn't matter, but HERE IT IS.
Deb's lovely husband Jay was such a sweet gentleman and bought me a beer at the bar before the show started. What a guy! :) And then we went into the tent.
While hot and steamy, the setting was perfect. It smelled of beer and sweat. Slowly the roadside review performers started to emerge, getting ready for the show. My ex-onstage girlfriend, Felicia Curry came out and immediately started stretching. She even engaged another cast member in a head stand-off. She clearly won. Maria Egler can vamp it up like nobody's business, and when she sings her first song, which I think is called Vengeance, her voice screaming out the high punk style notes was enough to make me look around the audience with shock wondering if any of them really appreciated how *(&%&^% high the notes she was belting were.
Amazing.
From the look of the costumes, to the cast, to the actual convention of how they tell the story, (complete with circus style deaths of Greek characters) it is all very smart and VERY entertaining. Steve McWilliams belted out a growling Victory song as he rocked out on guitar (he was Agamemnon), Deb was Iphigenia, dancing a gorgeous little ballet piece as guitars strummed in the background. Her ill fated character is killed by her father, Agamemnon as a sacrafice to the gods. Maria Egler plays Clytemnestra to the hilt, funny and viscious at the same time. Mike Kozemchak serves as a narrarator/ringleader of this circus like evening. His kind of a Willy Wonka meets Monty Pythonesque dryness fits this role perfectly. And Felicia Curry never dissapoints as she performs a fantastic dance as Cassandra, the doomed oracle, and as Athena at the end, singing the catchiest song I've heard in a long time. This show needs to be fully produced. It is aching to be. It needs that next level. It is ready for it.

But look, everyone in this thing is good, and doing a fantastic job, and I can't stress to you enough that if you can get there for the final show at 4PM today, you really should. It is really worth it, and you will not be dissapointed.
I am so proud of what Steve and Debra have created, and was glad to have been able to see such a fantastic show.
Don't take just my word for it, check out THE WASHINGTON POST's Review if you must.
But whatever you do, get your butt, sculpted or unsculpted out of your house and get down to see Dizzy Miss Lizzy's last show at 4PM!!!'
GET TICKETS AT THE DOOR AND GO!!!

Tales of Thunder, Tales of Wonder

Today was our performance at Lubber Run Park for Creative Cauldron's Arts Adventure Camp. This performance was the culmination of three weeks work by 4 different groups of children from the youngest (The Claps), led by Lauren Williams, the next to youngest (The Peals), led by me, The next to oldest (The Rolls), led by Matt Conner, and the oldest (The Rumbles), led by Oran Sandel.
Our theme was Tales of Thunder, Tales of Wonder, and each class was assigned a particular culture (African, Native American, Cambodian, and Norse Mythology) and were to explore those culture's myths of the origins of thunder.
The youngest did the Cambodian folk tale of Thunder and Lightning about a giant and a goddess competing for a magic ball in the skies.
My class did the Native American myth of the Thunderbird, whose mighty wings caused thunder when they flapped.
Matt's class did the West Nigerian tale of "Masterman", which explains thunder by foolish men and women competing to be the best and strongest, and the competition that ensues is the racket you hear in the sky.
Oran's class did a modern take on Thor's legend called Thor Then and Thor Now.
All of these shows were written by the campers themselves. We took their plot ideas, their dialogue ideas and shaped them into a show.





(Lauren and the camp)



My class wrote a tale of a Native American tribe that was suffering from a drought. It had grown so hot that the Parent Thunderbirds up in the hills were too hot, tired and lazy to move. Since they had not flapped their wings, there had been no thunder.
Down in the village, the children of the tribe were trying to think of something to do to help.
They decided to go up to the hills and ask the Thunderbirds for help, but run into the baby Thunderbirds halfway. The baby Thunderbirds tell them of their plight, and the children are flown up to the nest to try to get the adult Thunderbirds up and moving.
They try 3 ways: First they try fireworks, but soon realize they aren't allowed to play with fire, so they can't light them.
Second they try to tickle them, but they are not ticklish.
Third, they develop a dance that is so fun to do, you can't help but join in: The Thunderbird Dance (to the tune of the Chicken Dance).
As the parents watch the fun and join in the dance, when they flap their wings, thunder crashes and a great storm brings rain to the land, ending the drought. The whole tribe as well as the Thunderbirds celebrate and dance in the rain together as our story ends.
I was so proud of them, and they did an awesome job.
Here are some other shots from today's show. Enjoy!

CUTE FACTOR = 199% BE WARNED!

As seen on 7th Street...

Because 7th Street NW is always anything but boring, and since I work there and am privy to all of the marvelous sights and sounds of Penn Quarter pedestrians, I have decided to start a log of all of the strange things I see while at work here in the city's "Theatre District". If any of you have interesting 7th Street shots that you would like to submit, please shoot me an e-mail and we'll throw it up here!
Enjoy!


An interesting habit...

















Isn't it a bit hot for those get ups?











Will the real Crime Dog please stand up...

My Deer Dad...

My Daddy, Roger Smith underwent surgery today. He had a hernia removed...yowch!
He has been suffering this annoying and limiting pain for a long time now, and I am glad his operation was a success. I just heard from Mom (Cyndy) a few moments ago, and all went well.
And no, I didn't spell the title of this post wrong, I wanted to also share with you these pictures that my parents took while spending a day at Ohiopyle State Park. They took this day trip as a sort of fun thing to do before Dad went under the knife and would be out of commission for awhile.




They soon encountered some very bold and playful deer. NO - they didn't touch them for fear of deer ticks, but these deer were very friendly. In the last picture, which I cropped down, you can see two of them on their hind legs play wrestling with each other!



Stay Tuned...more to come!