It's Peanut Butter Bacon Burger Jelly Time!!!

On Saturday after rehearsal, I met up with my good friend and old roomie, Ben. We'd been trying to get together for awhile, and it all came together when I had the idea to have lunch at Slater's 50/50.

SD has had a proliferation of burger joints popping up in the past year, and I even saw signs for a few more opening downtown. But apparently Slaters, which originated in Orange County, opened a restaurant in Point Loma (Liberty Station). My aunt told me about this place, saying she'd heard that their patties were half ground beef and half ground bacon.

And if you know me... you know I have a thang for bacon. (Yes. "Thang.")

So upon confirming with the Yelpers that this was worth checking out, I knew I had to make it down there at some point. Their claim to fame is the 50/50 burger, but you can design your own - they give you a list where you can check off the boxes of buns, cheeses, sauces/spreads, and types of patties (50/50, standard ground beef, turkey, veggie, spiced up)... or you can go with a pre-designed one.

And then I saw it: "Peanut Butter Jellousy".

Peanut Butter.
Jelly.
Bacon.
Burger.
Honey Wheat Bun.

Per the menu (and Yelp), it was a popular item... and I asked the waitress and she admitted she liked it too. So I decided to go against my usual habit of a regular BBQ bacon cheese burger and take a chance on something new.

And it. was. fantastic.

It was hella messy, but to quote my friend Sarah, it tastes like joy. The nice thick cut crispy bacon, the gooey oozing peanut butter and jelly, it all worked together for good.

So if you're in that neck of the woods and you want a good burger (and again, they have lots of good options there), check that place out. I can't wait to go back and try something new! (Also, they have a LOT of beer on tap, and I want to get my drink on next time, since my buddy Ben doesn't really drink, so I abstained.)

Oh, and rad little note - it's cool to hang with a buddy I haven't seen in awhile and be rocking the same charity:water bracelet, since Ben noticed mine and pointed out his own wrist, and then talking about all that cool stuff. Always good to catch up.

Concerts of 2012 - #2: The Fray (2/16/12)

My love for The Fray is well known amongst my friends, I think. I've loved them since their first CD hooked me with "Over My Head (Cable Car)", and have seen them three times already, with each venue getting progressively larger (House of Blues, Open Air Theater, Coors Ampitheater).

So when my friend and I discussed seeing them on their latest tour to promote their newest CD "Scars and Stories", I was game. And I found out that they'd be returning to the small venue where I first saw them (House of Blues), so I knew it would be a great concert.

Then my friend had to bail a few days before the concert, and I had options: (1) find another friend, (2) sell both tickets, or even (3) just go alone.

I heavily debated the second option, especially once I learned the show was sold out and tickets were selling for quite a bit over what I paid for them... so I kinda got dollar signs in my head. But then I remembered how much fun concerts are, how much I love the band and how well they sound live, so I threw it up on Facebook (having recently decided to return to some social media) and someone from the first musical I did last spring ("Joseph...") jumped in fast and said she'd be down to go.

And I'm super glad we did! It was nice to catch up with someone I hadn't seen in a year, and both enjoy a rocking great concert.

Standout moments:

1) After opening with a few new songs, the band finally played something that everyone knew from before, "You Found Me", and I swear, as soon as the familiar notes on the piano started to play, everyone whipped out their cell phones and started recording. Cell phone recording is common these days, but I'd never seen that many phones in the air in such a tight space - it seriously was like 98% of the floor, both guys and girls recording and singing along to the chorus.

2) During "Happiness", the lead (Isaac) stepped off stage and into the middle of the crowd on the floor -- literally the middle of the floor - and finished half the song from the crowd. Of course, more cell phones went in the air again, as those lucky folks to be within arms length were just taking it all in.

3) Everyone singing along to "Over My Head". I love rocking out in one voice with everyone else at concerts!

4) "Look After You"... siiiiiiigh. Such a beautiful song. Saved for the encore, and both Shaela and I were going to be sad if they didn't play it, so as soon as we heard the notes, huge smiles came across our faces. I really hope they keep playing it every time I see them, and I've decided that they are one of those bands that I will always go see. After four times, they still got me.

Lesson learned: I should never second guess myself when trying to decide to go to a concert or not... I should just go.

"What breaks your bones is not the load you're carrying
What breaks you down is all in how you carry..." - from their new song, "The Fighter"

Concerts of the Year Summary:
Concert #1: Young the Giant - SOMA, 2/10/12
Concert #2: The Fray - House of Blues, 2/16/12

Music Musings

A few music-related musings on the eve of the Grammy Awards...

Whitney Houston

I won't be a poser and say that I loved her, at least not in the sense that I would've wanted to see her perform live at any point... but she has always been part of my music library. Her "Whitney" CD from 1990 was one of the first two CDs I have recollection of listening to. This was when CD media was still new and my aunt had a Sony Discman (which was amazing to a 6 year old), and the only two CDs I had access to from her was Whitney's and Wilson Philips... and to this day, I can still song songs from both discs. So it was saddening to hear the news yesterday. I don't think it's a stretch to say that in the 20+ years that have passed since her initial breakthrough, no other female vocalist has come out that can light a candle to her talent. 

Concerts of 2012!

It was bound to happen sooner or later, and I'm actually surprised it took 5 weeks into the year for me to go to one... but it was a great one - Young the Giant performed a great set to a sold-out audience at SOMA last Friday night, and who better to attend my first concert of the year with than Chris - he who holds the record amongst all my friends. We'll see what the rest of the year brings!!!

Strings Rock

Sometimes, a teensy tiny part of me wishes my parents had gotten me to learn a stringed instrument like the violin when I was a kid. Because strings totally class up a song, and I would love to have a face-off like this:

Thoughts at Intermission

So I'm sitting here at The Old Globe's main stage during intermission for "Dividing the Estate" (which has been pretty good so far) and I've been struck by the following observance:

Young adults and professionals do not come out to theatre nearly enough, and it actually makes me kinda sad, in a way.

I've kinda noticed this before, that I'm often surrounded by senior citizens and a sea of gray hair whenever I come out to see a play or musical at the Old Globe or La Jolla Playhouse. And as I wrote yesterday, these companies offer a great deal to young adults and twentysomethings to come out and enjoy the arts. But no one comes... The houses see good sized audiences regardless, but I can't help but feel that my generation, whatever you wanna call us, should start taking some time away from the bars and the clubs and movie theatres with its lame blockbusters and seemingly endless remakes and 3D re-releases and start supporting live theatre. Expand your horizons and experiences a bit, people.

Anyways. Slight vent over. Show is about to resume!

A reason I love SD...

...is because it's a city with renowned theatre in both The Old Globe and the La Jolla Playhouse -- theatre companies that both offer up the opportunity for young adults (under age 30) to see top notch theatre at discount prices ($20).

Tonight I took myself out (as I do from time to time) to see "The Recommendation". This was the world premiere of a play from an up-and-coming playwright from Juilliard (and with a small cast of three that also came from the school). And it was just a really fantastic play that I'd highly recommend - amazingly acted and executed with a simple captivating storyline. I won't go into a full review about it or discuss the themes -- I hated doing all that back in high school...

But I'm so glad that I went to see this. On the drive home, all I could keep thinking about was how lucky I am to be able to take these opportunities that the San Diego theatre scene has to offer, and being able to enjoy these types of premieres for top notch plays or musicals. If I ever end up anywhere else, it's gotta be in a city with theatre! I need my culture fix in the form of live theatre.

So, props to you, San Diego and your plethora of theatre options.

And I get to do it all again tomorrow night, seeing another play! (Oh, and I'm also glad to have two straight nights where I'm not called into rehearsal - that helps too.)

Doppelgangers.

So I'm catching up with an old friend via email and he tells me about this John Legend video where he sings a parody to "Ordinary People" but changes the lyrics to make it about Tim Tebow... but my friend tells me that I kinda look like John Legend!

I never would've made that celebrity look-a-like connection. But this isn't the first time I've been told I look like a black guy... I've been told twice now that I looked like Tiger Woods (and both times were years apart). 

Anyways - I'll let you weigh in on the John Legend resemblance...

Come see me crawl across a table.

"Come see me crawl across a table!" My choreographer told me that should be my hook to get friends and family see me in "Bye Bye Birdie", heh...

Oh right - I never really continued to blog about the whole audition and casting process, huh? And given that my word of the year is "finish", I should get to that. 

As noted in a previous post, I dressed up like a Mormon missionary for my audition, deciding to use a song from my current favorite musical, "The Book of Mormon." I figured, "why not have fun with it and dress up?" So I bought that short-sleeved white button down just for this one purpose. Being the first one up, nerves got the best of me, but it was still a fun upbeat song to sing ("You and Me, But Mostly Me") as compared to the darker toned song from my previous audition. 

Immediately after I sang, the producer asked me to do something for her, as if something caught her eye. She asked me to walk across the room as I owned it... which actually, a few weeks later, I'm totally just reminded of that scene from "Friends" where Joey is working with Susan Sarandon's character and she tells him to walk into the room like he owns it, but then as he walks in, he acts excited at the thought of owning the room, haha... anyways, that then prompted the director to ask me to give them a big cheesy grin... which I tried - I don't know how I looked, really... but I left the room wondering, "what the heck was that all about?"

I got the callback two nights later, asking me to return again to read for Conrad Birdie, one of the leads of the show... and apparently those things they'd asked me to do related to how they saw him (since the character is a rockstar with swagger)... But now I was even more nervous, and in some ways now really wanted the part. Whereas before, not knowing anything about the show, I didn't care who I was. 

So during night two, we had to read a few lines and sing a few measures of one of Conrad's songs... it was a pretty simple process. But I was definitely conflicted between wanting a "big" part and not wanting to deal with the pressure of having to pull that part off either.

In the end, I got placed in the Adult Ensemble. When I got the call, I was really just relieved, between finally knowing that I get to be in another musical and that there's nothing on my shoulders. Not that there's less work though - I still have to be at lots of rehearsals and learn lots of music and harmonies. 

As part of the ensemble, I do have lines to read as "Reporter #1" -- I shall call myself "Kevin" -- and a male quartet member for this one song where we're backing up "Alfred" (the real male lead) but our harmonies are crazy and I'm singing the 2nd Tenor line. I haven't been singing a tenor line since junior high! I tend to just go for the baritone... but this one's going well.

As for the whole "crawling across a table" thing, there's this one number that we started to block last Saturday that had us guys trying our best not to laugh or break character, as we were being introduced to the scene and we're supposed to start off pretty stoic as "Rosie" starts to dance with her hips and stuff (yeahhhhh)... but then we get to let loose... and so far, I've had my ear played with by "Rosie" and get pulled out from my seat by my tie. We didn't do the table crawling yet, but apparently that's forthcoming... anyways, the number seems like it'll be a fun one, so if you want to see the show, let me know!