Event

Things have been going well recently. Still looking for a job, but I have interviewed 3 times with one place and I hope that pans out. I am excited about it, so I hope they call soon. 

But something exciting is happening this weekend. I have a booth at The Fire Museum's 29th Annual Firematic Flea Market. I will be selling some photos, matted and frame ready, or un-matted and you can do it yourself. I will also have a whole bunch of other fire stuff. I am helping a friend sell some fire magazines, light bars, bunker gear, toys, and hoods. I mean a ton of stuff. From what I hear this thing is huge every year. 

I know lots of you have reached out and wanted to get some prints, this would be a good time to do it. 

The Flea Market is this Saturday March 2, 2013. It is at the Cleveland Fire Department Fire Training Academy at 3101 Lakeside Ave, Cleveland, Ohio from 8am - 1pm. Admission is $3.00 and free for those 12 and under. 

Get excited, hope to see you there. 

Opening Weekend

Miss Greater Cleveland 2012, Meggie Wittman plays Laurey in MGP's 2013 production of Oklahoma!

When my wife goaded me into doing this year's latest show for Mighty Goliath Productions, I was hesitant. I am not known for my singing and dancing and all through high school and adulthood, I considered myself a pretty terrible singer and dancer. But nonetheless all my typical excuses for not doing the show were useless this year. I didn't have a job so I had some time on my hands in the evenings so I reluctantly agreed.

After a few weeks of rehearsals, I started to get into it. Once we moved onto the stage and started blocking scenes with actual set pieces and suddenly the show started to come to life, I really started to get into it. Besides being front and center in a tap dance piece, I am also up front for a lot of other numbers too.

I never realized how much I do actually enjoy being on stage. I haven't been on stage like this since my Sophomore year in High School. It is really energizing, and more importantly I had a lot of fun. No wonder why my wife has been doing this for close to 17 years and counting.

Throughout the process of doing this show, one thing driving me to get past my insecurity to get on stage was something more important. Mighty Goliath Productions is not a for-profit production company. It is a true volunteer organization all the way down to the director and production team. All profits go to the Avon Lake Performing Arts programs in the school system, giving them support in the world of failing levies and cut backs. To date the program has gifted over $200,000 to Avon Lake's schools.

Performing arts are culture. They expose you to a whole new level of experiences, and more importantly they force you to use your imagination. This is a cause that I believe in, and now that I have done a show in an organization my grandmother was a founding member of in 1959, well, it just seems right.

There are two more shows this weekend. Friday and Saturday 7:30pm at the Avon Lake High School Performing Arts Center. Head to mightygoliath.com for more information.

New York

New York City in enchanting. Standing outside on Ocean Ave, waiting for my brother to go turn the moving van around to park across from his building, I sat on a bench. I closed my eyes and I listened. You could hear the dull roar from the traffic, an impatient driver honking at the guy who didn't have a reaction time of a drag racer on the green light. In the distance you hear the sirens of a fire truck. The hustle and bustle of a city of millions, yet there I sat at on a bench, and the scene was uniquely serene.

When my brother, Keith, asked me to ride with him and help him move to Brooklyn, I jumped at the opportunity. Helping my brother and seeing a city that has inspired so many songs, books, and even lives is something you just can't pass up. Once passed through the Holland Tunnel and then over the Brooklyn Bridge, you feel the city breath life into you. The road that takes so much out of you, gives you so much back once you get into it. The bumper to bumper traffic is just a fact of life. No sense getting upset about being in it. Just hold your ground and you will be fine.

Standing at a subway platform waiting for the Q train, I paused. I was really here. What I was seeing was real. I was excited to be there at that moment, but what I was even more excited for was my brother's new adventure. Five years ago he left for Chicago to follow a dream of performing improv. Having graduated iO and Second City, he decided to move on to film school which was the original plan out of high school. The stars aligned and there he was, standing next to me on the subway platform.

I was glad to help. I am proud of him. Parts of me wish I could do the same, parts of me are over joyed to have the simple life that I have with my beautiful wife and kids in a place that doesn't include sitting in traffic for 30 minutes to go 7 miles.  Guess we will just have to visit him soon.