Thursday, July 31, 2003

Ahhhh. Scotland. In Edinburgh, everything revolves around the castle, a towering edifice built on the most impressive mound of mossy rock I've ever seen. It's massive and fantastic--I keep wanting to charge up its side with half my face painted blue.

Things here are good--though the flight was atrocious and delayed, we have since recovered. Somehow it took longer to get from London to Edinburgh than it did from New York to London--go figure. Also, owing to "the magic of theatre" we had to carry forty pounds of solid lead trestle on the airlines, and this, suprisingly, was not quite as amusing as it looks.

Advance buzz seems decent from here--I have an interview with the BBC tonight, people at the venue and in the area seem to have heard of the show, and I've talked to 3 folks who have read the book. Downside is that the poster isn't getting all that much traction--it seems to be outclassed in size by other posters, and where I've seen it (in the Assembly hall) it hasn't garnered choice location. From what I can tell it is a fluid game--there are conservatively 3,500 shows here this year, so the way to win is word of mouth coupled with the rare TV and radio exposure.

Our producer on the ground, Marlene, is wonderful to work with--warm, energetic and on the fucking ball. I love people who know their shit...who OWN their shit, completely and utterly. Marlene is one of those, and I swear I could kiss her every time she answers two telephones and juggles email to elegantly toss off perfect press releases. She really is inspiring...in my next life, I want to be in relations, as it appears to be more fun than actually creating things.

The venue itself is intimate and perfect--I am so delighted. I actually think it may be the best venue we've ever played, and this particular combo of trestles, desk and door, though a bitch to get together, kicks total ass. I love the whole of the Assembly rooms--it's a wonderful spot at the heart of the fest, and there seem to be a great deal of

So, now we do press tonight, and the big press kickoff tomorrow...we're performing the first movement of training, as it's smart and funny w/o needing a lot of grounding from other parts of the show. Part of me thinks it would be wiser to patch together "greatest hits" from throughout the show, but I don't want the thing to look like it created by an epileptic with ADD, so for now JM's wisdom and sanity prevails.

Last thing: against all experience, our first real meal in the UK featured an excellent goat cheese SALAD. Salad! In the UK! It's enough to make a grown man weep with joy.