The Changing of the Guard

Well, it has been quite the whirlwind week for me! I have been on for about every performance this week. I was supposed to go on as Hank, to fill in for Gutman until our new Hank Majewski (Matt Bailey) was ready... but not so much. It started off with Courter as Frankie, and me as Joey for 2 performances. Then after that, I have been doing Barry Belson! Who knows... tomorrow I might go on for Lorraine in a pants suit. Just kidding. I would never wear a pants suit.

I just want to give a big congrats to Eric Gutman on his debut on Broadway this week. We miss you buddy.

But in his place, we have the fabulous Matt Bailey, who brings Hank a great, new, and different energy. I look forward to working with him, or filling in for him. He's a great guy, and a fantastic musician.

Seattle continues to be rainy, and cold. But still cool (not temperature wise). In my last post, I talked about going to the Underground Tour, and now I can talk after the fact. The tour was, as a fantasy Aunt would say "very nice". Very informative, very historical-like. I enjoyed myself, and learned more about Seattle, why it was built 7-30 feet above the original ground (flooding, exploding toilets), and the special "sewing clubs". Look it up if you want to know what I mean.

This is me in front of a 19th century "Crapper"



It was very cold down there, in the "basement" of Seattle.

Seattle must be a great place to raise kids. Or kids who grow up to be rock musicians. I think this Monday, we'll be going to EMP, or The Seattle Experience Music Project. We'll all Rock music nerds, so I'm told this is a cool place for us. Tourism is a must on tour.

For those of you who wanted to know about Eric Gutman's going away party, it really wasn't anything special. Just a little food, a little drink, a little chat, and off to do his final show. For people who leave our tour, we usually sing "Happy Trails" backstage at the intermission of the final show, with a dessert of their choice. And that's when we hug, emote, and then do a second half of the show.

For my week-du-performances, I'll just say this: that the backstage traffic is so intricate, because the backstage area is so small (compared to other cities)! It's like a Rube Goldberg Machine. So doing different tracks consecutively can be challenging, but I was able to pull it off without any hitches. Hooray for hard work, tracking people backstage, and our wonderful crew.

So that's all for now. But I do have an exciting announcement coming up. Not "Gutman" exciting, but exciting for me. I'll let you know as soon as I can tell you guys. Here's a hint: it involves a blimp, overalls, and the Kelvin temperature scale.

That hint was false.

I'll let you know through my twitter feed (on the right, or at twitter.com/taylorsternberg), or at taylorsternberg.com

On a parting note, I like this picture: