To the Charles with Bill
"Rewired," Charles Playhouse, 03/14/04

About a week before my spring break, I decided that I missed Blue Man Boston... and that this would be my last chance before summer (for real this time). So I talked my dad, a closet Blue Man fan, into going to see the show (for his 7th time, 4th at the Charles). Yay! The two of us headed to Boston for the 2 pm show.
We ended up with good seats--centered, 3rd row from the back of the orchestra. They happened to be the exact same seats Eric (sceavis) and I sat in back in January, and Eric had gotten to throw the Toblerone then... so I kept hush about it, hoping my dad wouldn't remember. But he did sometime before the show, and I ended up on the aisle (he wasn't keen on getting chocolate spit in his hand, haha). I've never ever seen them pick a girl to throw the Toblerone, and I figured this was a good thing, because in that place I would probably hit the Blue Man's leg or something. Haha. Anyways, when the show's start had finally approached, there were still plenty of extra seats, and many of the full ones were taken by young kids. Yay for Sunday matinee show! lol.

Finally, the showstart LED signs started scrolling. Though smaller than usual, the crowd seemed pretty loud and enthusiastic, doing things like yelling "HI RICHARD!! RICHARD WHERE ARE YOU?" (Richard: "I'm right here!!! *waves*") before actually instructed. It turned out to be a pretty good audience... a bit quiet at points, and a bit slow at other points (...what's he doing with those light stick thingys? moving them up? what does that mean?...), but generally pretty good. Probably the best reaction I've ever seen/heard to the throat cam, hahaha... "EWWWWWWWW aaaaaaaaawwwwwwohhhhhh!!" times 200! What fun!
The show overall was more subdued than a lot I've seen, but it, like every show, certainly had its golden moments. =) Eric R. (center), Mike (Philpart), and Jonathan C. (Mattpart) put on another beautiful performance.

on that note, show highlights:
--The opening drum sequences were really impressive, especially with Eric, who seemed to change things up and add his own stylings to the standard rythyms. He carried through with this on the PVC and in the closing paint drumming (which by the end accelerated to a crazy pace)... He didn't necessarily pound the hell out of the drums/PVC, but rather showed a lot of skill in timing and precision. Sometimes the Blue Man on the small toms during Klein will just nail them like crazy (hehehe, *cough*Michael*cough*), which kicks, but Eric tended to play around with the beat, it seemed. He was a lot of fun to watch/listen to in that sense... ANYways, /tangent... During the opening paint drumming, poor Mike put his face probably only 3 inches away from the drumhead to get splashed, and Jonathan held the yellow paint bottle waaaaaay up high, making the endless stream even more "ooooh, ahhh." And like I was saying, Eric kicked ass. Hehe.
--Marshmallow/paint skit was interesting... Mike caught his first paintball fine, but Eric's first marshmallow was a bit high--he tilted his head back to catch it, and it ended up stuck on his upper lip. He kept it there for a second (like a seal! haha), and then dropped it forward and into his mouth, with a little look of triumph to the audience members near his side of the stage. Mike missed his second paintball and watched it fly behind him... but the next throw and last paintball were on-target, and he made a very pretty spinart. I love the way he makes them because he causes these huge clouds of paint-mist. Oooo... Anywho, the first round of many marshmallows for Eric came along, and a good number of them bounced off his mouth onto the stage or into the audience. Once second-round came along, though, he didn't miss a single one, even nailing the ones he had to jump up for. At the end, he paused and got a cheer from the audience... and just when you thought it was over, Jonathan chucked one last marshmallow at him, which landed the same way the very first one had, on his upper lip/nose. lol, poor Eric, getting all picked on...
--During Crunch, Eric meticulously tucked every last cereal bit into his mouth when he "loaded," while Mike threw probably half the box of the stuff into his face. Eric and Jonathan's joint "what the?!" look when they noticed was absolutely classic.
--Mike rocked on Drumbone... Completely flawless performance there--his sticks didn't click a single time, even, and it was just awesomely done. Yay Mike!
--When the Blue Men came into the audience, Mike booked it over his side of the audience, but at one point stopped and stared at someone while playing around--he had his hand on some lady's head, and did some "on? off! on! off? on!" thing to her. Eric came up to our aisle and never lifted his eyes from the guy in front of me, who got the Toblerone. The first toss was lobbed a couple feet short, and Eric just kinda watched it fall, LOL. The second toss was good, but the third veered a couple feet to Eric's left, which he watched in the same manner. Before walking back up, he gave the guy a look of something like "...what was THAT?" with the tiniest of teasing smiles, and then proceeded to salute and spit in the thrower's hand and all that good stuff.
--The twinkie girl was pretty standard, but REALLY grossed out by the "twinkie barf." Hahahahah... sucker. And of course, Jonathan aimed it perfectly, so that the gunk just barely reached the edge of the table and slowly drooled down the front side. Mmmm, mm mm. Anywho, rewind... as the twinkie girl opened Jonathan's twinkie, I found myself watching Mike and Eric trying to open theirs, which is somehow so incredibly cute. They just look at the wrapper like "...hmmmmmmmmm...??" Hehe, I love it. I don't think anyone noticed Eric's empty plate and "aww"ed, because Mike went ahead and gave him half of his (half), so twinkie girl and Jonathan had full twinkies and Eric and Mike had quarter-twinkies. LOL. Poor Eric and Mike, haha. While the Blue Men held their forks up with their left hands, the twinkie girl used her right, and so all three switched hands in perfect unison (and did the same for the next few bites)...
--The pelvic exercise was absolutely hilarious. Mike had it down to an art, but I don't know if Jonathan has the hang of it yet, hehe. His dance looked more like a dorky white guy's than a jarring four-beat, LOL. At the first "Macerena turn," he fumbled at which way to go, which ended up causing him and Eric to be on a different beat than Mike, so that their head-patterns were opposite. Which means... Jonathan and Eric were together, and Mike was the one that was different, but you could tell that Mike was the one that did it right, haha. Every time Jonathan's face flipped to the audience side, you could see him trying not to crack up, haha. All of this silliness made Eric's "wrong turn" fit right in, haha. There was also an extra fake-sounding snare beat to go with the head movement (when all three were in sync), which I loved.
--During tributes, Mike whipped on the bride's veil so fluidly and with such an amused look that it had an entirely different effect than it did with John (in New York)--both Mike and John had this "what do you think? aren't I pretty?" look, but whereas it seemed to make NO sense with John's character, for some reason it was just cute and funny on Mike. LOL, I don't know what I mean by that, but it was, um, cute. hahaha... Someone in the audience towards the front had that Eminem song mastered, but the rest of us were lost before it even started. Hehe.
--Was it just me, or did Everyman not hit one fist against the screen in despair? Maybe they just cut off the video a little too soon or something.
--When Eric was playing with the wands and directed Jonathan to the side, Mike followed like a puppy--only, instead of following Jonathan, he ran right into Eric. Whereas John did this almost stealthily, Mike tromped right up to Eric, who upon turning just barely avoided bumping his nose on Mike's. Instead of seeming mischevious, like John, Mike just seemed really over-eager about it all, lol... He's such a cute Philpart!
--The beginning to Endless Column didn't seem any different in the way that it did in NYC (where the notes were different enough that I was confused for a moment what song they were playing), but rather, gently faded in... Mike started, and the notes worked their way right, each Blue Man entering smoothly, so much that each of their first notes might not have even been audible. A beautiful start to a beautiful song...
--During KLF, Eric stood on someone's chair a few rows ahead and did some subtle head-bobbing and dancing... I dorkily "oww!!"ed for him when he started to slip into more crazy dancing, haha. I don't think he noticed. Which is probably a good thing. Later, when Eric and Jonathan were already onstage, I noticed Mike running down his aisle, dancing with probably every third person he came across. Yaaaay Mike!!
--When the band came out during bows, I was the first to let out a loud "WOOOOOOOOOO!!" after being pretty quiet throughout the show (I guess being next to my mostly-quiet dad was calming or something). A few others followed my lead, mwhaha. My next mission is to remember to do this for the crew, too. I think I need a crew-oriented boardie to teach me, the way that Cyn is training me to love the band, haha. ;) Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to the band after the show because by the time I'd seen all the blue men, they were on their way out... But, Core (that-photo-you-just-took-is-not-going-on-some-weird-website-is-it?) was the zither player, Robb (who I'd seen at my very first Boston show in 2000) was the Stick player, and I didn't recognize the drummer as anyone I've ever seen before. Hm.

revenge of the Awkward Hugging Girl
Since Dad and I were so close to the door, the Blue Men weren't out when we entered the upstairs lobby. Since back in January, all three had hung out upstairs, we stuck around in case they did that again... Before long, Dad pointed and said "oh there's one," which was Mike. He settled into a spot in front of the large splash/spatter painting near us, and I approached him. I should have developed a plan before I did this, but alas, that's not my style. I said hello and moved towards him, and he put out his hand for me to shake... which I almost took, but I got all confused and did some weird combination of a handshake and a hug--I don't even know what the hell it was. He was probably like, "what is she doing?" To compensate, I said mid-hugthing, "ok, this is awkward." LOL... and you thought I couldn't be any less smooth. Anywho, once I pulled myself together somewhat, I mentioned to him that I saw him back in January, to which he replied "yep!" with a small smile. I told him that he'd done awesome with Drumbone, and something about his sticks not clicking (not that I'm any drum expert, but I could tell it was a job well done). He didn't hear me, and had to lean over closer, so I reminded myself to slooooowww down when talking to Blue Men. It's easy when there's no one around, so you can be loud, but when other audience members are walking by I feel like I have to be quieter--except I forget that this means I have to slow down, too. (Jen=dork.) I also mentioned that I wished I was on his aisle, because I saw him playing with people during KLF, hehe... he asked where I did sit, and I told him... Anywho, at some point, there was a flash of light--Mike pulled a classic Blue Man reaction and stared, while I did a confused double-take. A random guy a couple feet away just took a picture of us! lol. His wife/friend/whoever said something to him, and laughing, he exclaimed, "I don't even know that girl! I just wanted a picture of the Blue Man!" Mike and I were both pretty amused, I think, and a second later Mike stepped toward me and put his arm around me, posing for Random Guy with Camera. The guy took another picture, and then I backed off to let Mike visit and such. A minute later, Mike stepped back to me and asked how I liked the show. I told him it was really good (or something equally uncreative), and that I'd seen the new material already in NYC last month. Before running off, I asked him if he knew where Eric was (Jonathan was on the stairs a few yards away), and he motioned downstairs.

Fortunately, my brain cramp loosened and I remembered that I hadn't gotten a picture with Mike the last (and first) time I saw him, so I turned to my dad and asked for my camera... Then back to Mike and asked for a picture. Dad snapped a shot of us, but the flash didn't go off, so I told him to press the button down for another. The flash still didn't go off, so I checked to see if it came out anyways, which it seemed to by looking at the screen... but both pictures turned out unfocused--the better of the two is below. Anywho, sometime before or after the picture, I told Mike it was good to see him again and put my hand out (avoiding the awkward hugthing, which I'd done to him the LAST time I saw him, too, d'oh!). He took it and asked my name, and I said "Jen," even though I know he's just going to remember me as Awkward Hugging Girl. He said "I'm Mike!" I answered with a smile and nod, since I already knew that. ;) Hee hee, Mike is so cute and sweet. Yay Mike! (How many times have I said "yay Mike" in this journal, anyways?)

I could've hung with Mike for much longer because he's such a sweetie, but I didn't want to miss the other two Blue Men, so I walked down the few steps to Jonathan. Since I'd never seen him before, I was shy and just said hello and put out my (right) hand--instead of taking it with his right, Jonathan tilted his left hand over mine. (Don't you love my stupid insignificant details? I just thought that was cute for some reason, lol.) He was very friendly and seemed to give everyone who acknowledged him a small Blue Man smile... He's one of those that smiles with his eyes enough to make it look like he's smiling, even though he isn't (unless just barely). I asked for a picture with him, and he nodded, while I looked up to find Dad... He appeared a few steps above and Jonathan struck a pose--one arm around me and the other extended towards the camera in a half-salute. But I blinked. D'oh. I knew it, so I asked for another, which went well (but no salute)... Actually the first picture ended up cut-off and blurred as well as Jen-blinked, so it's a good thing we took a second, which ended up the only clear photo of the bunch, haha. After the photo, I thanked Jonathan and moved downstairs to find Eric, hoping he hadn't run off yet.

Happily, Eric was to be found at the base of the staircase we came down, and at this point not many audience members were left making their way through the hallways (probably due to the non-full house), so I was able to approach him right away. I said hello and shook his hand (er, I guess I was shying away from the spontaneous hugs, LOL), and told him that I post on the message board... and that I was at the fanmeet show in summer 2002, when he posted before and after the meet. He followed all of this and nodded, and I mentioned that I'd seen him a few times before, but had never gotten the chance to meet him. He replied with something like "oh, because I run away too fast?" hahah... Yes. Tsk tsk. ;) No, just kidding. I told him that I'd also been ushering, and he asked if I ushered this show... At this point we both noticed Dad a few feet away who was holding up the camera--haha, the man wastes no time! Eric and I quickly moved to pose, so to not keep Dad waiting, and as Eric put his arm around me he leaned his face towards mine and joked, "he is REALLY excited to take this picture..." and then snapped back into character for the photo (blurry, but acceptable once sharpened in lovely photoshop).

I moved away to let some other people get pictures with Eric, and watched as he stared down a young guy during a photo, hehe. Once he was unoccupied again, I took the opportunity to talk to him again, and said "I just wanted to tell you, you are an amazing drummer." (OHMYGOD I WAS HALFWAY ELOQUENT!! *ahem*) I mentioned how it was especially evident in the closing drumming, which went "really fast" (hm, nevermind, goodbye eloquency). He kinda chuckled and said, "yeah... the show got off to a rough start" and I giggled in response, indicating that hilarious first marshmallow. He explained that he'd been up late, and hadn't really warmed up before the show; I said, "oh yeah, I heard it was Kalen's last show last night... I'll miss him." I think he nodded in agreement, and then continued and said, "once you cross that 2 o'clock threshold, when you have to be here at noon, uuuaaah." Aw, poor Eric (and maybe Mike and Jonathan and the band, too), hehehe. I told him that had crossed my mind--that they would have all been up partying the night before... (It's amazing that those guys can pull off a show like that when they aren't feeling top-notch, goodness!) Then the band walked by us, and it seemed I should let Eric go, so I told him it was good to meet him, and pulled off a nice, normal hug. Hahah. He replied with, "it's nice to meet you, finally" before heading off. He really was a sweetie, and I'm so glad I got to talk to him... He's been in Boston since at least 2000, and evaded me time after time, so it was great to finally catch him, hehe. ;) Yay! Actually, I don't think I ever gave him my name or screenname, hehe... and I completely forgot to mention his Blue Man of the Week to him until it was too late... but ah well, I have to forget SOMEthing(s) every time I go. *sigh* haha.

Anywho, all in all it was a great show... Really interesting to see the new material in Boston. I like all the new material piece by piece, but I haven't quite adjusted to the new order/flow of the show (or lack of "House"). Not to say it's bad, just, unfamiliar. Which is largely a good thing anywho, because it keeps things fresh and new. And Dad said he enjoyed the new material, especially the new tributes section... but that he always did like the twinkie skit (haha I doubt that is going anywhere anytime soon, thank goodness).
So thanks to Eric, Mike, Jonathan, the band, the crew, etc. etc. for another great show at the Charles. =) Ahhhhh home venue love. =) (And blue paint in my hair. AGAIN. Me and my silly tendencies.) That's all for now!