Friends, photos and lots of TV

Dinner with Frank was a success! So nice to just sit and chat with a friend about all sorts of stuff (theater, movies, tv, friends). We were there for about two hours. And hey, the chop salad at the Broadway Grill is great (I liked the look of the lights in the pic at left).

Friday was a fun adventure with the lovely Danielle Barnum. I've worked with her twice as an actress (the pic to the right is Danielle in "Seussical" and she was also the lead in the aforementioned "Jane Eyre"), but only recently discovered she is a freelance photographer. Since it's been almost ten years since I last had some headshots, I figured it was time. We met in Fremont near Theo's Chocolates, and even though it was raining, she knew all sorts of great places (coffee shops, doorways) to take some pics. Now comes the process of picking out the new shot. She does good stuff, check it out at Danielle Barnum Photography.

On to TV. The new season of "Survivor" is a ton of fun. The cast is comprised of villains and heroes from previous seasons. It's fun seeing Jerri, Colby, Boston Rob, Coach (and yes, even Russell) back playing the game. I've recently discovered the series, "Weeds" on DVD. Mary Louise Parker is wonderful. She makes the show for me. I'm deep into season four now. Just watched the season finale of a new favorite, "Men of a Certain Age." Great work from the three leads, Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher. It seems like an odd trio, but they work very well together and the writing is just superb.

I'm off to check out the new location of Forza Coffee near the Seattle Center. They opened today at 8:14 a.m. in memory of the police officers killed in Tacoma last Nov. Caffeine-ahoy!

Mixed assortment: More theater, missed appointments and a roast.

I went to the preview of "Footlight Frenzy" at Renton Civic Theater last week. A capable (if maybe a bit too manic) backstage farce in the mold of "Noises Off." My buddy Alan Wilkie directed, and friend-since-college-days Eric Hartley did a nice work, but the hands-down best part of the show was David Roby as the meek stage manager of the show-within-the-show. He did some of the most amazing physical comedy I've seen in a long time. David was in "The Producers" last fall and was the ASM for "1776" at SMT a couple years back. Excellent stuff, Mr. Roby.

Over the weekend I went down to Tacoma Little Theatre and saw "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks." Nicely directed by Frank Kohel, and performed by Sharry O'Hare and Micheal O'Hara. All three are good friends and the script was clever. After the matinee I headed over to Mom's for quick bite and came back to the theater for a roast/tribute to Sharry. Funny, funny stuff (and in all honesty some great moving moments too) with a lot of Seattle/Tacoma-area theater folks there.

I worked with Sharry in the musical "Two by Two" back in 2000 at RCT, and first worked with Micheal many years ago at the Performance Circle in Gig Harbor while doing "Chicago."

Was supposed to meet Frank twice over the past week for lunch. He missed this first time because he was sick, I missed the most recent time because I simply forgot. We're attempting to meet for dinner Thursday. Fingers-crossed.