0

An Irish Punk Band + 6 Guys =

*Originally Posted April, 2007"

A Flogging Molly concert of course! That's right this the tale of the great Flogging Molly trip as told by... well, me. So what should you do now? Well, if I were you I'd punch somebody smaller then you, grab a copy of The Departed, chug a glass of cranberry juice... and read, "An Irish Punk Band + 6 guys ="! So let get to it then!

It all started on a Thursday afternoon... I had just gotten off of my job at Starbucks, I jumped in my car and headed to the meeting spot we had designated at an earlier time. The spot happened to be the parking lot of the church my brother is custodian of. He wasn't quite done with his work by the time I pulled into the parking lot, so I waited. It's here the story truly begins! As I waited the others started to arrive... from the Gehling boys and Josh Langer, to Jay Prock and at last my brother. We were now ready to embark on the journey. We packed all of our things in the back of Jay's SUV, and piled in. We pulled out of the parking lot, and at long last we were under way to Tulsa for the Flogging Molly concert! The trip there was fun, but somewhat uneventful...*so I'm going to skip to where we arrive in Tulsa* At last we arrived in Tulsa. The plan had been to eat at Kilkenny's Irish Pub before the show, so we did... and it was good. That is all. We left Kilkenny's full of... food, and drink... and it was now time to arrive at the concert.

We arrived at the concert with plenty of time to spare. We found a good parking space, got out of the vehicle, and walked towards the pavilion. It was here we found out that maybe we didn't belong at this concert. As we walked by, we noticed hundreds and hundreds of people dressed in gothic green and black clothing. Many of which looked high, drunk or just plain ugly from being in a countless number of fights. Now there would be nothing wrong with the above statement, if we too were... dressed in gothic green and black clothing, were high, drunk, or had been in a fight. But the problem was hadn't been in, or had on any of the above... so it was awkward. As such, as we walked to the end of the waiting line we noticed dozens of faces looking at us with the, "what the h*ll are they doing here?" look. (and of course the "*" in the previous sentence was an "i") But we didn't sway from the straight and narrow... or umm, line... and held our own.

Finally they let us in. The first of three opening bands appeared on stage... the name of which was, "The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band". The moment they started to play we knew two things, One: It was going to be a long night if all the opening bands sucked this bad, and Two: We were not going to be able to hear by the end of the night. Something else we noticed was once the music started everyone seemed to come together, and not care what you looked like, or what you were wearing. Well, it was indeed a long wait for Flogging Molly. With the opening bands ranging from crap, to pretty ok; we waited not so patiently for Flogging Molly to come to the stage. Finally they did. It was great! Not only was the music good, but the people who were there were entertaining too. You see, this Irish guy in front of us (who was inebriated) would keep turning around and ask, "Are you Irish?" to which you answer, "yes." To which he would reply, "God bless you!" then give you a hug... This happened quite a few times until my good friend Josh Langer turned the tables on him.We saw him coming back for another round of "Are you Irish?" when Josh grabbed him and said, "Are you Irish?" to which he replied, "Yep, don't let the black hair fool ya"... Classic!

Finally the concert ended and we headed to our lodging for the evening. We woke up the next morning only to discover we still couldn't hear... oh, and we were hungry. We packed up all our stuff and looked for a place to eat. We came upon a doughnut shop and decided to get some... doughnuts. We walked inside only to hear the old lady running it say, "Oh, Shit" about us coming in. As we tried to order she would bark orders and make demands that were not hers to make. At one point even grabbing the hand of one of the Gehling boys as she gave him his change. Of course it wouldn't be a complete trip unless I came up with a smart ass comment for her. So, as my brother received a text message from his girlfriend the old lady said briskly, "What's that noise?! Is that a cell phone?!" To which I replied, " Ya it is, I mean that's okay right? I mean I didn't see a "No Cell Phones Allowed" sign as we came in!" She had no response. I had won... that round. We left the "doughnut shop of doom" and headed home. The trip back was fun, but somewhat uneventful...*So, I'm going to skip to OKC*... finally we arrived back in good ol' OKC... the end.

0

The Galaxy Dollars Soccer Team... The First Game

*Originally Posted April, 2007*


Hello again everyone, and welcome to the, "Galaxy Dollars Soccer Team" blog dealio! Now before we move on, I will quickly recap...The peoples of Galaxy Dollars Coffee decided to start a soccer team. We signed up in a beginners league, that for all we knew was comprised of little kids. We began our soccer training only to find out we stank the joint up... bad. We practiced more only to find that one of our players was going bald...(not sure what that has to do with the story, but it's true.) and that we liked to drink water as much as chai... So now, we will turn another page in the story that's captivating the world---umm... a nation---... a city---hmm... a store? Ahh! The story that's captivating... various friends and strangers! So now we dive in to..."The Galaxy Dollars Soccer Team... The First Game"


We had practiced, we had swat... sweated, whatever. We had even gotten a little bit better. But now was the moment of truth... the first game was here! All of us showed up to the arena ridiculously early to put on their "gear" (i.e. shin-guards, soccer shoes etc.). As for me, I got there early as well, and it turns out it was a good thing too... for as I noticed everyone putting on their "gear", I also noticed that I didn't have "gear" to put on... In fact I looked like a soccer reject. Fortunately for me there was a "soccer pro shop" in which I could buy the things I needed in which to not die on the field. I walked in the door of the pro shop and just stood there... like... well, ...a standing guy. Now, I'd like to tell you that I was soaking up all that soccer "karma" of awesome soccer players past and forgotten, but that would be a lie, so I won't. No the sad truth was, I was standing there in the doorway of the pro shop and two things were on my mind... One: "Should I get the red or the blue shin guards?" and Two: These shorts don't have pockets... so, where is my wallet?" Shortly there after I looked down and thought to myself "blue is more manly-er, I'll go with blue."...and remembered that I had stuck my wallet between my shorts and underpants at the waist just for such an occasion... so all was well.

I bought all the gear I needed, put it on, and paced back and forth in front of my teammates to pretend I was ready. The time was finally here... they called us to the field. Once we got there we quickly realized a differences in teams. For one, they weren't kids... for two, they had jerseys... we had white t-shirts. (But at least that was due to the fact that ours just hadn't come in yet...) For three, they were actually passing the ball to one another... we were not. We were like... hey, it's coming to you! We'd kick it, and it would go the opposite way... and we were like, umm... I did that on purpose. It was a fake out, great for those moments you want to... umm, fake out your opponent... and your teammate.

The game started. As the game progressed we realized more differences between the teams... like their players... they actually knew where to be on the field. As for us, we were like a fluttering butterfly floating all over the field, because we didn't know what the crap we were doing... another thing we noticed was when they would shoot, for one we dove out of the way, but for two their shots were good, hard hit, and... well, really good. Ours? Ya, maybe would trickle an inch or two on the ground while a snail scurried out of the way. After the massacre was over we realized one more thing... I forgot to wear deodorant! j/k... we realized that one player on their team single handedly beat the ever living doughnuts out of us (that is if doughnuts were inside of us, and somehow a living entity). His name I will remember for at least days to come... Renaldo. A short stocky bald man of soccer awesomeness is what he was. Scoring 10 of their 14 points... one might say he was a bit like the Michael Jordan of soccer... that, or we were like the Toronto Raptors of soccer (to all those who don't know, they suck... bad.). No one could tell for sure... but what we could tell for sure was this was going to be a long season...

Check back next time to see if the Galaxy Dollars Soccer Team wins a game, the balding player regains his hair, and if Ben really didn't wear deodorant to the game... these answers and more... next time on, "The Galaxy Dollars Soccer Team" blog dealio!

0

Bye Bye Birdie: From Training to Casting... And Everything in Between

Why hello to everyone out there in the wonderful world of the web! I know you all were just losing sleep over the fact that you wanted to read another Ben blog and there was no new materiel in which to indulge ones self...so you reached for your iPods and remote controls... but at long last the blog is here, so you can relax and read...stuff. Let's dive in.


The Training

Alright, to correctly tell this story, you must first know a couple of things that make it more interesting... Like what you ask? Like the fact that I really hadn't sang "Broadway" type songs in over a year, like the fact that this was my first audition in over a year... And if I got cast, it would be the first show I've been in since Brighton Beach Memoirs with City Rep in 2005... So, with that in mind I prepared. I sat in my car listening to "Eye of the Tiger"... then realized that this was not going to get my singing voice back in shape... so I took it out, and put on some old lame voice rehearsal tapes that I had found collecting dust, and starting singing along with it (if you could call what I was doing singing). I'm not going to lie, I pretty much sucked at first... sounding more a dying baby lion then a young man. But I was eager to improve, and with time I did. After a hard day of training my voice I would eat some ice cream... put some whip cream on there and consume it all! I'm not sure what this has to do with anything, but ya. So, really with all the practicing I had been doing there was but one thing to do... wait for auditions.


The Audition

The morning of auditions come fast... I walked inside and soon I found myself surrounded with familiar places, and nervous but smiling faces... and quickly remembered why I loved acting so much. I filled out the paperwork and was whisked away into the theatre to learn the dance. One thing I had not practiced was dancing... the reasons for this being... A: I fill like a big, tall, thin dork when I dance Broadway stuff in front of people... and B: I didn't really have much to learn from... So, when I saw the dance we had to do I went right to work! I stepped to the left, I stepped to the right... something was wrong. Yes, that was it... I cared what people thought of how I looked... So, I threw that aside and went for the gusto! And it worked! In no time I was dealing fifties moves like there was no tomorrow. I finished learning the dance, got my things, and moved to door number two. In door number two I learned the dance really fast... and... waited! Which is of course my all time favorite thing to do at auditions. Finally I went in to the audition for the Director. I aced the dance and my song, boo ya! He walked over to several sheets of paper and picked a half dozen, and walks up to me. He says, "I want you to come back to call backs for Albert and Birdie. Learn these monologues and songs by the date of call backs." Well, after great news like that there is only one thing to do... go to work. And of course prepare for call backs.


The Call Backs

Call backs came as quickly as auditions did, and I felt ready to be... the person I was supposed to be... or whatever. I got there when they asked me to and waited... and waited... and waited. Two hours, three jugs of water, and a trip to the bathroom later I was called to do what I do best... be a ham. I went back there and gave it my best shot for both roles, and I felt confident too. I left call backs that night doing the only I could now do... wait. The next day while I was at work I received a message from the Director asking me to please call him back. So while I was on my lunch break I called him back. I got his voicemail... that did it. My appetite left... I had to know why he called. I ended my meal and headed back to my place of employment. My phone rings... I reach franticly for it, it's the Director. I answer, we make small talk... then he offers me the role of Conrad Birdie! To which I naturally graciously accepted! The end. btw the show will run the end of July through the beginning of August... I will give more details when the show gets closer.