It's been 10 years since we didn't release the first Roland High Life album →

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Now that the Roland High Life is a real band again, we decided to re-master and release our debut EP, “If You Really Want To Hear About…”

You’ll notice that, while I said re-mastered, I didn’t say re-released. Because we, uhhh, neglected to ever actually release this album, just like we kind of neglected the band for a decade for no good reason; we just kinda got busy, even though we were all still friends, and let it all languish.

But now, it’s finally out there for the world to see. Even though I wrote these songs in college — at the very start of my ADHD treatment, and dealing with all kinds of new sensations — I still think they hold up pretty well. We also had the privilege of recording it all at WERS studios at Emerson College, which meant access to lots of high-end equipment and unlimited time after hours in which to work. (The downside, however, is that we lost the master multitracks, and had to work from the rough mixes we put together. But still.)

I’m not gonna do the same song-by-song breakdown on here; I could, but it feels moot, seeing as I wrote all these songs on the cusp of 21 or so. I’ll save the Behind-the-Music shpiel for our next album.

But I will share this newly-recorded acoustic version of “Squatter Song” that I did over the summer. That’s a song that I originally wrote upon first moving to Boston, freshly diagnosed with ADHD and feeling very depressed and overwhelmed with the state of being a mental ill grownup and having my own apartment. Thus, it felt oddly fitting to play the song again on the eve of Boston’s famous Allston Christmas, as I sat in the empty Boston apartment that I now own as I move back into it as a somewhat-functional adult.

I'm in a play called "We're Gonna Die!" and it's awesome so you should come see it.

It's a new play by Young Jean Lee, and we're actually the first production besides the world premiere, which she starred in herself. I play bass in the show, which is cool because (a) it's not a stringed thing I usually play, and I've had fun diving into it more, and (b) the band is a pretty central part of the show in a way that most "pit bands" are not, even though we're not necessarily "acting" either.

I've been describing it to my friends as a "delightful funny rock n' roll cabaret about death and suffering," which is to say, it goes to some pretty dark places, but it's also fun and entertaining and insightful and moving and totally worth seeing (not just because I'm in it — although obviously, that helps).

WGBH's Arts Editor Jared Bowen agrees:

And, well, so does the audience:

The show runs at Oberon in Harvard Square through April 29, followed by some "tour dates" in May throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

My ARISIA Convention Schedule

I'll be at the Arisia sci-fi / fantasy convention in Boston this coming weekend, speaking on a few panels and generally hanging around. I've never been to Arisia before, nor have I ever been on any convention panels, so I'm doubly excited (and very much hoping that I don't say anything too stupid).

Anyway, here's where you can find me. Come say hi!

• Neurodiversity in SF/F
  Saturday, 11:30am-12:45pm in Marina 2 (2E)
  How are autistic and other neurodiverse characters presented in SF/F? What works handle this subject well, and which do not? Who are some neurodiverse authors whom we should all be reading? And how, as a genre, do we move beyond stories only focused on a “cure”?
  —with Don Sakers, David G. Shaw, and JoSelle Vanderhooft
   

• DC Comics on the Small Screen: 2015 Edition
  Saturday, 5:30-6:45pm in Marina 2 (2E)
  For all of DC’s much-disdained recent lack of creative success on the big screen, they’ve put together a string of received cartoons going back over twenty years ranging from episodic (Batman) to serialized (Young Justice) to goofy (Teen Titans Go). They’ve also launched multiple TV series, including Arrow, The Flash, and Constantine, even as their actual comics have become a pit of creative despair. We’ll discuss DC’s success (and occasional flop) over the years on television.
  —with Nomi S. Burstein, George Claxton, Jaime Garmendia, Dan Toland
   

• Behind the Bristol Board: Comics as a Profession
  Saturday, 7-8:15pm in Marina 4 (2E)
  If you’re a comics fan, odds are you’ve thought about what it’s like to actually work in the comics industry. This panel will feature working professionals explaining the ins-and-outs of everything from writing and drawing, to editing and publishing. It’s everything you ever wanted to know about being a comics pro, but were afraid to ask.
  —with Ken Gale, Bettina Kurkoski, Alisa Kwitney Sheckley, Mercy E Van Vlack
   

• Superman and Religion
  Sunday, 11:30am-12:45pm in Burroughs (3E)
  Superman remains an enigmatic figure in American mythology. Created by two Jewish kids from Cleveland, perhaps as a metaphor for Jewish assimilation, Superman also represents a Christlike figure in many stories, and the screenwriter of Man of Steel consulted, among other sources, the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh. Does the wide cast of Superman’s religious influences render him a defender-of-all-faiths? Can any religion claim him as one of their own? Come explore this thorny issue with Arisia 2015.
  —with Michael A. Burstein, Ken Gale, Alex Jarvis, Daniel Miller
   

• Story Autopsy
  Sunday, 2:30-3:45pm in Alcott (3W)
  Our group of panelists takes a few well-known works of genre fiction and picks them apart to show you how they work, why they work, and in some cases point out the parts that don’t work at all. If you don’t like spoilers this is probably not the panel for you.
  —with M. L. Brennan, James L. Cambias, John P. Murphy, Ian Randal Strock
   

• The Medium and the Message
  Sunday, 5:30-6:45pm in Hale (3W)
  A story can be told in a multitude of formats. Anything from short stories and epic poems to graphic novels and screenplays can be used to convey a narrative. How do the various formats compare? Do certain genres work well in one but not another? What about translations from one medium to another? How can you tell which works best for your story?
  —with Heather Albano, Alexander Feinman, John G. McDaid
   

• Writing and Racial Identity 
  Monday, 1-2:15pm in Hale (3W)
  What does your race have to do with what you write? Depending on your race, are certain topics forbidden to you? Obligatory? None of the above? If your race matters, how do you know what it is? By what people see when they look at you, or by what you know of your genetic background? By your cultural upbringing? By what you write?
  —with John Chu, Mark Oshiro, Victor Raymond

Performances, Publications, Panels, and More!

There's lots going on at Camp Thom Dunn (is there ever not?); and so, I interrupt your regularly scheduled weird nerd pop culture discoveries & progressive political rantings to, ya know, talk about myself for a minute.

• As previously mentioned, my play True Believers is now available for purchase through Indie Theater Now, and you should totally go buy it, because it only costs $1.29, so why the hell not? (I'm also considering making the script available through Amazon's self-publishing portal, if there's demand for it, even though I do have some ethical issues with Amazon as a company. But dammit if they're not cheap and convenient)
   
• I will be returning to rock the Mortified Boston Christmas show on Friday, December 19 at Oberon in Harvard Square. Tickets are $15 and they're going fast, so hurry up if you want to see me play some really, really, really bad and embarrassing songs I wrote in high school! Which obviously you do.
   
• My words will grace the stage for the third consecutive year in the Boston One-Minute Play Festival (#OMPF). The festival is the brainchild of Dominic D'Andrea, who produces these little bursts in most major cities across the country. It's a fun night — as writers, we're not really given any prompts other than "60 seconds, one page, MAX," so it's neat to see what kind of thematic patterns emerge through that. It's a neat way to gauge the temperature of a city, and the topics that consume its collective consciousness. My two scripts will be directed by Stephanie LeBolt and Hatem Adell, and they'll be performed on Monday and Tuesday, January 5 & 6, at Boston Playwrights Theater.
   
• I'm also excited to announce that I'll be featured on a whole bunch of panels this year at Arisia, Boston's largest and most diverse science fiction & fantasy convention, January 17 — 20 at the Westin Boston Waterfront. Here's where you can find me (when I'm not at the bar or in bed, I mean):
  • Neurodiversity in SF/F — Saturday @ 11:30am in Marina 2
  • DC Comics on the Small Screen — Saturday @ 5:30pm in Marina 2
  • Behind the Bristol boards: Comics as  Profession — Saturday @ 7pm in Marina 4
  • We Know (Philip K.) Dick — Sunday @ 10am in Marina 2
  • Superman & Religion — Sunday @ 11:30am in Burroughs
  • Story Autopsy — Sunday @ 2:30pm in Alcott
  • The Medium & The Message — Sunday @ 5:30pm in Hale
  • Writing & Racial Identity — Monday @ 1pm in Hale
     
• AND SPEAKING OF COMICS! I have 2 more comics coming out through Grayhaven Press — one is a story in their Science Fiction anthology, and the other is a super villain story featured in their "You Are Not Alone" anti-bullying anthology. Both comics will feature art by my buddy Dave Ganjamie, and he and I particularly pumped to actually have some comics going on, after talking about it for the last couple of years. I'm not sure when these comics will actually be published, as I'm currently working on the scripts, but of course, and let you know and link to 'em when they are.

Ladies and gentlemen, Dave Ganjamie

Oh yeah, and then after all that stuff's done, I'm getting married, but ya know, that's a minor event.

A Driving Tour of Boston, circa 1964

Not much has changed in the last 50 years, including Bostonians' horrible driving habits.

Plastic Paddy's Wake (and Bake)

  To celebrate the occasion of St. Padraig's Day (specifically the 73 people arrest at UMass Amherst's "Blarney Blowout" this past weekend), I've taken an old traditional Irish song and updated for the dudebro crowd. You're welcome. 

"Plastic Paddy's Wake (and Bake)" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Upcoming Stuff & Events & Things (Nov. '13)

Hello, website! Long time, no update! I swear that one of these days I am going to actually train myself to just make brief updates here as they happen, instead of these info dumps. ANYWAY. I've got some stuff going on, because of course I do. It goes like this:

• Saturday, December 7, I'll be returning to MORTIFIED and performing some hilariously terrible songs that I wrote when I was 16. The performance will take place at Space 538 in Portland, ME; tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Do I know anyone in Maine that I can even embarrass myself in front of? I don't know, but I can tell you that it is definitely worth it to go to Maine to laugh at my terrible, terrible songs.
• I've also got 2 new short plays in the 4th Annual Boston One Minute Play Festival, January 4-6 at Boston Playwrights Theatre. They'll be directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian and Meghan Mueller, which I'm sure makes my sister proud in some way.

Meanwhile, in addition to my normal duties at Five By Five Hundred, I have a review of Eric Smith's new book The Geek's Guide To Dating on Tor.com, and some coverage of SpeakEasy Stage Company's world premiere production of Make Up Your Mind, a brand new play by Kurt Vonnegut even though he's dead.

And then, ya know, the youge (like, the slang/shortened word for "usual," but spelled phonetically? Is that right?): Workin', writin', so on and so forth. Tonight at the Huntington we start performances for The Cocktail Hour by A.R. Gurney, which is directed by Maria Aitken, a favorite of ours at the theatre. Here's a little video I made for that:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa_ckErMzAY]

I also wrote some fun stuff about ghost stories at the theatre on the Huntington's blog which is still worth reading even though it's after Halloween, as well as two pieces of flash fiction in this "Quantum Shorts" competition that you can go read and vote for so I can win some monies: I Kill Dead People and Not Dead Yet (which was the basis for my story in Grayhaven Comics' Fifth Dimension anthology).

Wow that's a whole lot of dead stuff. In that case, I should end this on a happy note, which is that Maurissa Tancharoen both listened to and enjoyed my song "I'll Fight A Whedon For You"; unfortunately, her husband Jed was less than impressed.

So now I've pissed one Whedon and armwrestled another, which only leaves Zak for me still to cross. But overall I think that means that I've successfully become a Whedonverse villain?

Holy crap, I'll be 28 in 2 weeks.

Huntington Updates

We've got one week left of The Jungle Book (now officially our highest-grossing show of all time), and previews began tonight for The Power of Duff, a new play by Stephen Belber (and featuring, among others, Jennifer Westfeldt, writer of Kissing Jessica Stein and wife of Jon Hamm). Here's a little video I put together about it:

Here's another brief video I made for our Annual Fund ask, which hopefully gives a glimpse of the size and scope of our productions (and makes clear that even when shows are selling well, we still need money because, well, theatre this good don't come cheap, y'know?)

I'm also trying to up my blogging quotient for the company -- because hey, I enjoy writing sometimes, believe it or not -- and here's one of my latest posts, about our new young donor program "The Hunt."

SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING IN THE THEATRE AHHHHHHHH

Man, life was so calm and easygoing for that first month after I got back from Clarion. What the hell happened? Oh yeah. The Jungle Book, our new world premiere musical adaptation of the Disney animated film, directed and adapted by the incredible Mary Zimmerman. We've just extended the show a second time, so it now closes on October 20 (but tickets are going fast, so get 'em while you can!). It's been a pretty crazy time at work, but luckily, all in a good way, with lots of special promotional events for the show that have kept me pretty busy. But here's a little glimpse at a few of the things I've been doing for it:

Our "audience testimonial" video, with some B-Roll from the production, and interviews with real audience members who cannot stop raving about the show (so you don't just have to take my word for it). 

We also took the cast of the show to Fenway Park, where they performed the National Anthem before the Red Sox totally obliterated the Stankees. Here's their actual performance...

...and here's a fun little overview of their entire (did I mention they had soundcheck at 10am for a 1pm game, plus a two-show day starting with a 2pm matinee performance? Yeahhhh it was kinda nuts) 

On top of that, I've been doing some video editing work for Project: Project's upcoming production How May I Connect You (Or, Scenes in The Key of D:/), a really cool devised theatre piece full of hilarious sketches about communication and human interaction in a digital era. That show goes up this coming weekend only, Sept. 26-29, at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, so see while you still can!

(oh, and plus, my girlfriend just directed this incredible production of Nina Raines' Tribes at SpeakEasy Stage Company, which is getting absolute stellar reviews, so you should go see that as well. It runs through Oct. 12.)

The Origins of Pumpkin Beer

New post on Five By Five Hundred about the secret history of that wretched poison that people actually pretend to like. Ugh.

Now On Sale - "In A Single Bound: Superheroes For Greater Boston...And Beyond!"

(wow I can't believe I totally forgot to post about this back in April) (yes I realize I've been neglecting this site) (I could have sworn I posted about this when it happened...)

I recently published another comic book story, this one with Boston Comics Roundtable / Ninth Art Press and featuring artwork by my friend Jim Gallagher. Our story is part of an anthology series about Boston-centric superheroes, and what's even cooler is that our superhero "Louie the Lone Dervish" (inspired by Louie With The Tricycle, a popular homeless guy around these parts) is featured right there on the cover on the anthology as well. Not bad for a story about a crazy superhobo on a refurbished three-wheeler!

The comic was originally set to have its debut at Boston Comic-Con back in April, but, well, that kind of got postponed because, you know, all kinds of craziness. So it's now available online following the re-scheduled Boston Comic-Con from last weekend. You can pick up a copy of "In A Single Bound" #2 over at the Ninth Art Press website, a scant $6 for 36 glorious black-and-white pages done entirely by Boston-based writers & artists.

UPDATE: this blog post managed to make the rounds today, thanks to the magical powers of the Internet, and I was interviewed by Boston Magazine about it. You know, 'cause I'm awesome n'shizz. Check out the interview over on their website!

Maria Aitken returns for The Cocktail Hour

Maria Aitken is one of our favorite directors at the Huntington, and we're excited to welcome her back to Boston this fall to bring her expertise to AR Gurney's American comedy of manners The Cocktail Hour. Here's a little video I did with Artistic Director Peter DuBois about the production:

I speak more in depth about the play over on the Huntington's blog as well.

The Power of Duff at the Huntington

One of our other new plays in the Huntington's upcoming season is The Power of Duff, which had its world premiere last summer but is undergoing some extensive re-writes for this fall. I spoke with director Peter DuBois about the production in the video below, and I talk more extensively about the story and script over on the Huntington blog:

The Jungle Book Comes to Boston!

The opening show of our 2013-2014 season at the Huntington is a brand new stage adaptation of Disney's The Jungle Book, which we're all pretty excited about. I talk about it more extensively over on the Huntington's blog, and here's a video interview I put together with our Artistic Director Peter DuBois about the production: 

Performances of The Jungle Book begin September 7 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre.

Who For You For Me For Who?

My incredibly talented partner, Ms. M. Bevin O'Gara, is directing the Boston premiere of You For Me For You, a fantastical new play by Mia Chung that tells the story of two sisters trying to escape North Korea and flee to the United States. Bevin and I tend to stay out of each others' ways when it comes to our creative processes, so while I've read the script, I honestly don't know much about the production itself -- but I can tell you that I'm incredibly excited to see this highly imaginative story acted out on stage (and not just because my girlfriend is the director and I'm biased). Here's a little preview video I put together for the production, which starts performances tomorrow and runs through February 16:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qlpSZVLyuEA]

(side note, when I was approached to create a video for the show, it took so much of my will power to not just give them this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEaKX9YYHiQ]

but you knew that was coming, right? I'm a horrible person)

Who Is That Masked Man Anyway?

I have a new superhero identity. I'm not really sure what my powers are, or if they'd be any use in a fight, but that doesn't matter. I've now experienced the quintessential Spider-Man-esque (RIP) traumatic formative moment, and there is no turning back.

Today on Five By Five Hundred, I reveal my deep secret, the true origin story of my new superheroic identity: Regular Wednesday Comic Book Buyer Guy. A true hero for the modern age.

Read ahead, if you can handle it.

"Origin Story" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Live Theatre On Video, Live!

For those of you who missed the 2nd Annual Boston One-Minute Play Festival, you're in the luck! The whole thing is streaming online here at HowlRound's NewPlayTV. If you don't want to watch the entire thing (which is understandable, it's 2 hours long), my 2 plays are at approximately 28 minutes, and at 48:55.

Also, you might want to fastforward to the end to watch a delightful surprise.

Ghosts of Boston

Here's a little excerpt from a larger piece of fiction I've been working on, posted over at Five By Five Hundred. It's completely out of context, but that's okay; I think it works alright on it's own.

"Back On The Streets" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

The Race One, Not The Sci-Fi One

Previews start tomorrow at the Huntington for our stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison's seminal novel Invisible Man. If nothing else, this is simply one of the most stunning visual feats for storytelling I've seen. Here's a little video I put together about the play from interviews I did with the creators and the lead actor playing Invisible Man. Check it out: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgoMI-I21Co]

Invisible Man plays Jan. 4 — Feb. 3 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre.