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GALA Festival Trip, Day 5 of 10
Jul. 10th, 2024 11:59 pmWEDNESDAY
I woke up just before four to use the bathroom (line one and line two) and didn't get back to bed until 4:45. My alarm went off at 7:30 and I prepared for the day while Gary slept in until I was done just after eight. I exchanged messages with Colin who I met at the leather contest in March, and we agreed to meet in the lobby at nine for breakfast at the hotel buffet. We chatted over the meal and left about 10:30 to return to the room, where I put on a swimsuit and Gary changed into workout shorts. Around eleven we went downstairs and I hit the pool for about 15 slow laps (I lost count). While I swam, two very tall maintenance dudes (one at least 6' 6" and the other maybe 6' 2") came in bearing a huge ladder that had seen better days, and proceeded to repair a fallen cover on a fluorescent light fixture. They'd wrapped up by the time I was done swimming, and Gary arrived from his workout shortly after that. We returned to the room about quarter to noon to chill out for a bit.
Just after noon we made our way to Peavey Plaza alongside Orchestra Hall and caught the tail end of rehearsal for the opening ceremony and the performance by Di Bayke Klezmer Band. We met a couple from Palm Springs, Bill and Bill, and had a nice conversation with the younger (or at least more agile) Bill, whose husband remained perched on a scooter a few yards away across the aisle. About halfway through the klezmer set, Gary spotted Gianluca from Ottawa on the fringe of the plaza, and he came over to sit with us for a moment; a lady from Denver was nice to take our picture together. The last song was about "a little feygelah" which actually in this context means bird. After the performance I introduced myself to Mordechai from Denver who had responded on Facebook to my story about the GALA 2000 opening ceremony with Kristin Chenoweth and Harvey Fierstein performing a gender-swapped "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler on the Roof.
After that, we went around the corner to the Devil's Advocate restaurant and bar for lunch. Larry from the SMC first tenors and his wife greeted us through the window. I had an Italian cold cuts sandwich with fries and a dry cider, while Gary had a meatball sandwich with fries and a ginger ale.
After lunch, Gary noticed it was threatening to rain, so we returned to the hotel. Along the way, the fellow collecting autographs on his T-shirt was standing in front of the hotel, so we both signed before ducking into the lobby. I bought us sodas from the market opposite the registration desk and we caught the elevator back to the room. We were joined by a fellow from South Florida who inquired what became of Captain Smartypants and, for that matter, ELB. I mentioned the Pitch Crew and their performance tonight, and briefly noted what Eric was up to before the elevator complained about us holding the door open. Just after we reached the room around 3:30, the rain began coming down in torrents, so we settled in to wait out the storm.
Just before five we made our way to the convention center and waited briefly for the sea of people to enter the auditorium for the relocated opening ceremony. While we were there I greeted Brayton who is the artistic director for Columbus GMC, and Jim from Portland GMC came by and said hi. When it became clear we would not be able to enter the auditorium in time for me to make our 6 pm call for tech rehearsal, Gary walked with me to the designated meeting room and exited to head for Orchestra Hall and the early Mni Sota Confluence performance. It soon became clear that all five choruses scheduled for the block would not fit into the room, so the first chorus stayed in the room and everyone else had to wait in the hall. Around quarter to seven, Carlos from Chicago came by to say hi, and almost simultaneously Chipper from GMCW, who used to sing with SMC, arrived in search of Paul as production manager for Festival. Around quarter after seven, the chorus before us was called to the warm-up room and Paul took the opportunity to get us lined up for the performance while we were in the large hall space. Tech rehearsal went well considering the logistics, and our backstage wrangler, Kevin, was a cute pocket bear with a thick brown beard.
We were done by 8:15 and I rejoined Gary in the ballroom where the ensemble performances were going on. We stayed for the Pitch Crew at 9:15 and the following group, Denver's Take Note! (whose set featured "Fuck You" by Lily Allen), and then left to grab dinner at the Nicollet Diner. Gary had a sandwich with fries and a big vanilla milkshake, I got a Reuben sandwich with onion rings and lemon lime soda.
We returned to the room about 10:30 and tied up a few loose ends before bed. Gary was asleep about quarter after midnight and I turned in just before 12:30.
I woke up just before four to use the bathroom (line one and line two) and didn't get back to bed until 4:45. My alarm went off at 7:30 and I prepared for the day while Gary slept in until I was done just after eight. I exchanged messages with Colin who I met at the leather contest in March, and we agreed to meet in the lobby at nine for breakfast at the hotel buffet. We chatted over the meal and left about 10:30 to return to the room, where I put on a swimsuit and Gary changed into workout shorts. Around eleven we went downstairs and I hit the pool for about 15 slow laps (I lost count). While I swam, two very tall maintenance dudes (one at least 6' 6" and the other maybe 6' 2") came in bearing a huge ladder that had seen better days, and proceeded to repair a fallen cover on a fluorescent light fixture. They'd wrapped up by the time I was done swimming, and Gary arrived from his workout shortly after that. We returned to the room about quarter to noon to chill out for a bit.
Just after noon we made our way to Peavey Plaza alongside Orchestra Hall and caught the tail end of rehearsal for the opening ceremony and the performance by Di Bayke Klezmer Band. We met a couple from Palm Springs, Bill and Bill, and had a nice conversation with the younger (or at least more agile) Bill, whose husband remained perched on a scooter a few yards away across the aisle. About halfway through the klezmer set, Gary spotted Gianluca from Ottawa on the fringe of the plaza, and he came over to sit with us for a moment; a lady from Denver was nice to take our picture together. The last song was about "a little feygelah" which actually in this context means bird. After the performance I introduced myself to Mordechai from Denver who had responded on Facebook to my story about the GALA 2000 opening ceremony with Kristin Chenoweth and Harvey Fierstein performing a gender-swapped "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler on the Roof.
After that, we went around the corner to the Devil's Advocate restaurant and bar for lunch. Larry from the SMC first tenors and his wife greeted us through the window. I had an Italian cold cuts sandwich with fries and a dry cider, while Gary had a meatball sandwich with fries and a ginger ale.
After lunch, Gary noticed it was threatening to rain, so we returned to the hotel. Along the way, the fellow collecting autographs on his T-shirt was standing in front of the hotel, so we both signed before ducking into the lobby. I bought us sodas from the market opposite the registration desk and we caught the elevator back to the room. We were joined by a fellow from South Florida who inquired what became of Captain Smartypants and, for that matter, ELB. I mentioned the Pitch Crew and their performance tonight, and briefly noted what Eric was up to before the elevator complained about us holding the door open. Just after we reached the room around 3:30, the rain began coming down in torrents, so we settled in to wait out the storm.
Just before five we made our way to the convention center and waited briefly for the sea of people to enter the auditorium for the relocated opening ceremony. While we were there I greeted Brayton who is the artistic director for Columbus GMC, and Jim from Portland GMC came by and said hi. When it became clear we would not be able to enter the auditorium in time for me to make our 6 pm call for tech rehearsal, Gary walked with me to the designated meeting room and exited to head for Orchestra Hall and the early Mni Sota Confluence performance. It soon became clear that all five choruses scheduled for the block would not fit into the room, so the first chorus stayed in the room and everyone else had to wait in the hall. Around quarter to seven, Carlos from Chicago came by to say hi, and almost simultaneously Chipper from GMCW, who used to sing with SMC, arrived in search of Paul as production manager for Festival. Around quarter after seven, the chorus before us was called to the warm-up room and Paul took the opportunity to get us lined up for the performance while we were in the large hall space. Tech rehearsal went well considering the logistics, and our backstage wrangler, Kevin, was a cute pocket bear with a thick brown beard.
We were done by 8:15 and I rejoined Gary in the ballroom where the ensemble performances were going on. We stayed for the Pitch Crew at 9:15 and the following group, Denver's Take Note! (whose set featured "Fuck You" by Lily Allen), and then left to grab dinner at the Nicollet Diner. Gary had a sandwich with fries and a big vanilla milkshake, I got a Reuben sandwich with onion rings and lemon lime soda.
We returned to the room about 10:30 and tied up a few loose ends before bed. Gary was asleep about quarter after midnight and I turned in just before 12:30.