Monday, February 28, 2011

A Sneak Peak from Disney

(Photo by Jason Getz/AJC)

Consider this just a preview of the full length motion picture due to come out this April. 

The Houston Astros opened their Grapefruit League schedule today with a rousing 13-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. An amazing outing by our the leader of our pitching rotation, Wandy Rodriguez, is the best part.  And by "amazing", what I really mean is "disgusting".  He managed to give up 6 runs in an inning and 2/3. On the offensive side,  Jason Michaels went 0-for-3 and left 5 men on base.  Solid!

The only thing somewhat positive to say is that Carlos Lee went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Brett Wallace went 3-for-3 with 2 runs scored.   According to the boxscore, our offense couldn't have been too terrible compared to the Braves with our hit totals almost even.  The Astros knocked around 14 hits to the Braves 15, but just like typical Astros teams, we can't put the hits together to equal any runs.  Just ask Roger Clemens in 2005, and Roy Oswalt in 2007-2010. 

Now, I do have to admit a couple of things:  1) I didn't get to watch the game, I am only looking at the post game boxscore,  and 2) I never really put too much stock into what happens in spring training.  (Especially final scores)

But. . .  things that do concern me during spring training, are things like star players batting around .200 or .175 through March, and pitchers giving up too many walks and home runs.  So obviously, I can't get too worked up about either of these things yet, but talk to me in about 3 weeks and let's see how I feel then.

Oh, and by the way, I just found out last week that the Astros open the regular season against the Philadelphia Phillies in Philly.  I don't know if you've heard, but they just happen to have the best starting rotation I've ever heard of:
  1. Roy Halladay
  2. Cliff Lee
  3. Roy Oswalt
  4. Cole Hamels
  5. Who cares about this spot when you've got those four?! 
You can bet that this will be something for us all to think about as we watch the offense try to get some sort of confidence so we don't open our 2011 campaign with 3 consecutive no-hit losses. 

Well, that's all for now.  Now that the Astros are playing games, expect quite a bit more posts on them.  BUT, my wonderful mother did purchase a new camera for Blythe and that takes HD Pictures and HD Video, so hopefully I will be able to post videos and higher quality pictures here as well!  I'll be playing with that a little bit tonight, so we'll see how soon I can put it to some good use!

Peace Out,
Luke

p.s.  391 page views through my first full month of blogging as of 3:27pm today!   Thanks for reading!!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

No Apologies Here!

Let me get this out of the way, one of the biggest reasons I always put off starting a blog was that I know enough about myself and how busy I am most of the time to know that I would have stretches of time where I would be able to (and maybe not even WANT to) write something for maybe a week or two at a time.  Then, I would inevitably have to sign in and post one of those Oh-my-goodness!-I'm-sorry-it's-been-so-long type of post, and I know how annoying those can be.  Let's face it, no one was begging me for my next post and wondering, "Where's Luke", so why should I feel like I owe anyone an apology for not posting anything for four days?! The good news though, is that in these four days, I've got several things to talk about... so let's do it.  The only thing I may feel the need to apologize for is this post covering several different topics that in NO WAY relate to each other. 



I Do, I Do Rehearsals
Rehearsals started Tuesday night for the next show that I am working on.  Things have been going okay in our first couple of nights looking at the music.  It's great having such a small cast, because we are really able to take the time with each person in each song making sure that they really feel comfortable with how the song goes. After learning the notes and rhythms to each song, we like to go back and run the entire song once or twice to make sure everything really feels good and we start trying to find things that will take each song to the next level.  

Our two actors are Steve Fenley and Shondra Marie.  Both are very talented, and working very hard.  The first couple of music rehearsals have been a bit of a struggle since we are having to read the music from one book and we are really trying to figure out some discrepancies between the script, the conductor score, and the original cast recording.  The three versions are all a bit different, so many times in our rehearsals it just comes down to deciding which one we all like the best and will work best for our show.  I have all the faith in the world that this is going to be a great show that none of you will want to miss, but like any show, when you are only three days in, you start wondering, "How is this one going to come together."



The Day Job
Things have really been going great at school over the last couple of days, and I am so thankful for good kids.  I finally feel like I'm hitting my stride as a first year teacher.  On Thursday, I had one of the best rehearsals that I've had all year with the bass section in our boys choir.  I finally felt like I was able to get some very good focus from them which led to some very productive rehearsal time.  It felt great on Friday morning when the same guys came into the choir room the next day talking about how great it felt to finally get some "real work" done the day before!  Where were these kids in September and October though?  Oh well, I'll take it now!


 Who Decided on the 17 Hour Work Day?
On the same day as the great rehearsal in boys choir at school, I had one of the longest work days I've ever had, and hopefully will EVER have.  The work day started at the normal 7:10am which is the start time for my contract at school every morning.  Luckily, I had a great day at school and everything went very well through my time there.  After the normal school day, the teachers had to stay on campus for a faculty meeting to discuss the TAKS Test that this coming up next week.  I always thought this would be a pretty easy deal for teachers to just pass out a test and then sit back and chill the rest of the day.  Boy, was I wrong!! I had no idea how much work is asked of teachers who administer these standardized tests!  Lots of stuff that just feels like useless busy work, and then pacing through a classroom for 4 hours making sure that kids are following the rules.  We'll see how it goes on Tuesday.

That night, we then had a 6th grade choir concert.   These kids are amazing!  Why is it that 105 sixth graders can manage to come into a classroom after lunch and give you their best effort for a full hour when a group of 45 seventh and eighth graders can't seem to concentrate on anything for more than 3 minutes?!  Our sixth graders sounded so great and we were so proud of them.  One of the favorite parts of my day right now is when the bell rings for my 6th grade choir to come in.  That is one thing I NEVER would've expected to say in my first year of teaching!

Well, the choir concert ended at about 7:40pm, and by 8pm, we'd cleaned everything up and were headed out.  But the day wasn't over. . .

The final obligation of the day was that I was supposed to play the piano for the opening night party for the cast of the "Billy Elliott" tour at the Hobby Center.  It's always a pretty cool experience to get to meet some of the cast members of these shows and play a song or two with them, but for the most part, it turns into a glorified open mic night for the patrons.  Some are better than others to play for, and of course there are usually five or six singers that are hired to be there to keep the music going.


The Day After
The day after one of these late night gigs is never a whole lot of fun.  I got to bed around 1:15am Friday morning, and set my alarm to wake me up at 5:30am.  Not good for a teacher who sees about 300 junior high students every day! But it was all worth while today, when I got to take a nap with my little boy.  It's moments like this, that nothing else in the world matters!  Here's the picture that Blythe caught as she came home this afternoon during our nap time.

Again, I am a very lucky man!
That's all for now.  I should be able to get another post up this weekend.  Thanks for reading!

Peace Out, 
Luke

Monday, February 21, 2011

Back to Day One: "I Do, I Do"



The curse of doing what I do is that there are so many "Day One's." 

I've been very lucky for most of the last 4 or 5 years to have shows booked CONSTANTLY.  It became very rare for me to close one show and not go into rehearsals for another within the next week or so.  Well, over the last  month and a half, I've been involved with three different shows, but none of them were shows that I would be there for the entire process.  In the beginning of January, I worked for two weeks on Country Playhouse's production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."  (Which opens this week) I taught the music to the cast, and then left the show in the talented hands of my good friend, Jacob Carr.   After that, I went into a week of rehearsals and another week of performances for Cy-Creek High School's production of "Little Shop of Horrors."  The show had already been learned and put up, but I came in to play the piano and lead the band for the performances.  That show was also mixed in with a rehearsal and a couple performances as the keyboard II sub for the national tour of "West Side Story" at the Hobby Center.   Obviously with that show, I was not there for an extended period of time.

So, after looking at my last couple of  months, the last time that I went to the first rehearsal for a show that I would also be at the final performance of was "Forever Plaid: Plaid Tidings" at Texas Repertory Theatre back in October!  Well, tomorrow that streak ends.  Tomorrow is another "Day One" for me as I go into rehearsals for Texas Rep's production of "I Do, I Do".   It is a show that I've not done before, so I am very excited about that, but it always just feels so daunting to know that over the next three and a half weeks, we've got a ton of work to do!  The cast only has two members, so it's not terribly hard music, but there is a lot of it! My score is about 200 pages long, which is actually VERY thick for a two person show.  To be honest, as of right now, I can't recall the name of the woman who will be playing the female in the show, but I know that Steve Fenley will be playing the male role.  Steve is one of the co-founders of Texas Rep, and has been in what seems like every show there since the theatre opened 6 years ago.  He is very talented, and will be great in this show, for sure. 

Starting rehearsals does mean less time at home, of course.  The last several weeks have been very nice for Blythe and I to be able to be home around the same time, eat dinner together, and go through our nightly routine with Carter as a family.  (Which you all saw pictures of! Thanks for reading!)  Since August, the three of us have really come to enjoy those rare nights that we can all be home and take our time with dinner and getting Carter bathed and put down for the night.  This is the hardest part about doing these shows, and especially thinking of that first rehearsal.  There's no "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling because you haven't even entered the "tunnel." 

But, before we know it, spring break will be here. Then the show will be open. Then we'll be sitting at Jones Hall watching a Harry Connick Jr. concert, and not thinking anything about what we've just been through!!!

Well, I guess that's all for now.  Wish me luck as I start the wonderful rehearsal process all over again tomorrow.  I will surely keep you all posted with how everything is going.  Thanks for reading!

Peace Out,
Luke

Thursday, February 17, 2011

An Evening With Carter and a Camera

So, after a normal day at work, nothing in the sports world grabbing my attention today, and a very nice phone  conversation with my mother ;)  I thought today would be a great day to just grab the camera, take a couple of quick pictures of Carter as we go through our nightly routine and let you all see just how big (and handsome) he has gotten. 

I couldn't believe how many views my last post got.  I am so happy that there are some people actually reading this blog.  It makes it so very fun for me to do this when I know that each post is going to get a couple of views!  So, I'll try to get back to the writing some time this weekend.  I've got a very busy weekend, but I'll do everything I can to sit down and make a quick post some time through the next couple of days.

In the mean time, here's just a glimpse of what I get to see every night.  It's these moments that remind me just how lucky I am.  I am forever thankful for my Blythe and Carter.  Enjoy!



Asleep after coming home from Mrs. Scott's.  It's normal that he is passed out like this by time we get home every afternoon.  




Waking up and realizing, "Wait, we're at home and I'm STILL in this thing?!"   (I sometimes let him stay asleep in his carrier for a few minutes before getting him out and starting the rest of our routine)




Dinner time.  He's definitely an eater.  I have NO IDEA where he got his big blue eyes from, but we can't help but love them!



Okay, this look may be starting to get a little irritated with the camera.  I haven't taken just a whole lot of pictures of him myself, (thank you, Melissa), so he may not be used to dad staring at him with the camera.



And on a night when I've had my camera out taking pictures, why would I not get this one for you?!  I think its kind of disgusting how cute this is every night after his bath, but I am a little bit biased. ;)



Well, I hope you enjoyed my little "photo journal" of our nightly routine.  Now that I have this blog going, I'll be sure to take more pictures of him and put up a couple of them up each week. I'll let you all know when I've got another post up!   (You know I will)   Thanks again for reading!

Peace Out,
Luke

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

2011 Astros: A Horror Film in the Making

So, it's a strange title, but I promise you'll understand in a short while.

I've been in a "scary movie" type of mood lately.  I don't really know where it came from, but what you need to know, is that last night I was compelled to watch the movie Paranormal Activity 2 before going to bed.  Not too bad of a movie. . . a lot like Blair Witch Project.  It's filmed with the intent of making it feel like a home video off of someone's camcorder.  Admittedly, it has got some genuinely scary moments in it that really had me going at times, and I usually don't scare too easily with movies.  I think it creeped me out a bit more than most movies because the story sort of centers around a very young boy who is just learning to walk and talk and all those baby things.  Of course this got me worked up more than usual because I just kept picturing Carter in some of this babies situations.

This movie is definitely one of those show that has a lot of things sort of jumping out at you, or happening very quickly with the purpose of startling you. So, as you watch a fairly calm scene, you can't help but having this sense of "Something REALLY terrible is about to happen."  And this is where my two worlds collided as I laid in bed last night watching.

Karren Warren of the Houston Chronicle
All of the sudden I remembered that the Astros spring training sort of started yesterday.  Well, it didn't really "start", but the pitchers and catchers reported to the spring training facility in Kissimmee, Florida yesterday to start getting ready for the season.  I know this is going to seem silly, but I realized last night that the way I felt during the calm scenes in this movie, was not too far off from my feelings about the coming Astros season.  Things are very calm right now, but you just know, "Something REALLY terrible is about to happen!"

The biggest acquisitions the Astros franchisemade this year was a veteran infielder, Bill Hall, and two new LED video screens at Minute Maid Park.  To be honest, it's hard to pick which one to be more excited about!  Hall is a guy who usually has anywhere from 8-18 homeruns, but his batting average is usually right around the Mendoza Line.  Although 8 homeruns in a season feels like it would be a huge improvement from what we've had over the last 3 years, I'm still not terribly excited about the signing.  This signing feels like one of those moves that Houston teams seem to be very good at.  Houston franchises always seem to say, "Hey, at one point in his career, this guy was a great player.  Yes, that was five years ago, but let's just see if our good ol' Houston fans can rejuvenate him."  (Note: Preston Wilson, Tracy McGrady, Ahman Green.)  None of these stories worked out, so why would Bill Hall?  In 2006, Hall erupted for career highs in homeruns (35) and RBI (85) with the Milwaukee Brewers.  Since then, he has not done just a whole lot. 

By the way, because of the two new LED screens at the ball park, Astros tickets prices went up again! (link) That way, when the Astros are getting embarrassed on the field, you can look up and watch the old Astrodome videos on a shiny new LED screen and remember why you were willing to pay a couple extra bucks to watch mediocre baseball!

So, I know that we are in the middle of February, and the baseball season is very long, but let me give you a fair warning, go ahead and shield your eyes now.   Just like in all those scary movies, there is soft, creepy music playing. . . But it is drowned out by the sound of catcher's mits popping in central Florida. I can't bare to watch.  Let me know when the scary part is over!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

A Whirlwind Weekend in San Antonio

Well, Blythe and I are finally back close to home, and have a moment to settle down after our whirlwind trip to San Antonio for the TMEA Convention.  It was nice to not be teaching these last two days, but I think we'd both say that we are more worn out from the several sessions we went to, all the concerts that we saw, and all the "rubbing elbows" and small talk with other music teachers from Texas.   It has been a while since I've been to the convention, and it was the first time that I've been as a teacher.   The two times I had gone before, I was there as a student at Sam Houston.   It really was a joy, and an experience that I won't forget.

A couple of quick notes about some of the things we were able to see, hear, and do in San Antonio:

The first session we went to after getting to the convention and signing in, was a talk back session with an a cappella group called the Swingle Singers.  This is a group of 8 singers from around the world that write their own arrangements of a cappella music.  They sang a concert on Wednesday night, but we didn't get in to town until lunch time on Thursday, so I had heard so much about this group that we made it a point to at least see this talk session.  They talked about their audition process, their rehearsal techniques, and how they work so well as an ensemble. 

The rest of that day, we spent most of our time walking around with two of our very best friends, Skip and Darcy McLinden.  I have been friends with Skip since my freshmen year of college.  I'll never forget my first day in the Sam Houston choir rehearsal, he was so kind to come up and introduce himself, and ask me how my first days of school were going.  He have had so many great memories since that day.  When he and Darcy got married, Blythe and I both wasted no time in getting to know her, and now when the four of us go out, you never know WHAT is going to happen!!

On Friday, Blythe and I set a schedule for ourselves that allowed us to be in a new session every hour and a half.   We saw a great session by composer Roger Emerson on improving your junior high choirs, a very helpful sight singing session by a friend of mine named Heather Orr, and an UNBELIEVABLE session by the American Boy Choir.   This session was directed towards effectively warming up a choir.  Some of the warm-ups were specific to boys, but in general the routine of their warm-ups can be used by boys or girls.  These singers were incredible singers that were all between fifth and eighth grades.  To start their singing warm-ups the director would simply say, "Let's sing this exercise in D Major.  Some one please give me a 'D'"."  When he said that several boys who could hear the pitch in their head would raise their hand to volunteer to sing the 'D' for the choir to sing and start their warm-up.  This is crazy impressive as it shows that most of these boys have what is called 'perfect pitch' and can pick these notes out of thin air.  Very cool to see!

Through our couple of days, we also saw a couple of great choir concerts.   Including:  Midway Junior High and High School, Knox Junior High, and Cy-Woods High School.  These concerts were all great motivation for what I can aim for through my career as a choir director.  

Anyways. . .  Well, Blythe and I had a great weekend.  We certainly missed Carter like crazy, but we know that he was in good hands with his Nana and Papaw.   Things are still looking pretty busy for us both through the next month and a half or so with UIL choir contest, Blythe's One Act Play contest, and I start rehearsals for another show a week from Tuesday. 

That's all for now.   As we get closer to baseball season, I'll be putting my thoughts together about the Astros and give you my best prediction on how things will turn out.  (Let's hope this prediction turns out better than my Super Bowl prediction.)

Peace Out,
Luke

Monday, February 7, 2011

Added Pages

So, instead of getting on my blog today and trying to swallow my pride and apologize for my incorrect prediction of the Super Bowl, I thought I'd get on and just add some "meat" to my blog.  I added two new pages that you can see the links to directly above this post.  I've added an "Upcoming Performances" page so that I can keep you all in-the-know with the various gigs that I've got going on, and I've added a simple "Contact Info" page just in case someone ends up coming on to my blog that may be interested in adding something to that "Upcoming Performances" page for me.  ;)    I do intend to put the URL to my blog in my bio's for the shows that I have coming up, so you never know who may end up checking this stuff out!

Speaking of things that are coming up for, I will update the page over the next couple of days with a couple of productions that I have booked.  Namely, another production of "Smokey Joe's Cafe" ,  a benefit performance with a young lady named Meredith Clark who was the stand-by for Elphaba on the national tour of "Wicked", and I will also be trying to work a production of "Assassins" into my schedule for April. 

This next semester at school looks like it will keep me fairly busy, so adding many more shows between now and June will probably be pretty difficult. 

That's it for now.  This week, I'll be trying to post a blog or two from the TMEA Convention in San Antonio, and I'll also be getting more and more excited about baseball season as Spring Training quickly approaches!  Let me know what you think about the two new pages, and let me know if you have some ideas for any other pages that need to make it on to my blog.

Peace Out,
Luke

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Super Bowl Prediction!!

So, my first sports prediction for my new blog just happens to be for the Super Bowl. Although I know a little bit about the logistics of football, I don't really get into all of that when I try to predict scores.  I don't even really like listening to the experts, because I think that they DO get too caught up in key matchups and things like that.  What I look at is very simple:
  1. Who's offense is better?   Packers
  2. Who's defense is better?   Steelers
  3. Who's got the "IT" factor?  Steelers
  4. Who's got more to prove?  Packers
  5. Who seems to want it more?  Steelers
With that said, I am thinking that it will be a very close game, but in the end, I think that the Pittsburgh defense is too much to handle for Aaron Rodgers.  The Steelers defense will not play as great as they usually do, but when it matters most, they will step up in a big way and put a ton of pressure on Rodgers in the 2nd half.

The short and sweet answer:

Steeler's by 4:  21-17


Logo is copied from www.dotsperiod.com

Friday, February 4, 2011

Andy Pettitte: Hall of Famer?

Andy Pettitte announced his retirement today after 16 years in the league. He spent a total of thirteen years with the Yankees, which were interrupted with three in Houston. His first year playing for his hometown Astros, 2004, was almost completely wasted with injuries as he only started 15 games to compile a record of (6-4).

Later in his career, Pettitte admit to using steroids during this year saying that he basically didn't want to let his hometown fans down, and to avoid doing so, he needed to help his body heal itself quicker by using PED's. From a fan's perspective, I tend to believe Pettitte when he says that he did not take these drugs to strictly get a boost in his performance. Pettitte was a dominant pitcher from his rookie year in 1995. In 1996, he likely should have won the AL Cy Young Award after going (21-8) with a 3.87 ERA and 162 strikeouts. The award was won that year by a guy I've never even heard of, Pat Hentgen, who was (20-10) with a 3.22 ERA and 177 strikeouts. Don't be surprised that I haven't heard of him, I was only in the 5th grade. :)


Here, I've posted Pettitte's career stats. A couple of things to point out when talking about Pettitte's Hall of Fame Credentials:
  • After his admitted steroid usage, his best season was the next year, 2005, when he posted a career low ERA and had 17 wins.
  • He never ended a season with a losing record. Only in 2008 did he end up at .500.
  • His 2,251 strikeouts only puts him at 47th all-time.
  • His 240 wins is ahead of Hall of Famers Catfish Hunter (224), and Whitey Ford (236), but still is only good enough for 52nd place on the all-time list.
Now, all though some of these numbers are ahead of Hall of Fame pitchers, they aren't necessarily mind blowing. But, what made Pettitte great was his postseason performance. He compiled an overall postseason record of (19-10), including (14-6) in the division and league championship series'.


Some notes about Pettitte's postseason numbers:
  • He is in 2nd on the all-time list for World Series games started (13). Only behind Whitey Ford (22)
  • His 19 career postseason wins puts him on top of that list.
So, in the regular season, Pettitte was great, maybe not Hall of Fame worthy. And like I've heard said before, "The museum in Cooperstown is not called the 'Hall of the Great'". But, when you include his postseason heroics, the debate becomes "When", not "If" Pettitte will get in.

Do you think he's a 'First Ballot' Hall of Famer? Ask me again in five years!

Peace Out,
Luke





Thursday, February 3, 2011

As a Sports Fan in Texas, I'd Rather Live in Dallas.

That hurts me to say! But I just saw a highlight of the Dallas Stars game from tonight, and that's exactly the thought that came to mind. Let's take a moment to compare the teams from these two cities before I get into what happened at the hockey game tonight.

Baseball:
Texas Rangers (90-72) American League Champions; Won the AL West by 9 games
Houston Astros (76-86) 4th Place in a terrible NL Central; 15 Games back from the division winning Cincinnati Reds.

The Rangers also have a new majority owner, Nolan Ryan, while the Astros owner, Drayton McLane has put the team up for sale.

Football:
Dallas Cowboys (6-10) Rebounded from a horrific start to end up with the same record as the other NFL team in Texas.
Houston Texas (6-10) Looked like a train wreck after a (4-2) start.

Don't forget that the Cowboys OWNED the Texans in a week 3 matchup at Reliant Stadium, 27-13, AND there is a small annual get together for the NFL this week in Dallas. They call it the "Super Bowl", maybe you've heard of it?

Basketball:
Dallas Mavericks
(33-15) Pretty exciting team to watch with an owner that cares!
Houston Rockets (23-28) A last place team with no superstars. Why watch?

Hockey:
Dallas Stars
(30-17) An NHL team in Texas that has some passion about what they do, along with some passionate fans that fill the seats for every game.
Houston Aeros (28-19) A minor league hockey team that plays in a half-empty (or half-full) Toyota Center.

So, let me tell you what got me thinking about all of this: I was watching The Final Score tonight on FSN, and the first highlight I saw was the Dallas Stars facing the Boston Bruins. Admittedly, I am not a HUGE fan of hockey. It's one of those sports that I'll watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals, but that's it. Other than that, I just watch to see if I can catch a fight every once in a while. Well, in tonight's game, there was obviously some bad blood from a previous matchup, because as soon as the puck dropped in the opening period, two guys just started fighting. This happened THREE times to start the game. So, with only four seconds off the clock, there had been three fights!

This may be a stretch, but go with me here. . . This shows why the Dallas sports scene is so much better than Houston's right now. The teams in Dallas all show an extreme passion for winning, and they expect to win. When a team in Dallas does not consistently compete at the level that is expected, they take the necessary actions to try to change it. For example, firing Wade Phillips in the middle of the season this year. But wait, guess who likes left-overs. . . the Houston Texans!!

For some reason, it seems like all of the Houston sports teams are perfectly okay with taking junk from the scrap heap of 'REAL' major league teams. The biggest acquisition for the Astros this year? Bill Hall. Not really setting our expectations too high with him.

Now, I have no intention of ever moving to Dallas, but as a sports fan, the more sports I watch, the easier it becomes to tolerate that other Texas town.

Peace out,
Luke