I am currently learning my lines as the “Duke of Exeter” for Iowa City’s Dreamwell Theater production of Shakespeare’s “The Life of King Henry the Fifth.”

I have my “Kittredge: Players Illustrated Edition” by my side, but still… no matter how I attempt to deliver them… my lines come-off as a combination of Brian Blessed (from Kenneth Branagh’s film version) and Sam Elliot. My voice is TOO DEEP! Gaaagh!

Like many from the 80′s refrain: I wanna’ be a cowboy!

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Well, several weeks ago, discovered a gathering of I-380  Corridor inhabitants tossing their specialties into a hodge-podge of creative individuals… calling themselves IC|CR|eatives, which is actually a pretty cool amalgamation and moniker.

I found them inexplicably through Twitter… which for the 1st time has completely full-filled the reason I joined the “Twitter-verse” in the first place.

This group appears to run the gamut from Artists & Developers, to Engineers & Photographers; all of whom reside somewhere between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, IA.

IC|CR|eatives describe themselves thus (from their website):

The hope here is naively simple: by connecting each one of us, we connect all of us—to design gizmos, make films, paint pictures, write in syntax, share coffee, wear sweet hats, bake pies and scribble crazy ideas on absurdly small napkins—with one goal in mind: to create, however it is you might do that.

Although this concept smacks of “Why didn’t I think of this before”, it’s encouraging that somebody took the time to put this idea into an actual concrete concept. I tip my hat to those behind Cramer Dev and to all those enlisting their passions to the cause. It is quite encouraging to add my own passions to this potentially ever-growing list of the area’s top-notch creative people in the area. My only hope is live-up to expectations of my newly-found peers.

Hat-tip to Chris Grebner for the IC|CR|eatives graphic.

The digital Renaissance Man of Eastern Iowa [Chris Hanel] has finally decided to leave the midwest for the potential glory  on the East Coast (Orange County, no doubt). Chris’s departure weighs heavy upon the many friends he’s made here in Iowa City. Noboy wants to see Chris and Kori leave, but we fully support their decision. A man’s gotta do, what you gotta do. Here’s a man with talent: Exceptional Artist, Video Effects Editor, Coordinatior, Writer, Director, Actor, Improv Comedy Aficionado.

In the three years since he’s been back in Iowa, we’ve been able to put-forth an audience/fan script-submitted MST3K-Style Movie Heckling experience with Riff Raff Theater. When Chris had the time, he’d jump in to a Comics In Action gig… like the one at Coe Collage…

Of coure, this was not the ONLY time he’d worked with Comics In Action.

Then again, there is the multitude of movie we skewered under the guise of Riff Raff Theater. Here’s a clip.

You will be sorely missed, Mr. Hanel. Stay in touch. We’ll always have your back.

“It costs little to watch, and little more if you happen to get caught up in the action, if that’s your taste and times being what they are.”

To decipher meaning out of a seemingly insignificant phrase, or so it might seem otherwise….if there is any meaning behind it at all. To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the world is naught but a tangle of episodes into which they have been summoned to unravel the delusions of their old-school friend, Hamlet.

September 3-5 & 10-12 at 7:30pm at the Riverside Festival Stage, City Park, Iowa City. Tickets are available at the door, or by calling the ICCT box office at 319-338-0443.

Directed by James Trainor, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead features the talents of Brad Quinn and David Priebe.

Of course, I’ll be in the show as well as one of the Tragedians. This is gonna’ be a LOT of fun.

Christmas 2009 draws to a close as I spend Saturday driving my kids from Iowa City to Chicago for them to hop a flight back to Nashville. This holiday season was spent  with the family at my folks place in Van Horne; along with Jared, Haley, Beth, John, Emmett, Christine, Dave, Larry, Lou and my fav GF, Angie.

I was surprised that the remote helicopters I picked for for my kids went off like nobody’s business. They eventually attempted to terrorize my cat, Spengler, but he soon lost interest after several bombing runs. Mucho kudos go out to John and his lofty gift to Jard: one of those mini-digital video cameras. SWEET! A shout-out goes out to my brother-in-law, Dan. If it weren’t for him, neither I, Jared or Haley would actually have their OWN domain name. You ROCK!

New Years Eve was spent playing 5-hours of Rock Band at my theatrical-com-padre Vicki’s house. Ask about her last trip to India. On second thought, DON’T ask her. In the mean time, I’m gonna’ put on some Modest Mouse.

Here’s a few pix from the trip to Chicago. So long, 2009. I hardly knew ya’.

On September 24th, and lasting 6 weeks, the Black & White photography that I’ve had hanging around my apartment will be on display at The Coffee Emporium in the Armstrong Building.

Personally, I call my work “Architectural Abstract”, but many of you will notice that it’s mostly pix of downtown Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Many of my friends have known of my propensity to spend large amounts of time shooting and developing my own B&W photography. Although I do NOT own an expensive digital SLR, I’ve spent much of the last 8 years working my manual Canon Ftb SLR (circa 1971). Many of the B&W photos on this website will be available to view, although I will be pricing many of them WAY above most of my acquaintance’s financial threshold. I’m simply not in the mood to SELL anything. Cool?

On Wednesday afternoon, I called up my friend Ahmed and asked him to give me a lift to Holiday Wrecker outside of Tiffin, IA. That is where my Nissan Sentra was towed following the automobile accident on October 13, 2008. I had spent the earlier part of the day getting poked, prodded, scanned and examined at the University of Iowa Hospitals. They wanted to verify that my foot was healing properly.

The personnel at Holiday Wrecker were unsure of the old-style automobile Title or Certificate of Ownership, so it took some time before they gave us the OK to hand the car over to them. They gave us the opportunity to remove any of the undamaged personal belongings that I had in the car, so we dived right in. We were shocked by the amount of damage and it quickly became apparent why my left foot was broken: The entire driver-side floorboard was compressed to the size of a shoe box. Ouch. What follows are a few pictures of the damage.

We managed to get everything out of the car, including a handful of pens that I am STILL unsure where they came from. I don’t recall 13 pens floating around the glove box. For those that are curious, I managed to collect my shoes that had become wedged under the brake pedal. Sketchers are expensive for feet my size and there was no way those would be left behind.