Fredonia Fun!

So, I'm back in New York City again, having braved the wilds of Fredonia, NY and Erie, PA. Which, truth be told, aren't so wild at all. However, picture a bunch of 20-somethings with two cars and a $55 per diem, and tell me you don't think we got ourselves into some adventures.

Fredonia was a three-day sit down for us (meaning we did six shows, but got to leave the set up in between) so we actually had a chance to get to know our town a little better. As co-social director, I took it upon myself to interview the nice lady at the front desk about local eating locations. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: "Can you recommend a place that's nearby and moderate- to inexpensively-priced?"
Front desk lady ponders heavily. "Well," she says thoughtfully, "I think your best bet is Denny's."
Me: "Well, we've eaten a lot of Denny's in the last few weeks. Do you have any other suggestions."
Front desk lady: "Oh, well, there's the Bob Evans. And the Applebees, but they're a little more expensive. But different."
Me: (Befuddled look on my face)
Front desk lady: "Or, you could try the Upper Crust in downtown Fredonia."
Me: "Oh?"
Front desk lady, said with a look of glee, shaking her head and pinching her hands together: "Oh, yes, the Upper Crust. Mmmm... it is... so good!"

Needless to say, "It is... so good" became the catch phrase of the week. And, in fact, the Upper Crust was a great little cafe/bakery. We enjoyed a tasty little lunch there after our first day of shows. Highly recommended.

The local joint that became our favorite, however, was directly across the street from our hotel: Wing City Grille. Local sports bar extraordinaire, with serious bar food, hardcore wings and $4 pitchers of beer after 8pm. We dropped by for dinner every night. And, with our new-forming regular status, we got on a first-name basis with Chad, our waiter from the first night. Our return visits were filled with loud singing, trivia playing (team CHA-CHING managed a fourth place finish on Thursday Trivia Night, while Max and the Alien Green Gorilla duked it out for supremacy on the TV screen game) and, of course, lots of cheap Yuengling. We discovered that there is also a location in Florida, where we are headed in about two weeks. Repeat?

As for the shows, they were all really wonderful. We had a pick-up rehearsal on our second day, and it completely revived the jokes and cues (although we were so exhausted afterwards that you might say it nearly killed us). We did lose a show to a power outage, however, as the entire SUNY-Fredonia campus (our venue) went dark for an unknown reason, and there were many crying children leaving the theater as we trotted off to lunch. For a few days there, it felt like a normal show, where we show up with an hour to spare, warm up, change into costume, do it, undress, reset for the next day and then leave. Which is actually very refreshing. And something we can't really get used to.

Kid quote of the day: At the end of the show, when Ruby starts recounting the misadventures of her and Max's day, a little boy sternly scoulded: "I told you not to do that, Max!" We nearly all lost it on stage.

Call tomorrow: Unknown. SM will text message sometime today.