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JANUARY

January 25, 2001 — Jumpin’ January!

Greetings and saluations! And happy (belated) new year! Can you believe
it’s 2001? I certainly can’t…

I’m writing to inform you all that I have been ACCEPTED at NYU for the 2
year program to earn a Masters in Music Technology!!!

The unfortunate part is that they want $200 (yikes!) to hold my spot within
the next 3 weeks… isn’t that just stupid? I can’t possibly commit until I
hear from the other 2 schools (Columbia and Brown)… and until I have
financial aid packages from all 3!!! So I’m going to call and ask for an
extension…

That’s the big news.

In other news, IAP is quite wonderful, as always. I don’t know what I’ll do
next year without a whole month off to just relax.

We came in SECOND this year in the MYSTERY hunt!!! Next year, we’re going
to win… of course, I will be a crusty alum captain emeritus, but I still
have confidence that even without my leadership, we will be victorious!!!

I’m also taking a one-unit class in RECORDING TECHNIQUES which is quite fun
and quite easy. It just meets once a week… now I know all about different
microphone types and such!!

Which will come in handy when I try to record a CD for my show, TRIVIAL
PURSUITS, next spring…

Speaking of it, it has been finished for a few weeks now! It took me 15
hours to finalize up the score, but it was worth it- I have a full piano
score; all done by me! I’m awaiting a revised script from Scribby
addressing some concerns/ comments we got at our 2 readthurs over winter
break… speaking of readthrus, we’re having another one this FRIDAY
afternoon for MIT people to spark up interest! Auditions will be Feb 12 & 13…

Btw, the show is APRIL 19, 20 and 21. So you should all plan on flying/
training up to Boston for the WORLD PREMIERE!!!!!!

Speaking of shows, right now I’m in the Gilbert and Sullivan Players’
production of THE ZOO, which is a cute one-act operetta. I play Thomas
Brown, the hero of the play! Being rich, I buy everyone’s happiness!
(that’s because I’m a Democrat, and I care about people besides the wealthy.)

In any case, it’s quite a fun show!

Speaking of politics, I got to see BILL CLINTON give his thanks to BOSTON
speech a few weeks ago, thanks to Dave. (He was speaking at NEU)… he told
me (and a few others) not to worry about the next 4 years. Yes, they’ll be
awful, but we’ll survive and the things he’s done can’t be undone by just
one idiot. Although, I am getting sick of waking up EVERY day to find that
idiot has done something bad AGAIN. I don’t think I’m going to make it 4
more years.

I got my spring schedule! I’m only taking FOUR classes!!! An
unprecendented low!

They are: 6.039 (Visualization- it’s a computer/ archetechture course
making 3d models and such), 6.163 (Strobe Lab- if I get in… hopefully I
will), 21M.274 (Shakespeare at the Opera), and 21M.704 (Musical Theatre
Workshop).

I don’t have class on THURSDAY or FRIDAY next term, if everything works out
the way I hope it does… which will give me plenty of time to relax for the
last time in my life… except maybe next summer… maybe I should take a
trip to Europe…

Well that’s about it. Only a little over a week to go before I actually
have to start classes again… =( But it is my last term at least!

So do write back because I have time over the next week and a half to respond.

I hope you’re all doing quite well!

Always–
Seth

MAY

May 7, 2001 — I’m Almost Graduated!

I graduate in one month and one day! ONE month and ONE day until I am an
ALUMNI!

So how’s everyone doing? I must say I’m having a great time relaxing-
enjoying my last few days as a college student…

When last I spammed, I was in the midst of putting on the world premiere of
my show, Trivial Pursuits. I’m happy to say it was an amazing success!!
Even though I lost 2 cast members during the run and had to put up with
quite a few prod staff people flaking, I PULLED IT OFF WELL! The show was
an ultimate success.

And it got a great review:
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V121/N20/Trivial_Pursuit.20a.html

Everyone who saw it LOVED it!

I also made a CD recording of the show! If any of you are interested, I’m
selling them for $5! (Price includes shipping.) The quality actually came
out pretty well. 2 of my irresponsible, immature cast members didn’t show,
however, so I ended up filling in for two parts. Fortunately, all the girls
showed up… In any case, I’ll be sending a copy to as many contests and
producers I can get the addresses of.

I’m already at work on my next projects. I’m setting a few of my good
friend, Rebecca Wohl’s wonderful poetry. I’m also writing a colloratura
piece for my friend up here, Rebecca, for saving my show! (She filled in as
a role for an ex-friend who quit the week of the show.)

My MAJOR projects are my next two MUSICALS though! Scribby and I are
looking at a Poe piece for our second… I’m also working on a project
called Pandora’s Children, written by my friend, Ali’s fiance!

My last project was scoring my friend, Kevin’s film… hopefully he’ll give
me a copy soon so I can show everyone this summer. I enjoy scoring films
but it’s very frustrating because if a sequence is cut, there goes your
music. Although Harbison does say it’s much easier getting an Oscar than a
Tony, so maybe I should try for that first…

This summer, Scribby and I hope to produce a revised Trivial Pursuits at
Playhouse22. I hope we manage to find seven amazingly talented people…

And yes, I will be coming back for my TWELFTH and FINAL (yes FINAL) year of
Summer Theatre… I’m up to $13/ hour! This will almost with 100%
probability be my final season.

Next year, I’m going to NYU where I’m getting a Masters in Music Technology!
They provided me with full loans next year! So when I graduate in 2003,
I’ll owe $100,000 + interest from that and MIT… that’s only $1,000/ month
for 10 years! No problem.

Other than that, I have THREE projects due a week from MONDAY and ONE due a
week from WEDNESDAY. That translates into I HAVE NOTHING DUE ALL THIS WEEK!

My final project for 6.163 (Strobe Lab) is a group project anyways… we’re
studying soap bubbles! Yes, it’s just an excuse for us to play with
bubbles… I know how to make bubble solution from scratch though! And I
can tell you all about the surface tension…

My final project for 6.039 (Visualization) is also a group project! (Well a
partner project.) We’re making a 3D representation of how sound gets to the
brain… the preliminary work is at:
http://web.mit.edu/seth42/www/project… it’ll all be up there by a week
from Monday though.

My final project for 21M.704 (Musical Theatre Workshop) is just a
performance… we’re doing the original choreography from A Chorus Line for
ONE and the MONTAGE… and we’re doing the original choreography from
COOL… it’s quite fun, but not easy stuff to remember… and I never
claimed I was a dancer. I’m also doing a solo from Falsettos! (You Gotta
Die Sometime)

My final, final project is in 21M.274 (Shakespeare at the Opera). I have to
write a 10 page paper comparing Hamlet the play to Hamlet the opera… One
of these days I’ll play Hamlet on Broadway…

Other than that, Tony Award Nominations come out tomorrow! I made some
predictions, so we’ll see how close I got. I’ve seen EVERY musical of the
season except 42nd St, Bells are Ringing and Tom Sawyer. I plan on seeing
Tom this summer and maybe I’ll see one of the other 2 if it picks up a
Tony… otherwise, I stay away from revivals (unless they’re Sondheim)

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are hosting the Tonys on June 3rd!

So I guess that’s about it… I’m looking forward to a relaxing summer of
composing and being at summer theatre. I’m also looking forward to moving
into Manhattan!!

Ooooooooh, I have my alumni account- forever and ever I can be reached at
seth42@alum.mit.edu… next year I’ll probably be seth42@nyu.edu unless they
make me have an initials one… yuck…

So yeah… Here I am doing mostly nothing… Very, very nice! As soon as
those projects are done, I WILL BE GRADUATING!!!!!!!!

My, doesn’t time move fast?

I hope you all are doing superbly. For those of you graduating, make sure
you tell me what you’re up to next year and keep me notified of changing
e-mail addresses… or you’ll be off the ledger list! (a fate worst than death)

WRITE BACK SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Always–
Seth

JULY

July 1, 2002 — Summer Days!

Hi everyone! My name’s Seth; what’s yours? I’m here to update everyone on
my wonderful summer. So sit back, relax, and get ready to hear about
everything that’s going on these next few months!

Well first things first– I graduated on June 8th with TWO Bachelor of
Sciences– one in Computer Science and one in Music. They’re sitting here
on display in my room right now! Overlooking me and reminding me I made it
through 4 years of MIT without failing a single class!

Then I came home where I’ve been for the last few weeks… it’ll hopefully
be my last summer at home.

I find out where I’m living in NYC on August 1st. For those of you in a
bubble, I’m going to NYU next year for a MASTERS in MUSIC TECHNOLOGY– it’s
a 2 year program and they’re going to get me internships and put me right
into a job afterwards– which is good since I’ll have amassed another
$80,000 of debt by then!

I spent the last few weeks finishing PANDORA’S CHILDREN– my 2nd musical!
How many people can say they’ve written TWO full length musicals at 22???
Hm? It’s WONDERFUL… Just WONDERFUL. As you recall, Ali’s fiancee, James
wrote the book/ lyrics… it’s REALLY nice working with someone who writes
REALLY fast, just like I do– we can put a show together in a month! No
problem.

So we’re going to have a READING of it in the very NEAR future in EB! It’s
going to be quite fun. We REALLY hope to get the show Off-broadway within a
few years. It’s VERY solid and should easily garner some OBIEs.

TRIVIAL PURSUITS is in for some MAJOR revisions after we got a bushel and a
pec full of comments from Elliott…. we’re totally reconceiving the piece
and then it’ll be ready for another production in NYC sometime.

Speaking of shows, I’ve seen PROOF, BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL, ONCE AROUND THE
CITY, and tick…tick…BOOM! so far… the later 2 today. And I’m seeing
42ND STREET with Summer Theatre at the end of July!

I would HIGHLY recommend BAT BOY to ANYONE who wants to see a HILARIOUS
show– it was almost as funny as the PRODUCERS (which as you recall I saw
over spring break). Also, tick…tick…BOOM! was VERY moving and very
touching and I’d recommend the show to anyone who loves RENT (it’s the show
Jonathan Larson wrote right before he started work on RENT).

It was a REALLY nice city day today actually– we ended up getting 2 free
tickets so we split the third one which was only $11 anyway! (We = Andrea
and her friend from Duke, Craig, who’s going to NYU medical school next
year. He’s my NYU best friend!!!!)

tick…… was wonderful! We got the autographs of ALL 3 of the stars! The
third star hadn’t come down yet, and one of the orchestra guys saw we were
waiting for him, so he had the stage door guy call up to him and let him
know a few of us were waiting for him! Very nice new stars (Raul Esparza,
Amy Spanger and Jerry Dixon) …

Anyway, it’s my TWELFTH year at SUMMER THEATRE! It’s quite fun as usual– I
get paid $13/ hour to just play piano… I get better every year! We did
Mary Poppins yesterday, and our next shows are the talent show, The Little
Mermaid, Aladdin, the Brave Little Tailor, and Beauty & the Beast—- one a
week for 6 weeks!

Come if you’re free! 11am at EBHS every Friday!

Other than that, I’m putting together a show at night as a FUND RAISER for
camp daisy (for handicapped kids) b/c they lost $70,000 next year in budget
cuts (even with teh Dems in charge)… it’s going to be a little revue of
COMEDIC songs (Elliott’s idea)… if anyone is interested in helping let me
know– the show will probably be the first weekend of August.

So that’s about it, to recap: summer theatre, fund raiser, wrote 2 musicals,
seeing off-bway musicals.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOH, I forgot to mention my CD BURNER!!!!!! I got a 12x Plexdor
burner!!! It’s WONDERFUL– I’ve always burned 60 new cds– at this rate I’m
going to have a copy of every show ever written! It’s SOOOOooooo much fun!
That’s what I really do all summer, burn cds and do crossword puzzles…

Oh and I read “I,Q” the Star Trek novel John de Lancie (Q) wrote with Peter
David and MEl Brooks & Carl Reiner’s the 2000 Year Old Man: The Book… I’m
going to read some classic literature soon, I promise…

Oh, I should at least mention how grateful I am that my new favorite
senator, JEFFORDS, has given the country back to the INTELLIGENT,
COMPASSIONATE people. I sincerely hope McGREIVY can out campaigning the
right wing Schlunder for NJ Governor. Btw, it took $15 for me to fill up my
gas tank. All b/c of W. And no one can find jobs. All b/c of W. Thank
goodness for Jeffords, BUT enough POLITICS…

So I think that’s REALLY it… Life is fun and exciting! I can’t wait to
move into NYC and see shows non-stop! (Hopefully I can join the school
paper so I can review them and see them for free)

I hope everyone’s having a WONDERFUL summer! Send me an e-mail to catch up
and I promise to write back right away…

Cheers! =),

Always–
Seth

AUGUST

August 5, 2001 — Another Summer Comes to a Close…

Where do the days go? One at a time, they disappear like the country’s well
being when the Republicans are in charge.

I made a simile!

Anyway, how is everyone doing? It’s already August. Which reminds me, I
should go change my calendar, hold on… ok, I’m back. It’s a picture of the
Doctor this month on my Voyager calendar! Yay!

So my SHOW was last night. Have I mentioned it? BROADWAY TONIGHT! It was a
musical revue with a twist. We did 26 numbers from various shows and took
them extremely out of context — hamming them up and making them hilarious!
Video on request! The audience absolutely LOVED it. I’ve never had an
audience eating out of my hands in my life. Special mention in this ledger
goes to Mike for helping me make it an evening that eveyrone who was there
will remember forever and ever.

So that’s what I had been doing every night for 4 weeks.

In other news, SUMMER THEATRE has ended its 42nd season, and my 12th and 5th
consecutive supposed final season! I knew that the summer was going to be
over once Summer Theatre started b/c that’s the way it always works. We did
Mary Poppins, a talent show, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Brave Little
Tailor and Beauty & the Beast this year. (For those of you unfamiliar with
the program, we do 6 shows, one a week for 6 weeks. They are hour long shows
with we put together in only 9 hours each week. It’s a remarkable process.)

For the next 2 weeks, I’m actually going to be playing piano for Elliott’s
son, Michael’s camp (he’s doing a talent show the last 2 weeks– he uses
recorded music for the other weeks). He’s paying me $400 for 30 hours, plus
I get 2 see 2 shows in NYC for free!!! (Blast and Pirates of Penzance)

Speaking of SHOWS, I saw 42nd St last week and it was great. MARY TESTA is
AWESOME. I would see ANY show she’s in. She was worth the price of the
ticket. (Although technically since I was paid to be there, I ended up going
for only $2 even with transportation…)

I also was in NYC last Saturday to see my friend, Kevin! We saw the new
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH movie which was just GREAT– wicked fun! Then we
saw this really bad off-bway play called Lobby Hero. (Kevin’s boyfriend
liked it, but I didn’t really care for it… it was kind of dull and boring
and dull (emphasis warranted), too.)

Oh, and the week before that my friend, Samidh, visited! And we saw PAUL
SIMON in concert (to my dismay my professor was out of the tour, so we
couldn’t go backstage)!!!! He was WONDERFUL! Brian Wilson from the Beach
Boys was also there. He was ok… no one really liked anything he did that
wasn’t from the Beach Boys. (I can’t imagine being stuck playing the same
dozen songs over and over and over for the rest of my life….)

Oh and then we went to Atlantic City w/ my friend Amrita and lost way too
much $$. It took us 4 hours to get there in traffic on a Saturday late
afternoon… but only 1.5 hours to get home at 2am!

In other news, PANDORA’S CHILDREN has had TWO readthrus, and each time the
show just improves exponentially. It is extraordinarily exhausting revising
and revising and revising a show, but it is for the best. I’m hoping to do a
workshop production of it sometime next year at NYU.

Speaking of NYU, I leave on August 26th, ASSUMING I have HOUSING!! I was
SUPPOSED to get my housing my TODAY, and it just didn’t come. So I’m
actually quite worried about this. If it’s not here by Monday, I’m going to
have to call and find out what’s up. I tried logging in on their webpage,
but it doesn’t recognize me… which could just be b/c I’m a new student…
or maybe they never got my application! But they DID get my check, so that
should technically clue them in that I wanted housing… but then again it’s
2 differnet departments (billing and housing)… you can never trust
bureacracy.

So in theory, I’ll move in then. I also just ofund out I have to take a
Music Theory test and a Music History test. I’m assuming I can do find on
the theory test, but am worried that I may have forgotten (or blocked out)
everything I learned in my history classes… I have to pass them though b/c
I can’t afford to take the remedial classes b/c I pay per class next year.
And already I’m taking out $36,000 from the bank!

So I think that’s everything new and exciting going on here. I am very,
very, very, very excited about moving to NYC. VERY excited! So if I don’t
have housing, I’m not going to be a happy camper.

I hope eveyrone’s having a fun and relaxing summer. PLEASE WRITE BACK b/c I
really don’t have very much to do for the next 3 weeks!!!!!

WRITE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

—Seth

SEPTEMBER

September 9, 2001 — Life in the Big City!

Hi everyone!

I’m sure you’ve all been wondering and pondering “what ever happened to
that kid Seth who used to write all the time?”

Well it took me 2 weeks to get a phone line, but I am finally up and
running again and not being forced to use campus computers for all online
purposes.

I’m here to tell you all about the fun, exciting shows I’ve seen in just 2
weeks so far; so read on:

1. The first show I saw was a free one-act play of Eugene O’Neill’s
playing right here in the village. It was pretty good, but if we hadn’t
been able eto get free tickets from NYU it wouldn’t have been worth it…
(Yay ticket central! We get great deals on LOTs of stuff!)

2. DE LA GUARDA — we got rush tickets for it. It was kind of weird and
exciting… definitely an experience worth having but not for the dire
solely musical fan. There were all these people running all around and you
get wet and stuff. I actuallY KNEW someone in the show (John Harzel) who I
had done a production of South Pacific with in 1999… small world…

(the rest are actually MUSICALS!)

3. URINETOWN the MUSICAL — What is there to say that hasn’t been said?
It was really like an anti-musical. It was so well done. And so funny! I
mean it wasn’t as funny as Bat Boy or the Producers, but it was a different
kind of humor. We all REALLY liked it. And I’m looking forward to
eventually getting the soundtrack (I’m a little backed up now, but
eventually…) But I definitely RECOMMEND it to EVERYone… especially
every musical theatre fan. There are $25 RUSH tickets available 3 hours
prior to curtain. I got the autographs of 15/16 of the cast (David Beach
slipped away w/o me realizing he was an actor) and the AUTHOR was there, so
I met him and got his autograph, too!

4. THE DONKEY SHOW — Midsummer’s in a Disco party. Very wacky. Very
weird. I still haven’t decided if I liked it… it’s definitely a see with
a big group show though and I just went with one friend. And you really
need to dress 70s and get into it. I was really pleasantly surprised how
they managed to catch all the important plot points. And it was really fun
to hear 70’s music used in a wacky way!

5. GOODTIME CHARLEY — What a cute show! What a cute show! I completely
enjoyed it. It wasn’t wonderful or anything, but it was a really nice
production. It was PIPPIN crossed with the FANTASTICKS with music from
SNOOPY. But it was pretty good. I found it very odd that Act Two didn’t
really start with a big number OR end with one. But it’s definitely worth
catching. And worth the $15!

6. BROADWAY ON BROADWAY — Went to the free concert today. I suspect
there were others on the list there (I REALLY think we should have a big
PARTY (or soiree) and all MEET each other– I already made great friends
through the list, but it’d be cool to all meet. My friend, Nancy, is from
the list (Hi Nancy!). She’s my new NYU theatre buddy, and we would never
have known there was another person at NYU who wanted to see EVERYthing w/o
the list! We’re seeing Alice Ripley tomorrow…).

Anyway, back to the concert. It was great. It was just great! We got
there at 9am, so we were all the way in the front (look for the guy in the
Tommy shirt on the televised version! I’m all the way right, right behind
the camera guy going bonkers). I was actually pretty happy with the entire
concert. Although I’d prefer never to have to stand through “Bring him
Home” and “Music of the Night” again b/c they’re at EVERY concert…
couldn’t they at least pick something different? At least they didn’t do
“Seasons of Love” again…

It was great to see a number from Urinetown again! And one from Mamma Mia!
And from the Producers! And Bebe did the opening number (although she
disappeared right after so I STILL do not have her autograph).

After the show I managed to sneak back where the celebs were getitng out
and I met and got autographs from:

Terrance Mann (Rocky) (!!!!!!!!)
Judy Kaye (Mamma Mia) (who remembered me from when I saw her in Tower Records)
Karen Mason (Mamma Mia)
Louise Pietre (Mamma Mia)
Brad Oscar (The Producers) (a VERY nice guy)
Mary Testa (42nd St) (who I absolutely just gushed over!)
Michael Cumpsty (42nd St)

So to summarize, NYC is WONDERFUL! I’m seeing Alice Ripley in concert
right here int he village tomorrow night. I’m ushering for Blue Man Group
Friday night. I’m going to try for rush tix to the Spitfire Grill Saturday
night. And I’m planning to see Rocky again soon as well as the Allerghist’s
Wife b/c I love Valerie Harper.

I have a little group that’s going to see every musical this season in
previews!

In other quick news, I’m taking a class for fun called Composing for
Musical Theatre. It’s taught by Prof Allen Cohen who was trained in the BMI
workshop… it’s raelly cool. He’s going to tell me how to audition for the
workshop in the spring! And I’m also going to submit my musicals for the
spring when NYU does a few workshops of new works! Very exciting.

So that’s it from me. Hope everyone’s having a fun September!

Always–
Seth

September 10, 2001 — The Ledger to End ALL Ledgers!

I have too much to report. Way too much. So I’m going to try and section
off this ledger with big subsections and stuff so people can skim/ skip to
important stuff… here goes:

CONTACT INFO

So it’s been a very rough ride in terms of room and getting it all set up b/c
NYU provides nothing. No phone line, no cable of any sort, no ethernet. So
it’s been a real wacky 2 weeks, but the cable modem is coming TUESDAY and
will hopefully work. And that comes with cable and HBO and Showtime free for
a month… I’ll porbably keep HBO b/c I’m addicted to Sex and the City. So
here’s all the info:

ADDRESS: It’s a REALLY nice area. And a really nice apartment complex. I
have a studio apartment which is shared with a roommate. We have a huge
bedroom area, a kitchen and a bathroom! It’s really hard having a roommate
when I’ve never had one before, but it’s ok. He’s from Prague!

He was very jetlagged at first, but now he’s starting to adjust and he’s a
night owl, too. So that’s really a good thing. Last night we both went to
bed at the same time! 3am… although that was earlyf or me. I woke up at 8
today for bway on bway, more on that later!

Right so… Feel free to call whenever, just
never before 2pm b/c neither one of us has class before then. (more on
classes later)

I also have a CELL PHONE. Who can call/ when to call: DO NOT
call my cell phone on a weekday unless it’s really important or we’re meeting
that day or something. I pay $20/ month, so I only get 60 minutes for the
week each month. BUT I get 500 for the weekends. So try the REAL phone
FIRST, but if you want to talk, I can talk on weekends.

BUT you CANNOT call the cell phone if you’re calling from a number that’s not
in the Northeast (DC -> Maine) b/c then I get charged long distance which
really sucks.

I can also CALL people in that area, so SEND ME YOUR NUMBER if I haven’t
already called you one weekend.

E-MAIL ADDRESS: duh! it’s sbh227@nyu.edu. You can also always use
seth42@alum.mit.edu forever and ever. seth42@mit.edu lasts for a little bit.
I also check sethbh42@aol.com occasionally and sethbh42@hotmail.com less
occasionally.

But stick to the NYU address and you’ll be fine. I’ve had major computer
problems b/c NYU doens’t give you a phone line or ethernet. So I was making
massive trips to the 24 hour computer lounge… but then they closed it after
midnight on labor day weekend! It was AWFUL… and really not cool that my
poor computer just sat here doing nothing.

NYUnet won’t let me telnet though… so I’ve been using AOL… which is a
sharing with fmaily problem, but it’s only until Tuesday when I get a cable
modem.

THE LAST TWO WEEKS

So what have I been doing these 2 weeks that I’ve been living in NYC? The
question should really be what HAVEN’T I been doing? Which is not much… I
live in the best part of NYC. Right in the smack of the Village. It’s
really awesome and an amazing part of town that never seems to die down
(although that’s annoying when I’m trying to sleep… especially during 9am
rush hour traffic).

I have a whole new set of friends which is nice! in fact, we keep meeting
MORE and MORE people. And then they become our friends. WE’re having a HUGE
housewarming party Thursday night… anyone in the NYC area is welcome to
come!

We had a LOT of fun trips when we got here… and I’ve been seeing theatre
NONstop (more on that later… it gets the final section of this ledger b/c I
figure the least amount of people will read it). The best trip was the trip
to Coney Island last Saturday. We relaxed on the beach, had Nathan’s, went
on the Cyclone and it was only a $3 fare on the subway!

I have my own METROCARD now! I put $15 on it and I get $1.50 free… and I
never use cash anymore. Just dip in my Citibank Mastercard (there was
another nightmare… getting the bank account all worked out! But that’s
done and settled nicely at least)

We also went to a cool 80’s party that was mostly frosh, but it’s fun
crashing their events… but they didn’t play Madonna which was very
upsetting so we left. But it was cool to be in a NYC club for free. Lots of
lights and smoke and stuff. Quite awesome!

And we’ve been checking out the bar scene here too. And the restaurants…
and of course the theatre, but that’s still to come.

I had a PLETHORA of FRIENDS visiting these last 2 weeks too! Which was very
nice and always welcome… these visits included Dan (twice), Eric, Dave,
Yamini & Amitha… I think that’s everyone so far. Atul helped me move in
(thanks Atul!) so he’s seen my place too, but he’s the only one who hasn’t
met Sasha (my roommate).

I have a great neighbor from OHIO, Christine! Right across the hall. She’s
so friendly! We just go around meeting random people all the time… quite
fun!

CLASSES

Yes, I have classes. I have them Mon-Thurs. In fact I only have class every
other Monday b/c I’m tkaing this class taught by a professor from Berklee
who’s being shipped in from Boston every other week. That’s 4 classes. They
each meet once a week except for the Monday one.

They are:

DIGITAL SIGNAL THEORY… which is the Mon one. I have double sessions every
other week, so it’s class from 1:45 (the earliest) – 3:45 then 5:30-6:50 (the
latest). It’s supposed to be very heavy technological stuff (very 6.003).
Stuff with filtering stuff and fixing audio sound, etc. Should be
interesting and also the hardest of my classes… but at least every other
Monday I’m free to just do work from it. I’ll know more what it’s about
tomorrow when I have it.

DIGITAL AUDIO PROCESSING… that’s the Tues one (4:55-6:35). I haven’t had it
yet either. I hear there are a lot of little papers/ presentations… now I
never mind presentations (and have never gotten less than an A+ on one) but
papers I don’t like at all. SO we’ll see on Tuesday what that’s like. it’s
a requirement for my degree so everyone in my dept is going to be in it. So
it’ll be nice to at least meet all of them (and invite them to my party).

COMPOSING FOR MUSICAL THEATRE… that’s the Wed one (3:30-6:10). It’s my for
fun elective. And it’s great! I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It’s going to be
run like a workshop which is really awesome. I have to read The Glass
Menagerie, A View from the Bridge, and Brighten Beach Memoirs by Wednesday
and then by next Wed I need to write a ballad for a scene in one. I’ve
decided to write my OWN lyrics b/c I’m so much more advanced than anyone else
in the class composing wise for musical theatre (it’s mostly undergrads)…
the teacher is going to tell me how to get involved in real workshops and
start getting my shows produced. And I can submit them to be performed in an
NYU professional-like workshop production next spring!

MIDI TECHNOLOGY II… that’s the Thursday one (4:55-6:35). I really like the
teacher. The entire class is using various software to manipulate midi data.
The one we’re really using is the one I used MANY years ago when I had a
UROP in the meida lab, MAX… which no one but me in the class has even heard
of! So I’m already ahead there b/c our first 3 weeks we’re just doing
tutorials that I did 4 years ago. Which I’ll have to do, but it’ll be a very
quick refresher course for me. And then I can just play around with the cool
stuff in the studio in my 2 hour block! (I need to sign up for a 2 hour
block. I’m kind of worried I’ll need one for my other 2 classes too, and
then I’ll be rEALLY busy and booked…)

So the workload doesn’t look so bad with my 1st 2 classes. We’ll see what
the other 2 are like this week.

MY JOB

What? I have a job? Yes, I do! It’s being the PIANO MAINTENANCE guy.
Which means I spend 2 hours a day going through 100 pianos in my building.
And that also means I have access to the GOOD ones, too! It’s 12 hours a
week, although I admit that I might end up working a little less and saying
it was 12. But it might end up being 12 between faxing the piano company and
e-mailing profs who need things tuned.

Basically I go around and play chromatic scales on every piano to make sure
they’re still working. And I report anything that’s untuned or sticking or
whatever to the tuners… not too bad for $120 a week! Taxfree since it’s
workstudy.

It’s like being EC Piano comm but bigger and with a salary.

ACTIVITIES

I’m going to be auditioning for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM on
WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!!! I really, really wanna play Bottom. I think it’s just
the funnest part ever written. And I’ve certainly been an ass before…

Other than that, I signed up for a bunch of other clubs (like the Democrats)
but I don’t know if I’m going to do much with them. We’ll see how much time
I actually end up having.

I joined the arts paper, but there are a lot of people who like to review
musicals so I might just have write reviews of off-off bway ones, which would
actually be fine w/ me! But if I get one bway musical out of it, it’s all
worth it.

THEATRE

So finally, we’ve made it to the theatre section… I’m here to tell you all
about the fun, exciting shows I’ve seen in just 2 weeks so far; so read on:

1. The first show I saw was a free one-act play of Eugene O’Neill’s playing
right here in the village. It was pretty good, but if we hadn’t been able
eto get free tickets from NYU it wouldn’t have been worth it… (Yay ticket
central! We get great deals on LOTs of stuff!)

2. DE LA GUARDA — we got rush tickets for it. It was kind of weird and
exciting… definitely an experience worth having but not for the dire
solely musical fan. There were all these people running all around and you
get wet and stuff. I actuallY KNEW someone in the show (John Harzel) who I
had done a production of South Pacific with in 1999… small world…

3. URINETOWN the MUSICAL — What is there to say that hasn’t been said? It
was really like an anti-musical. It was so well done. And so funny! I
mean it wasn’t as funny as Bat Boy or the Producers, but it was a different
kind of humor. We all REALLY liked it. And I’m looking forward to
eventually getting the soundtrack (I’m a little backed up now, but
eventually…) But I definitely RECOMMEND it to EVERYone… especially
every musical theatre fan. There are $25 RUSH tickets available 3 hours
prior to curtain. I got the autographs of 15/16 of the cast (David Beach
slipped away w/o me realizing he was an actor) and the AUTHOR was there, so
I met him and got his autograph, too!

4. THE DONKEY SHOW — Midsummer’s in a Disco party. Very wacky. Very
weird. I still haven’t decided if I liked it… it’s definitely a see with
a big group show though and I just went with one friend. And you really
need to dress 70s and get into it. I was really pleasantly surprised how
they managed to catch all the important plot points. And it was really fun
to hear 70’s music used in a wacky way!

5. GOODTIME CHARLEY — What a cute show! What a cute show! I completely
enjoyed it. It wasn’t wonderful or anything, but it was a really nice
production. It was PIPPIN crossed with the FANTASTICKS with music from
SNOOPY. But it was pretty good. I found it very odd that Act Two didn’t
really start with a big number OR end with one. But it’s definitely worth
catching. And worth the $15!

6. BROADWAY ON BROADWAY — Went to the free concert today. It was great.
It was just great! We got there at 9am, so we were all the way in the front
(look for the guy in the Tommy shirt on the televised version! I’m all the
way right, right behind the camera guy going bonkers). I was actually pretty
happy with the entire concert. Although I’d prefer never to have to stand
through “Bring him Home” and “Music of the Night” again b/c they’re at EVERY
concert…
couldn’t they at least pick something different? At least they didn’t do
“Seasons of Love” again…

It was great to see a number from Urinetown again! And one from Mamma Mia!
And from the Producers! And Bebe did the opening number (although she
disappeared right after so I STILL do not have her autograph).

After the show I managed to sneak back where the celebs were getitng out and
I met and got autographs from:

Terrance Mann (Rocky) (!!!!!!!!)
Judy Kaye (Mamma Mia) (who remembered me from when I saw her in Tower Records)
Karen Mason (Mamma Mia)
Louise Pietre (Mamma Mia)
Brad Oscar (The Producers) (a VERY nice guy)
Mary Testa (42nd St) (who I absolutely just gushed over!)
Michael Cumpsty (42nd St)

So to summarize, NYC is WONDERFUL! I’m seeing Alice Ripley in concert right
here int he village tomorrow night. I’m ushering for Blue Man Group Friday
night. I’m going to try for rush tix to the Spitfire Grill Saturday night.
And I’m planning to see Rocky again soon as well as the Allerghist’s Wife
b/c I love Valerie Harper.

I have a little group that’s going to see every musical this season in
previews!

CONCLUSION

NYC is amazing. It’s great. I love it here. I’m never leaving for the rest
of my life.

I hope everyone’s having a good September! WRITE ME BACK SOON and let me
know what’s up! ESPECIALLY those people I haven’t talked to in YEARS… I’m
dying to know what’s up, etc!

btw, CONGRATULATIONS if you made it this far!

Always–
Seth

NOVEMBER

November 7, 2001 — Everything’s Coming Up Roses! (FINALLY)

Ah, my dearest friends, it gives me great pleasure to finally have the time
and inclination to send out a ledger updating you all on my life. It
hasbeen the roughest 2 months ever, but I have made it through, and thing
sare FINALLY starting to go my way!

I’m hoping that this ledger will actually send. The last one wouldn’t send
through NYU and I had to use AOL and then it accused me of spamming and
cancelled my entire family’s account. It was distastrous. but I’m on CABLE
MODEM now and use a differnet SMTP server, so hopefully it’ll all go through
sans problem…

I actually was so bored in class that I wrote out all the many topics I have
to talk about, so this ledger will be long. I will be putting in subtopics
though to make it more manageable, so have no fear, you will get through
this e-mail… =)

BEST NEWS EVER

We found out today that my roommate, Sasha, has gotten out of his housing
contract. He is moving out the end of the week, and we’ll both have
SINGLES, which will be WONDERFUL since although we get along and we’re
friends and such, it’s really hard to live with each other b/c we’re
complete opposites.

So I’ll have my OWN ROOM again for at least hte rest of the term, hopefully
the rest of the year.

So if you were planning to visit, come on down! I can actually offer you a BED!

I can listen to tv w/o my wireless headsets and keep the sound on my
computer and have lights on! And invite friends over 24/7! WOohoo!

SHOW RELATED NEWS

So I had immense trouble figuring out what shows I could do here/ how to go
about doing my own show here, etc.

I am proud to announce that after many showless weeks, I have finally
figured out a show to do w/o any money, and with just a room w/ a piano…
I’m doing a REVUE of my own SONGS.

It’s called GROWING UP and is going to be THURS, DECEMBER 13th at 8PM in a
random room in the building I have all my classes in. I’m VERY excited (and
scared) to be doing this.

I’m going to include 3 of my “early works”, 3 from Trivial Pursuits, 3 from
Pandora’s Children, 3 songs I wrote with a few others, 3 piano pieces, and 3
from this summer, and 3 from this term (I wrote a LOT of songs this term
dealing with so many life changes).

I’m having auditions next Wednesday so hopefully I won’t end up singing all
the songs myself! =)

I’m also doing a little skit in someone else’s recital type thing. It’s
called Poor Phaedra and I have the male lead. It’s really a juicy role
about this guy who’s a necriphiliac. Quite fun! And quite nice to be IN
something again w/o having to direct it. That’s TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13th at
8PM in Educ 779 for those in the area.

Other than that there’s the NYU Men’s Choir. We have a concert on DECEMBER
7th at 8PM in the Loewe’s Theatre. We’re doing 4 pieces and I’m playing
piano for one of them (the one that’s not acapella). It’s been REALLY nice
to be back in a group sort of like harmonics in EBHS… esp since MIT didn’t
have one.

I’m also musically directing a theatre group I found here’s caroling
fundraiser… I sold tickets for their fall show since I missed out on
auditions! They might be doinga musical in the spring and I’m so there…

The dept is doing FIDDLER. I signed up to AUDITION THURSDAY. There are 100
people signed up, so the odds of me getting cast might be kind of low since
I’m not in the musical theatre dept (they let students from any music dept
audition), but I have done the show 3 times before, so that may help. If I
do Fiddler, I’ll have to cancel my Boston trip in January b/c they start
rehearsals 1/3. And they are 7 days a week. It’s kind of time consuming,
but it’d be nice to be in a real show again. I definitely would have to
tell them I can’t make Martin Luther King weekend though and that might
lower my chances… the things I do for the mystery hunt!

OTHER ACTIVITIES

My other club is the SONGWRITER’s Club, which I adore. We’re doing a cd
with songs inspired by the disaster. (Yes I could’ve watched it from my
windows, except I slept throuhg the entire thing…) We’re goin to give all
the procceeds to charity. I wrote an AMAZING song that’s on the cd and will
also be in my revue…

I continue to maintenize the pianos 10 hours a week to make my $100. I have
also landed some gigs accompanying students in their voice lessons! That’s
$15/ half hour. (The going rate is $10-15 and I figured being a grad
student and a really amazing sight reader, I should charage $15, although
I’m really worth more like $30/ half hour…) But that’s nice and gives me
reason to wake up a little earlier since all my classes are so late…

CLASSES

Speaking of classes, they are really going swell. In fact, they have been
the only thing in my life that I haven’t really been stressed over. I’ve
been quite underwhelmed actually… I mean compared to MIT, they’re a
breeze! Even if they doubled what we did, it would still be less than I’m
used to.

Not that I’m complaining. I like having an easy load.

In Digital Systems Theory, I get to play with sound samples and make
different versions of a 4 second sound byte, then create a piece based on
it. It’s kind of hard, but really cool. I’ve been taking snitbits of
Sondheim songs… mp3’s are available upon request!

In Digital Audio Processing, we do nothing but read a chapter a week about
technical aspects of recording music. It’s kind of boring sometimes, but
generally it’s semi-interesting material. I have to write a 20 page paper
by December that I don’t even have a topic for yet… that’s going to be the
only assignment I’m dreading this term!

In Composing for Musical Theatre I have learned SO much about how musicals
are put together and how to write better lyrics. We do differnet types of
songs mostly… I really have a knack for writing for musicals, sicne
bscially I live and breathe them…

In Midi Technology II, we have been using this software I learned years ago
in the Media Lab at MIT. It’s much easier to use now after 4 years of
programming experience, let me tell you! I’ve gotten A’s on all my projects
so far…

I’ll tell you, it’s lucky I bought a cd burner b/c there would be no other
way to get my samples to and fro class/ the computer labs here… yay
rewritable cds!

FRIENDS

I love my friends. I absolutely love them. It’s really nice to have them
here, and I don’t know what I would do without them. We hang out constantly
and it’s just great!

My friend, Laura, had a HUGE Halloween party last Saturday night. My did I
get trashed. I wore my Hawaiin hula girl costume! I painted my fingernails
and my toenails bright pink, all by myself! They’re still that way… it’s
fun typing and playing piano with nail polish on… you should all try in
sometime!

TV

I have cable now. It’s wonderful. I have digital cable. I have EVERY
cable channel available anywhere in the USA. I also get HBO, Showtime,
Cinemax and Starz… and since they all gone w/ 4 additional channels, I
really get 20 premiums!

I pay $100/ mo for cable, ethernet, and lots & lots of extra channels. Well
worth the price of sanity, I’d say.

I’ve been keeping up with my usual shows and some new ones: That 70’s Show,
Undeclared, Frasier, Scrubs, Enterprise, Friends, Just Shoot Me and soon
Simpsons, Malcolm and XFiles again (starting SUNDAY!).

SCRUBS is ABSOLUTELY the FUNNIEST show on tv now. It is SOOOOOOOOO funny!
I recommend it to EVERYONE. It is certainly the highlight of our week here…

Enterprise is really turning out to be pretty good. I love Scott Bakula!
The show is doing really well in keeping w/ Trek traditions but being
different in that it bridges the gap from today to the first Trek… I was
very happy to see that it’s entertaining even if it’s still a bit
predictable at times.

In other tv news, I watched the Emmy’s and was REALLY happy and surprised
that BARBARA closed the show! I was upset that no one I really like won,
but what can you do? It was nice they FINALLY happened at least…

POLITICS

Just had to say YAY MCGRIEVY!!!!!! Very excited NJ finally has a DEMOCRAT
in power again!

Great upset that Green lost here. It’s all b/c people all of a sudden
really like Guiliani and he supported Bloomberg.

But really, it was Jew vs Jew, so how can you lose, right?

THEATRE

We have come to the point in the ledger where I try to catch you up on
theatre I’ve seen and other special events. Since I’ve seen 2 or 3 shows
each weekend, I’ll just briefly list the shows here and just tell brief
antedotes. For a list of all the shows and autographs I have, as always, I
refer you to my webpage! =)

Blue Man Group — ushered! We got to sit in row 4 b/c no one came (it was
9/13)

The Spitfire Grill — absolutely ADORE LIZ CALLAWAY… there’s a HUGE
picture of her, Craig and me on my website…

Tale of the Allerghist’s Wife — VALERIE HARPER is by far the nicest person
I have EVER met in my life… she is so sweet. And the show was hilarious!

Reefer Madness — we saw this for FREE since NYU’s Ticket Center (the most
awesome part of being here) had some. We liked it, but it still closed…

Love — $10 play… it was ok. Reminded me to stick to musicals.

Rocky Horror (2nd time) — we went CLOSING night (the first closing night
since it’s since reopened). It was the ONLY time you could get almost all
the cast to sign… there are 3 exits and we had them all manned since there
were so many huge fans there waiting. And we’d yell out “Daphne’s over
here!” etc.

Forbidden Bway — I hadn’t seen this since 1996 with the Elaine Paige
parody… always a great diversion!

The Pumpkin Pie Show — this was a random performance piece I ended up
REVIEWING for the arts paper. I actually LOVE reviewing things and am
anxiously awaiting more assignments…

Bway Flea Market — this was absoultley amazing. I paid $30 and waited on
line from 11-4 getting many, many signatures (for a list go to my webpage!)
Among the more famous people there was JOAN RIVERS… DONNA MURPHY was
there, too… I completely fawned all over her.

The Good Companions — this is the first of 3 “MUFTI” shows I saw at the
York Theatre… where they do obscure works in a concert form.

Thou Shalt Not — yucky, yucky show. But I met SUSAN STROMAN afterwards!!!

Wonder of the World — THIS SHOW WAS WONDERFUL. This was the first show I
ended up going to ALONE since I had run out of friends who had both time and
$$ to spare. SARAH JESSICA PARKER was MARVELOUS and REALLY cheered me up.
She signed TWICE and I got a PICTURE with her! YAY! Then I wrote her a
nice fan letter and then a few days ago ***I GOT A POSTCARD IN THE MAIL FROM
SARAH JESSICA PARKER*** It was COMPLETELY handwritten! So nice of her…

Cyrano — 2nd MUFTI show

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh — very cute revue

Regina — 3rd MUFTI show and the best…

The Women — I saw HALLIE EISENBERG and her father remmebered me! Also has
quite a few other stars most of which ran out the backdoor. Gr. Not a
pleasant autograph seeking experience. The show was pretty good, but not as
funny as Wonder of the World…

Kiss Me Kate (2nd time) — NYU has this deal: they boought $1 million of
tickets to Bway shows to support Bway and are selling it to us for $5 each
which goes to the WTC fund. So it’s a win, win, win situation! Definitely
glad I caught CAROLEE CARMILLO in the show… she talked to me for 10
minutes aftewards!

Billy Joel — NYU sponsored Billy to come and do a Q&A. It was really cool
and only $12 although we did wake up really early for the tickets. He was
really fun to watch and did Piano Man so I was content…

Contact — It was ok. Glad I only paid $20 for it.

Mamma Mia — VERY fun! Almost worth the hype…

Bat Boy (2nd time) — I LOVE BAT BOY! Go see it if you haven’t. We were
walking back from Mamma Mia and it was 5:55 and we were on E17th St, so I
figured if fate wanted me to see Bat Boy again, there’d be a spare ticket
and I picked up the very last rush ticket (they go on sale at 6)

WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD

So I’m seeing CONAN O’BRIEN on FRIDAY!!!! I’m desperately going to try to
get on camera somehow, so everyone should watch FRIDAY at 12:35am!!!!!!

I’m going to Kim’s wedding on Saturday… WOWwwwwwwww… that makes 2
friends married with quite a few more to come… only girls though!

I’ll be home for THANKSGIVING and probably for a little bit of WINTER
BREAK… if you’re going to be HOME or by NYC at ALL let me know so we can
hang out! If anyone has any exciting plans for New Year’s Eve, let me know…

Spring break I’m thinking we all should take a trip to LAS VEGAS! But we’ll
see if that actually happens…

NEXT TERM, I’m going to have class ONLY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY!!!! So I’ll
have 5 day weekends and really long 2 day weeks. I’ll be taking: Java Music
Systems, the Evolution of Technology, Digital Audio Processing II, and
Advanced Music Acoustics…

NEXT SUMMER, I have NO idea what’s happening. I think there’s a VERY big
likelihood I will find an internship here and stay here… especially since
none of my friends are going to leave. And I think I’m getting a little old
for Summer Theatre… I’d hope to do one of my musicals at night as well, so
we’ll see…

NEXT YEAR, I intend to apply to be an RA and perhaps get free housing (if
all works out well, I’d be able to stay in this apartment as a single until
the summer after next year…). I’m going to also apply to be a TA to get
free tuition (yay less debt!), but the TAs are so busy that neither of them
may graduate on time, so they might not need a new one!

CONCLUSIONS

Well, I did it. And it took LESS than an hour! Ok, not MUCH less… if you
made it this far, as always, I applaud you!

PLEASE write back and let me know HOW you’re DOING!

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Always–
Seth

DECEMBER

December 31, 2001 — Where Has the Year Gone?

Well, we’ve reached the end of another term AND year, so it’s time for a
holiday, year recapping ledger! I do apologize that I haven’t been writing
as frequent as usual, but have no fear, I shall always send out a ledger at
least once every other month! (And to think, I used to send out short
weekly ones! How many of you remember those, hm?)

WHERE WILL I BE?

I leave NYC tomorrow at 3:15pm. I will then be in NJ until 12/31. On
12/31, I will come back to NYC and have a HUGE NEW YEAR’s EVE PARTY!
EVERYONE IS INVITED!

I will then stick around the (finally) tourist-less city until the first
weekend of January when I shall hopefully be visiting Eric! We’ll go SKIING
and I’m quite slopeful it’ll be a good time.

Then I will be in BOSTON for 2 weeks to visit my MIT friends! I will also
be there for the MYSTERY HUNT! My 5th year, and first year as a co-captain
emiritus instead of co-captain… Everyone’s welcome to come and stay w/ Dan
(ok, Dan?) since I don’t have a room up there any more!

THIS PAST TERM

So I made it through my first term of graduate school. Only 3 to go! It
was a mostly fun experience (especially the last half, which ruled!!!!). My
classes were all fairly simple compared to MIT. And I actually enjoyed
3/4… which isn’t a bad percent, really!

I wrote 6 musical theatre pieces for “Brighten Beach Memoirs: THe Musical”
(we all did), made 3 sound projects by twisting phrases with cool sound
tools, made an ALGORITHMIC composition that really is awesome, and finally
wrote an awful 22 page paper that once finished marked the end of my
workload for the term!

GROWING UP

My show went REALLY well. I have a VIDEO and this guy is making a CD of it.
Copies are available for anyone who wants one! I got an AMAZING, truly
amazing CAST for my show. They were wonderful. I did half the songs, and
they did the other half!

One of the cast members and I are starting our OWN THEATRE GROUP next term.
Our first show is going to be a revue entitled “Life Choices: a revue of
musical theatre songs dealing w/ decisions”. I’m going to direct and
pianize and he’s going to vocally direct. And my friend Nancy might
choreograph! It’s tentatively goin to be the third weekend of APRIL, but we
have to secure a room before that finalized.

NEXT TERM

MY OWN THEATRE GROUP STARTS!

Just in case you missed it while skimming I put that in bold. I only have
class TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY next term, so I’ll have a FIVE DAY WEEKEND!
Woohoo! The classes I’m taking are: Java Music Systems, Digital Audio
Processing 2, Evolution of Technology, and Advanced Acoustics. I think
it’ll be a harder load b/c they’re ALL graduate classes instead of half
mixed with undergrad ones. I’m looking forward to the days off so I can
rehearse my show.

I LOVE CABLE

I’m going to miss digital cable and my cable modem over break. I am setting
it up to tape Sex and the City while I’m gone. Heaven forbid I miss the new
season! The best is watching old SESAME STREETS on at 2am every night! (as
in right now!) The old Ernie/ Bert skits are the best.

CONAN!

I saw Conan again on Friday. Last time, I got to hug him and hug Max and
get Max’s drumsticks, but not this time… =( But we still had fun and you
sure can hear me WOO!! Darrel Hammond was there and was very funny. They
cut his rated X joke from the broadcast though, so ask me if you wanna hear it.

ENTERNTAINMENT TONIGHT

The guy who wrote the theme to that makes $236,000 a year just from it. He
gets 3 cents every time it’s played anywhere in the country. I found this
out when my Songwriters’ Club had a guest speaker… so my new goal is to
write something really short and ctachy for a tv show and then relax for the
rest of my days!

NO ROOMMATE YET

I don’t have a roommate yet. I hope I never get one. I left him a few
notes just in case he shows up while I’m gone though. Most specifically “DO
NOT TOUCH ANYTHING” is all over the place. That goes for workers too who
might come in to do maintenance while I’m away.

CURRENT PROJECTS

I have been incredibly prolofic as a composer, and my new year’s resolution
is to be even more so. I’m thinking of writing a 2 or 3 person musical
based on my last few years b/c that seems to be the trend nowadays. That
and I can’t write lyrics for anyone but me!

The other project is with Scribby. We’re going to start Frankenstein: The
Musical over break. It’s going to be awesome. We’re also gonig to revise
TP soon so I can send it to Cameron Mackintosh (who’s address I got randomly
at a bway concert the other night!)

THEATRE REVIEWS

Finally, we have come to the lengthy part of the ledger. (And you thought
it’s been long SO far!) Here’s the list of shows I’ve seen since the last
ledger with hopefully just one sentence about them:

45 Seconds froM Bway: The new Neil Simon play. it’s really heart warming
although not as good as his masterpieces. It definitely had some really
funny lines though.

Sleepy Hollow: The Musical: THE WORST piece of CRAP I’ve ever seen! Nuff said.

HARRY POTTER THE MOVIE: Ok, it’s not a show. But I did see it isntead of
one! Opening night for $11.50 in advance. I enjoyed it. I thought it was
too short though… I’d consider going again over break.

Roadside: The new musical from Jones/ Schmidt who wrote the Fantasticks
which was much better. It was cute, but definitely nothing special about it.

Encores Bway Bash!: SOoooo much fun and such a night of talent including
KRISTIN and KAREN and DONNA! Woo! Wonderful night and I brought so many
cds which I got signed!

Town Hall Bway Benefit Concert: Chita Rivera and Stephen Schwartz were
supposed to be there but niether showed. But we still had fun and some
other great stars (Carolee Carmillo, Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway, Judy Kuhn…)

Aida: YUCK. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. But every time I’d
get ready to get into the story, they’d do something really stupid. Really
crappy piece of theatre.

Noises Off: WHAT FUN! I had massive trouble getting SRO for this b/c they
only have them when the show is completely sold out and you have to get
there within an hour of that for them. But I managed to! And it was great!
And I met Faith Prince for the first tie and Patti LuPone for the 3rd!!

Urinetown: 2nd time. Still as good as the first.

Rocky Horror: 3rd time. Starting to lose its charm but I was so close that
I got to dance w/ Daphne, so that was worth it!

THE NEXT NINE SHOWS I’VE SEEN SINCE LAST FRIDAY. it was my celebrate the
end of the semester by seeing 9 shows week!!!

1. Fifty Million Frenchmen — Cute obscure Cole Porter musical. not great,
but cute. Not as good as Anything Goes though!

2. 42nd St – This was my second time, and it was better than the first!
The new Peggy, Meredith Patterson, was WONDERFUL! WONDERFUL! She kept
giving us wonderful glances. I love studnet rush, front row seats! My only
complaint was that Christine Ebersol wasn’t there AGAIN (not that her
understudy isn’t capable, but it would be nice to see the Tony winner once).
I STILL don’t think that part is the main character or big enough to win a
Tony, but I wno’t go into
that again… MARY TESTA is forever wonderful and the best reason to see
that show.

3. tick…tick…BOOM! – Second time. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT YET, GO.
This show is just wonderful. It reminds me that I have 7 years to go before
freaking
out about not being famous as a composer yet! =)

4. Othello – What a great production. If you haven’t ever seen Othello
live, you should go. It’s great. Liev Schrieber is amazing.

5. Little Ham – This show is REALLY cute. REALLY cute! It was based on a
Langston Hughes’ play. Very cute and well done.

6. The Fantasticks – What a great show. I went to see it one last
time. It’s SOLD OUT until it closes, but they had a few student tickets
available at 7:59 although none at 7:30. So we waited in the cold just to
make sure once more, and lo and behold they had 4 scattered seats left and
we snatched them up! And we got a PICTURE with the FANTASTICKS sign!!

7. Summer of 42 – Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Elaboration upon request.

8. The Shape of Things – Wow. Great show. Scene changes too long, but
great show. We really liked it.

9. Everitt Beekin – Decent show. Very funny in parts. The people in it
are great! Esp BEBE who I FINALLY met! (She always snuck out after
Chicago, but there’s no way to do that at Lincoln Center… besides I was
the only one waiting!)

The conversation between Bebe and me went like this:

Me: You were wonderful. You ARE wonderful. I love you. You’re great.
Please sign this other one on the cover so I can frame it.

Bebe: *smiles politely then runs away*

———-

So that’s about it from Seth Land. Tonight was spent cleaning and packing
and EATING as much food that would spoil as possible. I’m tired b/c last
night we went to a KAROAKE BAR! Talk about FUN! But we didn’t get back to
4:30 and I woke up early for a matinee. I’m quite pooped.

I hope everyone has a wonderful break! I’ll be quite bored when my EB
friends go to bed too early, so if you write me I’ll write back (probably
from my AOL account b/c the computer at home is so bad at multi-tasking it’s
best just to have one window up)

I hope to see everyone really soon. Please WRITE back and catch me up on
your 2001.

Wow… I can’t believe it’s almost 2002. The palindromic year!

Always–
Seth