Took the words out of my mouth...

Diana Nollen at the Gazette wrote a great review of the Dar Williams/Shawn Mullins show that described what I was trying to describe in the post below, only better:

"But an evening with East Coast folkie Dar Williams is like meeting up with a college pal every few years, catching up on the latest happenings, watching time melt away.

Every song is a story and every story sings, as she connects with her adoring fans. You almost forget 499 other people were listening, too, at The Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St."

Read the whole thing here.

Apparently, you can't just stack people up in seats when they have the same tickets.

A word to the wise: you can't sell the same two seats to three different pairs of people. They get upset (and understandably so).

Another piece of advice: if you do, for some reason, sell two seats to three different pairs of people, do your best to make sure that it hasn't happened in the past to any of those people.

Sigh.

No transition is ever painless, and at tonight's Dar Williams/Shawn Mullins concert, the Great Ticketing Software Change of 2008 doled out the hurt yet again. It doesn't matter that 99% of things have gone smoothly (well, okay... maybe 95%). What matters is the 1% that has not.

It's our job to make sure everyone has a great experience at the Englert. I think, after a lot of quick problem-solving, talking, listening and hoping, that the three groups of people affected by tonight's little ticketing snafu all ended up happy and enjoyed the show. If you're reading this - thank you for being patient and understanding. You didn't have to be, so I appreciate it.

I only saw the end of one song the entire tonight, but I heard most of both sets from the box office. Wow! I'm not just saying this to say it - both Dar and Shawn sounded amazing. In addition to effortless singing and sharp songwriting, both of them interacted with the crowd as if they were all sitting around in the living room of their houses.

The show got over around 10:40, and when I left at 11:30, Dar and Shawn had been out in the lobby for a good 45 minutes, talking with a (still) pretty deep line of fans and signing autographs:

Took the Railroad...

My Wednesday started at 8 AM with a radio interview out at KCJJ and ended Thursday morning at 12:30 by paying the band. In between I did so many things that by the time I got to my car Thursday morning, I felt like it was a different day than the one I had started.

Ignoring the obvious literal fact that it was actually a different day, running with me on the spirit and not the letter, I thought this must be like the schedule presidential candidates keep, day in and day out. Except a million times easier. No matter who you support, you gotta admire their endurance.

Anyway, the night ended with a great show by bluegrass/rock band Railroad Earth. I had heard their newest album, Amen Corner, a handful of times and thought that it was catchy and well-produced, but bluegrass isn't my "thing" as much as other genres. But their live show, as with all good bands, brought the songs to life in a much more powerful way. I loved it. They also brought their own light show, which totally transformed the space and made things look as good as they sounded.

I'm not a music critic or concert reviewer, so I'm not going to go down that path. But I will say that they were very tight, the crowd loved them, and they were easy to work with. Can't say that about everyone.

Check out some pictures here. Video coming soon...

Oh - and last night Beth had a great idea to start a new photo series on this blog: Confiscated Item of the Night! We'll kick things off with a bota and two flasks - one engraved from a prom night. Sounds like they had more fun at theirs than I did at mine...

Englert Goes Clubbing

Finally the phones have stopped ringing and the window traffic has subsided enough to have time to post what I've been wanting to post all week long. (The King & I is this weekend, so last-minute ticket buyers are coming out in droves)

Last weekend's very first Alley Cabaret was a lot of fun, and a huge success.

I love the feeling before a show, or any kind of event, when you just know it's going to be cool. Walking around on stage at 11:30 PM last Friday night, 15 minutes before the doors opened, there was an unmistakable vibe that something cool was going to happen: small tables set up over most of the stage... a stage-within-a-stage erected at one end, set up with an accordian, piano, drumset, string bass and some microphones... a DJ up in the catwalk, bumping out some ambient electronica that makes me realize why that music gets most of its following through the after-dark club scene... streaks of light against the brick wall...

We opened the alley doors at 11:45 and within 5 minutes had already let in 80 people (5 over capacity). We actually had to turn away around 20 people.

Vocal trio Rock, Paper, Scissors sang old-school cabaret classics and original material alike, occasionally joined by sexy and spot-on choreographed dancing from students in the UI's dance department.

I was on stage for awhile, and then sneaked up to the balcony to get the bird's eye view. It just looked and sounded amazing. The whole evening was flawless: no security issues, no technical issues and everyone seemed to have a good time.

I'm looking forward to the next one, in a couple of weeks, where they're going to put on Edward Albee's The Zoo Story. I'm curious about how the vibe will change, as that play isn't quite the same "scene" as sexily-costumed women singing "The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy." The Zoo Story was also the first play I "produced" when I was an undergrad in college, way back in the day, and I haven't seen it since.

It's nice to see something experimental, that was just an idea a few months ago, work out and work so well. Kudos to everyone involved, especially Anthony, Brandon, everyone at the university, and our awesome technical staff.

Here are a few pics from last week:

Radio Free Bennigan's

I did Tommy Lang's radio show this morning out at Bennigan's, talking mostly about Second City but also about everything else that's going on right now... lots of shows because of the floods... big names this fall... fundraising... Bruce Willis...

Radio is always fun - it goes fast, the DJs on the other side of the conversation are always pros (literally, professional talkers), and it gives me a chance to elaborate on things that are normally confined to an ad or brochure.

Tommy's show was even better: there was a free meal involved. Now, unfortunately I wasn't able to take advantage because I had to be back at the theater for another meeting... but that's a pretty sweet deal: "come on our show, talk about what you want to talk about, and when you're done, help yourself to a Monte Cristo."

Thanks, Tommy and KCJJ.

On another note, things are picking up in the box office. Phones are ringing more, people are stopping by more... fall is officially underway. We're slowly but surely learning the new software, getting the routine down, getting more confident. Getting better.

Quentin Mark Chuck Tarantino Klosterman

It's pretty rare that I actually get to sit down like a real audience member and enjoy something in the theater, but I've been lucky enough to be able to twice within the last week: once for a viewing of Pond Hockey during the Landlocked Film Festival (cool movie, produced by my friend Andrew who runs the Little Village... I'm not even a hockey fan but I was drawn in)... and again last night to see Chuck Klosterman.

It was a standing-room-only kind of night, which are my favorite kinds of nights here. Sidewalk a-buzz. Lobby packed. Ushers down front waving one finger in the air, signifying one last available seat.

The picture above was snapped from my seat in the fifth row, from my Motorola RAZR cellphone (which has one of the lamest camera phones I've ever come across).

I've read half of one of his books: Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs. I loved it, but I stopped reading it for no good reason other than I just don't make enough time to read. Based on the book, I expected Klosterman to be "too cool for school" - a little smarter than you and I, and not afraid to let you know.

Not at all the case. Very laid back, funny, natural, approachable and real. In fact, the way he described his approach to problems and other issues, he reminded me a lot of myself. Not that I'm nearly as witty or as good of a writer. I'm not. But I am almost his age...

I spent the rest of the night trying to place who he reminded me of: the sound of his voice, his mannersisms, the words he used.... hour after hour, racking my brain... it finally dawned on me around midnight:

Quentin Tarantino. He sounds exactly like Quentin Tarantino. Especially when Tarantino gets all geared up and enthusiastic, explaining some little semi-fascinating nugget of pop culture, flailing his arms about... Klosterman did a lot of flailing about. His commentary was thoughtful, funny and, most of all, humble.

Today at a lunch meeting, relaying the events of last night, I called him "Mark Klosterman," making me seem like such a knowledgable authority not only on pop culture, but on what's playing at the very theater I work at. Niiiiiiiiiiiice.

For another take on the evening, here's a review from The Daily Iowan.

Rock stars are everywhere.

We just went through a pretty big transition over here at the Englert:

all new ticketing software and (almost) all new box office staff, all basically happening the same weekend.

I've done a few software transitions in my days and this has been one of the smoothest. The peeps at Iowatix were great to work with, the software allows us to serve our customers better (for example, alllllllllllll of our tix are online now - not just a few rows) and the efficiencies this new system will create seem to outweigh any of the inevitable "pain" that accompanies such a major shift in The Way We Do Things. It's not perfect yet, but we'll get close.

Thanks, customers, for being patient.

We also brought on four new Box Officers (a term that doesn't seem to get old for me), and they've been wonderful: bright, energetic, eager to learn, helpful and service-minded. Stop by to see Ashley, Nicole, Roxy and Sarah, who have joined Bryan and our wonderful volunteers Tom and Andrea to make up the best box office staff anywhere in the land. Get to know them here.

We also just hired a bunch of great people to work in our Front Of House Services area who you'll get to know at the concessions table this fall.

The job description for both of those positions called for "rock stars," and I'm glad to say that our newbies don't disappoint.

Chuck Klosterman tonight... people have been stopping in asking about it all day. Starts at 8:30, doors open at 8, get here early. Repeat.

Just signed us up for Twitter, so you can follow us there: http://twitter.com/englert. I've been "tweeting" on my personal account for awhile now. Was skeptical at first, but am starting to realize the key: the more people who use it, the better it is.

Go technology.