Rob’s Blog – Page 5 – RobPRocks.com

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020

All 50 States Day 13: Illinois!

All 50 States Day 13:

Illinois!

Illinois is the only state in the country I didn’t have to travel to because I was born there, though I don’t remember it because I was quite young. I was born and raised in a small industrial city called Waukegan, which is on Lake Michigan north of Chicago, just shy of the Wisconsin border and about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. You know those idyllic Chicago suburbs from the John Hughes movies in the 1980s? Waukegan isn’t one of them.

Waukegan is more of a working class city with an industrial past that brought in people from all over the world. My dad was born in an Armenian neighborhood that boasted several Armenian grocery stores, and a couple of Armenian churches, including a small one founded by my grandparents. The town is where I went to public school, started playing the cello, did some plays and musicals in high school, started playing in bands, and got decent enough grades to get a partial scholarship to a school somewhere else.

I came back to Illinois after college and lived there a few more years, temping while playing in a band, taking classes at Second City in Chicago, and performing at comedy clubs. That time in Chicago starting out on my comedy career is one of my favorite eras of my life (it’s not a wheel, it’s a carousel! <sniff>).

I get back to Illinois as often as possible to visit family and to do shows when I can. In addition to the comedy clubs in Chicago, like Zanies which is thankfully still there, I’ve played clubs downstate in Bloomington and Peoria (fist road gig ever!), and even did a one-nighter at a bowling alley in Carbondale. College-wise I’ve played too many to list, but a wide variety from IIT, DePaul, and Columbia College in Chicago, to Illinois Weslyan in Bloomington, Augustana in Rock Island, Bradley Universtiy in Peoria (oh, I can play Peoria!), Eureka College (where Ronald Reagan went for like a year!) and more.

I’m trying not to give my life story here but it’s my home state! All right, fine, here are the pictures:

Me, in the light blue blanket, kickin’ it with my homies
Chillin’ and grillin’ in Waukegan
There’s always room for cello! (Thank you, public school string program! Support the arts!)
The Steppingstones at Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 91 or 92ish?
Performing at the Improv in Chicago, 95ish
At Zanies, Chicago with Gilbert Gottfried
Performing at Hitchcocks with the guys from Ectomorph at the record release party for Don’t Crowd the Plow, 1995
I made the kiosk at Illinois Weslyan! 2010
Performing with a broken hand at Augustana College, 2011
Chicago skyline, one of the 1st pics ever taken with my Canon PowerShot, my first decent digital camera. 2001

April 3, 2020April 4, 2020

All 50 States Day 12: Idaho!

All 50 States Day 12:

Idaho!

Though I didn’t have any shows in Idaho on my first big trek through the Northwest back in ’97 I did spend a consequential off night in Boise. It was the night I decided to cut off my distinctive super-long hair, after an unsolicited suggestion from an off-duty stripper.

During that first trip I had a film camera with me and took a couple of pictures in the state, including one of a dormant wooden roller coaster in the off season. Since there was no geo-tagging on the old school film cameras it takes some work to figure out where the pictures were taken, and luckily the name “Silverwood” can be seen on the roller coaster. Still in operation, Silverwood Amusement Park lies alongside U.S. Highway 95 north of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the skinny northern reaches of the state. I must have passed the coaster as I headed south from Hwy 2 (The Great Northern) after my show in Havre, MT.

Another picture from that roll is from downtown Boise, of an art deco building that, thanks to more visible signs and google sleuthing, turns out to be called the Hoff Building, which was built in 1930 as the Hotel Boise. That’s not where I met the off-duty stripper.

On subsequent trips to the northwest I did in fact play some shows in Idaho, including Albertson College outside of Boise, and North Idaho College up in beautiful Coeur d’Alene. In back-to-back years (’02 & ’03) I played shows at Idaho State in Pocatello, and after one of the shows I was treated to my favorite karaoke rendition of “Girl From Ipanema,” sung by two Brazilian exchange students who eschewed the lyrics on the monitor and sang the song in Portuguese.

No pictures of karaoke night exist, and the only other image I found in my archives from Idaho was a random picture of my hotel room in Pocatello. At the time I was taking pictures of gaudily designed hotel and motel rooms, I have no idea why. I guess that’s how I entertained myself on the road before we were on the internet 24/7.

Oh yeah, the off-duty stripper story: I was staying in Boise on an off night and I stopped in at a rock music-friendly bar I probably found by going through the local indy arts paper (that’s how we found stuff before Yelp). It was a slow weeknight with just a couple of regulars when a young, attractive, very dolled up woman made a big entrance. She announced her presence with a big hello, bright red lipstick, a leather jacket, and a low-cut shirt offering ample WonderBra (it was the 90s) clevage.

She proclaimed she was back from Seattle, hadn’t visited Boise in forever, and was incredibly busy dancing in the big city. I kept to myself as she made the rounds catching up with the regulars and she eventually sat next to me for a minute to ask me what my deal was. I said I was a musician passing through (I prefer claiming musician as my vocation over comedian, it leads to fewer follow up questions). We chatted for a minute and then she offered, “you’d be a better looking guy if you cut your hair, it’s dated.”

The day I cut off the long hair, April, 1997

Now that’s not the only reason I cut my hair the day after I got back to Illinois after that trip, but it definitely was that little extra kick in the vanity I needed to take the plunge. As a performer it’s more than just fear of change, drastically altering your look leads to the eventual expense of getting new headshots and promo pics. In fact, when my college agent at the time asked for more headshots to send to schools and I said I needed time to get new ones because I had cut my hair, there was dead silence on the other line. During that silence I realized that he viewed my long hair as a selling point, a crucial feature of my marketability, more than my musical or comedic talent.

I have since gone from shaggy to short, and from short hair to the current buzz cut, because I love reinvention (and my hair keeps getting thinner). But reinvention is good. I’m like Madonna, but, you know, a guy. And a comedian. Oh, and I can’t dance. But other than that…

April 2, 2020April 2, 2020

All 50 States Day 11: Hawaii!

All 50 States Day 11:

Hawaii!

The U.S.’ 50th state was also my 50th state! I was stuck on 49 for several years and was wondering if I’d have to resort to going there on vacation and doing an open mic just to say I’d performed there. But in 2010 not only did I finally landed a gig in Hawaii, the show was on my birthday! The wonderful people at B.Y.U. Hawaii brought me in for a show on their campus on the north shore of Oahu and I flew in a week early to try to see a bit of the state.

My week in Hawaii started with a weekend in Honolulu where I stayed in Waikiki Beach and explored the city. I poked around the beach, hit a couple of parks, and had a Mai Tai at the Outrigger Reef hotel where one of my sisters had her first big singing gig about 20 years prior.

When planning my trip I had to decide if I wanted to island hop, and if so, which island to I hop to. I chose Maui because I wanted to do some snorkeling and Molokini, a small crescent shaped island formed from an ancient volcano cone, is just off the coast of Wailea. I stayed up the shore in a groovy older motel called the Aston Maui Lu*, in a great town called Kihei. I checked out Iao Valley State Park, sang karaoke at a restaurant bar, and sailed on a catamaran for a snorkeling trip. Sadly it was too windy for the catamaran to navigate the Molokini crater, but I got to snorkel in some great reefs, saw a sea turtle, and the crew threw up the sail in the strong winds and I got to experience a pretty thrilling ride.

I flew back to Oahu the day before my show at BYU Hawaii and a couple of very helpful and friendly students met me at the airport and drove with my up to Laie, where they treated me to the infamous local dish called the Loco Moco—a hamburger patty served over a plate of rice and covered with a friend egg and gravy.

The show on my birthday was so much fun and was a great way to wind up an amazing week. The audience included students and people from town, and after the show the student activities advisor told the crowd it was my birthday and they all sang “Happy Birthday” to me to end the night. After the show I hit the hotel bar—oh, I didn’t even mention, they put me up at Turtle Bay, the resort where they filmed Forgetting Sarah Marshall!

So yeah, I had a great week in Hawaii and it was a memorable way to check all 50 states off of my to-do list. I am looking forward to returning and seeing more islands.

Top Row, left to right: Waikiki selfie with Diamond Head in background; Color Polaroid of Maui sunset; Getting my Hunter S. Thompson on while sailing in Maui; Molokini crater.

Middle Row, left to right: Iao Valley State Park with quality lens flare, Snorkel selfie; swimming selfie in Kihei; Laie Hawaii Temple in Laie, North Shore of Oahu.

Bottom row: Rocks at Waimea Beach and yes, I jumped! Polaroid of a shrimp shack at a shrimp farm on the North Shore of Oahu.

The late, great Aston Maui Lu Motel in Kihei, HI

*when going back to find the name of the groovy motel that I liked so much in Kihei I started poking around on google maps in the area to read the names of the hotels, sure I would remember it once I saw the name. I couldn’t find it. I switched to satellite photo mode. I saw a large, bulldozer area of land by the beach, a construction site.

The spot was labeled “Maui Bay Villas by Hilton Grand…” and I had a sinking feeling that the funky mid-century motel I dug so much had been bulldozed for a new corporate resort. I searched my old emails for a receipt to get the name and address of the motel: The Aston Maui Lu at 575 S. Kihei Rd.

I entered the address in google maps and it put the pin right smack dab in the middle of the construction site. Turns out it’s a friggin’ timeshare slated to open Spring of 2021.

google map construction site — Former site of the Aston Maui Lu Hotel

Fare thee well, Aston Maui Lu! You were a dope, classic motel with nice grounds and kick ass pool.

April 1, 2020

All 50 States Day 10: Georgia!

All 50 States Day 10:

Georgia!

My rule of not counting a state if your only visit is changing planes at the airport still stands; BUT, it turns out the only picture I can find that I’ve personally taken in the state of Georgia was taken in ATL during a layover. I was on my way from a show the previous night at Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, MA to a show that night at Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach, FL (we call that “bad routing”).

But I have been to Georgia for real, I swear! I performed in the New Year’s Eve show at the Punchline in Atlanta on Dec. 31, 2008. When I searched online for evidence of me being in the lineup I even found a video of the club manager promoting the show! Turns out he didn’t mention any of the acts performing in the upcoming show (great marketing!) but he did joke about regretting his decision to hire a little person to play Baby New Year the previous year (I’m not even making that up).

I also played one college in Georgia: Brenau University, on February 20, 2005, and it’s one of the few schools whose swag t-shirts have survived to this day. Since Brenau is a predominantly women’s college with a strong dance program my plan was to wear the t-shirt here in NYC with the hope that various dancer alumnae see it and strike up a conversation. My plan has yet to come to fruition.

The picture from the airport is of a jazz poster that I liked. As someone who’s constantly making flyers for music shows I like to take visual notes of things that appeal to me. The performer in the poster is Rashaan Roland Kirk, a musician who could play multiple saxophones at once and also played flute (including on Quincy Jones’ Soul Bossa Nova, a.k.a. that campy song from Austin Powers).

See? You learn things by traveling!

March 31, 2020

All 50 States Day 9: Florida!

All 50 States Day 9:

Florida!

The second “road gig” I ever did was in Florida! In 8th grade I got called up to the high school orchestra for their trip to Orlando because they needed some cellos to round out the ensemble. We flew to Orlando over spring break, had a day at Disneyland, won a silver medal in the competition we were there for, and I bought the t-shirt you see in my High School freshman class picture.

So no, that picture wasn’t actually taken in Florida, but apparently I liked that shirt so much I needed to brandish it in my yearbook for all to see. And did I mention it’s actually a half t-shirt? It was the 80s, we wore things like that.

I have since been back to Florida for many shows. Early in my touring days I did a couple of weeks at the Comedy Corner in West Palm Beach, where I featured for a young Kevin James and a bitter Judy Tenuta (different weeks). I’ve also performed at a bunch of colleges, including Florida State, University of Central Florida (at an outdoor spring festival where I followed a metal band and preceded Less Than Jake), Embry Riddle University in Daytona (where I took a couple of extra days to visit the Kennedy Space Center), University of West Florida way over in Pensacola, and Rollins College in Winter Park.

Florida has also been the embarkation point for several cruise gigs I’ve done in the past few years, departing from Port Canaveral. I’ve even taken non-comedy trips to Florida for a friend’s wedding, a couple of weekend getaways, and since my sister moved to the Tampa area a couple of years ago, family visits!

I still haven’t been to the Florida Keys yet, but I’m sure my Buffet days are ahead of me.

High school freshman year school pic
Crowd at UCF for spring festival show, 2002
Cruise Ship with Kennedy Space Center in background, 2019
Selfie with a rocket, Kennedy Space Center 2010
B&W Polaroid of Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center, 2010
Me in Ybor City, Tampa, 2019
Me at a spring training game in Lakeland, 2020
Miami Beach hotels, 2007

March 30, 2020

All 50 States Day 8: Delaware!

All 50 States Day 8:

Delaware!

Well, I knew that eventually there was going to be a state I didn’t have a personal picture of. I’ve been to Delaware, I swear! I can still write about it, but I won’t have much to put on instagram <frowny face>.

Keep in mind my rules for counting a state: I’ve had to have performed in the state or spent at least a night there. With Delaware, anyone who’s driven from New York City to mid-Atlantic region cities like Baltimore or DC has driven through the tiny northern tip of the state near Wilmington, but that doesn’t count!

I know of at least two college shows I’ve done in Delaware, the University of Delaware in March of 2001 and a small college called Goldy Beacom College in Wilmington in January of 2003. For the latter show I remember going out to a local bar & grill after the show and seeing an acoustic duo cover band and it was the fist time I think I heard the Jimmy Eat World song “The Middle” all the way through. During the second chorus I joked with the people at my table that if it strictly followed the rules of a pop song it would go to the bridge. It did. During the bridge I said the next rule of pop songwriting is breaking it down for the third verse, and sure enough the song breaks down for the third verse.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing! Standard song structures become standard because they work!

Also, I was reminded by my note in the google map of past gigs I put together (check it out here) that the show at Goldey Beacom didn’t have a sound system, I had to play completely acoustic in a multifunction room. the fun of putting this project together is all the little details!

March 29, 2020

All 50 States Day 7: Connecticut!

All 50 States Day 7:

Connecticut!

Ah, Connecticut, you crazy Nutmeg State that I have to pronounce “Connect-i-cut” in my head to spell correctly! You’re so close to my home base in Brooklyn, NY, and yet so far!

With its little southwestern dog-leg reaching toward New York City, the Connecticut border is a mere 37 miles from downtown Brooklyn, which makes places like Norwalk and Fairfield accessible for day trips, easy weekend escapes, or even (shudder) the reverse commuting day job. I’ve spent some summer days in Fairfield with friends at a beach house belonging to one of their families, and I’ve also performed in Fairfield at both Sacred Heart University and Fairfield University.

Other colleges I’ve played in the state are Connecticut College in New London, Albertus Mangus in New Haven, and U Conn in Storrs, where I met a second cousin and her family after the show. Turns out I have relatives there!

Two of my appearances opening for George Carlin took place in Connecticut, one at the Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport on March 13, 2008, and the next night at Foxwoods Casino. I have vivid memories of both shows, the beauty of the Klein auditorium compared to the ‘beauty’ of downtown Bridgeport, and having a conversation with Carlin backstage after my set at Foxwoods, when he told me about “Failing: A Very Difficult Piece for String Bass” and thought i’d like it. He said he’d send me a CD of it after the trip and sure enough I got a CD in the mail a week later with a post-it note on it that simply said “from George Carlin.” He was right, I liked it.

And there’s even something from Connecticut that remains in my everyday life: my gold sparkly Music Man Stingray bass that I record with regularly. If you’ve heard any of my self produced albums since 2004, you’ve heard the bass I bought on eBay and drove to Connecticut (either Danbury or Waterbury, I’m trying to verify) to pick up from a music store. The purchase was against the wishes of my girlfriend at the time and in hindsight her opposition should have been a huge red flag. I mean, look at that thing! It’s magnificent!

Foxwoods Marquee, 2008
Ritch Duncan and I, proud of our grilling skillz, 1999(?)
With the Student Activities board at UConn, 2011
Shot of me looking all LL Bean on Fairfield Beach, 2000(?)
The lovely Merritt Parkway in autumn, on a drive back to NYC from gigs in Vermont, 2008
The epic and amazing gold sparkle Music Man StingRay bass! Purchased in 2002, pictured here in 2020.

March 28, 2020

All 50 States Day 6: Colorado!

All 50 States Day 5:

Colorado!

Transfers at Denver International Airport don’t count! I only count a state if I’ve actually spent a night there with feet on non-airport grounds. Them’s the rules!

I was able to check Colorado off of my to-do list early in my touring life with a gig at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO, a flat and dusty railroad stop in the Northeastern corner of the state.

I’ve also been to Denver for a few odd gigs, and when I say ‘odd’ I mean it. One was a corporate gig for Comedy Central at a regional cable provider convention that was set up on the concourse of Coors Field (not during a Rockies game). A magician and I took turns performing on a stage somewhere beneath the right field grandstands.

Another Denver gig was a promotional campaign for a liquor brand. The promotion involved wheeling a portable sound system to different bars so I could pop in and do a quick ambush set of music while aspiring models sold flavored shots. That gig (which also took me to Milwaukee and Cleveland–glamorous!) was mostly terrible but there was one stop at an outdoor plaza in downtown Denver that was fun because I was set up like a street musician and people actually listened. To this day I tense up every time I see a bottle of Pucker.

Other college gigs in Colorado include Colorado School of Mines and Technology in Golden, Adams State in Alamosa, and Ft. Lewis College in Durango, which is a lovely former mining town in the southwestern part of the state. That last gig was during the school’s Homecoming weekend, which included a large bonfire and me hosting karaoke after my set. I don’t remember if I sang the song “Light My Fire” but I should have.

March 27, 2020March 27, 2020

All 50 States Day 5: California!

All 50 States Day 5 takes us to:

California!

A lot of people in the performing world do a stint in southern California at one point or another but I got mine out of the way early by going to U.S.C. to get my undergrad degree. They were kind enough to give this Midwestern kid some financial aid and I didn’t even have to pretend to be on the women’s rowing team! I got to study fiction writing with T.C. Boyle, started doing standup in campus shows and then open mics and clubs, and I met great friends while getting a solid education.

I had visited California a couple times before college; my mom had family there and my dad knew just about every Armenian in Pasadena, so I had seen cities from El Cajon to Modesto (Mom’s side) and Pasadena to Hollywood (Dad’s side). Those trips included the obligatory visits to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry Farm, And Ben Frank’s diner.

As a performer I’ve taken several trips back to L.A. and the area, performing at area clubs, including one of my favorite comedy clubs in the country: The Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach. I’ve performed in San Francisco, opened for Lily Tomlin at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga in Silicon Valley, and even did a show smack dab in the center of the San Joaquin Valley in Visalia, California.

It was hard to pare down my California photos to just a few, so here is a ridiculous assortment:

Family trip, early 80s
U.S.C. Graduation with Mom
Downtown Orange, CA circa 1998 (in front of building that was the appliance store in That Thing You Do!
World’s Biggest Thermometer in Baker, CA, late 90s
Joshua tree, late 90s. Tried to find the spot on google maps but THE STREETS HAVE NO NAMES!
Hiking in Los Padres National Forest, 2007
Thumbs Up For Nature! Literally. That’s the file name of this picture. Because I’m a doofus.
Pic of a pic of me in Downtown LA, 1998, my most recent trip to Cali.

March 25, 2020March 25, 2020

Arizona—All States Day 3

All 50 States Day 3:

Arizona!

I’ve been to and through Arizona a lot of times but it remains the only state I’ve never performed in. I hope it’s not personal. My first experience with the state was driving through, between Texas and California, which I’ve done 4 or 5 times, so I’ve seen every inch of I-10 in the state. I even stopped at The Thing, a roadside attraction somewhere between Tucson and New Mexico.

While in school at USC in Los Angeles I would visit friends at ASU in Tempe during my junior and senior years, where I caught a USC-ASU football game, had wings at the (in)famous Long Wongs, and had a dude who I’m sure was wired on cocaine insist I listen to a Spin Doctors song over and over.

Back in 2009 I was visiting my fellow comedian Mike Siegel in L.A. and we took a road trip to Mesa, Arizona to catch the Cubs in a spring training game. The Cubs game also happened to be the only place where we were able to get an Old Style west of the Missouri river because you can’t have Cubs baseball without Old Style. Ya just can’t!

March 24, 2020

Alaska—All 50 States Day 2

State #2 in my All 50 States Travelogue is…

Alaska!

When I tell people I’ve been to all 50 states people often ask, “even Alaska?”

Yes! Even Alaska! It’s one of the 50 states! I’ve actually been to our 49th state multiple times (5, I think, two of the trips kind of blend together), with my first visit being relatively early in my touring career.

Back in mid/late ‘90s, as an eager, young comedian new to the college entertainment market, I showcased at the Pacific Northwest Regional NACA conference and landed myself a ton of shows over the next year throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. University of Alaska Anchorage took advantage of one of those blocks of shows and brought me up for a show in April 1997.

I spent a few extra days in and around Anchorage and took a day trip up to Talkeetna, a few hours north, to see if I could get a glimpse of Denali, the highest mountain in North America. The weather gods were good to me that day and the normally clouded over peak was on full display.

I’ve been back to UAA a few times since, once in February during a big festival called the Fur Rondy, and a couple times in August during orientation. Each gig I would take time for a few day trips, a snowy drive down to Seward on the Kenai peninsula and an August trip to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer to name a few.

In the summer of 2018 I got my first taste of southeast Alaska working a cruise ship that took me from Juneau to Vancouver, with a stop in the town of Ketchikan. While having lunch in Ketchikan a local asked me if I was a charter boat captain—fishing is the main industry there, aside from tourism—and I had to confess that I came in on a cruise ship. At least I could take solace in the fact that I wasn’t such an obvious tourist.

Pics:

Top left: view of Denali from near Talkeetna, AK, 1997
Top center: selfie in beautiful downtown Talkeetna! 2004
Top right: top of Flat Top Mountain, outside of Anchorage, 2004
Bottom left: selfie from cruise ship with downtown Juneau behind, 2018
Bottom center: signpost in Anchorage, 2004
Bottom right: selfie on Creek Street in Ketchikan, 2018

March 23, 2020March 23, 2020

Alabama—All 50 States

Fun fact about Rob P.: thanks to years of touring as a comedian and musician I’ve been to all 50 US states! And while we’re all on lockdown for the Coronavirus pandemic I figured it was as good a time as any to archive the accomplishment. My plan is to do one a day, I’ll go in alphabetical order, and hopefully by the time we get to Wyoming we’ll all be able to travel again. Or at least have an effing picnic!

So let’s get started with…

Alabama!

I’ve taken one trip to Alabama and it was brief, a one-night stay for a show at the University of Alabama in Huntsville in April of 2004. It was an “isolated date” as we called them in the college entertainment world, meaning it wasn’t part of a block booking and I didn’t have any other gigs in the area that week. I did a show at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois a few days prior and was staying with family in the Chicago area before and after the trek to Huntsville for the gig.

I remember flying in to Nashville and renting a car for the 2+ hour drive to Huntsville, which is about 20 miles south of the Tennessee-Alabama border, opting for the fly and drive because a flight into Huntsville proper was too pricey. I’m glad I did because just after I crossed into Alabama on I-65 south I saw an interstate rest stop and I was greeted with a good omen for the trip: an actual Saturn 1B rocket.

I love roadside attractions and I love space stuff, especially Apollo-era space stuff, even more; so yeah, I pulled over to see this beast of a rocket up close, on display as part of the Alabama Welcome Center. It was a good omen for the show that night because, what I wasn’t aware of until I got on campus, Huntsville is a big engineering and tech hub. NASA’s Marshall Flight Center is there, UAH has strong engineering and science programs, and the crowd at my show skewed toward the brainy and nerdy and away from the fratty and party obnoxious students.

I don’t remember many specifics about the show and my journal entries from the time are more focused on getting over a bad breakup, but I do remember it being a fun show and a good trip. Any time you get to see a rocket up close is a good trip.

January 7, 2020

The Show Must Go On… Eventually!

This is the week I was going to start the big promotional campaign for the March debut of my musical, but issues with the venue and changes at the theater group have led them to cancel the production. Despite my deep disappointment at the news I hope there is some good that can come from the experience, and I still fervently believe in the quality and commercial viability of the project. I know it will hit the stage someday.

First thing to mention on the positive side is that the table read I did with the theater group in June of 2019 went really well. Not only did it renew my conviction that this work I spent most of 2015 creating is an appealing story with a funny script, it led me to do a fresh punch-up draft of the book. And just last week, with the fresh draft in hand, I submitted the project to a theater festival for the first time since 2017.

Another big task I had to tackle for the now-canceled March debut was to create and transcribe five-piece scores for the 20 songs in the musical. I had existing, fully arranged demos for all the songs but I had so far only written out a few of the pieces as lead sheets. To create a five-piece score for each of the songs I had to consolidate the arrangements from the demos into five parts; and digging back into the project files from the demo recordings required me to transfer all of the session files from Pro Tools to Logic Pro X, which is what I run my studio on after converting in late 2016.

Creating these scores took the better part of my free time in September and October, and with the production now canceled could be considered a colossal waste of time. But the fact is I know have finished five-piece scores of the entire musical, along with a new overture and incidental music, and these scores aren’t going anywhere. It will be less work for the next production.

Working on the scores was also really satisfying. Up until this point I had only created lead sheets for songs, or at most a score with a melody/vocal line and a basic piano accompaniment. When the theater group offered to stage the musical I took on the challenge of writing out the scores. With some pointers and encouragement from a good friend Scott Wasserman, who does this kind of thing for a living, I dove in, learned a lot, got up to speed on the amazing freeware app MuseScore, and got it done. Between the confidence gained and the actual scores there are a lot of real benefits gained from the project, even with this production being shut down.

So that’s the status of the musical. I usually don’t post such long behind-the-scenes stories—I prefer to let my work speak for itself—but since I had announced the worldwide debut of the musical I felt it somewhat necessary to explain its absence from my show calendar. Don’t worry, when it gets into a festival or we put on a staged reading, and when it finally does debut, I’ll start yammering about it all over again.

December 9, 2019December 9, 2019

New Year’s Eve in New Year’s Jersey!

I’m excited to be performing at First Night Morris in Morristown, NJ on New Year’s Eve! I’ll be doing a family-friendly 45-minute set at 9:45 and repeated at 10:45, which gives you the flexibility to see some of the other fine performers and activities at the biggest First Night celebration in New Jersey!

My performance venue is the Hyatt Regency right in downtown Morristown, and the show will be in the Regency room, right off the main lobby. Earlier in the Regency room, at 7:15 and 8:15, is the very funny comedian Andy Pitz, with whom I’ve worked many times over the years and is an absolutely hilarious pro. Come check us both out! And fireworks! And food! And activities!

This will be my first First Night in quite a while; as a matter of fact one of my first paid gigs was at a First Night in my hometown of Waukegan, IL back when I was a senior in college and just getting started in comedy. Egads, that was a while ago!

But enough about the past, on the 31st we’ll be celebrating the future. Come join us!

Rob Paravonian at First Night Morris
Dec 31, 9:45 and 10:45
Hyatt Regency, Regency Room
3 Speedwell Ave., Morristown, NJ 07960

October 27, 2019October 29, 2019

5 Years at Q.E.D.!

It’s hard to believe my monthly show at Q.E.D. is about to celebrate its 5 year anniversary! We launched as Don’t Feed the Musicians!, a title I coughed up when putting the first show together, and I renamed the show The Odd Rock Comedy Hour in 2017. That’s 60 installments of comedy, music, variety, video and more! And I only missed one show!

To celebrate we’re… well, just gonna keep doing our thing. Our November show will be Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 and we’ll kick out the jams like we always do. Q.E.D. however, is celebrating their 5 year anniversary (we started the month they opened!) on Nov 4. at 7pm! I’ll be there telling a joke first told at the Odd Rock, along with tons of other comedians, writers, storytellers and more who have performed at Q.E.D. over the years.

Check out the gallery to see some of the people who’ve Oddly Rocked with us over the years!