A Vicadin Headache Moment

With the launch, yesterday of “Views from my Hammock” The Official Blog Page of Steve “The Nuclear Guy”… It’s certainly past time to write something new…

Being a comic, I probably should be writing something funny… While there’s the “in the moment” nirvana that we experience when everything is right… There’s “The Vicadin Headache” moments… The times when we just don’t feel funny and comedy nirvana seems like something that we’ve only dreamed about…

Though finally acknowledging my need for something stronger than a handful of Advil today, I had been fighting that mood for days…

Driving 4.5 hours Friday excited to be opening a new room with the help of comedy buddy Denis Donohue who drove 6 hours up from NYC… A small town crowd of 109 reservations turned into a well-attended first show of 78 despite some torrential downpours… But I left disappointed with my own performance, despite acknowledgements from the audience members who could hear it that they enjoyed it… Maybe I’m a purist, who isn’t just happy with the fact that I get paid to tell jokes for a living whether all or only a portion of the audience is listening…

I left amazed at the rudeness people can exhibit sometimes… Though unfortunately, I feel lately it’s more often than sometimes… People who having paid for tickets to see and HEAR a show… Then sit in the back and basically have their own show of LOUD conversation and occasional shouts of unintelligible, incoherent, bullshit totally unrelated to the subject matter being presented from stage… Granted alcohol plays a huge part in this type of behavior, but for the most part I am well past beginning to believe stems from the conscious decision not to give a shit about anyone, but themselves…

Despite being asked numerous times by audience members walking from the front of the room to the back to ask them to be quiet… The din of conversation in the room was not the “in the moment” nirvana I had hoped for…

Deciding not to spend Friday night in the hotel, I drove 4.5 hours home, in the rain, so as not to waste the July 4th holiday on the road… Ruminating on this the whole way home…

The upside is we’ve got two additional shows booked there… One in September and one next February… There’s a ton of potential there and I hope with some work we can produce the kind of show I’d be proud of…

Enjoying the weekend home, we spent sometime Sunday at Sodus Point, listening to live music and having some beers and dinner on the outdoor deck of a local establishment… It had finally warmed up and stopped raining long enough to get out for that…

Yesterday I launched my new blog site and turned my attention to getting ready for this weekends upcoming trip to Vermont with comedy buddies Ralph Tetta and Linda Belt… Shows that had been booked since last January… When I received an email from the venue stating that ticket sales were low and asking me for my opinion…

Well, my opinion was that losing a weekend of income was not an option… Another not “in the moment” moment from the business side of the comedy business… I wasn’t feeling especially upbeat or funny as Eileen and I headed out to Danny Liberto’s open mic last night… It was just what I needed at the time to get my comedy juices flowing again… Proving again that comedy and laughter are the best medicine…

The reality of possibly losing a weekend of pay still loomed though this morning and the dull throb of a “Vicadin Headache” moment began as I took my morning walk with the boys… Having a late breakfast I finally reached for something stronger… But the even better medicine is that after some renegotiations we’re doing one show Saturday instead of the original Friday and Saturday… At least we won’t lose the whole weekend… And Ralph and I still get to spend 6 hours in the car together each way…

Eileen leaves tomorrow for a book signing in Green Bay, Wisconsin this weekend and we’re both hoping she doesn’t get snowed in… All the global warming we’ve haven’t experienced this summer has us a little worried though…

Tomorrow night another open mic and Thursday I’m heading to The Comedy Club in Webster to see a comedy buddy from Maine, Tim Hofmann will be appearing there all weekend. If you are looking for something to do stop in for a show… Tim and I will be appearing in Manchester, Vermont together July 19th at a restaurant called “The Perfect Wife”… I never knew one existed, but then I married Eileen… Awwwwwww… OK, enough of that shit… I said it for you!!!

Tim and I will also be appearing together in Maine the end of July and early August… I’m looking forward to it.

So the view from my hammock today, though cloudy, has sunshine, smooth seas, following breezes and a witty blog on the horizon…