Beautiful routine

It's interesting starting at the very beginning, when you have been doing something for so long. It has been said that through practice a task becomes routine and once it becomes routine it is ready to arrive at beautiful.

When I lived in Buffalo, I was a bigshot improviser in a few different groups. In NYC, while I focused more on voiceover and my 9-5 job, I stayed connected to improv by taking classes. When I got to Los Angeles, which is really the Holy Grail of improvising, I discovered how little I actually knew.

My teacher at the Wednesday night drop-in "Work Out" class mentioned that in improvisation if you think you don't have to work and grow anymore, you find yourself in real trouble. You can always keep growing and discovering new things about yourself and your performances.

iO West is a veritable buffet offering classes, workshops and incredible shows.

I learned about IO West through my friend Tara. She raved about it, and since I missed registration, I decided to start my studies at iO West with the drop-in Wednesday night Work Out class.

With regard to iO West's signature Harold, I had heard of him, but I had never been formally introduced. I was excited but nervous to meet his acquaintance.

I arrived at the Wednesday Work Out class with my friend Beverly. She's a fellow actress, 20 years my senior, who has been in mostly musicals and has also been a teacher for a long time. She and I are quirky characters who met during a play about the circus.

She has had no formal improvisational training, but she and I both have our degrees in musical theatre.

What I like about drop-in Wednesday Work Out class is that it includes a mixture of people. You get to be a sort of mentor to those who are new to improv, but you get to learn so much from the veterans who are there to return to basics.

Our first assignment was to create a scene in a fake play. Mine was "Death at Midnight." For my emotional highpoint I strive for the last time to get help during a snow storm, and my little sister gives me a sandwich with mayonnaise.

It's a comfort and we share a tender moment.

It is pretty incredible the amount of trust you must have when improvising, especially in a drop-in class when you have just met your scene partner a few moments before.

So many questions go through your mind: Am I allowed to touch them? Will they listen? Will I listen?

In a play you have months of rehearsal and the chance to get to know your partners.

Yet, in improv, despite not knowing my partners well, I have had some of my best moments on stage.

After last Wednesday's Work Out class, Beverly and I decided to see Wednesday night Harolds, which I HIGHLY recommend.

Honestly, if you have time after the Wednesday Work Out class, it's a fantastic way to see what you just learned put into play on stage.

The games you play and lessons you learn you can pick out while watching the shows.

The Lottery is a show that pairs beginning students with seasoned improvisers. What a treat!

In addition to the Lottery, we experienced Hot Toddy and Tatanka, two Harold teams, each inspired by basic suggestions such as "time" and "gum."

Each team created an interesting 30-minute show where all the scenes gelled together to create a cohesive and compelling whole.

In one of the shows there are adopted sisters vying for the love of a math genius who is more focused on his numbers than he is the ladies.

And there is a couple who travels the world to get away from each other and sings songs from Rent. But somehow it all makes sense and you would swear someone wrote it.

They have all learned the rules of improv (or the guiding principles) so well that seamless cohesion has become their routine.

And, like I said, when a task becomes routine, it is ready for beautiful.

 - Kate Sorice

Brandon Sornberger in brief

This week, popular iO West teacher Brandon J. Sornberger steps into the additional role of iO West bar manager. 

Sornberger will soon be busier than ever, so I was lucky to catch up with him, briefly, to discuss his thoughts on improvisation and teaching at iO West.

SKK:  What was the moment you first discovered you loved performing improv?

BJS:  It was 1996, I was going to Hamilton College and I was cast in a play - 12 of us were cast - but the parts weren't to be decided until after we'd improvised the first several weeks of rehearsal. So we improvised for weeks, and I'd never found anything as invigorating.

SKK:  What led you to begin teaching improv? 

BJS:  I sort of fell into it, but I'd also developed a specific theory over time that I wanted to pass on to students. 

SKK:  And what was that theory?

BJS:  Basically, "be yourself and react honestly.  Stop with all the characters, please."

SKK:  What is the most rewarding aspect of teaching for you?

BJS:  Watching a struggling student do a gratifying scene - a scene that realizes the potential of the art form.

SKK:  What has been your favorite in-class experience so far?

BJS:  "In-class" or "as a result of class"?

SKK:  Sure.

BJS:  I've received notes and cards from students thanking me for helping them discover this [art form] and find that they really love it.  And that's been really satisfying to pass on - my passion for it - to someone else.

SKK:  Lastly, for everyone reading this blog who is trying to figure out what shows to see first, which are a few Harold teams you think are particularly successful, and why do they work so well? You can include your own.

BJS:  I think King Ten is good because, with all their experience, they have a great group mind and are confident.  I also enjoy the playfulness of Spirit Cat and Waterloo.

Brandon J. Sornberger is originally from Upstate New York. He has performed and taught improv in New York City, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

While at iO Chicago, Sornberger performed with the "iO Muscial Featuring The Deltones," "Bullet Lounge," and "Let Them Ho’s Fight." He is happily married and has an affinity for cowboy boots.

Furthermore, Sornberger currently teaches Harold – Level 5 and Intermediate Forms – Level 6.

  - Shawn Katheryn Kane

Brandon Sornberger and Jessica Makinson

James Roday at iO West this Saturday

"Celebrity" with James Roday this Saturday at 8pm

With the help of a special celebrity guest, improvisers Betty Cahil (SNL), Mike Coleman, Jeff Drake (The Megan Mullaly Show), Brian Gattas (Arrested Development, Dexter, Brothers and Sisters), Wendy Molyneux, Dana Powell (Bridesmaids), Adrian Wenner and Ethan Sandler embark on a long-form improvisation where the real-life celebrity is pressed into service as a faux celebrity's personal assistant.

James Roday, star of the TV detective dramedy Psych, will be the celebrity on hand for this Saturday's show.

After five years, Brian James O'Connell hands over the iO West bar

After five years of managing not just a bar but a family, Brian James O'Connell will be passing the cask to fellow improviser Brandon Sornberger.

Sornberger will begin his reign as bar bard tomorrow, November 9, so head to the iO West bar tonight AND tomorrow to say good-bye and hello to two extremely talented and generous men.

And to drink cheap drinks in a warm and lively atmosphere.

Glory Stories on the Main Stage Friday, November 18, and potentially monthly thereafter

Glory Stories is an Armando type improv show where a visiting celebrity shares stories from his or her life based on suggestions from the audience and a team of expert improvisers improvises scenes inspired by those stories.

One key difference between Glory Stories and The Armando is that the visiting celeb at Glory Stories is an adult entertainment artist.

Hosting the show November 18th will be Nikki Nefarious, which should prove to be both unique and hilarious and a fun way to ease into the weekend.

It's all about the bar...round 2

Bar manager Brian James O'Connell  expounds more on his experiences behind the iO West bar:

Anytime I’ve had to ask anyone to leave, it’s been relatively smooth because I physically have 30 people standing behind me giving the offender the same look. There really isn’t any room for douchebags or assholes at an improv bar because disagreement makes for bad comedy bits and “this ain’t that kind of scene, dude.”

I’m reminded of this frequently when I travel to other bars in town. I see various acts of rudeness going unchecked. I see rampant egos ruining other people’s evenings simply to serve their own selfish needs for what they consider to be “partying."

I see people over-served and wandering aimlessly because their “friends” abandoned them.

I see guys fly off the handle in situations where a simple “excuse me” would suffice. It always makes me think, That would never happen at iO. Someone would take care of that person. Cooler heads would prevail. It helps that we at iO all speak the same language, though.

QUICK ASIDE: Kim Mulligan asked me the other night whether or not I was able to “turn it off” when I’m at other bars. Honestly, I can’t. I’ve been doing this way too long. I can walk into any bar, anywhere, and within five minutes tell you who has been over-served, who is underage and HOW they got in, whether or not the bouncer is on the take, which bartender is drunk, if the owners are on drugs (and yeah, I can tell who the owners are usually), and so on and so forth.

I can see a fight 10 minutes before it happens. Studying improv and learning how to read people’s body language has only heightened that skill. It used to drive me crazy but now I just remind myself that I don’t work there and Charna signs my checks, not these people.

I usually just turn to my buddy and tell him to stand with me in a different part of the room. When they ask why, I tell them, “Because that guy who hasn’t touched the drink in his hand since we got here can’t take his eyes off of that girl...

"And the guy twice his size standing to her immediate left has….noticed. This isn’t going to be a very safe place to be in about, oh say, three minutes.” But I digress.

And about that shared language I mentioned earlier. Improvisers speak in a different rhythm. There is a give and take there and any new person picks up on it. The bits fly back and forth; shared jokes are told in quick character voices.

Any conversation a lay person has with an improviser is inevitably politely interrupted by another improviser who wants to say hello and then is immediately followed by an introduction and greeting with the new person.

That sort of warmth is extremely inviting to a new visitor. They want to be in on the joke. They want every person in the bar to be happy to see them just like it seems to be for the improviser they are talking with at that moment. It just LOOKS fun. And it is.

When I meet a lay person who is the boyfriend/girlfriend of an improviser, I inevitably make the joke, “So when are you starting classes?” You simply can’t be around improvisers talking very long without wanting to be part of the conversation.

In most bars, we just want your money. At an improv bar, we add you to the conversation. You’ll buy drinks simply because you don’t want to leave.

It’s also why everyone who works at an improv bar also performs there.

I can’t imagine how a lay bartender could function at an improv bar. He wouldn’t know the language. He wouldn’t know the history. He wouldn’t understand that a Level 2 student is ordering in that old prospector voice not to be a dick but because he’s trying to be funny - to impress you.

The student is trying to belong - to join the conversation. And he wouldn’t know Miles Stroth or Bob Dassie from a hole in the ground, which could be a problem.

Can you imagine how difficult my job would be if I had to stop every five minutes and explain to the lay bartender, “No, dude, that guy just raised his voice because he’s doing a bit. He’s not starting a fight; he’s doing his Mr. Energy character from The Friday 40...

"And by the way, please don’t make TJ Jagodowski wait five minutes for a beer; he is an improv legend and has probably earned a little extra prompt service for all he’s done for the art form. That’s embarrassing. What’s that you say? (Sigh.) A bit is when….”

I shudder to think.

Which leads me to the dark side of having your crowd know each other rather than strangers at a club who may never see each other again: Things can get…..complicated.

When you have a lot of sensitive, artistic types in the same room with healthy egos whose art is so closely tied to their personality and their self-value, you need a bar manager who can be a calming influence.

Yeah, we don’t have any fist fights at iO but we do have people who have long histories with each other and sometimes not always the best histories.

I hear everything. I know more than I should know and a very important part of my job is being discreet. I sometimes see people not at their very best (which happens at EVERY bar) but at an improv bar, that person is part of the family. I need to contain that situation because I don’t want them to be embarrassed.

I need to let them know I don’t want to ever see that again AND I need to keep my fucking trap shut about it.

In this job, I spend a lot of time patiently listening to a particular view and attempting to be objective. I try to find mutually beneficial solutions. I try to encourage people to work with me.

Hey man, I want a lot of people at your show as well. Let’s try and work out some drink specials.

I spend a good part of my time reminding interns, who are our lifeblood, that although they are not getting paid, they are still getting something of value (free classes) so they should really try to treat it as, you know, a “real” job.

I also spend a lot of my time encouraging those who go that extra distance and do something because it needed to be done and not because they were asked to do it.

I want those interns and staff members to know that I saw it and appreciated it. That they aren’t faceless, that someone is watching and recognizes effort when it is given.

And I always wasn’t very good at it at first. I was used to regular bars where I had to exert a little more authority and use a different sort of language - “bar” rhythms, not “improv” rhythms.

I was reminded by one of my servers not too long ago that one of my first requests for her to do something the way I wanted it done began with the line, “Now, I know you’re not retarded but,…”

Woof. Yeah, not good, I admit! But I was used to working with restaurant/bar “lifers." My godmother, my Aunt Kathy, was the head server at Coletti’s in Chicago for thirty years. She would have smirked and gone right on with it.

At the end of the night we would have been friends again. That’s just how the business works.

You can read this post in its entirety where it originally appeared at PhillyImprov, and you can see Brian James O'Connell don his many clever hats either behind the bar (through November 8) or on the Main Stage with Top Story! Weekly, Dr. God, The Armando Show and others.

Jessica Makinson on this week's Modern Family

Eric Stonestreet isn't the only iO West alum on this week's "Modern Family." Jessica Makinson from Sweeterhouse and Armando fame appears too.

Just one more example of improv in - and on - the air.

New performance schedule, new classes, new you

This week, iO West switches it up.

Weekday performances of Harolds on the Main Stage expand from 60-minute slots to 90-minute slots during which time teams augment their wares with, among other things, short form games.

And a new class session starts now.

So, register and edge all the more handily toward that new you.

Classes in general

Upcoming session in particular

iO West tumblr talks with Seth Weitberg

Meet improvisatore Seth Weitberg.

Weitberg is a teacher, performer, and coach at iO West who began short form improv at Duke University before moving to Chicago in 2003 where he studied and performed at iO Chicago and Second City.

Seth has an organic approach to long form, in particular the Harold, a form which he teaches in Level 5.

Click here to read the full conversation between improviser and Tumblr impresario Colin Hughes and Seth Weitberg.

"I'm Joel McHale and I perform at iO West"

Joel McHale shares how improv factors into "Community."



Harold auditions November 12-13

For those improvisers who have completed Level 5 at iO West and have garnered teacher permission or who have graduated and no longer need teacher permission or who have previously been on a Harold team, Harold auditions are coming up Saturday, November 12, 2011 from 3 to 8pm with callbacks on Sunday, November 13, 2011 from noon to 6pm.

The sign-up sheet is in the green room behind the Main Stage.

Even if you don't want to be on a Harold team (because why would you want to follow in the footsteps of Eric Stonestreet, Tina Fey, Angela Kinsey, Kate Walsh, Andy Richter, Chris Farley, et al?) it is a terrific opportuity to practice your wares in a heightened state in front of watchful eyes who have the power to determine the trajectory of your theatrical career.

And practice makes perfect.

And improv is all about being perfect.

Halloween Sunday at iO West

There's a great lineup on the iO West Main Stage tonight chock full of the best improvisers, sketch artists and comedy writers that's NOT to be missed:

8pm COG

9pm Top Story! Weekly (see the Halloween show trailer)

10pm Deskpiece Nation

11pm Dr. T and the Ladies

These shows are a perfect mix of improv, sketch, bit comedy and rare, all-gal energy that will satiate any craving you have for serotonin that is typically assuaged by -- but doesn't have to be, if you care at all about your teeth -- Halloween candy.

The Armando this Saturday and beyond

This Saturday night, you could see a two-hour movie that is the best mediocrity has to offer and which costs you, once you add parking, soda, popcorn, jujubes and late-night drinks, about the same as your car payment...

Or you could catch an impressive live show, complete with live celebrity monologues and expertly improvised scenes, which costs you, once you add $5 valet, cheap drinks, free popcorn and no need to go anywhere else afterward, about the same as an oil change at Jiffy Lube.

The live show I speak of is the Armando Diaz show, which is structured like this:

• Celebrity asks for a suggestion from the audience
• Celebrity performs monologue inspired by the suggestion
• Expert improvisers make up scenes based on themes that emerged during the celebrity monologue
• Celebrity performs another monologue inspired by what has so far emerged
• The skilled improvisers make up more scenes based on themes that have so far emerged while simultaneously tying together scenes and themes
• Celebrity performs another monologue
• More scenes
• Another monologue or more scenes or...who knows?!

Not only is this more affordable than a Weinstein joint, but it is sure to contain exponentially more laughs. At least it won't run out of gas.

Upcoming celebrity monologists:

October 29 - Maribeth Monroe (Workaholics)
November 5 - Molly McNearney (Head writer at Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
November 12 - Brad Morris (Uncle Brother and The Reckoning)
November 19 - Rachel Harris (The Hangover)

For a complete line-up of the Main Stage fare this Saturday night, visit west.ioimprov.com

Wednesday Work Out classes at iO West

If you want to maintain your improv agility or just have fun with some fellow improvisers you might not have yet had fun with, then head to iO West each Wednesday at 4.

Wednesday Work Out classes are drop-in, mixed level classes for students and alum who might not be currently enrolled in a 7-week session or who are enrolled and just want extra practice and experience with a variety of instructors.

Here is the schedule of Work Out classes for November:

Wednesday, 11/02/2011, 4-6pm instructor: Kevin Fleming
Wednesday, 11/09/2011, 4-6pm instructor: James Grace
Wednesday, 11/16/2011, 4-6pm instructor: Sean Cowhig
Wednesday, 11/23/2011 - NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING
Wednesday, 11/30/2011, 4-6pm instructor: Craig Cackowski

Wednesday Work Out classes cost $20 cash, paid directly to the instructor.

Top Scary! Weekly this Sunday night on the Vein Stage

Leave your kids at home but bring your mummy this Sunday night to the Halloween edition of Top Story! Weekly where hard news meets (and then eats the brains of) Hollywood.



Scheduled to appear this week as special comedian guest (unless zombie-eating flesh consumes him): Sean Conroy.

Extract your tickets (but not your innards) here:

It's all about the bar

A few words from iO West bar czar Brian James O'Connell -

The absolute best part about bar managing at an improv theater is the collection of people, though that can also be the most difficult.

Unlike any other bar I’ve managed (and I’ve been working in bars since before I could legally drink. What?! I’m Irish. This is surprising?) the clientele at iOWest is 85% “regulars.” Most of our patrons are fellow performers, students, alumni, improv junkies or some combination thereof.

The crowd is our best asset – our best form of advertising.

No other bar has the advantage I have in that the overwhelming majority of patrons are the funniest, nicest people you could ever meet – people who have literally been trained to take care of the person directly across from them.

Our people have been trained to listen, actively be interested in what you are saying and then further the conversation so it traverses down a path that is not only revealing but is also rewarding to the person who brought up the subject in the first place.

And no other bar has the advantage that I have in that the “regulars” have a vested interest in the bar doing well.

Firstly, they need the place to do well. They want everyone to come back because they have shows they want others to see because they are proud of their shows and have put a lot of effort into them.

Our crowd wants the new visitor to tell their friends what a great time they had and suggest that they do the same.

Secondly, our crowd wants the new visitors to become repeat visitors simply because our crowd is part of a great community, and we want to share that great community.

Have you ever read a great book or seen a terrific film and then gushed about it to someone who hasn’t yet read or seen it?

People gush that way about the iO West bar.

Our crowd treats the iO West bar like a clubhouse – a playground where everyone can get together and actually enjoy each other’s company.

We KNOW how awesome this place is, and we want to share that knowledge with someone who is new to the scene.

No other bar in L. A. that I know of has the advantage that I have in that the bar patrons consider themselves a tight community – a “family” complete with crazy uncles, a doting mother and a kooky patriarch who we all miss and reminisce about fondly (even those of us who never met him, and I am speaking of Del Close).

The vibe in the room is palatable.

Our crowd is protective of the “clubhouse” and wants to keep the good times rollin.’

New visitors may not pick up on this vibe initially, but I can usually tell as I overhear their exit. They are amazed at how nice everyone is. How they didn’t see one fight break out. How no one tried to steal their purse or their coat.

It makes my job enormously easy if the entire crowd has my and everyone else's back.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of "It's all about the bar" and visit the Philadelphia venue where Brian initially wrote about his experience managing the iO West bar.

Also visit Brian James O'Connell at the iO West bar and see him perform with Dr. God, Top Story! Weekly in addition to other great teams and shows.

The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun on iO West

What is Steven Yeun's advice to fellow improvisers?

View it and reap.

And then improv too.

A new session of classes starts soon.

http://west.ioimprov.com/classes/registration

Improv for actors

I recently completed Eric Hunicutt’s Level 2 class and cannot believe how much it has helped me with the rest of my acting life.

I originally joined class in order to be more involved with the improv community and to make people laugh, but I found that the fundamentals and confidence gained in improv class have also given me strength and confidence in my pursuit of film, TV, and commercial work.

It’s no secret that improv is a helpful tool for commercial auditions – just count the number of times the iO West bar erupts in cheers when any one of our illustrious students, staff, or alum pops up on the television screen.

Improv gives commercial actors the confidence and imagination to make bold, memorable, and appropriate choices during auditions, which ultimately leads to callbacks and bookings.

Not only that, but there is an increasing demand for experienced improvisers. Since starting class at iO West, I have signed with a new, enthusiastic agent and have had interested managers state that my improv training makes me “marketable, pitch-able, and desirable.”

I have also seen a dramatic improvement in my stage and film auditions and performances. In Level 2, Hunicutt encourages listening, responding truthfully, and allowing your choices to inform the scene by considering “if this is true, what else might be true?”

While those seem like simple ideas, they are often overlooked in scripted work.

It is so easy to stop listening and responding honestly because we are either trying to "add stuff” or we are thinking of our next line.

Improv training has taught me to remain present and to make honest and reasonable choices, rather than trying to overload the scene with my own ideas, ultimately clouding the author’s intentions.

I find that when I remember Hunicutt’s suggestions to “keep it simple, stop working so hard, and realize what the scene is already giving you,” I am truly able to tap into the real meaning of a casting director’s favorite instruction to “do less.”

Lastly, but certainly not least, I must give credit to Eric Hunicutt for seeing each improviser as an individual and taking the time to give honest and specific feedback.

If it weren’t for Hunicutt telling me to stop thinking, to trust myself, to not work so hard, I wouldn’t have found the kind of free-spiritedness in my acting that is getting me callbacks and booking me roles.

Next time you think to yourself “improv sounds fun, but I’m a serious actor,” remember that improv training will help you become a “working actor” and that is a significant “Truth In Comedy.”

- Annie Mackay

Celebrate Halloween at iO West all Halloween weekend

The Halloween shows at iO West are infinitely better than bobbing for apples and definitely drier.

HALLOWEEN WEEKEND

Start your Halloween weekend off with some frightfully fun improv at the iO West The Haunted House of Improvised Horror, and then, on Halloween night, wrap up your trick-or-treating early so you can enjoy the entire line-up of Halloween hilarity. Come in costume and get in for free.

The Haunted House of Improvised Horror returns for the sixth year this Halloween weekend on the iO West Main Stage.

Five friends will enter an improvised house. Find out who escapes and who does not.

The Haunted House of Improvised Horror will perform on Friday, Oct. 28 and Mon. Oct. 31 at 10 pm.

Tickets on Friday are $10. On Halloween night, tickets are $5, or come in costume and get in for free.

The cult classic, Troll 2, is so awful, it’s amazingly hilarious. Celebrate Halloween by watching this horrible horror movie alongside Troll 2: Emag Gniknird Eht...

Where two drinking teams, Goblins vs. Humans, go head to head in fierce competition for species superiority.

The iO West bar will offer $2 tall-boy beer specials.

Participation in the drinking game is not required.

Enjoy Troll 2 at midnight on Friday, Oct. 28, on the Main Stage. Tickets are free.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

The iO West Halloween night line-up is fuller than a fat kid’s bag of treats, including:

Ghoul E. Mann’s Haunt Theater – a show where horror genius and zombie monster, Ghoul E. Mann, conducts a theatrical séance at a cabaret-style theater and summons spirits to sing and dance (8 pm $10)

Drug Puppy’s Monster Mash featuring Drug Puppy (9 pm $10)

The Haunted House of Improvised Horror (10 pm $5)

ROCK! MONSTER ROCK! - an original live rock musical that follows iconic Halloween characters such as Dracula, Frankenstein, Werewolf and Mummy as they attempt to scare their way back into relevancy in a world where comic book characters and Tween movie characters have taken over their holiday (10:30 pm $5)

Cage Match – two teams compete against the clock in a no-holds-barred competition. The winner, based on audience votes, will return to defend their title the following week against a new challenger (11:30 pm, Free)

IO West Main Stage Theater tickets can be purchase through the iO West website at west.ioimprov.com, or by calling the box office at 323-962-7560. Reservations are strongly recommended for these shows.

The iO West Theater is located at 6366 Hollywood Boulevard and features a full bar. Main Stage shows are 21 and up. Parking is available at the theater for $5 with validation.

Hog Post #4

A Hog Post is a blog post written in Harold form.

The following Hog Post, written by actress Mishell Livio, is based on the suggestion: "personal."

Personal. Hygiene. Bubble Boy. Obsessive cleanliness.

When I was a kid I was incredibly germ phobic.  
I would wash my hands and face and swish my mouthwash obsessively.  
I liked talking to people and observing them, but I was not a hugger.

Hugging. Friendship. Fake friends. Barbie.

My Barbies are all packed away in a small pink suitcase with all of their accessories and clothing.
Most of their clothing consists of dresses and skirts.  
I'm pretty sure I cut most of their hair off to make them tougher.

Hair Cut.  Bangs.  Sandra Markarian.  Karaoke.

I love singing. 
My life would be a musical if more people would duet with me.  
I have a tendency to go to karaoke bars and pick songs that
I think I know, and then, when it is my turn to sing, I not only don't know the words, I also don't know the tempo or melody, and  I generally just start to ramble, doing musical riffs and dancing.

Dancing.  Ballet.  New York City.  Family. Personal.

The suggestion for the next writer: "wipe."

Email your Hog Post based on that suggestion to ak@shebelazy.com.

For inspiration, perhaps peruse previous posts:

Hog Post #1
Hog Post #2
Hog Post #3

And sign up for the upcoming session of classes at iO West, so the Harold can become an inexpungible part of your life.