Author: Jeff Tabaco

Here we go with a big ol’ travel post.

(1) New York: As I’ve mentioned before, Thom’s mom is arriving in town tonight, and then tomorrow morning the three of us will take the train from D.C. to New York, where we’ll be through Monday. On the agenda so far are Ashes and Snow at the Nomadic Museum, MoMA (it’s so nice being a member), Statue of Liberty, and a trio of musicals: The Lion King, Hairspray, and Mamma Mia. It’ll be her first time in the Big Apple, so it’ll be fun to play tourist (I say as if we live there).

(2) Omaha: Yes, that’s right. Thom has a couple of business trips coming up, one to Montreal in June (to which I was like, tag along? sure!), and another to Omaha next weekend (to which I was like, ehh, not so much). But after a while, I thought, why not? It’s not like I have anything else planned that weekend. And I’ve never been to Nebraska before, so there’s that. Aside: coming back will be pseudo-Amazing Race. Thom’s flight plans were made through his agency’s travel office, and I made mine separately (and more cheaply), so we’re flying back on different airlines. Let me use my Phil voice: “Both teams are now flying to Washington, Thom on Midwest Airlines via Milwaukee, and Jeff via Minneapolis on a Northwest Airlines flight scheduled to arrive 18 minutes later.” Maybe we’ll race to the taxi stand for fun.

(3) Seattle: Independence Air, the new-ish airline based at Dulles, is launching west-coast service in May with some very low introductory fares to the tune of $59 each way for May 1-10. United Airlines has matched the fare, but availability is spotty for both carriers. So we struck while the fare was hot, and will be flying Independence to Seattle on Friday, May 6, returning on the Monday night red-eye. Each roundtrip ticket came out to a total of $138.40. Total! I’ve found some really low fares to the west coast in the past, but that is by far the least I’ve ever paid. Go me, it’s my birthday! (No, really, my birthday is that Sunday, May 8.)

(4) Other trips to be planned: Over Memorial Day weekend, we’re thinking about visiting the Bay Area, and then at the end of June, Thom will be in Montreal for business, so I’ll try and join him there. Lastly, I had thought about going with my parents on their vacation to the Philippines next month, but in the end decided not this time. I did, however, find out that the most direct route from here is on Korean Air via Seoul, which pretty much lies on a straight line between Washington and Manila.

Whew. Bon voyage!

Tonight the Stanford Alumni Association is holding an event at the National Museum of the American Indian, which opened on the Mall in D.C. last fall. There will be a reception, then a talk by the director (who is himself a Stanford Law School alum), and an opportunity to view the museum. Should be cool. I’m going to try to head down there a little early and take some photos outside. It’s a nice day for it.

[Update (Apr. 15): Thom and I had a great time checking out the exhibits and the building itself. It’s such a great space. Some of his and my photos are up on Flickr, and there are more we’ve yet to upload. Aside: despite the large crowd of a few hundred people at the reception, I didn’t think I’d know anyone else there, but sure enough I ran into someone from my theater days.]

Through Metro Weekly I won a pair of tickets to Signature Theatre’s production of Ten Unknowns, and to a pre-performance wine tasting, so that’s where we’ll be tonight.

» Related: Post and Potomac Stages reviews.

[Update (Apr. 13): So the play was all right. Long, but intense. (Behave, you.) As one of the reviews notes, it could have used more subtle moments. In other news, the upcoming season at Signature looks good–among the shows planned are Urinetown and Into the Woods–but as we considered getting a subscription, we thought, will we still be in the D.C. area next year?]

Last week had its share of ups and downs.

I.

First, let’s get the downs out of the way. While I thought the Tori Amos concert itself was good, there were a couple of circumstances surrounding it that were not so good. The security people were cracking down on cameras, and they made Thom check-in his cameraphone (to be claimed upon leaving the theater). Not a good start. And later on, just minutes after we noted how, umm, interesting (and potentially dangerous) it was that they allow you to bring drinks to your seat, the guy in the row above and behind us spilled his drink on us, completely drenching my back with beer. Ugh. He apologized (a little too) profusely, and later he went out to the lobby bar and brought drinks for Thom and me, which at least was a nice gesture.

The next day, driving home from the Metro, we got into a fender bender. We’re both fine, but Thom’s Prius, not so much. There’s some damage to the hood and bumper, and the car is currently in the shop. Thom brought it there this morning, and according to him the whole process (dealing with the insurance, dealership, body shop, and rental car people) was fortunately pretty speedy, and the car may be ready by the end of the week.

On Saturday, Thom and I got into a bit of a… I don’t know what to call it. Not a fight or an argument, really. More like a moment of crisis. Oh, that makes it sound even worse, but I think we both did feel on the verge there. Thankfully, we’re good again. Ah, I love my guy. I know I’ve told myself to be more communicative, but I need to keep working on it. I need to keep reminding myself: COMMUNICATE.

II.

Whew. Okay, now on to the ups! As I briefly mentioned last week: around lunchtime on the day of the Tori concert, Tina and I went to a small event sponsored by radio station Z104, where Tori performed a few songs. She sang “Sleeps with Butterflies,” “Leather,” and “Sweet the Sting.” Then she answered a few questions from the audience, and took photos with us. I have to admit that I haven’t been much of a Tori fan, just haven’t listened to her music much, but being in the presence of her talent and energy and charm, I see how easy it is to fall under her spell. When I met her, I asked for a hug, and she was like, “Sure!” The Z104 folks took photos of us with her and e-mailed them to us, which was pretty sweet. Tina and I are there on the far right, with other random fans thrown in. Also each of us got a signed poster of the new album. Awesome. (There are photos of the event on the Z104 website. Tina and I are in one of the audience shots; she’s just right of center in a reddish shirt, and that’s me next to her, both of us in a state of rapture.)

Food notes: before the concert, Thom and I had dinner with Cornelia and Kat at Chef Geoff, across the street from the theater. The food was all right, but we agreed desserts were their strong suit. And last night we ate at Levante’s in Dupont, with Adam and his friend Ann, who was visiting from New York. Good Middle Eastern fare.

Okay, I think we’re basically all caught up. This coming week is almost just as busy (theater- and museum-going, weekend getaway prep, etc.), so I’ll leave that for other entries. Good night.

What a beautiful day it is. Here’s a photo I took just now of the courtyard next to the condo building, as seen from our balcony.

Also, check out Thom’s photos from the other day.

Oh, honestly. Has the idea of straight guys going out together for anything besides business or sports become so marginalized in popular culture that the Times feels it worthy of coverage? Apparently, it has. The Times runs an article on the “man date,” and includes this point:

Dinner with a friend has not always been so fraught. Before women were considered men’s equals, some gender historians say, men routinely confided in and sought advice from one another in ways they did not do with women, even their wives. Then, these scholars say, two things changed during the last century: an increased public awareness of homosexuality created a stigma around male intimacy, and at the same time women began encroaching on traditionally male spheres, causing men to become more defensive about notions of masculinity.

Or as Jon puts it, we’re just better.

You’ve probably heard about PFLAG‘s “Stay Close” campaign, with various ads featuring celebrities and their gay relatives. In print I’d only seen them in the Blade (or was it Metro Weekly?), but until today I hadn’t seen them in any “mainstream” publications. The ad featuring Ben Affleck and his cousin Jason (pictured here) ran in today’s Express. I was glad to see PFLAG getting their message out there.

From their website:

Relationships are precious. PFLAG encourages families and friends to stay close to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people in their lives.

The purpose of the Stay Close Campaign is to remind you that a GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered) loved one is the same person that you knew before they disclosed their sexual orientation–the same person that you loved unconditionally.

If someone in your life is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, it’s important to stay close to them: listen, keep talking, and ultimately–find the way to understanding.

Staying close means staying involved in the lives of GLBT friends and family.

And speaking of family, today Thom and I each received a nice postcard from my mom. (She likes using postcards to write short letters, even when she’s not on vacation. The ones we got today have photos of San Francisco, which is near where my parents live.) It always feels good, getting a handwritten note in the mail, and I thought it was a nice gesture, her writing to Thom specially. Ah, and I’m reminded that Thom’s mom sent me a really lovely note earlier this year. Gosh, we have sweet moms.

On Monday night Thom and I went to see David Sedaris do his thing (read, banter, and generally entertain) at Lisner. Great, hilarious stuff, as always. Everything he read was new: two fables (one takes place in a hair salon run by a baboon, the other in a henhouse); one story called “Town and Country,” in which he meets some interesting people on the way to his sister Amy’s place in Manhattan; and one story, to be published soon in the “Voyage” issue of The New Yorker, about observing tourists in Paris and then becoming a tourist himself in Sydney.

A couple of interesting things from the Q&A: (a) the wardrobe folks at One Life To Live have become fans of David (and as you probably know, he is obsessed with the show), and they invited him to a ceremony at which they named a wardrobe room in his honor (wonderfully documented with photos at Productshop NYC, via The Morning News); and (b) David has put together a collection of his favorite short stories from classic and contemporary writers, called Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules, and proceeds from sales of the book will benefit 826NYC, part of the popular group of youth writing centers founded by Dave Eggers.

And today is all about Tori Amos. Tina scored two seats for the Z104 Lounge, where they have musical guests play for a small audience, so that’s where we’ll be around lunchtime, watching Tori! Tonight Thom and I will meet up with Cornelia and Kat for dinner, and then it’s time for the full-fledged Tori concert at Warner Theater.