Actor in Exile: CHARLOTTE, NC

I will miss this little city of Charlotte, NC. I like it here. One of my favourite things about it is the fact that it has a lively downtown that doesn't roll up it's sidewalks at 6:00 p.m., something not seen much anymore. On top of that, it's pretty, the weather is certainly agreeable (well, hot and humid, but I like that) and the people are so dang friendly! Let's hear it for that 'southern hospitality.

And how about that great old southern-twang-accent? Love it. I often exchange pleasantries with one of the security guards at the theatre. She's a super-friendly and has a wicked sense of humour. The other day, we were talking about clean-freak-disorder and the ridiculousness of the anti-bacterial craze. She said, (and you have to read this out loud with a deep southern drawl/twang), "My grandmother lived to 94 and she was the dirtiest ol' lady I ever met in my life!".

I laughed so hard I darn near swallered my gum.

I found a great place to live here in 'The Queen City'. A beautiful old apartment building from the 1920's, lovingly restored and on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Though I prefer to have a place of my own whenever possible, I am just renting a room in this place and my host, JD, is charming, very easy-going and hardly ever home.

As it turns out, I'm in a great neighborhood. Grocery store, post office, excellent massage therapist, yoga studio all within walking distance along with the big, gay underwear store, the site of my financial de-pantsing. The store gave me an "Underwear Club" card....every 9th pair is free. I told them they might as well have shoved a crack-pipe in my mouth.

And the food,....omg the food. Across the street from the yoga studio is, FERN, a veg/vegan place that's perfect for a really yummy and healthy post-yoga lunch. Then there's MIDWOOD SMOKEHOUSE, home of some truly fine Eastern-style BBQ. It took my poor mostly-vegan-except-on-Monday digestive system 4 days to recover from the meat-fest I indulged in there. And there's BISTRO La BON where three of us indulgently ordered and shared the cheese plate, the charcuterie plate, every 'small plate' on the menu, three desserts and 3 different bottles of pinot noir. A most excellent evening.

And speaking of food...

Did I mention that this company KNOWS how to travel?

Pumbaa and Zazu man the 'company grill' between Sunday shows.

I'm still figuring out how to stream-line and organize myself for travel days. Travelling with a trunk is nice, but it does take a little thought and advance planning. Trunks are picked up on the last Friday in each city and delivered the following Friday in the next city. So you have to decide what you can live without for a week. Since we usually have an 'opening night' function the first Thursday in every city, this means deciding what you're going to wear a week in advance. And then there's all little, daily things that, when you're at home, you take for granted. What will the weather be like for the coming week? What shoes/clothes etc. will I need to cope with the climate at our destination?

I hope I made all the right decisions this time, though it's moot now anyway. They came and picked up my trunk this morning. Which is the sure sign that it's getting to be time to move on. Five shows in three days and we'll be off to Pittsburgh!

SOME RANDOM PICS

My politically-incorrect-once-a-week-charcoal-face-mask.

Standard company issue.