Open the curtain, tie the knot

"Cliff Bayer and Caroline Miller are getting married Saturday in a novel wedding ceremony at the Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center. They plan to exchange vows as part of a two-act play. The couple are selling tickets to the play in lieu of traditional wedding gifts."

Read more about their wedding performance, and what people think, here.

I've got a date tonight.

Yep.

Someone I've had my eye on for quite some time and I finally got up the nerve to ask him. And he said yes! (Insert girlish screeching here!) So I'm sorta on Cloud Nine right now.

Who is the lucky fella, you ask?

I'm not sure I should say. I mean, you know him, and he knows you, and you know how that goes.

You really wanna know? Okay. It's -

CADE

Hahaha, you silly goose! Yes, Cade and I have a date to watch So You Think You Can Dance tonight. (Kinda like my dates with Mallorie to watch Gilmore Girls in the early years.) I've been promoting the show to him this season since there are such strong male dancers on the show. I've been asking him to watch it with me and he finally said yes.

I. Am. So. Excited!

Chris Daughtry's new music video, "September," filmed at the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem on July 1.

Email from Steven!

From: Matijcio, Steven
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 4:52 PM
To: Amy Daluz; Cheryl Ann Roberts
Subject: thanks!

Hi Amy, Hi Cheryl Ann,

I'm just catching my breath now after last week, and wanted to send you and everyone in the Paper Lantern Theatre a huge note of thanks for your performance the evening of July 15. You contributed a truly unique, vibrant and thoroughly unexpected element to the evening, and amidst my conversations, I heard numerous people talking about the performance. It provided an important piece in what became a historic evening in the history of SECCA - thanks so much for helping us to celebrate.

It was a pleasure to work with you and everyone in the cast. I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to speak with you that evening, but please pass along my best to Cheri and all the performers. Their passion and energy were unmatched.

Thanks again,
Steven Matijcio
Curator of Contemporary Art
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art

Memorable Quotes

This is from Magic Hour by Kirstin Hannah

"We're pushing 40, but you still act like you're the homecoming queen, waiting to be swept off her feet by the football captain. It's not like that. Love rips the shit out of you and puts you back together like a broken toy, with all kinds of cracks and jagged edges. It's not about falling in love. It's about the landing, the staying where you said you'd be and working to keep

love strong."

From the Journal

Art center resumes mission to challenge community with an ambitious set of goals

By Mary Giunca | Journal Reporter
Published: July 16, 2010
(Journal photo by David Rolfe)

By 6:30 last night, Marilyn Burke had settled herself onto a grassy spot in front of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art with about 20 other people. "I thought half of Winston-Salem would be here," she said. "I've been waiting all year for this."

By 7, about 150 people lined the stone walk into the museum, awaiting the cutting of a ribbon and the chance to see the newly remodeled SECCA for themselves.

Eighteen months, $1.8 million and a new owner -- the state of North Carolina -- has transformed the gallery.

Larry Wheeler, the director of the N.C. Museum of Art, welcomed the crowd. "This is a new SECCA for a new time in a new North Carolina," he said. "It's going to charge up the community."

People snaked through in an orderly line peering around, as if afraid to miss anything. They took in the polished concrete floors that replaced the old carpets. They dropped business cards into a basket in order to make a live sculpture pose.

Lighted cases illuminated glass jewelry art. Patterns undulated on the walls. A dance troupe gathered in front of one of the works and performed. (Sidenote: The "dance troupe" was Paper Lantern, and they performed directly in front of the above pictured work.)

Over the course of the night, about 500 people made their way through the museum. (Sidenote: Many of us who were there last night feel this number is too, too conservative. We heard 3 times as many attended.)

"It's as if you've never been here before," said Mary Kerr, a longtime supporter of SECCA. "It's hard to even remember. They're really pressing your sensibilities."

Kerr said that she didn't see a lot of the people she usually saw at SECCA openings, and she said she thought that was a good thing.

SECCA's strategic plan lays out some ambitious goals for the museum, which closed in January 2009.

At the end of 2008, SECCA had about 128 members, and that year about 8,400 people visited the gallery.

By 2014, SECCA intends to sign up 1,200 members, achieve 80 percent capacity at activities and programs and increase gallery attendance 30 percent each year. In order to do that, it will need to reach out to the larger community in ways it never has before, longtime observers of the arts scene have said.

Last night was meant to give people a taste of what the new SECCA could be like.

Milton Rhodes, the president and chief executive of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, said that the community is ready for a new SECCA, one that will be a standard bearer.

"SECCA really has become a beacon for what the town is trying to brand itself as, a City of the Arts and Innovation," he said.

The community's roots are still pretty conservative, Rhodes said.

"Other places are changing rapidly against people's best wishes, but they're changing," he said. "We've got to move with that as a community."

Janice Ray is a teacher in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School system and has lived in Winston-Salem all her life. Last night was her first visit to SECCA.

"For somebody like me, who wouldn't normally come to just an art exhibit, they should try to create some kind of event, where you come and stay for the night," she said, "with music or wine tastings."

Bruce Foriest, who recently moved back to town, said he had last been at SECCA 15 years ago to see Ruby Dee perform.

He wondered why those he sees at the Diggs Gallery and Delta Fine Arts had not made the trip across town to SECCA.

"I'm going to be advocating for it," he said.

Several people said that SECCA has always been too sophisticated for Winston-Salem and likely always will be. But energy, vitality and creativity were the watchwords invoked by many arts administrators and visitors.

Rhodes said that this time around, he thinks SECCA has a chance to fulfill its potential as a place for the community to gather and experience contemporary art that will alternately engage and delight, challenge and occasionally infuriate.

"I think the town has changed," he said. "The focus is on the creative class, a knowledge-based economy.

"SECCA will push us. It will challenge our standard."

Grand Reopening!

Chris, Cheri and I arrived at SECCA right at 6:30p. We were a bit stunned that people were already gathering outside the doors. We simply walked in acting like we owned the place!

We headed straight for the band and helped Mike finish his set up. After ensuring everyone understood all sound cues, I went to find Pat to let her know we were here. I found her looking gorgeous and radiant. I realized that she was just as nervous as I was! I told her how beautiful SECCA looked and congratulated her on a wonderful job. She told me they upped their anticipated headcount from 500 to 750. From the people already gathering on the lawn, I replied that 750 was probably still a low number! Pat had some last minute preparations, as did Cheri, so Chris and I wandered over to the food. Unfortunately I was too nervous to even think about eating.

At 7p the doors were officially opened. Chris and I continued to wander around and I made mental notes as our performers arrived. I did take some time to marvel at two freeze artists, and Chris and I toured the Glasswear exhibit. At about 7:40p I made my way to a spot where I could oversee the performance. I couldn't believe how nervous I was, especially since I wasn't even performing! Chris was so good and kept me calm.

At 7:55p, as scheduled, the band took a break. I held my breath waiting to hear the a-weemas and literally felt my heart constrict when nothing happened. I turned around ready to race to the front of the building to find out what happened when Chris grabbed me. Above the din I heard the singing.

It was such a beautiful sight watching Chelsea, Nichelle, Scott, Tim, Alex, Amelia, Scarlet, Whitney, Serah, Cheri and Ann grooving through the crowd. As they moved into place, as predicted, the crowd parted not wanting to be part of the "improv". Upon realizing that Benji and Emily weren't in their line I began to panic. It was important for Emily to be there because her arrival is what cued the next song! I again turned to go racing over to Mike and again Chris held me firm. I saw then that Cheri was communicating a Plan B with the group and both Benji and Emily were fighting their way through the crowd. Emily finally hit her mark and I breathed.

The rest of the performance went smoothingly, and the crowd loved it! I was so very proud of the performers and so very honored to have been a part of SECCA's night.

Final Rehearsal

While all of the works were not installed as we had hoped on Monday, they were all in tonight. I didn't anticipate too much of a problem as I felt that our performers were seasoned enough to easily adjust to any changes. As Cheri and gang moved into formation and began the MJ piece, I noticed Chelsea was awfully close to a stalagmite looking work. Alex also got close to a work containing arrows.

Figuring that Stephen would need some reassuring, I spoke with Cheri about moving the line further back and closer to one side. It was during this conversation that Amy decided to completely take over (again!). As if she were God speaking from the Heavens, she yelled down to the cast and directed them to some pretty major blocking changes. I was extremely miffed. As the PM I had things under control! Cheri was even more pissed at the changes Amy was suggesting, and the cast was none too happy either. Fortunately we only wasted 10 minutes in determining that Amy's new vision would not work. Cheri implemented my suggestions and it worked perfectly.

After rehearsal, as we were walking back to our respective cars, Amy told me that she was just trying to calm Stephen. I didn't even respond. Her ridiculous outburst brought the entire project full circle and simply reaffirmed my decision.

Spacing Rehearsal

I was extremely nervous about tonight's rehearsal. Not only was it our first spacing rehearsal (I had crossed my fingers that all the artwork was installed as promised) but Steven and Pat would be watching. True, the performance would fit the "theatrical, song, dance" clause in our contract, but it was a far cry from the Food Court video Steven had initially sent us.

I arrived and our participants were already A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh through the gallery. I greeted Steven and Pat as Cheri and the gang moved into formation and began the "The Way You Make Me Feel" dance number. My nerves increased and I took barely a breath. The dancing was the part Steven had been hesitant. As the group broke away and started the "Funk Soul Brother" piece I heard Pat giggle. I stole a glance her way and saw that she was smiling. I cautiously glanced at Steven and he too was grinning! A couple of the SECCA architects and at least one of the artists had also gathered and were grooving to our music. They all loved the "Over The Rainbow" finale.

My nerves immediately disappeared. I knew that if these few were thoroughly enjoying the performance, the Grand Reopening crowd would too.

McDonald's Smoothie

I gotta be honest. It's their print campaign that made me want to try one. I'm a sucker for pink. The blue background and darker blue plate really make the pinks pop. My eye was immediately drawn last Thursday when I stopped by for some fries. Unfortunately the smoothie machine was being cleaned.

In trying to decided where to go to lunch today, I remembered the picture of the cool, refreshing pink smoothies. I got a Combo #5 with a Wild Berry smoothie.

Not too sweet and not too tart. I'm lovin'it!

Pretty

The Dramatists' Playground

The Dramatists' Playground is an annual workshop hosted by the Greensboro Playwrights' Forum. Actors, directors and playwrights are challenged to write a play, rehearse it and perform it in less than one day. It provides a fantastic challenge for creativity and stamina for everyone involved.

The workshop will be from 10 am to 8 pm and the performance is at 8 pm in the City Arts Studio Theatre on the first level of the Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie Street.

The workshop is free to participants. You must fill out an application to be considered.

I've been seeking acting opportunities that will shake things up for me. Based on the above this sounds like the perfect thing. I mean, it's a little scary writing a play, rehearsing it AND performing it within 10 hours! Talk about challenging. Since I've got nothing to lose, I'm going to submit my application.

Going to Food Lion

By Michael Hastings | Journal Food Editor

If you like a little Cheerwine with your doughnut, now you can get the same taste without the soda.

Krispy Kreme, based in Winston-Salem, and Cheerwine, based in Salisbury, is rolling out the new, limited-edition Cheerwine Kreme Filled Doughnut Thursday.

The doughnut has a crème filling flavored with Cheerwine concentrate. It comes with a chocolate glaze and red and white sprinkles that mirror the colors of Cheerwine's logo.

The doughnut will not be sold in Krispy Kreme stores. Instead, it will be sold only in major supermarkets -Lowes Foods, Bi-Lo, and select Food Lion and Harris Teeter stores. You can't even get it at Wal-Mart.

The doughnut will only be sold in July and only in North Carolina and South Carolina.

"This is a celebration of the Carolinas," said Tom Barbitta, the vice president of marketing for Cheerwine. "These two brands have become what they are because of the people in the Carolinas. They taste like home."

The doughnuts look like they are made for the Fourth of July, with red and white sprinkles. A smudge of pink, crème filling can be seen on the outside.

The filling does taste like Cheerwine. The rest of the doughnut is another story. The chocolate in the glaze mingles with Cheerwine's signature cherry flavor in the filling to create a whole new experience.

If you like chocolate and Cheerwine, you're probably going to like this doughnut.

Of course, it helps if you have a serious sweet tooth. One of these doughnuts has 26 grams of sugar.

Sound Advice from Chris Ashworth

From his blog. It's a fairly long post, but very worth the read.

My Competitive Advantage: I Hire Artists
June 24, 2010 – 7:34 pm

As recently discussed in this space, I am building a small software company. I’m not going to retread the history of that company, but you can read up on it if you want.

I’m only really here to share one tip. Kinda like a stock tip, I guess. It’s a tip I am increasingly convinced should be seriously considered by a variety of business owners in America.

The tip is this:

Hire artists.

No, wait, hold on. It’s not that simple. Actually, it sort of IS that simple, but not in the way you’re thinking. You need to understand what I’m proposing here, and to understand what I’m proposing, you need to understand the following story.
The Story

In March 2010, I was in trouble. A year previously, I had released the second version of my product, QLab 2. As a product, it succeeded. It brought new customers. Many new customers. Too many new customers.

In 2008, I sent about 600 QLab support emails.

In 2009, I conservatively estimate that I sent 6000. (But that’s really low-balling it.)

There were days I’d wake up in the morning, start answering emails at 6 am, write responses until 6 pm, take a break for dinner, answer a few more that night, and go to bed with more email in the inbox than when I’d started.

Serious problem. Seriously AWESOME problem, but, you know, still a problem. I needed help.

Now, I already had some help. Meet Sean:


Hi Sean! Sean’s an awesome dude. He was a friend from college. He is an OS X developer too. The summer before, Sean and I had joined our two companies together. Aside from helping with the code, he had already become an invaluable help in answering all those emails in the months leading up to March 2010.

But it wasn’t enough. I needed another person. The time had finally come to, you know, hire someone. Not just join forces with a friend, but flat-out, does-this-mean-I’m-an-adult-now? hire someone.

Meet Luckydave


Hi Luckydave! Luckydave, in case you hadn’t noticed, goes by the name “luckydave”. In March 2010, Luckydave had already been a QLab user for years. He is a working video designer in New York. A really good one. But more than just a user, Luckydave had been a champion. And by “champion” I mean he sold our product harder than we did. Luckydave wrote posts to the QLab mailing lists that rivaled ours in their detail and helpfulness. Luckydave acted like it was his personal mission to convert the world’s theaters to QLab. Luckydave was known to announce that he’d “drunk the QLab koolaid”. Luckydave knew details about how video codecs work “in the field” in ways that we simply did not know. Because we were not in the field.

Luckydave was, in short, awesome. And I, it will not surprise you one bit to know, wanted him on our team.
What I Did

I offered Luckydave a job.

Surprise!

Well, yeah, big deal. But here’s the twist:

I offered Luckydave a job based on the needs of his life as an artist.

First, I told him we wanted him on the team. Then, I told him we would create the job based on what would work for both of us. We talked it out, and we constructed a position specifically for him, with these properties:

* He can sign up to “work support” in units as small as a single day, or as large as a full month.
* He only needs to tell me one day in advance if he’s working the next day.
* He can work the hours that fit his schedule for that day.
* When he is not working for Figure 53, he can do whatever the hell he wants. Including go make art. For a week. Or a month. Or whatever the gig requires.

We created this framework together, and then I asked LD what it would take to make this structure worth his time. He replied, “When I have been the least worried about money, I have been making X dollars a month.”

I could afford X dollars a month. I said yes.

I wrote down the above terms, put them at the end of the legal-speak from the lawyers, we signed it, and it was done.

This all happened at the end of March 2010.
What Happened Next

When someone writes to support@figure53.com, our help desk software tracks how long it takes us to respond. Now, one thing you need to appreciate is that we have customers all over the world. We get questions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no such thing as “standard business hours” for us. Art doesn’t take a vacation. If someone writes me a question at 10 PM, and I wake up at 7 AM to answer it, that person has waited over 500 minutes to get that answer. When your customers are in Australia and you’re in Maryland, that’s a real wait.

Keep that in mind, and then take a look at this graph of our time-to-first-response for the past 9 months:

time-to-first-response.png

There are at least two things here worth noting.

Number one: Since joining us at the end of March, Luckydave has helped us pull down our overall response times significantly.

Number two: Those little green bars for the last few months? Those show that our median time-to-first-response since adding Luckydave to the team has been around 20 minutes.

20 minutes. 7 days a week. 24 hours a day.
NOTE TO SKIMMERS: HERE IS WHERE SHIT GETS REAL

So far the story has been pretty good. I found a wonderful teammate. We made a job for him. It measurably helped the company. Life is good.

But I’m hiding one stunning fact from you, and it is this:

Barely a few weeks into Luckydave’s new job with Figure 53, he got a call.

A call from a temp agency. The temp agency he used in the past, to fill his free time between gigs.

Because, you know, that’s what working artists usually have to do. It’s hard to make a complete living in the arts.

And yet people do it. People like Luckydave, who are passionate about what they make, they do it. They temp if they must, but they do it. Because that is the drive of these people. They care. They care very, very much.

And so they temp. And so Luckydave temped. And Luckydave temped for a financial agency in New York. And he learned to operate financial…software of some kind. I’ve never fully understood what. But something tricky to use. Something important to fancy financy-type people.

And Luckydave, it turns out, is really fucking good at this financial software.

Not just a little good. Best-in-the-world good. He is fast. He is efficient. He is really. Fucking. Good.

Which? Is not actually so surprising! Luckydave is the kind of guy that uses QLab like a musical instrument. I couldn’t keep up with him if I tried. He makes things in QLab I didn’t even know were possible. AND I WROTE IT.

So the temp agency calls to say, weeks after Luckydave accepted my offer, that by golly, the financial company would like to hire him to drive THEIR software. Full-time.

With a starting salary of 80,000 dollars a year.

Kapow.

Ka.

Pow.

Now it is not my business to share what Figure 53 is paying Luckdyave, but I will tell you this: it is not 80,000 dollars a year. Not, I am afraid to say, even close. I wish it were. But we are not fancy financy-type people, and we don’t have that kind of cash at the moment.

So by all rights, that graph up there? That graph up there should have started going back up in May.

But I note to you that it did not.

I note to you that Luckydave thought over that offer for a few minutes, and then?

He said no.

I want you to let that soak in for a second. I’ll wait.
{he waits}

Pretty crazy, huh.

Well, pretty crazy if you just focus on the money. But for many (all?) of the best people in the world, money stops mattering once you have enough to not worry about it.

Is 80,000 dollars enough for Luckydave to give up his life as an artist? Turns out, no. Turns out, robbing him of his life’s passion costs more than that. Turns out, I can’t afford to pay him nearly so much, but I can support him as a creative human being who doesn’t fit in a 9-to-5 structure. Turns out, what I get for that support is one of the most dedicated, cheerful, creative, committed, hard-working teammates I could possibly ask for. Turns out, his battery is charged by being him more than it is by counting dollars.

So here’s the thing, here is my tip, and here is what I want the business owners of America to think about very hard:

Artists, as a species, are amazing people. And America, as a general rule, does not fully get this. Show me a good artist and I will show you a highly educated, highly creative, highly passionate, highly driven human being. If they’re a performing artist, I will show you someone who breathes teamwork. I will show you someone who eats healthy critiques for breakfast and grows an inch that day because of it. I will show you a communicator, and a thinker.

I will show you someone you want to hire.

And all you have to do, is not destroy the whole reason you want to hire them.

All you have to do, in short, is create jobs built for artists. The result? Instant competitive advantage.
I think this is a big deal.

I’m sorry it took me so long to get to the point here, but I didn’t know how to do it any more compactly and get the depth of this point across.

I think this is a really big deal. I think the failure to employ artists is an inefficiency in the system. I think it doesn’t need to be this way. I think there’s no reason we can’t collectively set up the same kind of win-win situations that Figure 53 found with Luckydave. I think we should do it.

I’m going to continue working to build my little company. With luck, and work, and grace from the unknown, we’re going to keep making things, and grow enough to make things we couldn’t make before. It won’t be about getting big, but it will be about getting big enough, and every person will count. I don’t have a ton of money to make this happen. But I have enough money, and I have the good sense to give people things more valuable than money.

My tip to you is that you, too, have things more valuable than money. All you have to do is be smart enough and willing enough to give them.

For Susan

A White Rose

An Evening At The Movies

Since I gave in and saw A-Team last week, Chris returned the favor and we went to see Knight and Day at the Regal. Of the two movies, I liked A-Team much better.

I gotta be honest, what made me want to see the movie was Tom Cruise. What can I say? I'm a fan. And the trailers made the movie sound promising.

It's not. The overall concept is shaky and the continuity supervisor should have been fired. I usually don't notice goofs unless I'm watching on DVD and can rewind to review, but the plot was so loose you couldn't help but see the errors.

Save the $9.25 and wait until it comes out at Redbox.

Magnolia

A Wink And A Smile

Headshots, Princesses and David Joy!

I just got my weekly email from First In Flight Entertainment. As I know they are promoting their summer camps, I usually just delete the email. This time Erin was smart. She included the one name that would guarantee my complete perusal of her email.

(dreamy sigh)