Spicy Pork Ramen with Bok Choy and Quail Egg

Food poisoning is super fun.




Is it tomorrow yet?

A Bright Golden Haze On The Meadow.

WARNING:

Epic post.  Super long.  Be prepared.

FIRST of all.  

Proof that I painted Fester's costume correctly back in Houston:

Now that we've cleared THAT up...

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Oooooooooooooooo-klahoma!  Land of corn, cows, and shops that close extremely early!  I'd never been to this state before, and I'm happy to report that it boasts at least one major landmark of interest:

That's right, kids!  Be prepared for a barrage of banjo-tastic photos, starting with its origins:  Wax-figure statues of slaves.

These wax-slaves performed a whole series of Jolson-esque banter while a monitor explained the earliest forms of banjos.  It was like stepping into history... except made of wax and terrifying.

Next up was a light show highlighting the earliest heros of banjo playing:

And a wall displaying the banjo's development through the years:

I like the sound of "Somethin' Smith and the Redheads."

Replica of the earliest known banjo model:

Wall of Banjo Heroes:

Now we enter what I like to think of as the Banjo Hall of Fame (make/model edition).  The Banjo Museum boasts the largest collection of banjos in the country (possibly the world).  I took pictures of almost all of them.  The craftsmanship in some of these instruments is breathtaking.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did, even though the pictures often don't do them justice:

Ink carvings on the frets:

I loved the collection of Gibson ads:

The "neck" on the banjos often had intricate carving or painting:

Stunning woodwork on the back panel:

The upper level of the museum had artisan banjos from all different designers.  Each one was unique from head to tail:

Notice the elephant carved into the neck:

LOVE the dragon banjo:

More inked frets:

Head of the dragon banjo:

This Indian chief is entirely composed of small pieces of wood.  Stunning:

That's right, kids.  A naked lady!

Wall o' Banjos:

Lion neck carving:

Interesting shape on this model:

Look at the woodwork along the edge of this one:

The mother-of-pearl on the head of the Troubadour.  So intricate!

Now we're getting to the last banjos in the collection.  Mostly one-of-a-kind, hand-made works of art.  First, the Carousel banjo:

Riverboat Gambler!  Check out these amazing fret etchings:

Cabaret banjo:

Love the hands on the piano:

Gorgeous mother-of-pearl:

Blend of mother-of-pearl and woodwork:

Hummingbird banjo:

Gorgeous:

LOVE the clear banjos:

Mother-of-pearl fret roses:

Next, there was a section of famous banjos and their owners:

Scotty Plummer:

GORGEOUS:

Many famous banjo players crossed the stage at Shakey's pizza joint.  A replica stands at the top of the museum:

Hall of fame:

Pretty nifty, dontcha think?!  I spent a good two hours walking through, taking pictures and staring at the artistry.  I know I'm far to young to say it, but they just don't make em like they used to...

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On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at a small shop called the Cocoa Cafe.  EXCELLENT DECISION.

First, they had a ginger bread house of the three little pigs:

Then they had some DELICIOUS chocolates.  Bon-bon's and truffles.  The blood orange bon-bon blew my mind.

Honey truffle, chili-cinnamon pyramid, and blood orange bon-bon:

A stroll through Bricktown, OK was short but sweet and full of treats like this:

WHO NEEDS THIS MANY SODA OPTIONS!?

I concluded my evening by buying the Ben Folds retrospective 3-cd set at a used record shop.  Classic.
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Oh, hey.

Remember that time Sam went on as Morticia?

Yeah, it was pretty awesome.  She's a rockstar.  Her boobs look pretty amazing in these pictures.

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Oklahoma City is home to a friend from long ago... before I grew my hair out... before I had an Equity card...

No, not the cat eating from the dog dish.

Nor the fabulous, glass-topped antique table made from an old door.

These things are wonderful, but not so wonderful as the man they belong to:

MICHAEL BARON!  The man who directed me in my very first, Equity-card-gaining show at the Goodspeed Operahouse, is now the Artistic Director at the Lyric theatre in Oklahoma!  He's a dashing man, as you can tell.  He took me on a tour of the facilities as well as his adorable home (which has many rooms, a huge kitchen, and costs less a month than my apartment back in NYC).  An excellent way to take my mind off touring and see parts of the city I wouldn't have seen without a car.  He also had insight for amazing tacos.
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Our dear, darling Ted has been out of the show for a few weeks due to a shoulder injury.  We've brought in a vacation swing, but he doesn't fit Ted's costume.  As a result, Michael is wearing Jonathan's swing costume, and Jonathan is wearing Ted's costume.  Its all very complicated, but Jonathan looks damn good in those tights:

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PAJAMA PARTY!!

The lovely Robbie put together a little "slumber party" for our cast at the hotel.  We ordered pizza and watched "Drop Dead Gorgeous" in our jammies.  Well, Josh was in his 4Ever Lazy:

But the rest were in pj's:

THE MONOCLE of TRUTH.  Jumbo size.

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I took a break between shows on Saturday to visit the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.  Some of these images may be intense, so you may want to skip if you don't handle such things well.

I was shocked to see the effects of the blast close up.  Warped metal doors and shrapnel pierced walls... I don't know what I expected to see, but it certainly changed my perspective to be so close to artifacts.

A clock recovered from the site has stopped at the moment of the blast:

This is crazy:

Footage from the helicopters:

One of the most inspirational sections of the museum was the Oklahoma Standard:

New York's response to the disaster:

View of the memorial from the windows of the museum:

Eerie to see his handwriting on letters from jail:

Evening in the memorial garden.  The monuments at each end of the pool represent the time for the blast to destroy the building.

Beautifully done.  A must-see if you're ever in town.  

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We grew tired of Oklahoma City pretty quickly.

But at least we had the Melting Pot on Sunday night to look forward to:

Rebecca and Karla chowing down on Ahi tuna:

Patrick and I devouring our stuffed mushrooms:

Holy crap.

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Oklahoma City treated us well, but downtown was pretty dead.  The theatre was far, and food options were scarce.  I ate Subway every single day.  I wasn't sorry to say goodbye.

An easy travel day (two hours on a bus) was made even easier by the delightful puppy antics:

Now we're in Tulsa.  There are options for eating at all hours, and I finally found a place to get my favorite boots repaired.  Its not NYC, but its better than last week for convenience.  More soon, but for now: to bed!