The third and final show in this mini Marty Monologues tour was very special to me. I spent 19 years living and working in New York City and during that time I made some very special friends there and invited all of them to come to the New York show which was going to happen at The Kraine Theater in the East Village.
Not everyone could show up, but I was so happy to see those that did! Peoria, Illinois is my hometown, but New York City will always feel like my secondary hometown, because it’s the city that I lived in longer than any place other than Peoria, Illinois. I was really excited and nervous to do the Marty Monologues show there and below are the photos from that show.
All of the photos were taken by my friend, Donna A. Rocco, who’s a professional photographer in New York City and I was honored and happy to have her be the official photographer of the New York CIty Marty Monologues show! You can see more of her work at her website and you can also follow her on social media at Twitter, facecrack and Instagram!
Now, (almost) live from New York City, it’s The Marty Monologues Show!
This is the exterior of The Kraine Theater on East 4th Street on the Lower East Side of New York City. I love how they just taped the poster up with electrical tape and plopped it in the middle of the graffiti adorned door! That’s New York City!
My friends Chelsie (from Lettering Works who designed the poster and all of the Marty Monologues artwork) and Clare worked the front of the theater as people came in and handed out the hand bills that Chelsie designed.
After sweating it out in the back dressing room, all of a sudden it’s showtime! Here I am on stage with the musicians who opened the show, Chris Erikson and Cliff Westfall. Like the other two shows, Chris and Cliff opened up the show with their rendition of The Beatles song, “She Loves You,” and they nailed it with their arrangement of that classic song. The harmonies were spectacular and it was a great opening to the show.
I was happy to have Chris Erikson on stage with me because he was my first editor in New York City when I wrote for the weekly paper, Manhattan Spirit and he also was responsible for getting me my night job at Sarabande Press, which led me to meeting most of the people that attended the show that evening. Thanks for being such a pivotal person in my life Chris! It was wonderful to work with you again!
During the introduction I tested out the applause sign and it worked perfectly!
It was so wonderful to see all of the familiar faces in the crowd! Here I am making the first snack tray of the evening and my friend and former co-worker, Chris Protopapas was the lucky winner! You can follow Chris on Twiiter by clicking right here!
As the show goes on I put in a plug for my book, The Boy Who Would Be A Fire Truck and utilized the applause sign!
Here I am talking about records and showing the sleeve to the first 45 record that my brother Jim and I ever got which was “Catch Us If You Can,” by The Dave Clark Five.
My friend, Laura won the second snack tray and it was so great to see her again! Laura’s a talented photographer in New York and you can see her work at her website and follow her on Twitter too!
Another story, a quick reading from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the applause sign goes up!
In this portion I told about how my brother got the album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band” for his birthday in 1967 and what a special time that was for both of us.
Chris and Cliff did a spectacular version of the Simon and Garfunkel song, “Bookends,” to close the show. Thanks to both of them for the great opening and closing songs and for the beautiful incidental music while I made the snack trays!
This was such a fun show and thanks to Chris and Cliff for the fabulous tunes, to Donna for documenting the show with her wonderful photographs and to everyone who came to the show and gave such an enthusiastic response! I appreciate it more than you know!
The after-party was held around the corner at Slainte and we had a blast! Thanks to everyone there for the great service and hospitality! (Photo taken from their website.)
Well, this concludes the three city Marty Monologues mini-tour! It was so exciting to do and it seems like a dream now. I couldn’t have done this alone and thanks to the people below that helped me make this happen!
Thank You:
Chelsie Tamms from Lettering Works
Sarah Marie Dillard and Brandon Mooberry from Sarah & The Underground
Sean Kenny and everyone at Kenny’s Westside Pub
Colleen Kimball and everyone at Technicraft
Jenn Gordon and Nathan Irwin from “Out And About” On WCBU
Noion Cities (Andy and Jackie)
Clare!
And most of all, thank you so much to every one of you who came to the shows! This was something like a dream come true and it wouldn’t have happened without everyone taking the effort to come to the shows and having such a wonderful and entusiastic reception! Thank you all so much and bravo to all of you for supporting the Marty Monologues shows!
Related Posts: The Marty Monologues: April 7, 2019 @ The Apollo Theatre in Peoria, Illinois. and The Marty Monologues: April 9, 2019 @ The Cornservatory Theater In Chicago, Illinois!
Thank you for letting me be myself again...
Surprise link...click on it, I dare you!
------------
Bonus Photos by Chris Protopapas!
My friend Chris Protopapas sent in a couple of photos he took at the show including my pal, Mark Hado winning the thrid snack tray! Thanks for the photos, Chris!