With Luis as my witness, some of my best performances are in the strangest, most spontaneous places - man, I swear that was some show - at 4 am on the subway and then a night bus, I turned into a secret mime and ENTERTAINED! Ok, let me explain ... There's this crazy thing called the World Cup, which I don't really understand (my high school didn't even HAVE a soccer team). Luis is a young guy from Brazil, so he does understand, and after the imported beer kicked in, and riding the contageous excitement high of it all, coureageous we found ourselves tuckered out on the all-nighter public transportation. Something got into me, and I woke up! Wanted to play. With Luis as my witness, I started "miming" out and guessing was the fuss was all about, to some real soccer fans. I pretended (?) to not really understand what sport they were all hyped up about, and started acting all the sports (without a peep) I could think of, this much to the delight of my fellow spectators on said bus. I took the center isle as we cruised down the road, in unison, a good-vibe bunch of strangers on a wild-ride home. World cup, world cup, hmmm. Basketball? I acted out. "No!" came the happy reply of about 5. Baseball? my arms swung and I called myself out. Now ten spoke up. Chess (to chuckles), badminton (to uproarious laughter), even the shot put (this time I huffed and puffed, my only sound of the night during my command performance, and hurled an imaginary iron-ball down the isle). Which, of course, led me into bowling. "No, no!" they screamed, and now even the bus driver was cracking up. Hang gliding? I mimicked. "Nooo!" and they were rollicking and shouting words like fussball/footbull/sockerr/kickerr and many other words I didn't recognize (probably Swedish). Fencing? High jump? My shtick was unlimited: cricket, hand ball (sexy!), waterpolo (try to act THAT one out!). At the very end, I said, "I've got it!" and proceeded to hand myself an Academy Award for the top sport of opera, very modern, and sung an impromptu aria. It seemed to be sporty! That was some pretty funny shit, I was outside o' myself - I'd like to thank my fellow producers, directors, and co-horts on that bus. By the time we reached our stop, the place was cheering me and my Brazilian friend, who rewarded me with pizza and beer, pulling off a major (european) miracle of finding all these snacks at 5 am. With Luis as my witness, we tore that place up, made everybody happy. Everyone but one ... there was a solemn-faced pirate in the back (was he Turkish? Greek?) who was NOT amused. His black beard looked sinister and his eyes were unflinching. He looked liked he was gonna slice me up at any moment. It just made me fight harder, be more cutting-edge. But that's the story of my life, I guess: most people like me (the Real me, the Artist and the clown inside) and then there's always one guy who hates my fuckin' guts. Peace. -Todd