East Coast Travelogue

So far I don't seem to be kicking ass on this post a day June. But we'll keep trying. Weekend before last Mrs. TANBI and I made an East Coast swing. We drove.


New Jersey doesn't have a particularly prominent sign to photograph while driving. Probably good stewardship of their scarce state funds. Every time we make this drive we go through Easton PA. Easton is the name of one of my nephews and I keep meaning to stop to see if there's some t-shirt or something to get for him. I guess maybe next time.

The chief reason for the trip was the CMU SOD DP New York Cocktail Party. Each year after they graduate we take our seniors to NYC for a little coming out party. Actually "we take" is a little strong. We provide a room and send out invitations, they're on their own to get there (really that's not an accurate picture either, but close enough). I hadn't been to the cocktail in like 10 years. For some reason TDs haven't been going and it hasn't seemed fair to spend the school's money when I didn't have students at the event. This year I had a couple people make the trip so I did too. It was a good event I think and it was great to see some faces I hadn't seen in a while.

There were other reasons to make the trip too. First up, we hadn't seen Trulane yet.


This is my younger nephew. He was born a few months ago and this was the first real opportunity to get to the city and see him. He does all the baby things and was actually remarkably cooperative during our visit. Easton was a little crankier, he was getting over some kind of bug.

The night after the cocktail we went to see some of the fine New York theatre.


I mean, as a TD was there something else I was likely to go see? Actually, left totally to my own devices I might have gone to see "Lucky Guy" Off-Broadway because I worked on a production of it a thousand years ago in summer stock. But as it turned out, Thursday morning I got an email from the Syfy people offering discount Spidey tickets; so we could get the discount without waiting in a line anywhere. So we went.

I guess the substance of the show ought to be a whole post of its own, but suffice it to say when we saw it - they weren't there yet. What I think I saw most were the hands of many different people. The show was just really uneven, and at intermission I expressed the opinion that they could really stand to cut the first 20 minutes of the show. So, not life altering theatre.

Friday we finished up another loose end.


My sister and I, Matt and Marisa, and my nephews went to the cemetery and buried my Dad's ashes, some of my Dad's ashes. It's been nearly a year since he passed and during all that time he's just been hanging out in our utility room in Pittsburgh. I'm not sure why I'd been dragging my feet to get this done, but I hadn't been in any kind of a hurry. It was quiet and breezy and there was no to do, which was fine. After we were finished we went by my cousins for dinner. Good to see family.

Why is my Dad buried in New York? My Aunt has put a lot of resources into a family plot there. So he's with my Mother and her Mother and Father, plus my Uncle and his Mother, and my other Aunt. SO there's a lot of company.

We've got more to do with my Father's final resting place. His will provided that we divide the ashes, some to be buried in New York and some to be scattered at various sites around the world. The list of destinations changed over the years. The last I have is the Brooklyn Bridge, Paris, Amsterdam, Quebec City, and Washington DC. I'll have to do some research and some planning (and maybe a budget).

But wait, there's more.

On the way home from NYC we detoured to Lancaster PA for a wedding.


One of my earlier students and a former classmate of Marisa's was getting married. They had an outdoor ceremony and it wasn't 100 degrees and the rain held off. It was a beautiful wedding and again I got to see a bunch of faces I hadn't in a while.

And even that isn't the end. On the last day before we drove home I got a tour of TAIT Towers in Liditz. This is a scene shop that does pretty much exclusively touring rock shows. Can I tell you I wish I had known about this shops existence when I graduated from CMU all those years ago. Their place is huge, the technology is first rate, and the clientele... none other like it. Alas, all my professors pointed me toward was the regionals. I'll have to live this vicariously through students (there are now 6 of my former students there). Looks like they're having fun.