#1... One…Uno..

One, singular sensation every little step she takes….

One—moment in her presence, every move that she makes…

One smile and suddenly nobody else will do…

You know you’ll never be lonely with… You know who!


This song is from the finale of the mega hit Broadway Musical and feature film A Chorus Line. And can I tell you that I have sung this song for decades (mostly in the shower or to an empty room) and do you know what I just figured out? Who ‘You know who’ is! You know it is funny when you think you know a song frontwards and backwards, you even know all the words and melodies—but you may never really glean who the song is actually speaking about.

Well, never to late to teach an old-Doug-a-new-trick (ha!)… It just dawned on me as the sun is setting here in Pescara on the last day before the Opening Ceremonies, as I gaze at one of the most Spectacular Sunsets I have had the honor to drink in, in this Wonderful country and (Bam!) I GOT IT!

The ‘who’ of the ‘You know’—is (and she’s not playing first base) but the One and Only-- ‘You know who’ is in fact The Universe!

And she truly is the One Singular Sensation.

So the number one thing I love about Pescara on this final countdown on the eve before our show, as I sit here on my balcony with the first edition of my new book next to me keeping me company, the number one thing I admire and am in awe with about Pescara is that the Universe does indeed reside here. She is the living embodiment of everyone I have met, she is a integral part of the amazing patchwork that has created this creative little city by the sea and she was here all along (like a familiar song you unconsciously sing to yourself).

As I calmly begin to say my farewells to this uniquely bountiful region that has a backbone you can really lean on in times of need and vital support. As I prepare for tomorrow, no matter the weather or come what may, I go forward with a heart that is insanely happy, quietly confident and eagerly enraptured as I have the number one date on my arm and in my heart for the Opening Ceremonies… it is…

You Know Who!

The Possibility Of Two

Brother Pescara, Sister L’Aquila, Mother Abruzzo, Father Italy—you always have had, and you always will have this…


Two simple words…

The cornerstone of you...

The moral to any true story…

The heartbeat to the dance of life…

The way to beat insurmountable odds…

The unwritten words to the silent song of truth…

The fuel that starts the journey of ‘little engines that could’…

The thought that precedes the engagement of Body-Mind-& Spirit…

The sound that brings fairies back from the brink of being extinguished…

The undeniable moment of truth that comes before the moment of true victory…

Everything you desire, wish, hope, or dream of, begins with these Two simple words…


I BELIEVE


Pescara - I BELIEVE.

Pescara - YOU BELIEVE.

Pescara - WE BELIEVE!

On Your Mark… Get Set… And Ready To Go!

3…It is hard to believe the first of the Trilogy is here, the first of the last largest number of ‘Days To Go’ that this show will ever see is here.

The number that is most emphasized in a countdown as the point of no return, the point of total awareness, of body poised ready to spring into action and from action to present and from present right into the past as it becomes a memory another series of stories or of threads that weave the unique fabric of you.

I sit here with a head and a heart full of Wonder. Filled with so many things this morning, having come home a little early from work yesterday to get the apartment ready to receive house guests as both Bryn and I are having people arrive from out of town to see the show. So I head to the corner market one last time to buy food for our guests.

My publisher is coming with my book. It will be the first time I will see the book and hold it in my hands, and I am oddly calm, and silently the proudest Papa in the room, there is such a easy joy when something has taken on a life of its own a point of just being.

No longer is it odd to even say those words that used to catch me unawares, like ‘my publisher’ or ‘I’m writing a book’…I can only imagine it is the way first time parents must feel caught unawares of the most natural of things yet when it happens to you there is a period of adjustment to getting used to being included in this group.

Last night, as I have done countless times in every city, town, village, place, apartment, house, or hotel I have every lived in, I started doing things for ‘the last time’ again. And I noticed with a Joy and an Awesome respect how the people of this little town-that-could have worked their magic on me. Small unspoken considerations are becoming a thing of the past in so many countries. Small considerations of daily life is what impresses me about this town.

The way each terrace and balcony stacked on top of each other are beautifully displayed with pride and outward affection for color and plants, a personal signature sent out to the world what can be achieved with a little patience and consideration of time to grow. And the beauty we as passers-by get to drink in because of this. They may not own land, but they do own pride. The generational gap, that is non-existent as I watch a grown teenager take his grandfather for a slow and deliberate walk around the neighborhood, patiently holding his arm as they speak and move at a pace that for most teenagers would be crippling; yet he shows such a respect and a reverence to be able to share time with his elder.

Watching for the last time at the grocery store which I found to be tiny at first (6 small aisles with a butcher and a bakery in the back). Watching the baker, the same beautiful young lady who has been at the counter every time I have shopped there, hand cut a quarter of a larger round of hand made bread, but wait with the knife poised on the incision as she looks to the local buyer and allows him to tell her that he would like just a half an inch more, and they speak about the day as the other people patiently wait, (not tapping their feet or looking at their watches).

The Daughter who has brought her elderly mother to the market (as she has done countless times after her work day), and seeing her allow her mother this freedom of buying her own food for the evening meal. How they watch each when the other is not looking, taking the bag of fresh green-beans and placing it on their side of the divider on the conveyor belt to pay for them, never speaking about why or who can or should pay. It is a silent dance they have done for years.

The checkout lady who normally never bags any groceries for anyone. In Italy you do it for yourself. But she has come to know me and my American Italian accent, and now she always stops and helps me bag my things, knowing that I am more than a tourist her,e and also just wants in her unspoken way to show me a respect for my kindness to her when I have always engaged her with my wretched Italian and I make her laugh at the simplest things, like trying to find the correct change for her. I see the other shoppers are trying to figure out “who I am” as this is just never done by a checkout person. I silently smile and find myself welling up with a pang of emotion.

The neighbors who will soon be rid of the ‘two ragazzi’ on level four of their apartment block. These families who have had to suffer through their uninvited share of a few late night parties we have had on our balcony (there seems to have been a large number of birthdays in our production team these past two months) and since we have a large apartment with a wrap-around balcony, we are the party place. So I am happy that the neighbors will have some peaceful nights starting next week, and silently I thank them for their patience and kindness. But I do wonder who is going to water all of the plants Bryn and I have bought to display proudly on our balcony.

Hmmmmm …maybe I shall leave them at the front doorstep of the neighbors when we leave as just a small consideration of thanks for letting us call this wonderful place our home for 3 months.

3 is a big little number to honor all the wonderful small considerations that make Pescara, Pescara.

Grazie.

Four-tunately It Has Stopped Raining!

Well…four days away (well four and a half to be truthful). The Rain has finally stopped after three solid days of downpouring and as I sit here with twenty minutes to go before our first dress rehearsal, I realize just how much added delay the weather has given us. I hopelessly watch from the skybox where I will be on the night, and listen to the stage management channel as they are trying so hard. (I find I can now listen to Italian without having to translate it in my head I can just hear it...well that’s something at least)!

I am watching and listening to this little Herculean team of people trying to pull this Wonderfully, wet and soggy show together. It should have been much more ready by today, and due to my extreme illness I have not noticed just how close behind the eight ball the weather has put us (we are practically kissing the black orb!).

Yet I must give credit to this amazing team they remain calm on their Walkie Talkies even when I would have been released to shrieks and rants by now. But somehow they have this belief in a calm demeanor producing a calm outcome. I have to tell you I am BUYING it, and I thought I would come on line and chat to the Universe and ask for a little help.

Yes…I know what they say in theater about ‘a bad rehearsal makes a good show’ and all that.

But this is a small little town that is not used to a show this size, and we did indulge you for three days as you made the heavens weep, and we probably do not have the space to ask for such a consideration but please, please help these amazing people out and let this rehearsal have more victories than issues to solve. We all have tried so hard, and we could use a little of your magic now.

Which I have seen so much of here in Italy I will just humbly ask that in your wisdom you look down on us with Grace and Kindness and allow these hardworking people who have come such a long way in a few months time to walk home with a happy heart (and soggy shoes) tonight.

This is my day four wish for you! I humble and most graciously thank you and I jump and I believe!

Grazie! Doug

…….

12 hours later and You DID INDEED COME THROUGH FOR US, Thank You, Thank You!

You know I am a Believer and last night you gave this small group of very hardworking rain and sweat-soaked people the VICTORY they needed!

So number four in the countdown goes to the 4 teams that brought in this amazing Show. Counting the Universe as the complete total some of all of us an adding to it.

1 The Courageous Casting Department—Who took the hundreds of volunteers and had them arrive at the correct gate, on time and ready to perform.

2 The Stunning Stage Management Department—Who handled the madness on and backstage with such aplomb and grace, never missing one cue or losing one cast member in the process.

3 The Clever Choreography Department—Who stoically took a step back and allowed the other departments a GO at putting their show together on the field having prepared the cast in the rehearsals for such a time to fly on their own. Bravi.

4 The Proud Production Department—Who are the unsung heroes of the night as all of their careful planning and scheduling and time management even in torrential rains kept us on track and somehow on schedule.

So, this Victory belongs to you Guys

Bravi Tutti, I am so honored to be your Director, I learn from you daily about Grace and kindness and the true Possibility of People!

No Mambo #5 (an unexpected entry in the top 10)

Still catching up from spending the better part of 36 hours pretty out of it with a high fever and strep throat (apparently). Remember a few days back when we had that Thunderstorm at rehearsal, well we were all caught quite unawares when it hit (and it hit hard and fast). Not wanting to loose all control of the rehearsal (that was now literally scattered to three major areas of the stadium)due to the weather, I took the brave attitude and slightly Gene Kelly-manner approach and went about Singing in the Rain to keep everybody’s spirits buoyant and light as I checked in on all departments crisscrossing in the lighting accented deluge.

Hey… it is only a little water, I thought, and if the group sees me dancing in it they won’t mind if we ask them to put on rain ponchos and join us if it doesn’t stop raining, as the Opening Ceremony is not going to be delayed because we have had the unfortunate draw to have a very ENGLISH AND WET SUMMER here in PastaLand!

So, I was playing the fool, and then spent a few hours in my wet cold clothes in my air-conditioned office after rehearsal was over (clever right?). I wonder how many people Gene Kelly has inadvertently infirmed with his umbrella dancing antics, as two days later I got sicker than I have been in as long as I can remember. I used to get this sick as a kid, with strep throat and the fever would make me delirious, my body temperature would get so hot I would literally space out and I think this was one of the first times I started talking to the Universe…funny how I just remembered that now, well déjà vu that is what yesterday was (or I think it was) for me anyways, just having a chat with an old friend.

Thank goodness for little Laura who came to my rescue. When I called her at 6am Sunday morning, she came right over and got the car keys and found the only pharmacy in the area that is OPEN on Sundays.

You see, in Italy EVERYTHING and I MEAN EVERYTHING still shuts its doors on Sundays…Supermarkets, Malls, Corner Stores (no 7-11s), even Drugstores, but they have a rotating schedule where one stays open incase of emergencies. Well… Here comes little Laura louder than any Ambulance siren could ever be. She convinced them to give her antibiotics (for my strep throat), an expectorant to clear my already full lungs, and the strongest fever medicine available (and I wasn’t even with her). I was too sick to travel! She just walked in and walked out with the goods!

I was so impressed and relieved when she came back with the 3 elixirs of health and happiness. In the States all you would have been able to get without a prescription would be aspirin but since I had written down what I knew was wrong with me in English for her before she left, the Italians figured out that this little lady was probably not spinning a yarn and gave her the medicine.

So 26 hours later, on Monday, I am sitting up right (battered and worn, but fever free for the moment). Sadly, I did miss all of Sundays rainy rehearsals in the stadium, which was the hardest thing in the world to do, but I knew if I did not get better I would be missing more than rehearsal, I would miss the show.

So number 5 goes to the caring men and women at an unknown (to me anyway) Italian pharmacy here in Pescara that gave little Laura the goods on faith and trust. 5 days away from the show day and the only talking I am doing with the Universe will be one on one here on line and with a clear mind and a regular temperature.

I do so prefer it this way!

Blending In

On day 6 before the Games (this is getting to feel a lot like the 12 days of Christmas, isn’t it?), Number 6 in the countdown of the 10 Best things I like about Pescara!

#6…As you may or may not know the Abruzzo region of Italy suffered a devastating earthquake back in early April. Now, a little over two months later, they are preparing to ‘Welcome’ the Athletes and Spectators to the 16th Mediterranean Games here in Pescara, which is only about 40 minutes from the quake’s epicenter—that measured (I believe) 6.9 on the Richter—scale up in the mountain city of L’Aquilla.

23 countries will participate in this sporting event, with an Athlete and Officials count that is near 5,000. If you stop to consider that the athletes for the Summer Olympics total just over 12,000, this is indeed a very big ta-do in the land of Pasta and Olive Trees!

We have a couple hundred of our cast volunteers from the ‘former’ city of L’Aquilla. Tthey do not live in their houses anymore as the entire town has been deemed uninhabitable and has yet to be given the green light for any residents to return to their ruined homes and start making repairs and restorations. They have lived these past months in large blue tents provided by the Red Cross on the outskirts of their beloved hometown. This I would find unthinkable even for the hardiest of camping buffs.

Each day we have rehearsals that require the any part of the cast from L’Aquilla, a Large Imposing Police Bus arrives, a Big Black Metal Monster with bars on the tinted windows. It is a bus that is used to transport prisoners (or so I would imagine by the impenetrable look of this dark monolith!). Or to deliver Police into a riot scene (this is probably the real reason for this battleship-on-wheels). It looks like something out of an apocalyptic movie. This Black Silent Giant pulls up to the rehearsal site and its iron doors open up and a uniformed officer climbs out first.

And then out come one by one our sweet innocent volunteer kids for rehearsals!

Because most of the cars in L’Aquilla were also destroyed, or are still trapped by the rubble, the people of the town must rely on the Police force to get them down from the outskirts of their town to their seaside neighbor Pescara. What was unexpected for us waiting here for the bus was that this became a meeting point for groups of performers who know each other through dance or bands, or other sorts of performing groups, like the famous Italian Large flag wavers.

When an entire town is leveled, it is the casual friends or acquaintances that you loose track of, not knowing if they survived that faithful night that took young and old victims without reason or prejudice. These are ‘friends’ you don’t have phone numbers for, or even know where their live, but they are still part of the ‘people you know’ when the world brings you together for festivals, holidays or friendly competitions.

So a crowd would grow around the doors and wait as each performer got off. You would hear cries of joy. Some would bravely step into the crowd searching for familiar faces. Everyone was welcomed warmly and with respect. We would hold the beginning of rehearsals as news was shared and tears were shed, and then gently we would welcome everyone together and treat them all as a group...

giving the ones who had to come with a Police Escort a chance to blend in and forget about the past for a while, while we all worked together on building the future.

Little Laura and Big Merry

Continuing on our Pescara Top 10 count down…#7

We are 7 days away from Opening Ceremony and the weather forecast this weekend is for rain beginning tonight and not stopping until Tuesday!! This is enough to dampen anybody’s spirits, especially as today begins the weekend that we call our “put together” rehearsal weekend for the show. This gives all of the important teams who run the show backstage a chance to work on their timings to add order to the chaos, when to get the cast in costume, where to bring them to at which time and what gate to perform and then reverse the entire process. Now, when you have hundreds (if not thousands) of people in each number, you could be moving a couple of thousand of people in just a few minutes time, so this part of the show has to be VERY choreographed and rehearsed, or the show will not Go On.

We put the first half of the show together on Saturday, and the second half on Sunday. Then, Monday night is our first dress rehearsal after we have put together all the train cars (each separate segment) of the entire show. We chose weekends, as most everyone has this time free and can attend without having to get out of school or work. Everything from checking-in, costumes, make-up, time to eat, bathrooms, pre-set, performance and after-performance has to be practiced right down to the minute.

Now we have checked all the weather forecasts and it is 2 ½ days of solid rain.

It is not a matter of if it is going to rain but WHEN!

So, as I sit here this morning at 6A.M. I am trying to think of something funny to take my mind off the impending Water-World we are about to step into. I remember for some time I have been wanting to write about the greatest sound I have ever heard here in Pescara. We have one full-time assistant choreographer, she was our assistant at the Torino Olympics Opening Ceremonies back in 2006 (where I believe she did the entire six months for free as a volunteer assistant) so it is so great to be able to have her on the payroll this time out.

Her name is Laura and it is pronounced like this. Say the word Allow- now take off the A.. llow... and add to that a Rah with a rolled rrrrrrr, and you have Lovely Llowrrrrah.

Well, she is Bryn’s assistant (and his name is like Lynn except with a Br… a very Welsh name for a very international and clever man). They have spent many days in Pescara, here in our living room, creating the many many different styles of dance that will go on all the performers in the show. Hours and hours of steps and ideas to every music imaginable. However,there is one song that stands out in my mind this morning, as I am needing something to focus on that will not dampen my spirits.

You all have this sound in your life and it comes from someone who is sweetly unconscious that they are even doing it. While Bryn and Llowrrrrah have been creating steps and magic in the living room they have also been cracking themselves up having just a ball as they try and work things out.

Now, Laura is just under 5 feet tall, while Bryn is well over 6 foot, and they speak a mixture of Italian and English as they choreograph. Both are fluent in each other’s languages, but the third language they are fluent in is Joy, and they spend a good half of the day laughing. So as I am in my room working on the script or my book or some other thing, I am serenaded by these two laughing together, not being able to here what they are saying just being able to enjoy the Merry Melody exuding from the room.

Laura, it must, be said has one of the truest most honest and infectious laughs I have ever heard. It brings a smile (if not a giggle) every time you hear it. Is not forced or fake, not odd or distracting it is simply the loveliest lilt in the world. It has such a truth and an infectious way about it that when it washes over you it transports you to a place of simple Joy.

And such a place is needed today as we head literally into the storm of this final weekend.

So at number 7 I nominate Lovely Laura and Big Merry, one person infecting the world with Joy, one sweet laugh at a time.

No Need For Sheep

Here in Pescara, 8 days away from the Ceremony that will Open the Mediterranean Games, I find myself getting up early (around 6am) without the need of an alarm clock…

(Come to think of it, I have never needed any sort of reminder device to awaken me here in Italy…at least after my jet lag left me in the 1st week.)

My mind has always gone to bed at ease here. and I find I wake up in the mornings without the need to be wrestled from a dream confused slumber. Instead I am allowed to gently arrive back to a place of quiet and peaceful consciousness. Listening to the rooster crowing down the street, and, as idyllic as this sounds, the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves as their owners take them out for their morning trot before the cars crowd the roads. I am not sure where these horses are coming from, but it is really a sweet cadence to begin your day with.

This does not happen on most big events. Usually you are so sleep deprived and your head is too full making list of things that have to be taken care of that sleep eludes you when you try and pass out in bed the night before. So sleep (when it does come) is usually a coveted place one has to be dragged out of kicking and screaming by the electronic WAIL of a clock or cell phone, jarring your already fatigued body and overflowing mind into some state of alertness.

But not here.

I have always been able to just wake up peacefully and let my mind wander, allowing me a chance to chat with the Universe and not jump right into mundane-morning tasks, such as showers, teeth brushing and checking all the many electronic devices which reconnect us to the world.

I have chosen a way to reconnect first with the world that requires no Blackberry, i-Phone, or laptop computer. I simply start talking in my head to the Universe, giving us some special quiet time before the storms of the day begin.

And talk about storms we had A HUGE THUNDERSTORM last night right after rehearsals started. However it did not dampen our spirits or frustrate us we are on time and well rehearsed here, so we let the Universe put on a water and lightshow for us while we all watched her from the safety our seats in the covered part of the stadium. It was lovely, then it soon passed and we began our rehearsal, damp only in sneakers, not in spirits.

So number 8 on my countdown of the 10 best things about Pescara is…

Blissful Slumber!

I SEA Butterflies…

Number 9 in our countdown of the 10 things I like best about Pescara.

As you may or may not know my book, The Back Side of Wonderful, went to the printer yesterday! You’ll be the first (after me!) to hear about how to get a copy (or several!). We’re almost there: My first book!

Maybe this is why this morning there is an added calmness as I awake. There is freedom in letting something become what it needs to be. After years of writing, editing, and designing I have allowed it to fly free (if you would permit me to be so lofty so early in the quiet of the Italian summer morning).

My book began three years ago with the flight of one butterfly, this unlikeliest of messengers who unlocks the secret to the meaning of life for me. I have been seeing them ever since, in all shapes and sizes, real ones of every color, tattooed ones, spray-painted ones, toy ones, you name it. They keep Popping up Everywhere as a reminder of the enlightenment that this first one brought to me three years ago.

Well, here we are rehearsing our largest group in Pescara for the Mediterranean Games—300 people who will form the Mediterranean Sea. And as in every show (or life I suppose), when you take such a large group and bring them together and everyone is trying hard to find their place, to fall into step, eager to add their energy, to be a part and make a statement, to find their ownership and turn ordinary into extraordinary…(just like in life I suppose), there comes one rehearsal when the trying simply stops… and it just becomes what it needs to be… I stop teaching on the microphone and allow them to be what I always knew they could be. They have found their strength as a team and begin to dance on their own without need of assistance. Well, this weekend it happened and much to my Joy and also my Surprise, the Universe had a twist to put on it for me.

The costume they all are now wearing is a big blue cape that extends past their natural arms’ lengths by three feet on either side; they hold sticks underneath their capes so they actually have a wingspan of 9 feet. We have been rehearsing for weeks without costumes, just holding brown wooden sticks in each hand as we go over and over the steps and many formation changes to the music.

I could feel their power combine, and I did not have to lead them any longer on the microphone. I just stopped talking and allowed them to go on confidently with the beat of the music...

It is then I realized that the SEA we had created for the past 2 months was actually hundreds of blue winged butterflies dancing before me in perfect unison. Without the need of assistance from me, they were flying on their own so joyfully and with such pride and confidence that you could actually feel there combined strength, they had indeed found their power to fly.

I was hit in the gut with this revelation, such a wave of pride came out of me for these people who had put their belief in me, allowing me to help them find their place.

And now they have found the strength in themselves which I knew they always had, all flying together on the field before me as I watched through silent tears in awe of what they have accomplished, and in humble acceptance of the gift the universe has given me again in the form of butterflies...

Yes, Universe, I do indeed SEA butterflies everyday! Pescara has hundreds of them!

Glutton for Wonderful

We are 10 days away from the Opening Ceremonies of the Mediterranean Games here in Pescara, Italy.

This little seaside town is doing its very best to put every last detail in place as they prepare to Welcome the over 5,000 Athletes and Officials, plus countless spectators to this quirky and ever so charming place nestled on the back of the knee of Italy, where the Mountains meet the Sea.

Quirky—because it is a port town that was bombed so badly in WW2, the architecture is just a Wonderfully odd mix of decades and styles from every Era. As they rebuilt after the war, the styles you see standing next to one another are like different spices in a spice rack, and are as varied as every plate of pasta available here. The variety gives this town a Dr. Seuss-like charm and feel. This region also finds itself rebuilding from the earthquake that two months ago that changed the look and feel of this part of Italy.

This is a place where I must go on record for saying I have had only one ‘so-so’ meal out of countless “Oh My Goodness this is the best food I have ever tasted!” meals. Now, that alone is pretty amazing, 2 months of the best food you’ll ever eat. (I am not exaggerating, even the Italians who are here from other cities have noticed the near perfection in every gastronomic wonder they order.) If you know any Italians you know what kind of Judge and Jury they are when it comes to food! Food is life!

I have been so busy with this show and getting my 1st book finished, and both are near completion! Thank Goodness: The show was 3 months in the making while the book was a tad longer—three years! Yeah, that is so like me wanting to Cosmic-multi-task and do many impossible things at once. I would say I am a Glutton-for-Wonderful, not punishment! My blogging (I must apologize) has taken a backseat to everything, which was my only sadness. I have missed our morning chats together. It is wonderfully refreshing to pen a letter (or blog) to the Universe before I begin my day—it has a personal satisfaction, one (I would imagine) gets if one were to head off to church and have a little chat with “you-know-who” every morning. It does fill me up with a certain amount of quiet confidence and Verve!

So I have vowed to BLOG ‘The 10 Wonderful things of Pescara’ (one each morning) as we count down these last 10 days. 10 being of course the FOOD, and it is only fitting that when you see the Opening Ceremony we Honor Food in a BIG BIG WAY. I won’t give away the magic just yet, but it will be a Feast for the eyes as well as the senses. With handmade generous amounts of Laughter, and Playfulness mixed in, a few cups of Cleverness, and seasoned perfectly with the 3 ingredients I find make the best dishes, the sweet-blood, salty-sweat, and joyful-tears of people coming together and making something out of nothing for Guests they have not yet met, but are eagerly awaiting.

Buon Appetito Pescara!

And Grazie for the extra 10 pounds I must find a way to lose when I get back home!