The Back Side of Wonderful

THE JOURNEY OF WONDERFUL

2009-10-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Stepping back the pace a little today.

While most people like to Power-Up for Monday, I think today I will power down a few gears and try and focus my energies on one thing and not Cosmic multi task which is what I am so used to doing, so much so that it seems normal to me. Until I start to see the people in my daily life begin to flinch when I speak to them, or they start to lag behind and are too tired or fatigued to have the desire to keep the pace with me, saying that they will catch me on the next lap just as soon as they catch their breath.

My “day-Job” requires such a 24/7 Power-Up pace, however, the lesson I am learning as I am now walking beside the Divine Miss U… a.k.a. The Universe. She is no longer a storm that is calling to me from off shore, but instead she is a trusted friend and confidant who is reminding me today that even the man in the circus who does the “Plate Spinning Act” with 100 plates in the air at a time… does not spin plates 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

There needs to be time for you, for the Universe to have a chat while you sit idle at the stop light on the road of life laughing about simpler things, things that do not need to save the world, save the planet or even save time. Just spend a day laughing at the nonsensical things, journey into new parts of your city, get lost in your thoughts, or close the door put on some music and “Dance Like the Whole World is Watching”!

Yes… the world will be there tomorrow, the hustle and bustle the dreams and the hopes all ready for your fresher outlook and your clear clean eyes to gaze at it. You say out-Loud , “Wow! I have never seen that before!” and your friend the Universe says:

“Don’t be silly, that has always been there just like it is now. I should know, I put it there. You just needed to downshift and see it at a slower pace instead of whizzing around like some NASCAR car driver of life with everything blurred except what is in front of you!”

A downshift to a Power-Up will always lead you to a victory…however if you were to run your life at a continuous break neck speed you will never arrive at the finish-line because you will have never seen the life lessons that she intends you to see.

So slow down and Go Gently and Power-Up to tomorrow.

And that's why my Monday blog got posted on Tuesday -- and it, like me, is the better for it!

THE POWER OF "U"

2009-10-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

There is an intense storm off shore.

You know it because you can see the clouds appear in the early evening sky, backlit by electric energy, and then instantly disappear into blackness.

Moments later a deep rumbling greets you, borne on the salt-swept wavetops of the surf. You are captivated by the storm’s size. Its sheer bulk encompasses your horizon.

It calls to you like a siren of the sea, it touches every pore of your being, and the ache to be engulfed in her turbulence is unlike anything you have ever felt or imagined possible in your lifetime.

The storm moves in to shore. Fear, anxiety, the fight or flight response is activated in you.

You chose Fight.

Standing your ground squaring your shoulders holding the line it hits. Not with gentle rain but with a BLAST a wall of water SLAMS into your body with such an intensity it is like a hit from 100 linebackers plowing into you.

Somehow you stand your ground. Your soul is drenched, cleansed. Your spirit rejuvenated, your body empowered.

Open your eyes to quiet... the beach is gone, the storm has dissipated, your clothes are dry, nothing is as it was except, wait…

Nothing is as it was because something has joined you the storm brought you to the X on your treasure map, to the point of being you, with every hope sent out with every dream wished and every desire fanned. You have called her and now she stands beside you.

Say hello to the Universe, she is right next to you…

FEEL THE POWER OF “U”

OZ Is Within Me!

2009-10-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just read yesterday's blog. It is no wonder I have been having a feeling of déjà vu on steroids.

For the past week, I mean not just a feeling like this moment I have lived before but ALL OF LAST WEEK, EVERY SECOND, EVERY MINUTE, EVERY DAY… I felt, no, I KNEW, what was going to happen next.

I absolutely without question knew. It got to a point where I was telling the Universe what she forgot!

I would be sitting with my friend Sean having a beer playing pool and I said “I am going to be beaten next game by a one armed, one-eyed Lesbian!” And sure enough the only person ever brave enough to break into a ritual game of pool played by Sean and myself was honest and truly a one sighted eye Lesbian who beat me with one arm tied behind her back! No Lie…. I wish I could make this up!

Anyway a week of déjà vu, ends to be about 6 days, 23hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds too long to have.

This morning I woke up and… I was in the present; I am in the Now, I am right where I needed to be all along. Not a question of doubt, not a care in the world and happily not a clue what is going to happen next.

I AM HOME… my very own home… Oz is in me. I have arrived at my Being Point!

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME COMING

2009-10-19T08:32:00.001-07:00

Home Coming-- who will ever find it the same? How could you find it the same? Why would you want to find it anything but the same? Why isn’t it the same?

Well it happened to me this weekend.

I hitched a ride on a twister (my life) and landed safely back in OZ, my hometown.

Funny how I never knew that the fable was switched around before, but it is not that Dorothy wants to get back to Kansas. What she doesn’t know is how to get back to “her Kansas,” the one she had left 30 ago. What she found in OZ was actually home – she had just been gone so long it was hard to recognize. Everything had aged 30 years; people had passed or moved on; city planners did what they do, and before you know it you felt like a stranger in the one place you counted on knowing all of your life.

For some this would be hard enough to head back after 30 years and see what there is to be seen. Have I ever allowed my life to be so simple and to do one task at a time? Please!

I am the King of “Cosmic Multi Tasking,” so I packed as much stuff into a 48 hour round trip tornado ride as I could, I am to be honored by my High School along with 5 other folks from its 55 year history into the “High School Hall of Fame,” the first ever inaugural group. This means that out of all the senior classes of senior classes at Carlsbad High School, somehow someone thought I should be chosen to personify and represent everything that can happen when one does “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” to his discover his own land of OZ!

WOW! What are you kidding me? I was a nobody, a geek’s geek, and guy who was so riddled with shyness that he had to put on layers of bravado each morning before his tube socks just to get to school. I was the top choice to stand up for Carlsbad High, this was unfathomable. It brought me right back to the time in High School in 1980 before we graduated that I was nominated to be “Most Talented” in the class.???

Again… What??? I didn’t think people could even see me, let alone knew I wanted to be an actor when I grew up. But the Wizard had other plans it seems as I did win Both coveted awards over a 30 year time span. Talk about a Bubble ride!!

Coming back to my Kansas, I hardly recognized the place.

The school had tripled in size and as a matter of fact a new gym now stood Dwarfing the old one and this was the reason for the Dedication for the Hall of Fame except they were inducting non-athletes , Math Science, Creative Arts, Business, Education—All the misfits from their respected classes now were asked to stand up on a stage with a rainbow hanging over it and be lorded as their favorite sons and daughters. (Come to think of it, it was a boys club all men and not one woman made the hall of Fames first induction, hmm odd that I did not pick up on that until just now. not a Dorothy in the bunch. Seems a little strange.)

We were the Cowardly Lions in our time.

The Scarecrows.

And the invisible Tin Men.

Now we were standing on a stage before the entire school hearing our credits read off and for the first time ever in being in this space I was not worried if people were going to see me or here me or even like me it was a given. I was the man of the hour (one of six at least) and with it came the respect and humility I had always wanted as a kid.

I then stopped the show… yeah I told you I was packing a lot in this weekend. I had an agenda and I was going to get through this. I took the microphone and said to the class of 2010,2011,2012 and 2013 and all the teachers and Alumni present:

The first step in your Journey is the most important and without that step we would not be before you today trying to inspire you to reach your dreams.

The first step comes from someone believeing in you and I would like to recognize and start a scholarship program in this woman’s name. To the First woman “grown-up” ever to believe in me “us” the plaque reads.

To Monica Hall, our (Drama-Mama) the first grown up ever to believe in us! Thanks Teach- for your straightforward, inexhaustible style of believing in your “kids”. 30 years of the wonderful realities you created because you did something as simple as believe, the sum of all the belief you have given us could power Entire Nations.

Doug Jack
on behalf of the Carlsbad Theater Alumni

More in part two of this tale of back to Kansas, but I need a moment to cry tears for that boy who wanted so much to be the man I am today and stay in this bubble of Joy for a while be back soon!

Dancin' Fool!

2009-08-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

First we were in the control room and we danced while this little-big show went off like a perfect song, nothing went wrong, the 2000 volunteers did the most amazing job and we danced for them while they danced on the field! It was nothing short of amazing!

Then Beyonce came out and sang for an hour and a half, and we danced on the field with our cast and then she danced for us on the stage, I have never been so close to a performance with such energy and power, Beyonce aka. Sasha FIERCE (her stage name) was truly FIERCE, and we danced and danced…AMAZING!

Then to the cast and crew party where, YES you guessed it, this 47 year old man Dancedwith every member of the my team until we were so tired and happy because itwas an amazing show and we all worked so hard to get here and to know it was so good it made our ears and hearts open and we danced… ABBA.. Beyonce.. Rihanna and
countless other songs and I kept on dancing.

Then to my apartment in the middle of town where, no I did not dance, but fell asleep dead for five hours and then got a taxi back to the arena to say goodbye and go to the airport where I m now. In the taxi at the arena as the taxi driver waited for me to say goodbye and turn my keys to my apartment in, he shared with me his lunch that his wife had made for him.. This has never happened in my life where a taxi driver shared with me his joy and his home-made lunch! It was very touching indeed and quite tasty! AMAZING!

Finally we are now at the airport, I do not know why I am speaking in the royal “WE” but I am, maybe because I feel an entire country with me as I wait for my boss Marco Balich to join me.

I now begin the 1st of four flights that will take me back to the USA, 2 flights today to Italy, where I will spend the night and then two more flights to Los Angeles, where I will rent a car and drive to my HOME in Palm Springs (after the evenings traffic finishes).

Where finally I will stop dancing and be back in the USA and begin to get my book out to all of you who are reading this, and hopefully you will dance in the Wonderful memories I have had in these 47 years.

Wow it is such an amazing honor to have this life to live in such a crazy Wonderful way, I may not need all four airplanes to get me home… I MAY JUST DANCE!!

Thank you Ukraine and thank you to all the Volunteers and my cast and crew whom have given me such a chance to be a little-Disney-Dancer who could!

AMAZING!

Thank you!

Julia's Song

2009-08-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

Twenty-two years ago I began this trek around the world, and since then I have been one of the luckiest men on the planet, creating shows that by count the entire world has seen many times over.

But last night here in Eastern Europe, in the town of Donetesk, a place famous for its coal mining and an one very awesome Championship Football club called Shaktar, with a brand new “Diamond Stadium” opening it’s doors to the world tomorrow night. A couple of thousand enthusiastic volunteers performing onstage and backstage in a show that I had a small part in writing and directing, when one lone voice stepped out of the crowd of the many and speaks…no wait, not speaks…but Sings (in the form of a thank you letter).

Not only in Donestk but for all of the countless masses of volunteers I (we) have had the amazing honor of being allowed to help realize the one dream of the many thousands who have ever been brave enough to step out of the crowd and volunteer. Taking your one voice and molding it into a chorus of many that the world will not only hear but they will feel deep inside of their hearts.

Not only is this letter the sweetest music to my ears but to those of the hard-working international team who will never forget the talent and tenacity of you; the dedicated local cast and crew that is doing more then they thought possible by are moving mountains (not only of coal) but, just plain mountains to do this for a people we have never known until a few months ago but now will never forget as long as we live. Just because we are crazy enough to care to make the Impossible-Possible! This is the greatest quest any persons can be on, one of the Belief in Magic!

This is the very reason that got me hooked twenty-two years ago into dedicating my life’s work to being what it is. Friends, this is the real Front Side of Wonderful.

From one volunteer’s pen, now to you, I share the fuel in our spirit, the dream in our hearts and the Goal to the end any game…

Dear all,
My words may seem to you foolish and childishly naïve, but nevertheless I hope they will evoke smiles on your faces.

Kindly be aware that there are people who admire what you are doing and are happy to assist you (even in the smallest and insignificant way) in this show’s organization.

This is not an empty and groundless flattery, the matter is that at this point I feel that I am not a spectator, but a direct participant in the show, that is, finally, I am where I always wanted to be!

As you are an integral part of events taking place in my life, I have the greatest desire to share my feelings with you. I try to remember every moment, successful or not very much. Because this will be a grand event not only for a big city, but for a “small person” also, who had a possibility to break the monotonous existence with a maximum of surprises.

Your smiles leave none indifferent, your enthusiasm is much admired. I am happy to meet you and there are no limits for gratitude and this happiness.

P.S. I’m sure that every participant has gained abundant experience and lasting impressions!
Thank you very much for these days!

Kind regards,
Volunteer- Julia Berdnik
The Opening of the Don Bass Arena, Donestk, Ukraine. August 29th 2009

Julia, thank you for taking the time; first to volunteer with all of your heart and soul and the patience and strength you add to this amazing cast and secondly to pay us such an accolade with your heartfelt words, so please know this to be true, it is only because of people like you that makes it possible for people like us…to do what we love. Thank You!

If you would permit me, I boldly wish to edit one small part of our letter. You are not and never will be just one “small person” your help will never be insignificant or forgotten. You are a person who was built for Wonder and able to feel a Maximum of Surprises. This is no small feat at all Julia… this is the Goal that wins any game! You and every volunteer here in Donestk are indeed the True Champions!

Thank you to you for being…you.

We Humbly share this victory with you, from me and for all the team here,

Doug Jack
Director of the Opening Ceremonies of the Don Bass Arena, Donestk, Ukraine. August 29th 2009

The Jackson 5th Generation

2009-08-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Last night in a beer garden in Donestk, here in the Ukraine, I became a Great Grandfather at 47… Who would have Thunk?

Please let me explain. I just did the math, and this is not an impossible feat for a 47-year-old male to be great granddads if I was, say...

A Father by 15 years old, then add 16 years to be a grandfather at 31, then you add 16 more years to be 47 and a great grandfather!

I am sure this has not happened a lot around the globe, but it has happened. My family tree, however, grows in a slightly different direction.

In my chosen profession of Stadium Theater, which is the art form of Choreographing and Direction of thousands of people for the Opening, Closing, or Halftime shows in stadiums around the world.

The words mass choreography and human animation are part of our legacy to the world.

This art form began as a family affair back in 1990 in Singapore, when I was the youngest of three. There was Ronnie-Jim, Judy, and me cutting our teeth on a smallish show with 6000 Singaporeans and just 3 of us trying to MSU (Make Stuff Up) and getting them in line!

(Check out the whole story behind MSU, and MUCH more, in my FIRST BOOK:THE BACK SIDE OF WONDERFUL available now!)

In 1991 we went to Grand Britannia we to do a Show in Sheffield, England, and added two kids to our tree: Wanda and Francesca, two English roses as different as night and day but, best friends forever.

Leaving them after just a summer the original three musketeers traveled down to Barcelona and our 1st Olympic odyssey together in 1992.

4 years later 1996 we added our kids Collin, Jason, Kristen, Maria, and Cynthia to the tree.

By the time 2002 comes around, I am the sole surviving member of the original three, but still with our kids from Atlanta as we complete a successful Salt Lake Olympics.

Right after the Salt Lake Games I am called back to England to do the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where I re-meet one of our first children Wanda and she as “Mother” and I as “Grandfather” head up the teams there for Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Here is where I meet my “core team since 2002”. Grandson Bryn, and Granddaughter twins Rocky and Gina who have “Mad Skills for sure”! By Bryn’s association we add Auntie Claire and Uncle Nikos to the group in 2004 in the Athens Olympics, we are quiet a troupe now with Granddad Doug at the Helm.

Well last night in a beer garden in Eastern Europe, I realized as I sit there with Auntie Claire and her Husband Paul, and granddaughter Gina we have another Generation sitting at the table of a young upstart and stadium choreographer a local beauty and amazing lady who is not only our interpreter but out friend and was hired into the family by Gina’s twin sister Rocky (who is absent from the table and off ice skating).

But my great granddaughter Jenny joins the choreographic clan as we sit there in the late summer evening in Donestk with wool blankets wrapped around our waists (the restaurant provides them) as summer is holding on but the nights are getting nippy indeed. Jenny the youngest is forced to hear stories of all of our associations and about her Grand-ma Wanda (whom she has never met) and her other great grand parents Judy and Ronnie-Jim whom nobody but me at the table has met yet they all know about and love as if they we raised by them because I keep them alive daily in my life.

And 5 generations laugh and interject and say, “Oh remember when…” “Did we really do it like that?” “ Paper and pencil…!” “Ah those were the good old days!”

And I turn to Jenny my great granddaughter and welcome her to the clan, we all raise or glasses and drink to the youngest member and know that we have chosen wisely and the pride mixed with laughter and the sweet smell of hops waft up into the air and I think…

“You’ve done pretty well for yourself, Great Granddad!”

Family Tree

1990- Parents- Judy (1999)- Doug and Ronnie-Jim (1994)
1991- Children- Wanda and Francesca (UK)
1992- Auntie- Anna (SPAIN)
1996- Children- Collin, Jason, Kristen, Maria, Cynthia & Mark (USA)
2000- Cousins- Sandra, Debbie, Christina, Ross, Darrin, Sara & Alissia (AUS- Australia.)
2002- Uncles and Aunts- Paul, Bonnie, Cati, Danny (2006) & Steve, (USA)
2002- Grandchildren- Bryn & “the twins” Gina & Rocky (UK)
2004- Auntie Claire (UK), Uncle Nikos (GRE- Greece)
2006- Cousins Laura, Isabella & Peter
2007- Cousins Renata & Marcus (BRA- Brazil)
2009- Great Grandchild Jenny (UA- Ukraine)

19 years, 7 Countries, and countless 2nd cousins, whom I will add in when I have a second to sit down and give them the recognition they do deserve

Brain-O

2009-08-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I last blogged or had my private time with you, the Universe.

I finished the Pescara Games at the end of June and headed back to the safety and security of what I never used to have in this world a: “Home” in Palm Springs California. I put the finishing touches on my first book, The Back Side Of Wonderful, the final, final edit of a three-year (almost to the day) odyssey that began with a butterfly flying so casually by my nose and showing me the true meaning of life.

I thought I had traveled every corner of this Wide Wonderful World, and a week ago I landed in the Ukraine after four very long and non-direct flights to get to Eastern Europe and the little-big town of Donestk where I wrote a show while I was in Italy this summer for a brand new Diamond Stadium, and an “Amazing Little Soccer Team That Could”, The Shaktar football club that came out from behind the iron curtain and blazed a trail into the history books this summer by winning the UEFA Cup (the European Championships).

Everything was foreign to me here in the Ukraine, the Language, the Currency, the Culture, and most of all the food. Borscht on spaghetti?? What and where the heck was I? I fought it for a week, I was so upset with myself to think I was this world traveler ready to break a book about my life to the world, a book about how I can go anywhere and make magic out of anything.

Well, as it turned out, my health kept me home in California as the rehearsals began here in Donestk, so as I got better I was spending the time to finish my book. I let my handpicked team whom I had found along the way in my great adventure story take the lead and put this show together. When I arrived just two weeks before the show, I found that my ability to slip into “Doug Jack” mode has atrophied quiet a bit from being still in one place in oh-so-sunny California.

When I hit the ground running here in Donestk my feet refused to run they just dug their heels and in and stopped, I stumbled out of the door.

Well this was a first, how can a man who prides himself on being the choreographic version of Survivorman (being dropped into a country with nothing mote than a compass and a Swiss Army Knife and make an impossible trek to a destination in a window of time where he will be plucked out of the foreboding land by his extraction team) how could I not have the chops for such an adventure, one of many that I have spent my entire life doing, the only thing I know how to do, how could my feet NOT move forward how could I just buckle under the pressure of not sure how to order a taxi to get me to the stadium and do my job?

How, What, Why?? Man, indecision was all around me, I was shocked that there was actually a culture that I did not have any way of knowing my way around. I was stunned that my 47 year old endless reserve of Wonderful had run dry. I was amazed that all I really wanted to do was Go Home (when Home was such a new concept for me).

Had writing about my demons and facing my fears and blending the Front and Back Sides of my Wonderful life indeed stopped me from knowing how to do what I used to do with my eyes closed?

I spent a week in shock, mad at myself and brain-blocked, or blog-blocked as it were.

Then this morning, as subtly as the flight of the mysterious butterfly that delivered the message to me three years ago that all life is connected and everything is a step in the dance of life, the message again was delivered, this time from my friend the Universe whom I had forgotten to be speaking with in the early mornings as I usually do when I wake up.

Subtle and Humble and as Eloquent as ever, nothing had changed; everything was in fact as I know it except I was no longer the lead player in this survival series, I was no longer the only voice in my head as I trudged out of my door and found my way to the 42nd stadium of my life’s work, that I would call my office.

My team is the main character and I had for a week been watching them interact as I would have interacted. I watched the time they had spent (the Summer of 2009) to put together a show I had written in the spring of 2009 on a sun drenched eastern Italian shore. They brought it to Eastern Europe and did exactly as I would have done (no wait, they had done it better!) and I realize now the new job I am to take on, the new dance partner I am to add to my dance card. One of the proud parent.

To see them react, put into place and be a part of “me” mixed in with all the Wonderful parts of them that I have always seen inside of them. This has untied my feet, unblocked my brain and now I am able to express and hear the new music this land and this show affords me. I am also speaking again in the mornings to Madame Butterfly the Universe whom I have missed in the chaos of trying to get an autobiography out to the world. The extraction team of this Survivorman is the team I had found along the way, they showed me how to get back to a place I feared I had lost, they showed me the me in them, and the me I uncovered in them and WOW… an amazing, humbling and stunning wake up call this has been.

I truly am home in this far away land.

As corny as this may sounds- yes there is no “i” in Team but there is a “me”…

Taxi!

#1... One…Uno..

2009-06-26T05:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-06-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-22T06:49:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

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…

2009-06-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

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!

Busy, Meet Butterflies. Butterflies, Meet Busy.

2009-05-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Whew!

And: WOW!

You know that old saying about "Be careful what you wish for?" Well I have a new one:

Be careful what you blog about!

Not so long ago I wrote a post about The Real Meaning Of Busy.

And I guess the Universe read it, because over the past ten days the Universe has had me busier than ever! Auditions and planning and checklists and meetings -- and more auditions and more planning and more checklists and meetings filling nearly every waking moment... and when you're getting a show like this ready nearly every moment is a waking moment!

While I haven't been too busy to Stop And See The Butterflies (at least some of them), I also haven't meant not to take a moment here and there to blog a bit.

But that's exactly what I did anyway, which was not to take those moments.

And you know what? I missed it, these little moments of communication.

Maybe Stop And Blog The Butterflies is what I should have written!

But it's a good reminder of what I oh so cleverly said about busy-ness: If we're not careful, we can all too easily let busy drive everything else from our lives -- and our fields of vision.

Seeing clearly what has to be done is essential to getting things done.

Seeing clearly what needs to be done is a close second.

But forgetting to see, as clearly as we can, all the other elements of life and the Universe and everything that's going on outside the boundaries of our particular busy... that, my friends is a blind spot that can ultimately cloud our vision of the other things we're trying to focus on.

So bring on the butterflies -- and the blog! I've got time... no matter what my schedule says.

More soon. (Promise!)

FaceBook? FaceWHISK!

2009-05-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

Zabaglione (zäbəlˈyōnē) or in Doug speak Za-ba-Yon-eh
A noun.
An Italian dessert made of whipped and heated egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine, served hot or cold.

What is your zabaglione face?

The recipe first.

Take:
A dozen friends
A dozen egg yolks
2 cups or more of sugar
A cup of Marsala wine (to begin with)

Add all ingredients (except for the 12 friends) in a metal pan with handles.
Begin to stir briskly with a fork! You want to aerate the mixture for 30 minutes before serving.

(You are not allowed to use a mixer or any mechanical device: This is a labor of love, and one that does not permitted short cuts.)

This recipe is handed down from generation to generation and has not changed since the beginning of recorded time. (As far as I can tell.)

If you have ever tried to hand aerate anything, you know it requires a lot of strength and patience. You arm will soon cramp. This is where the 12 friends come in. The bowl is passed around the table as you continue to carry on your after-dinner conversation. If you happen to be Italian, you have a Zabaglione FACE, each person's expression and approach to the stirring stirringly different.

I watch each of my friends take the pan and continue the whisking.

Some stand up and hold it below their chests, talking to it like a child, calming the mixture down by “shhhhhh…shhhhhhhhh”ing it, speaking to it like it is a person.

Others almost absentmindedly set it in their lap and continue carrying on a conversation all the time they are whisking, yet never spilling a drop.

Some people fall into a blissful trace, almost as if connecting to God. They are in such a Zen Place of being that you almost feel like you're watching the most private of acts.

This is all done with care and love, and nobody refuses to help create this 3-ingredient nectar of the Gods. It is not that the Gods have chosen the 3 most amazing ingredients that make this the ultimate finish to any meal. (And BELIEVE ME it is in all of my 46 years the most INCREDIBLE thing I have ever tasted.)

It is incredible because each person present has added his or her own personal energy to these basic goods. It is this extra added something that you cannot see or buy anywhere that makes the -- in “Doug Speak” -- Za-Ba-Yon-Eh.

Simply the greatest after-dinner finish I have ever in my life had the simple honor of not only tasting but also helping to make.

Pick Up Your Feet (And Put Up Your Dukes!)

2009-05-07T05:55:00.000-07:00

I’ve resumed my one hour morning “power walking.”

I have to walk -- years of dancing have made it impossible to run; my knees and ankles are just too taxed. Besides, you can burn as many calories in an hour of power walking as you can jogging.

The trick is to keep the pace high and constant. I make several tracks of my favorite songs and group them into different one-hour BPM (Beats Per Minute) groups on my i-Phone’s iPod so I can keep the pace constant and burn baby burn! I have Medium, Fast, and Ultimate Tempos…

This is not your morning stroll, this is at a comet's pace.

I begin my first power walk, navigating by the Adriatic Sea here in the Central East Coast of Italy. Spring is finally here.

I am reminded of an old Patty Duke movie called Billie, from the 60’s. She played a young athlete who had a knack for running fast. I mean really, really fast. Indeed, she was so fast that she was put onto the Boys’ Track Team!

When asked her secret, she told the team that all she did was play music in her head.(This was well before the iPod era!)

The faster the beat of the music she chose, the faster she ran. It was really quiet simple.

Today, with so much to do and start, I could easily begin to let the living of my life weigh me down.

OR… I could turn up the BMP in my head and get on with tackling the day and kicking some butt!!

Thanks, Patty, for the simple reminder that life is what YOU make it and for helping me turn up the beat and Go- Go- Go!!

So what are you guys waiting for?

Trash Is Treasure

2009-05-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Bryn and I will be in Italy for just a few months (2 ½ to be exact), and are lodged in a rented flat about five hundred meters from the Sea. As our apartment here has very little in the way of extras, we are in need of a few things to make it a home. And we’ve adopted another form of Legacy shopping, the sort of thing I used to do with Ron and Judy when we were in Barcelona back in 1992 for the Olympics.

We don’t pass a dumpster without looking to see what has been tossed out. Not inside the skip, mind you, just things placed along the side.

We have a name for what we find. We call them The Magic Dumpster Gifts.

Trust me, I know this sounds like a strange way to furnish a temporary home, but it is damned economical! We have had so much luck that we have even turned the Italians into Bin watchers!

So far, our most prized possession is the Art Deco mirror in mint condition which now graces our entryway. It is Frickin’ Huge!!

We have managed to outfit our entire balcony in Found Goods; you would be really amazed at what people toss out here. This includes a sofa, an antique table, a mid-century modern chair, a porcelain toilet base and a bidet (which we have cleverly turned into planters), as well as a fantastic metal washing tub, now also a planter, (Bryn is quite keen on having a proper English Garden on our beach-home's sunny terrace.)

You may be asking -- But where is the kitchen sink?

Well…

Actually we found one of those too, and it completes our porcelain planting.

Thanks to The Magic Dumpster!

You know, you would pay a lot of money for us to come “design on a dime” at your place!

Keep an eye out for us won’t you? Cheers!

A Fireman After All

2009-05-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

It seems that I have found a parallel to my history here in Pescara, or more to the point my associate, Bryn, did.

We were having auditions in this small coastal town in Central Eastern Italy. As I was greeting the next group of hopefuls and explaining that I have had the honor of working on six Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies (the last two with Bryn), I mentioned that my last Winter Games was here in Italy. That was why I was asked to come be the director for the Mediterranean Games that will be held here this Summer.

As I’ve mentioned before, this region was hit by a devastating earthquake just a few short weeks ago, the epicenter not more than an hour’s plus drive from this seaside town. Pescara suffered little in the way of actual physical scars from the quake, but the town of L’Aquila up in the mountains took the full force of the deadly hit.

None of this is news to you, both from the “real” news coverage and, for this blog’s followers, my comments on the quake and its devastation and aftermath.

I explained to the audience that the first days of the Salt Lake City Auditions back in 2001 (for the 2002 Games) were scheduled to take place on September 11. We all know what day that was for the World. In Salt lake City, We struggled to find a reason, but we knew we had to move forward as a people in order to find a triumph from the tragedy.

I mentioned that I have a twin brother who is a Fire Captain, and another brother who was a Police Officer. My family, I said, was used to being on the frontlines and helping out people in need. I’ve always been so proud of my brothers and the help they provide.

Bryn said that now I get to do the same thing by putting together this Ceremony.

But instead of putting out a fire I am fanning one to life, a fire made out of spirit and honor, so very much present among the survivors, so these gentle people can find a foothold in moving forward. I know my brothers would be very proud of this!

His words meant a lot to me.

Thanks, Bryn – and while I’m at it, Happy Birthday!

Stop And See The Butterflies

2009-04-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

No sooner – and I mean no sooner – did I start having those heavy thoughts about the real meaning of busy that I shared with you a couple of days ago did I get even busier!

It’s always like that when I’m working, of course. Directing and choreographing stadium theater calls on a dozen – a hundred! Maybe more! – different skills, and calls on them all the time.

But it’s important, whatever your business, whatever you’re doing, not to let all the time mean all of your time.

As some of you know (and all of you can find out when my book comes out this summer) a butterfly changed my perspective. I won’t go into the details here (more reason for you to get the book!) but let’s just say that on that particular day I saw a butterfly for the first time.

Not the first time I saw a butterfly, you understand. Far from it. But the first time I really saw one.

We all have these moments – at least I hope we all do. That flower that catches your attention as if you’d never seen a flower before. The perfect sunset or sunrise. A smile that says more to you than any smile you’ve ever seen. That sort of thing.

Such moments are, I suppose, rare – but they don’t have to be.

You can't make the magical butterfly come to you, or the perfect dawn appear, but you can make yourself aware of their possibility, and alert to their presence. They are there -- if you're open to seeing them.

However busy I may be – and at the moment I am busy! – I find the time to take a breath, to calm myself and gather my thoughts and pause.

I stop to see the butterflies.

Ice Cream And Beer for Breakfast

2009-04-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

I know we have friendly ghosts in the 4th floor apartment where Bryn and I are staying for the next three months as we prepare the Ceremonies for the Mediterranean Games here in Pescara Italy. It is just a feeling I have had since I arrived at the place a few days ago.

I am not a superstitious person. But one time, fifteen years ago, I walked into a couple’s house in the panhandle of Florida and before I could stop myself, my body going ice cold in an instant, I said, “Oh my God you have a Ghost, and She is a very friendly one!”

They started to laugh and said, “Yes, we do! Nobody has figured it out that She is here so fast before, but we do!”

I experienced this same feeling as we pulled up to our apartment for the first time a few nights back, but I was not so quick to figure it out this time. The apartment reminds me of the place that Judy, Ron, and I stayed at, in Barcelona while we choreographed our first Olympics, back in 1992. We lived twenty kilometers south of the City in Gava, a small beachside town. Our balcony was right on the beach.

As we were driving through Pescara a few days ago, all I kept saying was “Déjà vu, Barcelona, Déjà vu Barcelona.”

The architecture, the trees and the higgledy piggly lay out of the city, every turn reminds me of our apartment back there in 1992. Ron passed away from AIDS two years after Barcelona, and Judy lost her battle with cancer three years after we finished the Atlanta Games.

As I wake up this morning I can hear in my memory the sounds I used to hear every weekend floating in from the open balcony doors:

“Helado, Cerveza… Helado… Cerveza...”

Ice cream and beer being sold by the vendors on the beach. They would sing it out so that you knew they were close as they carried their Igloos full of the cold elixirs. It always lulled me awake on the hot summer weekends.

I realize it is Judy and Ron who have been spiriting around this apartment letting me know they are here. I think I’ll have Ice cream and Beer and a few happy tears for breakfast!

Thanks, guys.