Much of the time, my job is kinda boring. I like my work, I have a great boss (who may or may not be reading this... Hi Moose). For the most part, I avoid the people who piss me off because carnage in the office is generally frowned upon, if not secretly wished for. But the glamorous world of magazine publishing that you see in movies and on television? Doesn't exist, at least not on the regional level. Trust me, the thrill of seeing your name in the masthead wears off after a while.
But every once in a while, something cool happens because of where I work. Something really cool. Like "hang out with Blue Man Group" cool.
I'll take a moment while you gasp in jealous awe.
Yes, faithful readers, an invitation was bestowed upon us lowly workers at Unnamed Regional Magazine to attend a press dinner for
Blue Man Group, followed by a performance of their new show "How to Be a Megastar" and a private after-party with the Blue Men and their band. Fortunately, the invitation was offered to one of the more generous members of the editorial department, who promptly offered it out to the long-suffering assistant art director (known on the
Rayality blog as Mrs.Reynard) who, in turn, extended the invitation to me and our long-suffering editorial assistant. I said yes, of course, and on Wednesday we headed off to Ridiculously Large Indian Casino. Mrs. Reynard had called in advance to say we would most likely be at least a half an hour late for the dinner as we had a long way to travel and could not leave that early. At the time, we were expecting the dinner to be chock-full of other members of the press - more of a cocktail and hors d'ouevres type of thing. Imagine our surprise when the grand total at dinner including ourselves was eight - three surprised and sheepishly late Unnamed Regional Magazine employees, two very friendly employees of Ridiculously Large Indian Casino, one editor/reviewer from Unnamed Hollywood Trade Magazine, one publicist for Blue Man Group, and one Blue Man sans blue makeup. Fortunately, the other members of our dinner party had only just ordered drinks so we hadn't kept them waiting long. Dinner was fantastic and the conversation lively. It was great fun listening to our guest Blue Man talk about life with the men in blue, the audition process, and the history of the group.
After feasting on a staggering spread from one of the better restaurants in the RLIC, we all headed off to the arena. Our seats were great - just a few rows off the floor with a perfect view of the stage. The show opened with Tracy Bonham of "Mother, Mother" fame ("I'm hungry...I'm dirty...I'm losing my mind....EVERYTHING'S FINE") who not only did that song and a few others I haven't heard, but also busted out a guitar and violin version of Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love." A little while later, Blue Man Group took the stage, after a funny video intro from Fred Armisen (of SNL fame). The framework of the show was that the BMG had ordered a self-help video called "How to Be a Megastar," which gave them pointers like how to execute common rock movements like the "head bob" and the "one-armed fist pump" and creating unique over-priced rock souveneirs to scam their audience out of money. The latter one was achieved by one Blue Man throwing what looked like paint-filled gum balls and marshmallows at another Blue Man, who proceeded to spit the paint and marshmallows on a canvas. Voila! Rock souveneir. I've never been to a BMG show before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. They are definitely extraordinarily talented actors and musicians- the show was both funny and moving. I was duly impressed and had a great time.
When the show was over, we slipped on our Private After Party press passes and headed on over to the cocktail party. As we approached, we saw a couple of people arguing with employees at the door of the bar. Apparently they were not too pleased to be denied entrance because of the private party going on. The employees waved us through like the VIPS we're not, and we found ourselves in the middle of a very swank martini bar. The friendly RLIC employees spotted us and gave us each a cd of the show's music. Score! I totally was going to buy that off iTunes, but now I can spend my money on Battlestar Galactica episodes (Begins Friday 10/6 at 9pm on SciFi - WATCH IT!) We ordered some drinks, and took a seat. A few minutes later, there was a bit of a commotion on the other side of the bar. The Blue Man Group had arrived, in costume, and made their way over to an open space which happened to be in front of our table. They posed for pictures, remaining in character the whole time. Friendly BMG publicist asked us if we wanted to take a picture with them and we agreed. So somewhere there is a photo of us with the Blue Man Group, but I haven't seen it yet. I'm a little concerned, considering that none of us could see what they were doing behind us but whatever it was prompted other people to take pictures as well. It remains to be seen whether that picture is going to see the light of day.
At some point, our little group headed upstairs in the bar, mainly because I wanted to check out the view of the casino floor from that vantage point. When we came back down, we realized it was way past time for us to get on the road so we made our way to the door and said our goodbyes. As we passed the BMG publicist, she stopped us and asked whether Unnamed Regional Magazine would like for their office walls a Blue Man Group original. And with that she presented us with the still wet spit painting from the show, complete with chewed up "marshmallow" in the middle. Mrs. Reynard immediately said yes, and after threatening her with bodily harm if she got paint in my car, we headed on home.
So there it is. For one night, I got to act like a VIP and do the things many people might think I do because I work at a magazine. The painting, by the way, is in Mrs. Reynard's office. Even with the chewed up marshmallow, it's better than most of the stuff hanging in our office. And that includes the covers of our magazine.
