Not The End

I kept writing this entry over and over again. I don't want to lock this door out of stupidstition and love of the Zone. I want to keep doing it, so now I'm going to just put up an entry, nothing too final or fatal, so that we can come to a conclusion of sorts.

First, let's acknowledge that ASS = KICKED. The team that built this "new theatrical musical entertainment" went from a pair to a trio on Nov 1, 2008, so we can call that the birth date of FZ6D. From that date forward, many Fools and other experienced humans tore holes in time and space and stole the energy of distant suns in order to bring you an evening's entertainment. For the first time in my career I saw every single person on set pulling extra weight every day so that we could turn audiences into sno cones on a nightly basis. Chairs were destroyed on an almost nightly basis due to simple enthusiasm on the part of the players in the Classroom sequences. Director Scott Leggett handed out push-ups like candy to distracted minions to bring them back on point; consequently, many actors were ripped like Bruce Lee by opening night. We avoided for the most part the group flu that will rage through a tired and busted cast in the course of a long rehearsal (only one internal illness in rehearsal) and it wasn't until the end that we saw any on-stage injuries. Drummer Cosmo Jones played a show with serious food poisoning and gets a medal for managing to drive the train in such condition. We had a couple late game injuries. That's a good sign that we had traveled far enough with extensions of performance. Once people have become so tired and bedraggled that they are walking into 2x4s that have been there the whole run of the show, you know it is time to retire.

"BUT WHAT NOW?" I hear you ask, and I reply, you shouldn't shout BUT like that because it makes you look silly. As for WHAT NOW, now we wait. We would like to reopen the show in 2011. We would like to reopen in Los Angeles before we consider moving the show out of town. Why? Well, for starters, we all live here and, to be honest, there are a few thousand people who didn't see the show and who want to see it, and they all live here as well. I love the show and I know we can refine it further, tightening numbers and presentation, perhaps adding a couple cast members so that costume changes and scenes switch on and off light light bulbs. And we wouldn't mind doing this a little later in the year to take advantage of your liberated libido and murderous mindset when All Hallows is upon us, but who knows. Not that I don't like Summer, but that four-layer Satan costume will feel a whole lot better in a full house at Halloween than on the Fourth of July.


Every day I followed a serious ritual prior to the show. I had to or else I would never have the energy to kill the show stone dead every night as I intended. I would go home from work and meditate for a short while, clearing the day from my head. Stretch a good bit, pet the cats and borrow their grace and energy before heading out. Traffic would be tough (Hollywood at rush hour is no joke) so to keep focus and really raise the energy, I would play a few particular songs in a row - "Uprising" by Muse, and "This Is The New Shit", "Ka-Boom, Ka-Boom", and "Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag" by Marilyn Manson. These acted as vocal warm up and pressure-builders until I got within range of the theater. Then I would switch to "Squeezit the Moocher", which I sang every day, at least once, from Nov 1, 2008 until we closed on July 10, 2010.

I really want to have that level of focus in my life again. But you never know how the bones will roll, whether you make your point, roll craps, or have the Devil show up and grant you the POWER OF ZOMBIE! So I turn my energies elsewhere. Sometimes interesting words happen. This has been one of those times, so until the portal reopens and we are able to adventure in the Sixth Dimension once again, I happily leave you with these thoughts and the gracious thanks of the entire crew and cast of FZ6D for your careful attention paid to our diabolical entertainments. This drama may be over but it's really not the end!

- Marz Richards