Jersey Boys – The Goof Review
It seems that I cannot turn on a radio, browse the internet or watch the news without hearing a story about a celebrity scandal. It doesn’t matter if it’s a movie star, pop star, hotel heiress or a political figure, for some reason when a person gains that much fame, they feel invincible.
It seems like these situations have been occurring forever, doesn’t it?
Jersey Boys, at the Straz Center in Tampa, Florida, told the history of the famous Four Seasons pop group and all of the so-called “situations” they were in. Frankie Valli, Nick DeVito and the founder, Tommy DeVito. were four stereotypical New Jersey kids that wanted a way out. As juveniles and young adults Tommy and Nick were in and out of trouble with the law, until Tommy decided to start a group that took different
names until they finally arrived with the Four Seasons in 1960 with the help of writer/producer/singer Bob Guido.
The play brilliantly portrays the history of The Four Seasons in four parts, with each part
narrated by a different member of the band and supposedly reflecting that band member’s perspective on the band’s history. Most of the big hits of the group are sung either in episodic situations or portraying the band on stage either in concert or on television.
A huge surprise to me, was when I opened the program and found the roll of Frankie Valli is portrayed by Hayden Milanes. Hayden and I performed together in a couple of different shows in another life. Without any bias, Hayden’s performance was nothing short of amazing. The song “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, made Frankie Valli’s extraordinary range famous and Hayden seemed to recreate it with ease. Personally, I think the amazing richness in his vocal quality followed with his research of the character honored Mr. Valli to the extreme.
What was even more amazing is Hayden’s talent was only matched by the other members of the ensemble. Nicolas Dromard portrayed Tommy DeVito with the crassness and overpowering attitude of a bully, and sang the harmonies with excellence.
Adam Zelasko portrayed Nick with the quiet determination of the performer that took the back seat a lot of the time, but always tried to help his brother keep it together. Adam’s voice was powerful and played homage to Nick and the rest of the group with perfection.
The biggest corner was turned when the group was joined by Bob Guido, played by Quinn VanAntwerp. I am not a fan of giving extra praise to one actor or another, especially in a show that is ensemble driven, but as amazing as the other members of the group were, Quinn’s acting ability gave him a stage presence that just could not be matched. His singing had this subtle quality, that foreshadowed his actions in the coming scenes. Quinn was nothing short of brilliant which is saying something because all of the actors on stage were amazing.
Another character worth noting was Bob Crewe, the producer that put and kept the Four Seasons working and famous. Barry Anderson’s gifted portrayal of Bob was nothing short of fantastic. Even as a featured actor, he had a command of the stage that allowed him to stand out in the scenes that he was in.
The rest of the actors completed the ensemble with perfection. A few of the actors had multiple roles, and were played with such finesse that it was not apparent unless you read the program.
With all the well deserved accolades I have given Jersey Boys, I did notice a few problems from my orchestra seat. The balance of the microphones seem to be off when transitioning from singing to dialogue as there were several points where it was hard to hear.
The direction while good, had some unusual placement of the actors. There were times when I really needed to see what the actor was feeling, but their back was to the audience. Every novice director is taught to position the actors to face front as much as possible, but in the professional arena, those rules are thrown out the window in order to make room for new visions, art and realism. Unfortunately, there were a few moments where if this rule would have been applied it would have made for even stronger moments within the show.
Lastly, one of the designs I absolutely loved about the show were the sets. They were simple, and clean which allowed for the acting and singing to take center stage without focus going to some special effects. The sets were so simple the actors were even tasked with bringing furniture and props on and off the stage. I haven’t such simplicity since “Spring Awakening”. It added to the charm of the show.
All-in-all, this show is worth seeing. So many times national tours come through Tampa and just look tired. This show is incredibly energized and fun to watch.
A MUST SEE!
Tribute Tuesday – Katrina Pilkington “Kat”
It has been a while since I have been able to put together a Tribute Tuesday post and this weeks tribute is someone I am truly honored and excited to write about. Katrina Pilkington, known by most people as Kat, has a heart that is rare by most standards. While she enjoys being healthy and partaking in fitness challenges and goals, she always…and I mean always, finds ways to help others reach their goals in the process.
To tell you the truth I have no idea how she does it. Katrina Pilkington is a woman who a few years ago decided to shed over 40 pounds for herself (see her story) and in doing so created a new energetic voice in the community and the blogosphere directed totally at those who want to become more healthy, more fit, and share ideas on how to go about it.
With only starting to run seriously just a couple of years ago, Katrina Pilkington, over the past nine months has completed her own challenge of 6 half-marathons in 6 months, attained her Certified Personal Trainer, has blogged about some new idea, product, person or technique every single day, holds a full-time job and is very active with her newlywed husband. Sarah Jessica Parker in “I Don’t Know How She Does It” has nothing on Mrs. Katrina Pilkington. She is truly amazing.
She doesn’t know it yet (well, she will now), but she is an inspiration to me. If it wasn’t for her example, Inner Fire probably would not be around today. Kat showed me it was possible to get a message out that would inspire, motivate and be fun to write. She also set an example on that there are plenty of topics out there to be expressed each and every day.
You don’t have to take my word for it, take hers in my interview below:
Interview:
Name: Katrina Pilkington or Kat
Blog: Fitty Kat
Birthdate/Sign: December 10 – Sagittarius all the way
Place of Birth: Clearwater, Florida
Place growing up: Clearwater, Florida
High School: Pinellas Park High
High School sports: None – I had my head in the books
College: Tampa Technical Institute
College Sports: Nope
High School sports: None – I had my head in the books
College: Tampa Technical Institute
College Sports: Nope
Other Sports: Never did any until I grew up!
I have linked to your “my story page” above so everyone can read your amazing story, but can you tell us what was the major turning point that started your fitness journey?
I’d struggled with binge dieting off and on and depended on quick fixes only to regain the weight back each time I stopped. I decided once and for all that I wanted to be the healthiest I’ve ever been and the fittest I’ve ever been once I turned 30 and have since worked to help others learn to live a healthy life the right way through the right methods.
If you could give me one adjective to describe the feeling you get when you are working out what would it be?
Powerful
When and why did you start running?
I started running and did 5ks and smaller races back in 2007.
What is one thing you love most about competing in road races?
I love the sense of accomplishment. I’ve done races and distances I never thought my body could take me through and hadn’t planned on it. Having asthma that kept me from playing sports when I was younger definitely motivates me to keep going and seeing how capable I really am.
Following your twitter, facebook, and blog, we know that you just past the NASM-CPT exam. What do you plan to do with it?
I wanted to learn about fitness in more depth on my own and to teach others what I’d learned through my blog and in person. I’d love to start teaching boot camps and learn more skills to do more with others.
Kat with husband Gary, and Jaeden
We all have those days when we just do not feel like training. What do you do to get past that feeling and get on with your workout?
I am super structured and as long as I have a training plan in my face, I get up. Having to turn off the alarm and sit up and go. Only one rest day a week is required for me and the only other time I rest is if I’m sick. My workout will get me through the rest of the day better than anything else could.
What would you say is your greatest obstacle you ever overcame?
Running 6 half marathons in 6 months all around 2:10 while working to increase my lung capacity through having allergen-induced asthma (went from 74% – the lungs of someone in their 60s or 70s – to now 88%)
What is your greatest victory?
Those races – and now training for my first full marathon!
What are your favorite quotes?
“Love yourself and be awake, today, tomorrow, always”
~ Buddha (tattooed on my left, upper, inner arm as a daily reminder)
~ Buddha (tattooed on my left, upper, inner arm as a daily reminder)
Coach Brad, Kat & Gary Pilkington
Carpe Viam!!!
Catching up with the Goof #3
As stated in web-ease “O-M-G!” I have so much information to share It is hard to think about anything else. Unfortunately, I started on a new contract a couple of months ago and now that I am fully immersed in it, my days are becoming hectic. Not only that but I have my own training, coaching clients and getting ready for the CPT test this month, so needless to say hectic is the only word to describe my activities right now.
Have you noticed the new change to IronGoof.com? I have moved away from a complete blog site to a more of a Coaching Site. I hope you like the new looks. Please feel free to explore and send some feedback on the changes. It will continue to be a work in progress, so any and all honest comments on the site are very welcome and encouraged.
Coming up over the next weekend or so I am going to be sharing news about past events and the latest going’s on.
I just returned back from Boulder, Colorado where I spent five amazing days working some of the top running coaches on form and performance. The Newton Running Lab hosted certification training for RRCA, Newton and Lydiard. The content included proper running form with drills, strength exercises, injury prevention, injury management and transition plans. While I was intrigued with the Newton Coaching formula, I was excited that a portion of it mimicked my own. The only part that my personal coaching methodology added was the intricacies of making the running form personal to each person. Newton believes proper running mechanics are the same for everyone, and with the hundreds of hours I spent learning my own body I know this isn’t true, but it is a good place to start.
The Lydiard Certification training was the best part. Arthur Lydiard was a New Zealand running coach that coached many Olympians to medals including gold in the 1500 meters and beyond. He later mentored other coaches to a point where he is actually considered “The Coach of Coaches of Champions.” Obviously, this resonated with me because Arthur himself was not a competitor, but he coached more champion runners than any other coach to this day. As I really do not compete with anyone other than myself for PRs, this validated my feelings on coaching and my passion for it. As this is a coaching method, not a form method, it also validated a lot of what I already incorporate, but I also enhanced my knowledge greatly.
It was taught by Lorraine Moller who herself was a three time Olympian to include racing in the first 
ever Olympic Women’s Marathon in 1984 where she took 5th. She did won bronze in 1992 at the Barcelona games in the Women’s Marathon. Her credits also include winning Grandma’s Marathon three times, the Boston Marathon, the Osaka Ladies Marathon twice, the Hokkaido Marathon twice, and second in the Commonwealth Games. She was coached by John Davies who was mentored by Arthur Lydiard. Lorraine herself was followed by Arthur and would consistently give her pep talks before competition. She is an amazing speaker and completely passionate about running and the Lydiard Coaching method as well as the founder and president of the Lydiard Foundation. I was extremely lucky to have someone as accomplished as she is as an instructor for the class.
The class was kept fairly small in order to provide us with a lot of individual instruction. We went through analysis of our own form using video which was really interesting. I know that my form isn’t perfect, but my mechanics are good. I found that I actually do not lift my knees as much as I should, and when I applied it later the form became even easier. I learned a lot and I hope to attend the level 3 class later in the year.
Boulder as a city was awesome!!! The scenery was amazing as it was surrounded by mountains and the culture really resonated with me. Boulder’s environment seems to revolve around two things, athletics and the arts. Which are my two passions, so this city really got under my skin. Everywhere you go, everyone is traveling on bicycles and avid cyclists and triathletes are training. Pearl Street is filled with small businesses, to include, coffee shops, restaurants and bars, and none of them are chains. You cannot find a McDonald’s or Wal-Mart anywhere the residents won’t allow it which is great. The quad-like feeling of this outdoor “mall” for lack of a better term, is filled with musicians playing and practicing, photographers, writers, and artists. It gives the feel of a old small town but with the University of Colorado in the midst, it also brings in a younger element that increases the energy of the area. The weather started the day in the high 50s and increased to the mid 80s and then ended in the high 60s. There is almost no humidity, so the air smells fresh and clean. Since most people utilize people-powered transportation it feels as though exhaust fumes do not even exist. I just fell in-love with Boulder and Colorado. I am not quite sure I ever want to live in a place with winter months, but if I did, I definitely would consider Colorado and Boulder.
My plan is to sit and complete the few posts I have started this weekend to bring you the following:
- Race recaps for: Tampa Bay Corporate 5k, Escape from Ft. DeSoto, Saint Anthony’s Triathlon, the Police Appreciation Run and Miles for Moffitt.
- I have a guest blog post, and a corroboration post that will both prove very interesting.
- Product reviews on: The Newton Terra Momentum running shoes, the Mizuno Evo running shoes, the Nike Free 5.0 running shoes, Entrade-S -R pre and post workout supplements, Chia Power Gels, and Champ-Sys Tri kits.
- Tribute post for Lorraine Moller
- New campaign of entries called the IronGoof-Lydiard Experiment..more to come on that.
That should keep me busy for a while. Have an amazing week! Live with Passion.
Carpe Viam!
Milestone Monday & Magic Number 6
Happy Monday Everyone. I know it isn’t much but this will be a small milestone as it’s the 20th blog I have written. I have not achieved the frequency of my friend Kat at Sneakers and Fingerpaints who writes 30-40 entertaining and quality posts a month, but I am working up to it. I would really like to allow you to follow me through this last week as I get ready for the Revolution 3 Florida 70.3 this weekend, so I am going to attempt to write a blog a day on my thoughts, workouts and other tasks I am doing in order be as fresh and strong as possible for this 70.3 Triathlon. The Magic Number is 6. Six days until the race.
This weekend was filled with slightly less intensity of training as I started the tapering process for the Rev3. On Saturday the A-Train completed a pretty intense 6 mile run followed by a swim in the extremely choppy surf of Clearwater beach. It was perfect weather for a run which took us along the beach and over the Sand Key Bridge. This was a good last quad burner for some explosiveness during the run portion next week. I always like running with Nick Z. He is an extremely fast runner so even though he is not running at his pace, he pushes me to keep my pace a little faster than usual. Not quite a tempo run, but fast enough for this shake out run.
I went up to the ballroom level of the Hyatt right near Pier 60 after the run and had a chance to get to know one of our new members Jessica M. The hotel is very plain from the outside but inside it is really beautiful. We bought a couple of beverages at the coffee kiosk and then went outside to chat and found comfy couches and chairs with views for the water and the beach. A perfect wind down to a tough workout. Jessica is a recent transplant from Brooklyn, New York, with a love for working out and running. We found out during the Miles for Hope ride how tough this woman really is. I mentioned in that post that we averaged about 18.5 mph during that ride. Ms. Jessica kept up with us the whole way on a recently purchased bike, with no cages or clips on her feet. She did the whole thing with running shoes and flat pedals. That had to be really difficult. I probably couldn’t have been able to keep up.
Sunday we rode a semi-fast 42 miles on the Sun Coast Trail. We started with seven riders and it was very comfortable. of course I lost the valve to my Speedfill early in the ride, but with two backup bottles I was still able to hydrate effectively. The ride started a little chilly for Florida. I don’t know the exact temperature, but it felt low 60s. I was concerned at first because I really wasn’t prepared with long sleeves or with arm warmers, but after a brief warm-up spin, Pete broke away for a bit and I followed. At 23 mph and spinning at at a cadence of 95 rpm, I ended up getting my heart rate up and I warmed up very fast. As we closed in on the baseball fields, marking the halfway point, Pete took it up another notch and we were both hitting 25-27 mph for the mile prior. Oh did I mention the first half was with a decent head wind? I didn’t realize it till I looked down at my Garmin and noticed I was working pretty hard to keep 19-20 mph. The group and I took quick break and then headed back which turned out to be faster and easier due to the tail wind. Pete and I kept a pretty good pace the rest of the ride with Jaime, Stephanie and one other gentlemen on our wheels. About 6 miles prior to being back to the cars, Pete decided to hang back a bit and Steph got rolling with a really nice pace so we played cat and mouse sticking to about a 21-23 mph pace. It was a fun ride, but luckily not too intense to keep our legs for next weeks race.
I went home, showered, rolled, stretched and then headed for a really good brunch at Grillsmith. If you have not had their brunch I highly recommend it.
This morning I woke up extremely lazy, but I knew if I didn’t jump into the pool, I would come up with every excuse in the book not to do it later. Amy, my coach, had me doing a short workout but was form focused which is what I need right now.
WARM UP:
200 WARM UP
50 CATCH UP STROKE
50 ON YOUR SIDE (1,2,3 X 5 KICKS ON SIDE)
50 ARM STOP AND LOOK
50 KICK BOARD CATCH UP
50 KICK FREE STYLE
100 PULL BUOY, FEELING THE GLIDE
MAIN SET:
All repeats are with a steady Rest Interval (RI):
10 X 100 ALL OUT!
10 SEC REST BETWEEN INTERVALS
COOL DOWN:
2 X 25 UNDERWATER NO BREATH
200 FORM FOCUS SWIM
LUNGES
As you can see it wasn’t a long swim by any stretch, but it was enough for me. I actually love these workouts, because of the intervals. It doesn’t seem like it takes as long. This workout took me about 45 minutes, where I am usually in the pool close to 75-90. See since I really do not like long workouts, I probably need to do more of them, you think?
My diet today will consist of a good amount of protein with vegetables and a good amount of water. Breakfast was 4 eggs, sweet potato and turkey sausage with salsa, Lunch will be a spinach and romaine salad with a lot of chicken, vegetables and a splashed with a light balsamic vinaigrette and dinner with be a lean steak with another sweet potato and green beans with almonds. In between, I have a protien shake for morning and an apple and almonds for this afternoon snacks. Pretty lame for a day of eating but I’ll enjoy it nonetheless.
That should take care of Manic Monday. Tomorrow I hope to start a regular post called Tribute Tuesday where I choose one person whom has greatly affected me positively and give you my story of the why and how, and then I interview them in order to let you into their personalities.
CARPE VIAM!!