Kyraiden: that should be cool
Kyraiden: and while we're talking trips
Kyraiden: when do I need to reserve my futon for you for the summer? it's booking up fast
BrotherBeal: hmmmm
BrotherBeal: good ?
BrotherBeal: when is it free
Kyraiden: well see, that's the trouble
Kyraiden: all these people have said they're coming to visit and no one has given me any specific dates
Kyraiden: lol
BrotherBeal: maybe we should all come at the same time
BrotherBeal: we could put on a musical while touring chicago
Kyraiden: so I figure if more than one friend shows up at a time, they have to share the futon, and if its you and one of my beautiful female friends, why then, that just works out for you
BrotherBeal: oooh
Kyraiden: a musical? which one?
BrotherBeal: every musical needs a humorous yet seemingly impossible love interest to work out in the end
Kyraiden: that's very true
BrotherBeal: we'll call it Evanston
BrotherBeal: since "Chicago" was already taken
Kyraiden: Evanston: A Revue
Kyraiden: Or to invoke your favorite phrase - "Evanston in Red"
BrotherBeal: aaahh
BrotherBeal: I like that
BrotherBeal: yeah - we need to have a seemingly impossible love interest to work
BrotherBeal: I can try to woo her with humorous yet ineffective techniques and then, finally, win her heart in a soapbox derby race down Sheridan Ave!
BrotherBeal: something is flowing through my veins here, Ryan - and it ain't just blood
BrotherBeal: I feel alive
Kyraiden: oh wow, now that's good
Kyraiden: a soapbox derby
Kyraiden: there also needs to be a conflict, so what is that going to be?
BrotherBeal: you can be the foil to my wacky antics
BrotherBeal: conflict...
Kyraiden: excellent
BrotherBeal: GOT IT
Kyraiden: I'll be called "Tin"
BrotherBeal: Old Man McGonnigal wants to buy up a coffee shop where you and the Seabury cats hang
BrotherBeal: Im included in the Seabury cats for plot purposes
Kyraiden: oh no he didn't!
Kyraiden: of course
BrotherBeal: we have to earn $5,000 to stop his plan and we've only got a week
Kyraiden: except we're Episcopalians, so it should be a bar
BrotherBeal: right
BrotherBeal: a bar
BrotherBeal: wait
BrotherBeal: a bar that he wants to turn into a coffee shop
Kyraiden: this sounds suspiciously like a Saved by the Bell episode
Kyraiden: damn him
BrotherBeal: ohh something's flowing here, Ryan
BrotherBeal: so we need to earn money to stop MacGonnigal
Kyraiden: right, I'm with you
BrotherBeal: now we try all the usual antics - a car wash, a bake sale, etc.
Kyraiden: how does the soap box derby fit in? we sell tickets to it to earn money? can there be a race scene akin to Grease?
BrotherBeal: hang on
Kyraiden: a slave auction
BrotherBeal: I've got the threads to tie it together
BrotherBeal: no not a slave auction
BrotherBeal: PROSTITUTION
Kyraiden: no, not a real one, like "Servant for the weekend" Auction
Kyraiden: oh boy
BrotherBeal: yes
BrotherBeal: I'm rolling
BrotherBeal: I'm rolling
Kyraiden: seedy, you're increasing the rating of the musical here
BrotherBeal: you wanted a bar instead of a coffee shop
BrotherBeal: and a kissing booth is way too little rascals
Kyraiden: that's true
Kyraiden: you win
BrotherBeal: so this girl who my character has a thing for is going to put herself on the auction block
BrotherBeal: now I'm in a pickle
Kyraiden: cause you wanna buy her, but you can't afford to waste the money we need to save the bar
BrotherBeal: exactly
Kyraiden: there is a way to work in your Tae Kwon Do here I know it
BrotherBeal: AMUSING DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY
BrotherBeal: think West Side Story
BrotherBeal: with helmets and less leather
Kyraiden: lol
Kyraiden: helmets!
BrotherBeal: for the soapbox derby racing
BrotherBeal: you can't just throw safety out the window
Kyraiden: excellent
BrotherBeal: there aren't even windows on those cars
Kyraiden: or roll cages
BrotherBeal: so I enter the race hoping to win enough money to buy the girl, but my conscience gets the better of me and when I win I donate it to the cause
BrotherBeal: and then PRESTO
Kyraiden: ooo...a noble selfless gesutre, winning her heart!
BrotherBeal: I get the girl
BrotherBeal: the bar is saved
BrotherBeal: we need to find a pond to dunk MacGonnigal in
Kyraiden: uhh...Lake Michigan?
BrotherBeal: and AKMA shows u
BrotherBeal: shows up
BrotherBeal: yes
BrotherBeal: brilliant
BrotherBeal: whoa
BrotherBeal: AKMA as MacGonnigal
Kyraiden: oh no!!!
BrotherBeal: odd casting decision
Kyraiden: he would want to turn a bar into a coffee shop!
BrotherBeal: that's what I'm thinking
Kyraiden: he drinks more coffee than the donkey on the folgers can
BrotherBeal: so you think he goes to those places for the atmosphere or for the coffee
BrotherBeal: cause I'm sure he frequents them
BrotherBeal: no doubt in my mind
Kyraiden: the coffee and the free WiFi I suspect
BrotherBeal: ahh
BrotherBeal: he does have a somewhat villanous look about him
Kyraiden: villanous?
BrotherBeal: the beard
BrotherBeal: the hats
BrotherBeal: you must always fear bearded, hat-wearing authority figures
Kyraiden: yeah, those hats...I can see a villian wearing them
Kyraiden: yes, but the man's a priest of the church for crying out loud
BrotherBeal: so was Martin Luther
BrotherBeal: he wore hats
Kyraiden: so the villanous aspect is just a facade that gets misunderstood?
Kyraiden: Luther wasn't a villan?
BrotherBeal: I don't know
BrotherBeal: I felt like saying something odd
Kyraiden: well you did it
Kyraiden: ok, back to the plot
Kyraiden: AKMA as MacGonnigal
BrotherBeal: does this work or should we get an unknown for the part
Kyraiden: you're the casting director!
BrotherBeal: I say we cast AKMA but we play down the villanous angle
Kyraiden: sounds more fair
BrotherBeal: and, before the dunking, we have a scene where AKMA, the champion of postmodernism and tolerance, realizes that Episcopalians can hang out in bars just as well as in coffee shops
Kyraiden: we can play up the misperception misrepresentation scheme - that kinda stuff is his flava'
BrotherBeal: exactly
Kyraiden: oh, that's wonderful! bravo!
BrotherBeal: he still has to get dunked in Lake Michigan
Kyraiden: and perhaps that bars should also offer free WiFi
BrotherBeal: exactly
BrotherBeal: compromise
BrotherBeal: brilliant!
Kyraiden: well it's like a baptismal scene...
BrotherBeal: only humorous and with better music
Kyraiden: hahahah
Kyraiden: by the way, are you sober? and may I have your permission to post this conversation as tonight's blog entry? I want to post it and call it, "An Entirely Sober Conversation Between Two Friends"
Kyraiden: we need a few song titles...
BrotherBeal: shoot
BrotherBeal: did you actually have titles?
Kyraiden: not off the top of my head
Kyraiden: but we'll need them - it is a musical after all
BrotherBeal: oh - I thought you had some
BrotherBeal: hmmmm
Kyraiden: lets see - the overture could be called, "Saints in a Bottle"
BrotherBeal: how about "Decaffinated Saviour"
BrotherBeal: ooooh
BrotherBeal: tha's good
Kyraiden: thats definitley a track title, but perhaps not the overture
BrotherBeal: I like saints in a bottle for the overture
Kyraiden: Decaf Sav. needs to be the song that introduces the conflict
BrotherBeal: totally
Kyraiden: when your humorous, somewhat impossible love interest is introduced, we'll sing, "The Story of Beal, part 2" - part 2 because that hints at something that came before but the audience doesn't know, lending an air of historicity to your character
BrotherBeal: that is good
BrotherBeal: folks will clamor for the prequel
Kyraiden: they totally will!
Kyraiden: we need a silly bar song too
Kyraiden: to show the fun side of things
Kyraiden: "All Hail the Power of Guinness' Name"
BrotherBeal: that works in a hymnal title too
BrotherBeal: I like it
BrotherBeal: I think we're on to something here, Ryan
Kyraiden: exactly
Kyraiden: we definitely are
Kyraiden: what'll be the protistution song?
Kyraiden: ah, the Title track - "Evanston in Red"
BrotherBeal: I was just thinking that
Kyraiden: and for a soap box derby song, something fast paced....
Kyraiden: hmmmm
BrotherBeal: "Sheridan Shuffle"
Kyraiden: yes!!
Kyraiden: The Sheridan Shuffle!
BrotherBeal: that could have some crazy choreography
Kyraiden: well, especially when dealing with Soap Box Cars
BrotherBeal: I suppose I'll have to reestablish ties with Stephanie - I don't know anyone else who can choreograph
Kyraiden: I'm envisioning something that might be seen at any Busch Gardens bumper cars alley
Kyraiden: we can get Stephanie involved
Kyraiden: I've kept up with her
BrotherBeal: ok good cause I never did
Kyraiden: ok, we need pre-dunking track, a "realization" solo by AKMA, and a ensemble piece that gets across the the grand reconnection
Kyraiden: pre-dunking, should be angry and righteous sounding
BrotherBeal: righteous - us righteous or AKMA righteous
Kyraiden: us righteous against him
Kyraiden: we still think MacGonnigal's the bad guy
BrotherBeal: "Smite makes right?"
Kyraiden: but then he gets dunked, re-born if you will, and sings the touching, heart-warming, solo
Kyraiden: Smite Makes Right it is!
Kyraiden: to be quickly followed by a heavy drum roll and cymbal crash
BrotherBeal: probably AKMA's solo should be "Reborn All Over Again"
Kyraiden: and then the solo piece
Kyraiden: yes, but can we condense that title?
BrotherBeal: "Reborn Again"
BrotherBeal: playing up the baptism theme
BrotherBeal: since he's a priest he's been baptized before, but this one sticks
BrotherBeal: we can add a lyric about being baptized with fire water
Kyraiden: sounds like a plan
Kyraiden: and the vast ensemble piece to close it out - this is the big one now...
Kyraiden: ummmm....
Kyraiden: "You, Me, WiFi, and the Bottle Make Four"?
Kyraiden: that doesn't rhyme
BrotherBeal: no....
Kyraiden: "Evanston Together Again"?
BrotherBeal: works but it needs a catchy pun
Kyraiden: I'm drawing a blank
BrotherBeal: how about "These Writers Sure Can Stretch"
Kyraiden: help me out with that one...
BrotherBeal: maybe "It's Over - Where's The Beer?"
Kyraiden: now that's a closing song title!!
Kyraiden: a free beer available in the lobby for all guests over 21+

-R