Comic Relief in the Wake of Irene

So, we're working on a video for a Kickstarter campaign we hope to launch soon. We've needed to shoot some footage of the three of us talking while in the seats at the Rosendale Theatre , extolling the virtues of the TMI Project, but Irene would not cooperate with us. Every time we planned to go to the theater it was as if some director in the sky called, "and, blackout!"

Today was no exception. A full nine days after the storm, we figured we were safe to reschedule, but noooooo. At 3 a.m. this morning, after a thunderstorm and heavy winds, the power in Rosendale went out again. It returned around 11 a.m., and we thought we were safe to resume our plans. But then, just before we were to make our way over to the theatre..."and, blackout!"

Eventually it came back on again, we made our way over, and got down to shooting. Maybe it was as a result of all the tension that Irene gave rise to this week, and I just needed a good laugh; maybe it's because the intermittent blackouts were starting feel like some big cosmic joke; maybe it had to do with my husband working the camera and my history of losing it anytime he and I try to record music together - but I could not stop laughing through just about every take. Like, the kind of sloppy, uncontrollable guffawing you might be overcome with in health class just after the teacher warns you against laughing at the names of private parts. It's a recipe for cracking up.

Which is not to say that I - or any of us - find Irene and the destruction it left in its wake are any laughing matter. No, to the contrary: we are deeply concerned about the losses our friends and neighbors have incurred. With that in mind, we will be donating a portion of proceeds from next weekend's performances of Too Much Information to local hurricane relief.

We hope you'll come out next weekend to laugh (although, hopefully you'll have more self-control than I had today!) and maybe cry, and know that in doing so, you'll also be helping our neighbors who've been hit hard by Irene.

Hope to see you there. - Sari