The first part of “Broadway’s Next H!t Musical” is an award show where each of the four actors make up a song from a made-up musical.  The entire song is improvised, from the pianist to the lyrics to the actions.  Once all four actors have performed their song the audience votes on their favorite.  The winner gets the coveted Phony Award and the opportunity to perform the entire musical that their improvised song came from.

In order to have a good improvisational experience everything has to be as random as possible.  To achieve that objective the audience was involved.  Before entering the theater we were greeted by little slips of paper where we could come up with a possible song title that would be selected for the actors to use.  Knowing this ahead of time allowed me to come up with something that would be entertaining to see.  I ended up submitting “The Ballad of Horatio the Pool Boy”.

The first actor came on and was given the title “The First Time I Touched Her Butt.”  He created a musical based on a Doo-wop group who breaks up because of an alleged affair between a member and another member’s wife.  It was my 2nd favorite of the evening.

The second actor was given the title “Why Mac and Cheese Are Best Friends”.  She created a country musical based on a farm family who helped feed the community but was being foreclosed on.  Mac and Cheese turned out to be her twin sons.  It wasn’t very good but she was also dealt a tough hand in my opinion.

The fourth actor (you’ll see why I skipped one) was given “I Just Lost My Earring” for his song.  He created an action/adventure and included some dance choreography from an audience member.  Somehow a magical earring needed to be found on a magical island in order for him to return home.  It was the audience’s 2nd favorite but my 3rd.

That leaves us with my favorite of the evening.  The third actor picked her song and took a minute to read it.  Once she figured out what it was she couldn’t help but laugh, and as she read it the entire audience busted out laughing.  Indeed she chose “The Ballad of Horatio The Pool Boy”.  This musical was about a famous actress and her love, and loss, of her pool boy Horatio.   It was so well done that the audience chose this musical as the winner of the Phony Award!  As the song’s composer I was given an award myself.

After a short intermission the performers put on a great show based off the song.  The story went along nicely and showed the rise and fall and rise again of the actress as Horatio appeared to become a distraction to her work, according to her movie’s director.  It came to be more of a distraction after he left her life.  When he came back she was back to normal and her acting work was better than ever.

Broadway’s Next H!t Musical was a great time.  Luckily the actors were given some good material to work with.  I have no doubt in my mind that at least two of the other options would have been just as funny had they been selected as the winner.  It truly is on the audience to make the performance enjoyable; the more creative the song titles the better the show will be.  I highly recommend taking this show in if you have a chance (it’s in Des Moines through May 12).

The days were long (Friday 8am to 9pm and Saturday 8am to 11:15 pm) but fun.  Most of my work consisted of adjusting volume levels at the beginning of the wrestling sessions.  During the wrestling I didn’t have much to do, other than adjust the P.A. volume as needed.

Saturday’s championship session was a different story.  We ended up being much more involved with things during this session than the prior 5 sessions.  We had music for the wrestler introductions and awards presentations and interviews with the winning wrestler after each match.  My hands were constantly at the sound board adjusting the levels and making sure certain equipment was muted at different times and the volume was set.  This turned out to be a historical night as Kyle Dake of Cornell University became the first collegiate wrestler in history to win 4 national championships in 4 different weight classes.  My favorite moment came as Iowa’s Derek St John captured the national championship at 157 pounds (12:24 mark of the video):

This was the first time I’ve ever been to a collegiate wrestling meet of any kind.  Now I really want to go to the Iowa/Iowa State duel meet in Iowa City sooner than later.  I still don’t fully understand all of the aspects of wrestling but I do know it can get pretty exciting.

Now that I’ve done 2 NCAA championship events I’m hoping I can work March Madness next.  Come on NCAA, I know you want to bring it to Des Moines.

After a replay review the play was ruled a touchdown because of “simultaneous possession” (you see for yourself).  The rule for simultaneous possession says more than 1 eligible receiver (includes defensive backs) must have equal possession at the time of a catch, not after the players hit the ground.  It was apparent the final ruling on the field was to appease the home field crowd, you could tell the referee was uncomfortable with what he was going to say after looking at the replay.

Yes I am a Packers fan but the way these officials acted all game upset me more as a football fan in general.  I don’t mind penalties being called but they need to be warranted and called with no sign of bias.  I’m the first one to say that a questionable call against my team is actually the right call, and I’m also the first to say that a bad call that benefits my team is a bad call.  These NFL games are getting almost impossible to watch and I can only imagine how it feels trying to play in them.  Unfortunately the NFL won’t do a damn thing about this situation because they could really care less about what the fans think.  People are still going to fill the stands and have already paid for most of the tickets (thank you season ticket holders).  People are still going to turn on their television and watch games.  The players are going to continue playing, the coaches will keep coaching, and the officials are still going to be pretending they know what’s going on.  Maybe the players should just take a seat on the field after a 10 yard kickoff and not move.  I thought it was a joke when there were rumors of the players striking until the real officials were brought back before the season even started.  Now I’m not so sure that was a joke.  The only joke continues to be the guys in the black and white stripes “officiating” the game on the field.  I would hate for something like this to happen during the playoffs.  The players should be determining the outcome of the game, not the officials.

I can honestly say I will not be watching any NFL games this week.  Thankfully the NASCAR race is at one of my favorite tracks (Dover) and the Ryder Cup is also this weekend.  I’ll come back once the regular officials come back.

Hopefully I won’t forget about this site and I’ll start blogging again soon.

B-Sox and Quentin are back talking about some of the more famous/awesome mustaches, things that may annoy them, this week’s book recommendation, Sandman Slim, and the introduction of a new feature “Drop the Hammer”.

If you have any interesting stories, suggestions for topics, or think you may be a suitable guest please let us know by using the “Contact Me” link at the top of the page. Be sure to follow QB Sessions on Twitter.

Next week we will be debuting our new website. Keep an eye on our Facebook page or Twitter feed for more details.

Our podcasts are now available on iTunes! You can access the podcast directly at this link or you can search for us in the iTunes store.

B-Sox and Quentin are back with some of their favorite websites, a look at upcoming movies, union and political talk (note, if you work in a union you aren’t a bad person but there are some bad unions), UFOs, vampires, mermaids, and Sylvia Browne.

If you have any interesting stories, suggestions for topics, or think you may be a suitable guest please let us know by using the “Contact Me” link at the top of the page. Be sure to follow QB Sessions on Twitter.

Our podcasts are now available on iTunes! You can access the podcast directly at this link or you can search for us in the iTunes store.

We’re back! After taking a sabbatical B-Sox and Quentin return to talk about the movies they’ve seen since their last meeting, hit on some sports topics (NBA and if the NBA could survive in Des Moines, MLB, and the Barnstormers), and the normal weird stuff (including a face-eating man).

Click here for the story about the face-eating man. This may not be safe for work.

If you have any interesting stories, suggestions for topics, or think you may be a suitable guest please let us know by using the “Contact Me” link at the top of the page. Be sure to follow QB Sessions on Twitter.

Our podcasts are now available on iTunes! You can access the podcast directly at this link or you can search for us in the iTunes store.

Now for some pictures and video of the event.

Adelitas Way

Volbeat

Volbeat

Andy Hall introducing Theory of a Deadman

Theory of a Deadman

Theory of a Deadman

Theory of a Deadman

Chevelle

Chevelle

After taking a week to recover from the previous hijinx Quentin and B-SoX make their triumphant return to the “studio”. Movies, mainly The Avengers, lead off the episode. A shameless plug for this weekend’s big concert event starts segment 2 with more concert talk following. The episode is ended with more paranormal talk with this week focusing on UFOs..

If you make it all the way through you may deserve a prize, or something.

Click here for the Dan Aykroyd video as mentioned in Segment 3.

If you have any interesting stories, suggestions for topics, or think you may be a suitable guest please let us know by using the “Contact Me” link at the top of the page. Be sure to follow QB Sessions on Twitter.

Our podcasts are now available on iTunes! You can access the podcast directly at this link or you can search for us in the iTunes store.