tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-294450092012-02-16T07:49:12.242-05:00A thoughts blast about MeSAK, MeDisney, MeFamily and how they all intertwine...David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-78463541025900820572011-02-03T03:04:00.000-05:002011-02-03T03:04:57.338-05:00

Well today marks a milestone for SAK. We have finally secured a beer and wine license. The process was not as complicated as I had expected, although the hurdles to overcome still took us a couple of months. In fact, it was several months into our first year that we were finally able to concentrate on the effort to get the license. Now more hurdles to make sure we are as compliant as we need

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-80130575931108979242010-11-26T12:56:00.000-05:002010-11-26T12:56:48.216-05:00

Seems like every move forward has its complimentary setback, minor or major. SAK is very fortunate to enjoy the ability to offer parking validation for our guests at the Cinema Plaza Parking garage, which is conveniently located right across the street from SAK. There are other parking possibilities, but the Plaza is the most convenient. It seems also, however, it is the most confusing and

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-32303538576966959352010-10-21T11:22:00.000-05:002010-10-21T11:22:11.890-05:00

A new session of Quantum Improv begins this weekend, October 23rd at SAK Comedy Lab. Looking forward to moving forward with Quantum Improv and the Quantum Vision. The class filled to capacity in just 2 hours - very exciting. As the class start approaches I realize I feel like a little kid going back to an old toy box as I feverishly try to remember where I put all the pieces and materials for

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-38149122725234391952010-06-08T21:30:00.000-05:002010-06-08T21:30:56.804-05:00

What? A blog post? Haven't seen one of these in a while... I am chock full of great excuses though. First and foremost, we've moved the SAK Comedy Lab to a great new location! We're downtown at the CityArts Factory on the corner of Pine and Orange. In addition to that, they changed the rules at blogspot.com and I had to migrate my blog from the SAK site where I was hosting it to another

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-7102838763768036562009-05-19T23:05:00.007-05:002009-05-20T00:25:59.521-05:00

Tonight - what a wonderful awful rainy night. Tonight featured Princeton Elementary's "Evening of Excellence," a night of recognition of Princeton Elementary students. Both Marina and Walker were invited to take part. Both kids are on the Principal's Honor Roll meaning they've received A's on their report card for each of the grading periods this year.They both also were honored for reaching

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-67648406345631961342009-05-14T15:55:00.008-05:002009-05-14T17:05:22.009-05:00

Hey, now I have 2, count em' 2 blogs I can struggle with keeping current. With that, I officially introduce my Quantum Improv blog to the world. If you get a chance to check it out, be sure to look at the foundation posts - they are easily bookmarked at the top.Quantum Improv is a new venture that is be becoming a major part of my life, not to mention my improv teaching. The basics molded in

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-48821963899423353642009-04-02T20:20:00.009-05:002009-04-02T22:25:53.616-05:00

Well the several weeks of nervous Disney employees is pretty much over. And how things can change over just a few months. Although I have served as a contract Show Director for the past several years and not an actual Disney employee, I was not really on the chopping block, as they say. But, the current climate has affected me as well. Last September, 2 of the shows I looked after closed -

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-72478846885911248562009-02-14T23:17:00.003-05:002009-02-15T00:42:18.367-05:00

It has been a very busy couple of weeks with work on the Walt Disney World Resort Showcase. Several events culminated last week, each as part of the Resort Showcase. Since there has been little time to consider what to write - I have pulled something from the archives. Enjoy the following movie short. It was created 5 years or so ago when the Houseful of Honkeys performed a show called

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-87243300456181886362009-01-30T12:20:00.000-05:002009-01-30T12:20:06.933-05:00

I gotta admit I'm a Mac fan. As a proud owner of a MacBook Pro and an iPhone, both which I love, this video hits my funny bone rather well. In fact, I must say I have been enjoying very much comedy videos from the Onion. I am impressed with the level of production they are able to obtain. They score extremely high on news parody - they did so in print and now in picture.Very funny.

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-49043642364094436252009-01-23T12:18:00.000-05:002009-01-23T12:18:01.797-05:00

This post is made after our neighbor comments to my wife Morgan - "Hey, what's up with the Christmas Lights?"

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-1163214204491152262009-01-13T00:04:00.007-05:002009-01-20T21:46:57.710-05:00

At this time of year I usually work on the Disney Media Resort Showcase and that is in full swing again this year. It takes place in Feburary but this year things are starting early. My work on them is generally to create characters the radio broadcast media can interview - they usually carry the current marketing / branding / PR messages from the Resort perspective in an entertaining way.This

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-3952570988855603062009-01-12T23:00:00.008-05:002009-01-13T01:58:50.482-05:00

Okay I'm two weeks into my resolution and luckily we're still holding. Seems there's so much busy work - the weeks go by so quickly. It's been almost 4 months since the Pleasure Island clubs closed, which made up about half of my Disney work, but there is no shortage of work to be done. 4th Quarter of 2008 had me very busy with SAK stuff. Keith moved to Nashville and we're looking for an

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-46633705772611294972009-01-04T15:20:00.003-05:002009-01-04T15:40:22.693-05:00

Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It has been 4 months since my last blog entry. Holy Samoli! What's the use of having a blog if you never write on it? Well, this is a new year, old habits are off, new ones to begin. I am resolved in 2009 to blog more regularly. In fact, my resolution is to write on my blog at least weekly. What has kept me generally from blogging more often is that I

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-2440738364491624672008-08-19T17:20:00.006-05:002008-08-19T17:50:31.801-05:00

Summer over already??? And now it's time for School??? My goodness time flies when you're having kids. This summer blew by like a real hurricane, not that imposter Fay. (Well, for us in Orlando anyway). All it meant for us was an unplanned extension of summer vacation with no child care and no opportunity to swim in the pool. At least it's Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday mom.We were

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-54922918427258334712008-05-23T18:27:00.007-05:002008-06-12T13:23:56.112-05:00

Saw this video on my old hard drive. This was from almost a year ago, doing a show with Wayne Brady at the Venetian in Las Vegas. It was actually a very fun audience environment scene. When you're in Vegas, you get audience volunteers like this lady who's wearing close to nothing. At SAK, not so much. And, I also get to make a wonderful racist reference to an old Chinese Woman who works in

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-75961223995970286192008-05-23T16:42:00.012-05:002008-05-23T17:57:07.958-05:00

What's this? Six months since the last post. It better mean a lot has been going on!Well not really. We moved to a new house on Christmas Day. Since then we've been slowly getting settled in there, and it might take a little longer. Less than 10 days until summer vacation for the kids. Woo Hoo!!On to today's post. My son Walker recently performed in his school's Variety Show. He fancies

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-7303990898968935602007-11-11T11:38:00.001-05:002008-05-23T17:24:41.278-05:00

Enjoy a sampling of the music from SAKtoberfest, our 30th Anniversary celebration which took place on October 6th, 2007 across the street from SAK. It was a great day.What a great time. What great shows! From the SAKtoberfest outdoor festival to the week's worth of shows culminating in some 3 awesome history making shows at the Lab on Saturday night.Lots of great visits with faces we hadn't

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-73573797342396803122007-08-10T16:08:00.000-05:002007-11-12T20:29:05.714-05:00

As promised, here's a sampling of my recent show with Wayne at the Venetian in Vegas. This scene is a word at a time story. Click the 'play' button on the control bar to view.IN OTHER SAK NEWS - I had what has now come to be a rare appearance at SAK on Saturday night (August 11th). Gotta say how delighted I always am when I see the audiences coming out of our shows. I had a great time

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-84049674700975786842007-08-08T19:37:00.000-05:002007-08-09T13:23:38.753-05:00

Got to do another show with Wayne - this time at the Venetian. Looks like Italy, but it's Vegas. Complete with gondola rides, singing gondoliers, and a 25,000 sq. ft. casino. Just like in Venice. Wayne's got a 3 to 6 month engagement there. 5 shows a week, Thursday through Sunday. Jonathan had other business and I was available. As usual I love doing the Wayne shows. It's a little more

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-37000840512763617692007-07-22T00:28:00.000-05:002007-08-09T10:31:53.872-05:00

Another long pause between posts. This one was filled partially with an excellent summer vacation. Having learned some valuable lessons from last year's summer vacation, this year would be even smoother. I discovered - wait, I didn't discover at all - I only confirmed - wait, I've been confirming this in many ways for many years, so I guess this is the first admission. I'm incredibly anal

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-32366235344518515472007-05-18T10:07:00.001-05:002007-05-18T22:16:43.174-05:00

It always seems like there’s so much to say and yet it seems so difficult to get some of it down on blog paper. The Monster show is finally open and things have supposedly lightened up a little bit but I’m still running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Many of my ongoing Disney assignments are simultaneously training subs in, so I’m still in the run around mode. Recent happenings of

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-1170574793175401962007-02-03T20:55:00.000-05:002007-07-28T15:38:05.106-05:00

Wow. I just looked at my blog and the last entry was September 2006. That's over 8 months ago. (Not very good at math). This is maybe the first time since then I've had a chance to post an entry. Why so long? And what's been keeping me? Well, most of September was taken preparing for rehearsal for Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club at Disney. That is a show I'm directing for Disney

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-1158434071381324472006-09-16T14:00:00.000-05:002006-09-26T11:02:45.916-05:00

We had a wonderful surprise a few Saturday nights back. Wayne Brady came to play at SAK!! He called me about 6:00pm and said he was in town and would like to play in with us. I immediately said "Of course!" and asked when he'd like to do that. "I was thinking about tonight," was his response.Thus began the whirlwind. I was not scheduled to play that night, but of course I wanted to be there.

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-1157564877100791852006-09-06T12:24:00.000-05:002006-09-06T17:01:18.686-05:00

I was in lovely New York City Monday before last auditioning actors for the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club show I'm directing at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Seems like everybody loves New York. I like New York - and there are some things that could be considered lovely. But New York is dank, musty, smelly and dirty! Don't get me wrong, I love New York - just, not really. I was

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29445009.post-1156468761799822762006-08-24T19:27:00.000-05:002006-09-06T17:02:32.546-05:00

Vegas was a hoot! We had some great shows, and it was a ton of fun. There's something strange that happens going from Orlando and Walt Disney World to the Las Vegas strip. It's all the same or similar production value - lots of lights, lots of sound equipment, lots of stimuli. But the rating is very different. PG on the one side to NC-17 on the other. From the Happiest Place on Earth to

David Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12264955643362860339noreply@blogger.com1