It's Friday night and I'm in one of my favorite places in the entire world. I sit here on this Friday evening in Madison Square Garden's production office. My co-workers have gone home, the union-workers have obviously gone home, my boss has gone home and I have absolutely no desire to leave.

To most, the idea of lingering in one's work place beyond the required amount of time is undesirable and often in conflict with the ideas of serenity, fun and excitement. I find myself most excited, as well as calm, when in this venue. In this city, it's in this room that I feel most comfortable. Some may consider it sad, but I consider this small office quite grand.

Although this office is but one tiny room in the alpha-venue that is Madison Square Garden, the number of things that have altered my life here over the past four months is astounding. Not only that, but it's unusual to see a day of work where most of us aren't shedding tears in laughter. It's hard for me to say that I love things, but this... I truly love. I love the people, I love the place, I love the production.

With Cirque's Wintuk wrapped and the cast and crew having all gone back to their respective sectors of the globe, it's nice to just sit here and take in the silence of a season past. You don't ever quite know when you will see any of these people again, if ever, but such is the nature of this business. I get selectively attached, then realize that with the next production, hopefully, comes more great times and more interesting people.

Speaking of interesting people, we have some professional bull riders, a lot of dirt and some pretty feisty bulls putting on an 8-second show upstairs, so I'm going to pack up my things and go check it out. Even if I had seen such a spectacle a thousand times before, the fact that the arena was transformed into a bull-riding pen from a hockey rink, more or less overnight, will never cease to amaze me. To sit and take in this place with each different event has certainly become one of my favorite things to do in New York City. I am extraordinarily fortunate that I can say such a thing.

"My, people come and go so quickly around here!" - Wizard of Oz (1939)


Photo: Taken last night at the Sonny/Innerpartysystem show at Mercury Lounge. Obviously, the photo has very little to do with my ramblings, but you do find brilliance, in shape and color, in the tiniest items on stage. Same idea with this little office in a enormous venue.