The lengths I'll go to for applause, Episode One

In high school, I joined a theatre group that was located on the grounds of the private school I attended. The theatre was headquartered in a log cabin, split into two rooms: a large open room out front that was used as a rehearsal/performance space and the back room that was used as the office/green room. For a stage, the front room had a low platform set in front of a fireplace that was located between two doors on one of the long walls. One of my favorite duties as stage manager was lighting the fire before shows. It helped keep the room warm and contributed to the ambiance of the place. In warm weather, we performed on a stage outside facing a meadow. Another story.

During my senior year, I had the unusual experience of attending a production at the cabin that I didn't have a part in, either onstage or backstage. The Would-Be Gentleman by Moliere had been re-envisioned as The Would-Be Gentlewoman by one of my fellow theatre members. There were a number of friends in the cast, including Donald. Donald was two years younger than me, but he had three older brothers who had aged him prematurely. And he had access to some great music. And other things. Another story.

In the show, the script calls for a Turkish prince to officiate a ceremony that would elevate Mdm. Jourdain to nobility. The other members of the cast joined in the false ceremony, adding some embellishments to their costumes to "turkify" them. Donald's embellishment, along with some others, was a scarf tied over his hair. The ceremony was very silly, with people entering and exiting, striking poses, gesticulating and vocalizing.

At one point, Donald and another cast member positioned themselves at either end of the fireplace mantel, arms crossed in front of them, backs ram-rod straight. Part of the set decorations for this production were some candles on the mantel.

Once Donald had struck his pose, I turned to my seatmate and mentioned that Donald was really close to one of the candles. When I looked back at the stage, I saw a flame lick up from the back of Donald's head.

I stood up and moved down the row toward the aisle. I knew to my right, in the back room, there was a fire extinguisher. But that would've taken me away from the stage, and instead, I turned left. While the scene continued downstage of us, I crossed to Donald and managed to maneuver him half a step away from the mantle. I then began to beat the back of his head with my hand to dowse the flames. Donald never broke character and held his neck as stiffly as possible against my onslaught. After about ten good whacks, I decided that the fire was safely out and continued across the stage, exiting stage right.

Positioned at the stage right door was the box office table, where Donald's mom, Miss Jean, had been working that night. I met her there, half out of her seat, eye's wide as saucers. The show is still going on, so she pulled me into the seat next to her and whispered, "Thank you".

Many in the audience hadn't even noticed what had happened at the mantle, but those that had offered up a smattering of applause as I took my seat.

Wrapping up 2010

I've finally uploaded the last six months of Jeff In The Morning covering June through December. Have a listen and check at Orchard Radio for the next LIVE edition of Jeff In The Morning (or Afternoon, as the case may be). Here's the link for the download folder: http://www.filefactory.com/f/1c4012276278d9f0/. Thanks for listening.

Jeff In The Morning

Also as promised, here are the first five Jeff In The Morning broadcasts from January and February 2010 from Washtenaw Community College's Orchard Radio. Have a listen and let me know what you think. I've got some notes for each show in the mp3 tags. Enjoy!

Here's the link.

Going Live

Okay, as promised, I'm working on posting the B.C. Band mp3's. I digitized them straight from the vinyl test pressing, with no filtering or noise reduction. The disk image file is from Toast, I'm not sure if there are any Windows burners that will read an sd2f image, but maybe Easy CD Creator? If anyone gets it working Window-wise, could you let me know?

Here we go:
However Incongruous, 1981 (sdf2 Toast image file for burning a cd copy)

The rest are mp3's. Download away.
Side "Hunky"
Shun
Hemorrhage (traditional)
Time after Time
Read between the Lines
Wet Puppy

Side "Dorey"
Sweet & Lo
Hemorrhage (contemporary)
Tonto
Out in the Streets
Rape, Pillage and Burn