Got a theater gig for this summer... looks like fun!

A local photog who covered the show caught this pic of me in full Rocky Horror-esque regailia -- totally worth using for local promos for rock or metal gigs. And apparently people are interested already from what I hear... (Courtesy Big Fish Media)

Two shows down and the third tonight. Only a few hiccups, mostly cues for in-ear feeds being off and actors doing what actors do. But what a great time!

Betty is on the side now, as Veronica got dialed in for a lower, chunky sound that says "classic rock" to me. Plus which, I think we can all agree that Veronica was probably the dirtier girl in any case...

Theater is about twice as demanding as any other type of performing, IMO, with all the varied components that have to work in tandem at any one time. I love it, it's walking the tightrope every night!
 

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Great photo, Al. I am glad you are enjoying your theater experience. I imagine you gotta be on your toes, fully focused and observant in a different way than a regular band gig.
 
Great photo, Al. I am glad you are enjoying your theater experience. I imagine you gotta be on your toes, fully focused and observant in a different way than a regular band gig.

I remember Anton Fig talking about how doing the Letterman gig was about 76 straight minutes of watching and listening intently to catch every little cue. It's just like that, except with a script. And it's a blast.
 
Having played in a pit once or twice, I can attest to how exhausting it is! At least you're not on stage doing half the scenes as well (that was an entertaining couple of weeks)!

I love it. Maybe for the final performance, fishnets, a skirt and a dinner jacket/bowtie combination would work.

Love it.
 
Gee Al, and to think I imagined you a respectable young man. You have a fine steampunk look going on. DMC would be proud. It's a cool, butchy drummer spin on the drag theme ... unlike the cliches poor Duncan's rolling out (of course he can't help it, he's British :).

Congrats on the gig BTW. It's always nice to see contemporary works being performed ;)
 
Having played in a pit once or twice, I can attest to how exhausting it is! At least you're not on stage doing half the scenes as well (that was an entertaining couple of weeks)!
After over a year of shadowcast work, i probably wouldn't suffer too badly on this particular show, although nobody should have to pay to hear me sing -- quite the opposite in fact.

I love it. Maybe for the final performance, fishnets, a skirt and a dinner jacket/bowtie combination would work.

Since I'm generally not seen below the waist, I'm preferring some cargo shorts and my trusty Chucks -- punk and sensible at the same time. The handmade T-shirt I'm modeling is really popular among the cast and crew and they might revolt were I to change it up now. And I have it on good authority that wearing fishnets is like a hundred little cheese graters on your feet after about an hour.

Oddly enough, out of the four of us band members, two of us dress up pretty extensively for the show -- the MD plays a sax solo during "Hot Patootie" onstage, and so must be in costume, and I am highly visible anytime the projection screen/shim is moved, and so I felt it important to be in character as well; not to mention it really motivates me and gets me in the game mentally for the show. The guitarist and bass player -- great guys and monster players, mind you -- are simply in black, no makeup, and not as much "into" the show. Listen for cue, play, sit back, wait for next cue. Meanwhile, I'm cracking up at the lines as if it's my first time (not missing any cues, though!)
 
Gee Al, and to think I imagined you a respectable young man. You have a fine steampunk look going on. DMC would be proud. It's a cool, butchy drummer spin on the drag theme ... unlike the cliches poor Duncan's rolling out (of course he can't help it, he's British :).

Congrats on the gig BTW. It's always nice to see contemporary works being performed ;)

Respectable? Never! Young? Always, at heart! And I struggled with how I was going to punk out. I don't have any stereotypical punk clothing, really, and the bald spot directly atop the back of my head ruled out any mohawking or spiking of hair (nothing says punk less than a bald spot). So it was obvious I needed to shave it to the scalp. Not pictured in this shot is how I've been drawing stuff on the side of my head with an eyeliner pencil every show -- a lightning bolt, a skull-and-bones, different every night so far.

My wife happened to be telling me I needed to bin this old ratty white t-shirt at the same time I was wracking my brains for what to wear. A Sharpie attack later, and it's become a favorite among the cast and crew. Several want their own copies for after the show. I figure I'll have a Sharpie at the closing week and the after party for signatures, then I'll frame the whole thing in my home office.

Thanks for the congrats, a very fine time being had. I think some bootleg video is going to surface ere long. Saturday night's show was a complete killer, and I noticed our Criminologist had a Flip camera nestled near his chair onstage...
 
And so, week two of three is in the can. I am happy to report that life is good at the Rocky Horror Show, and I'm getting some very lively nibbles from potential next bands-slash-playing sitches. And of course, the gig is about as fun as playing naked Twister with a bevy of supermodels coated in Crisco.

Thursday's run was a bit shaky. The gremlins got into the tech part of the show pretty badly, and the show has two guys playing Frank; this was Frank #2's first night. There was a bit of stumbling, and unfortunately, I had a bit of stomach bug. When that happens, boys and girls, you eat an entire roll of Tums, drink a triple shot of Pepto, and pray to high heaven you don't shardle yourself in the middle of the Time Warp. Which I didn't, but I managed to screw up sufficiently to be thankful I had a great excuse. On top of which, the hex bolt on my slave beater hub came loose somewhere during Act One, and my doubles were off all night.

Friday was a great improvement, and then tonight, my wife used her comp ticket and saw the rockingest show that we've put on yet.

There's a few points in the show when the scrim and curtains go up and reveal the band as we're playing. I'm front and center, and as such, I go a bit... crazy. I figure that this is my contribution to the theatrics. And the audience has been effusive in their praise.

For tonight's photo gallery, let me share some backstage and stage photos with you. We're having such a freaking BLAST, let me tell you!
 

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There was a bit of stumbling, and unfortunately, I had a bit of stomach bug. When that happens, boys and girls, you eat an entire roll of Tums, drink a triple shot of Pepto, and pray to high heaven you don't shardle yourself in the middle of the Time Warp. Which I didn't, but I managed to screw up sufficiently to be thankful I had a great excuse.

I feel your pain! I did a run of The Music Man many years ago. We were doing matinees and evening shows on Sundays. Well, I decided to grab some Chinese food (General Tso's chicken IIRC) between shows. Not the best decision I ever made. By intermission of the evening show I was "shardleing" to beat the band. Delayed the second act by a good 20 minutes. Matinee breaks are thought out much more thoroughly these days.
 
So.

The show is in the can. And our closing weekend was monstrous.

I can't even begin to tell you what a great time it was. I can only hope I get my hands on some video at some point.

Now it's the afterglow and dealing with not playing that music three times a week!
 
So.

The show is in the can. And our closing weekend was monstrous.

I can't even begin to tell you what a great time it was. I can only hope I get my hands on some video at some point.

Now it's the afterglow and dealing with not playing that music three times a week!

Very happy for you that you had this experience and enjoyed it, Al. Great addition to your musical resume. Would love to see some video footage and hear some of the music.
 
So. The show is in the can. And our closing weekend was monstrous.

Wonderful job Al, Prepare the transit beam!

I'm guessing the bald guy with the tall boots was Riff-Raff, who was the hefty fellow with the gas mask? He looked like Bane from the new Batman movie.

Did the cast end up signing your shirt?
 
Wonderful job Al, Prepare the transit beam!

I'm guessing the bald guy with the tall boots was Riff-Raff, who was the hefty fellow with the gas mask? He looked like Bane from the new Batman movie.

Did the cast end up signing your shirt?

That's correct on Riff-Raff. The gas mask fella was a stock Transylvanian.

Indeed, the cast ended up signing the shirt! And the crew, and the rest of the band... Now I'll be sectioning it in half and framing it for display in the home studio.
 

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Also, my makeup evolved a little bit by closing night...
 

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Sounds like a great gig all around.

And the t-shirt is excellent! (Let’s just not ask about the “Describe your balls” comment on it.)
 
Sounds like a great gig all around.

And the t-shirt is excellent! (Let’s just not ask about the “Describe your balls” comment on it.)

That's a callback line. If you are not familiar with "Rocky Horror", the script is a parody of the awkward, overwrought dialogue and situations common in 50's and 60's science-fiction "B" movies. In similar fashion to "Mystery Science Theater 3000", audience members yell out sarcastic comebacks to this cheesy dialogue -- except, given the risque nature of the story, they tend towards the profane and obscene =)

NARRATOR: It's true, that the storm clouds that night were --- (pauses)
CALLBACK: Describe your balls!
NARRATOR -- heavy, black, and pendulous, and towards which they were heading.

Several versions of the callback script exist. (See this link for an example.) Rather than rely on the audience to provide all the callbacks, our production had a couple of cast members playing audience members, seated strategically to "heckle" the performing cast members. As such, you can see quite a few of these callback lines on the shirt.
 
Ah, now it makes sense. I was never in deep enough to learn all the callbacks.

But I did play “Time Warp” a few million times back in the day with a top-40 band.
 
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