Bill
SF Classiques 019
14/03/10 15:39 Filed in: High School
SF Ephemera - Part 2
Let's go over some of the groups our team gravitated to in high school.
When we last met electronically, I mentioned the word "Semanon". While it sounds like a cult of some kind, it was just the backstage crew for the high school theater. The school made the mistake of buying very high end equipment for the new auditorium, and it quickly became clear that you needed trained people to run it. That meant that a normal method of a sign-up sheet for backstage crew just didn't work.
So, a regular student crew was trained to run all the stage productions, and the name "Semanon" (no names backwards) was adopted for them. Saylor, Bill, Mike, Steve, and myself were in Semanon at various times. Since we were essentially indispensable (a last minute walkout once threatened to cancel the school musical), we got away with a lot more than we should have.
Also, there were the "Hi-Lo's", also known as show choir. If it sounds geeky--don't worry, it is. I was the lone male SF member who got into the group, but most of the female contingent (Lynda, Beth, Sharon) were in it as well. Saylor and Brenda were in the less geeky A'capella Choir.
There was also a large contingent in the high school band. If I remember correctly: Mike, Brenda, Sharon, and Lynda were in the marching band, and Lynda was the drum major, if that's the correct term.
Finally, to maximize our geek quotient: Eric was the valedictorian of our graduating class, Mike was the salutatorian, Bill was the president of the Science Club, and I was the president of the Science Fiction club.
As I've said before, I'm sure I'm remembering some of this incorrectly. Blame it on my ancient neurons misfiring.
Meanwhile--let's listen to some more bits from Outstanding in Our Field....
SF Classiques 016
23/01/10 19:16 Filed in: Star Trek
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions - Part 16
We now move into the late 80's, and a bit of a hiatus for SF as people went off into the world to get actual jobs, get married, get more degrees (I'm looking at you, Beth), etc. In 1988, Mike and I created a 10th anniversary set (just a set of clips, kind of like what I'm doing here) and the "Is It Love" dance remix played in episode one. This took quite a lot of work since Eric was unavailable, so we sampled his voice track line by line to match the new tempo. Eric was quite surprised to later hear his voice on something he wasn't directly involved in.
We made another attempt in 1989 to do something quasi-professional. We had gone to the well of Star Trek several times, and the Next Generation series was on the air. I made the call that we needed an actual script, and got it into my mind to hold a "writing retreat" away from distractions such as television (and as it later turned out, hygiene). My father had a cabin out in the boondocks which sounded good when he described it, but was quite a mess when I got to actually see it. I made my best attempt to clean things up, but the team wasn't particularly impressed when they opened the door. However, we made the best of it, and with a borrowed laptop, Steve, Mike, Bill, Janet, Brenda, Saylor and I cranked out our Next Gen script.
It took us another year to actually tape the thing in September of 1990. It's probably the slickest thing we ever did. We really concentrated on appropriate background music and special effects. Keep in mind this was in the pre-digital days; each effect was sampled into a synthesizer and recorded in real time on a multi-track tape recorder. It would be a cinch to do it today in Garageband. However, I always felt it lacked spontaneity--that's the downside of a script, I suppose.
So, let's take a listen. Next time I will wrap up this brief (?) history lesson.
We now move into the late 80's, and a bit of a hiatus for SF as people went off into the world to get actual jobs, get married, get more degrees (I'm looking at you, Beth), etc. In 1988, Mike and I created a 10th anniversary set (just a set of clips, kind of like what I'm doing here) and the "Is It Love" dance remix played in episode one. This took quite a lot of work since Eric was unavailable, so we sampled his voice track line by line to match the new tempo. Eric was quite surprised to later hear his voice on something he wasn't directly involved in.
We made another attempt in 1989 to do something quasi-professional. We had gone to the well of Star Trek several times, and the Next Generation series was on the air. I made the call that we needed an actual script, and got it into my mind to hold a "writing retreat" away from distractions such as television (and as it later turned out, hygiene). My father had a cabin out in the boondocks which sounded good when he described it, but was quite a mess when I got to actually see it. I made my best attempt to clean things up, but the team wasn't particularly impressed when they opened the door. However, we made the best of it, and with a borrowed laptop, Steve, Mike, Bill, Janet, Brenda, Saylor and I cranked out our Next Gen script.
It took us another year to actually tape the thing in September of 1990. It's probably the slickest thing we ever did. We really concentrated on appropriate background music and special effects. Keep in mind this was in the pre-digital days; each effect was sampled into a synthesizer and recorded in real time on a multi-track tape recorder. It would be a cinch to do it today in Garageband. However, I always felt it lacked spontaneity--that's the downside of a script, I suppose.
So, let's take a listen. Next time I will wrap up this brief (?) history lesson.
SF Classiques 015
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions - Part 15
During college breaks, I would try to visit SF members at their schools. Bill was attending University of Cincinnati, and I went to see him a few times. He was hanging around with a girl named Janet, and they were becoming quite the couple.
One night, Bill and I were driving around, and he said "how do you feel about an SF wedding?". After discussing logistics of such an event, I gave him my "blessing" as SF President. Thus the SF weddings began. Janet and Bill have been together since then, moving around the country for work, and have ended back up in Ohio, so we can see them often.
The introduction of the Walkman (yep, I'm really old) with recording capabilities let us do some "On the Road" shows. Episode Two's offering is from our first foray into the real world, but we also went to an "international fair" at the mall, two local museums, and an indoor soccer game, ending up in Washington DC with Steve. On that trip, I picked a good place in the Smithsonian where the SF tapes will eventually go, right next to Archie Bunker's chair. I'll play some more of these shows soon.
Meanwhile, I was looking at the end of college, and wondering if we could actually do something with SF that would make money. We began coming up with ideas for what would eventually became "Outstanding in Our Field". We wrote ideas on Post-it notes and put them on the wall in Mike's basement, as that had become our HQ due to all the recording equipment and synthesizers. Mike and Eric put together a few songs, and over the summer we came up with enough ideas and committed them to tape, with the final session over the Labor Day weekend. We found a place that would make up tape duplicates for us, and we went around to radio stations and record stores to try to sell them. We found a new places willing to take a few copies, but it didn't go far. Boy, would this have been easier in the Internet era--just dump them in iTunes! I still have a few copies of the tape in shrinkwrap.
1986 ended with a dinner at Chi-Chi's (remember them?), giving Eric a chance to put in our name as the "Nahtzee" ("Nahtzee party of 10...Nahtzee party...". This was the last time the entire group was together at one time--from then on, there were always one or two people unavailable or out of the country.
Next, a hiatus, then we try to be real writers. Meanwhile, here's some Outstanding bits...
SF Classiques 014
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions - Part 14
We now move into 1984. This was the year of the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, so I decided our major goal for the year was a video parody of the games. Mike was involved in electronic music classes in college, so we used that as an excuse to create a new theme for the games. We spent a concentrated period of a few days in the summer (remember, we still had to rent video equipment) and shot all over town.
We used a local monument that had a number of steps to stand in for the stairs leading up to the Olympic flame. Of course, we couldn't have an actual flame involved, so for some reason, we stuck a roll of toilet paper on a stick. Sharon ran up the steps, and I followed her with the camera, interviewing her as she ran--it's amazing that anything was kept in the frame. A quick cut to Lynda's backyard and the grill stood in for the actual lighting of the flame. We were still using the toilet paper, so small pieces of flaming paper started flying around--for a moment, there was a real possibility we were going to burn down her house!
We shot Saylor riding a bike on a grassy hill (anybody can ride on cement), we created a set of sport logos with Brenda in a black suit performing each sport, and we created animated network logo in Mike's basement with styrofoam, a model train set, a vacuum cleaner, and some black wire. We shot commercials for the Kmart Financial Network, and bits on souvenirs and the Olympic breakdancing competition in Mike's backyard with Mike's brother Dan.
Dan also was one of the stars of the centerpiece event--cross country golf. The idea was that you had to hit a ball from one golf course through the town to another golf course. Brenda, Dan, Saylor, and Sharon were the competitors, and Mike and I did color commentary. Sharon's character was hit with a ball at the very start of the competition, and Brenda's character was apparently kidnapped, leaving Saylor and Dan. We shot footage all over town, ending up at the other golf course in town. Saylor did the "agony of defeat" bit, and Dan was victorious.
Finally, we shot some footage at the NBS Olympic headquarters (Lynda's basement), which should have been enough to let me to put together something coherent. I haven't actually gotten around to finishing the edit--I suppose I should get to that, being 25 year later...
In 1985, we went back to audio, since Star Trek III came out that year. We brought Eric's Spock back from the dead with help from Saylor, Sharon, Mike, Bill, Brenda, Steve, and Janet--wait a minute, who's Janet?? You'll find out next time, as the marriage bug infects SF, and we become Outstanding. Meanwhile, I think there's a Vulcan to search for...
SF Classiques 010
25/10/09 17:19 Filed in: Humor | Sound of Music
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions--Part 10
There's a lot to cover here, so take a seat.
We had the inevitable 25th anniversary extravaganza (being the 25th tape), which of course was a clip show. It also includes the only audio evidence of one short-term member of the team. Steve Hall was a British exchange student, and with dreams of Monty Python dancing in my head, I cajoled him into suiting up. It didn't work out--I suppose he considered us to be too strange--and he returned to his homeland (hopefully not due solely to us).
Hall also had a small part on SF's only live performance in front of an audience--at a school talent show. We wrote up a parody of morning news shows ("Good Day USA"), which included some bad impressions (I did a poor Dan Ackroyd as Tom Snyder) and an exploding wastebasket. Bill and I spent more time on the latter than the script as a whole, and the response was tepid. Perhaps if I ever get some comments or traffic on this blog, I'll track down the script and post it.
Good Day USA did introduce two more members--Steve Hunt and Sharon Billey (Mirchandani). Steve moved into town in 10th grade, and I believe I met him through Semanon, the permanent tech crew for the High School auditorium (that's a topic for another day). Steve became a major player in the group, especially during the "we're actually going to do this for a living" era. Sharon was the accompanist for the school choir as well as the show choir where I got to know her. Sharon was always willing to jump into a role in our productions without hesitation.
Now to the main point of this post. As you've surely noticed, SF had a few references to Nazism. I want to make it crystal clear we're were not supporting them--keep in mind SF was founded around the time the Neo-nazis got going in Skokie, Illinois. I think it's safe to say that Eric and I were appalled that this was actually gaining traction, so we made fun of it in the form of Eppi.
Our high school put on the Sound of Music my senior year, and due to the small part I was given, I had plenty of time during rehearsals to ruminate on the storyline. I'm not sure if Eric or I came up with the idea of re-telling the story from a pro-Nazi point of view, making it a very dark comedy. In any case, we began to write alternate lyrics to the songs, and by the end of that year, it all came together. Most of the team was there (Mike declined to participate, stating the he might want to run for public office some day, and that evidence of this could ruin that chance). This was the first (but hardly the last) production we did in Lynda's basement--necessary so Sharon would have a piano to play. Lynda played Maria as a Nazi spy, Saylor played a laid back Georg, Bill made strange noises, Steve joined the chorus, and Eric made sure we didn't wuss out at the end.
And with that (whew), here's our take on a musical classic...
SF Classiques 007
13/09/09 13:51 Filed in: Bored of the Rings
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions--Part 7
Background music was always helpful when we made the SF tapes--it helped us get into whatever silliness was required, and it covered up dead spots when we couldn't think of something to say.
I didn't have a lot of music of my own, so sometimes I would raid my brother's record collection. Early Kraftwerk seemed to work well as "trip music" for Bored of the Rings, so it got a lot of play during the middle episodes. It's also good to indicate a flashback, otherwise difficult to do in audio form. I never planned the music in any detail--just dropped the needle on the LP (yes, Virginia, there was a time before digital music) and started the tape.
Usually, this would just provide some atmosphere, but on one occasion, happenstance made the music fit perfectly. I'm speaking of Gandalf's return, and the main subject of this clip. Listen for Gandalf (Eric) showing his magical abilities--I swear we didn't plan this.
Of course, things quickly devolve into a battle, which means that Mike, Bill, Mark, Eric and I get to make bad war sound effects.
Don't worry, we will finish up BotR next time.
SF Classiques 006
30/08/09 18:19 Filed in: Bored of the Rings
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions--Part 6
Let's talk about Bored of the Rings.
Anyone who's read Tolkien's work or sat through the films knows this is a huge concept to take on. However, Eric and I foolishly felt it could be done, and he turned the books into a set of talking points he used as the narrator. It took eight months and six tapes at 45 minutes apiece--that's 4.5 hours of silliness. We could have cut it down it we hadn't taken a detour at the British Royal Wedding--more later--and if we didn't repeat a lot of what the narrator said.
There's a lot of drug references in BotR (what do you think pipeweed is?), which is ironic because you would be hard pressed to find a more teetotaling group than SF--at least one member is an ordained minister, for gosh sake. So, our references are broad and poorly done. This also made it impossible to skip the whole Tom Bombadil scene that Peter Jackson skipped.
We tied "The Ring" to class rings, since we were ordering them at school at the time. Also, the Orcs seem to have a lot of machine guns.
Mark Saylor took the role of Merry, and mistakenly assumed a high female voice throughout. Mike covered the Ring Wraiths by sniffing close to the microphone. Did I mention that the others had not read Tolkien at that time?
Anyways, take a listen to highlights(?) from the first two episodes of Bored of the Rings...
SF Classiques 005
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions--Part 5
I've always been fascinated by the hoopla surrounding Presidential election coverage at the news networks. All the unnecessary gadgetry--it's like the IT dept got a blank check. So, when SF covered the 1980 election, we introduced the "NBS Election Computer", aka various handheld electronic games of the era blooping and bleeping.
We also introduced Mark Saylor to the team. I met the other Mark in high school--he had gone to Catholic school until then--and it was quickly clear to me that he would fit into SF very well. Mark would grab onto a character and start ad-libbing furiously--it's sometimes hard to rein him back in and get back to the storyline, but the ride is always fun. Bill returned as well, starting a long string of appearances.
Due to questionable election rulings, John Anderson was elected 40th President of the United States (hey, I was Anderson campaign chairman in my town--at age 16--so sue me).
Next, we made the dubious decision to tackle a major literary work--J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which we called Bored of the Rings. Eric and I both enjoyed the books immensely, and I figured it would keep us busy for awhile. We'll have plenty of time to talk about BotR in the next few entries, so I will just mention that Mike Harrison joined the team on BotR #1.
Mike is my oldest friend--we met when we were 6 years old; his mother babysat me when my mom went back to work. We ended up at different schools when I moved across town, and I didn't see him again until 7th grade. Mike became indispensible to SF, both creatively and from an equipment perspective. He really brought up our game, created most of our music, and ended up hosting many SF events and tapings in his basement. He also had his own production company (there was a whole tangled web of deluded kids in my hometown--more about that later).
Up next--more on Bored of the Rings.
Meanwhile, here's the NBS election team in (in)action.
SF Classiques 002
A Brief (?) History of SF Productions--Part 2
When I last blogged, it was 1978 (not when I last blogged, but that's when we are in the story), and I was just about to see if Eric Fenton was the right person to make strange noises with me into my tape recorder. I had received an Atari 2600 as a Christmas present, and something told me that it would be great audio to record us playing it while doing bad impersonations--hence the first SF Productions tape, "Celebrity Video Games", on June 20, 1978 (now known as SF Anniversary Day). We also did the old "Man in the Street Interview" bit, where a long running character was born--Martha Hick. Okay, it was just me doing a bad impression of Jonathon Winters' "Maude Frickert" character. It was clear that Eric "got" what I wanted to do--and he even put up with it! We tried it again on "Mark Schmidbauer's Flying Circus" (as you can tell, not a lot of originality in the early days).
Our first real inspiration came about when "Superman: The Movie" hit the screen. This was the first movie I remember waiting in line for in order to see the first showing--I had and still have a big interest in comic books (listen to the "How I Got My Wife to Read Comics" podcast if you're interested as well). I talked Eric into tackling this as our third tape. "Superlaughs" wasn't ground breaking, but at least it was fairly coherent, as we could hang our bits on the movie plot.
Following that, we did a Star Trek parody (from the original TV series--this was before the movies and sequel TV series came out). On the same tape, Eric introduced a character named Eppi. She was named for the "table lunchroom wiper-offer" at the Junior High--she was crabby and had short black hair. Eric decided she must be Hitler's Mom, and we produced a short documentary on her. We then took a second shot at what we did in the first tape, and something called the "Natural Causes Telethon"--I assume Labor Day and the Jerry Lewis telethon was the inspiration for that.
Next time--NBS is born, Eric goes insane, and our cast begins to expand.
Meanwhile, here's something from the early 80's, where myself, Mike Harrison, and Bill Bagley (more about them later) took a portable recorder to a local fair. I like to think of it as early-Lettermanesque. Enjoy!