--- In [email protected], Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > on 6/6/05 6:16 PM, Jeff Fischer at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > PS Man, telling these stories really brings those days back. I have > > one more about "Casey at the Bat" during a Manor talent show, but don't > > want to impose unless some are interested. Those were hard, fun, > > exciting times. > > I liked that one, so keep typing!
One spring we had a talent show, which was a Manor tradition. The year before, a guy who called himself "Pepsi" did a whole Elton John thing where he had to be escorted on stage because he had put on elevated shoes of about a foot tall, had the over sized sun glasses, outrageous outfit, boas, etc. Very, very, funny. Then he put together a West Side Story parody highlighted by (to the tune of Maria): "I just met a sound called my mantra. And suddenly I've found how wonderful a sound can be. Mantra, Mantra, Mantra, I just can't stop saying my mantra. Freaking hysterical. Wish someone had it on tape. I was standing behind the aforementioned (earlier post) three gunas who we had to convince not to pull the plug. I feel giddy just remembering it Anyway, I did a parody on "Casey at the Bat" but I entered it in the oratory contest to be read as a "straight" poem. I got on stage and acted really nervous, clearing my throat, bobblling my lines, starting over etc. Then one of my confederates came out from behind a door back of the stage and said "Fish, you're dying out here; Me and some of the boys are gonna help you out" - wherewith 10 guys stormed out on stage with gloves, bats, balls, etc. We acted out the poem with a guy "dying" on third (where he literally fell off the stage)and stuff like that. The crowd was pumped. If you know the poem, Casey is the big burly slugger who they know will win the game if only they can get him to bat. He calmly takes pitches that are called strikes and the crowd boos. We had placards made with girls showing them to the audience at those moments and the "rounding" crowd went wild. Booing, howling, hissing, laughing hysterically. It was kinda cool and kinda freaky. I didn't know they would get in to it so much. I picked the wimpiest guy I could to play Casey and when the fatal moment came for him to strike out, we had him hit a home run w/ the corny ending: I guess you just can't strike out in the Age of Enlightenment. Postscript: We won 2nd place in the "oratory" contest. The next day our act was the buzz (my 12 mins of fame - I used the other three up w/ the State Trooper incident) in the cafeteria. People were coming up and congratulating me and one even asked "You knew they were gonna do that, right?" So I was feeling pretty good. The discussion turned to way we didn't win 1st. Now, sitting at the end of the table was a guy named Tony, who I knew was very literate (although also part of the maintenance crew like us) and who I also knew had been a judge. I instantly "knew" (ritam bara pragya?) that he hadn't voted for us. I couldn't resist temptation. I blustered on about how, although while it appeared to be the most popular performance in the show, you couldn't exactly call it oratory, Right, Tony? Tony slinked closer to the wall. I mean how could anyone who knew anything about oratory actually vote for a schtick like that, right Tony? The poor guy; somebody said "Hey Tony, weren't you one of the judges?" I said "hey, leave Tony alone; the man just voted his conscience." (which was true). Tony got red faced and left. It was mean, I know. But those were my lesser evolved, early days. Jeff To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
