(From the Janesville Messenger, 2-1-09)
Super Bowl weekend is upon us. And among all the hype about the parties, this year’s commercials or the halftime Bruce Springsteen show, yes, there is a football game stuck in there, too.
Naturally, you want to pick a team to cheer for in the big game, but neither the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers nor the NFC champion Arizona Cardinals really evoke any feelings one way or the other. So how to choose?
To help in this life-or-death decision, I’ve identified several factors and given each equal weight in determining the verdict. My final conclusion will be based on my personal analysis; your mileage may vary.
HISTORY FACTOR: The Steelers have had a great deal of success over the last 35 years, winning five Super Bowls, including a victory three years ago over the Seattle Seahawks.
The oldest NFL team, the nomadic Cardinals (Chicago to St. Louis to Phoenix) have been simply awful for most of their history. Their sole championship was in 1947. To put that in perspective, that was 11 presidents ago (Harry Truman), when the NFL championship wasn’t even televised yet. Advantage: Cardinals.
OWNERSHIP FACTOR: Both teams have had family ownership since the 1930’s, the Rooneys in Pittsburgh and the Bidwills with the Cardinals.
In 1988, Bill Bidwill gave St. Louis the old “give me a new stadium or I’ll leave” routine and he left. I can’t stand that. Advantage: Steelers.
UNIFORM FACTOR: Except for the rounded numbers they adopted about a decade ago, the Steelers’ uniforms are the same tough-looking black-and-gold they have worn for years, right down to the Steel logo that has always resided on only one side of their helmets.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals are trying to make the bird on their helmet look fierce. Advantage: Steelers.
MASCOT FACTOR: The Cardinals’ mascot is Big Red, and he is indeed a big red cardinal. The Steelers’ mascot is Steely McBeam, an unshaven steel worker complete with construction helmet, checked work shirt, and bib overalls. In a 2007 Steelers fan poll, Steely’s approval rating was a paltry 10%. Yes, his own fans hate him. Advantage: Cardinals.
HAIR FACTOR: You see a lot of hair flying out the back of the helmets belonging to Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu. When the helmets are off, though, Polamalu’s mop could conquer the world. Or at least smother it. Advantage: Steelers.
FACIAL FRACTURE FACTOR: Both teams have a star player that suffered major multiple facial fractures. Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s came as the result of a motorcycle accident in 2006. Arizona’s Anquan Boldin got his from a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit during a game in September. Despite needing 7 plates and over 40 screws to fix the fractures, Boldin only missed two games and continued to play at a high level. That’s guts. Advantage: Cardinals.
NO ‘I’ IN TEAM FACTOR: As the rest of his team was celebrating their NFC championship two weeks ago, Boldin was arguing with his coach over playing time and skipping the post-game revelry. Advantage: Steelers.
RODNEY DANGERFIELD FACTOR: It’s hard to find an NFL superstar who has gotten less respect over the years than Kurt Warner. After being cut by the Packers as a rookie, no other NFL team came calling. So Warner stocked groceries and played in the Arena League for a few years before finally getting an opportunity with the St. Louis Rams. All he did was lead the team to two Super Bowls while picking up two Most Valuable Player awards. However, his play declined and the Rams gave up on him a mere two years after the second Super Bowl. The New York Giants dumped him after one season. He then joined the Cardinals, where he was destined to be the backup. But a funny thing happened on the way to the scrap heap. Warner found his zone and played himself back into a starting job. Warner has been spectacular this year, and he’s a nice guy to boot. Advantage: Cardinals.
SWEET REVENGE FACTOR: Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt was a Pittsburgh assistant until 2006. He departed for Arizona after the Steelers passed him over for their head coaching job. Advantage: Cardinals.
CONFERENCE FACTOR: Let’s face it – this is NFC country. Wisconsin is right in the middle of the Black-and-Blue Division, the NFC North. It feels right to back the Packers’ conference in the Super Bowl – except when the Bears, Vikings or Cowboys are involved. Or Terrell Owens. Advantage: Cardinals.
FANTASY FOOTBALL FACTOR: Only one player from either team was on my fantasy league team - Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald, and he carried me to my first-ever league championship. Advantage: Cardinals.
UNDERDOG FACTOR: As of this writing, the Steelers are a 7-point favorite. Who doesn’t love an underdog? Advantage: Cardinals.
So there it is – I’m a Cardinals fan for a day. If only it were this easy to decide who to vote for on Election Day.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Shoveling The Sidewalk to Nowhere
(From the Milton Courier, 1-29-09)
Editor, the Courier:
As many Milton residents know, I am the proud owner of the infamous “Sidewalk to Nowhere,” a patch of concrete that exists only in front of my house on Columbus Street.
The sidewalk earned its name because it has no connection on either end, not even a clear path on which to continue your stroll. If you continue northward and fight your way through the lilac bush, you’ll find a sloped lawn where navigation on foot is impossible. To the south, you’ll run straight into a fence and a row of hedges.
Its 40 feet of uselessness was magnified several years ago when the city installed a more complete sidewalk on the opposite side of our street along College Green Park.
Because of my sidewalk’s lack of purpose, and mindful of the city’s policy not to enforce the shoveling ordinance except in the case of a complaint, I haven’t bothered to shovel it over the 17 winters I have spent here. Well, except once, several years ago, when someone complained.
But now, I will have to do it a second time, because again, the city received a complaint.
Why would someone do this, especially in a year when the snow has been plentiful? I can only think of three reasons:
1) I have an enemy.
2) I have a friend that is capable of playing a cruel practical joke.
3) I am the victim of someone who doesn’t like shoveling his or her sidewalk and/or is a firm believer in a black-and-white “what’s fair for one is fair for another” policy, even in cases where common sense trumps a one-size-fits-all city ordinance.
I can’t blame the city for enforcing this, because making exceptions to an ordinance is bad precedent. And I suppose I set myself up for this by drawing attention to the sidewalk in a letter to the editor a few years ago.
But a funny thing happened after that letter to the editor appeared. I was absolutely amazed by how many people drove by the sidewalk just to look at it. Some even came over and walked on it just to say that they had. The Sidewalk to Nowhere became a tourist attraction.
And maybe that is the point of the person who called the city to complain. By keeping the sidewalk covered with snow all winter, I am depriving my community of the opportunity to view a valuable asset, a landmark of interest to visitors and residents alike. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I am certain that was the intent of the complainant.
So thank you, fellow citizen. Thank you for opening my eyes to the horrible disservice I was doing to Milton. I have learned my lesson and vow to do a better job of making my tourist attraction accessible to all, at least until December 2009.
Editor, the Courier:
As many Milton residents know, I am the proud owner of the infamous “Sidewalk to Nowhere,” a patch of concrete that exists only in front of my house on Columbus Street.
The sidewalk earned its name because it has no connection on either end, not even a clear path on which to continue your stroll. If you continue northward and fight your way through the lilac bush, you’ll find a sloped lawn where navigation on foot is impossible. To the south, you’ll run straight into a fence and a row of hedges.
Its 40 feet of uselessness was magnified several years ago when the city installed a more complete sidewalk on the opposite side of our street along College Green Park.
Because of my sidewalk’s lack of purpose, and mindful of the city’s policy not to enforce the shoveling ordinance except in the case of a complaint, I haven’t bothered to shovel it over the 17 winters I have spent here. Well, except once, several years ago, when someone complained.
But now, I will have to do it a second time, because again, the city received a complaint.
Why would someone do this, especially in a year when the snow has been plentiful? I can only think of three reasons:
1) I have an enemy.
2) I have a friend that is capable of playing a cruel practical joke.
3) I am the victim of someone who doesn’t like shoveling his or her sidewalk and/or is a firm believer in a black-and-white “what’s fair for one is fair for another” policy, even in cases where common sense trumps a one-size-fits-all city ordinance.
I can’t blame the city for enforcing this, because making exceptions to an ordinance is bad precedent. And I suppose I set myself up for this by drawing attention to the sidewalk in a letter to the editor a few years ago.
But a funny thing happened after that letter to the editor appeared. I was absolutely amazed by how many people drove by the sidewalk just to look at it. Some even came over and walked on it just to say that they had. The Sidewalk to Nowhere became a tourist attraction.
And maybe that is the point of the person who called the city to complain. By keeping the sidewalk covered with snow all winter, I am depriving my community of the opportunity to view a valuable asset, a landmark of interest to visitors and residents alike. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I am certain that was the intent of the complainant.
So thank you, fellow citizen. Thank you for opening my eyes to the horrible disservice I was doing to Milton. I have learned my lesson and vow to do a better job of making my tourist attraction accessible to all, at least until December 2009.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Through The Fire and the Flames, We Carry On
(From the Janesville Messenger, 1-18-09)
As music stores go, Rockhaus Guitars and Drums in Milwaukee was never the biggest or the fanciest.
But for a musician or a music lover, it was the most fascinating and certainly, the most real.
I use the term “was” because in the early morning hours of Sunday, January 11, Rockhaus was transformed from Milwaukee’s coolest music store into a cordoned-off disaster area. An electrical fire turned Rockhaus into a near-total loss. Between fire, smoke and water damage, over $100,000 of merchandise and equipment were destroyed.
As tragic as this news would be to any Milwaukee-area music lover, it’s 100 times worse for our family because the store owner is my brother-in-law, Rusty Olson.
Besides owning Rockhaus, Rusty plays drums for several Milwaukee bands, including the Peder Hedman Quartet. But his most notable drum seat is with Couch Flambeau, a legendary local trio that has lost none of its edge, wit, energy or musicianship after 27 years of performing. If you went to college in Madison or Milwaukee during the 1980’s, it’s likely that at some point, you heard their music.
But even if I didn’t know Rusty from Adam, I would have loved his store. When you walked into Rockhaus, there were no glitzy displays, just stuff - lots of stuff. Stacks of amplifiers. Truckloads of drums. CDs from area bands. Guitars of every size, shape, color and variety hanging on the wall, even one made of aluminum. Odd, vintage and collectible instruments like a theremin, the electronic gadget most famous for its appearance in old science fiction movies and the Beach Boys’ classic “Good Vibrations.” You could spend hours just looking over the various pop culture items Rusty had on the walls or behind the counter.
Despite being literally a corner shop, musicians of local, national and even international renown have walked through Rockhaus’ doors.
Times have been tough lately for small businesses, and Rockhaus was no exception. Repairs and Internet sales were instrumental in helping the store weather the struggles of the current economy.
But all that changed in the middle of the night last week, when a falling ceiling tile tripped the burglar alarm at the store, and Rusty arrived minutes later to find the store in flames.
For three days, Rusty has been able to look at, but not touch, what’s left of his business. He sees a $2,000 guitar sitting in a puddle of water, but cannot rescue it from further damage. Rusty is not allowed to move anything until inspectors from his and his landlord's insurance companies examine the wall where the fire started.
He refers to the three days following the fire as a “strange parade of new faces and business cards.” Even though the waiting is maddening, he says that “it has given me the opportunity to look things over and begin to get a game plan together, so it has been helpful.”
The game plan is to rebuild.
Anyone in Rusty’s shoes would have every right to be angry or depressed. And I’m sure he has already experienced both of those feelings. But he remains optimistic.
“There are some contractors ready to go, dumpsters set for delivery and things are falling into place day by day,” he said. “The landlord and (I) are both wanting very much to get things back to normal life as soon as we can. Everybody is playing nice and being productive. What more can you ask for, really?”
And that reinforces a lesson I learned when an inattentive driver totaled the coolest car I ever owned last year. Things can be replaced, but people can’t. No one was hurt in the Rockhaus blaze, and for that, we can be thankful. Rockhaus may be gone, but like a phoenix, it will rise from the ashes.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
When Norm Was The Norm
(From the Janesville Messenger, 1-4-09)
My daughter Corinne is going to Boston next spring with her high school band. When she received her itinerary, one of the items listed was “Dinner at Cheers.”
“What is ‘Cheers’?” she asked.
Oh, my.
I looked it up and discovered that the final episode of “Cheers” aired almost 16 years ago (16 years ago!) when my daughter was a year old. No wonder she knew nothing of Sam, Diane, Woody, Norm and Cliff. Finding out that Frasier was on a show before “Frasier” was like finding out that John Lennon was in a band before he wrote “Imagine.”
Besides making me feel old, it reminded me of how television used to be the Great Uniter. At the time “Cheers” was on the air, practically everyone I knew watched it. And that’s how it was with a lot of shows.
If you needed a topic to start a conversation, all you had to do was ask, “Did you see ‘Saturday Night Live’ last weekend?” From “M*A*S*H” to “Happy Days” to “The Cosby Show,” there were dozens of shows that provided a common bond for discussion at school or at the office – “watercooler shows,” to borrow a phrase from “Seinfeld.”
Of course, those were the days when you only had three network programs to choose from. With the advent of cable television and its explosion of networks, viewership has greatly fragmented. Then came home video, followed by the Internet and video games, and now it’s hard to find two televisions on the same street tuned to the same thing (except on Packer Sundays).
My personal television viewing habits have changed radically over the last decade or so. Where I once watched as much TV as anyone, now I rarely view a program that doesn’t include a football. The only two current shows that seem to have any kind of “watercooler” status are “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars” – and I have never watched an episode of either. That’s not an exaggeration; I mean never, as in “not once.”
Other popular shows I have never seen: “The Sopranos,” any incarnation of “CSI,” “E.R.,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Sex and the City.” The list would fill a few pages.
Only once did I watch a “Seinfeld” episode in first run. I saw “Friends” once. I saw part of one episode of the first “Survivor” series but after watching the contestants eat a rat, I never returned.
That doesn’t mean I am now some sort of snobby TV hater or Luddite. There are, in fact, a few series I really like, including “The Office,” “Lost,” “Psych” and “Monk.” However, I watch 99% of their episodes not in their scheduled network slot, but on DVDs checked out from the public library or on the TV networks’ web sites.
On the rare occasion where I do watch a show on network TV, the commercial interruptions drive me nuts. We caught one of my daughter’s favorite movies, “Miracle,” on ABC recently, and sitting through the long breaks was torturous, particularly when you’re no longer used to doing that.
About the only universally shared TV experience left is the Super Bowl, a show where, ironically, the commercials are part of the entertainment. I’ve always imagined that the only people not watching the Super Bowl are 80-year-old ladies sitting quietly at home tuned to Lawrence Welk or American Movie Classics (sorry, Mom). But amazingly enough, each of the past two years, I have had to miss the big game. It completely pained me that last year, while one of the greatest games in the history of the Super Bowl was playing out, I was driving back from central Iowa in a snowstorm, forced to search the AM radio dial for the game. And to make matters worse, when my wife took the wheel for the last part of the trip, I actually fell asleep and missed the Giants’ winning touchdown drive. You know you’re getting old when the formula “Passenger Seat + Darkness = ZZZ” automatically applies to you.
This year, however, I should be able to watch the Super Bowl again, and as long as the Minnesota Vikings aren’t playing, it will be a good thing. Maybe I’ll even go to a Super Bowl party.
Because sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.
And they're always glad you came...
My daughter Corinne is going to Boston next spring with her high school band. When she received her itinerary, one of the items listed was “Dinner at Cheers.”
“What is ‘Cheers’?” she asked.
Oh, my.
I looked it up and discovered that the final episode of “Cheers” aired almost 16 years ago (16 years ago!) when my daughter was a year old. No wonder she knew nothing of Sam, Diane, Woody, Norm and Cliff. Finding out that Frasier was on a show before “Frasier” was like finding out that John Lennon was in a band before he wrote “Imagine.”
Besides making me feel old, it reminded me of how television used to be the Great Uniter. At the time “Cheers” was on the air, practically everyone I knew watched it. And that’s how it was with a lot of shows.
If you needed a topic to start a conversation, all you had to do was ask, “Did you see ‘Saturday Night Live’ last weekend?” From “M*A*S*H” to “Happy Days” to “The Cosby Show,” there were dozens of shows that provided a common bond for discussion at school or at the office – “watercooler shows,” to borrow a phrase from “Seinfeld.”
Of course, those were the days when you only had three network programs to choose from. With the advent of cable television and its explosion of networks, viewership has greatly fragmented. Then came home video, followed by the Internet and video games, and now it’s hard to find two televisions on the same street tuned to the same thing (except on Packer Sundays).
My personal television viewing habits have changed radically over the last decade or so. Where I once watched as much TV as anyone, now I rarely view a program that doesn’t include a football. The only two current shows that seem to have any kind of “watercooler” status are “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars” – and I have never watched an episode of either. That’s not an exaggeration; I mean never, as in “not once.”
Other popular shows I have never seen: “The Sopranos,” any incarnation of “CSI,” “E.R.,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Sex and the City.” The list would fill a few pages.
Only once did I watch a “Seinfeld” episode in first run. I saw “Friends” once. I saw part of one episode of the first “Survivor” series but after watching the contestants eat a rat, I never returned.
That doesn’t mean I am now some sort of snobby TV hater or Luddite. There are, in fact, a few series I really like, including “The Office,” “Lost,” “Psych” and “Monk.” However, I watch 99% of their episodes not in their scheduled network slot, but on DVDs checked out from the public library or on the TV networks’ web sites.
On the rare occasion where I do watch a show on network TV, the commercial interruptions drive me nuts. We caught one of my daughter’s favorite movies, “Miracle,” on ABC recently, and sitting through the long breaks was torturous, particularly when you’re no longer used to doing that.
About the only universally shared TV experience left is the Super Bowl, a show where, ironically, the commercials are part of the entertainment. I’ve always imagined that the only people not watching the Super Bowl are 80-year-old ladies sitting quietly at home tuned to Lawrence Welk or American Movie Classics (sorry, Mom). But amazingly enough, each of the past two years, I have had to miss the big game. It completely pained me that last year, while one of the greatest games in the history of the Super Bowl was playing out, I was driving back from central Iowa in a snowstorm, forced to search the AM radio dial for the game. And to make matters worse, when my wife took the wheel for the last part of the trip, I actually fell asleep and missed the Giants’ winning touchdown drive. You know you’re getting old when the formula “Passenger Seat + Darkness = ZZZ” automatically applies to you.
This year, however, I should be able to watch the Super Bowl again, and as long as the Minnesota Vikings aren’t playing, it will be a good thing. Maybe I’ll even go to a Super Bowl party.
Because sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.
And they're always glad you came...
A Wonderful "Wonderful Life"
(From the Janesville Messenger, 12-21-08)
Another year, another Christmas radio play.
What started as a random idea – thanks to an infamous brainstorming session with former JPAC director Laurel Canan - is now close to becoming classified as a local tradition.
In 2007, about 300 people braved 4 inches of snow to witness Charles Dickens’ classic story “A Christmas Carol” come to life on the stage of the Janesville Performing Arts Center, and hundreds more heard it broadcast live on WCLO. This year, after another nasty winter storm forced a postponement, about 350 showed up on December 10 to watch our group – now known as “The JPAC Radio Players” – perform “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
When WCLO agreed to broadcast the play last year and this whole idea began taking shape, I had no idea how things would evolve. I viewed it as a small, fun event that wouldn’t take a lot of time. I didn’t know how wrong I would be.
Since I know a lot of people in the local acting community, I had some good ideas about who would be right for certain roles. I knew, for example, the incredibly gifted Michael Chase would make a perfect Scrooge. Once I started asking people to be a part of the show, however, word spread, and before I knew it, I was being bombarded with phone calls by people wanting to take part.
By the time Mike Casey, a veteran of the local stage and “Christmas Carol” junkie, called to ask about a role, I had filled all the speaking parts. When I offered the sole responsibility I had left - creating the sound effects - Mike dove into it. What originally seemed like a consolation job led to Mike becoming the star of the stage show. Armed with books describing how certain sounds were produced during the days of radio drama, Mike was determined to do the sound effects the right way, live and unaided by taped noises. The audience was captivated.
I was also fortunate to enlist the help of Sarah Lima, a teacher and accomplished musician, to be our accompanist. She came up with the musical ideas, making my job easy and proving once again that it pays to surround yourself with talented people.
Celebrating in the lobby after last year’s show was complete, the common question was, “What are we going to do next year?” I already had the answer. I had researched “It’s A Wonderful Life” and knew that radio scripts existed.
The original radio script I read aired in 1947 with Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and other original actors from the popular movie version. While I liked the idea of doing that particular script, it was only 55 minutes long and greatly abridged from the movie version, which runs over 2 hours. I felt that much of our audience would be very familiar with the film and would be disappointed that certain scenes were left out. So I searched out another version and found one that was supposed to run about 90 minutes and was much more faithful to the movie.
After last year’s play, I had scores of people come to me and ask how they could be a part of the next performance. I decided that this year, I was going to need to do auditions.
I did, however, pre-cast two of the lead roles. I’ve debated whether that was the right thing to do, but as I read the script, every time I came to one of George Bailey’s lines, I could hear the voice of Dave Bitter, who had played Bob Cratchit in “Christmas Carol.” I decided to offer him the part and get it on his schedule before one of his many other acting opportunities came calling. Ditto for Michael Chase, who not only handled the villainous Mr. Potter, but ended up taking on George’s brother Harry and the Italian restauranteur Mr. Martini. In the final scene, in fact, Harry and Martini talk to each other, which had to be amusing for the audience to watch.
In a marathon evening at JPAC, Laurel Canan and I auditioned nearly 60 people for the 12 roles I had left. The decision-making process was gut-wrenching. There were a number of people that could have done a fine job but I simply couldn’t fit them in. In several cases, there were two or three people that read the same role really well, and it became a matter of how to break the tie. As it was, I ended up casting three more people than I intended.
Thankfully, not all of the choices were difficult. J. Peter Shaw of Evansville had barely uttered a full sentence when I knew he was the perfect choice to play Clarence, the angel that earns his wings by helping George. I glanced over at Laurel and the look on her face confirmed that she was thinking the same thing. WCLO radio personality Rose Stricker, who wasn’t even on our radar prior to auditions, came in and turned out to be an ideal choice as George’s wife Mary.
Mike Casey and Sarah Lima returned in their respective roles, guaranteeing that sound effects and music would again be top-notch. In fact, the sound effects evolved to the point that we needed three people dedicated to performing them – including Laurel herself, who also had a one-line cameo.
Once we got deeper into rehearsals, I realized that the show was running long. I had to cut about 15 minutes out of the script to get us to my goal of 90 minutes.
Until the night of the broadcast, we never performed the complete show start to finish. We intended to have one final rehearsal where we ran it straight through but thanks to poor winter road conditions, it never happened. So we were, in fact, winging it the night of the show.
If you weren’t there in person or heard the performance live on WCLO, you still have the opportunity. The show will be rebroadcast on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – check wclo.com for air times. A recording of the show is also posted on the WCLO web site; you can find it by typing “wclo.com/podcasts/wclo-special-broadcasts/”.
When “It’s A Wonderful Life” was chosen a year ago, no one had a clue that bank failures and mass job losses would be a reality in America 2008. While the appeal of this story is timeless, it takes on special meaning this year because of the circumstances this country currently faces.
I hope that this holiday season, whatever your situation may be, that like George Bailey we take time to reflect on the positive effect our lives have had – or can have - on others.
Another year, another Christmas radio play.
What started as a random idea – thanks to an infamous brainstorming session with former JPAC director Laurel Canan - is now close to becoming classified as a local tradition.
In 2007, about 300 people braved 4 inches of snow to witness Charles Dickens’ classic story “A Christmas Carol” come to life on the stage of the Janesville Performing Arts Center, and hundreds more heard it broadcast live on WCLO. This year, after another nasty winter storm forced a postponement, about 350 showed up on December 10 to watch our group – now known as “The JPAC Radio Players” – perform “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
When WCLO agreed to broadcast the play last year and this whole idea began taking shape, I had no idea how things would evolve. I viewed it as a small, fun event that wouldn’t take a lot of time. I didn’t know how wrong I would be.
Since I know a lot of people in the local acting community, I had some good ideas about who would be right for certain roles. I knew, for example, the incredibly gifted Michael Chase would make a perfect Scrooge. Once I started asking people to be a part of the show, however, word spread, and before I knew it, I was being bombarded with phone calls by people wanting to take part.
By the time Mike Casey, a veteran of the local stage and “Christmas Carol” junkie, called to ask about a role, I had filled all the speaking parts. When I offered the sole responsibility I had left - creating the sound effects - Mike dove into it. What originally seemed like a consolation job led to Mike becoming the star of the stage show. Armed with books describing how certain sounds were produced during the days of radio drama, Mike was determined to do the sound effects the right way, live and unaided by taped noises. The audience was captivated.
I was also fortunate to enlist the help of Sarah Lima, a teacher and accomplished musician, to be our accompanist. She came up with the musical ideas, making my job easy and proving once again that it pays to surround yourself with talented people.
Celebrating in the lobby after last year’s show was complete, the common question was, “What are we going to do next year?” I already had the answer. I had researched “It’s A Wonderful Life” and knew that radio scripts existed.
The original radio script I read aired in 1947 with Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and other original actors from the popular movie version. While I liked the idea of doing that particular script, it was only 55 minutes long and greatly abridged from the movie version, which runs over 2 hours. I felt that much of our audience would be very familiar with the film and would be disappointed that certain scenes were left out. So I searched out another version and found one that was supposed to run about 90 minutes and was much more faithful to the movie.
After last year’s play, I had scores of people come to me and ask how they could be a part of the next performance. I decided that this year, I was going to need to do auditions.
I did, however, pre-cast two of the lead roles. I’ve debated whether that was the right thing to do, but as I read the script, every time I came to one of George Bailey’s lines, I could hear the voice of Dave Bitter, who had played Bob Cratchit in “Christmas Carol.” I decided to offer him the part and get it on his schedule before one of his many other acting opportunities came calling. Ditto for Michael Chase, who not only handled the villainous Mr. Potter, but ended up taking on George’s brother Harry and the Italian restauranteur Mr. Martini. In the final scene, in fact, Harry and Martini talk to each other, which had to be amusing for the audience to watch.
In a marathon evening at JPAC, Laurel Canan and I auditioned nearly 60 people for the 12 roles I had left. The decision-making process was gut-wrenching. There were a number of people that could have done a fine job but I simply couldn’t fit them in. In several cases, there were two or three people that read the same role really well, and it became a matter of how to break the tie. As it was, I ended up casting three more people than I intended.
Thankfully, not all of the choices were difficult. J. Peter Shaw of Evansville had barely uttered a full sentence when I knew he was the perfect choice to play Clarence, the angel that earns his wings by helping George. I glanced over at Laurel and the look on her face confirmed that she was thinking the same thing. WCLO radio personality Rose Stricker, who wasn’t even on our radar prior to auditions, came in and turned out to be an ideal choice as George’s wife Mary.
Mike Casey and Sarah Lima returned in their respective roles, guaranteeing that sound effects and music would again be top-notch. In fact, the sound effects evolved to the point that we needed three people dedicated to performing them – including Laurel herself, who also had a one-line cameo.
Once we got deeper into rehearsals, I realized that the show was running long. I had to cut about 15 minutes out of the script to get us to my goal of 90 minutes.
Until the night of the broadcast, we never performed the complete show start to finish. We intended to have one final rehearsal where we ran it straight through but thanks to poor winter road conditions, it never happened. So we were, in fact, winging it the night of the show.
If you weren’t there in person or heard the performance live on WCLO, you still have the opportunity. The show will be rebroadcast on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – check wclo.com for air times. A recording of the show is also posted on the WCLO web site; you can find it by typing “wclo.com/podcasts/wclo-special-broadcasts/”.
When “It’s A Wonderful Life” was chosen a year ago, no one had a clue that bank failures and mass job losses would be a reality in America 2008. While the appeal of this story is timeless, it takes on special meaning this year because of the circumstances this country currently faces.
I hope that this holiday season, whatever your situation may be, that like George Bailey we take time to reflect on the positive effect our lives have had – or can have - on others.
25 Years After "The Day After"
(From the Janesville Messenger, 12-7-08)
No marigolds in the promised land
There's a hole in the ground
Where they used to grow
Any man left on the Rio Grande
Is the king of the world
As far as I know
- Steely Dan, “King of The World”
I had never really listened to the lyrics to that song before, but after hearing it again recently, I realized that it was about being alive after a nuclear holocaust.
Immediately, I began thinking about the controversial TV movie “The Day After,” which contained the first graphic depiction of a nuclear strike on the USA that had ever aired on American television. I hadn’t thought about that film, or the threat of nuclear war, in years.
In a case of bizarre karma, later that evening a friend of mine sent me an e-mail entitled, “This aired 25 years ago today.” It contained links to video clips of “The Day After.”
It was hard to believe that it was only 25 years ago that the specter of nuclear war hung over us. These days, it almost seems like a dream.
US-Soviet relations were perhaps at an all-time low in 1983. President Reagan referred to the Soviets as “The Evil Empire.” The Soviets walked out of arms talks in Geneva, Switzerland over NATO plans to deploy Pershing II missiles in Europe. President Reagan announced his “Star Wars” defense initiative, which the Soviets believed to be offensive, not defensive. The Soviets shot down a Korean passenger jet that accidentally flew over their airspace, killing all 269 people aboard. The US invaded Grenada to overthrow a fledgling Communist government. And then, “The Day After” spooked the 100 million of us who watched.
If those events made us jittery, imagine if we had known that during that same general time frame, the fall of 1983, World War III nearly began – twice. First, in September, a Soviet early warning satellite incorrectly reported that five nuclear missiles had been launched toward the USSR. The Soviet strategy in such a case was an immediate nuclear counterattack. But the commander on duty, Stanislav Petrov, correctly guessed that it was a false alarm, based on his training that a US attack would likely involve hundreds of missiles. His hunch and deviation from Soviet doctrine, unknown to the outside world until 1998, saved the planet.
Then in November, a NATO military exercise in Europe called Operation Able Archer had the increasingly paranoid Soviets convinced that it was a front for a surprise nuclear attack. The Soviets were so sure this was the case that they had their military on full alert. Only when the exercise was over did the Soviets calm down, and did the US and NATO discover – thanks to a spy - how close to war they had come.
But even if we didn’t know now about those two near-catastrophes, just thinking back to what we did know gives me a shudder. The possibility of Armageddon was always looming in the background. Even watching MTV, which I was doing a lot in 1983, one could see mushroom clouds in videos ranging from David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” to Nena’s “99 Luftballons.”
“The Day After” wasn’t even the scariest movie about nuclear war that came out of that era. In 1984, a British film called “Threads” was released, which was very similar in plot to “The Day After,” but about an attack on Sheffield, England rather than Lawrence, Kansas. “Threads” was twice as frightening, probably because it was much more graphic than “The Day After,” and depicted a considerably bleaker post-nuclear future. Frankly, I don’t remember nearly as much about “The Day After” as I do about “Threads.” To this day, recalling the scenes of the latter film creeps me out.
The world has changed. My kids can’t even begin to imagine growing up in a world where you feared that nuclear war could become a reality. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were terrifying to them, but the threat of having your entire world vaporized in a minute can’t begin to compare. It’s impossible for them to relate to.
But for those of us that remember, it makes the current state of the economy seem like a trifle.
No marigolds in the promised land
There's a hole in the ground
Where they used to grow
Any man left on the Rio Grande
Is the king of the world
As far as I know
- Steely Dan, “King of The World”
I had never really listened to the lyrics to that song before, but after hearing it again recently, I realized that it was about being alive after a nuclear holocaust.
Immediately, I began thinking about the controversial TV movie “The Day After,” which contained the first graphic depiction of a nuclear strike on the USA that had ever aired on American television. I hadn’t thought about that film, or the threat of nuclear war, in years.
In a case of bizarre karma, later that evening a friend of mine sent me an e-mail entitled, “This aired 25 years ago today.” It contained links to video clips of “The Day After.”
It was hard to believe that it was only 25 years ago that the specter of nuclear war hung over us. These days, it almost seems like a dream.
US-Soviet relations were perhaps at an all-time low in 1983. President Reagan referred to the Soviets as “The Evil Empire.” The Soviets walked out of arms talks in Geneva, Switzerland over NATO plans to deploy Pershing II missiles in Europe. President Reagan announced his “Star Wars” defense initiative, which the Soviets believed to be offensive, not defensive. The Soviets shot down a Korean passenger jet that accidentally flew over their airspace, killing all 269 people aboard. The US invaded Grenada to overthrow a fledgling Communist government. And then, “The Day After” spooked the 100 million of us who watched.
If those events made us jittery, imagine if we had known that during that same general time frame, the fall of 1983, World War III nearly began – twice. First, in September, a Soviet early warning satellite incorrectly reported that five nuclear missiles had been launched toward the USSR. The Soviet strategy in such a case was an immediate nuclear counterattack. But the commander on duty, Stanislav Petrov, correctly guessed that it was a false alarm, based on his training that a US attack would likely involve hundreds of missiles. His hunch and deviation from Soviet doctrine, unknown to the outside world until 1998, saved the planet.
Then in November, a NATO military exercise in Europe called Operation Able Archer had the increasingly paranoid Soviets convinced that it was a front for a surprise nuclear attack. The Soviets were so sure this was the case that they had their military on full alert. Only when the exercise was over did the Soviets calm down, and did the US and NATO discover – thanks to a spy - how close to war they had come.
But even if we didn’t know now about those two near-catastrophes, just thinking back to what we did know gives me a shudder. The possibility of Armageddon was always looming in the background. Even watching MTV, which I was doing a lot in 1983, one could see mushroom clouds in videos ranging from David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” to Nena’s “99 Luftballons.”
“The Day After” wasn’t even the scariest movie about nuclear war that came out of that era. In 1984, a British film called “Threads” was released, which was very similar in plot to “The Day After,” but about an attack on Sheffield, England rather than Lawrence, Kansas. “Threads” was twice as frightening, probably because it was much more graphic than “The Day After,” and depicted a considerably bleaker post-nuclear future. Frankly, I don’t remember nearly as much about “The Day After” as I do about “Threads.” To this day, recalling the scenes of the latter film creeps me out.
The world has changed. My kids can’t even begin to imagine growing up in a world where you feared that nuclear war could become a reality. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were terrifying to them, but the threat of having your entire world vaporized in a minute can’t begin to compare. It’s impossible for them to relate to.
But for those of us that remember, it makes the current state of the economy seem like a trifle.
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