zakalwe wrote:merman wrote: - and it took a few moments to click (I blame the cider) that during Paperboy, there was a paperboy making a delivery to the stage
Yeah... took me a good couple of minutes to work that one out as well! maybe if he'd been on a bike as well I'd have got it sooner!
Jeremy
On a bike? In that cramped room? Like Meat Loaf in the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Only to splat against the wall on the right-hand side of the stage?
Goodness, the C64 scene crowd surely makes a demanding audience!
(ahem)
Yes. I confess. It was me.
And it was even a completely spontaneous, unplanned move concocted while the Paperboy skit was already in full swing!
- Inspiration strikes
So I was sitting there at the central table in the first row and enjoyed the show with this Back in Time Live poster (the dark red one with the spaceship crashed on an alien landscape) lying on it in front of me.
I had just recently pondered the thought that the fundamental, driving force behind this event was a revival concert of old times recalling memories sweet youth. The poster was taking up a lot of space and since I already had quite a lot of them, I was wondering what to do with this one when I realized that the band was playing Paperboy!
The idea
clicked.
It was just a natural thought to follow the cue the band unknowingly had provided and so I decided to create the legend (and gag) of the band magically summoning into real life a game character by playing its music.
I was also wearing a baseball cap by pure coincidence and thought "To hell with the aesthetic distance between the audience and the performers! This opportunity is too good to be wasted!".
- Improvisation theatre
Since the idea for the gag had come to me some good time after the band had started playing the Paperboy tune, I did not know how much time I had left to carry out the deed. Time was running out and I did not even know how much of it was left.
(cue, dramatic chord. start holding your breaths now)
So I rolled up the poster at first with the picture side out and realized that in the lighting, the dark print would not show well for the audience to recognize in time. Hence, I rolled it up again with the white backside out and then wondered how to keep the poster rolled up like that so it could be thrown and fly properly in a high, visible arc without flapping apart in mid-air. That would have spoiled both the gag and the gig, along with the general good mood altogether.
I also did not want to damage the poster, so I dismissed the option of folding the ends of the tube inside to provide structural strength at the expense of the poster.
Yes, even under time pressure, I am categorically against senselessly damaging perfectly good material.
Then I looked around for the ubiquitous rubber band on the floor (usually on the prowl to hitch up the equally ubiquitous paper clip for some adventurous and kinky bending and stretching action), but I failed to find any. I had some string in my bag, but that would have had to be cut to proper length, there were no scissors in sight and judging from a recent precedent that had made the news, asking around in these our times in the UK for a box cutter would probably have prompted plain clothes security men to quickly rearrange my brainmatter in an abstract pattern across the floor. As much as I appreciate contemporary art, I prefer not be "part" of it.
So I walked up to the merchandise table next to the stage and asked for a rubber band. They also had none, but I discovered a small rectangular plastic bag lying around there not only being the right size, but also open along its short side. Perfect! I took it, carefully ripped open its other, sealed short side, slid it over the rolled up poster tube and was very, very happy. Nerves of steel and fool's luck eh?
The band was still playing Paperboy!
So, I grabbed all the courage I could build up while I walked the three steps to the side of the stage, tried to figure out while crouching into position how to wobble properly to make a somewhat convincing bicycle riding walk (Who says watching Monty Python's Silly Walk sketch is not educational?), rearranged my baseball cap - and did it.
- And Action!
I knew I could do this only once and I had to get it right the first time.
Besides the fact that the gag would not have been funny any more on a second attempt, depending on how the first attempt would have been received, I also did not know whether I would have had a second chance, physically speaking.
I hobbled along in front of the stage and midway through tossed my "newspaper" onto the stage. Since the stage was not too wide, it was only three initial steps, a toss and three more steps to complete the ride. And to appear convincing in the act, I really could not stop midway, turn, aim, toss, turn back and then hobble on.
BESIDES, you also cannot do that in Paperboy.
Ah, the level of authenticity would be breathtaking if you were not holding yours already, eh? (Those of you who have turned blue already may breathe now again. Also the ones feeling inclined or merciful enough to laugh at the two and a half lame punchlines featured in the current paragraph).
I aimed only very generally into the quickly-spotted, relatively more open space between the performers at the center of the stage. Also, the tossing angle had to be just right as to whirl visibly without disrupting the show in its flow and then land in the middle of the stage (and not behind it or hit the drummer) without ricocheting off the ceiling and setting an unwanted course to The Land of Unfathomable Liability Insurance Claims.
But it went well enough. I heard a single burst of laughter from somewhere in the audience (maybe second or third row, center-to-right) by the time I reached the wall at the end of the stage.
To the unknown fan: Thank you.
As a defusing motion, I turned around and bowed with a Thai "wai" gesture. That also helped me deal with the mild but solid feeling of embarrassment that was trying to get the better of me, now that my little bold, unscripted and unauthorized performance was over.
Call it post-action stage fright, if you will.
I was happy that it went well, all things considered.
- (No) Epilogue
I also wanted to write a few paragraphs explaining how the humor worked on a technical level in this case and why Paperboy offered a much better opportunity over other themes, like, say, "Forbidden Forest" or "Comic Bakery" or "Deflektor", and how much I feared that my little gag could have set a precedent for possibly lame and really embarrassing follow-ups.
But since I have been writing this posting here for the better part of an afternoon while I was supposed to work at a scheduled translation instead, I shall postpone that for another posting (post-pone, get it? get it?).
So, cheers from your friendly Paperboy.
And do not forget to pay for either your subscription - or your window glass insurance.
Daniel
