March 28, 2015

Vintage Super 8 camera alert!

The Alive '75 juggernaut is rolling into Stroudsburg, PA with me (as "That's '70s Guy") and even legendary "Original KISS Krew" member, JR Smalling in tow. It's all part of the group's mission to create a time warp back to 1975. And also, to open a worm hole from POLKAVILLE! to Stroudsburg, apparently - in the coming months I will end up returning to the area many, many times. That cool record store is definitely one of the reasons. 

Anyhoo, I roll into town with my Burger King shirt, and my son Nick. We check in, say hi to the guys, and I meet JR … where's my Wawa iced coffee? Ugh - it's in the car. I dash up from the downstairs backstage, up through the theatre, and into to the lobby, en route to the POLKAMOBILE to recover my beloved drink. 

"Hey, can you interview JR a little bit on camera?" That request came from Pasquale Vari. The amiable Canadian (and school teacher!) occasionally comes down from the Great White North to see Alive '75, and is a cool guy. Right there in the aforementioned lobby, he is getting ready to roll some tape. I basically stumbled into his filming area on my caffeine quest.

"Uh, sure!" I grabbed his microphone, he activated his camera, and off the top of my head, immediately started chatting with JR. The whole thing off-the-cuff. It went well - I have read the guy's book, and am well aware of his place in Kisstory. I also love improv, edge-of-the-moment stuff. After doing this, we would actually do a second interview that night, on stage. During that, as memory joggers I shouted out an obscure band that KISS played with during his tenure - "Redbone!" That Mr. Smalling is a total pro.

It ends up being another good show (that is, my thing and Alive '75's rock explosion), in a nice venue, with a great crowd. After seeing a full second concert, I continue developing an appreciation for the entire operation. More than anything though, what strikes me is the general vibe of the guys and crew - everyone's nice, normal-but-interesting, and it's clear that somehow it's resonating with their audience - at concerts, and online. I actually pitch in a bit as an ad hoc roadie while they're playing. When the stage curtain opened up and knocked down a microphone, I helped to stand it back up. When drummin' cat Joe drops a stick (from a claw), I scurry behind the backline and hook him up with another. 

Afterward, we all hang out some more, and then the kid and I leave to get cheesesteaks. 

Over the coming months, Anthony Gene and I stay in touch here and there, as they do more shows, and one of my busiest POLKA DOT! seasons kicks in.

Me and the boys, post show!