Nope. Missed mosta the boats. The 2 lost bands that linger with me (The Looters, and Freaky Executives) both disappeared immediately after I proclaimed them to the half dozen people I knew who might care.
Now, if you're talkin' first records making a splash in my own personal wading pool, I'll claim Sly's Dance to the Music, which sunk its hooks way deep. I wandered around trying to tell people how the world had just got better...
Meryl Streep while she was breaking out. Did a slapsticky riff in Taming of the Shrew at the New York Shakespeare Festival's FREE Shakespeare In The Park. First time she did comedy IRC -- and she was terrific. They did another production too soon after and it didn't compare.
I grew up adjacent to a giant cornfield in Southwest Ohio. I still live there.The phrase "culturally bereft" doesn't really do the place justice. "Suckhole of ignorance" is probably more accurate. Anyone with a modicum of talent and good sense gets "the fuck out of Dodge"( as Marshall Dillon used to say) at an early age. Not a lot of hobnob and a rubbing elbows goes on around Xenia, Ohio.
One glorious weekend, well after they were famous, I saw the Dead Kennedys on a Saturday night and then on Sunday I saw Diana Ross. Each were perfect in their own special way.
Here's where living in NYC gives you an advantage. You see famous people…well, not all the time, but in addition to seeing them perform you see them on the street or in stores, etc. probably more than anywhere else except maybe L.A. And you also get to see some of their early work.
I never “discovered” anybody, but I remember going to see something, I can’t even remember the play itself but I think it was at the Public Theater, and being impressed with an actress with an unusual name. We were talking about the play and the performances afterward, and one of my friends said, “yeah, she’s in some sci-fi movie that’s coming out directed by the guy who made The Duellists.” The guy was Ridley Scott, the sci-fi movie was Alien, and the actress with the unusual name…well, you know the rest.
If I recall correctly I saw Alice Cooper at Wright State in Dayton in 1969. Didn't think much of them at the time. "I'm Eighteen" came out shortly after that I think. Weird show, I thought. Most stuff from the period is somewhat hazy on the other hand. Boy did I blow that one.
I have an inverse response to this theme: I saw Ben Stiller in his first big role ("The House of Blue Leaves") at Lincoln Center with Christine Baranski and John Spencer, and Stiller *wasn't* as good in the part as Roy had been in college.
I got two: saw REM in Athens at the 40 Watt Club (I think) in the early '70s, on a periodic trip there for, let's be honest, drugs: and friends drug me to see 'em: and they were great. They were the last band on the Rock stage in the Arts Festival of Atlanta in '78 (they stopped having rock acts because they brought a bad crowd, or so I was told). and they had grown. I loved the early years, and was still flogging them to folks in the Midwest when I was doing craft shows in the '80s.. the last stuff isn't my jam, but they deserve respect.
And RuPaul Charles had a rock band I saw a couple of times. before he went full drag: and, the night of an annular eclipse in 1984, after smoking a joint with the beer delivery guy on the loading dock and watching the specks of light through the scrubby alanthus there turn into tiny rings of light. decorated the 688 Club with yarn webs, black plastic, banners on 10 ft. wide carpet warp and random Chinese Characters on them for my friend Chuck's headlining band, Lübetool, RuPaul and hie entourage came in late in Chuck's set, and were allowed to do what I think was a very early drag show.
The man's talent and ambition were evident: and Chuck and I agreed that guy was going somewhere.
After the show, I went, thanked him, and kissed his hand: he simpered prettily, and hugged me.
I wonder if he remembers the lout in a leather jacket...
Does politics count? I met Marco Rubio at a fundraiser back when he was just a wee political twerp. Sat next to him at dinner and somehow got into a discussion on single-payer healthcare. I thought it would be a good thing. He said "But your taxes would go up." I told him I was already paying $12,000 a year in premiums with a $6,000 deductible, so my taxes could go up $18,000 a year and I'd still break even. He looked at me blankly for a couple of seconds, then said "Yeah, but your taxes would go up." As though taxes going up was the only thing that mattered, not how much or for what benefit.
By way of a early preview, I knew Marco was dumb as a post from that moment on. A man utterly incapable of actually thinking. And he was part of a larger circle of conservatives I was forced to be around--Florida Republicans all on the up-and-coming roster.. And each dumber than the next. I thought the problem was me in that I was only attracting the dumber clients. But, no: The problem was Republican voters who demanded politicians who were dumb and/or stupid. When I watched candidates getting kicked to the curb because they actually knew how Florida county commissions worked or understood what the function of the legislature was, I was kind of mystified.
But today, it's crystal clear that Republicans worship stupid and demand dumb. So I can say I knew them when?
I wandered into a small Tulane college bar called The Boot in New Orleans in ‘93 and heard a band that I thought was pretty good. A couple years later they were on SNL--the Dave Matthews Band
Off the top of my head, I saw Charles Durning, and Christopher Walken in Lanford Wilson’s play Lemon Sky. It was 1970 at the Old Studio Arena in Buffalo. Durning I recognized, but not Walken. He was only in his mid 20’s and so tall and skinny that when he turned sideways you could almost see him.
I performed Off Broadway with Morgan Freeman , Garret Morris, and Reggie VelJohnson. It was around 1980 at the New Federal Theater down off Delancey. Morris had already done SNL, although NYC theater knew Morgan, the rest of the world did not. He had only done bit parts in one or two movies at that point. Reggie had yet to land his dad role in the sitcom Family Matters. We had an absolute ball and I wish I could have a transcript of what went on in the dressing room. It wasn’t long after that when I walked away from it all.
I know there’s a few more ‘before they were famous’ times, but right now I can’t remember.
My brother saw The Doors play at his high school when they were just another LA band. I can't match that.
For me it would be Bill James, the baseball statistician. I forget how I first saw his name, but I got on to his stuff a couple of years before he hit the big time. A few years later I actually applied for a job to be his assistant (made the first cut but not the second), and spoke to him on the phone.
My scientific career had real Zelig-like moments, but my nearest experience in the arts was when I was staying at a Canadian B&B long ago and this nice young woman pulled out her fiddle. I had never heard such playing. It was Natalie MacMaster.
Nope. Missed mosta the boats. The 2 lost bands that linger with me (The Looters, and Freaky Executives) both disappeared immediately after I proclaimed them to the half dozen people I knew who might care.
Now, if you're talkin' first records making a splash in my own personal wading pool, I'll claim Sly's Dance to the Music, which sunk its hooks way deep. I wandered around trying to tell people how the world had just got better...
Meryl Streep while she was breaking out. Did a slapsticky riff in Taming of the Shrew at the New York Shakespeare Festival's FREE Shakespeare In The Park. First time she did comedy IRC -- and she was terrific. They did another production too soon after and it didn't compare.
Well, there’s you.
I grew up adjacent to a giant cornfield in Southwest Ohio. I still live there.The phrase "culturally bereft" doesn't really do the place justice. "Suckhole of ignorance" is probably more accurate. Anyone with a modicum of talent and good sense gets "the fuck out of Dodge"( as Marshall Dillon used to say) at an early age. Not a lot of hobnob and a rubbing elbows goes on around Xenia, Ohio.
One glorious weekend, well after they were famous, I saw the Dead Kennedys on a Saturday night and then on Sunday I saw Diana Ross. Each were perfect in their own special way.
Not really, although I have to admit we were early adopters, so to speak, of Prince's music--right around 1979-1980 or so.
OTOH, I thought when I saw Madonna for the first time, "This woman has no talent whatsoever and we'll never see her again."
Here's where living in NYC gives you an advantage. You see famous people…well, not all the time, but in addition to seeing them perform you see them on the street or in stores, etc. probably more than anywhere else except maybe L.A. And you also get to see some of their early work.
I never “discovered” anybody, but I remember going to see something, I can’t even remember the play itself but I think it was at the Public Theater, and being impressed with an actress with an unusual name. We were talking about the play and the performances afterward, and one of my friends said, “yeah, she’s in some sci-fi movie that’s coming out directed by the guy who made The Duellists.” The guy was Ridley Scott, the sci-fi movie was Alien, and the actress with the unusual name…well, you know the rest.
"A lot of theatre is about actors making elevated speech seem not ridiculous."
( Ed Roso casually tosses out fundamental truth about
Theatre like the rest of us order side dishes at Bojangles)
If I recall correctly I saw Alice Cooper at Wright State in Dayton in 1969. Didn't think much of them at the time. "I'm Eighteen" came out shortly after that I think. Weird show, I thought. Most stuff from the period is somewhat hazy on the other hand. Boy did I blow that one.
I have an inverse response to this theme: I saw Ben Stiller in his first big role ("The House of Blue Leaves") at Lincoln Center with Christine Baranski and John Spencer, and Stiller *wasn't* as good in the part as Roy had been in college.
I got two: saw REM in Athens at the 40 Watt Club (I think) in the early '70s, on a periodic trip there for, let's be honest, drugs: and friends drug me to see 'em: and they were great. They were the last band on the Rock stage in the Arts Festival of Atlanta in '78 (they stopped having rock acts because they brought a bad crowd, or so I was told). and they had grown. I loved the early years, and was still flogging them to folks in the Midwest when I was doing craft shows in the '80s.. the last stuff isn't my jam, but they deserve respect.
And RuPaul Charles had a rock band I saw a couple of times. before he went full drag: and, the night of an annular eclipse in 1984, after smoking a joint with the beer delivery guy on the loading dock and watching the specks of light through the scrubby alanthus there turn into tiny rings of light. decorated the 688 Club with yarn webs, black plastic, banners on 10 ft. wide carpet warp and random Chinese Characters on them for my friend Chuck's headlining band, Lübetool, RuPaul and hie entourage came in late in Chuck's set, and were allowed to do what I think was a very early drag show.
The man's talent and ambition were evident: and Chuck and I agreed that guy was going somewhere.
After the show, I went, thanked him, and kissed his hand: he simpered prettily, and hugged me.
I wonder if he remembers the lout in a leather jacket...
Does politics count? I met Marco Rubio at a fundraiser back when he was just a wee political twerp. Sat next to him at dinner and somehow got into a discussion on single-payer healthcare. I thought it would be a good thing. He said "But your taxes would go up." I told him I was already paying $12,000 a year in premiums with a $6,000 deductible, so my taxes could go up $18,000 a year and I'd still break even. He looked at me blankly for a couple of seconds, then said "Yeah, but your taxes would go up." As though taxes going up was the only thing that mattered, not how much or for what benefit.
By way of a early preview, I knew Marco was dumb as a post from that moment on. A man utterly incapable of actually thinking. And he was part of a larger circle of conservatives I was forced to be around--Florida Republicans all on the up-and-coming roster.. And each dumber than the next. I thought the problem was me in that I was only attracting the dumber clients. But, no: The problem was Republican voters who demanded politicians who were dumb and/or stupid. When I watched candidates getting kicked to the curb because they actually knew how Florida county commissions worked or understood what the function of the legislature was, I was kind of mystified.
But today, it's crystal clear that Republicans worship stupid and demand dumb. So I can say I knew them when?
I wandered into a small Tulane college bar called The Boot in New Orleans in ‘93 and heard a band that I thought was pretty good. A couple years later they were on SNL--the Dave Matthews Band
Off the top of my head, I saw Charles Durning, and Christopher Walken in Lanford Wilson’s play Lemon Sky. It was 1970 at the Old Studio Arena in Buffalo. Durning I recognized, but not Walken. He was only in his mid 20’s and so tall and skinny that when he turned sideways you could almost see him.
I performed Off Broadway with Morgan Freeman , Garret Morris, and Reggie VelJohnson. It was around 1980 at the New Federal Theater down off Delancey. Morris had already done SNL, although NYC theater knew Morgan, the rest of the world did not. He had only done bit parts in one or two movies at that point. Reggie had yet to land his dad role in the sitcom Family Matters. We had an absolute ball and I wish I could have a transcript of what went on in the dressing room. It wasn’t long after that when I walked away from it all.
I know there’s a few more ‘before they were famous’ times, but right now I can’t remember.
I’m not such a big fan anymore, but I saw U2 in 1981 on their second US tour at a club in Chicago. They had what it took to be big even then.
My brother saw The Doors play at his high school when they were just another LA band. I can't match that.
For me it would be Bill James, the baseball statistician. I forget how I first saw his name, but I got on to his stuff a couple of years before he hit the big time. A few years later I actually applied for a job to be his assistant (made the first cut but not the second), and spoke to him on the phone.
My scientific career had real Zelig-like moments, but my nearest experience in the arts was when I was staying at a Canadian B&B long ago and this nice young woman pulled out her fiddle. I had never heard such playing. It was Natalie MacMaster.