I Can't Go Out

[wizardmickey]

A long time ago... way back in the eighties, because of the frequency that I was out playing I used to have strange people come up to me in weird places acting like they knew me. For some time, since I had left the stage (not counting the 10 years I was "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"), the recognition factor died away...
But, a few weeks ago, I went to get new tires put on my van. As I stood waiting to get checked in, this kid comes out from under another vehicle & hollers "Hey! I saw you play the other night! You guys rocked!" I was kinda surprised... turns out as well his future father-in-law is planning to hire us for his daughter's wedding. I thought, OK, and never gave that another thought.
Tonight, since VMK spectacularly went down, I decided it was a good time to go to Wal-Mart and get all of my shopping down (less crowds and such.) As I parked the van and started across the lot, a group of maybe 3 younger girls and a couple of guys were walking past me to their cars. They all stopped in front of me, and one of the guys asks; "Don't you play in a Rock Band?" I said yeah. He said he and the girls had seen us a few weeks ago and wanted to know where we'd be playing next. Gave him our business card with our web address on it and told him to keep an eye out. They seemed jazzed...
Never thought I'd have this going on at my age! Where are my bodyguards?

[Marla]

How cool is that congratulations dude! Please do not go out without your under wear!!:secret::blush:It won't help your popularity, I'm sure your last name is not Spears.:D:tink:

[Marla]

Hope you all got that as a really Hah-ha moment, did not want to affend (sp?) anyone, truly hoped you laughed!:mickey:

[Alligirl]

They seemed jazzed...
Never thought I'd have this going on at my age! Where are my bodyguards?

Sorry Pal I think the bodyguards are waiting for the guest house to be ready plus full access to the hot tub!! :thumbsup: and dare I ask "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer"?!?!:confused:

[GiltterDisneyGirl]

Wow your famous Ice!! Got some groupies now! lol

[janmathatter]

Well, Ice, now that you are on your way up the ladder of success, I hope you don't forget all the little people (AKA your tiny 1 inch friends from VMK) you knew at the bottom.

[cEveArdenfan]

I'm not quite at that level on the famous meter yet, but I have had a few people say "I saw you in [name of show]!" and I can say it sure does make a person feel good! Good for you, ice!:sun:

[varcity]

When you are in DLR with us, I'll be your body guard. Those girls in disneyland go crazy some times, you'll need me! I'll even keep all those pesty agents away. (ok, maybe I'll just protect you from all the fans mobbing you, not the agents :mickey:)

[terri.m]

That is so cool ice! Don't forget your favorite roadie when you get even more famous!

[TinkRocks]

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

:cop: BACK AWAY FROM OUR :rocker:

:cop: BACK AWAY FROM OUR :rocker:


So happy you have :fan: :fan: that recognize you!

:woohoo: Go Ice Go! Go Ice Go! :woohoo:

[Chescat]

Wow, we'll be partying with a :rocker: Does this mean we can get in House of Blues with a VIP. :)

:spy::spy: Stand a way from the :rocker: and nobody gets hurt.

[OhGee]

Cool ice! Congrats :)And to think, I can say I knew you when.

[mickeytinkerbellprincess]

:woohoo: for the :rocker:! Pretty soon you'll get paparatzied and I'll see your picture in People tomorrow! :rotfl: :funny: (Along with your guard cats ;) )

[wizardmickey]

ALL OF YOU ARE JUST WAAAY TO FUNNY... And Kind!
To touch on a few things saif here;
Since I'm not getting in and out of any low-slung limo's, I don't have to worry about under-roo shots yet. But, since my Mom always warned me about clean undies anyhow, it shan't be an issue! BTW; The Spears clan lives maybe 3-4 hours from here... something we here cringe about.
Waitying for the Guest-House to be finished? Done. Working on deck (steps & fencing) this week. Access to Hot-Tub? I dunno...
(I'll come back to the Rudolph story...)
My 1 inch friends? I had heard y'all were little, but 1 INCH?!?!? I'll be cautious how I step around ya...
Yes, please keep any silly girls away from me while at DLR... Lady Ice will also be watching for that! Agents? Guess that depends on what kinda offer they're making...
All of the other comments kinda make me grin. To party with this rocker is not the same as partying like a rock-star (despite the current song!) But, I will give ya my best!

Next reply...

[wizardmickey]

... carries over the story about Rudloph.
But first...
During the 80's, our band (although we never traveled more than 5 hours away on the road) was pretty well known on the local level. Besides playing any show, any where, we also had 2 songs on the radio (broadcast over 5 states) and appeared on televised benefits & telethons. The most surreal moment I can remember from back then was while we were stuck in traffic trying to get into the parking lot of the Coliseum (sp?) to play for the Rapides Parish Fair. It was bumper to bumper, and we had several vehicles full of equipment stuck waiting to be directed in, and suddenly our song comes on the radio. Several of the cars surrounding us had us blasting from their radios and their heads were bopping and their fists were pumping. I about freaked, especially when someone in a nearby car happened to look over and recognize us just as traffic started to move again!
But, that all kinda came to an end around 1991 when the band disbanded.
My next big job was at the Mall during the Holidays. They had advertised for someone "creative and not afraid to be in front of crowds to work with the marketing manager". I was the only applicant, and soon I found out why. The first duty of my job was during Christmas. Our Santa set had a 20 foot tree, with Santa & helpers on 1 side and a "stable" with an audioanimatronic Rudolph sticking out on the opposite side. My job? To hide inside the tree and use the (at that time) state of the art monitoring equipment to watch people who walked up to Rudolph and then engage them as if I really was Santa's #1 reindeer. I had cameras, monitors, headsets, microphones, actuators & buttons/switches which controled every eye wink & nose blink of the reindeer. People had never experienced anything like it before! People flocked from all over to have their kids (and adults too) interact and sing/hera jokes with Rudy. Soon even the local media wanted to know "who was the person behind the reindeer?" But our marketing director was no dummy... she allowed TV & newspapers to come interview Rudolph, but it had to be the character and no actual pictures of the man behind the reindeer were allowed. One paper did an interesting series; Part one was pictures and an interview with me as Rudoplh. The second story was an almost expose where they interviewed the real me, but still no pictures were allowed (they took some shadowy pictures or body parts, but nothing were I could be identified.) It really felt like what it must have been like for KISS during the 70's; everybody wanted to see me but I had total anonymity!
After about the third year of trying to keep my identity a secret, certain people were let in on who I was in order to help cover my entrance and exit in and out of the tree during breaks. It was at this time also that I was asked by the company that owned our Mall (and many others across an 8 state area) to record a tape that could be used for other Rudolphs being placed in other malls. So, at one point, I was the official voice of Rudolph in malls in 8 different states! Needless to say, from then on, those people would then introduce me to friends as Rudy (wink wink... please help us maintain the magic). They still played along for a totalof 10 years! I was still doing this job in 2004, when I took my first holiday off. The next year, the magic just wasn't the same. Last year, the Mall changed hands (again) and the new management team decided to finally and officially retire (mothball) Rudloph. But it was exciting while it lasted, and even as recently as last week when I was picking up prescriptions, someone came up to me and said "Hey Rudy! We sure do miss you at Christmas!"
So now ya now... I've been entertaining either with a band or as "the most famous reindeer of all" since about 1982. But, as my wife likes to point out, it would be difficult under any circumstances for me to blend into a crowd. Being as tall as I am (and "broad") as well as the hair, I just stand out anyway. Then if I appear on stage, she says I just leave an indelible impression.

[TinkRocks]

If VMK issues any Rudolph related material during the holidays - I will get you set up!

Love the story!

[wizardmickey]

That would be too ironic! And cool!
Over the years, I recieved a lot of gifts that were Rudolph themed... both from people I knew, family, and from strangers. Kids would even bring things to the mall (pictures, snacks) for me!
My voice has made me a lot of money over the years! I would work 12 hour days with 2 90 minute breaks 7 days a week during the Holidays... and twice I talked and sang so much I literally lost my voice!!!

[Patricia]

Oh! I love the Rudolf story. I used to date the Hockey mascot (the hidden man inside, not the Raccoon) here, but the judge told me I can't talk about it anymore. ;)
Yeah, I know, it's sad I still know nothing about hockey.

Cool that people recognize you, as a rock star that is what you want. My current beau gets that public recognition too but I'm not real keen on the attention myself. (Guess that's why I'm a backstage girl)

So.. when your starting to get bigger and can't manage the whole stage thing yourself, remember tech-head patti. You need a Stage manager? I'm your girl. Hundreds of cues? No problemo. And ... just in case.. I can do lights, sound and whatever else needs doing in the world of techies.

Oh.. and Tea is my homie, I'll need her assistance.


:rocker::drummer::piano:

[jjramsey]

Patti mentioned about when you get big...

I have one suggestion, don't do any of those 20 page addendums of contract requirements (about what brand and size of bottled water, drinks, snacks, extra items, etc., etc.)!!!!

If it were to come that, I am afraid us 1" people would miss you ;)

[wizardmickey]

I promise to keep all addendum/"contract riders" to a bare minimum... although I can think of a few little things that would make life easier! ;)
At this time we do our own light, sound, setting up, transportaion, booking, set-lists & cues. We divide up the responsibilities based upon our strengths (and who has any spare time!) BUT: It sure would be nice to have a few folks with us if & when we do go on the road as "techies"!! You don't even have to fill out any paperwork... the job will be yours automatically!! :thumbsup:

[Jasper]

You know I was just talking about this very kind of thing with some friends over the week end. I spent roughly the last 15 years in the Human Resource profession. I spent most of those years at the same company. When I went to work there we had about 300 people when I left we had about 1800.

When I left there we estimated that I had interviewed nearly 6000 people while I was there. Mind you I live and work in a fairly sparsely populated area. The entire county only has about 40,000 people living in it.

I know your feeling of strangeness exactly because I have people come up to me all the time and talk to me as though we are old friends and all the while I am trying to figure out who they are!

[Patricia]

BUT: It sure would be nice to have a few folks with us if & when we do go on the road as "techies"!! You don't even have to fill out any paperwork... the job will be yours automatically!! :thumbsup:


Tea! We're in! And don't worry about any language barriers because your from Canada, I can still speak Cajun. I'll teach you everything I know and everything I don't know about the south. We're good to go.


Ice, If there is a "No brown M&M's" addendum, I can take care of that too. I'll eat them all or feed them to Tea for you.


:tasty:

[Chescat]

Well the good news about DLR is, we are hoping Monkey comes. So after seeing his video, I think he can keep those girls at bay. :thedolls:

- Not sure Varcity is up to the challenge yet, we still need to see that match in the gym - :blush:

[terri.m]

So I'm patti's techie and ice's roadie! :D

Patti, be sure to sneak some Timmy's coffee in to go with the m&m's!

[wizardmickey]

MEMO TO SELF: Brown M & M's, Timmy's Coffee at each venue. Anything else for y'all? And I'm glad somebody can speak/understand Cajun French, 'cuz I sure can't!!!

Jasper, really loved the HR analogy! Somebody once figured out for me (since as a musician I stink at math) that during my peak hours as Rudloph I would visit upwards of about 200 people per hour. In a 10-12 hour day that totaled nearly 2000 + people per day (although there were often many hours that were slooooow & i might only have a handful of people, so by estimation that number was way too high... more like maybe 800-1200 a day.) At any rate, multiply those numbers by 7 days a week for 5 weeks & you'd get how many people I would "visit with" during an average season. Then multiply that number by 10 years and... well, it's a lot!