When we last travelled in the Wayback Machine to look at Eberle & my musical history together, we travelled to ’99. On this, our next excursion, we’re skipping 2000 altogether—that simply wasn’t much of a “musical” year for us. Eberle performed, on harpsichord I believe, with the McCall Chamber Orchestra that summer, but the only pictures of the concert aren’t much to look at—the photographer (yours truly) was way too far from the stage. We also didn’t take part in any of the plays at McCall-Donnelly high school in ’00; we were both very much into the "ranchette/going up to the country" thing at this time, & while we no doubt played a bit of music together, it wasn’t a focus in our lives that year.
So we move ahead to the summer of 2001. I don’t recall specifically when we first got this idea, but Eberle & Judy Anderson (the drama teacher at McCall-Donnelly) & I had come up with the idea that we should stage Antigone, & that furthermore, we should stage it with music & dancing, in a nod to its true Grecian origins. We’d provide the music; Judy is excellent at working with her students on movement; & as fortune had it, the group that was involved in drama at that time included a number of gifted singers & dancers.
Eberle realized that to get the sound she wanted, we’d need more musicians. We enlisted Lois Fry again, the violinist who’d worked with us on Alice in Wonderland & Under Milkwood, as well as oboist Art Troutner & drummer/percussionist/flutist Barb Dixon. Eberle would play marimba & drums & percussion, & she & I would trade-off electric bass duties. When not playing the electric bass, I’d play electric guitar. Eberle’s compositions also made use of the fine singers from the troupe, especially Kati Sheldon, who later joined Eberle, Lois, Art, Barb & I as the original Alice in Wonder Band (singer Deadre Chase joined soon thereafter).
Here are some musical pix from 2001, followed by a slideshow of the “Ode of Entrance” from Antigone, recorded live by Audrey Bilger who, like the true friend she is, made the trek from sunny SoCal to bleak wintery Idaho to support our efforts: not just to see the play, but also to record it. Audrey’s tape of the December 8, 2001 performance was transferred to digital by Audrey & her spouse Cheryl Pawelski. Thanks for preserving the play, Audrey & Cheryl!
& thanks also to Rebecca Stone who took the great photos of the play that I used in the slideshow.
Top Pic: Our friend J.D. & I with guitars, & Eberle with accordion: Thanksgiving 2001 in Oregon’s Blue Mountains.
Eberle, Barb Dixon (foreground with large Djembe) & I (behind Eberle) marching in McCall’s Winter Carnival Parade—it was so cold that day!
The Antigone dress rehearsal: Molly Shaver (l), one of the Choral leads, & Sarah Mello (r), as Antigone, with Eberle’s marimba & djembe in the foreground
The chorus (fronted by music stands), also from the dress rehearsal
2001 was the first year we actually had a dedicated “music room” (tho for awhile it was also the computer room). This room was also designated as “the arctic room” (& yikes, it had been our bedroom for awhile. Here we see: electric guitar, electric bass, lap steel guitar & keyboard
More of the music room: the Ibanez electric guitar I used in Antigone & also in the Alice in Wonder Band—& oddly & unexpectedly in our Moominpappa at Sea soundtrack. It’s a good guitar, but may be designated for sale once I get up enough gumption to sell some instruments.
The marimba (with bongos, doumbek & zither & assorted cases). I’m sorry I can’t recall the name of the fellow who made this instrument—it was modestly priced as such things go, has a good sound & is relatively portable. I do recall that the maker lives in Northern California.The Wayback Machine will be back in September with our 2002 Musical History—the beginning of the Alice in Wonder Band!