From: eichlerSPAMBGONE2@comcastsucksbecausetheydontsupportuse.net   
      
   I just got back from the Cinematic Titanic show in York, PA, and   
   it was great.  My first time seeing a live MST3K-style show, so   
   I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be even better   
   than I was hoping for.   
      
   It was just a 45 minute or so drive to the theater, so I'm glad I   
   happened to see a commercial for it on TV about a week ago or I   
   wouldn't have even known about it.  The show was actually really   
   well promoted - I saw the TV commercial a few times, and they had   
   a cover story about CT in the local freebie entertainment newspaper.   
      
   Tickets were almost sold out by the time I found out about the   
   show, but I managed to snag 3 pretty good seats up in the second   
   row of the balcony.  The theater seemed filled to capacity by   
   showtime - if it wasn't a sell out, it was close.   
      
   The evening started with a comedian coming out and telling a bunch   
   of jokes about York.  So I figured it must be a local guy, but he   
   looked so familiar...eventually one of the CT crew identified him   
   as Gruber from the old Comedy Central show The Higgins Boys and   
   Gruber.  An unexpected bonus.   
      
   I also didn't know that each of the Cinematic Titanic folks was   
   going to come out and do a solo bit before the show.  Mary Jo read   
   a few excerpts from her new book (literally a word from this page,   
   a word from that page, etc).  Frank came out and did stand-up for   
   a while, and then Gruber came out and joined him for a bunch of   
   jokes about the Vietnamese new year or something like that.  It   
   kind of bombed, but just watching TV's Frank kind of force his   
   way through it while simultaneously acknowledging that it wasn't   
   working was funny.   
      
   Josh had a bass guitar set up on stage and would come out and   
   play a little music behind each of the other performers, with   
   the highlight being a solo performance of the MST3K theme song.   
   He also played a duet of "Year of the Cat" with Gruber,   
   who changed the lyrics around and made comments about them.   
      
   Trace read a couple poems from a new illustrated book of poems   
   for children that he's written.  Finally Joel came out and did   
   a magic trick where he tore up a newspaper and then restored it   
   to one piece right before our eyes.  Even though I know how the   
   trick is done, he's so smooth with it that it caught me by   
   surprise.   
      
   After that the lights went down, the CT crew took their spots   
   at the sides of the stage and we were treated to first class   
   riffing of a really lame 70s "horror" movie called Rattlers.   
   I was laughing almost non-stop for an hour and a half, but I'm   
   having trouble remembering very many specific riffs.  I know   
   at one point a couple boys go out to play and as their   
   fathers watch them run off someone said "You kids stay away   
   from the Sandusky place!", which was risky (this being Penn   
   State territory and all) but got lots of laughs.   
      
   The movie was about a bunch of snakes that get driven into a   
   homicidal frenzy by a chemical weapon dumped in the desert by   
   the military.  During a scene where the main characters were   
   wandering in the desert, someone (I'm thinking it was Josh)   
   yelled "Watch out for snakes!", prompting one of the others   
   to say "How did you know about that?"   
      
   My only complaint is that it's often hard to tell who is   
   saying what on stage.  It seemed like Frank and Josh hardly   
   talked at all, but I'm sure they did and I just didn't   
   recognize their voices and attributed their lines to Joel   
   and Trace.  On the other hand, it was easy to tell Mary Jo's   
   lines (as the only female voice), and Joel sounded like Joel   
   and Trace often sounded like Crow, so they weren't hard to   
   pick out.  And really, it didn't really matter who was   
   saying the lines most of the time - it was still funny.   
      
   After the movie the members of CT all came out to the lobby   
   to sign autographs and shake hands.  I was kind of surprised   
   that about half of the crowd left right away, but the line   
   to meet the cast still snaked all around the lobby.  While   
   waiting half an hour or so in line, I thought of witty things   
   to say to each one of them, but then when my time came and   
   I'm suddenly standing in front of Joel, I got so star-struck   
   that all I could do was hand him my Amazing Colossal Episode   
   Guide and mumbled something stupid like "good show".  At   
   least I got to shake hands with Joel, Mary Jo, Josh, Frank   
   and Trace and got all their autographs on the book to go   
   along with the Mike and Kevin autographs I got at Exoticon   
   in New Orleans 13 years ago (wow, it hardly seems possible   
   that it was so long ago).   
      
   Oh, and when Josh came out for his bit at the beginning of   
   the show, he introduced himself as "Everyone's least favorite   
   Tom Servo...I read the internet, I know."  So I really wanted   
   to tell him in person that I've always preferred his Servo   
   to Kevin's (of course they're both great, but for some   
   reason I just like Josh's droll take on the character more   
   than Kevin's somewhat manic in-your-face style).  But when   
   I was actually standing across the table from him, it   
   completely slipped my mind.  So Josh, if you really do read   
   the internet - hope you see this.   
      
   Anyway, if the show comes anywhere near you, make every   
   effort to go see it.  I dragged my wife and daughter along,   
   and they both loved it too even though they're not big   
   MST3K geeks like me.  After I came out of the handshake   
   line, my daughter commented that she's never seen a bigger   
   goofy grin on my face.   
      
   Oh, and take lots of money.  I dropped $40 at the merchandise   
   table and was wishing I had brought more cash.   
      
     -- Bob "Bice" Eichler, ex-r.a.t.m.m poster and long-time lurker   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)