How Was the Show?

9 Replies to “How Was the Show?”

1. Mitchell Rowsdower Beardsley says:

   October 16, 2011 at 12:07 pm

   Great show! I only saw the first movie, Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks, but it was hilarious. Gruber was great as the warm-up act, and each Titan came out and did a brief ‘set’ as well. J Elvis really stood out to me as much funnier and more clever than his brief time on MST3K might have shown. Joel did a great magic trick. As for the movie, laughs non-stop in the theater the entire time.

   Then during intermission everyone came out to sign autographs and couldn’t have been cooler to all the fans. There I finally got to do something on my ‘bucket list’, and that’s shake Joel Hodgsen’s hand and simply tell him “Thank You for everything.” An understatement to be sure, but I was nervous.

   AWESOME SHOW GUYS, PLEASE COME BACK TO ELGIN/CHICAGO SOON!

      5 likes

2. The Unabeefer says:

   October 16, 2011 at 3:38 pm

   Janelle and I caught both shows, and they were fantastic all around!!!

   Frank KILLED in his stand-up for the second show. They were ALL great both times, but I noticed far more laughter/crying at Frank’s bit the second show (different set, for those wondering).

   Also, Trace’s technical mishap the first show was fixed for the second show, which led me to decided that he needs to record an audio-book of his poems, complete with J. Elvis on bass.

   Slightly unrelated to the show is my agreement with #1 up there in regards to Josh. I enjoyed Earhardt on MST3k, but since the start of CT, J. Elvis has quickly become one of my most favourite. In fact, after I wandered through the meet/greet, I realised I was most thrilled to have met him. (Not to diminish the others…)

   Second time to a CT showing, first time to stay for a meet/greet (of ANY type, not just MST-related). Those weird me out a bit (okay, a LOT), so I’m sure I came off as a half-asleep dolt, but they’re all such great wonderful people… and I now have my episode guide signed by the 5 of them!!

   and yes, PLEASE COME BACK SOON!!!

      1 likes

3. Stressfactor says:

   October 16, 2011 at 6:59 pm

   Just dragged my butt back in from the eight hour drive back home…..

   But it was sooooooo worth it!

   Both shows were great. As was stated, there were a few techinical glitches — Trace couldn’t get his poems up for the first movie but he covered well with a little audience participation and a pretty funny joke about moving Halloween decorations around at the local Menards. For the second movie there was a little trouble getting the movie to start.

   Also, the fans there were all gracious at all times. Do to the numbers of people wanting autographs the theatre management asked that those who were going to attend the second movie wait and get their autographs after the second showing and the gang was gracious enough to stay after the second showing to do so. As a result of all this, though, the second movie did start a little late. I noticed that J. Elvis, who did a solo bit for the first movie, didn’t do one for the second movie — instead vocally accomanying Gruber with a “spoken word”/music meditation on the nature of time, and accompanying Trace’s poems with his bass guitar. Also, with the second show Joel skipped his own short solo act. I’m assuming that both of them volunteered to skip in order to try to make up the lost time.

   There were a few flubbed lines from various members of the gang for both movies but all of them turned them back around into laughs for both themselves and the audience. It was evident that all of them were having a good time and they played back and forth with the audience quite a bit. Also, they got in a few local references — particularly Joel who mentioned Svengoolie — a locally famous, late-night horror movie host — in a riff. You could also tell that the gang had done a recent referbishment on these or else were ad libbing because they threw in a few current event riffs — Frank even got a good one off on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

   If I had one complaint it would have been with the sound system. Now maybe it was just me — I’ve been having problems with my ears lately and my hearing may not have been completely up to par but I had a *really* hard time hearing the first movie and occasionally a hard time hearing some of the dialogue in the second movie. I could hear the riffers just fine so, again, I’m not sure if the theatre’s sound system was having some trouble or if it was the fact that the movies’ soundtracks were poor and degraded or if it was just me.

   And I’m really pleased to have gotten to meet the whole gang. A more humble, down to Earth bunch I’ve really yet to meet. What really struck me is how much Joel honestly seems to be surprised and humbled that so many people still love and support what he started all those years ago.

   And again, if I can give a little praise to the fans… Several of the people waiting in line after the second show commented on how quiet everyone was. We were in more of a ‘mob line’ than an organized line but it was a ‘Midwestern Mob’ — everyone was quiet and polite.

   And @theUnabeefer — that’s okay, I feel like I came across as an idiot as well. I was pretty zonked out after the second movie and I’m afraid I didn’t say anything at all to Mary Jo getting kind of caught up in the line and other stuff. So if Mary Jo happens to read this…. I’M SO SORRY! I didn’t mean to seem rude or like I was snubbing you.

   And now I need to recover from the trip. God knows when and where but if I get the chance I’m so going to do this again!…. I just hope I won’t have to drive eight hours to do it.

      2 likes

4. OnenuttyTanuki says:

   October 16, 2011 at 9:04 pm

   One the greatest moments of my aduit life so far was getting to shake the hands of five of the people from tv/movies responsible for shaping my childhood. They were as streesfactor said very down to Earth and humble.
   Both movies were great and full of solid riffing. The pre-show sketchs were great. Joel’s pre-show warning about uncovered breast was amusing.
   I’d also like to say that the Elgin Staff on hand were nice, the free 3-D photo booth was fun, and the free pop corn, soda, and candy were a nice touch.
   The crowd of fans were postive and orderly. I think the only person, I noticed who was out of place was the stuck up old lady who was sitting next to me. She really didn’t seem to get into any of it and was just there because her husband brought her along.
   I hope the do another show around here some day.

      3 likes

5. nekouken says:

   October 17, 2011 at 8:07 am

   I was only able to do the first movie, which is a small shame, since that was the one I’d seen before (the two movies — “Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks” and “Blood of the Vampire” — were among those they’ve done in Chicago before), but no matter. I’m a MSTie, and re-watchability is a hallmark of our fandom, so not an actual problem.

   The venue is a good one; I’ve seen a few shows there already, so I knew that, but it’s well-suited to them, if a bit small. The pre-show was excellent; the new material killed as well as the old. Frank’s “ancient Tweets” got what appeared to be the appropriate response. I was sad about Trace’s AV presentation failing, but I got to see him at w00tstock two years ago. Mary Jo introduced Gruber in what I thought was the funniest moment of the pre-show; she read his wikipedia entry completely deadpan. I think she’s hilarious in general and her delivery was just spot on (Citation needed).

   An interesting thing that I don’t actually know how it panned out; I’m the organizer of the Chicago MST3k Meetup group (http://www.meetup.com/Chicago-MST3K-Group/), and a few of us came out to the show. We printed up some cheap business cards with our websites and an email address, and passed them around to a few people. I was kind of unsure about it because I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but last time they were here Joel told my predecessor he liked the idea of what we were doing, so I emailed their agent and told him what I was doing and then never heard from him. So after the first movie, I approached Gruber (the autograph line was already immense by the time we got out there) and told him what we were doing. He said it sounded cool and took a small stack of my cards. Anyone know if we rated a mention?

      1 likes

6. Captn Ross Hagen says:

   October 20, 2011 at 6:26 pm

   I want more people to post pictures and stuff about the shows. 5 comments and 1 from me asking for more comments. Come on people!!!!!

      1 likes

7. nekouken says:

   October 20, 2011 at 8:39 pm

   Sadly, most folks turned off their cameras when asked, so there aren’t many pics from during the show. As for between shows, I got nothing. I’d like to know where the Chicago area MSTies are, myself.

      2 likes

8. Stressfactor says:

   October 23, 2011 at 11:08 am

   Actually, I took pictures and video from the opening acts for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of a friend who couldn’t go but I’m reluctant to share them too much out of respect for the performers.

   I do have some pictures up on my blog about the show….

   http://compoundgeekery.blogspot.com/2011/10/cinematic-titanic-lets-go-on-with-show.html

      1 likes

9. Captn Ross Hagen says:

   October 24, 2011 at 6:40 pm

   THANKS. GREAT PICTURES. REAL NICE, I WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD POST PICTURES. THANKS AGAIN… ROSS

      0 likes

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