Message-ID: <41118asstr$1046686205@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: ID = 948ab4c8608b1a0ba1fa7e3decf9f577 Reply-To: katzmarek@excite.com From: "don james" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Original-Message-ID: <20030303024902.63F461E4B6@xmxpita.excite.com> X-ASSTR-Original-Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 21:49:02 -0500 (EST) Subject: {ASSM} The Ride (Postscript) By Katzmarek (Nosex) Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 05:10:05 -0500 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation X-Story-Submission: X-Moderator-ID: gill-bates, dennyw _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! <1st attachment, "The Ride2.doc" begin> The Ride (Part 2) By Katzmarek Author's note: This follows on from 'The Ride', and blocks in a little more detail. It's based on fact. The cranky old 'Duke' was an old model I used to own, not my present 998R which is infinitely more reliable, and sophisticated. The mid-eighties saw a sea change in NZ. We shifted from a heavily State-regulated economy to a market-driven free-for-all. I spent 3 years at Teacher's College and was paid a salary by the Government. Now it's 'user pays' and you have to take out a Student Loan for all Tertiary Education. Telecom, Railways, Postal, major Banks, Airlines, public Transport etc were all owned by the Government in the form of Corporations. Now they are all in private ownership, often having been scooped up by large Multi-Nationals for a fraction of their book value. All this occurred through the policies of a supposedly left-wing Socialist government and caused the usually fractious left wing in our country to split itself into oblivion. It has recovered a little through the emergence of the Green Party. The days of the big amateur touring shows are just about over. Economics is killing them in favour of slimmed down, sleek professional theatre. In those days you could get rehearsal space, props and equipment for next to nothing, care of Colleges and Repertory Companies. Nowadays, no-one gives away anything for nothing, making it too expensive to put those shows together. The only people that got paid were the Director, Musical Director, Lighting and Sound. And that wasn't much at all. We did it for the love and experience and a few cross-credits in Drama 104. We took these shows to the country. We did a lot of rural venues and matinees for schools and Geriatric Hospitals. I started doing shows for the College of Education. At first the gear was primitive but in three years the Government bought us a full, modern rig. The first show I remember was 'Streetcar named Desire'. The lighting box was cramped and hot and I was stripped to the waist. We only had a 'junior 8' mixing desk, which featured big rheostats operated by sliders. We had to keep the sliders greased during the show or they'd squeak when operated. They gave off an incredible amount of heat and were nicknamed 'heaters'. In fact they were nothing more than 4 kilowatt bar heaters. The director would pass up 'six packs' of beer during the show to keep me cool. During 'Carmen' one time, I nearly fell off a tower into the audience having cooled myself too efficiently. When we took delivery of a Selecon 48-channel 20-megawatt mixing desk we happily tossed the 'heaters' in the bin. After our stage manager, Pete, dropped 'snoopy' on his arse, there was a big meeting the next day with a representative of the Trustees who administered the camp. There was a veritable chorus of complaints about, 'spot checks' late at night and excessive harassment. It was explained to us that normally, the camp accommodated Christian youth groups and such like and it was a new experience for them to have such a group as ours. They agreed that we were bringing a lot of joy in the lives of children and the elderly and were 100% behind what we were trying to do. They consequently agreed to relax some of the rules for us, but stressed that many on the Trustee board would be outraged if there was too much 'liberal behaviour'. 'Snoopy' sought me out afterwards and apologized for his intrusion. He wished my 'wife' and I well and told me 'of course we could share a room'. Evidently someone was 'bullshitting' to him. At 27 I was newly divorced with twin 3-year-old boys. (They're now 22, with 4 degrees between them. They were 'fighting elves' in LOTR the Two Towers. Yeah! That's them, 240th and 241st from the left.) It would be another year before I had a steady girlfriend again. Claire and I would only ever get together when we were on tour. For the rest of the year we moved in different orbits and only had a casual acquaintance. She was in every subsequent show and we'd hook up at rehearsal and she'd pillion with me around the country. For a month or so we'd become 'two peas in a pod', always hanging out together. She'd help me set up, getting me out of bed at 5am with a tickle in the ribs, following me up ladders, bolting, shackling, plugging and taping. For a month we'd be essentially 'married', but she never talked about her boyfriend, ever. I never even knew his name. It was the damnedest thing but it's true. If there was any gossip, and I'm sure there was, not much got back to me. Claire and I were not great mixers and didn't hang out with the cast much. I like to do my own thing and I'd only network when I needed it. Claire was brought up by 'hippie' type parents and seemed to have an individual take on most things. She certainly observed few of the conventions normally considered 'proper' for a 20-yr. old woman. My Ducati Desmo 900 was the only thing I took out of my marriage. My ex-wife took everything else, house car, furniture and kids. It was my pride and joy, and a fucking expensive one too. It cost trailer-loads of money to maintain and required monthly tune-ups to keep the valve gear working properly. But it was absolutely worth every hard-earned penny. A beautiful handling machine and incredibly fast. Also quite the prettiest machine I've ever owned (Except the 998R, of course), all red except for a red-white-green disk on the fairing and DUCATI Desmo in white lettering on each side of the gas tank, it had 900 in white on the side covers. 'Last night' would always end up with a 'booze up' and improvised concert at the camp. 'Snoopy' was eventually trained to stay away. The cast would go out 'wine tasting' all day at the local vineyards and return with the bus baggage compartment, well stocked. Pete would do his B52 songs, even though he could barely play guitar. He would gather together a rhythm section that could play and would carry it off through sheer audacity. Being completely crazy helped. I would do my English Folk songs a la cappella because I held no illusions I could play well enough for the public. I have, though, a good Welsh singing voice. At some stage Claire and I would slip away for a moonlit ride and eventually wind up down at the beach where we would spend most of the night. A kind of long 'goodbye' as we would be heading back home the next day. In all three tours I was involved in it rained steadily on the way home. All three occasions I returned Claire to her boyfriend soaking wet. I dropped her at the gate, said goodbye, then went home. Rain soaked the electrics of the bike that would then go all grumpy on me. HT leads would short circuit themselves through my knee, lights would fail and the alternator would stop charging. The conclusions to some of the most-fun times that I've had would often be utterly miserable. The End. <1st attachment end> ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ Notice: This post has been modified from its original format. The post was sent as an email attachment and has been converted by ASSTR ASSM moderation software. ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ -- Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: | | FAQ: Moderator: | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d, look for subject {ASSD}| |Archive at Hosted by | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+