I was at the opening performance of Cinematic Titanic Live performance in Chicago, and I thought I would share with you a couple photos I got and adventures from the show.
I got there bright and early at the Lakeshore Theater at 6:30. Supposedly the house was open for seating at that time - but it didn’t really open until about seven o’clock. We waited in line while people stacked up in the line behind us and — down the hallway — we saw the C.T. cast wandering in and out of the theater (Trace seemed particularly concerned about making sure the memorabilia table was set up right and that there were pens available for the signing. Incidentally, Trace is a lot taller than I expected, and sports a rather distinguished looking beard these days). We saw Mary Jo walk past to confer with the box office folks, and saw Joel come into the theater with a bag of take-out Chipotle… We even saw Frank wander past at one point.
Finally, we were allowed into the theater. I don’t think the show started on time - but it could be that I was just impatient with all of the people who were being seated late. I rather expected it to be a huge geek crowd, but to my surprise it seemed to be mostly rather well-to-do looking folks in their thirties and forties. (Is that the Cinematic Titanic demographic?) I saw only one geekish thing: an older gentleman wearing a lovely home-made Dr. Who scarf.
The show opened with a warm up act by “Gruber” (Dave Allen, late of “The Higgins Boys and Gruber”, “Freaks and Geeks” and “Naked Trucker and T-Bone”) - who was hilarious. He did lots of Chicago-specific jokes, which of course were appreciated by the audience. Then, J. Elvis Weinstein came out and they did some musical skits together (with Mr. J. Elvis on the bass guitar)… and then, to everyone’s delight, DVD’s Frank Conniff came out and also did a musical skit in his own inimitable style.
Then there was an intermission of sorts, and then the C.T. crew took the stage. No more messing around at that point - after Joel was introduced, the movie immediately started.
The movie for the evening was Santa Claus Conquers the Martians - which I had been very interested to see.
There were a few technical issues. At first, the sound was a little off: the microphones of the cast were painfully loud for a couple minutes at first, and then at one point in the middle the film got louder than the riffers… And, worst of all, at one point in the middle Trace’s mic went out. However, the show must go on - the others kept on riffing, while Frank sweetly stood up and adjusted his mic so that both he and Trace could use it. After about ten minutes, the back-stage folks at Lakeshore Theater finally managed to find a working microphone for Trace, and things were smooth sailing from there on out.
One thing that was actually pretty neat about the live show (as opposed to the taped performances) is that for once you actually weren’t seeing the riffers in profile alone: in the light of their script stands, you could see their faces throughout the show. Plus, there were little personal touches that are completely absent from the recordings; things like Joel give Mary Jo a thumbs-up when one of her riffs went particularly well; seeing Frank cracking up at other people’s riffs; seeing their (amused) reactions when a joke got a weird response from the audience.
As for the show itself… As I said, it was Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, which (as an MST3k fan) had interested (and concerned) me a bit. However, once things got rolling, it became clear that it hadn’t been a bad choice on their part. I’m still a little mystified why they decided to choose that one rather than any of the other million terrible Christmas movies out there - but, as I said, it wasn’t a bad choice. Speaking as an MST3k fan… I was not disappointed by this particular C.T. installment. Perhaps it was just the excitment of the crowd, but I would say they did as much justice to the film as the original MST3k performance did.
I won’t spoil any of their jokes, but I will say that I didn’t hear any repeated lines from the MST3k riff… except for, how shall I put it, something a little similar to the “Lentils” remark. But how could you not comment on that in that particular place? I mean, really.
When the show was over, they announced that a signing would be taking place in the lobby afterwards. Joel was nice enough to add that you didn’t have to BUY something for them to sign it (which was good, since I brought my old copy of the MST3k Episode Guide for them to sign).
When the autograph line started moving it actually moved at a pretty decent speed, despite the fact that the entire cast was signing every object and they were all taking a moment to thank and talk to every person in line. When my turn came, they were all very courteous and friendly - I got to say a word (no doubt a very stereotypical fan-type word) to each of them, and they were really genuine and charming. Joel even deigned to stand and have a picture taken with me, which - I don’t mind saying - made my year.
So, in the end, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend Cinematic Titanic Live. Aside from the little technical issues (and what live show gets by without ever having an occasional technical issue?) there were no problems that I could see; as a C.T. fan OR as an MST3k fan.
Man, I wish I was you.
Ah! So that WAS a Doctor Who scarf on that guy! I saw that and couldn’t help but smile.
I dragged my dad along (kinda had to, as being seventeen means not being a legal adult) and he was more than amused at scoping out the demographic. “It’s me, huh,” he said before looking at me and going “But you dragged me here, not the other way around.” (He got me into MST when I was a kid, though.)
Not only was the show great, not only were the crew very friendly, but I had a blast talking to people about the series and stuff. I remember me and the guy ahead of me in line tried for, like, five minutes to remember Dropo’s name, then we went off on random tangents…good times, good times.
I was at the 7:30 show Saturday. “Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks”. Just a good as it sounds. It was a great show -the crew did not disappoint. Frank had a cold, but other than that every thing was very smooth. As Jamie Hall says, it is delightful to see the expressions on their faces during the movie, see them cracking each other up. This is the 3rd time I have gone through an autograph line for any of them - and I am always overwhelmed by how genuinely friendly, charming and gracious they are. I had a pic taken with Joel also - I can now die a happy woman. The line was not moving very fast, everyone does want to have their brief moment of some kind of connection. The 2nd show probably started pretty late. Long live CT!
Wow..this all sounds so fun! Ummmm, is there a denver, colorado plans in the future?????
I went to the last Cinematic Titanic show (Dec. 20th 10:30) and I laughed through the whole show! The movie was the ridiculously awful “Frankenstein’s Castle Of Freaks”. I have been a MST3k fan since the early Comedy Central days, went to the Conventio-con II, and, for a decade, have prayed to the comedy gods that they would return…. Hallelujah! my prayers were answered!! It was GREAT!!!
I talked to Joel, and he said they will release the movies they riffed on DVD!!
YAY!! A reason to live!
I was at the same show as MattPlastik, and it was fantastic.
I asked several of the CT crew if they planned on coming back to Chicago, and they responded with a resounding “Yes!”
Heh, bearded Trace looks like a short haired Dave (Gruber) Allen.
I revisited CT’s “Legacy of Blood” release last night. Even better the second time around! The riffing is superb, and had me laughing as much as the best MST3K episode. I never was a huge fan of Josh W.’s Tom Servo (at least vs. Kevin Murphy’s), but his CT delivery–as himself–is spot-on.
The first couple of CT releases were okay, but LoB and SCCtM were back-to-back home runs. I am really looking forward to the next CT release!
#8 - I’ve said this before, but I am officially obsessed the LoB riff.
And I have to agree, I can’t wait for next. They’ve really got something here, and I’m so glad I’m able to watch it grow with every release, since I missed getting in on the ground floor of MST!
I went to all three, so I can toss out some more observations.
The 30-50 crowd was out full force Thursday, but on Friday and Saturday the audience skewed a bit younger.
As said earlier, it was impressive how accessible the entire cast was. I was entirely too sheepish to go up and talk to them, but for *every* show that I went to, I saw them walking around and talking to fans. The most visible of them was Trace, who I constantly saw talking to the bar staff at the end of the aisle right next to the stage. Before the 7:30 performance of Blood of the Vampires Trace was just hanging out in front of the theater saying hi to fans as they went in. A bunch of class acts.
As mentioned Gruber opened each night. He did mostly the same set, with some variation between the nights, but it was a pretty solid stand up set. Josh joined in about halfway through to provide some bass playing (the first two nights his guitar strap was a duct tape one Joel made for him, something he proudly stated, on the second night it snapped off while he played). Josh did a few bits with Gruber until Frank came out to do his hilarious Convoluted Man song. The song was on youtube a few years ago, I don’t know where it is now, but it cracks me up pretty much every time I hear it.
On the technical side, there was the problems Thursday night, which (of the 7:30 show on Friday and the 10:30 on Saturday) didn’t pop up again, but I always did have difficulty with the sound mix. I don’t think it was the staff’s fault, its just tough to get that right on the fly as opposed to the editing room. While all three of the movies were totally incoherent even if it was a criterion edition, it was tough to follow them. Fortunately, none of us were there to follow them, and you could follow along well enough for the jokes to work well.
There were some things that worked just perfectly for live though. As mentioned earlier, the crew’s reactions to the crowd were always funny. Any time it was a pun the crowd would groan, and one of them (usually Frank or Josh) would bite back screaming “YOU WRITE A BETTER JOKE!” or something along those lines. Or one particular riff in which Trace, in response to a bale of hay on the screen says “Heyyyyy.” and there was a moment before the crowd groaned and Josh chided us “You can’t hate a joke if it takes you a second to get it.” This back and forth made the show even more fun.
When I was a kid, I heard about the MST Alive shows and the handful of live riffings they did, and I never thought I’d ever see it. Having gone to this, I don’t regret shelling out the money to see it every night. Its the best riffing experience you can have, and if you have the chance to see it and you’re a fan of the show, you have to.
Now we need to get Rifftrax in town.
There’s a reference in Blood of the Vampire to MST3K. Frank delivers it.
There’s a MST3K reference in Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks. Trace delivers it.
Thursday, they were a working inner circle. Self-supportive, and working together. Friday, they noticed the audience, and interacted some, and Saturday, the audience was totally acknowledged. GREAT to see them work and evolve! We were very fortunate.
Saturday at 7:30, there were several local references - Walgreens, Svengoolie. Popov Vodka, I think was Saturday too. (I think that’s the local bar vodka — at least that’s where I knew it from!)
I heard the staff of the theater talking, and they were sorry to see them go. And the hotel staff loved them too, all were sorry to see them go. They’re that nice.
A MESSAGE TO THE TITANS: Guys, Come back! (The police were kidding about the full cavity strip search!)
A message to all fans:
If you EVER, EVER get a chance to see these guys live — JUMP AT IT! Seeing them 3 nights in a row only confirmed my opinion of them: they’re bloody brilliant at what they do!
Also Chuck, on Saturday Frank started talking about how the Lakeshore was in Boystown, and then changed a line of his song for it (at least at 10:30).
I’m in the first picutre! My friend Anthony and I are way towards the door talking to Rad!!!
Actually, we’re talking to Joel!
I caught the 7:30pm showings of “Santa Claus…” & “Blood of the Vampires”. I was only going to catch the latter, but deteriorating weather convinced me to make a two-day trip of it. Glad I did. Here’s my bite-sized observations:
*There was a MSTie remark by Joel at the end of “Vampires”, where the slain couple’s dark ghostly forms walk over the horizon. Joel mentioned something about silhouettes, and the place just erupted in laughter.
*Best “Vampires” gag: A Catholic priest waves a metal ball on a chain back & forth towards the camera. Joel makes a SCTV gag. Hint: “Dr. Tong’s 3-D House of Pancakes.”
*Best “Santa” gag: Josh going, “This is like watching Judy Garland, Mama Cass & the Great Gazoo kill themselves all at once.”
*I was very surprised at how personable the cast was, especially Joel. On Thursday, he passed in front of me in the lobby, and I blurted out declaratively “Hey, Joel” (as in “Hey, it’s Joel”), and he turned around smiling & shook hands with me. I hadn’t meant to interrupt him, it just happened that way.
*It’s really obvious how much fun Joel is having with this series. During the Friday encore, when they played the “These Boots Were Made For Walking” clip, I could just see the joy on Joel’s face as he mouthed the music. That is the one image that will last with me about my Cinematic Titanic trip.
*No Torgo sightings.
Saw 12/20 10:30 pm showing of Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks and really had a lot of fun. I think I may have watched the performers as much as the actual movie. They seemed to be having as much of a blast as the audience. Enjoyed Trace’s “Posture Pals” callback, and at one point when the audience groaned at a joke, Frank screamed, “WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?!!!!” Just Plain Awesome.