Way back in another life, I did a program for 8th grade History students called "The Charleston Tea Party". It was produced by ETV's instructional service. I played the evil Mr. Lindsay who bought tea before the Revolutionary War and brought it into Charleston. I, along with two other evil men, had to dump the tea into the harbor. It was based on an actual event in South Carolina's history. One of the actors in our merry band of evilness was a guy named Mark Shelley. He went on to work for Lexington County Hospital and directed all of those award-winning commercials for them.
Mark has directed other projects including music videos. He put out a call for folks to participate in a Christmas music video being done by Jim "Soni" Sonefeld which was being shot at the Town Theatre in downtown Columbia. I told him that I would do it. After all, I wanted to work with Mark again. It had been over 40 years since our being evil. I also wanted to work with Jim. He had written a book about his journey from alcohol and drugs to being a Christian and wanting to help others.
Back in that other life, there was a friendly rivalry amongst bands in the 90's around Columbia. The rivalry got to jealousy, when Hootie and the Blowfish hit it big. Jim was their drummer, and he wrote "Hold My Hand". As we, The Cobbwebs, were sending our music out to record companies to listen to, we were hoping that somebody would release a song that either had the same lyrics or tunes as ours. Then, we could sue the pants off of them, since everything was copyrighted. The trick was that a song had to have eight measures the same in order to sue. A song by the Blowfish came out that was seven measures the same as one of our songs, but there was nothing we could do.
The music video was being shot on a Sunday. We had to wear colors that looked like Christmas. I had a red cardigan sweater that my father gave me back in the 70's that I might have worn once. I was surprised that it would still fit me. My job in the video was to decorate a tree with a woman. There were other people there doing Christmas things like preparing ornaments and passing out cookies. We did take after take. After three hours, it was done.
I had only been to the Town Theatre once before. Back in the 4th grade, my best friend was a boy named Tom Phillips. His mother was in a play there, and we were backstage or outside in the parking lot. Our love was "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", so we pretended to be Napoleon and Illya while waiting for his mother to be done. I have to say that I have an aversion to community theatre. I know that good work can come from that, but it is not for me. Why? Because so often you get a cast together, and some "actors" want to use it to show their friends how good they are. Usually, they aren't. I care too much about the Theatre, and I don't want to ever be someone who says "Look what I can do". Theatre shouldn't be a status thing.
While I was working under the hot lights, I started sweating a lot. I had to take a break and get hydrated again. During the break, I talked to Jim and told him about our similar journeys with alcohol and drugs, and how we both were better on the other side of that. I also said that we had a mutual friend. When he asked who, and I told him, he asked how I knew that guy. I said he was the brother of the former lead singer of The Cobbwebs. Jim sort of chuckled. He knew us. It was from those days long ago in another life.
I saw the finished product a couple of weeks later. It is called "It's Love". It looked like I was in it twice: once a bit out of focus decorating the tree and once setting a poinsettia down on the stage. I didn't get paid for the video. Nobody did. It was a volunteer project. I did get to talk with a humble guy who has made boatloads of money, and he is very grateful that he is still around. He and I both.
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