improv and mixtapes

"What an odd combination for Tina Tuesday! What, no movie?"

Funny you should say that! 

There was a film, "Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape", on Peacock, and that's what we watched during our Holy Pie pizza party. 

Very good movie, too, set up like a true mixtape is, with riffs from different 'artists'. 

Lou Ottens, the inventor of the cassette tape in 1963, kept popping up, sometimes solo, sometimes with the other members of the team at Philips that had engineered the cassette. 

We both found it interesting that no subtitles were used when the men spoke German!

"You said "we". You got a mouse in your pocket?"

Nope, but I did have a physicist in my house!

"Wait, I thought the pizza party was to be at his place this time. Right?"

Well, there was a snafu on my part. I was to have picked up the pizza, but he never texted me about that. So I showed up at his place and he's like, "Where's the pizza?", but all cool and laid back about it, like he always is. So, back toward my side of town, him for the pie, me to shape up the house a little. 

"Damn, girl. Those blonde roots..."

Right? So I let him pick out the documentary to watch and he chose that one. Excellent choice!

"And you broke out your 'Hate tape' afterward?"

I did! I wanted to share something personal with him and that mixtape from 1981 is as "me" as it gets. I think he was surprised by most of the song choices. But, as I told him, it was music therapy to get me from 'crazy mad at the world' to 'totally chill self'.

"So y'all discussed all that?"

Nope, he needed to get home. Tuesday is one of his travel days to Statesboro to teach, so he was pretty tired by 9 PM. Plus, he had Emily the Cat to take care of with petting and treats before he could sleep.

"I'm sure he did. So, where does the improv part of the day fit in?"

I had another improv class with Rabbi Haas this afternoon! Only four us were at Asbury Memorial this time: Audrey the standup comic; Peg; a newcomer, Sandy; and me. The size of the class didn't matter, though. We all did three extended bits, showing that we could take a thread and weave an entire sweater with it!

"Hahahaha! Is that what Haas said?"

Nope, but he did encourage us to go to some improv shows and volunteer from the audience. He's quite pleased with how fearless we were today! For the first skit, each of us had to sell something in Holliday Hall to the others. I chose my red-armed sunglasses! That was fun!

"Sounds like it was! What else did y'all do?"

He had us do "Fortunately... Unfortunately", with each of us alternating turns with the tale. I had started it off with "Fortunately, I was able to see the new work done on Waters Avenue because a Mack truck was jack-knifed and blocking Truman Parkway." Then Sandy turned that into an accident scene, with Audrey talking up her financially-rewarding work as the lawyer and Peg was the 'winner' of what little money the lawyer didn't take. Then we went around a couple more times. Definitely fun, but I liked the "Lounge Singer crooning about their favorite movie" best.

"That sounds quite interesting!"

Oh, it was! Rabbi Haas gave us each a genre of movie, then we were to make up the song and perform it. I had 'romantic', so I sang about Jack and Jill. And, no, it was not the song that John Mellencamp sang! I don't recall just I sang, except I gave Jack a head full of long, lovely hair. Since I went first, it inspired the others to throw caution to the wind and let their freak flags fly freely, too!

"Very nice!"

Oh, and guess what? They're interested in the Last Laugh Improv Show at Jenkins Hall! That's coming up in March, after our next class. Sounds like a field trip to me!!!

"Most excellent! I'm glad you have some new folks in your life, g'friend."

Me, too. Most definitely.