ROCK AFIRE SHOW---MINI STAGE

[TreyTX]

does anyone have any information on the Rock Afire
stage that was used as a mini stage that only had
Mitzi, Fatz, Billy Bob and Looney? I saw this at Fun
Time Pizza in McAllen, TX in the early 90s and was
wondering if they had special shows that were
programmed as Mitzi on this stage was to the right of
Fatz instead of the left.http://<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href=[/url][/img]

[TreyTX]

here are some pics I am talking about...http://images5.theimagehosting.com/showbiz1.jpg

http://images5.theimagehosting.com/showbiz2.jpg

[captslappy]

Those are the pics I took at the Hillwood Strike and Spare Family Fun Center near Nashville. As for the programming, several shows tapes were made both for Showbiz and after Showbiz. There are no skits or spoken dialogue. It is just songs only. Usually 6 or 7 per reel. Basically the shows use regular programming and Billy Bob and Looney are added in to some songs that were center stage exclusive and vice versa. The reason Mitzi is on the other side is the show looks better with Fatz in the center and also Mitzi's arm span was a consideration. As for how the shows would act on a full RAE, anything that was originally a center stage only song, for example, 16 tons would run normally with Dook and Beach Bear. Billy Bob and Looney would now also move where as on the original programming they would not. However, on a song that was a Billy Bob and Looneybird song such as "Swingin'" Fatz and Mitzi were added in because they were not originally programmed for that one. Dook and Beach Bear would be idle. I am not entirely sure how the curtain commands would react and if cues were overdubbed for both curtains or not. Remember the mini show is one stage and uses only one set of curtains. I'm also not sure if light signals were changed at all and if any lighting signals were added to the programming or not.

[CEC3066]

I know "End Of The World" was only programmed for this version of the Classic RAE show. not sure why though.

[captslappy]

"End of the World" is a great song and quite possibly my favorite one Mitzi did. It is an obscure one though so a lot of fans may not know it.

[YoungCaliHottie]

any audio clips/video of it?

(im always asking that. lol. i should change THAT to be my signature. :lol )

[VegaNova]

I'll try to post 'End of the World' on the radio station or I'll just get the mp3 posted here. My copy of it isn't the best, since the only copy I have so far was dubbed from the vinyl record.

Great song though, and it was programmed for the classic show, just as an outtake. I saw this at CEI a few months back which was great. Mitzi sings the entire song up through the last verse with her eyes closed and then opens them for the closing. Really neat programming.

-VegaNova

PS - I love the way they doctored up the valance on that Mini show... for those who don't know, that center part between the character pics is a giant ShowBiz logo that's screened onto the valance itself. They covered it for this particular show (for obvious reasons). I have one hanging in my room... I think the SPP logo looks better than the normal center stage one with the RAE logo.

[captslappy]

I have a one of a kind valance for the mini show done for Fun Time Pizza. It actually has the Fun Time Pizza Logo printed where the Showbiz logo would have gone. That is why the center of the valance is covered over with orange curtains. Normally a center stage said "Rock-afire" I think. There were only 8 FTPs and I believe there was only one mini show later updated to a full show with all the characters on one stage (no curtains).

[The ShowBizWolf]

hey those are some awesome pics of that show, i don't think i've ever seen pics before. i've heard about that mini show and often wondered about it. thanks to everyone who provided info on it even tho i didnt ask the question lol.

[captslappy]

If you have seen the full Rock-afire perform the mini-show doesn't really move any differently. The only interesting programming maybe desperado where everyone just sort of watches Mitzi since it's just piano and vocals. Billy Bob and Looney just watch her. Looney tends to be up a lot more than on teh standard show. He often does the background vocals with Billy Bob on the harmonies that would have been done by Dook and Beach Bear. "Great Googley Moogely" is an example. (The song everyone calls stranded in the jungle). Billy Bob and Looney do the "chanting" part while Fatz sings and then they join Mitzi in the chorus when they get to the "baby baby" part. Usually they just use Fatz, Mitzi and Billy Bob songs. At least that was true on the Showbiz mini reels. This show in Tn however has some odd ones. About 2nd or 3rd song in they do the "Audiban Zoo (They All Asked for You)" and if you know the song you'll know Dook does a whole verse and Fatz makes several references to Dook by name in the song. So how do they handle this? They program Looney to Dook which didn't sit well with me. This song was a bad choice. I kept wanting to yell "No Fatz, that's Looneybird. Dook isn't here!"

[The ShowBizWolf]

ive often thought about strange things like that... its sorta like the billy bob's in WV, how looney bird and billy bob are still switched around. its really stupid, they look off in different directions and looney never looks over at billy bob. its frustrating and strange and makes the show look poorly programmed (which we all know, it's not when its working and set up like its supposed to be).

[captslappy]

Yes and what teh person that did that did not consider is when the 2 of them look at one another they are looking away which makes no sense. I understand people want to do soemthing different and unique with their shows but the characters have a standard uniform order they go in for a reason.

[The ShowBizWolf]

yeah i totally agree with you. they have that show there for one reason... to say that 'we have a rock-afire show'. its a big generic stage, half the props are missing, and there is a huge beam over by dook that looks awful. its in a big huge warehouse type building, so there is no 'showroom' feel to it at all. they have one big button on the wall that says start show. it doesnt even smell like a showbiz i know that might sound strange but everyone knows the smell im talkin about and it sucks to not have it.

[YoungCaliHottie]

start button? uh oh... sounds like theyre using tivo...

[mitzirocks]

The Mini stage also had a set of animatronic backup singing flowers. Were the flowers at hillwood?

[captslappy]

No. I think the flowers were a thing that was included years ago for the actual showbiz mini stages. I know of no modern mini shows that actually have them.

[terry67401]

How come the pictures aren't coming up??