Tuesday, August 31, 2010

"A Place for Your Stuff"

"A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see it when you're taking off in an airplane.
You look down and see all the little piles of stuff. Everybody's got his own little pile of stuff. And they lock it up! That's right! When you leave your house, you gotta lock it up.  Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. 
Cause they always take the good stuff!  They don't bother with the crap you're saving."
George Carlin Braindroppings 1997

Due to the time spent scanning and posting past local theatre programs and pictures on facebook and the digital world, people are asking "Where did you get all this stuff and/or crap?" How much of everyday life is devoted to "stuff"? Well, after being fired, no laidoff, no on vacation now for 4 months, you have to fill up your days cleaning house, buying groceries, sorting laundry, organizing the garage and finally cleaning out those closets and dresser drawers. Time to down size your stuff.  Throw out some stuff. Give away some stuff. What the hell is this stuff?

The theatre programs? This collection started in 1977 when I saw my first "Broadway" play at the Opera House.  Any guesses?  Grease. Since then I collected or kept programs from plays as an audience member or as a participant whether it was as a producer, director, actor, tech or general flunky. They all are important to me. Memories of people, memories of theatrical moments (both good and bad) and of a time. I wish I had the program from my first appearance on stage as the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz" at Garden Springs Elementary. More stuff
and more memories.

So I have now passed these crumbled stained programs out into the digital world. Hopefully, to bring some memories back to others. Good or bad. How do we dispose of stuff? Recycle it? Sell it? Give it away? How about sharing it? I think I'm finished with this stage of my theatre history archive.  I would love to make some new history and fill up a new box of programs and pictures.  ô¿ô


"So you keep getting' more and more stuff, and puttin' it in different places. In the closets, in the attic, in the basement, in the garage. And there might even be some stuff you left at your parents' house: baseball cards, comic books, photographs, souvenirs. 
Actually your parents threw that stuff out long ago."
George Carlin

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