The Superhero package

Fall 1985, 
Fall 1986 Mic Tester (with Jim) 

Upon receipt of the first song, we started to work.  The lyrics were hysterical and the medley worked just perfectly.  As a few weeks went by, though, there was no second song - Dave had the idea of using Mr. Touchdown, USA & renaming it Super-Hero, USA (entirely appropriate, considering the content & origins of the material).  Dave and Brian set to work on "revamping" the lyrics and brainstormed a version in Scott's chorus room at his school, while Scott worked out the arrangement in his office, basing it on the Ed Waesche arrangement sung by the Rapscallions.  Within an hour or so, Dave & Brian had worked out quite an appropriate parody (considering the source material and the subject) - although, not the funniest in the world - but certainly utilitarian for our purposes.  Scott married the lyrics with the arrangement and we were on our way. 

Next, came working the singing with the choreography.  Brian developed the basic plan and, as usual, the group created embellishments and personal takes on the plan.  The Medley was quite funny and "USA" was very "heroic" looking and sounding.  The idea was to develop a visual plan to present the two routines into a cohesive whole - an entrance was developed, with Superman (Brian) entering stage left as the last of the heroes and then greeting them all with a "super" handshake and not being aware of it - the result was quite funny.  After the first song, the heroes - in super-heroic fashion - leapt to each side of the microphone to take their bows... then, leapt back to quartet position.  The action, while funny, put forth the idea of how seriously the heroes took themselves - even though they looked a bit silly doing it.

The last few weeks of preparation were at hand and Denny Gore came in to coach us (again, at Scott's school).  He laughed through parts of the session and set forth to help us improve our singing while keeping the antics intact. 

We then realized that we hadn't done any work toward the costumes...  Brian acquired the sweats & spandex for the Superman, Batman and Spider-Man costumes (Carol Hartley - Bob's Mom - got her own for Robin - we didn't see the finished product until we arrived in Kalamazoo - it bordered on the Burt Ward design from the 60's television show - nice work!) & he, Carol & Tracey Drouillard set to work.  Brian drew out the design of how to construct the red portions of the Spider-Man costume and provided visual material for the Robin costume, as well.  Tracey had to make a pattern in order to make spandex gloves and a mask that were connected by the red portions of the torso of Spider-Man's costume - not an easy task, but the design Brian had made from his extensive familiarity with the subject helped her figure out where to start.  

Brian made his own Superman costume and also created the leather spats that functioned as boots for the Superman, Batman and Spider-Man costumes.  The Batman mask was initially made from an old Bowler that Brian had worn a Cedar Point Amusement Park (they only let you keep the hat from your costume)  and Bondo.  He then sculpted with a Dremel tool.... unfortunately, Scott was unwilling to come over for a sitting, so the first attempt was not so hot and had to be embellished with a pair of sunglasses, a tarp of black leather on the back and a little make-up.  For backup, Brian chose to take a simple dime store mask with the bottom portion of the face cut off and the top portion spray-painted black.  W hen Scott opted for that mask at following appearances, it worked like a charm.

Side note:  All of the quartet members spent extra time in the gym, exercising to be presentable in spandex - "extra time", in the majority of instances in this group, meant actually *going* to the gym... but it's the effort that counts! 

When they arrived in Kalamazoo, their focus was mainly the first evening of competition.  That Saturday, Brian put the finishing touches on Dave's Spider-Man costume - the "webbed" look over the red portions of the costume.  He took a black permanent marker, had Dave don the costume, and drew the lines on the costume - Dave says he had "webbing" on his skin for a week after that, as the pen bled through the spandex regardless of a 3 shower-a-day regimen (try rubbing alcohol next time, Dave...)

The package went over great with the crowd, and as the quartet left the stage, Brian saw an opportunity for embellishment and leapt off into the wings and created the illusion that he'd flown offstage.  It wasn't caught on tape, but the audience reaction was such (and comments after confirmed) that it actually appeared that he'd "flown".  The judges had problems with the subject material, being that they considered "Super-Hero" a modern term but, overall, the package had been extremely well received and garnered the quartet the District Championship. 
 

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Tourists
April '87
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Cub Scouts
April '88
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Crazy
April 89'
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WhiteTux
July '89
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