Memories


Here are a bunch of memories Aj'a has had with James. They are very interesting, and very cool. Someday, maybe I'll be able to add some. Haha!

The first time I met James was in the rehearsal for Oliver! We were rehearsing at the BC Hydro building where there is nothing to do if you're not actually doing the the rehearsing yourself. Thus, my friend Jessica and I took it upon ourselves to rewrite a spoof on the lyrics to each song. While James was up singing his song, we sat around re-writing it. When he got a break some of the other kids had told him what we were doing and he thought it was halarious - he was killing himself laughing. Good times were to follow ever since!

Colouring!!! oh my goodness - whenever James wasn't onstage during Oliver! he was backstage colouring with me and Jessica. Our hands got painfully sore from colouring so much every night. I had to draw this weird picture where every object melted into another object for my graphics class at school and James loved it so I gave it to him. He still has it in a big scrapbook.

Every night before the show during Oliver! or sometimes during the break during intermission we would head down to 7/11 for slurpees and nachos and these weird drinks called Orbitz which had floating lava lamp type junk in it. Weird but tasty. 7/11 was just accross the street from the theatre and we used to spend at least 50 bucks a night there (collectively) - we even had to use a trolly just to carry it all back. I remember dropping a slurpee one night - that was soooo frustrating...

Ah yes, opening night for Oliver! That night ROCKED. Royal City Musical Theatre always throws big huge extravagant galas for the who's who VIPs on opening - including the cast, crew, production people, family there of, sponsors, and any major names in theatre etc. These are people they like to impress, and thank grandly. James and I and some of the other Oliver! boys (I have to mention Kevin Kriez and Andrew Somebody here because they rock, and I also met them during Oliver!) took dry ice from backstage and promptly put it in cups of coffee which we paraded everywhere upon greeting the VIPs. Now, when you put dry ice into hot liquid it creates massive amounts of fog - very thick and heavy cloud like fog. None of the VIPs quite knew what to say to the little starlet clouding their presence. We - James included promptly were kicked out of the gala, so we took our talents elsewhere - where they would be appreciated and loved - backstage to the crew party! (now THEY know how to have FUN) (and psst.. all actors get bored of the hoity toity blahness of the gala out front and sneak backstage to trade their $300 dollar bottles of champagne for a case of the crew's beer, and their escargo and crab legs for our candy stash - we keep this candy stash in a black duffle bag we like to call the BBL or "the BLACK BAG OF LOVE" <3 ) Anyway, upon our grand exit from the gala in the lobby to backstage we decided to carry eachother out mannequin style. Later, while the director, Ed Harrington was giving notes downstairs in the dressing rooms the crew took the dry ice machine and clouded the entire downstairs until the entire downstairs was so full of clouds the fog began to stack up the stairs and no one could see their hand in fromt of their face!!! YAY CREW!)

Right after Oliver! James filmed "Golf Punks" his first movie. We all watched it at Francesco's after show party to have an Oliver! get together. We all teased James about those glasses he had to wear. Later we swing danced the night away (I'd been teaching him a few things on swing dancing). That was also the night Mark Hopkins and I were doing such crazy swing dancing (like him throwing me over and around his shoulders and the whole bit) we accidently broke the chandelier!!! OOPS!

My dad is a musical playwright and had written an origional show called "A Time To Remember" with the lead as a young boy named Leroy Ferguson. James was of course invited to audition for the role. I was managing the people auditioning out in the lobby while they waited their turn to audition. I remember James was sooo nervous and hyper. He wanted the part BADLY. I could barely stand to see him like that till I offered to tell him a bit of a secret (I'm not telling anyone on here though) but he wouldn't let me tell him!! He is truly a guy with integrity despite how badly he wants something!! James auditioned with a song my dad had written for A Time To Remember called "Front Page News" - He even danced and had a fake newspaper bag and a newspaper prop - he really went the extra mile in that audition... and of course he got the part but our musical director, Gord, made him sweat it out a little before he was told. His dad, Al said "come on did he get the part or not, he can't sleep - he's going crazy..." so we ended up telling him at a really late hour - like nearly midnight or something!! He did wait about a week after his audtion though... maybe longer.

Now Al, James dad, was like superman - during the auditions and the entire run of the show. There is no way the show would be half as good without either one of them. They both just threw themselves in like 1000000% James even learned to tap dance and had private singing lessons. Technically, I was given the title of Assistant Stage Manager - but I just want to say publically that Al deserves that title much more than I - or anyone else does. I did tell him then, but he shrugged it off - well you can't shrug it off this time, Mister!! Al was just so on the ball, moving sets, taping the stage during auditions, he was our first aid guy (as he's a fireman in real life) even dressed up in period costume for the end of the show and went on stage as Hedley!! (He had a choice between the roles of Vernan and Hedley and he picked Hedley cuz of the name!) Al - you rock... you really do. He is also halarious, like James - they're a lot a like, in my opinion!

Carole-Lee Palidor, a very sweet lady, RIP who also starred in both productions of A Time To Remember, had given me a teddy bear... to thank her, I gave her a painting I had done. James liked my painting so he begged me to paint him one as well. I gave it to him the next night and it was still drying... some of the paint got on his new white shirt - he was sooo mad at me for like 15 min. Then he got over it... (He still has my painting up on his bedroom wall) Until he decided to get me back that is!! He came backstage to where I was standing on stage left and he was limping - he could barely walk and he looked like he was in absolutely unbearable pain. I told this to Al over the headset, as he was our first aide guy... but James had been acting!! He had me and everyone else around us fooled completely - but he got in trouble!!! During the run of that show, James really did get sick - very very sick. Something with his stomache, I forget what exactly. He still went on stage and did the show so well you'd never know - but as soon as he came off stage again he was holding his stomach and was curled up in a little ball nearly crying from the pain... he is SUCH a tropper - that has always amazed me... he was only about 12 years old at the time.

Then there's the time James threw his hat offstage just before his bow at the end... it got caught in the pulley for the main currents - tangled up REALLY bad so that the curtains wouldn't shut properly. I had to keep opening and half closing them continually - they got like 7 bows out of it (cuz every time you re-open the curatains at the end the cast gets to take another bow) I was hanging of the pulley trying to shut it with all my body weight- finally one of the cast member ran off stage and managed to get the shut.

James also had his birthday one night on stage - the poor guy had to act on his birthday!! But he loved it - at the end his dad wheeled out a huge cake and we all sang happy birthday to him - he was totally surprised and was super happy that night! I still remember his face - he had this big smile on his face - open mouthed smile - so happy you'd think he was being facetious except for the fact that isn't his nature.

I remember my two nieces, Kady and Jessica came backstage to meet him before one of the shows during the second production. My brother and James were also there and James sat there laughing while my nieces painted my brothers finger nails pink and put his hair in little clips. They'd have gotten James too if he hadn't had to perform that night!

I remember James first car that he bought - actually he was too young to drive it at the time. It was white with pink and blue splashy thingies on the doors. I forget what kind of car since I dont know anything about cars... He needed it to get to an audition or a movie set or something so they just sporadically bought a car one day !!!

I have this black coat made of slightly slippery material. James and I used to go down into the lobby before and after shows where there was hard grey carpet and we'd put on the jacket and lie on our backs then push with our feet, hold our feet up in the air while we'd slide accross the lobby cuz of the slipperyness of the jacket!! That is actually horrible conduct, but what were they gonna do? Kick the star of the show and the playwright's daughter out of the show? We got away with MURDER!

James and I and another friend of ours, Andrew used to go in the elevators of the theatre and pose as those elevator doormen: "Going up Madam? Very well, what floor would you like?" I'm sure we fooled a lot of people seeing as none of us were over 5 feet tall... and we all looked like we were 10.

There was this lake behind the theatre and Andrew and James and whomever else liked to reinact horror films like "swamp man" coming out of the lake...

My mom works in marketing for Wrigley's gum so we get garbage bags of it for free. My mom brought a bunch of it to one of the shows to give to James and his two younger brothers. One of the brothers looked really upset about recieving all the gum. We asked him what was wrong and he said he had JUST given up gum for Lent (a Catholic practice where you give up something at Easter as a remembrence of Jesus giving up His life for us) It was just sooo cute!!!

we took a piece of licorice and bit one end off and poured salt inside the hole and then melted the end back together with a lighter and put it in the big bag of candy that we have backstage and then people would eat it but the funny thing is no one ever threw it away they just put it back in the bag for someone else so we'd just melt the end again and keep watching people do it!

Jackie's Memory:
Way back in October of 2004, I received a phone call from James. I knew it was coming, but I was not sure when. I was sitting at the computer, doing something... I don't remember what. Then the phone rang. I picked up and said, "Hello?" and I hear a voice that says, "Hi is Miss Jackie Tetzloff there?" and so I say, "This is she." and then the phone was switched over and a guy started speaking. He said, "Hi it's James!!" and I was like "Oh haha hi!" We talked for a while. They told me they were at the mall and everything, and while we were talking I heard in the background, Aj'a said, "Let me get a picture of you talking on the phone!" and that's where the picture of James on the phone came from. So... we talked about a bunch of crap. They had me play the drums for them, that was interesting. I wondered if they could actually hear it. It probably sounded like crap... 'cause I wasn't all that great at the drums yet. I'm still not! haha. Anyway, I started eating pop rocks, and James heard and was like, "That's sexy, Jackie." Hahahaha it was awesome. What else, what else... ah, I asked about "bubbler" again. I forget his response though... he was probably still confused. Um, I guess that is it for now. Maybe I'll have some more memories eventually! Till next time, though!