guest blather: Helen Waters

The wristbands that let Helen and me into the show
despite the fact that we were not on The List.


By Helen Waters
(written late last night)

Since Debbie became paralysed from the wrist down in that Extreme Ironing incident several months ago, she has been seeking ever more creative ways to fill time previously spent in her computer dungeon.

"So, like, d'ya wanna go line up at MuchMusic, see if we can get on TV?" she asked me this morning, after Jeff was safely packed off to work. Lubing up with glitter and dancing on Electric Circus has never been a great ambition of mine, but not wanting to be an ungrateful house guest, I agreed. "June is Accordion Awareness month and some guy is dropping by with his bellows to blow some tunes!" she continued excitedly.

4:30 found us lined up outside the Much studios on Queen Street West behind a dozen acne-ridden but enthusiastic teens. We were old enough to be their parents (grandparents, if we were from New Brunswick) and I was starting to have regrets. The hot water was out at Jeff & Debbie's, and by this point I hadn't showered since 6:00 AM GMT Monday. I had dashed out that morning, a list of errands to attend to, unshowered, unbrushed and unmakeup'd. Debbie must have been to the hairdressers, surely she couldn't have twisted her hair into the two trendy knotted pigtails on the back of her head. Unless... nah!

At last the queue began to move. "You on the list?" we were asked by a woman at the door. "We're here for Accordion Awareness Month!!" shrieked Debbie. The woman looked at us, bewildered. "Wha...?" She babbled something about needing to be on the list, and then taped orange wristbands onto us anyway. We filed into a studio, where we were arranged as an attractive and energetic backdrop to the presenters, and instructed when to clap and scream (often and on the count of three). I made sure we positioned ourselves as far to the back as possible, hoping the less retiring teens would obscure us from the camera.

After several videos and pretending to be excited on cue, the man of the bellows, Joey DeVilla made his appearance. He played a couple of verses of Sk8r Boi for our entertainment, making accordions officially cool again. You can catch the repeat of MuchOnDemand featuring Accordion Man and two middle-aged audience members at 7:30 AM Wednesday morning (cringe).



Another part of Helen's mystery present for me
Allison was the first one to guess correctly (in LJ): Helen made me
a music stand!


A note from Debbie:

There are indeed elements of truth in the above account; I will leave it to you, the discriminating reader, to determine where these are. :-)

June/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ