Variety Is the Spice of Life

Friday evening I escorted my wife to this year's version of the Pine View Variety Show hosted each year by the sophomore class as a fund raiser. I am not sure when the variety (sometimes called talent show) started but it was after I came to PV and before we moved to the new campus, so that would make it between 1989 and 1994. There may have been occasional shows like it prior to then but that would be before my time there.

I was closely involved with two of the shows, with the classes of 1997 and 2001. I was a class sponsor to each of those, so that would mean the Variety Shows of 1995 and 1999. They are huge undertakings. First, there has to be talent that auditions to perform. Then there has to be students willing to act as stage hands, sound and light people, program designers, schedulers, etc. For several weeks before the event, the auditorium is abuzz with activity rising in crescendo until the dress rehearsals and the actual performances of the show.

This year's effort was themed Hawaiian Luau. As one would expect, flowered leis were everywhere, helping to set the tone. One feature I particularly liked was the house band performing before the show began, during intermission, and again during a break in the program, when a performers track could not be found. The band, "The Flipside", composed of mostly (all?) sophomores, did a credible job throughout.

There were numerous issues with the mics and the sound system, but the show went forward and my wife and I both found it entertaining, one of the better variety shows that I have seen. There were many singers, both solo and groups. I'll mention a few. The Serteen club performed All About the Bass with two of the group signing the lyrics. Joanna Malvas sang She Was Mine accompanied on the guitar by her brother, Joe. I particularly enjoyed the singing of Arooj Khan. But for me the top act (I know, they were all great for getting up on the stage) was Claire Opal-Lavine who hula hooped. She was quite good and my wife and I commented mid act about how we were enjoying her performance, when the lights went out and the hoop lit up with LEDs and a multi-colored display dazzled us. I told my wife I wanted one of those hoops.

In addition, each class (grade) had an act. They were Pine View specific and had a lot of inside jokes that I am not sure parents and other family members fully appreciated, but I found many of them hilarious. The junior and senior class acts were videos. Here is a link to the senior video: http://vimeo.com/117727296.

All this brought to mind the variety shows I have been involved in. There are many good memories there for sure. I wonder if you have any special memories of a show. If you do and would like to mention it, this post is both on my blog and on facebook, to facilitate commenting. These events are fundraisers, sure, but they are also memory makers. I have found that you only get as much out of life as you put in. It takes effort and is not always comfortable, but is almost always rewarding. My thanks to all those who made the effort and took the time to participate in this variety show and those from long ago.