It's a mad, Mad-town: Part I

I can only describe my trip back to Madison as bittersweet. The travel aspect proved to be extremely painful (and expensive), the unloading and loading of our possessions exhausting, and the visit itself proved fraught with nostalgia. But I was also looking forward to re-visiting the university, attending church with our former ward, and re-connecting with friends.

The most exciting prospect of my return was an invitation to stay at Chez Schaefer. After all, how many times in one's life does one get a backstage pass to hang out with the Rock Star?



It's not a man-crush...

The Rock Star is an individual who has received mentioned several times on 301NIB, but deserves a more formal introduction. I first became acquainted with the great man while we were moving into our apartment. The buzzer rang and after saying hello I heard a voice say, "Hey, is this the Mormon family that just moved in?"

But I only began to comprehend the man's truly Rock Star nature when I accompanied him on a speaking assignment at the Beaver Dam branch northeast of Madison. Watching him 'meet and greet' with the members as they arrived for Sacrament meeting was like watching Bono mesmerize a concert audience during the Joshua Tree tour. People naturally gravitate towards that handshake and intoxicating smile. This guy truly is what the Mack Strate only pretends to be. Women love him, men want to be him.



Lights, Camera, Mayhem

Besides the Rock Star himself, the Casa Del Schaefer is home to another ground-breaking artist, an innovative young film-maker who produces movie-shorts that shatter the industry's conventions. My own interest in theater production caused me to watch his technique with fascination. Whereas most directors spend several minutes (if not days) conceptualizing and then setting up shots, Vadar prefers complete spontaneity. Friday afternoon I watched him shoot a film by throwing his camera off his bed and allowing it to bounce several times. The dialogue consisted mainly of shouting and some singing of primary songs. The violence of it all was appalling, and yet strangely compelling - he treats his equipment with the reckless disregard of a (dare I say it?) Rock Star, who vindictively smashes his quitar after a brilliant performance.

301NIB is currently in talks with Vadar in the hopes he will direct our next internet video.



No, really...we're just friends

It was great to be able to hang out with Steve this weekend. Between moving our stuff out, running various errands, and the constant partying, we spent so much time together people may questioned the nature of our relationship. For example...

Since I need to pick up a rechargeable phone and a padlock for the moving van, we loaded everyone into the mini-van for a family trip to Target. As we walked through aisles Jake wanted to hold hands with both Steve and I, and of course he wanted us to swing him into the air over and over. It was a touching scene - a carefree lad out with his two dads.

On the way home we stopped at a home improvement store to pick up some paint brushes. After searching for several minutes without finding what we needed, we stopped someone in a red vest for directions. "Hey, can you tell us where to find those special foam brushes?" I considered buying a pneumatic drill or maybe a pressure washer just to make things a bit more masculine.

At the end of the weekend, the Rock Star and I both bolted church early on our way out of town. Since he was running late I dropped him off at the airport and carried in some boxes. Not knowing when we'd see each other again, he gave me the trademark bear hug as we said good-bye. In some cities that might draw some questioning looks as people secretly wondered if we'd just finished herding sheep in the mountains of Wyoming. But this was Madison. I didn't see anything but approving glances from people thinking, "Wow, good for them."

Coming soon in Part II : If it doesn't fit...she must forget