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Showing posts from June, 2006

Horse Opera Gone in Jackson?

Vanessa Pierce, Reporter for the Jackson Hole News and Guide just authored an article (June 14-20 edition) entitled: “Is It Curtains for the Playhouse?” The article details progress in an ongoing sale of The Playhouse. The “deal is under contract,” with the apparent winners a “music production” company. This all may be another indication that the days of “horse opera” in Jackson Hole are coming to an end. An update shared that the operators of the Playhouse (Vicki and Cameron Garnick) are working to create a non-profit vehicle to salvage this piece of Jackson culture.

The Circle

Dirty Jack's Blog is very happy to present a new, original recording from Timothy Patrick O'Reilly, the talented musician and singer I met 30 years ago in Jackson Hole. The Circle is a touching, thoughtful ballad that, I think, pays a bit of homage to Tim's rich Irish heritage while still sounding fresh. Tim wrote, performed, and produced this song, and I hope there is a lot more to come. Enjoy. The Circle

The Smartest Guy In The Room

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John Eagle was the best actor in the cast of the show Paint Your Wagon at Dirty Jack’s Theater back in the summer of 1976. I’m not sure everybody knew John Eagle was the best actor, but I did, and I had special powers of perception since I was not another actor but a lowly musician who watched the actors ply their craft every night. John Eagle was the best. Off stage John Eagle was a skinny, intense guy who hunched over a bit when he stood. His Adam’s apple bobbed when he spoke and he always seemed to be looking over your shoulder when he talked to you. But I knew this all meant he was a genius. Nobody else knew. When John Eagle walked on stage his back straightened and his voice deepened. His eyes flashed with energy and sly amusement. Think of a young Jeff Goldblum; John Eagle really did have that kind of presence on the stage, that kind of strength. And he was the most devoted of the actors, I think. He was the most actorish. One day he announced to all of us that he planned to host

July 4th 1976 Parade in Jackson Hole

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Here are some snapshots taken July 4th 1976. Dirty Jack's Theater joined with the other two theaters in town and shared a float in the parade. Click for bigger images. Is that Sean? Tom, Doc, Marco, Tim, Sean, Paul. Where the heck was I? On the right I can see John Eagle and Melanie Morris Bob Houghtaling and Bill Moore in full costume [Images courtesy of Sean Richarz]

Dirty Jack's Theater 1976 Playbill

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Click on the picture for a larger image. [Image courtesy of Sean Richarz]

A Picture of the Band!

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At last! A picture of the Dirty Jack's Theater Band from the summer of 1976. L to R Seated - Pat "Doc" Holt, Sean Richarz Standing - Tom Dunham, me, Paul Coover, Tim O'Reilly, Marco Fleming This picture is taken in the lobby of the theater, in front of the piano used in the sing-along before the show each night. On the left you can see the ladder Mikey climbed each night to the light booth. [Image courtesy of Sean Richarz]

A Guest Post from Sean

My name is Sean Richarz. I came to Dirty Jack's in May of '76, driving my Dad's '66 Mustang, which we still own (I was with Dad when we bought it brand new). I had just finished my first year of college at the University of Idaho, and was nervous about my first real professional gig. I had gotten the job by auditioning on my trumpet by tape for Jon Stainbrook. I still have the letter telling me he hired me, with pay of $65 a week, a shared room and one meal a day. The first shock was that we never used the Broadway books with our parts in them, like a normal musical, but Doc Holt taught us parts by ear and rote. I never figured out if this was because he didn't read music or what, but since we did it that way everything was obviously memorized. It was a little wierd. Doc was an amazing musician, and he did all this funny show-off stuff like play blind folded and with a table cloth covering the piano keys, and he never missed a beat, playing something like "Mala

One Year Aniversary

This website first went up one year ago today . The notion struck me as I woke up on a Sunday morning, and I had it up and running a couple hours later. One of the goals of this blog was to hook up with old friends from thirty years ago at Dirty Jack’s Wild West Theater in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So far I’ve made contact with (in chronological order): Kathy Stainbrook – actress Rhonda Willford – tickets/actress Mike Willford – stagehand/grip Rocky Joe Quarles – actor David Abrams - actor Tom DeWester -- actor Tom Dunham – band Timothy Patrick O’Reilly – band John Dorish – actor Bob Adams – set carpenter/band Sean Richarz – band Sadly, I’ve been told of the deaths of other friends; Nancy Stainbrook, Doc Holt, Paul Fox, and Richard Tierce. I found that Jon Stainbrook has become incapacitated by his MS. Another goal for the website was to create a presence on the Internet for Dirty Jack’s Theater. In the last year more than a thousand visitors have found this blog, mostly by Googling