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"How I Discovered Michael
Ball"
Bremerton,
Washington
Oct 19, 1999
by Jackie Evans
I sort of dropped into the world of Michael Ball originally, by
"forcing" (as he put it) our then nearly 30 year old son into going
with us to see a national tour of Les Miz...which my husband and I had seen a
time or two already. To thank me for doing this, and since he totally
loved the show, he gifted me with the "Complete Symphonic Recording"
of "Les Miz"...which, besides including Michael in the cast, just
happened to have this tiny little photo of him in the little booklet that came
with it...I seemed to remember that this same Michael Ball was also on a video
that I had purchased for my husband (The Michael Crawford fan)...which was the
"Andrew Lloyd Webber Premier Collection Encore"...Yep, a quick check
verified it was the same fellow all right. And there, for a long, long
time was all I knew of Michael Ball. As many of you know, a check of local
music stores only brought a few puzzled looks...and the Michael Bolton?
response. No info, no CDs...just a vast lack of anything Michael....
And then at about 11:30 one night, same son phoned to say..."Les Miz is on
PBS"...
"Sure it is!" I replied, "knowing" this could not be
possible...
Son said, "Mom I'm really not gonna stand here and argue with you...Les Miz
is on...I'm gonna go watch it, and thought you might want to as well."
Well...as you may have guessed...I turned the TV on... and, wonder of wonders,
there was our Michael, singing his heart out...
Well, after filming that and watching it a few zillion times, I turned on the
computer (that I had never really wanted) one day, connected to the Internet,
which up until then had enabled me to write to a few friends and relatives and
read some out-of-town newspapers, and wander around looking at this and that
along the information highway, and then, someone told me about newsgroups, and
from there I found archives...and info about Michael...and then on to some MB
websites...and somehow...I ran across something called the Michael Ball Mailing
List...got subscribed...wrote my first post, sent for "Tricia's
Roster" which was a pretty handy thing to do in those days...and lo and
behold, discovered another MBFan, right here in small-town USA where I live.
I wrote to her, she replied. Turns out she lived only a few blocks away
from me, an almost unbelievable thing, and being a bit cautious, we chose a
nearby laundromat to meet each other the first time! After that, she felt
comfortable enough to come by and bring tapes on occasion. I learned that
she was already in touch with two more fans in Seattle, which is where she works,
we found another one via the MB list (and she had a "computer-less" MB fan and
pal), and yet another, who was pretty much 100% lurker, (via that wonderful
roster)...so suddenly we were seven...As you may know from my earlier newsletters,
we eventually got together, signed Bear Marius, shared all our collections of MB
stuff, had lunch, took pictures, sent a local postcard off to our
"sister" group in L.A...and had a really great time.
MB fans turn up in the most unexpected places sometimes. I only found out
a few months ago, that our oldest son's secretary is not only a fan, but had
thought she must be the only one in the entire U.S.! (Sound familiar?...so
many people seem to start out feeling exactly that way!) Well, she has no
computer at home, and web access while at work on her particular job is
practically impossible, and of course our Jeff had not mentioned his mom's
interest in this "obscure English singer" (his words, not mine)...(He
was most likely embarrassed to admit that his old gray-haired mom had actually
joined both a fan club and a mailing list)
Well...this little hobby of mine has grown, from that first little MB encounter
on that CD album...to planning a national BallFest for the summer of 1999.
I have met (in person) something over 50 people so far, via the MB list, and we
have had two international visitors (also from the list) as guests in our home
...and another, while in Seattle on a business trip, was able to attend one of
our local Ballfests too.
It hardly seems possible, even to me...but discovering Michael, belonging to the
lists, attending Ballfests whenever and wherever possible, has changed my life
in many, many ways. It has brought all of us together as well, so look
around if you haven't already - find another fan - write to someone from the
list you have not written to before - invite a co-worker or neighbor over for
sandwiches and MB videos. So, if you haven't done so before, you are
probably well on your way already, so - have a BallFest!!! And if
you HAVE done so, then do another! Keep the Ball rolling!
And always remember - Love does change everything!
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