Oompah Music

Five of us were scheduled to do a film shoot.  The setting was a converted basement in a church constructed to resemble a German beer garden or a beer-drinking saloon. There were tapestries on the wall and small tables and chairs giving that European look.  I have to admit it appeared real enough, especially for this documentary we were about to shoot.

We should have suspected this would be the routine as we were asked to wear Lederhosen. (These are the German leather pants you never clean.) Yeech! 

I was the contractor for this film shoot and I hired the guys that owned these "odd" bits of ethnic garb. They more or less played this kind of music. In any case you usually mime to a sound track so how we looked was more important than how we sounded.

The story line for the film had something to do with Dan Jansen at Lillehammer. He was a famous American speed skater and his achievements were marked by personal tragedies and misfortunes. However, he did eventually prevail (winning gold) and became one of the most respected athletes in that sport.

So you get the picture, we were dressed in this Ocktoberfest garb and were to fake (playing) a German melody. I can never remember the exact title. Hofbrauhaus or something like that. (Maybe I don't want to remember the title. Don't correct me. I don't want to know. )  

We started the scene (complete with smoke for atmosphere). The smoke is actually fake smoke, which is really vegetable oil, dispensed by a machine. It's not harmful but your glasses and I suspect everything else is covered with this light residue.

Well, we heard "roll em." After a few minutes something didn't add up for the director. He looked puzzled.  We ran this bit a few more times and he still wasn't satisfied. Was it our playing or the audience's singing?  The feel of the scene just wasn't right. 

The director couldn't put his finger on what was wrong. Then he asked, "Can you guys play that number without the sound track?" Meaning could we would play it live? Of course we could, (sort of). This guy didn't know what he was getting in to. Well, if he wanted "bad" (authenticity) we would give it to him.

Well we "honked" and oompahed through this tune and the director then remarked quite excitedly,  "Hey that's it. That's what I want." He liked our "earthy" treatment of this song (meaning we played it badly). 

It turned out that the music (sound track) was too good. It sounded like a Nelson Riddle recording. Some studio musicians had taped it in LA. Well, beer garden bands don't sound that good (not the ones I know).

That's not to say we played it terribly but we weren't as pristine as the previous "sound track" recording. Well, you get the picture. I guess "bad" is better than "good" when it comes to sounding real. The director might have said under his breath, "Hey that's bad. I mean better."

Oh well a gig is a gig is a gig. I guess we sounded authentic meaning we played it as though we had been drinking. Come to think of it.  Maybe some of the guys had been. 

What a strange business.

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