The Skeptics' Tour Manager

In 2006, after shooting a video to The Skeptics' song, "World Of Your Own", I was approached by The Skeptics' manager, Ol' Hole Heels (OHH), about doing a documentary about the band. I was reluctant. Although a fan of their music, I had only seen them play out twice, both times in 1989, with bass player Kevin Sefsic. The original bass player, Dennis Crolley, had by then left the band, but I did meet him at one rehearsal when he returned as bass player shortly before the band went underground in 1990. We met at lead singer/guitarist, Andy McCutcheon's parents home. All this came about because I was a good friend of Stephen Blickenstaff, the drummer. Stephen and I had made a few films together in the late 1980s. Though I had met Andy and Dennis, it was merely a handshake and brief exchange. I'm sure our meeting was quickly forgotten. So, in the summer of 2007, during our first day of shooting, I officially met them for the first time.

After giving OHH's proposal some thought, I felt compelled to take on the challenge. I knew it would be tough, as I did not know the band's history, nor was I connected or knew many of the band's fan base and friends. OHH told me, as I've mentioned in an earlier posting, that he would give me complete access to the band and their archives, along with a list of key and vital fans, family, and friends, who would be essential to interview. He further assured that he'd be there with me at every stage to help with any obstacles I encountered along the way. I quickly learned that OHH was my ace in the hole and things would go smoothly because it became quite apparent I was dealing with someone who was well connected and a force in his own right. Actually, as many know, he was already legend in Frederick, Maryland. I had no idea. But I quickly became confident the project would be easier than expected.

The following clip regards OHH mentioning the need of a tour manager, but was taken out of the documentary:

Moving on, the list OHH gave me of people to interview was fairly extensive. I immediately began to make telephone calls, introduce myself, and soon found most everyone was more than willing to allow me to film them for the documentary. Unfortunately, a couple key individuals were not available until after the film was shot. I explained it would be fun to get them to say a few words that I could eventually release in a blog. I was able to finally meet with them in the summer of 2010.

The first interview I filmed last summer was with Freaky Daddy, The Skeptics' Tour manager. He wasn't available during the filming of the documentary, due to being on tour with another band. It should be noted that in between tours, he is a regular on Monster Madhouse, an eclectic group of individuals in the Virginia area, who provide a very prominent show that promotes the fine genre of science fiction/monster films. Hosted by Karlos Borloff, the show is an outstanding achievement, but has not yet been fully recognized on the national level for its brilliance and dedication to promoting the fantastic monster films of Hollywood's yesteryears. For more information, please check out http://monstermadhouse.com/

Getting back to Freaky Daddy, he is somewhat of a recluse. While setting up tour dates for The Skeptics, the band members never saw or dealt with him. OHH was his only contact. Freaky Daddy and I met one afternoon in an undisclosed location. I was given instruction where to drive and park my car. From there, I was met by an individual, who blindfolded me, then drove us to a secret location. OHH had warned me I might encounter a strange situation before meeting Freaky Daddy, but he gave me his word all would be fine and to trust the situation. I did. The following scene is a result of that meeting:

Get your copy of The Skeptics' documentary at FilmBaby: http://www.filmbaby.com/films/5529