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Scott…and Skywalker?

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(Scott, far left, pictured with various friends in Las Vegas and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill)

September 3rd was the birthday of one of my best friends, Scott. I had waited to post mostly because I didn’t have a recent picture and knew I was going to meet him in Tulsa a week and a half ago and might get a picture then. Little did I know that I would get such a great picture!

Scott, a NYC resident, was in Las Vegas in the days prior to our Tulsa trip with his friends for the opening of their Broadway hit Avenue Q in Las Vegas. I got a call Thursday September 8th asking me to guess who he was hanging out with. It turned out to be Mark Hamill and his wife. They were staying at the same hotel and they ended up spending part of the evening together. Being less than a year younger than me Scott also grew up a Star Wars fan. While I have always been partial to Han Solo, his childhood hero was Luke Skywalker. That being the case this chance meeting was a special geek moment for Scott, eventhough I imagine he managed to present himself with great decorum and didn’t regale Mark Hamill with bad “Luke, I am your father!” impressions.

I met Scott in 1987 during my freshman year of college in Tulsa, OK. I had moved there from a small town in Nebraska and was quite miserable being away from friends and family. I had called home saying that I was not going to come back after Christmas break but was instead going to go to a college in Nebraska. This was sometime prior to Thanksgiving. My mom said that this was ‘okay’ but said she would pray that I would find a good friend before that so I would stay. Soon after I ‘met’ Scott. We had actually had a class together all semester, Oral Communications, but I hadn’t noticed him. He can correct me if I’m wrong but I believe he came to my attention when he was giving a speech and mentioned in his speech that Madonna was a slut. It was an unexpected and quite hilarious moment and we became fast friends after this. So Scott was either an answer to prayer, or a great curse, I don’t know which. Just kidding! Scott likes to remind me and others that he believes he is solely responsible for me finding my wife. Since I had found a good friend I returned after Christmas break and soon after met Mary who had been home the previous semester caring for her ill mother. A year and a half later we were married. Thank you, Scott! 😉

Scott has been a terrific best friend with whom I’ve had some of my most memorable moments. Scott is a director in NYC and as such sees a great deal of theatre. I have been able to see two of my favorite Broadway shows with Scott, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables in addition to many others. I have met Tori Amos twice, in Tulsa and Seattle, thanks to Scott. On our first trip to NYC to visit Scott my wife and I were able to go up in one of the towers of the World Trade Center, a very special memory now considering the 2001 tragedy. I could go on and on about cool things Scott and I have done together but more important than those things he has been a very special friend who encourages me to get outside of my comfort zone and do things that I might not do otherwise. In addition Mary and I have fallen in love with his family members in South Carolina and Tulsa and have adopted them as our own. And of course there’s that little thing about meeting my wife.

For those who’ve managed to read this far I would be remiss in not sharing another memory. Scott and I were in a Health class in college and we were taking timed tests to see how many push ups, etc. we could do in a minute. Scott was holding my feet and counting while I was doing sit ups. As he counted “25, 26, 27…” I unexpectedly let out a very loud fart which halted the class as everyone burst forth with laughter. It was an embarrassing but extremely entertaining moment.

Please join me in wishing Scott a belated but very Happy Birthday! I love you dearly and our friendship is a very integral part of my life. Thank you for all the memories and for your honesty and encouragement. You are the best.

On a related note, on September 3rd, 1937 Orson Welles produced, directed, and starred in Les Miserables, the first radio play to be produced by the fledgling Mercury Theater group.

48 thoughts on “Scott…and Skywalker?”

  1. happy birthday!

    i’ve seen Les Miserables numerous times.. (even in London!).. it’s one of my all-time favorite musicals.
    i have yet to see Phantom, even tho it was just here in Indy.. i’m really kicking myself for not going when i had the chance.. even tho i couldn’t find anyone else to go.

  3. Happy Birthday, Scott!!!!

    The next time you see me I won’t be pregnant….just so you know!!!

  5. ahhh, i actually like to think that besides your marriage to mary, i’m also responsible for the birth of tori (not in any literal sense of the word), plus your sticking to your career in social work, your introduction to neil gaiman, all the hours you spend reading comic books, your eating seafood (or at least frogmore stew), plus your fondness for both sarah brightman and tori amos, but hey..let’s not be nit-picky about details here! i’m just happy to have you in my life. thanks for the belated birthday wish and no worries about the lateness, at least you’re keeping in character! (and i actually called both madonna and the one-hit wonder samantha fox sluts..i don’t think i got a very good grade on that speech.)

  6. Happy Birthday Scott!

    Did Carl tell you that when Mike and I were in Germany in May, I thought I saw you at a restaurant where we were eating. It shocked me quite a bit, and the guy probably wondered why I stopped to stare at him. But, then he started speaking in German (or what I am guessing is German) and I figured that it probably wasn’t you! But, I found your twin!!

    I recently watched a home video of when you came home with Carl during a college break. It is so funny, and I laugh ever time. Of course everyone is quite dorky, including myself, but it was the 80’s.

    I also remember at Monty and Lisa Woods’ wedding when you called the hotel and left a message for Carl to call you. My mom told Carl that someone named Dot called him. Ha! Ha!

    Well, hope your b-day was enjoyable!

  7. I was trying to limit this to not being a huge tome called “In Praise of Scott: How one man helped spawn the intellectual, cultural, and geeky growth of a backwards kid from Nebraska by calling Madonna and Samantha Fox sluts in an Oral Comm class thus insuring said kid stayed at college, met the love of his life and had a great kid”.

    Geez, give me a break! 🙂

    Great memories, Abby!

  8. thanks for the wishes everyone…kind of sweet and cool to get them this late. it’s like the 2 week long birthday!

    i appreciate the memories abby, however i’d also also appreciate you not slipping up and calling me dot! cause if you do, well we can obviously tell by my actions in speech class that i’m not too appropriate with what i call others!! (glad to hear you guys are doing so well..carl keeps me up-to-date on everything!)

    and carl, you’re absolutley right. i shouldn’t expect you to have to list all the ways i’ve made your life richer…it would be below the humble stature of my character! please forgive the slight slip on my part…

    this was a nice part of my day..thanks all.

  9. Ang, Les Mis is my all-time fave musical too! I’ve only seen it once on stage, in Dallas. London? I’m so jealous. Melissa saw it there.

    Have you seen Rag Time? It’s a very close second for me.

    Oh, happy b-day, Scott. 🙂

  10. Carl, you fake!

    You should have a ‘made by Scott’ tattoo on your a…er…back.

    This whole time I’m really Scotts friend.

  11. This whole post has made me laugh numerous times out loud. Thanks to all.

    Belated happy birthday Scott! Can’t wait to meet you Thursday. I guess I have you to thank to my finally making time to read Neil Gaiman. Here I thought it was just Carl’s influence all along and now I find out he was he just the middle man. I owe all of my love of Neil Gaiman’s writing to you and not Carl! 🙂

    Sidenote to Carl: No repeats of your Health class performance on our loooooooooong car ride to Chicago tommarrow my friend.

  13. Happy Birthday to your friend Scott, who looks a whole lot better in the photo than his hero does!!

  14. No kidding! What happened to that Hamell!!

    Scott looks like Howie Mandel in that picture!!!

  15. I don’t know if that Howie thing is a compliment or not! 🙂 Yes, Luke looks a little worse for wear in that shot but at least he’s a very fun, nice, cool guy so that counts for something.

    I’m hurt deeply Jimmy…I’ve been crying all night! When it comes down to it I’m sure there is a great deal of me that Scott would not want to take any credit for, lol! He did open a door with some of the things he introduced me to, but I ended up kicking it off the hinges and becoming a total freak!

    And actually Scott can’t take credit for Gaiman because Lori, whose wedding we attended last week, introduced him to Gaiman so he was the middle man for me!!! And I’ll do my best to not do any sit ups on the way to Chicago!

  16. And let me echo the statements of Rob and Angela…Les Miz is an amazing experience. There is so much going on in the musical as far as the subject matter goes and its so emotionally powerful. Its been too long since I’ve seen it and now that Tori is a teenager I’d love to take her to it…except for those 2 ‘naughty’ songs its a pretty amazing show. Maybe when she’s a little older.

  18. Happy Birthday, Scott! I would be much more thankful for the part you played in keeping Carl at college if you didn’t BRAG about it so much. ;o) I am forever grateful that you were/are Carl’s friend and thankful to call you my friend also.

    For the record Scott is not Tori’s father, nor is Mark Hamill…although Mark may be her brother, if you know what I mean…

  21. hey..i get to talk lots on here today!

    yes mary, i do mention it every time i see you because, well it makes me laugh to annoy you. maybe if you came to visit me more often, i wouldn’t have to always bring it up (in fact, i promise you that the next time you come to nyc i won’t mention it at all…how’s that?)

    jeff, very much looking forward to meeting you. thanks for making this whole chicago trip happen and gotta say, the chances of carl not hitting a “situp 28” on an 8 hour car ride are pretty slim. (though i don’t remember it as smelly…just funny.)

    yeah, mark does look a little beatup. did you know that he was in a really horrible auto accident between “star wars” and “empire”? he talked about it a bit the other day…said that he only broke his nose and wasn’t as serious as the papers reported. i think it’s just that fact that he’s, unlike the rest of us of course, almost 30 years older than we remember him. though when i met him, it was a bit startling that he’s not still a kid in his mid-20’s

    carl, “les miz” isn’t playing here in the city anymore…it closed last year after making it as the 3rd longest running bway show. you’ll have to catch it on tour to let tori see it. and yes, lori did introduce me to neil but not sure how that changes the fact that i introduced it to you….not like i claimed credit for discovering him.

    julie, it’s fine with me. you can be pregnant as many times as you like and i’ll be happy to see you (just don’t ask me to baby-sit!!)

    rob, where did you see “ragtime”–here in the city?

    james, if you want to, we can just cut carl out of the middle. i’m lots of fun to talk to on a regular basis!

    thanks again all…i’ve never posted this much on a blog before. kind of fun…

  22. Happy, oh so belated, birthday Scott.

    Isn’t it strange how a farting story can make people smile

  23. That’s me, bringing the world together, one fart at a time.

    Scott, I could’ve sworn that I saw on your list of accomplishments that you wrote that you did indeed discover Neil Gaiman…and in fact wrote his first novel.

    I’d actually like to see you babysit James and Jules’ 4 daughters…let Elaina call you “foofie head” for a few hours. Actually they are quite easy to babysit and they have a playstation 2 so you’d be all set up for an evening of fun…that is if you could handle being beat at all the games by an 8 yr old.

  28. *sits & reads the long ass post*
    *sits & reads the never ending comment banter*
    *chuckles*

    Happy Belated B-day Scott!!

    *blows a kiss*

    mg
    😉

    ps: Poor Mark. *shakes head*

  29. julie, maybe you’ve just lost track of them all…carl does apparently know our lives better than we!! (though the appeal of being called “foofie head” has never been wasted on me.)

    rob, i saw “ragtime” here in the city and a few friends of mine originated the roles here on bway. thought you might have gotten to see them..it was an amazing production. loved it lots and was sad that it didn’t run longer (it was a victim of some really bad internal management and all the fuss over “the lion king” which opened in the same season.) glad you saw it though and loved it.

    carl, come on you know i didn’t discover neil gaiman, i’m the one who rediscovered the works of shakespeare. they were all up in my gram’s attic, uknown to the world before i found them behind an old baby pram and some molty umbrellas. sheesh…forget my biggest contributions to the world, it’s okay.

  31. Happy Belated birthday, Scott! Avenue Q looks interesting, I’m going to NYC the first weekend in Oct, and am looking for a play that piques my interest (so far, it was Spamalot LOL!).

  32. hey angela…a pram is just an old baby stroller. my grams did indeed have an old one back in her attic.

    janet, “avenue q” is probably the funniest (or at least in the top 5 funniest) shows i’ve ever seen in my life (and i saw 170 productions/readings just last year). it basically answers the question of what would happen if all the characters on sesame street (though it actually has nothing to do with sesame street or the makers of it), both human and puppets, had to live real lives in new york and find jobs, be in relationships and try to figure out where their place in the world is. it’s very, very funny and quite touching but it is a little bit dirty, so no kids allowed. happy to help with other suggestions if you’d like…probably not much chance on getting tickets to see “spamalot” though unless you know someone in the cast…crazy sold out. have a good trip to the city.

  40. in defense of mark: not many actors (except ewan) have made it out of the star wars films that lucas directed without looking like bad actors. he even made liam look wooden and uncharismatic.

  42. I couldn’t remember how old Lydia was, give me a break. I guess I really am a foofie head! Maybe I was picking up some psychic message that you are supposed to have 8 kids or something?

    I can’t believe how many comments are on this post, to quote my daughter, you guys rock!

  45. Happy belated birthday, Scott. Hope you guys are having a great time in Chicago! I’m glad you have been a part of our lives. This post is hilarious!! What a range of topics it has covered!! I wonder if I should read this Neil guys books- is it something I would enjoy,Carl? Have a safe trip back to KC and no sit-ups please!!!

  46. I’m doubtful mom, but you might enjoy Stardust. Probably a little too fantasy-ish for your liking. I saw that the last of Jan Karon’s Mitford series is coming out soon and then she will do no more. I’m sure Mary will get it and you can borrow it. I haven’t read the last 2, I should get to them sometime as I really enjoyed the earlier ones. We’ll have a safe trip, thanks mom.

  47. vicki, thanks for the birthday wishes. it was a great one and i’ve had a lot of fun getting to see carl so much lately. would be nice to see you and jim again soon..please send him my best.

    thanks everyone for the postings. was a fun birthday time and discussions. carl’s got a cool group of friends—scott

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