Leif's autograph to Amy! July 31, 2001 -- Barn Theatre - Augusta, Michigan from Amy Keefer: It was Tuesday July 31 and I was getting ready for a night on the town with my friends Tracy and Suzanne. I would be moving soon and we wanted to get together one last time before I left. Suzanne had found out that Leif would be performing in a [summer stock - July 31 to August 12] musical called, "Old Timer" at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan, starting that night. She asked me if I wanted to go and I said yes. I was a fan of Leif's back in the 70s and used to watch him on TV. I couldn't believe that we were going to be seeing him perform. I was excited and we had never been to the Barn Theatre before, so I was looking forward to that, too. The theatre is really cool, as it used to be an old dairy farm. When we got there we found out that Leif was not the original actor for the role that he played. It was originally supposed to be played by Jeff Conaway who was on the TV show Taxi. Due to contractural obligations, he was unable to do the show so Leif ended up getting the part. The show takes place in the 1920s during the prohibition era. Leif's character Johnny Molano was an abusive, gangster-type. He lived in Los Angeles with a woman and her daughter but they were not married. The main character of the show, Clay Miller, had been in prison for thirty years for killing a man in New Mexico. His wife had died a long time before that but they had a daughter Juanita. When he was released from prison, he immediately set out for Los Angeles to look for his daughter. On the way, he befriended a young man who was on his way to L.A. to become an actor. He had an uncle in the business that was going to give him a job. When Clay arrived in L.A., he found his daughter but did not tell her who he was. She had been told by her late mother that her father was dead so she had no idea who this stranger was. He came around to visit his daughter and granddaughter frequently but Johnny didn't like him coming around. Eventually, Clay found out that Johnny was abusive to her, and that he was also not the type of man he wanted around his daughter. Johnny was involved in the illegal selling of liquor which didn't sit too well with the local police. I don't think the police had actual proof; otherwise, they would have been able to arrest Johnny. One day, Clay's granddaughter came to find him. She informed him that Johnny had beaten her mother up and she needed help. When Clay found out where Johnny was at, he set out to pay him a visit. Johnny was enjoying himself at a tavern when Clay showed up. He had no Idea that Clay knew what he had done to Juanita. Clay never gave Johnny a chance. He walked up to the table, pulled out a gun, and shot Johnny dead. He left in a hurry and went back to the house that Juanita and her daughter were living in. Soon after, the police detective showed up looking for him. He told Clay that a couple of people had given him a description of the man that shot Johnny. Instead of arresting him, the detective told Johnny to get out of town and that if anybody asked, he would tell them that the description didn't match. Clay agreed to leave town and wanted to take Juanita and her daughter with him. Juanita realized then that he was her father and agreed to go with him. Leif did a great job portraying his character. He also was able to show off his singing talents. He did a solo and also did a duet with the Sheriff. The show was an orignal, written by the theatre owner and his son. It's a great story and has some really good songs in it, and it contained an amazing cast! After the show, we went to another building next to the theatre that had been transformed into a bar. We were told that there would be an after-show party. The cast came out in groups and performed musical numbers for everyone. Then, Leif came out and sang an acapella version of an Elton John song (the name escapes me at the moment). After the song was over, he seemed to disappear. My friend Suzanne happened to go outside, and he was out there. She talked to him for a few minutes and then came back inside to let us know that he was outside. We immediately went out to find him. He was so friendly and down-to-earth with us. Not that I expected him to be anything else, of course! We found out that he had some CDs from his new band [named F8] and asked if we could purchase some, so he went and got them. He was nice enough to autograph our programs and visit with us for a few minutes. All-in-all, it was great night, and it was a thrill to meet Leif. I hope I can see him perform again as I was very impressed! I'm also glad to know that he is getting his life together. It would be a shame to let talent like that go to waste! © copyright 2001 Amy Keefer (text / photo) e-mail: shakeandtumble@hotmail.com website: Amy Keefer Genealogy Here's more from my Leif Gallery Misc.: Gallery Misc. (scroll down some more to find Old Timer photos / reviews) from Lyz Marie: One May night, I was surfing the 'net and stumbled onto the Leif Garrett Fans website. I went into the "News" section and saw that he would be in Michigan, doing a musical. Right away, I decided that I had to go- no matter what. I first got interested in Leif from watching 8-Track Flashback [VH1 cable-TV show]. I've always been into '70s music and culture, more than any other time period. I vaguely remembered his music- I am only 24, born in 1977. I've always been a bigger Andy Gibb fan, and in April, I heard that his Behind the Music [VH1] was going to be on, and I definitely wanted to record it, but I had to go to work at 2:00, and it wasn't going to be on until 4:00, so I had to push 'record' before I left...resulting in the recording of two programs before that, that I might not want. As it turned out, it was a Guilty Pleasures marathon, and I got The Partridge Family first, followed by Leif Garrett. After watching Andy, I turned my attention to Leif and was very surprised to hear all he had been through; I never realized he had been through all of that. I was surprised by how he looked on 8-Track Flashback...he was completely bald and looked older. I assumed he was in his 40s, then on BTM, when he was wearing a bandana, he looked no more than 25 or so. I became a full-fledged fan. I have since tried to follow all that he's been up to, and so, I made arrangements with my boss at Wal-Mart to get Sunday the 5th of August off to see him in Augusta, 6 hours away from my hometown of Alpena. My best friend, Lisa, who works with our local college and city theatre, agreed to go with me, although she didn't have any idea who Leif Garrett was. She is just a big fan of musicals. We set off on our journey around 8:00. I had wanted to leave between 9:00 and 10:00, putting us down there around 3:30 with just enough time to allow for error- getting lost, that kind of stuff. I'm prone to getting lost, and I had never been to this part of Michigan before. But, Lisa was ready early and wanted to get on the road...so, we did. We made the usual bathroom stops and an eating stop in Flushing at the Denney's. I wasn't really into eating a big meal- it had to be 95°F outside, so I chose Shrimp Scampi, which was really good. I was trying to stay on my Weight Watchers program. After lunch, it was about a 20-minute trip until we had to get off onto 69 towards Lansing, where my dad is from, and where I've been to many times- been going to the NASCAR races in Brooklyn for over 16 years. So, I assumed that I would know how to get to where we were going, because I had sort of been near that area several times. Thank God my dad's best friend, Al, who grew up in Battle Creek, gave us directions as to what specific exit to take off of 94 to get into Augusta. I had printed off directions for the main leg of the trip from expedia.com, but they were a little confusing and non-specific. Thank God Lisa can decipher directions pretty well. It had to be even hotter when we arrived in Augusta. We had 2 hours to kill in which Lisa wanted to go and park in the theatre parking lot and possibly get some shut-eye, which I totally disagreed with. I thought people would look at us weird, and I knew I wouldn't be going to sleep- I was too wound up, and it was too hot. So, we drove around Augusta and Galesburg, the next closest town. Augusta is a smaller town- one bar, one gas station. It's kinda run-down, but the locals seemed really nice. It must have been quite the thing for them...having a big star in a play with quite a bit of hype in their small town. We stopped to browse in an antique store in Galesburg. Didn't find much. It was just nice to get nostalgic over the things we had as a kid- old McDonald's glasses, Scooby Doo memorabilia. By the end of that, it was almost 4:00, and so we headed to the theatre, which is out of town about 2 miles or so. When we arrived, there were already people parked waiting in their cars, some had gone to purchase their tickets and were sitting on benches in front of the box office. Soon, more and more people arrived, and we decided to pick up our reserved tickets and were delighted to learn that our seats were 3 rows from the stage. We walked around the grounds; very neatly kept up and very artsy. We headed over to the Rehearsal Shed lounge. We were told we could sit down and get refreshments- there was no cover charge and no drink minimum. We declined but walked around the lounge, admiring the posters of the plays' past, and snapping a few pictures of some. They surely have done the variety of shows. At about 4:45, we moseyed in to the theatre to get our seats. We found out we were the last two seats at the end, which we were happy about. The theatre is just as it says...a big barn, all wood on the inside. The drawback was, every time someone new came into our row, we had to stand up and let them through. The seats weren't particularly comfortable- you were kinda smushed in. The play started at 5:00 sharp. Right from the get-go, I was into it. It was about this old timer, Clay Miller (played by Scott Burkell [who replaced Jeff Conaway of TV's Taxi, who had to cancel due to previous contractual obligations]), who gets out of prison in New Mexico after 30 years, and sets out for California in search of his long-lost daughter (played by Penelope Miller), only to find her and her daughter living with an abusive womanizing gangster (played by Leif). He goes to see her and tells her he knew her mother, and eventually after a few visits, tells her who he is. She continues to live with Johnny [Leif], staying for financial reasons, which annoys her father, who is secretly plotting away to get rid of Johnny. In the end, after he is just about to convince her to leave, she tells Johnny she is leaving, and he beats her and threatens to kill her if she ever tries to leave him. Clay learns of his daughter's abuse and he has had enough. He walks into the club, where Johnny and his whore are socializing, and point-blank shoots him dead. He rushes to Waunita [daughter] to tell her he's leaving, fearing once the cops figure out he is responsible for the killing. They will come after him, and he will be locked up for life, so leaving the state is the best option. Waunita pleads with him to stay, and she says she and her daughter will go with him. The police detective shows up, and he knows Clay is responsible for the murder and he tells him that if he disappears out of the state, he will let it slide. After the show, I wondered if getting autographs would be possible. I asked at the front desk, and they told me to go out by the stage door, where the actors come out. We were able to get most of the actors' autographs and we waited patiently for Leif, who came out last. He asked us if we enjoyed the show, and if we were going to the after-show in the Rehearsal Shed. I wanted to, but we had to leave because I had to be at work for 9:00 the next morning. I felt lucky enough to be getting his autograph and was nervous about asking for a picture, but I figured when else am I gonna see him again? So, I just asked and he said, sure, and he was very sweet- getting pictures with both me and my friend Lisa. He looked fabulous in a pair of baggier jeans, with sneakers, a green bandana, and a shirt that read "Piranha Alley" on it. He looked, in my words, very hip I would have liked to stay and have a chance to talk to him some more, as well as the rest of the cast. If I had to do it all again, I would have taken 2 days off and stayed over to be able to go to the after-show. What I'd heard about him was true- he is very nice to fans, very personable. I'm glad to call myself a fan and hope I can see him in something he does in the future...would be nice to see him and his new band F8. We stopped in Battle Creek on the way home, for a quick bite at Arby's. By this time, it had cooled off considerably and was quite pleasant. We got home around 2:00. It was a great experience, one that I'm glad to have and will never forget. The pictures turned out great and will serve as a reminder of the great time we had. Lyz Marie, 24, was born in 1977 and currently lives with her parents in Alpena, Northern Michigan. She's not married nor has had children. She works at the Radio Grill, located inside the Wal-Mart Supercenter. She's working towards a near future move-in, in 6 months or so and may be able to transfer to another Wal-Mart. She always considered herself to be been born too late, in the wrong time frame as far as her tastes range. She was a NKOTB fan, as were many of her peers, but it was just typical of being a teenage girl. As a young child, she loved Saturday nights TV- first Star Search, then Solid Gold with Andy Gibb. She grew more into '70s pop culture: music, movies, TV shows...and more disenchanted with '80s pop culture. Leif, Andy, Shaun Cassidy, Tony DeFranco, early John Travolta, anyone who has endured through ups & downs and who has come out on top- Leif, the Bee Gees. She considers herself quiet, a shy and reserved person who can be very stubborn and argumentative. She mostly enjoys quiet times spent with family and friends. She spends hours surfing the web and has quite a large collection of song lyrics, extensive Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees. She has a folder of Leif Garrett memorabilia which she's constantly adding to. Music has always been an important part of her life and her goal is to have at least a greatest hits collection from every artist she likes. © copyright 2001 Lyz Marie (text / photos) e-mail: Snake1977@webtv.net website: http://community.webtv.net/Snake1977/WhOiReAlLyAm LYZ & LEIF! LYZ'S FRIEND LISA & LEIF Barn Theatre's history sign Barn Theatre's Rehearsal Shed lounge Barn Theatre's bulletin boards / display inside the Shed (2 pictures) Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan BACK TO Leif Gallery 2 (page 1)