William Shatner and me

There's an icebreaker game called Two Truths and a Lie. In this game everyone comes up with three statements about themselves, two that are true and one that is a lie. The goal is to come up with statements that confuse others so they don't guess which is your lie. I always win this game. My three statements are:

• I played with the Chicago Symphony.
• I was voted most musical in my high school class.
• I went on tour with William Shatner.

All my friends and many of my acquaintances know that I play horn, so nearly everyone assumes I was voted most musical in my high school class. But then they think I must have gotten confused and written two lies and one truth.

No, I was not voted most musical in high school. My friend Sue, who played the bass, was voted most musical girl. My friend Jeff, who is now a producer in the recording industry, was voted most musical boy.

And yes, I did play with the Chicago Symphony, just one week, but it was an amazing experience to play with a major symphony orchestra. My teacher was principal horn of the CSO and they were performing a very large work that called for many extra horn players. He was able to hire a number of his students, including me. We were the off-stage horns.

But this post is titled William Shatner and me. Yes! I went on tour with William Shatner! After college I freelanced in Chicago for awhile, and was hired to play in a pick-up orchestra that was going on tour over several weeks. The program would be symphonic music played while Shatner narrated a story with a background of space and a laser show. This was in the late 1970s, when the original series had been off the air for awhile and before any of the movies and spinoffs came out. As it turned out, we only went to Indianapolis and played one show. Something went awry with the financing of the whole shebang and I'm not sure we even got paid for that concert. Before that one concert, though Mr. Shatner was just hanging out backstage. I didn't talk with him because I couldn't think of anything to say, but my friend Gary did, telling him how much he enjoyed Star Trek. Shatner was very gracious and approachable.

In all, not a huge event in my life, but an interesting little sidelight that always makes people say, "You what?"