How I became an Abe Lincoln impersonator…
In January 2007, I lost a bet on the Jets-Patriots playoff game – yeah, I know its never wise to bet on the Jets, but anyway… So as a result of losing the bet, I had to grow my beard for a year… However, because I am a professional tuba player, and cannot play with a moustache as it gets in the way of the mouthpiece sliding freely against my skin while playing, I was not required to grow the moustache…
By February, the beard had grown in pretty well… And I was on the subway home from an orchestra gig in Brooklyn in my tuxedo and black trenchcoat, with my horn, when I noticed people were giggling all around me, and I wasn’t quite sure why… And then some guy asked me if I was free the next evening and wanted a gig – he said it paid $800.00 and would involve me showing up at this fancy nightclub in Chelsea. Same dress. So I showed up with my horn and he asked “why did you bring the tuba?” I was confused, and he said “aren’t you an Abe Lincoln impersonator?” I said of course, but since I had the tuba with me on the train, I assumed you wanted that as well… Anyway, he did not…
The gig was to basically hang out in his nightclub pretending to be Abe Lincoln, and drinking whatever liquor I wanted to while posing for photos with beautiful women at the club, in honor of Lincoln’s Birthday… Who would believe it? I was living the American Dream, getting paid solely on the basis of my appearance, when its THIS appearance!!! And the women ate it up. I did the gig, got my check and decided to go out on my own again the following weekend as that was President’s Day officially, and I could not find anyone in New York willing to go with me to take photos, as nobody would believe the story without evidence… SO the next week, my old friend Luc Krols, flew to NYC from Belgium, threw on a normal suit and followed me around recording all the reactions I got as we spent the weekend exploring NYC. Unfortunately standing next to Lincoln, they all thought Luc was George W. Bush, which did not please his ego, to say the least… The video below is a montage of all the photos we took that weekend, so you can get an idea what it was like…
So, amazed by what he saw, and disappointed in his own performance as Bush, Luc decided to fly back the next year, in 2008, and this time he dressed like George Washington… He had to explain his Flemish accent – but he just said that everyone in 2008 seemed to have a weird accent, as everyone talked like him in the 18th century… In preparation for 2008, I upped my game as well, sheeling out for an authentic Beaver hat like Lincoln used to wear….
Also, after my weekend of working at the same gig as last year for three nights, I used the profits to fund a roadtrip for Luc and myself to such places as Gettysburg, Washington Crossing the Delaware, Mount Vernon, and DC (Lincoln Memorial was the highlight, where random people wanted to pay me 50 bucks for a photo with them… We even got asked to appear as judges on “So You Think You Can Dance?”
My old college buddy, Jery Winters, came with us to film in Baltimore and in DC, and he could not believe how amazing the reactions we got from people were. So for the 2008 season we have mostly video presentations of Washington and Lincoln exploring the most relevant historical places, as well as hitting the town to campaign for votes in the 2008 presidential election – who would you elect, Washington or Lincoln???
Video Clips of Washington and Lincoln driving to Washington Crossing State Park, Valley Forge, and Gettysburg
After a long day of driving from NYC to Baltimore, what else would two ex-presidents do but hit the Baltimore nightlife… In this video Lincoln and Washington campaign for the 2008 US Presidential election, starting at “The Block” and continuing to the “Power Plant” – watch as George Washington did not have sexual relations with lots of women, and Abe Lincoln wins the early poll by something like 20 – 1 over Washington….
The next morning, Jery met us at the hotel and we drove off to Mount Vernon – George Washington’s home in Virginia, where George argued with the ticket taker that of course he should not have to pay to visit his own home… Watch as George and Abe try to meet women near Martha Washington’s tomb, and other hilarious moments…
After spending the afternoon at Mount Vernon, we head to Washington, DC, to visit the Lincoln Memorial… People kept asking us to take photos with them, and so to discourage them we told them they had to pay… And they did… We could have made $10K in an afternoon if we stayed there, but it was getting too annoying for words… This is where we also had out chance on “So You Think You Can Dance?”…
Then we went off to our evening plans… First Abe Lincoln went to see a play at Ford’s Theater only to find out it was closed… Then we found out what REALLY happened at the Watergate Hotel….
After a hard day of work in the DC area, we decided to head off for some more nightclub action, Here is a photo montage of some of the best moments of that evening, along with more from the following evening when we were back in New York City…
And finally, they decide who will be the next president of the United States with a game of Mölkky at the Washington Monument, naturally…. And proving they are American by tossing a pigskin as well…
Later in 2008, we decided to take the show on the road and see how it works in Sweden… Amazingly it worked just as well in Uppsala as in the USA. We went there on April 30, which is the Swedish national day of drinking – basically everyone wakes up early and students ride bizarre self-made funny boats down the river through the town drinking champagne. Then everyone goes to parks, runs down a big hill from the castle, and basically drink themselves silly. Lincoln and Washington went to participate and you can see the results (mix of still shots and videos in chronological order) in the video below. After the day (and night!) partying in Uppsala, the next day we flew to Helsinki for Vappu – the Finnish national day of drinking – on May 1st, and th next day we continued the festivities in Estonia. There are a few photos and videos from Finland and Estonia, but mostly this was about our day in Uppsala – we had rented the best hotel in town with a balcony room overlooking the river, thanks to my former postdoc, Patrik Magnusson who arranged that almost a year in advance to be sure we’d have the best seats in town for the event!
Just as happened after the 2007 event where Luc insisted on joining in for his shared of the fun in 2008, after filming the 2008 event, Jery Winters was compelled to join us in 2009, dressed as Teddy Roosevelt, his doppelganger among the dead presidents… As usual, Luc flew to New York, and then we met Jery in Philadelphia, where we tore up the town, after which we came back to New York, and then after Jery departed, Luc and I went long distance ice skating in Joliette, Quebec, Northeast of Montreal, and later drove to my hometown, Wawarsing, before flying home to Belgium… Note this is a montage of still photos…
After 2009, I lost interest in these extracurricular activities. I kept doing the gig on Lincoln’s birthday, but I felt we had reached the creative limit after the 2009 trip, since we had run out of new ideas. Sure it was nice to have women falling all over us, but as I told Luc and Jery, they were welcome to join me to do this again whenever they came up with a creative new idea… Frottage was not sufficient for me, as a single guy, but you know those married dudes… Anyway, here is the last video from the 2009 event – from the long distance skating in Canada, and the brief visit to my hometown, oh, and a few videos of Luc’s search for clothes that fit in Philadelphia…….
