Boneyards EVP Log – 9/12/13

Last night’s Ouija prelude to the simultaneous EVP chat went like this:

BONEYARDS is back from the dead to rock your underworld. Four new post-Fringe shows in October just in time for Halloween. 10/17/13, 10/20, 11/2 and 11/3. Only 20 seats per show, get ‘em before they’re gone.

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Last night’s Ouija prelude to the simultaneous EVP chat went like this:

ME: What did you think of the show?

BOARD: WEW

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Um, do you mean whoo? Like you’re hollering whoo! because you liked it?

BOARD: YES

ME: Awesome.

She went on to tell us she was 97 (no wonder the planchette was creeping along so slowly) and died in 1938 and was a member of the synagogue, initials UET. When asked if she had any advice or wisdom for us, the living, she began spelling out a string of indecipherable consonants (later with the spirit box she spoke it loud and clear: HAVE COURAGE. See video below). An audience member suggested that perhaps she’s not a native English speaker. Another suggested that perhaps she was speaking Hebrew. Are you speaking Hebrew? YES. Would you like to speak with us electrically? YES.

That was my cue to run over and fire up the P-SB7 spirit box to see if she or her cohorts could get through to us while two audience members continued chatting with her on the Ouija board. Here is the result– Continue reading “Boneyards EVP Log – 9/12/13”

Boneyards EVP Log – 9/11/13

Okay so anyone who knows me or has come to my previous shows this year or back in 2011 has heard me say the phrase “Ouija action.” As in, “let’s see if we get any Ouija action tonight” or “Any Ouija action on this end of the room?” or “Last night we got a lotta Ouija action, let’s see what happens tonight.” I used this phrase in last night’s show as well. I had to laugh out loud this morning when playing back the EVP recording from last night’s show to hear a wisecracking Synagogue Saint yell out a mocking “Ouija action!” Read on.

Okay so anyone who knows me or has come to my previous shows this year or back in 2011 has heard me say the phrase “Ouija action.” As in, “let’s see if we get any Ouija action tonight” or “Any Ouija action on this end of the room?” or “Last night we got a lot of Ouija action, let’s see what happens tonight.” In fact I used this phrase in last night’s show. I had to laugh out loud this morning when I played back last night’s EVP recording and heard a wisecracking Synagogue Saint yell out a mocking “Ouija action!” Read on…

Last night’s Ouija session didn’t have the full-on fireworks of the previous night but still not a bad showing from the spirits (or subconscious ideomotor impulses depending on your beliefs). This is the 4th seance in the cellar and if you listen to them all you’ll see a ghostly narrative unfolding. We now know there are 12 otherworldly inhabitants of the synagogue. They don’t all hang out in the cellar. Why would they? That’s just where they come to talk with us. I call them the Synagogue Saints. We spoke to someone with initials PZ or PV, it couldn’t make up its mind. He/she was born in 06. Make that 1906. Were you ever in here when it was a store (before 1909)? NO. Were you in here when it was a synagogue? YES. Are you in the room with us now? NO. That’s a first; usually they say yes. Then where are you? A string of indecipherable consonants and then it shot down to GOODBYE, which I’ve found often happens when you start asking too many questions about their ethereal whereabouts; CAN’T TELL is also a common response. Wait! Before you go would you like to speak with us electrically? It crept back up to YES.

At that I ran across the room and fired up the P-SB7 spirit box. The EVP recording below picks up from there as we listen to PZ and company try to get their sea legs and learn how to talk through this thing — Continue reading “Boneyards EVP Log – 9/11/13”

City Paper Review of Boneyards

Nice review by Paulina Reso in the City Paper. Ha, can’t argue with her about the final stage of the show. I know from past experience that when you risk opening a scripted entertainment up to chaos and randomness anything could happen — and sometimes nothing. Alas, too bad she wasn’t there for the fireworks last night but in the theatrical onslaught that is the Fringe one is lucky to be mentioned in the press at all so we’ll take what we can get and we’ll milk it for every drop. Read on…

Terrific review by Paulina Reso in the City Paper. Ha, can’t argue with her about the final stage of the show. I know from past experience that when you risk opening a scripted entertainment up to the chaos and randomness of a seance for a few minutes anything could happen — and sometimes very little. Too bad she wasn’t there for the Ouija board fireworks last night. And I’m not sure how switching from talking to singing and playing a guitar before launching directly into more talking could be construed by anyone as a water break; that would truly be a supernatural feat. This show is wall to wall mouth, baby. Read on…

Fringe review: Boneyards

By Paulina Reso
09/11/2013

WE THINK: With its penchant for the paranormal and its autobiographical focus, Jeffrey Stanley’s one-man show could come across as overly strange or egotistical, but his charisma and fascinating tales from the crypt kept it on track. Staged in a musty, 118-year-old cellar in Shivtei Yeshuron-Ezras Israel, a historic South Philly synagogue, the show began with Stanley performing George Jones’ country hit “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” which, his tender rendition revealed, is a lovelier song than I had originally thought. But we in the audience weren’t sitting in a damp cellar, squinting our light-deprived eyes at a barefooted man with a painted face to get a lesson in music appreciation. We were here for a taste of the macabre, and Stanley didn’t disappoint. CONT’D at citypaper.net>>

Boneyards EVP Log – 9/10/13

Mindblowing evening in the spirit world. Simultaneous interaction between the Ouija board and the P-SB7 spirit box! I’d heard of this happening but for me this was a first–and it worked! Holy cow. The video needs a little context before you watch:

My 1917 original William Fuld Ouija Board (pre-Parker Bros.) is an integral part of the show. — This 1917 original William Fuld Ouija Board is an integral part of the show.

Mindblowing evening in the spirit world, y’all. Simultaneous interaction between the Ouija board and the P-SB7 spirit box. I’d heard of this happening but for me this was a first — holy cow!

The Ouija board was extremely active at the show’s climax. Audience volunteers Michael and G. personed the planchette while a 7-months pregnant J. helped me out as questioner (I’ll leave it to them to identify themselves in the comments section below if they so desire).

A spirit (or subconscious ideomotor impulse depending on your beliefs), MATTHEW, became active right away. The planchette was bouncing all around the board like a pinball. He was notably polite and insisted on speaking in complete sentences but at rapidfire speed. The highlights go about like this:

ME: Matthew, how old are you?

BOARD: 28

ME: When did you die?

1936

ME: What did you think of the show? (to the audience) Watch, he’s going to spell out ‘excellent.’ Continue reading “Boneyards EVP Log – 9/10/13”

Boneyards a Festival Pick

His “metatheatrical monologue” that “resurrects and converses with the cavdaverous,” from Laurel Hill to ancient Greece. CONT’D at planphilly.com>>

Down in the little shul’s coal cellar join Jeffrey Stanley for performances of his “metatheatrical monologue” that “resurrects and converses with the cadaverous,” from Laurel Hill to ancient Greece. CONT’D at planphilly.com>>