(at Sluggers downtown circa 1998-1999)
At the time of the refrigerator gig, I was not asked yet to join the
Foam Rubber, however I was the CEO of Low Budget Productions. In other
words, I was Soter's right-hand man for costume preparation. Soter
modified a refrigerator so that a man could play guitar and sing from inside
of it. This was meant to revolutionize the Foam Rubber performance and
raise guitar playing to a new level.
He also combined the famous 'Banana Suit' with the newly designed refrigerator. As Soter prepared for the show, he got into the smelly, watermelon and beer soaked Banana and climbed into the base of the refrigerator. Showtime was still over an hour away so I did an acoustic set, as the audience filled, and wondered, what the hell the yellow refrigerator was for. The guys delivered beer to Soter while he waited inside the refrigerator, sweating in the smelly banana. Nobody knew Soter was in there before the show.
Showtime starts:
FR starts into the traditional 'Green
John Deer' intro and the refrigerator starts shaking like crazy. I
hopped up on stage and placed a microphone in front of it. Then, I opened
up the freezer section and Soter's Banana head popped out as he grabbed
the mic and sang his Banana heart out to the Foam Rubber fans of Slugger's.
The crowd was amazed at the sight of a possessed Banana rocking inside
of the refrigerator.
After the gig we noticed that Soter's body was all cut up from climbing through the jagged edges of the metal enclosure. The band packed up and left the refrigerator on stage, until the bouncers got mad, and pronounced 'Get it outta here! You can't leave that F'n thing here!' The refrigerator was mysteriously disposed of, and is currently MIA.
The moral of the story is, don't ever miss a Foam Rubber show.
-Catfish
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Moments in Foam Rubber History
