April Fools!

"Never believe anything you read on the internet."  -- Abraham Lincoln

"If you're going to do something wrong, do it right." -- Randall's Rule

The players: Me (Facebook & Twitter links) and my son Brandon (Facebook & Twitter).

The inspiration: Several months ago while browsing funny stuff on the interwebs, we saw that, as a prank, someone had changed their birthday on Facebook to April 1, just to see the birthday greetings roll in from his friends on that date. Simple, but funny and generally harmless. Then I discovered an app that allows you to spoof your location on your Android smartphone (called, cleverly enough, Location Spoofer), meaning you can then trick Facebook and other apps that use your location into thinking you are anywhere in the world. We put them together, and...

The plan: For April 1, we would pretend that (1) it was Brandon's 18th birthday (which is not actually until November) and (2) he was being given a dream trip by his parents to a Broadway show (he's a huge theater tech guy). He and I would travel to New York City, posting (photoshopped) pictures from our travels throughout the day.

The setup: Knowing that the prank would play better if it was realistic, we actually checked airline schedules and picked a flight, found out the time and location for the April 1 matinee of Wicked on Broadway, located and planned other activities and transportation -- in short, we set up a full, actual, and realistic itinerary, everything short of actually spending the money! Knowing April 1 was a Sunday this year, Brandon also got himself scheduled to work all morning behind the scenes in our church's video production room so he wouldn't run into friends. (I wasn't so clever, and ended up being scheduled to be in the Praise Team and sing a solo, which blew the joke for several people! Still it was fun having people at church ask me, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be on a plane???") 

I used GIMP (think Photoshop, but free) to create pictures of Brandon and me at each of our locations (I tried to make them realistic, but also used the exact same pose of the two of us in each pic as a clue for attentive people that it wasn't real), and then we set up a posting schedule for each of us to check in or upload pictures throughout the day -- with a special twist ending to cap off the joke (or give it away to anyone who hadn't yet caught on)!

The execution: So here, in order, are the actual posts and pictures from our April 1 virtual trip to New York (all times Central; notes in italics). Enjoy!

March 31, 11:45 pm

 

Brandon changes his birthday on Facebook to April 1. This is a little more complicated than we expected. He had to submit a request to FB with a reason for the change -- but it was approved and changed by 2am! Changing it back might be interesting now... 

April 1, 7:05 am

 

ME: Happy birthday to my oldest son! Enjoy what Mom & I have lined up for you! Love you! 

7:30 am 

BRANDON: Surprise trip for my birthday from my awesome parents! Headed to New York City!!! Would like to know more details though... — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

7:58 am 

BRANDON: Have to put my phone on airplane mode now, NYC here I come!! — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

I reply, "Me too!" The flight was American Airlines #708, if anyone is curious.

11:34 am 

ME: Made it to New York City safely with Brandon. Kind of crazy to do a whirlwind trip like this, but hey, he only turns 18 once! — with Brandon Randall at American Airlines Terminal - LaGuardia Airport. 

11:51 am 

BRANDON: Yes! Dad finally told me what we're doing here. We have matinee tickets to see Wicked!! Ahh...so excited!! — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall near New York, NY

1:35 pm 

BRANDON: At the Gershwin waiting for it to start!! Can't wait! — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall at Wicked: Gershwin Theater. 

(Slight glitch here -- Brandon forget to upload the picture, so I jump in...)

1:37 pm 

ME: Awesome theater! — with Brandon Randall at Wicked @ Gershwin Theatre, Broadway.

4:35 pm 

BRANDON: WICKED WAS INCREDIBLE!! Fantastic lighting and other special FX, great music too...sooo many songs stuck in my head... — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall at Wicked: Gershwin Theater. 

(This posting was a slight mistake -- the show wasn't supposed to be over until 4:45, and this post was scheduled for 4:53, not 4:35. But we figured that if someone went through the effort to look up show times and show lengths to check our timing, they'd deserve to find out the truth!)

4:48 pm 

ME: Wicked is amazing!!! First time to see a show on Broadway, and it didn’t disappoint! Now on to the next surprise (and braving the subway)! — with Brandon Randall at Wicked @ Gershwin Theatre, Broadway.

5:44 pm 

ME: We’re in Times Square, heading for the Hard Rock Café for supper! — with Brandon Randall at Hard Rock Cafe Times Square NYC.

6:46 pm 

BRANDON: Yes! Adding to my pin collection! — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall at Hard Rock Cafe Times Square NYC.

(Brandon really does collect Hard Rock pins. Fortunately it's easy to find pictures of them on the internet! Our only regret in this whole prank is not actually buying one off of eBay for him to wear to school and further confuse his friends!)

7:41 pm 

BRANDON: Times Square!! — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall at Times Square in NYC.

8:20 pm 

ME: In Herald Square to go to Empire State Building, ran into ventriloquist (& fellow Baylor ’86 alum) Jeff Dunham! So cool! I ♥ NY! — with Jeff Dunham and Brandon Randall at Herald Square.

(Why? Herald Square was kind of a boring picture, and we thought it would be funny to throw in a celebrity encounter just to mix things up. Why Jeff Dunham? Well, not only was Jeff just off-the-wall enough to be believable, but [1] he and I do have the Baylor connection in common and [2] I'm friends with him on Facebook -- he's my token celebrity friend -- so I could tag him in the picture, adding to the realism! Judging by the comments, it did fool some people.)

8:46 pm 

ME: with Brandon Randall at Empire State Building.

9:14 pm 

BRANDON: What a view! Never seen so many lights before... — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall at Empire State Building.

9:43 pm 

BRANDON: Headed back, it's been a great day, but I probably have to get back for that thing I have tomorrow at 9am... — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall.

(Brandon figured that after such a great trip, he wouldn't want to mention "school" by name...

Okay, how to wrap this trip up? I did look for return flights to Dallas, but [1] there weren't any this late on a Sunday night and [2] we figured the prank needed a punch line. So...)

10:35 pm 

ME: Ran out of money in NYC, snuck onto a flight. Wound up in China, working as tour guides until we can earn enough to come home. Hope to see you all someday. — with Brandon Randall at Great Wall Of China.

(Yeah, we know we couldn't actually get to China that fast, but frankly we weren't going for realism any more at this point -- although if anyone had pointed that out, we had a response ready: "China's over the International Date Line, so it's already tomorrow there!"

But we weren't quite done...)

10:41 pm 

BRANDON: In China...long story. But I've got a new pin! See you guys at school...sometime — with Brad 'Wombat' Randall at Beijing, China.

THE END

Thanks to the handful of you who were in on the joke and played along -- and for the rest of you who were fooled, we'll pretend you were playing along, too. No one has to know. :-) 

Happy April Fools Day!

P.S. Brandon received over 80 birthday greetings!

Epilogue – Stella, this ain’t Hollywood

This is the last article in my report for my November 2011 trip to a Hollywood movie premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. For the beginning of the story, click here, then follow the story by clicking "Newer Post" at the bottom of each page!

So we’ve now been to a Hollywood premiere. And it was every bit as surreal as we thought it might be. We had a wonderful but too-brief visit with DisneyMom, were weirded out by Hollywood Boulevard, saw a couple of movie stars (no NPH, though), enjoyed the glitz and glamour of a Grauman’s premiere from the perspective of both participants and outsiders, and then woke to a California sunrise with a view of the Pacific ocean. All in a little more than a day.

That was one wild movie date.

Exactly one week after our return, I’m standing on a stage waiting for the curtain to go up – the Vocal Majority chorus is in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, for four shows. The shows have been sold out for months, and there is a waiting list in case any tickets become available.

Over the next two hours a packed theater will be treated to a world-class performance of sights and sounds they won’t believe, and I can’t help but compare these shows with our Hollywood movie experience. Unlike with Harold & Kumar, there won’t be any drugs or four-letter words in our show. We will be in 3D, but no glasses are required. There will be no nudity – and looking around at the 80+ guys with me on the risers, my VM brothers, I am thankful for that!

What there will be is some amazing, jaw-dropping harmony, timeless songs – this show features a mix of Bandstand-era hits, patriotic songs, Christmas and inspirational music – and lots of love from the chorus to the audience and back again.

It’s still show biz, but of a completely different sort. And the joy and friendship we share as performers, and the heartfelt response from our audiences, pays us in ways that mere money never could.

Hollywood? Movie business? Eh, seen it. They can have it.

---------

THANKS: Our Hollywood trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, though, and we are very grateful to those who made it possible: first to Demand Media and Cracked.com for supplying the trip, and especially to Louie & Jon at Demand for all of the arrangements and support. Thanks also to Sam our Hollywood driver and tour guide, and to my dad, who was our Dallas driver (and tour guide?), and also to my parents for letting our boys stay over on short notice while we were out of town (big sacrifice, I know). Finally, big Texas thanks to DisneyMom for being such a friendly, normal person in the midst of the Hollywood Boulevard chaos, and for your incredible generosity!

P.S.: Becky says that if I ever again enter a contest where a trip to a Hollywood premiere is a prize, it better be for a Disney movie. I’m okay with that.

Watch for the hour-long Vocal Majority special on the Daystar Network, on Christmas day!

Home again

We sleep solidly until our alarms go off at 8:00. We wake quickly but rouse ourselves slowly, if that makes sense.

Yesterday already seems like a strange dream, sometimes wonderful, sometimes not, but not really real. Except we’re in a hotel room in Santa Monica, with that gorgeous ocean view out of our window!

There were squares of Ghirardelli dark chocolate left on our nightstand by housekeeping when we returned last night, but there was no way either of us wanted or needed to eat them then. But now? Sure. So we lounge in our fluffy white bed, the California sun streaming in our windows, eating chocolate. Now this life we could get used to!

There’s not much repacking left to do since we were just here the one night, though we do have to make sure we’re ready to go through security. Hmm, we still have Becky’s unopened can of Sprite from the flight here. That can’t go back through security. She has the choice of drinking it now – warm – or just leaving it in the room. She leaves it. Hopefully since it’s unopened someone will drink it and not just toss it out.

At a few minutes until 9:00 we bid our room goodbye and head back to the lobby. There is a glitch on our checkout – their records show that the Demand Media credit card on file just held the room; they don’t have the authority to charge it. I could stay until we get it worked out, but as wonderful as Demand has been to deal with, I bet they’ll correct it promptly, plus we have a plane to catch, so the hotel charge goes on my Visa. I am a little nervous about that, since our one night at the Huntley cost over $400!

Becky tells me our driver has arrived and loaded our luggage while I was dealing with the front desk – it’s the same driver that picked us up at LAX yesterday. We hop into the car and start off. Our driver asks us about the premiere, and we try to put the experience into words for him.

At the same time, I’m firing off a quick email to my contact at Demand Media, letting him know the hotel situation. He does not disappoint. Before we’ve even reached LAX, he’s contacted the hotel, put the charge onto Demand’s card, and emailed me a receipt showing the charge reversed off of our Visa card. Like I said, they’ve been wonderful to deal with!

Once at LAX, we print our boarding passes at a kiosk and then head through security. They have the blue box type of backscatter machines. I assume the position when it’s my turn – feet spread, arms held overhead – and then mosey out until I’m cleared. The TSA agent at the machine exit sees the Vocal Majority logo on my shirt. She high-fives me and says she loves singers, and that they have a good chorus “here.” I’m thinking of our fellow championship-level Barbershop Harmony Society choruses in the L.A. area like the Masters of Harmony and the Westminster Chorus, and reply, “Oh, yes, some excellent choruses.”

She clarifies, though, that she means that the TSA has their own singing group! She waves me on through and says that I should look them up on YouTube, and I say the same about the VM. Then she calls after me and laughingly says, “On second thought, don’t look us up!” [Sorry, too late. I found a great video of them here. She’s standing just behind the lead singer 23 seconds into the video!]

We enjoy Burger King breakfast croissants and Starbucks mochas at our gate. There’s a Qantas Airbus A380 across the way, that huge double-decker passenger jet. It’s my first time seeing one, and they are big.

Our boarding is delayed a little while the flight crew comes in on another flight, but soon enough we’re on board, and then in the air just a few minutes late. I latch my smartphone to the seatback in front of me again, finishing The Producers and then watching a couple of episodes of Newsradio, and I’m barely through the second episode when we’re descending into Dallas. Wow, that went by fast!

Before we know it, we’re at the gate and deplaning. I smack my head even harder on one of the video monitors on the way out. [The knot on my head and the bruise on my shoulder will be “souvenirs” for more than a week to come.]

We freshen up, and then exit the terminal. It’s gotten chillier here since we left, but it feels great. We’ve texted my dad that our gate is further down the terminal building than when he dropped us off, but we don’t see him anywhere. A few more texts confirm he has gone down to the arrivals level, even though we told him we’d be on the same level since we didn’t have to go through baggage claim.

Once we’re out of the airport, we make a quick call and have our boys and my mom come meet us all at Jason’s Deli. It’ll be almost 5:00 by the time we get there, but we’ve only had breakfast at LAX, so it’ll be like a late lunch & early supper combined for us.

After that, we go home, and then I turn around and head for rehearsal with the VM. It’s not Hollywood, but my own little corner of show biz still goes on!