If you enjoy humor found in unusual places ... if you enjoy sorting through public documents ... if you enjoy bluegrass music, then this show might just be for you.
The name of the show is FOIA Love, named not about any person despite the pun but for the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, used by reporters and other members of the public to get copies and disclosure of government records.
Comedy is Curtis Raye's first passion. And he used to live in Washington, D.C., so he's always been fascinated by public records and thought they would be good source material for the comedy. Spoiler alert: They are.
Raye said bluegrass is a nice complement to comedy because they are both about how sincere and ridiculous Americans can be.
"You have public records about people complaining about death, complaining about love. And most bluegrass songs are about death and love as well," said Raye.
There's a rotating cast of musicians in the show. Some of them are up and comers. Some are internationally known.
"These are elite musicians. Jordan Tice is Grammy nominated, and he won a Swedish Grammy. Mattie Witler was touring with the band Della Mae [A Grammy-nominated female string ensemble]. Max Allard won the Rockygrass Banjo Competition," said Raye.
The show evolved when he was in New York City doing comedy. There are a lot of bluegrass musicians there believe it or not. He said they were intrigued by the idea and were happy about finding a different way to play their music. Raye has been doing FOIA Love for 15 years. He didn't want to be a lawyer but wanted to use documents and find hidden gems.
Raye just got back from a tour of the Hague and London, and is playing Chicago, Springfield, and Pontiac's Eagle Theater the evening of Oct. 14.
"I find what I read in these public records just the most sincere people can be or authentic because they don't know anybody's watching them," said Raye.
There are a lot of public records. Most are not all that interesting. Separating that chaff from a few grains of greatness is time consuming. In a hundred hours of research, Raye says you might get one or two minutes of material.
First you think of a good question and then you read thousands of documents. For instance, he wanted to know the names of every single dog in a given city. Turns out his New Jersey hometown is lacking in creativity because there are 40 dogs named Buddy. Other cities show different themes. People often name their dogs after places they want to go. There are multiple dogs named Dixie, and dogs named Wrigley and Addison, clearly Cubs fans.
"They don't want to be where they are at that point in time. Nobody names their dog Back Yard, or Home, or Content or I'm Doing Fine. It's always aspirational," said Raye.
You can learn a lot about someone's psyche from their dog's name.
"Sometimes people name their dogs after things they need. One woman named her first dog Hero and then named the second dog Hercules," said Raye.
A lot of people also name their dogs some derivation of themselves.
He said FOIA in general unlocks a treasure trove of characters and premises. The Federal Communications Commission [FCC] gets a lot of complaints about popular culture.
"People often write about the show Mythbusters. For some reason that's a lightning rod. Mythbusters, where they do scientific experiments. People often look at the explosions when they blow things up and they see phallic symbols or demonic symbols, and they write to the FCC to complain. People bring themselves to the television shows, absolutely," said Raye.
Another person also complained that Sheldon, a character in the sitcom Big Bang Theory, got mad at a bird and was distressed that people would go home and be mean to their birds.
He says people just want to make their lives a little bit better. If there is an airplane overhead rattling their windows every time it flies by, someone in government will hear about it.
"And when the FAA investigated, they found out the pilot who lived in Maryland near the airport would fly low to rattle the window of his wife's house to let he know that he would be home soon," said Raye.
Early in the 20th century, records show lots of people wrote full-scale letters to the head of the FBI about local crimes. A bit presumptuous, yes?
"I don't get the impression people expect there to be help. I think they just want it on the record," said Raye.
He said bizarrely, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover responded to every single letter.
Raye said he also mines peoples last will and testaments for material.
Perhaps the most famous provision of a will is that of William Shakespeare who left his second-best bed to his wife. In the context of the day, that was not nothing because good beds were valuable. It begs the question for Raye: What are the things people leave their descendants today that might be absurd to later eyes and ears?
"People try to make themselves seem wealthier than they actually are by turns of phrases like, 'I leave all my automobiles, all of my real estate, all of my belongings to my children. And how many automobiles were there? One automobile," said Raye.
He said people are very concerned about their legacy and want to control things from beyond the grave.
Raye said he can't write a love song, but he can read complaint letters to the Federal Trade Commission from people upset about their inability to find someone for them on Match.com. And then a bluegrass Musician can do a song about heartbreak.
Raye said public records are the original reality TV because you meet all sorts of bizarre characters. And he brings them into FOIA Love.
FOIA Love plays the Eagle Theater in Pontiac at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14.
