soon we will experience what it's all about. that series of moments, standing around, perhaps talking to the people in the next seat, perhaps ignoring everyone, perhaps not even knowing we're there. a sense of wanting to get on with it, but not necessarily rushing things. maybe there'll be music, maybe just a lot of noise. then the lights go out, the fanfare cranks up... you know the rest. the curtains part. for one tiny fraction of a second it's like time is standing still, and holding us all in its grip. there's Bob and the boys, poised, their hands all moving down to hit that first note. but it's that instant that precedes THAT note, the moment when the whole mechanism's cocked but hasn't fired yet... that's exquisite. behold, the tableaux vivant...