The "Frampton Factor" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was getting ready for Peter Frampton to arrive at the High School. Yes, the real Peter Frampton. The musician. I have been in charge of the “Neff-Vue”, which is the HS yearbook, for eight years now. Jim G., an art teacher with a room next to mine, helps me with the book. This year the staff has chosen “Concerts” as a theme for the book. Quite a few of the students have been to concerts and have taken some great photos of their favorite bands. Our yearbook photographer, Ken L., also has quite a current variety of great photos of bands in concert. We have laid out the theme section of the book which will be the first 16 pages. They will all be in color and will be primarily concert photos. A few of the photos will be bands that are currently members of the high school student body. Should be great and sales this year should be fantastic. The cover is a collage of photos that will appear in the first 16 pages. That too will be interesting. My staff came up with the idea that they will create a Ticket Master replica that will appear on the cover with the name of the publication and the year. The price of the book will also be included as part of the ticket. Could be a prize winning yearbook! Just as we were about to submit the cover idea, the assistant principal, Paul L., came to me and asked if I have ever heard of Peter Frampton. “Yeah, he is one of the biggest names in pop music. He was Rolling Stone Artist of the Year in ’76,” I tell him. “Well, he is going to be practicing for his upcoming show in New York in our auditorium,” he replies. Seems that Peter Frampton and his band use Clair Brothers Audio from Lititz as their sound technicians. Clair brothers is in the process of building a new studio and it will not be ready by next week when Peter arrives, so Paul, who is a neighbor of Roy Clair, offered our auditorium to them. WOW!! Roy is also a friend of mine who went through Millersville State College with me. We partnered in our wood shop class and both built stereo cabinets with all the components for our project in our Junior year. Roy went into business with his brother and I began teaching after graduation. I gave Roy a call to confirm that Peter’s arrival was true and if we could shoot a photo for our yearbook cover. Roy would take care of everything for me he said. I quickly called our photographer Ken and told him we would need him the next night to do the shot in our auditorium. The next morning two tractor trailers appeared very early in our parking lot. They were here! The school shut off the auditorium to students and Clair Brothers began to set up the sound system. Late that afternoon I took my yearbook staff to the auditorium to meet Peter and see what time they would practice. All arrangements were made. My staff got to stand in the front row for the shot and Ken snapped away. After a half hour of shooting, Ken left to return to his studio. We had to have the photo back by the next night, since that would be the final practice session before Peter and his band left for NY. Peter autographed our cover and signed a release form so we could publish it on our yearbook. And to top that off, he bought and paid for copies for himself and all his band members of our 1977 “Neff Vue.” It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Cover of the yearbook as well as Peter Frampton as he appears in concert in ’09. In memory of Ken L. and Paul L.