There are still bookings for us this year. We will perform all the way to very last breath 2009 has to breath (that means New Year's Eve)...we always do. But the 2009 Fair-festival Season is over for us. It was long, it was hard (sometimes), it was relentless, it was AWESOME!
Though technically the fundraiser show we did for the school in Madera on Friday wasn't a festival nor fair, and neither was the show at Hemet Valley Mall where we made Santa Appear, nor are the shows tonight or tomorrow for Jubilee on the Ridge in Paradise, but since they came on the heals of the fair and festival season I considered them part of the season. The crazy travel schedule sure felt like it too.
We left our NorCal lair and drove the 4 hour drive to Madera and performed the fundraiser show for Lincoln Elementary. It was their first time doing it and it went over big. Bigger crowds then they expected and more money than they were counting on. The pre-sales of tickets had them worried because they were scant. But the door sales surprised them pleasantly.
Since we were carrying our newest illusion and also Christmas themed stuff for the Santa arrival show on Sat. we put them in the show.
This is how the opening of the show went. Miles dressed as Milo the Clown walked out on stage and did some Schtick to get the audience hyped up. Then while waving his arms about befitting his deed he noticed a rope hanging from his sleeve...he pulls it. And Pulls it and pulls it etc. It gets stuck. So he pulls hard and one of his legs raises. Upon inspection he finds the other end is in his shoe. So he pulls it until the rope out his sleeve is pulled through put near the end it gets stuck and his other leg lifts. He finds the other end is now stuck in that shoe....?????
So he pulls that end (what is this a three ended rope?). Again all the rope is gathered up through that pant leg as he pulls and out but it gets stuck again. Soooooo he pulls real hard and out pops his underpants. With that cue the curtain opens to a scene with a Christmas tree, various other decorations and a large doll house. The tree gives him the idea to decorate the house so he opens the house up and removes a box of decos. The house is empty. He takes a long string of fuzzy garland and decides it's perfect. But being a clown silliness takes over and he does a silly striper dance with it. Jim walks out and taps him on the shoulder. That snaps Milo back into attention for the task of decorating the house. He gets a hammer and begins to tack the garland up (with all the appropriate hitting of the thumb, etc) Mid way across the roof of the house pops up and I am standing int he house yelling, "Whose making all that noise?" The surprise went over really well and got a gasp from the audience. Miles' Milo was a hit too.
We were done and loaded by 10pm and drove the 5.5 hours to Hemet in SoCal. (Actually we made it to Perris...20 miles away.) We stayed at a hotel in Perris and got a restful 3 hours sleep. We were at the Mall in Hemet by 8:30AM. The kids started setting up and a few moments later our producer from Discovery Network showed up to get more video and audio for the project the network is doing about us. One piece of footage was the personal interviews of each of us. My interview was down at a parka cross from the mall. It was early so there wasn't much noise....OK there was. We had so many retakes because just as I spoke a helicopter flew by, or a motor cycle drove by, of a group of kids from a party getting set up across the park squealed, or the helicopter again, or a motor cylcle, or a car with no muffler, there was no end. Did I mention the ambulance, fire truck and other emergency vehicles that passed as well. Somehow we eeked out an interview. The rest would be done in the mall offices.
The show went over well. Though not the biggest crowd to ever come out (the first two years we did this the crowds were well over 300) it was a good sized crowd: about 180 people.
The mall had us play MC for a puppet group that performed a beepop program before us....very fun...nice folks too. We also sprinkled the show with drawing give-aways with the climax of a Wii system (we would let Santa choose the ticket for that one).
Finally we made Santa appear. The method to make him appear I will not share but his exuberance caused him to really put energy into his entrance in such a way that the surprised looks on James and I weren't fake....that translated to the audience and they exploded.
Discovery also filmed Victor's 100 ' rope tie challenge.
Loaded up by 2;30 we were on the road again...this time NORTH!
In Bakersfield I handed to controls over to Cynthia (who in spite of the ankle came with us for the Discovery interview and ran our sound) and she drove us to Modesto. I dozed for around 15 minutes during that time but the little voice in me wouldn't let me sleep. In fact, every time I tired to sleep I was jerked away by that voice. The doze was enough because when I retook control I was fine. Cynthia was asleep 5 minutes after returning the controls. My neck still hurts from the doze...how can anyone sleep in a car. (I did once. I have a friend, Bill, who is one of the scariest drives I know. While on a magic tour trip 14 or so years ago I did most of the driving. But all that driving and performing and very little sleep made me hand over the controls to him on that our. Exhausted and believing it would be better to sleep through this and hope to survive than to stay awake and be scared....I slept.)
We ate at BK on the way back and i have to be honest...I AM SICK OF FAST FOOD! I think all of us are.
All in all it was a good trip. Amelia got the sniffles on the way home.
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