We've performed here at Calico For over 14 years. Mother's Day weekend is their Spring Festival time and over the years it has developed into a Bluegrass Festival. We saw many new faces in performers and a few old ones. It was like old home week. Belle (our poodle) saw her former caretaker, Janet, today and her former playmate, Big Boy , a black toy poodle. Belle is still people skittish but is coming long. We bring her out during the final bows even though she is not performing yet.
It has been really windy and very sunny. The mixture of the wind and sun really dries one out. We all ended up with chapped lips and dry cuticles. But that is Calico. The workers here are, and have always been, very nice. We have gone through three or four management changes over the years.
Our audiences have been big and very responsive.
Cynthia has missed show here with use the past 3 or 4 years but made it out this time. Since it is a Bluegrass festival she is singing, "Gone to the River" in every show. You can hear a pin drop when she sings and I saw a few teary eyes.
I've been off script all day today and that can play out pretty funny sometimes. At one point I started introducing Jim unlike I had ever done before. It panned out OK when I saved myself with a joke. I usually just introduce him pointing out his skills and his history. Somehow I got off script and said, "When Jim was born his mother hopped he would grow up to be an entertainer like his father. (Short pause as I realize I had no idea what I was saying. ) I was a milk man back then." The joke got a great response.....I will use it again.
Due to the wind fire-eating has been rough. Our stage seems to cause the wind to swirl and shift directions constantly. At one point I had a blow back when I did a fire blow and my face was momentarily engulfed in flames. That's why I have a towel. A photographer friend who was visiting the park snapped a shot just a millisecond after I pulled my face out of the flames. It was freaky. He will send me a copy of it and I will post it in the future. Thanks Terry. Apparently it was obvious to the audience by their reaction....the loved it. Ever notice most audiences have a slight sadistic streak?
In our last show in order to test our new condenser mics we performed the Foy routine without the costumes. Victor's Cossack dance got a great reaction as did Cynthia's "bed time story". Fun was had.
We visited my aunt and uncle in Barstow after the shows and after dinner. Belle played with their little do, Alex, as the kids played Skippo with Aunt Lucky. Back at the hotel we are watching a "Don't fotget the Lyrics" style show from Taiwan. It's hilarious.
The video blog from this trip is going to be awesome.
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