Winter Quarters 101

So the first week of Winter Quarters is almost over and I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the 2nd one. Ok, for those of your asking "What is Winter Quarters?" Well, every 2 years Ringling takes 3 weeks off to develop a brand new show and put it out on the road for another 2 years. But, for whatever reason (perhaps money, space, or world domination) they decided to do ours this year in 11 days. So, to take entire company of people, 90% of whom have never been together, and put a brand new show together........well if not insane at least gutsy. So, this week finds circus boy very tired, we've been putting in 12 and 14 hours days since monday. So, for any of you out there in the music world, you'll know how long a day of rehearsals like that is. So, needless to say I was excited to finish at 10PM tonight, which finds me here at the arena typing to you all at your computers. It may sound like I'm copmlainging, but I'm not...I'm very grateful to have a paycheck and insurance, and as someone with a lot of bumps in their life right now has recently told me, "it could be worse" and that's rings very true.
So, last update was Lakeland..........I think the highlight of that town for me was the fact that I had family come to see the show. The last time that happened was in Spokane when my aunt and uncle came out to see the show from Seattle. So, in Lakeland it was 2 of my great aunts and uncles that made the drive over from their own "winter quarters" in Sarasota. I wasn't able to spend much time with them unfortunately (due to the fact that it was a sunday i.e. move out day) but I was glad that they were able to be there and see the show. Here's a pic that my great aunt anne sent through email So, I we left that night and made my way up to Anderson, SC. Now Anderson is an inteteresting little town, didn't really get to see much of it,but I did do my laundry there and on top of that I even discovered a great little home-roasted coffee joint there in the downtown area. (review soon to follow on my new coffee review site ) I was surprised that we actually even played their aren since the ceiling clearance was so low that we had to swap out 2 of our acts that we do in normal arenas. But, the general public seemed to enjoy the shows, and out our ringmaster, Ted, even got the key to the city (not that it really opened anything, but it would have been nice, eh? ) Finished up there week there, and already you could feel that "senioritis" one gets when coming to the end of something big. Oh, one thing I forgot to add, I met some of the coolest people I've ever met in my life that week. As it turns out, one of the original "Our Gang" (for those of you who don't what that was, like me, they were the little Rascals) He was part of the little Rascals when they still doing silent films! He is now 92 and has been with his wife over 60 years! For someone at my point in my life to meet people like that, actually for anyone, there's so much that one can learn just by simply being around them. You know, I've found that you learn a lot more by watching rather than talking. They still sweet to each other, and even though his wife has alzheimers, he still takes her driving, one of her favorite things to do together. To top my week off, I was lucky enough to be invited over for dinner with the 2 clowns on our show and the show juggler. It was an experience that I'll never forget, to hang out with someone who's been in showbizness all their lives. He also had other cordial company including this little spitfire of an Irish lady who used to be Harry Truman's personal songbird. She still has more get-up and go than my middle school students last year. She was born and rasied an Irish Jersy Girl (yes Sara, another person from Jersey :-) ) and now resides in Anderson where she bragged that she even had her own stool at the local Irish pub downtown. I think real people are better than any fiction we could dream of writing. It was such a warm feeling to be there, and they were elated to have fellow showbiz folk from the cricus to visit. It was definately a highlight of my time on this tour.
Upon finishing the week there we headed to our last stop of the Hometown Edition tour, Daytona Beach. The weather was a pleasant surpsrise, and even better, the arena was right across from the beach! So, of course the first day there I had to walk over and get a rocket double and milk shake from Johnny Rockets and take along walk on the beach (yes, I DO like long walks on the beachh ;-) ) anyhow, it was a great week, my chops were doing well (finally) and we had a lot of visitors from other cicuses and companies. It was a good week, amongst the shows, I got to visit Kennedy Space Center and caught some shark deep sea fishing (we're going to grill it Jess when we visit next) Anyhow, I will the exciting details for a future entry, until then, (for you RG fans) keep your stick on the ice, and if your wife doesn't find you handsome, at least she'll find you handy.......

Daytona Beach

Greetings to everyone in cyberland from Daytona Beach. It's a Friday afternoon and I'm typing to you all here from Starbucks (yes, you heard right, unfortunately Daytona doesn't have many other coffee choices to offer) looking out over a rainy Atlantic Ave. where the traffic is rather meduim on this afternoon. We're at the Ocean Center this week which happens to be right on Atlantic Ave. which is right across the street from the Atlantic Ocean.
So, continuing on the PR update, that week first week went by much more quickly than I had anticipated. I felt somewhat sad that I hadn't seen and done more, but after the second week I'm glad that I had spent it resting. As I said before, we did 13 shows in that 2nd week, which included a 9 pack (circus talk for 3 shows on a fri., sat., and sun.) After that long week we had one day off (tues.) before we started in on the 3rd week of shows. Since I had arrived that first night and found out that the Arecibo radio telescope was only an hour away, I had a strong desire to visit this unique place. (you ask why it's so special, well it's only the largest radio telescope in the world in AND the main hub for the SETI project ) So, on that tues. I decided to brave the PR drivers and rent a car to make the trip to Arecibo. Well, believe it or not, it's about the same price or cheaper to rent a car rather than a scooter. AND, since I had just joined the quarter centarian's club, I no longer had to pay the extra fee for being young. All, in all, it was a good day. There's nothing quite like driving around in a different country, just exploring, and only knowing enough of the language to not get too lost. So, I set out to find the observatory.....it was an odd feeling ; driving that is. You see, when I travel with the show it is usually in my RV or on my motorcycle. So, it's very rare when I actually drive a car. So, the car they gave me was a little chevy Aveo. Sporty little car with a tropical flair, and truth be told, I didn't even know they existed until I rented this one. Anyhow, made it to Arecibo ok, got lost in the town, got directions from a pretty girl, and then arrived at the gate to the telescope complex. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, they are closed mon. and tues., so, the guard wouldn't let me in and I then decided to drive around the roads in the local area to see if I could find a good vantage point of the telescope. Well, I found a semi-good view, but more importantly I got a good dose of the local culture. Basically all of the roads around there are single lane and very steep. Most of the houses looked very poor and maybe had a car. It was definately interesting to so the contrast between the cities and smaller villages. On the way back to the expressway I decided to stop at a little bakery that I had spotted on the way in. I was very delightfully surprised by the place. It was definately family owned, and since it was the wimter time and the telescope was closed that day, the customer traffic was pretty slow. The mom behind the counter spoke good english and her little girl peeking from behind the counter had the cutest toothless smile you've ever seen. I decided to order a pastrami sandwhich and try on of the many deserts they had there. Not only was it a pizza/sandwhich place, but also a bakery. So, you know me, I tried one of everything and hgot a "to go" box. The pastrami sandwhich was very good and there's also one thing I noticed amongst the smaller mom&pop places in PR,you don't worry about paying for your food until you've finished eating. It's a form of hopstiality not often found in small eateries stateside. But, I digrss, I drove around a bit more, then headed back to the hotel in San Juan. I did have the car for 24 hours and was going to make a trip out to the Wal Mart to pick some things up, but turns out that there are no 24hr WalMarts in PR! It was the same thing in Canada.....hmmmm, so the 24hr must be an american thing, makes sense since we tend to burn the candle at both ends. Anyhow, just spent the rest of the evening relaxing and hanging out at the pool to rest up for the next week of shows. So, the last week of shows went by rather quickly. The highlight of the week was the little shin-dig that the venue threw for us that thurs., they had a real PR pig roast! I seen and trasted many things, but never in all my life a real pig roast. So, yes, circus boy was excited and definately not disappointed. As you can see on my PR pics gallery it was tasty, and there was sop much food. To top it off, that had some live PR music show up, it just all seemed to fit and was a good ending of sorts for our time there, everything that the trip had meant, everything that we'd been through (there were a few life-threatening circumstances during our weeks there) we all celebrated together as an entire cast, around PR food, with our PR hosts. So, on mon. afternoon we flew back to Ft. Lauderdale and took the shuttle back toour houses in West Palm. It was weird at first being back home, that whole process of readjusting begins anew, but deep down there is a sense of comfort being back in your own space.....we all have to have a little bit of space that's our own. Spent the night in my house, catching up on mail etc., and the next morning woke up early to catch a flight up to Harrisburg to see the folks for Christmas week. Well, after arriving to the airport soaked from the rian and having trouble activating the parking gate sensor with my motorcycle, I think it might have been against my better jusdgement to ride and leave the bike there. But, I made it up to Harrisburg with out and troubles and was mostly dried out by the time I deplaned. It was a nice week of seeing family and friends and even getting to talk to some of you about this blog :-) But alas, I had to work on the 27th through new years, so I caught my flight on Christmas afternoon and arrived back in West Palm early early mon. morning. I was relieved to see that no one had messed with my bike during the week and rode back in a humid my dry night to my my home parked on the West Palm fairgrounds. On tues. we began our run of shows that would carry through new year day. The week as a whole went by pretty quickly, and to our surprise A LOT of people decided to make the circus their entertainment for the holiday season, almost every show was packed (even the 9:30AM new year's eve show was almost sold out!) The amount of people doesn't affect my pay, but I know that week made the concessions people very happy. So, new years was brought in (as you can tell from my earlier entry) with my circus family. The company threw us a few bones for a small feast and refreshments and it was, for sure, a good time had by all. It was intersting to think of where I'd been over the past several new year advents, and I never would've dreamed I'd be celebrating 2006 in a West Palm Beach fairgrounds parking lot with 130+ fellow circus people; but live has a way of teaching us that the only thing we can expect is the unexpected. So, we finished that week and headed NW to Lakeland, FL. It was a quite drive, and I spent most of that mon. (new year's day observed) trying to find a place to fix the valve stem for one my duelie tires. After a frustrating half a day of trying to find a place to fix it, turns out that one tire place, upon a quick inspection, finds that it's just the extension on not the stem itself........well, now I know (I really think it was just a lesson in patience) Anyhow, reached Lakeland, had a few days off, not too much to do or see there, but there are a few good eating places downtown and they do have one homegrown coffee shop, but the hours did not match their website, so I tried to visit and they were closed. Ok, my coffee is finished.....time to go......till next time

Yes, there are lakes in Lakeland......

So, it's a thurs. eveniing in a brisk chilly lakeland, Fl. and I'm sitting in a local florida chain called Crispers. The sun just went over the horizon and I'm watching a big train loaf by outside the giant picture window. So, updates, the last time I typed I had just experienced the bioluminescent bay kyak trip with Ted; quite the expereience. So, that was early in the first week in PR. The next day I went for a brief foray to old san juan with my Romanian teeterboard friends. We all decided to take the public transportation since taxis in PR don't have meters on them! Thus, a taxi ride from our hotel near the airport to old san juan cost around $20 each way, not exactly affordable. We arrived a the the bus depot near the boat docks, and immediately your feel the tourist bureau reaching for your wallet. But, we ignored the money magnet (for a brief time anyways) and made out way up the san juan hill towards El Morro fortress. On the journey we were surrounded by youths of the middle school variety who were all wearing red shirts. They weren't militant, and as I later came to find out, they were all making their way from the campus or field in front of El Morro from some PRday celebration. It seems that this area is often used for large events and concerts. Further on our way, Aaron (one of the elephants huys) and myself were hungry, so we decided to look for something local, and after wander by bugalos and a haphazard movie set we stubled upon a corner eatery (I don't know the name in spanish). So we walked in, to our delight there was nothing tourist about it. But, on the other hand, in this small cafe of a counter and two tables, we stuck out like two yankee thumbs. But, a smile is a greeting in any language, and before long, the guy next to us piped up in broken english and helped us order. I had a special (roasted pork w/ red beans and yellow rice) and Aaron had a pastrami sandwhich. All in all, is was local, good, and cheap; which in my travel book is a good find. we countinued on our way and made it to El Morro and paid the admission and continued to venture around this old abandoned fort. It was most certainly a beautiful day, which made it perfect for pictures (as you can see on my Pbase site) and just enjoying the caribbean climate. Sometime in that first week it hit me, this was the farthest south that I'd ever been in my life. It was a pretty cool feeling to be sitting by the pool while friends in Buffalo NY were watching snow accumulate, than again I did kind of miss the snow. I suppose you can never totally take the childhood out of the kid. That evening as we went back to the hotel rested and checked out the music at the in-house bar/cafe/restaurant. To my surprise there was a band every night and on weekends there were sometimes 2 or 3 bands until 2 or 3 in the morning. All these bands were more or less traditional PR music, which as I came to find out was anywhere and everywhere. In PR pretty much anyone who grows up there can dance and feel the rhythm, it's ingrained into the culture......the music, the movement, the feeling......it's all something that is part of a culture, part of a people. In the states, we have a culture, but it seems to me that everything has become so diversified that there is no specific US anything anymore, nothing uniting us as one group of people. In PR there is such a strong sense of music, art, movent, food that when there's a holiday or celebration everyone can participate (not everone does, but they can) And all the traditional music in just happy, full of feeling. Even the tunes in minor (which in the US is taught to young ones as "sad" sounding music") is just as rich and full of intesity as the upbeat major keyed tunes. (and yes, and my friend meghan J so aptly pointed out in her blog, dancing for dummies is all about the hips :-) ) So, the rest of the week in a nut shell, I had one more foray to old san juan, practice (of course), swimming in the free form pool, pina-colatas, food at Metropol, salsa dancing in the lobby, Piu Bello gelato, waking up to the ocean breeze, and Pueblo made me bankrupt. muze isc.........must go, more soon

Happy New Year from circusland.......

I just wanted to take a minute out of today to say Happy New Year!!! To all of you no matter where in the world you maybe reading this from. I actually worked all day yesterday on most of the day today of New Year’s, but I’d rather have a job and work on a “holiday” than be poor with out one. So, here’s to you all from west palm beach to your computer screen, happy new year and may this one be more blessed than all that have come before…….szczenliwe nowego roku!