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.......