Yes. As I write this it is Halloween.
Those of you who pay attention will note that I am either six days late of our assigned 25th of the month deadline, or 36 days late – since I didn’t write a September journal. 36, is that right? Hang on “30 days has September – all the rest I can’t remember” yup… 36.
September was a hectic and trying month – so I am just going to gloss over a bunch of it. October and November will also be very, very busy --- so take what you can get!
But where do the zombies fit in?
To keep in the spirit of today’s date, and to keep from being over-run by all of the links, photos, and other zombie-related crap I am accumulating I am also going to make this another Zombie Journal too…
September means Minnesota.
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In Shakopee we see our biggest stage, our wildest crowds and our naughtiest shows of our year. Our fans are amazing, devoted and inventive . It is always a damned good time. We have a rich social life and we get to spend a lot of quality time with our friends Byron and Arlene Miller. We also try to arrange both a lady’s day, Heather, Arlene and some of the other girls do lunches and shopping, and a man’s day. Some of Byron’s and my days included trying out these ridiculous sailing kayaks, taking the kids to the aquarium and a trip to Chuck E Cheeses’.
Zombies have become so popular that it is beginning to annoy me.
As I am writing this, clothed, sitting in my travelling home parked behind one of my stages in NC; I am preparing to watch the very-well executed “The Walking Dead” - episode three was last night. Not all of the Zed-stuff is so well done. I found this document somewhere… and I have to tell you I’m unimpressed. Zombies have gone mainstream. They are everywhere… Not in a literal sense (yet!) but they sure are pop culture right now. At least some of it is fun to look at (see the photo!).
Our final week of Minnesota was filled with excitements both good and bad.
We got into a nice, steady ritual in Minnesota. We knew when to get up and when to leave the house. We knew that Scarlett (who did NOT inherit her father’s “morning person” gene) would make me lie down on the floor and cuddle with her in the shop weekend mornings until the sitter arrived. Minnesota became a nice comfy routine – then we decided to shake things up. We went shopping at this amazing/tacky place just down the road from our RV park. Seriously; 56 different kinds of licorice! There was candy and candy and more candy. I almost had to physically drag my wife and daughter away from the aisles and aisles of goodies. There was not only a wall (and more) of sodas; sodas of all kinds – even BACON FLAVORED SODA! Between the candies, the pastries, the sodas and meat products we will definitely make this a highlight of next year’s Minnesota visit. We did make our yearly trip to one of the BEST FRICKIN RESTAURANTSWE HAVE EVER BEEN TO. Suzette’s is incredible. INCREDIBLE. I had, once again, the Chateaubriand, Heather had the delicious Seafood Special. If you take nothing else from today’s Journal Minnesota – Go To SUZETTE’S!
Everybody is tacking their message onto Zombies
Some folks are using Zombies as a warning. Some are using them as a marketing tool. Lots of folks – whether they be the CDC or the American Veterinary Medical Associationare using them as a tongue-in-cheek reminder to be prepared or to promote their cause. Zombies have become a blank screen upon which we may project our desires. Some of the preparations and products can be useful, some just comical like the photo about canning.
The fun and excitement continued with our Minnesota Fan Club Meet and Greet
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We had a triumphant return to the fourth floor of the Mall of America. What used-to-be a Jillian’s has returned and hosted our great party. Loads of people were in attendance; we think we had over 80 partiers with us that night. We bowled, we drank, we ate… we totally wiped some people out. I want to thank the folks that knitted my wonderful scarf that you see pictured in all of these photos – and speaking of photos though we took loads and loads of them we didn’t get to take the huge, group shot we normally do. Next year, okay?
Everyone thinks of me as the zombie expert now…
Between these journals, and the stuff I post on Facebook people tend to think of me as the Zombie Expert. I’m okay with that. I had a conversation with someone just this week, describing what I wrote in January’s journal that of course the Zombie Apocalypse wasn’t really going to happen; it was just better to be prepared for any upset or catastrophe. I also mentioned that if (or when) the Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse DID occur, that I was going to pretty damned cocky about the whole thing. In the meanwhile; I do enjoy all photos and links everyone sends me.
But we weren’t done with excitement in Minnesota.
We live about six or seven miles from the site in Minnesota. I was up, early loading stuff into the truck on the final Friday of the Minnesota show. The Faire opens on that day as a weird Student Day/ Three-Day weekend hybrid. As I was outside I heard the siren of an emergency vehicle pass by. I even joked to myself “What if the Festival is on fire?” Turns out – it was. You may remember that this isn’t the only time we have been woken to the fair being on fire. The last time we felt the ground shake when one of the big CO2 tanks exploded – and only survived because the even bigger propane tank didn’t. We knew we weren’t in any physical danger this time – but it turned out that the fire was directly across from Heather’s very expensive shop! When the fire happened in Arizona the owner of the festival there had all his ducks in a row – and the show went off with almost no hitch, opening only 30 minutes later than scheduled. Due to the (slightly) suspicious nature of this fire, compounded by rumors that have dogged this management for years; an entire section of the festival was closed. That section included Heather’s shop and our stage. For Festival Friday we performed three times on the Legend Stage; home of Puke and Snot. They were lovely, warm, and inviting to us; very gracious hosts. The fire damage turned out to be very extensive, but to the Festival’s credit they had everything operating (mostly) normally by Saturday. Even though there were rumors of everything from fire to water damage – Heather’s shop was unscathed. We both had a very successful final weekend stayed late into the night packing up, and after a few delays getting out of the campground Monday (a seriously blocked black water valve for example – that no amount of plunging, flushing or snaking would drain) we departed for an easy and uneventful trip to Carolina.
Zombies are so popular now that I think they’re losing their charm.
I hope that I don’t stop enjoying zombies… but I am enough of a fashion victim that when things become too popular I sometimes tend to shy away. I have seen some incredible zombies recently… Oh how cool – tonight when I went to click on the link to load up this slideshow – I found out that the entire Huffington Post was taken over by ZOMBIES that’s more fun than just posting this great piece of art about Zombies and home schooling my daughter !
At last we were back in North Carolina.
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This show is home. Mind you, all of our shows feel like home to one degree or another; but there will always be something especially home-like about our Charlotte show. We work bigger shows. We work shows where we make more moolah. We even work shows where the audiences are wilder (I’m looking at you Minnesota) – But something about this place just makes me smile. It always will. Our first week is insane. We work eight of the first ten days (actually Heather and I work all of them with set up and whatnot) things had gotten so hectic recently that I cancelled my standard trip down to Louisiana for set up. I put off work, construction and upgrades to our maze and dungeon, to conserve money and because things are just too crazy with my schedule and the stress was killing me. I did manage to squeeze in a little kayaking time – but only because we scheduled it after a student day. We loaded up both our new boats – two used but sleeker boats purchased in Minnesota at a bargain rate- and my old crimson boat onto Byron’s ridiculously expensive new rack and we headed out for a late afternoon jaunt on the lovely Lake Norman. My new and as yet unnamed boat is FAST! It is so fast that I may not be able to get back into my original boat again – but that’s why Sean is paddling it – I think I’m selling it to him. My “new” boat is actually old and a little beat-up but it was quite a bargain. Our new car however is new, though Heather did get it at a steal. No really we paid about 6 grand less than blue book for this vehicle… All kudos go to Heather and her amazing persistence and shopping acumen.
Is that a zombie behind you?
Boo!
Things eventually settled down in Carolina
We share our sitter with another family who has two little girls. Usually we get just the older girl Lilly – but occasionally we get her younger sister as well. Three little girls, lovely female sitter (Meghan who manages our drums business the rest of the year), and mommy makes for a whole lot of female energy in my house. The Tortugas enjoyed themselves too. We did great shows. We basked in the gorgeous weather. Jimmae filled in for Riki one weekend at it was easy and painless. But it sure was nice to get Riki back. I also did a whole lot of repairs and construction around our home; Replacing a leaky faucet with a new one. I was surprised with how easy it was. I also replaced our RV steps for the second time. The first set I bought, mounted and then removed were the wrong size. I created a dog fence and gate to help train our puppies. I bought Scarlett a new wagon, sized for up to three little girls. But Heather is the one who actually put it together – without reading the instructions. Aaaaarrrrgh! Last night we passed the half-way point of this Festival’s run; Aunt DaKitty came over to watch back episodes of Walking Dead with us and she and Scarlett fell asleep. We’re such party animals.
As I am finishing this journal up Zombie are everywhere and some people are hating it.
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Someone just mentioned on Scaramouche’s Facebook page how they were “over” zombies… Well who asked you? I suppose that is balanced-out by all of the people who tagged me in my soon-to-be-Facebook-status photo. I was accosted by a really well done family of the walking dead this weekend at fair – and was conflicted as to how to respond. One Scaramouche wanted to shotgun the bastards to death, or I suppose destruction. One Scaramouche wanted to flit about in fear… Ronn just kind of wanted to play it up a bit and then get back to selling DVDs and posing for photos with my fans. Speaking of shotguns, this article in cracked just destroyed my faith in at least one of my favorite weapons. It isn’t the shotgun – I’m not a fan; but how could they have torn down the katana like that? Even this pumpkin has gone all “Zombie” on that poor guy’s leg… what has become of Halloween?
Speaking of Halloween – This might have been my favorite one ever.
I’ve had wild parties and great costumes. I have had candy and girls named “Candy”; all the various permutations of Halloween fun. … but tonight we took Scarlett on her first neighborhood Trick-or-treat. She was so adorable! She ran to each house – though the running got slower after a while. We visited a friendly, upper-middle class housing development just a mile or two from the Festival. Heather and I were both impressed by not only how nice everyone was but also how diverse the neighborhood was! In the 45 minutes we were there Scarlett got loads of candy from some charming people and we met families of Arabic, African and Eastern-Indian heritage… Heather and I both felt like moving there eventually. We’d be proud to have such neighbors.
In case the IZA happens after all
I’m going to leave you with a skill that may really save your life in a fix, and assuming that the link works some great scientific information about our enemy below. Happy Halloween my friends!
***Wait, this just in – I’m not sure exactly what this is but… WOW !
