August, 2005 – Time for yet another Palooza

As I type this, I'm taking a break from the final touches on Palooza 2.5, the Minnesota date on our '05 Palooza tour.

I have to admit I'm a little distracted due to all the stuff going on around me. I guess I'll just list them and you'll understand.

First, my impending birthday approaches. On September 5^th I'll be celebrating what's almost a milestone. This year I'll be celebrating my birthday ON Labor Day. As many of you know Labor Day is the first Monday in September. But, since the 5^th is a different day of the week each year my Birthday isn't always on Labor Day. This years birthday and my actual birthday were both Labor Days. Presents are NOT necessary but when in doubt I have four words for you... Best Buy Gift Card 🙂

Next, Hurricane Katrina... I've been watching hours of gut-wrenching video, hoping things would look a little better than I expected. I've always been concerned that if New Orleans (one of my favorite towns) was subject to a direct hit or near miss by a major hurricane it could be washed away. It's beginning to look like my worst fears have come true. Not only is N'Orleans underwater but much of the northern Gulf Coast is in ruins.

I've got a lot of friends in the Louisiana area. I've been trying to get a hold of anyone I could but all of the phone lines are either down or too congested to get a call through. In addition to my friends, we have interests at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival site. It's the show we perform at in December. We own several games there and Ronn owns the maze. We really count on the income from that last show of the season to get us through the holidays. Even if the show survived the area has been so affected we may not have any business.

All right, enough of the gloom. You might notice a change in the look of the pictures in my journal [I swear, I did the best I could with them - AB]. That's because my digital camera is not working. It's taken one too many spills out of its case. Apparently, the Velcro closure has worn out. So, I've been shopping for a new one. Don't get me wrong; I'll get the other one fixed. (And probably give it to Sharon) But, I'd like to upgrade to a newer model. (Thus, the Best Buy gift cards)

 

Mall of America, in the distance

Ronn and the roofless cart

Let's go over the last month. Not really much has gone on 'til now. Of course, now that we're in Minneapolis, we get to visit the MALL OF AMERICA! A shining institution based on capitalism at its best. If you ever get to visit it, GO! Whether you like to shop or not it's just a great experience. And if you have kids, they'll love Camp Snoopy. It's the amusement park in the middle of the mall. Yes, you heard me right: there is an amusement park in the middle of the mall.

One of my other adventures this past month included a merchandise cart I transported to Minnesota from Ohio. We're starting to sell merchandise at our own carts in both Carolina and Arizona. We will have new carts made in both locations and had this old one sitting around, so I thought we'd bring it to MRF to sell. I rebuilt it so it was collapsible. All I had to do was rebuild it and bring it to the site from camp. Seems simple enough, huh? Well, as we pulled out of camp with the cart in my truck bed, its roof caught air and it flipped in the air out of the truck putting a gouge in my tailgate. It hit the road, smashing the roof into pieces and breaking the uprights that hold up the roof in half. Other than the roof damage it was salvageable but really bummed me out as I had put hours of work into getting it ready.

As you all know, our last show of the day often gets crazy. We do lots of improv during the last shows. During one of these shows a couple of weeks ago a cute little blonde stood up and said, "I love you D'Angelo," so I ran out into the audience and planted a big kiss on her. After doing so, I paused, looked at her rather puzzled and asked, "How old are you?" As the entire audience watched with anticipation, she replied "Fifteen." "AAAArrrgh!" I screamed as the audience burst into laughter, "I'm going to jail!" It was very, very funny.

 

The note with the wine

They saw me kiss a 15 year-old!

Anyway, Sharon, Riki and I went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's after the fair. About ¾ the way thru our dinner the waitress stopped by and dropped off a bottle of wine. Along with the wine was a note. The note was from some fans. "How nice," I thought to myself. It said that they were at the fair today and that they wanted to thank me for a wonderful time. And then... it said, "By the way, we know you kissed a fifteen year old." I busted out laughing.

After recovering from my laughter, I wandered over to their table to thank them for the wine. It was a bunch of teenagers. Apparently, one of them works at the Ruby's and had her manager send us the wine. So, I kept the note and got some pics of the gang with my phone. Just another silly day in Tortuga-land.

The last thing I'd like to cover is my new plasma screen. I mentioned it in my July journal. Since then, I have found a better one, returned the old one, and purchased the new one. It has more than three times the contrast ratio. Just in case you don't know what that is, it's the difference between black and white on a plasma screen. Let's say that white is 500 times brighter than black. If so, the contrast ratio is 500:1. (500 to 1)

 

My new plasma TV

My cute little baby Jasmine

Well, my old screen was 3000:1. That's pretty good but my new one is 10,000:1. It also, has many more features, like on screen show guide for broadcast TV and a built in HDTV tuner. After all, what's an ED or HD television with out an HD tuner? Without it you can still only see TV in standard broadcast format. Yes, I am that big of a geek. (As if you didn't know.)

Since I now have my dream TV, I guess I'll start saving up for a new Digital camera. Maybe I'll use some Best Buy gift cards. ; )

I'll talk to you all after Minnesota Palooza. Wish us luck!