It was nice to be able to spend the Fourth of July at home this year. Holidays are at a premium when you work on the road and usually work holidays as well. Unfortunately, I had to leave the next day. The Silverleaf fair starts the following weekend and I still have to pick up my car in Chicago and drive to Kalamazoo.
I enjoyed a nice smooth direct flight into Chicago. Then I was met by a friend who then drove me to the Bristol Ren Fair site in Kenosha, WI. We’ll be back there in August. I grabbed a quick lunch with friends and then jumped back into my car to continue my journey.
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It was an easy 3 hour drive to Kalamazoo. Once there I got settled at Allison’s house and ran out for a bite to eat. Kalamazoo is a cute little town. There’s a college, so it filled with young people. I got to bed early since we had to start construction on the maze in the morning.
If I haven’t mentioned it, we’re putting a maze in the fair. We’re always looking for new sources for income at shows. We’re just capitalists that way. But we’re not afraid to get our hands dirty. So, time to pound some fence posts!
Wednesday was a 12 hour day. I assembled the stone towers and signage and then started pounding the fence posts in that create the grid for the maze. We will then zip tie the nylon panels to the posts to create the paths in the maze. I got about 20 posts in the ground. The post driver we used was about 40-50 pounds and hard on the hands. Especially the hands of a comedian! I got about 20 in before dark. Thanks to Beau for his assistance!
I know the nylon panels will go up quickly so all we have to do is get these 120 damn posts in. The only problem is that the space they gave us for the maze is an old storage area for the gravel for the parking lot. Let me tell you, pounding fence posts into rock IS NOT fun. Our second 12 hour day started just like day one ended, pounding fence posts. After assisting his wife Heather, Ronn was back over to the maze helping me pound those damn Fence posts. Between the two of us we were able to get all the posts in before day’s end. Yay!
So Friday came and it was time to put the panels up. Oh, I forgot to mention the heat, the frickin’ unforgiving heat! I just left Florida and it was cooler there! We’ve been working our tails off in this crazy heat and NO SHADE! I actually got sunburn. Me! The brown one! Geez! The panels went up easily as expected. It was mid day and we were approaching completion. Thank God for small favors.
We were almost done when Riki arrived. He was in Seattle shooting an independent film. When he arrived he started working on getting the trailer unloaded so we could set up sound and props. We may actually get finished before dark! Wahoo!
Weekend one of the Silverleaf show came and went. The maze did ok and our shows were fun. Unfortunately we had no shade. That’s a situation we’ll have to fix before next week. Gate was ok. This is a small show after all, so 1000 people or more is a good day.
Something I realized before getting to Michigan was that this is gonna be the closest I’ve been to Montreal as I’ve been in seven years. It’s been that long since I’ve been to visit my mom’s side of the family, the Di Salvios. So after the second weekend (When we get paid) I made the 12 hour drive to Montreal, Quebec from Kalamazoo. I stopped in Toronto on the way and visited my friend Andy Blau. You may know him as Zoltan the Adequate at some festivals. Zoltan, is he amazing? No, just adequate. We enjoyed some poutine for dinner. It’s a French Canadian dish of French fries covered with melted cheese curds and then smothered with gravy or other toppings. Delicious! But, not on my diet at all. Thanks Andy! It was great to see you.
I rolled into Montreal about lunchtime. My first stop was my Cousin Darren’s house. He was my surrogate brother the first 17 years of my life. I spent every summer and winter in Canada so we were very close as kids. He actually designed the packaging for the two Tortugapalooza DVD’s. Although we don’t see each other nearly as much, it doesn’t take long for us to connect when in the same room. We went to my cousin Lori’s (his sister) house for lunch. I can’t believe how big her three kids are!
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I had dinner at my Aunty Mary’s house. It’s the house that the Di Salvios have gathered at for over 50 years! There were nine kids in my mom’s family. There are only three left. But you can imagine with nine kids I have many, many cousins. It was great to see my Italian family! I’ve missed them so. I hate that my business and travel schedule makes it nearly impossible to visit. I’m really gonna try to visit more. We’ve lost so many of the family in recent years. I really want to see them more often.
The next couple days were spent bouncing back and forth between Darren’s and Aunty Mary’s houses. Darren also took me around town visiting all our old haunts. We got to go downtown and visit Mount Royal in the center of the island. I was pleased to be able to visit the Di Salvio Family burial plot where much of the family is, including my mother. It’s the first time I’ve been able to visit her grave. I have to admit it left me pretty nostalgic.
The evening of my last day in Montreal I went to Darren’s son Devon’s garage band recital. It’s like rock band summer camp. They get a group of kids together and find out what instrument they play well group them up and learn a couple songs. Then they have a concert for family and friends. All the bands were pretty good. Devon played keyboard and did a fine job. I really liked the concept of the whole camp.
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Our special guest of the evening was my Cousin James or “Jamie” as I call him. He’s the front man for the band “Bran Van 3000.” They had a hit song on the “Practical Magic” soundtrack, plus US charted hit “Drinking in L.A.” I imagine it was pretty cool for Devon to have his two national performing artist cousins in the audience. Or, maybe it was nerve racking. Either way he did great.
My trip came to an end all too soon. At least it’s given me motivation to get back up there sooner. And next time I’ll bring Sharon. I’m sure she felt left out.
With only two weekends left at the Silverleaf show I can smell Bristol right around the corner. We’re still trying to get a six week chunk of that show to round out our season. With a new entertainment director in place that could happen. Keep your fingers crossed! If you can make it to The Bristol Faire do it! If not, try to make it to Minnesota. It’s a hoot!!!
