Here it is, the end of March, and that means “Bye Bye” Arizona and “Hello” Florida. Our new trainee is ready for the big show and we have our best attended Meet and Greet to date.
Introducing Lucio
Rehearsing Big Bad Wolf with John
Lucio's first Robin Hood Show
Lucio with Maid Marion
On the roof of wax hands
So, we’ve been cramming as much info into young Johnny’s head as we can for the last 8 weeks. He’s mastered Robin Hood and Big Bad Wolf more or less. Really the only way he can get better is to just start doing the show in front of an audience. The last hurdle is the Sword Show. It’s the toughest of our shows to learn due to the high amount of improv it contains. Then add to that the fact that he’s learning Ronn’s part and look out! He’s certainly got his work cut out for him.
Besides all the training he’s actually pulled off some pretty good shows. He’s been doing the lion’s share of the Robin and Wolf shows since mid-run. There have been a couple of train wrecks but for the most part it’s been a joy to perform with him. I’m not sure if he’s doing really great or if we’re just getting used to having someone different on stage after all the trainees we’ve worked with. I’m anxious to see how he does in the Sword show without Ronn there as a safety net.
Besides all of the training, I really haven’t had too much time to do anything. And, if I have time, I just don’t want to spend the money going anywhere. It’s much safer staying in. I’ll be glad when the economy bounces back. Hopefully soon! I did manage to see a couple of movies while here. “Push” was OK. It was worth seeing but you can wait for the DVD. “Watchmen” on the other hand was fabulous! I highly recommend seeing it in the theater. (IMAX if possible)
I did make my yearly trip to Mexico. This year I took Steve Cowan, the director of the joust, with me. It turns out that his mother lives in Patagonia. It’s a small town (pop. 900) about 12 miles from the Mexican border. So, we drove there the day before and spent the night. Steve’s mom was charming! What a doll! She really has a cute place and treated us to a nice breakfast the next morning. Oh, I almost forgot… I got to meet his cousin Sam as well, another charming individual. He bought us dinner the night we arrived. Kindness and generosity obviously runs in his family.
Steve makes a run for the border
Steve's Mom and Cousin Sam in Pattagonia
The next morning after breakfast we headed into Mexico. We knew exactly what we wanted so there was no need to waste time. We walked right to my favorite Pharmacia to make our purchases. Steve bought all kinds of stuff. After I picked out all I needed I went to pay for it and my credit card was declined. I couldn’t understand. I knew I had hundreds of dollars available on a couple different cards. So I called my credit card companies and they said they’d fix it. After the call I tried again and still got declined. So I called them again. They assured me that everything was ok but I still couldn’t get them to work. After about an hour, I decided to try one more thing. I had one card that had just a bit available. So, I decided to just get the one thing I wanted for Sharon. I had planned on getting some Zyrtek for my fickle sinuses, but that was gonna have to wait as well as a bottle of inexpensive liquor. I paid for my purchase and we headed back to the border. At the checkpoint the officer asked why I wasn’t bringing anything back with me. So I was honest and told him my credit cards were declined… but, not so honest as to tell him about the valium stashed in my underwear. : )
Riki with Dave, June and Company
Dave and me at the Meet and Greet
King Crab Feast
Giant hunk o' crab
Hangin' at the Meet and Greet
John and Cindy muggin'
Shots make us blurry
Lastly, I’d like to chat about our Arizona Meet and Greet. We’ve had some pretty good gatherings since we started the whole Meet and Greet thing. Last year here and in Minnesota we had really good turnouts. Many of you know that due to the economy we reduced the price of memberships from $29 to $9.99. So, memberships have doubled at least. Previously in Phoenix we did the Meet and Greet at Game Works in Arizona Mills, but last year it was kinda cramped. This year we opted for Dave and Buster’s in Tempe Marketplace. They have this neat outside deck on the roof. It can hold at least 200 people. It was a beautiful night and a great view of the rest of the outdoor mall. It was the perfect place for our get together.
Eight o’clock came around and people started to show up. I looked around and thought if we get half as many people as we were hoping, I’d be happy. Well, more than half showed up. We had a great turnout! There were probably 75 to 80 people there. Riki’s new girl and even our friends Julius and Adam ”Crack” Winrich showed up. (He’s called Adam Crack ‘cuz he’s good with whips not drugs) Anyway, this was the best Meet and Greet we’ve had to date. It was a great fun crowd and everyone had a great time. Of course my opinion is probably a little slanted due to all the shots that were bought for me. Just kidding, they only bought us a few. Thanks to everyone that showed up and made this such a great success!! I had a great time!
Well, there you have it. March in a nutshell. Sorry it wasn’t anything crazy. Maybe I’ll have a fun story to tell about my trip back to Florida. Personally, I hope it’s uneventful. I just want to get back to Florida to see my wife Sharon. I miss that girl!
Beautiful Sunset over the AZ site
