September 2004

E.J. & Charity

Hello again, loyal readers. I am currently sitting at my desk, in my new digs in Gastonia, North Carolina. Those of you who attend the Carolina Renaissance Festival may look askance at this when you realize that it is the very same Gastonia that we have made fun of over the last ten - now eleven - seasons. You see, every place we go to, we pick a location that the local denizens make fun of. In many of the places, it’s Iowa. Go figure. But here in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, this charming honor has befallen the sparkling metropolis of Gastonia. To tell the truth, it’s not a bad place at all. The only reason we, and presumably everybody else, make fun of it is the name. Gas-tonia...I guess that’s better than, calling it Fart-town.

I’m staying with a couple of very good friends of mine, newlyweds E. J. & Charity Beam. I’ve known them off and on for a few years, and they have offered up their home to me before. They are wonderful people who know how to make a friend feel welcome - even in as strange a place as Gastonia.

And now, on to something else!

Tortugapalooza: Minnesota...now there’s an interesting topic. The last two months have been so full of the prep and the execution of the second and third installments of our first theater show - affectionately known asTortugapalooza 1.5 - that we haven’t had a moment to ourselves in so long. Truth be told, we’ve been enjoying the brief vacation. But now... back to work!

 

That Joker's Smile - the wonders of braces!

Minion Twin powers, activate! Alethea and Jim clown around

A Tortuga at 40

Minneapolis’ version of Tortugapalooza ran a little differently than the original. We were able to tidy some things up, cut off some of the dead weight, and shorten a few things that ran a little too long. Still, both nights ran over the projected three hours.

 

It's Tortugaian Stand-off!

John Davis is Hack - the Bigger Half of CARL

Curtain Call

I’d have to say that I personally was not as frantic as with our first attempt. Of course, it did help to have 97% of the props bought and a few of our seasoned minions running the behind the scenes. Three of them even flew up from the Tampa Bay area to lend their support. Representing the St. Petersburg away team were Alethea Herrin, Jim Reid, and of course you already know the infamous Kevin McDermott, while the Minnesota home team offered the services of Lisa Thompson, Beata Simin and Sarah Miller. And, let’s not forget Richard Tacker, our resident Tortuga photog. Thank you so much, guys, for all your help and all you did. You even made it so much more fun doing it that we definitely want to do it again!

 

Mr. McDermott sees that Slash digs those Panty Raid! chicks

Divine Minions: Lisa, Beata, and Sarah

Tortuga Photo God - Richard Tacker

Both nights were fantastic with even the stars coming out to watch. The Minnesota Renaissance Festival’s own Ten Seconds of Harmony showed up for Thursday night’s performance. And our stage mate, Johnny Phoenix - who, buy the way is portraying "the villain" in the next our next theater production, Tortugapalooza: Spies - graced us with his presence for an evening. Believe me when I tell you that we feel mightily blessed to have illustrious old and new friends like these. Next to the fans, knowing these our peers and the other wonderful people like them is the best part about doing what we do.

 

Deene and Liz - aka Johnny Phoenix & Bella chicks

Panty Raid! in repose

Workin' the room at the After Party

Once that was finished, we were on to our last weekend at the Minnesota Festival. It was a three day weekend (open on Friday as well), and we were some tired Tortugas by the end of it. Five days straight of pouring your heart and energy out to people can put a hurtin’ on an hombre, even if you do have a good time doing it. Don’t get me wrong; I wouldn’t trade jobs with any of youse guys out there.

Both Saturday and Sunday were banner days for the "R-rated" show. Saturday we were visited by both the jousters from New Riders of the Golden Age and Ten Seconds of Harmony. They each stepped up and took a few seconds to riff with us back and forth and to the crowd before going upstairs to watch the rest of the show from the balcony. What a blast!

 

Ten Seconds of Harmony make a grand entrace

Raphael on the shoulders of giants - TSoH pick up a Tortuga

Earlier that day TSoH had done a 'drive by', stepping out from the parade to rush up on stage and sing some freshly written verses of our Tortuga song. It was a privilege to watch, and we were honored by the compliment.

The last Sunday of festival we like to reserve the stage just for us. It’s a nice way to end things and bring our own special kind of madness to bear. Of course, that didn’t stop Johnny Phoenix from stepping back onto the stage to interject a comment or two. And a good time was had by all!

 

Tortuga friends Chad and Kay

Aah, the power of the Pink Shirt

My favorite picture

And then it was time to say goodbye. It was harder to leave the Minneapolis area this year than ever before. Even knowing we had Carolina to look forward to, we had to leave so many new and good friends behind that it was with great difficulty that we moved on to our next gig. Such is the way of this life that we have chosen, so travel on we did. To where we now sojourn in the South - where Charlotte, North Carolina welcomes us... to Panther football, NASCAR racing, and the fall home of the Tortuga Twins.

That’s about it for now. And, I guess that means it’s time to trade in our "Yah, sure, you bet’cha!" for a "How y’all doin’?" Until the next time, you make sure you have a wonderful life.