This month we celebrate the birth of all the children who were conceived in late December and January (including myself). All of our parents were obviously "Doin’ It" at holiday parties. Ahhh... alcohol, helping people get laid for thousands of years.
The month of September is always a costly one for me. I’ve got a whole slew of friends and family with birthdays in this month. So, between parties and presents I’m left penniless by months end. Let’s see... my dad’s is Aug. 31st, mine is Sept. 5th, Mark Meyers’ (best man at my wedding) is Sept. 13th, Sharon’s is Sept. 29th, and then there’s Howard, Roberta, Melanie, and Scott all within spitting distance. The list goes on and on.
Anyway, as I mentioned in last month’s journal, my birthday sometimes falls on Labor Day. This year was one of those times. Since the Minnesota fair is open on Labor Day, I got to work on my birthday. I don’t usually play it up much. After thirty it didn’t seem to be that big of a deal any more. And besides, in my line of work it just looks like you’re trying to get attention when you keep bringing up your birthday. And in my line of work, we get enough attention already.
Every day at our 2:15/post parade show, we let the boys from Ten Seconds of Harmony do a little ‘drive by’. It’s just a little 3-4 minute song to promote themselves, ‘cuz we like them and want to give them some exposure. Also, they’re gonna have a cameo in Tortugapalooza 2: Spies in Minnesota. A show I’ll cover in more detail in next month’s journal.
Usually, they come on stage and sing a quick song, but obviously they’d caught wind of my birthday and proceeded to sing happy birthday to me while paddling me with this giant paddle they got somewhere at the fair. It was very funny and the crowd seemed to get a big kick out of it.
The rest of the day was relatively quiet. I got an occasional "Happy Birthday" from passing patron that follows our website or fan club. It’s nice to know you guys are paying attention out there. You do know I’m the youngest Tortuga, right? (Heh heh)
As the day continued, I started to think I was going to make it without any truly embarrassing birthday moments. Silly me. Our 5:15 show arrived, and let me tell you, if you’ve never seen one in Minnesota you’re truly missing something. It’s one of the craziest shows in existence. It even rivals the beer shows of Tampa Bay.
It started out simple enough. We picked on different audience members and had improv fun with them. As I scanned the crowd I saw this HUGE shirtless guy with tiny fairy wings on. It was too good to be true. He had to weigh about 240lbs. and the wings were the size you see people put on their dachshund at fairs. On top of that he had to be a body builder. His pecs were the size of my head! He was adorable. So I pointed him out to the boys and they proceeded to have fun with him. Thank God he was playful. He could have crushed us.
After our warm up Ronn asked if he could mention to the crowd that it was my birthday. I told him it was OK since it was the last show of the day. He told the crowd and had them sing Happy Birthday to me. It was neat to hear that large of a crowd sing to me. But then came the best part (at least, if you weren’t me).
Ronn told the crowd that someone should give me my birthday spanking and that he and Riki would pick someone from the audience. The audience instantly went nuts. Guess who they picked. Heck, he stood up before they could even look his way. He walked down out of the audience and bent me over in front of the crowd. Visions of prison films danced through my head.
 Riki gave me a marshmallow for the pain |
 The wind-up... |
 ...and the pitch! |
Later, on our way out, I ran into Tiny in the parking lot. He said he hoped he hadn’t hurt me too much. I said "No worries, all in a days work."
After the show that day we went to a nice dinner with just a few of my close friends. Ken Wilson, owner of Excalibur Leather, joined us. He’s one of our resident wine connoisseurs. He ordered a wonderful, albeit expensive, bottle of wine. I enjoy a good bottle of wine but save the expensive stuff for special occasions only. Dinner was great! I had an amazing hunk of prime rib.
 Rehearsal with Deane |
 Palooza meeting at Ronn's |
OK, back to the birthday celebration. Since my birthday was a workday, we decided to have a more casual get-together later in the week. So, on the following Thursday we had a gathering for anyone interested, at Gameworks in downtown Minneapolis. It’s another one of those cool adult arcades like Jillian’s and Dave and Buster’s. Some of the TSOH guys (Ten Seconds of Harmony) and a bunch of our other friends showed up. It was a blast! And Bruce (of TSOH) and I got into a heated bowling tournament. I won with quite a score (of course.) I traditionally bowl once or twice a year. I have terrible form but somehow manage to hit stuff anyway. I’ll never figure that one out. Thanks to everyone that showed up to help me celebrate, I had a wonderful time.
 Riki, Bruce and I prepare to bowl |
 For a shmuck, I'm a great bowler |
And lastly, I’d like to thank my wife Sharon for the other goodies, all the "mostly" unconditional love, and putting up with all my pre- and post-Palooza mood swings. You really are a trooper. My head would have exploded years ago if you weren’t there to hold me together. But I guess we do that well for each other.
 Bruce, Sharon and Melissa at my Bday party |
 Birthday sunset |
Thank you, thank you all.
Coming next month... Palooza Minnesota highlights and preparation for Palooza North Carolina.
