A Road Trip, A Reunion & A Little Excitement

What a week.  Thursday we traveled to Clermont, Florida where we performed our show at Clerbrook Golf & RV Resort.  Great place.  I call it "camp for grown-ups".  RV's, park models, club houses, pools, activities, and happy people enjoying the RV lifestyle.

We were thrilled to see some old friends of Buddy's from his early musician days in Syracuse, NY.  They're staying nearby and arranged to come to our show.  Very cool.

Everyone was so helpful and so friendly while we were setting up our equipment and stage set.  We truly appreciate it.  And later on that night, we were delighted by their laughter and applause.

Then came the "little excitement".   I was singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", when I noticed some commotion at one of the tables.  I looked out and saw a woman with her head back, eyes closed and people starting to swarm around her.  Oh dear.  Well, I won't keep you in suspense, she appeared to be okay later on....WHEN THE PARAMEDICS WHEELED HER OUT ON A GURNEY in the middle of Buddy's comedy monologue.    Talk about a challenge.  Now you must understand that we asked if we should keep going when things started to get dicey.  'Oh yes yes keep going she'll be all right.'  Okay.  But I gotta tell you, Buddy's powers of concentration were tested to new levels when the ambulance pulled up outside, whirling lights clearly visible through the window, and paramedics lumbering  through the tables with a gurney.  

Well, as they wheeled her out she waved and gave a thumbs up like an injured football player leaving the field.  So we pray she's really okay.

Then last night we performed at Tara Golf & Country Club in Bradenton.  Thank goodness, there was no "excitement" there.  Just a lot of nice people and loads of laughter and smiles.  Special thanks to Ray & Wilma McCray whose 50th anniversay celebration in 2008 introduced our show to Tara.

Holiday Park

Last night we performed our show at 

Holiday Park in North Port.

It was our first time at this very friendly community,
and it was great to see such a large turnout, and to receive
such a joyous response.

And it turns out there were a lot of people in the audience 

from Massachusetts, where the Italian Guy is from,

and a very large BUFFALO contingency!

(near where I'm from)

We were ALL glad to be in Florida this winter instead!

(Even an unusually cold winter in Florida doesn't involve shoveling snow.)

Thanks to Jeanne Kissenberth, pictured with me below,

and to all the good people of Holiday Park.

Valentine Shows

What a lovely weekend we had.

We performed Saturday, February 13 at Heritage Oak Park in Port Charlotte, and Sunday, February 14 at Pinebrook in Bradenton.  We are continually amazed and grateful how many cool and wonderful people there are out there.  We want to thank each and every member of our audience for their enthusiastic reception and warm friendly greetings.

So, being Valentine's weekend, of course we sang some sentimental songs, such as My Funny Valentine and After the Lovin.  Ah, love is in the air.  Then Buddy followed that with a string of Viagra jokes.  How romantic. 

Hey, the minute we start taking ourselves too seriously, we'll retire.

So thank you one and all.

Old Friends, New Friends, and a Moving Moment

Old friends, new friends, past and current neighbors, anniversaries, birthdays, folks from back home in Massachusetts and in New York.... oh my word we had it all going on this week at Visani Dinner Theater!  Plus a very moving moment that choked us both up.  More on that later.

Tuesday night was a sell-out crowd.  Hallelujah!  The room was chock full of people we were delighted to see.  There was a table full of Buddy's oldest friends from  Massachusetts.  A surprise visit from my friend Millie from New York.  There was the  table of our current neighbors.  And on and on.  What fun to see so many friends.  Then on Wednesday, at our matinee, (another sell-out) we had two motorcoach groups, both from Bradenton, who BOTH had group leaders from Syracuse. NY, and BOTH had originally seen our show in Western NY with other groups and suggested to their Florida communities that they come to our show at Visani.    The two group leaders met for the first time at our show Wednesday.  Turns out they live less than four miles from each other in Syracuse.  Small world or what?  Another table of neighbors and lots more new friends made for a GREAT day and a fun show.

NOW FOR THE MOVING MOMENT....We ended the show with our military tribute to the Armed Forces.  We sing the anthem of each branch of the service and ask anyone who has served in the military to stand when they hear their anthem.  We started with the Air Force, then the Marines, the Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, Navy, and finally the Army.  With each anthem men and women stood proudly around the room.   When we got to the Army, that's when the most people stood. We began to sing "Over hill, over dale, we have hit the dusty trail",  and people all over the room quickly got to their feet.  Then we noticed the elderly man at the table right in front of us.  He struggled to get out of his chair.  He grasped the table, and tried to rise, his wobbly legs failing him.  Then two strangers from the next table gripped his arms and helped him stand up, which he was barely able to do.  Tears came to my eyes and I almost couldn't keep singing. Buddy too.  This ordinary-looking man who had been smiling and laughing  through our show, was suddenly a proud soldier who had served his country and would not let anything, including his own body,  keep him from standing up for the Army. Then we sang "God Bless America".  And he did it again.

Thank you, Sir, whoever you are.  Thank you and God Bless You.

Buddy's good friends, "that old gang of mine"  from Lawrence, MA