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| Friends at St. Alfio Society Show, Lawrence, MA |
We made it safely back to our Florida home after a few harrowing moments on the road. More on that later.
But first...
We are so grateful to all the audiences we met along the way. From Jackson, NJ to Albion, NY to Lawrence, MA, to Barnegat and Manahawkin, NJ. Just great people. As a result of our show for the St. Alfio Society in Lawrence, we've been invited to perform for the 2011 National Italian American Club Convention in Chicago. We'll let you know how that plays out.
So just a couple of heart-attack moments. Like at the end of our Lawrence show. After a terrific sold-out show, with phenomenal response and tons of old friends and family members in attendance, Buddy went to the parking lot to bring the van around front so we could load. He walked back in a couple minutes later, white in the face, and said those four dreaded words...."The van is gone." Everything went fuzzy for me for a few minutes after that. All the blood drained from my head and all I could say was, "This is when we pray." And I meant it quite sincerely. Buddy just kept repeating, "We are so screwed."
Well, long story short, it was NOT stolen, as we feared. It had been towed. To a very bad part of town.
Now you must understand, we did not park in a forbidden zone. The Society had special permission from the parking lot owner for us to park there. But somebody didn't get the message, and called to have it towed. (We figure right about the time we were singing "That's Amore", our van was screaming its alarm off as it was being dragged away. Who knew?) ANYWAY, with the help of some good friends with influence, we got it back in short order. None the worse for the experience.
So we packed up the equipment and went back to our hotel for a short sleep before heading out to New Jersey for a show there the following night. But when we got to our hotel, there was some kind of event going on which took up every single available parking space and resulted in nefarious-looking types hanging around all the exits smoking cigarettes. Not good.
So we just packed up our clothes and checked out and took off down the road at midnight. About a five and a half hour drive to New Jersey. By now we're somewhere between tired and wired, but just had to get outta there. Oh by the way, thank you to the Connecticut Welcome Center for providing a parking space under one of their street lamps for us to catch a few ZZZ's in the van. Ever so comfy.
Well, after a couple of minor disagreements about our route (I was NOT about to drive through the Bronx on route 95 again, not after my nervous breakdown over that last year), we crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge, (thank you very much) and headed down the Garden State Parkway. All good.
Two more shows in two days, then back on the road headed home. Except for me almost pulling in front of a trailer truck at at a toll booth (boy, those truck horns work really well), everything went pretty smooth on the way home.
As always, THANK YOU GOD.
Glad to be back. Next up...VISANI DINNER THEATER ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3.
We'll keep you posted.
