Saturday, June 4, 2011
Circus Memories-1995
Come-in for the year 1995 on the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus red unit. The entire come-in showcased our musically inclined clown alley with myself in the part of the conductor.
A closer look at the clown band: I'm on the the ring curb as the conductor followed by Edge Szumoski on banjo, Mike Simpson on clarinet, Lisa Chapman on flute, Araron Schettler on trumpet, Keith Alexander on keyboards, Josh Schulman on drums and somewhere behind Mike Simpson is Ben Schultz on trombone.
Come-in for that year was unified with a musical theme. There was a band that was on the floor from the start to the end of come-in and led directly to the blow off involving a hat toss from high in the bleachers (usually by me) to Max Richardson's head as he stood in the center ring.
But during the time before the blow off there were a series of routines interrupting the band. Chad Miller would be a lost spectator looking for his seat. Greg May and Huel Speight tap danced. Michael Frum had a singing dog. There was a barbershop quartet which consisted of Grey May, Ben Schultz, Mike Simpson and Aaron Schettler. There was also a cloud swing routine (Darren Cooper) and skaters (Chris and Gina Allison) too. It was a pretty neat come-in because everybody got to show off a new skill or routine. That's what I like about circus. I got to do plenty of falls especially during the cloud swing routine.
Over time the higher ups nixed the barbershop quartet and tap dancers but the rest of come-in remained intact for one the more memorable come-produced in the nineties. I've got snippets of come-in somewhere and someday I'll get it on here. Got to get the right hardware first. Doh!!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Friday Roundup
Today is the very first day of summer vacation. This was the first morning we could sleep in and not have to rush off to school. Of course, they didn't sleep in. They actually woke up earlier than the time they normally did during the school year which, by the way,usually took a lot of effort to get them up and dressed for school. This morning they were all smiles and bright eyed and bushy tailed. Go figure.
On top of that our next door neighbors have a couple of new dogs that our dog barks at non-stop and very early in the morning. Oy vey! The world is topsy -turvey. Three months and counting...
There were no Doc Ed shows this week so I got to relax a little before summer vacation began so that was a good thing. I did go down to Edwards Aquifer office to pick up a few things for next Monday's presentation in Seguin ... but now that I think about it I just realized I forgot something so I'll have to go back early Monday and then book it to Seguin. Oy vey again!
Oh, and the neatest thing so far this year is that Pammy entered a photo contest sponsored by Canon. Five out of seven photos that she submitted were selected. We are very excited. The cool thing is that Ron Howard along with some Canon people will be judging. The photos are to be used as inspiration for a short film.
The five photos were only the first stage. There are a second series of photos to be submitted for consideration then in July, I think, they'll announce a winner. Thousands of photos are in the running so the chances are pretty slim but still it's pretty darn neat Pammy is in with five so far. Keep your fingers crossed. Below is the link to the contest site. That's all for now. Hasta manana, banana!
www.youtube.com/imagination
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Today is Yesterday
Aquaman Happy Meal Toy art. Drawn in pencil and ink then colored in Photoshop.So this is the week where I've fallen behind on a lot of things especially this blog. I'm not sure how that happened. I guess I've been a little distracted this week seeing as how it's a mellow week in terms of work. I decided I'd spend my week away from the computer as often as possible and outside the house which is a good thing. But now I'm back in the saddle.
Summer officially begins for the our kids tomorrow so swimming will be a big of our vacation. Yahoo and yeeha!! We'll also be a the library often and if possible, the skating rink not to mention spending some time at the movies. This summer we're going to try to catch as many of the potential summer blockbusters as possible. I see "Cowboys and Aliens" in our future and a few super heroes too.
In honor of the super hero summer at the movies I've posted another drawing of the Happy Meal super hero toys my kids got a couple of weeks ago. This time around it's Aquaman: King of Atlantis! Until next time, ciao, baby!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Something to Read
One of my favorite contemporary fiction writers also happens to be the voice for his audio books: Neil Gaiman. The quality of his voice is perfectly suited for "The Graveyard Book".
