OK. So I may have overdone it at Thanksgiving just a tad. But there was this turkey, and he was like staring me down as if to say “Do your worst!” So I did. No more turkey for awhile please.
However, now it’s on to Subway’s and Applebee’s all across the midwest as we get into the thick of our ‘09 holiday tour. This week we head to scenic Rapid City to play at the beautiful Rushmore Plaza Civic Theater and then to Sioux Falls (my hometown) for 2 nights in the glorious Great Hall at the Washington Pavilion…..then, this-this South Dakota and Nebraska leg of our tour-winds up with a show at the wonderful Johnny Carson Theater in Norfolk, NE. We always have a great time there!
There are plenty of shows still coming up on the tour as well, and I think there may be a few tickets left at some of the venues, so get your butts out to the shows! Seriously! What else do you have to do? Shop? Bake Christmas goodies? Shop and/or bake Christmas goodies for us? Either way, take a night out with your special someone or family and spend it with us! Christmas style!
Thank you to those who came to Grand Forks, Fargo, and Elk River. I truly hope that we can bring the Christmas show to points beyond the Midwest at some point (I know we can find a plastic lawn ornament, but not sure if there is enough room in the overhead for Greg’s holiday tights). So far it seems as if “We All Need Saving” and “12 Days” might turn out to be fan favorites. It is curious each year which song hits home with what section of our audience. And for those who saw an early show – one of those mentioned above – know that an upcoming show will most likely look quite different as we continue to tinker with song selection, arrangement, order, etc. I am not sure if that makes us perfectionists or tells you that we cannot leave well enough alone (or that we have nothing better to do after beating up on Mark and Greg in card playing). In either case, the holidays are in full swing and we cannot wait to see you!
Here is the fourth and final clip we will post for you to preview. There’s much, much more to see, but we don’t have the time or patience to post it all. You’ll just have to catch it on your local station (or purchase a copy of “If I Can Dream”).
We’ll be seeing many of you tonight at the kick-off of our 2009 holiday tour, so be sure to stop and say hello after the show!
Our 2009 Holiday Tour starts this week! This year we’re performing twenty-two shows in the Midwest, with almost as many stops. There will be plenty of new music, requested favorites, and maybe something really cool that we don’t even know about. All the performance venues are perfect for the size of our show, so there aren’t any “bad” seats, however, we don’t want you to miss out, so get your tickets now!
If you’re outside our touring area, make sure to check out our public television special showing in select markets around the country through the end of December.
We are in the middle of rehearsals for the holiday tour which kicks off this weekend in Elk River, Minnesota! Tomorrow we will begin full tech run-throughs and make the final adjustments to lighting, staging, introductions, song order, etc. Even with eight new holiday songs in the show, everything is coming together very smoothly. I can’t wait to take this show on the road (as long as they are clear and dry)!
Here’s another short clip from our brand-new DVD, “If I Can Dream”. For those of you in the Midwest, check out our calendar for our 2009 Holiday Tour which begins this week.
The winner of our Twitter contest for the iPod Touch, is @greeneyedwhwom . Thanks to everyone who played. We are planning more contest for the future so stay tuned.
Last night we filmed a new Toys for Tots commercial with KARE-11. We filmed outside in the early evening with a slight mist and cooler weather, but fortunately they did have the area covered. It was a good time. While the marines were able to stand uncommonly still, the four of us had a closer resemblance to the child actors. We did manage to stay warmer that way. It’s amazing what television can do with a small space, minor decoration, and the right angles. To make our music line up with the camera shots, we had to relearn a slightly different version of the song, which we’re not sure any of us ever really got right. The commercial should be airing around the holidays (that’s in Minnesota for those of you outside the immediate area), so let us know if you happen to catch it. Hopefully, people will donate a lot toys in spite of our lack of photogenicity…photogenicality…what we look like on film. J
Just finished listening to a biography of Christopher Columbus’ fourth and final journey to the New World. It consistently amazes me how much I didn’t learn in school and the extent to which history always trumps the fiction of any blockbuster movie that may come along. After surviving hurricanes, a mutiny, a nearly 2 1/2 year excursion and disease, good old Chris gets stranded on the Jamaican island and decides to send a crewman in a canoe to the only inhabited island in the Caribbean, Hispaniola (present day Haiti). The crewman (and two natives of Jamaica – one who dies on the trip) barely make it after 3 grueling days to find that the Spanish head of the island hates Christopher’s guts. He does nothing for months and then sends a ham and bottle of port back to Columbus as a kiss-off (a “go ahead and die – see if I care” type of friendly gift). In the meantime, the originally sent crewman finally finds another ship and goes back to rescue his mates only to find most of them dead. They then spend 45 days – yes, 45 days – traversing the same 100 miles of the original canoe trip back to Hispaniola because of bad weather. Columbus finally decides to return to Spain only to find that his name is mud. He lives the rest of his days in destitution. And that was only his LAST trip. All I ever learned was that he stumbled on to the new world and thought it was India.
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