Wausau

Wasuau is by far our biggest venue, 1200 seats - three sold out performances. It's a lot of people. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming. Ernie had to have the audience say Lienies word of the day twice because it was just that much fun to hear that many people say "Coaster". There are lights around the proscenium which make it glow. It's beautiful. This is a professional house, with all of the bells and whistles and a great staff that is really on the ball. Our first night we had some sound issues - comes with the territory when dealing with that big of a space.
We had a lot of fun with the half time show. They gave us an extra wireless mic so that Ernie could choose contestants from either the lower or upper level. Of course we didn't really plan how to get prizes up to balcony winners. But the ushers (or prize minions as Ernie called them) hopped to and prizes found winners in a quick and efficient way.
You need to have a little billie goat in you to get from the dressing rooms to the booth, Bill has his work cut out for him to get from the booth to the stage at intermission as he has to cross through a little bit of the audience and across thier main lobby/concessions area. But he made it tonight!



The lobby is great - decorated with Leinie's ice buckets filled with flowers and random fishing equipment. They have several auctions going on including a separate local grocerie store auction for this mobile fishing castle! After the show we were able to relax in a bar in the hotel, it is the first time all eight of us went out, of course we were never all in the bar at the same time, but Wausau is treating us very well and Sunday... BRAT FRY!

Eagle River

We had a good show in Eagle River, a sold out show to an audience of approximately 750 people. They really liked the show although there were some times when there were delayed reactions to some of the jokes. And as the venue furthest north, the joke about more fishing poles than teeth crashed and burned. The guys voted this the best green-room snack layout. Both yellow and white cheese curds and the added bonus of sausage!! We had a lot of fun with the juice boxes. The set looked very nice on the stage and the organization was so into our theme that the director, Steve Koling dressed up as an ice fisherman and did a prize drawing from ticket stubs dumped in a bucket full of poles. It was a blast. Steve steered us to a nice tavern after the show called the White Spruce Inn, we had a very nice time followed by a relaxing soak in the 24-hour hot tub.

Load in Eagle River

We got to Eagle River early afternoon. The drive was beautiful, the trees were frosted white and there wasn't much traffic. It was a nice quiet drive. Our hotel is nice, Eagle River is in the snowmobile capital of the country and there are a lot of them here. At one point I had to run INTO the street to avoid being run over by a pack of snowmobiles!


The load in went pretty well except that none of the light instruments had been gelled, so that had to be done. Luckily I was in the building to see Bill drive the cherry picker into the ice, it was a small earthquake in the shanty, not more than a 3.5, but it was pretty funny. The theater is pretty, it's a newer facility, we are only their third presentation. The booth is a big open loft. Bill, Craig and I were all up there during the show. It was a lot of fun.
Eagle River is a great little town. I almost wish that the schedule had been reversed and we had the day here rather than Ladysmith. With all of the little shops, I'm sure we could have found plenty to do to fill an afternoon.

Appreciative audience in Ladysmith

This group, the Flambeau valley Arts Association, really got into this show. The snacks they were selling in the lobby included a fish shaped cake made of something like Fruity Pebbles and marshmallow, Rice Crispy treats with gummy worms on top and fish shaped sugar cookies.
When I went out to open the house, they were still waiting for their programs to arrive, I couldn't believe the crowd packed into the lobby. I think we out drew the Girls varsity basketball game across the hall!

At the end of the day, they said that this was the biggest crowd the Flambeau Valley Arts Association had gotten to any of their events. They said it was around 360 people, but they were going to put 400 in the review!

Ladysmith prep

We met a little early to do our sound check as we dropped the keys on some songs to protect Steve's throat. The people here in Ladysmith were really very nice. We were up against a girls varsity basketball game which bumped us from the band room that was supposed to be the dressing room to the band director's office. If I had a nickle for everytime I had to move those bass clarinets out of a dressing room...

A day exploring Ladysmith

We finally got sick of the hotel around noon or so and ventured out to explore Ladysmith. It is your typical small town, they have all the essentials, but not a lot in the way of time killers on a week day. If the weather were a little warmer, or we were a little hardier, there are several beautiful parks with hiking and snowmobile trails. As it was, we explored the plaza (4 stores) and the county market/deli and Pamida. Having exhaused the town, we headed back to the hotel and then shortly back to the theater to finish the load in.

It is a high school auditorium. The folks here are very nice and enthusiastic
The technical elements were a little limited, but we were able to make the sound work as usual and get enough light looks to present the spirit of the design. considering we had virtually no front of house light and a black back-drop, Bill did a nice job and the show looked alot like itself.

Ladysmith - Drive Day

The Guys are back on the road - Wednesday was a drive day to Ladysmith, yes, this is a town in Wisconsin. We got on the road around 1:30p. It's Jimmy, Lee and I in the Actor van again as Steve and Doug are driving in Steve's truck. Speaking of Steve, we had some drama on the days off. In what can only be described as a freak snow tubing accident Steve's voice box was head butted Sunday night leaving him with no voice. Luckily it doesn't look like there is any permanent damage, but in the challange of the week, he is not allowed to speak at all until our Thursday evening performance when he hopes to have at least 75% use of his voice. Feel better Steve!!

Anywho, Jimmy, Lee and I got on the road and headed North. Our 5 hour trip actually took around 5 1/2, we had a couple of lovely comfort stops that made several variety of meat product and Packer souvenier available to us, but we were strong. Finally we got to our Hotel in Ladysmith, as you can see, they were ready for us! The hotel is great, a cozy lobby with big comfy couches in front of a fire. there is a pool with greenish water and a huge hot tub.

Because of the Load in schedule, Bill, Craig and Becca wrapped up for the day and pulled in to the hotel at the same time we did and we were all able to go to dinner together. Someone had recommended the El Rancho restaurant to Bill and off we went. It was Mexican night at the El Rancho and we had a l i e s u r e l y dinner... for an hour and a half on some... Mexican food. Lee put it best when he said, "Well, we are just south of the boarder, unfortunatly it's the Canadian boarder."

Today, tourism in Greater Ladysmith or, High speed internet at the hotel! We'll do a show, load out and get ready for Eagle River, where, if the local weather report is correct, it snowed for 2" / hour last night. Hmmm.

CEDARBURG

We had a great time in Cedarburg. It was a beautiful theater. It was huge though! They treated us very well - cast voted it the best cheese tray so far! There was a banner over the main street in town welcoming us.






They had masked the stage nicely and the set didn't look like it was playing in it's mommy's cloths, but the booth felt like we were seven miles from the stage.







Sorry about the blurry picture you can kind of see Craig's Fancy, schmancy sound board. This thing did everything except make us coffee! And you can get the idea of how far we really were from the stage. The audience felt like a laugh track!





This is half of the house, It was big.

More Cedarburg

Here is what happens when you leave a pickled egg in brine in the Actor Van overnight. This one I'll take all the credit (blame) for. The jar was still on the prop table as we were leaving and I grabbed it and put it in the cup holder of the van. When we got back to the hotel I loaded all of the other weather sensitive things into my room and forgot the jar in the cup holder. When I got out to the van in the morning it was frozen solid. This picture was taken after about 4-5 hours in front of the heater. Lesson learned. Put it in the cooler.
A happy moment after a wonderfully uneventful load in, waiting for sound check. Becca (is this picture better!), Bill, Steve and Jimmy. We like Cedarburg. We had just over an hour and a half between the end of the first show and half hour of the second show so we ordered Pizza and had a relaxing break in the black-box theater that they had set up as a green room.

JANESVILLE Day 2

Another nice reception from Janesveille tonight. Note on the sign we are SOLD OUT!








This is the theater from the stage. We all agree that we may not see many houses with orange seats!














The crew has renamed the tour - The Burnt Waffle Tour. We are having some trouble adjusting to the new toaster oven and have done damage to several waffles. There was much discussion tonight at intermission about what might be the best solution. Maybe a crock pot to slow cook it, or the salmon attachment of the rotissery. Who knows, we may just need a traditional toaster. One thing that we have learned is that burned waffle dipped in warm, flat pepsi is a choking hazzard.

Janesville

Our first stop on the road - Janesville Wisconsin for two performances. Bill, Becca and Craig got into town Wednesday after a small mishap involving someone's lead foot, and loaded in the set. It's an interesting little space as you can see. The set fits well on the stage but there is a huge gap between the edge of the stage and the first row of seats.

Here are the guys relaxing before our tech rehearsal. Because of a miscommunication, we had imaginary beer for the afternoon tech. This was fodder for a lot of creative improvs. Luckily Monica was with us her in Janesville and was able to drive back to Milwaukee and rescue us. Because as you know, if you're not drinking Leinies... you're not drinking Leinies.

We have a nice green room to relax in prior to the show. We had some burned waffel incidents in the afternoon and a coffee overflow in the evening, so we are really marking our ownership of this space! The people helping us and the audience have been very nice. We played to a sold out house of about 250 people. They loved the show and laughed at ALL the jokes.
We have one more show here Friday night and then we are off to Cedarburg for two shows close to home on Saturday.

Hhffrrrggh Inn

A small bar about a quarter mile from our Hotel, their neon boasts that you "Can't say it, Can't spell it, Can't forget it". We had a couple of drinks after the show and suffered through some loud Karaoke. Don't worry, they had a better time than their look implies!





Yes, our own Steve Koeler singing a little Creedence, the bar crowd was as appreciative as our show house! Too bad Becca wimped out and didn't sing. We left before Steve carried out his threat of signing her up to sing.



Bill and Doug screwing around toward the end of the night - So far Janesville is treating us very well.