I broke down and upgraded my cable service again. I needed to get HBO back so that I watch the True Blood season opener last night. I also got my MLB network back so I don’t have to deal with ESPN and their obsession with basketball that is not even in season any more.
The True Blood opener was just OK for me. It ended poorly last night. But that won’t keep me from watching it. There usually are funny lines to quote from each show also, but this one didn’t seem to have one. I hope this isn’t a sign of bad things to come.
My busy season for show bookings is now pretty much over. The last three shows from which I just returned all went extremely well.
There were back-to-back 3am shows for graduation projects. The first one was in a giant indoor sports complex in NJ. This was a gig for a booking agent and it was the first one that I did for this particular company.
My show was preceded by an entertainer named Michael DuBois. He bills himself as the “Solo Circus.” During the evening he had been doing magic tricks around the complex. But for his act opening for me he juggled. The kids didn’t seem to be too impressed with a juggling act though even though this dude managed to juggle SEVEN balls at once. In my 49 years I have never seen someone juggle seven balls before.
The kids reaction I thought was polite. I was apparently the most impressed in the place. Some people kept looking back at me because I was applauding…rather loud I guess; but the guy was great.
He closed his show by escaping from a straight jacket while riding a unicycle. I thought this was standing ovation material. But no, it was regular applause.
This is a guy who has done the Disney cruise and has appeared on the Leno show.
I figured that I was doomed for my show.
Prior to my show I see an elderly Asian man standing behind a small podium on wheels. He had a bunch of paper plates on the top of it and a booklet of drawings. Kids were going through the book and selecting a picture and he would fold the paper plates over and over and over again until they were real small. Then he started cutting the folded plate. In less than a minute he would unfold his chopped up plate to reveal these amazing works of paper art.
I found out that he had worked for Disney at Epcot for 10 years.
There were back-to-back 3am shows for graduation projects. The first one was in a giant indoor sports complex in NJ. This was a gig for a booking agent and it was the first one that I did for this particular company.
My show was preceded by an entertainer named Michael DuBois. He bills himself as the “Solo Circus.” During the evening he had been doing magic tricks around the complex. But for his act opening for me he juggled. The kids didn’t seem to be too impressed with a juggling act though even though this dude managed to juggle SEVEN balls at once. In my 49 years I have never seen someone juggle seven balls before.
The kids reaction I thought was polite. I was apparently the most impressed in the place. Some people kept looking back at me because I was applauding…rather loud I guess; but the guy was great.
He closed his show by escaping from a straight jacket while riding a unicycle. I thought this was standing ovation material. But no, it was regular applause.
This is a guy who has done the Disney cruise and has appeared on the Leno show.
I figured that I was doomed for my show.
Prior to my show I see an elderly Asian man standing behind a small podium on wheels. He had a bunch of paper plates on the top of it and a booklet of drawings. Kids were going through the book and selecting a picture and he would fold the paper plates over and over and over again until they were real small. Then he started cutting the folded plate. In less than a minute he would unfold his chopped up plate to reveal these amazing works of paper art.
I found out that he had worked for Disney at Epcot for 10 years.
Now I figured that I was toast. I have a 330 am start for a group of kids who are now getting tired and were seemingly uninspired by these two particular entertainers who both were amazing to me.
I end up with the crowd standing and cheering throughout my show and at the end of it.
I have to say that I was sort of shocked. Relieved and extremely happy, but really surprised.
I was talking to my booking agent and remarked about the two gentlemen to whom I referred above. I told him that I was flattered to be working in the same lineup as they were and was told in return that my show easily ranked right along with them, “if not more so.”
That really made me feel good.
The following night was in
Each one of these were better than the one in NJ, so it was a successful week for me and important knowing that these two agencies will bring in more work for me.
In MLB the Washington Nationals replaced Jim “The Quitter” Riggleman with Davey Johnson, who managed my team, the Mets, to its last World Series victory in 1986. This one yanks my chain for sure. Why Johnson is not in the Mets organization to begin with is beyond my level of comprehension. But now he is managing one of our division competitors? This makes me sick. We are stuck with a guy who has no real success (Terry Collins) and a team that has been perennial losers is now not only in front of the Mets, but have a successful manager at the helm.
This is not good.
Jonathan Danks, pitcher for the White Sox, is out for a little while after straining an oblique muscle while throwing a pitch. This is a guy who had a baseball blasted off of his head a week before and stayed in the game.
This is not good.
Jonathan Danks, pitcher for the White Sox, is out for a little while after straining an oblique muscle while throwing a pitch. This is a guy who had a baseball blasted off of his head a week before and stayed in the game.
There is STILL talk in NY about trading Jose Reyes. Here is a guy who is in the top 2 right now in an MVP award vote, if it were held today. NY actually has Met fans who think that trading him now while he is hot would land them “something of value.” HE IS OF VALUE BY HIMSELF YOU MORONS! If he is traded because of his salary concerns for the next few years, this means by default that you are trading him for people who will be of lesser value or for a bunch of “prospects” who are unknown at best. These deals rarely work out so well. We, again, are talking about a shortstop which is one of the toughest positions on the field. If he was 32 or 33 years old and having this type of season, perhaps we could talk. But he just turned 28. The chance that he still has great years ahead of him is much higher now than 5 years from now. He has to be kept.
I’ve been a Met fan all my life. Trading away a player like this would make me wonder if this team is any longer worth my loyalty. This is a move that will help them lose, not win.
The Nationals are trying to win. They are closer to me. Davey Johnson is nearly a hero to me. It would start to make sense to start to root for that team although that ex-Phillie Jayson Werthless is on it, if the Mets are going to “cash in” as some dimwit NJ sportswriter just posted somewhere I won’t even mention.
By the end of this week the baseball season will be half-way finished already. Good grief, where is the time going?
Done
Done
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