Life On The Road With Augustus: Stinky Cheese And A Birthday Wish

So we're still in Wilkesboro - enjoying day 2 of our 3 days off...before we have to hit the stage again Wednesday morning. And we are all loving the break.

Last night, Puppetmaster Chris noticed that there was ANOTHER touring children's show sharing our hotel with us, when he saw their van and truck pull into the parking lot. It was the Dallas Children's Theater, and their cast of The Stinky Cheese Man had a show today here in Wilkesboro. So after a few calls between our cast members and a full-on ACCOSTING of the Stinky Cheese Cast by me in the hallway (which I'm pretty sure I ended up scaring them almost completely to death), we decided to each rally our own 'troops' to get together later that night.
Well, it was pretty touch-and-go there for awhile...getting our troops together, and wondering if the Stinky Cheese peeps were going to meet up with us. And I'm happy to report that 2 of them did. Paul and Jason were nice enough to come kick it at Ruby Tuesday's with us, and we all spent an hour or so grilling each other about the aspects of each others tours. The Stinky Cheese tour wins the award for 'WORST VENUE PLAYED' - for the City Hall story that Paul and Jason recounted for us. And the Wonka Tour wins the award for 'WORST HOTEL STAYED' - for the moldy mess in White River Junction, VT.

Here they are! Doesn't look like THEIR van has been in an accident. Dent-free side? Check. Rear passenger side window? Check. In the second picture, Paul is on the left (YOUR left) and Jason is on the right.

We all enjoyed hearing their stories so much that we agreed (even ASKED) to go see their show at 9:30am THIS MORNING...which, if you are keeping track, was the morning of day 2 of our 3 days off! So at 9am, Elisa, Jen, Jill, Andrew, Chris Schardin and I piled in the van and headed to the venue we'll be performing at in 2 days to see what the STINK was all about! And it was a lot of fun to be on the OPPOSITE end of a school show. The kids went CRAZY when the lights went down, and it was fun to watch them react to a lot of the jokes in the show. (Any mention of the word KISSING, let alone the acting out of it, drove them WILD!) Our new friends, Jason and Paul, did a great job. Jason was fun as Jack/Narrator, and did a great job at keeping the character fun and youthful and interesting to the kids (including THIS kid who blogs.) And as the villian, Foxy Loxy, Paul used his booming bass voice and his physicality really well throughout the show. I mean, that was one mean WOLF. :) We REALLY appreciate the cast of DCT's 'The Stinky Cheese Man' going the extra mile and getting us 6 seats, last minute, to their show this morning. And we look forward to our paths crossing again in Florida, for another cheesey-chocolatey mess of fun! (LAME joke...I know.....)

Here we are at Ruby Tuesday's. Jason is in the back by me, in the green, and Paul is in front of him, on the end, in the tan. You should be pretty well versed in who everyone else is by this point.

The rest of the day, being a day off, was a FREE FOR ALL...except for one IMPORTANT event: Today. April 3rd. We would be celebrating the birthday of our wardrobe MASTER, EMILY STEGER! And it was a full day of fun planned! Todd put together an afternoon BBQ, from the back of our trucks, in the parking lot of our Holiday Inn Express. My INTENTIONS were to include pictures of the bbq fun...but once I got outside in the sun, it was all relax, no photo snap for me. But you can picture it: sausages, burgers, chicken breasts, the likes. And all the amazing sun you can stand. (Until the clouds rolled in and the news started forecasting a pesky 'tornado warning'. Whatever.)

HAPPY 25th, MISS EMILY! Thanks for EVERYTHING you do for all of us!

Tonight, the birthday FUN continued as everyone got dolled up (or as dolled up as one needs to get to head out on the town in Wilkesboro) and we headed downtown to Dooley's Bar and Grille for an evening of friends, fun and pure bingeing. You know...these kids like their sodas. It was fun to have everyone rested and having fun. But it was even MORE fun to run into some intensely insane local characters and have them add some color to our evening. We were all just sitting there, enjoying each others company, when before we knew it, these 2 guys (I think one was named Carl, and the other one, although I don't think I ever learned his name, will now be known as Carl2) decided that we were having fun that they wanted in on and came over and started working the table. Carl and Carl2 were very friendly, very interested in the ladies, and VERY drunk. And although I don't have a full account of everything that happened with them, I do have a good list: Jen and Carl2 got engaged; Carl ordered kamikaze shots for everyone (and offered me a water when he found out I didn't drink); Carl2 wore one of the Tinkerbell birthday hats Jackie and Jill bought for Emily; Carl and Carl2 kept inviting us back to the 'Love Shack'; Carl led the table (and anyone else interested) in a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday' to Emily; Carl and Carl2 spent ample time reminding us they were 'consultants' and that they had 'big money' on the NCAA Championship Game; Carl and Carl2 kept inviting themselves to our show and forgetting that it was a 9:30am school show; Carl2 kept touching Jen on the arm and shoulders and calling her 'Miss Ohio'; Carl spent a lot of time predicting which of us would end up living in the South ('Miss Ohio is going to end up in the South in about 1o years...'); and Carl and Carl2 gave us an offer to come pick us all up TOMORROW night in either their Lexus, their BMW or their Mercedes and take us to the "greatest restaurant in Wilkesboro", called 6th and Main. And if your head is spinning after just READING all that, imagine all of US! And I was SOBER!

It's our very our BIRTHDAY PRINCESS, EMILY!

L: So here is Carl and Carl2. R: Carl2 gives us a close-up of the RIGHT way to wear a Tinkerbell Birthday Hat.

L: Carl and Carl2 hand out the kamikaze shots. R: The table kicks back the kamikazes.

Jen and Carl2 announce their engagement. Or wait...is that an embrace? Or is he going to strangle her? Watch out for him, Jen. That Carl2 is SHIFTY.

Needless to say, it was a good, long, wild day with a lot of fun, a lot of together time, OH! And an AMAZING sale at the Sam Goody that is closing across the street from our hotel - 50% to 70% off the ENTIRE store. It was well picked-over but trust us, we all found some amazing deals.
Off to get some sleep - day 3 of 3 Days Off is just around the corner...and there is NO telling what craziness we will stir up tomorrow!
Good night for now.
Gussy