SIX and Rankin - Brother are they good!

This is quite a busy week so we decided to break the blog entry into two segments starting with our last days in Branson. As I mentioned last week, we were going to see the other show discounted for $10, and it definitely did not disappoint. Voted the Best New Show of 2008, the Rankin Brothers (www.therankins.net/home.php) generally perform classic songs from the 50s through the 90s, but with it being the Christmas season, songs from the latter two decades were scratched and replaced with holiday songs in the second half of the show. Matt and Mark Rankin create a very enjoyable and entertaining show spanning the decades with songs by Neil Diamond, the Righteous Brothers, Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, and many more. Accompanying them are five band members and three lady backup singers called the Rankinettes, who perform all the moves of typical backup singing groups and have excellent voices. They perform some “girl group” numbers and even do a couple solos. Matt performed a dead-on impersonation of Buddy Holly, and Mark with one of the Rankinettes performed Sonny & Cher’s “I’ve Got You Babe”. And what show would be complete without a performance by the King of rock and roll…Elvis! Mark opened his impersonation with “Heartbreak Hotel”, then sang the very touching “In the Ghetto”, and ended with “An American Trilogy” complete with a beautiful replica of the eagle cape. The second half of the show opens as a senior prom in 1965 at a hotel ballroom, and when they sang “Let’s Do the Twist”, several audience members got up and danced in front of the stage! (No, I wasn’t one of them.) After the “prom” they ventured into the Christmas season, then into some gospel songs, one of which was called “The Anchor Holds” that was beautifully sung as a tribute to our service men and women. The brothers play off each other very well and add comedic touches throughout the whole show. If you enjoy all those classic songs, this is a great show to see.











Now on to something quite phenomenal. Russ had told me to pick out whatever show I’d like to see, and after looking at all the brochures, I had decided on SIX (http://www.thesixshow.com/). From what I read they were six brothers who sing a cappella (absolutely no instruments) but it sounds like they have a full band backing them up. Sounded right up my alley…I love a cappella harmony. Plus when we asked a restaurant cashier what show she would go see if she could only see one, without hesitating or batting an eye she said SIX. Well, here’s what I’ve got say after seeing them yesterday….WOW!!!!!! They were absolutely awesome!! Russ and I have seen many performers on Broadway and in Las Vegas, even big names, and these guys are far and away one of the best shows we’ve ever seen. You can listen to snippets of a couple songs on their website but what you hear does not compare with the live performance and doesn't do them justice. Their voices are powerful and they have an energetic, electrifying stage presence. The instruments onstage are for decoration only; all percussion and backup is generated with their own voices and have been dubbed an “orchestra of human voices”. The incredible harmonies, astonishing vocal ranges, tight choreography, comedic banter, and pure showmanship captivate the audience. The songs ran the gamut….Motown, Beach Boys, Frankie Valli, doowop, gospel, Christmas, and so much more. There is so much going on all the time that this show never, ever runs the risk of being called boring. They are actually six brothers (six of ten, no sisters) who have been singing since they were little and performed for several years in Las Vegas before coming to Branson two years ago. In 2007 they were voted Best New Show, and just last week they were voted Best Show in Branson for 2008!

Russ and I even got to be part of the show! One of the brothers, Jak, was doing his Enrique Iglesias vocal impersonation (he’s bald and looks nothing like him) singing “Hero” when he came out into the audience. We were seated in row 10 with Russ in the aisle seat. Jak stopped at our row, asked Russ his name, and asked him if he’d like to do something special for his lady. He persuaded Russ to get up and acted as though he was going to take him up onstage, when he suddenly turned around and sat down next to me in Russ’ seat! He asked me my name, asked a couple more questions, and then asked if I’d ever had a hot, sweaty, bald man sing a love song to me before, and when I said no, they put a spotlight on Russ who was standing over at the side of the theater! LOL A couple songs later, they said they were going to throw out one of each of their 3 CDs to lucky audience members. As Curtis was saying this and holding up the one called “Live Wired”, Jak came up from behind him, grabbed it from his hand, and as he was whispering Susan into the microphone, ran down the aisle and gave it to me! OK, this gets even better. The last song they did before intermission was “Shout”, and at the point where you “get a little softer now”, they were eventually all lying on the stage floor. Then they were saying who out in the audience can get all the way down, and some teenagers seated down our row were getting down on the floor, but then you could hear Jak say “Russ, how low can you go? Come get on down for Susan.”, and Russ slid down low in his seat. But I guess they must have seen him from where they were or something because Jak said, “No, not just sliding down in your seat. You can get lower than that. Do it for Susan.” And believe it or not (I did get a photo), my husband actually got out in the aisle and laid down on the floor with the spotlight shining on him!!! Scott was seated on the other side of me and was really glad he had not been in the aisle seat! At intermission they came out front and were signing autographs, so of course I had to get my CD signed. And when Jak saw me he wrote an extra note “To Russ & Susan, All Our Best!” Russ tried to get a picture, but it blurred. The second half of the show was Christmas, gospel, a tribute to our veterans, and just as great as the first half. If you ever get to Branson (or anywhere they might be performing), SIX is a definite MUST SEE!!

Today is Thanksgiving and shortly we will be driving about 120 miles north to spend the day with Russ' nephew and family. More on that and the upcoming MU/KU game later this week. In the meantime don't eat too much and have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving.

Now I Remember Why We Don't Live in Missouri!

BRRRRRR!! It’s cold here in Branson!! Thurs. night's temperature dipped to 18 degrees!! Before we left OK, the weather forecast had indicated a low of 27 for the first night we were to be here with lows in the 30s most of the rest of the time. But evidently a cold front moved in and the lows have been in the 20s. We’ve unhooked our water every night to avoid freezing and burst pipes. It's been over 20 years since we've lived in weather this cold. The last time was back in the winter of 1984 when we lived in CT! And just think we've got two more weeks in MO and half that time will be further north in Kansas City! The things we do for our Tigers!!

Anyway, as you can probably imagine, there are so many shows in Branson that it makes it somewhat difficult to decide what to see. Neither Russ nor I are big country music fans but don’t mind a little of it plus there are several non-country shows, too. Of course this time of year many of the performers are doing Christmas shows. We considered getting tickets for Andy Williams’ Christmas Show, but then figured we’re going to be at Disney World in a few weeks and will be seeing plenty of Christmas shows at no additional charge. We had pretty much decided on a particular show, and when we went to the ticket office here at the resort to ask some questions, the lady informed us that there were two shows in town giving discounted tickets to folks staying here at Treasure Lake RV Resort. We had never heard of either of the performers but for $10 each we figured we’d check them out. So Thurs. night Russ and I drove just around the corner to the RFD TV Theater to see the Penny Gilley Show with Jeff Brandt. Before we left I had checked out Penny’s website (http://www.pennygilley.com/) and discovered she is originally from Monroe, LA (maybe some of our Baton Rouge friends have heard of her). She is known as the “sweetheart of country music”, and in case you’re wondering, is no relation to Mickey Gilley. Jeff is an impersonator who until recently had spent the previous 13 years appearing with Wayne Newton in Las Vegas (http://www.jeffbrandt.com/). There were only about 50 of us in the theater (and we were definitely the youngest) but from what we understand the crowd size varies night to night. The previous evening four busloads had been dropped off for the show! Our seats were in the 2nd row, and the couple in front of us were huge Penny Gilley fans, cheering wildly like teenagers when she came onstage. They were from Mississippi and said they watch her TV show on RFD TV every week! (This was not information they shared with us directly but yelled out to her after her first song! LOL) During that first song, she came out into the audience, shaking hands with everyone in the 1st and 2nd rows as she was singing. Russ and I were pleasantly surprised with the show and only about 50% of it was country. Penny and Jeff alternated coming out onstage each doing a couple songs, then going backstage to change outfits, and sometimes singing a duet. Penny sang mostly country during the first half, and one of the numbers Jeff sang was “My Way” as four different performers…Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr….really quite good! At intermission Penny, Jeff, and the entire band came out front behind a little booth to greet everyone, sell CDs, sign autographs, and give away free Penny Gilley pins. Yeah, I got in line to get a pin and got to meet her (that's me in the photo on the right talking to Penny; Jeff was just going backstage to change so I missed meeting him). Her keyboard player, Brandy Roberts, is quite a musician and did a great rendition of "Great Balls of Fire" during the first half, and a medley of songs by Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker, and others during the second half. Penny has performed for troops all over the world, and after intermission she sang her song about Desert Storm called “The Line Drawn in the Sand” wearing a jacket on which she has sewn all the patches she has accumulated over the years from those visits. Then it was time for some Christmas music, and Penny came out in her Santa outfit…so cute! The finale had Penny and Jeff singing “White Christmas” and suddenly it was “snowing” right in front of the first row…very cool! Next week we’ll check out the other $10 show, the Rankin Brothers, and hopefully the report on them will be just as good.

While Russ and I were enjoying one of the many $4.99 breakfast buffets one morning, a guy came by the table handing out flyers for a free show held daily at 2pm at the Branson Mall. His name is Jackson Cash and he performs a tribute show to Johnny Cash (don’t know if he’s related). Being somewhat skeptical, we wanted to know what the catch was, but he had moved along and we couldn’t get his attention. As we were leaving, we asked the cashier about it, and she said that it was indeed a free show and that there were several performers there everyday who sing for tips only. She said that Jackson Cash was really very good and sounded just like Johnny. What the heck, it was free, so one afternoon Russ, Scott, and I drove over to the mall but were late in arriving (due to watching the end of the Tigers basketball game on TV that ran over). Instead of seeing Jackson Cash, we saw “John Wayne” introducing “America’s Yodeling Sweetheart”….hmmmm. I guess if you like yodeling it was fine, but a little of that goes a long way! The mall isn’t very big, but Scott went venturing into the few stores that are there while Russ and I checked out the Branson Entertainment Hall of Fame and Museum. Again, not very big, but got us away from that yodeling for a few minutes! There’s a Wal-Mart attached to the mall, so we went in there to look around, then met up with Scott and left. No tips were left by any of us. A couple days later, Russ and I had to return a couple things to Wal-Mart so decided to see if we could catch ol’ Jackson, but when we arrived there was a guy named Keith Allyn doing a Neil Diamond tribute. Turns out Jackson had called in sick, and though Keith usually performs in the mornings, he was filling in for Jackson this afternoon. Now given a choice between Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, I’d definitely choose the latter, so after returning our items we sat down to listen for a bit. Well, let me just say, he was ok...and good thing it was free. He also did a couple other impersonations by request. Since he had been an Elvis impersonator for many years prior to doing Neil Diamond, he sang “Blue Christmas” as Elvis. Another detour from Neil was when he sang “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before”, handling both the Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias parts, and even venturing into a John Wayne and Kermit the Frog duet on part of the song. Now that’s something you don’t hear everyday! We listened for a little while and left a dollar tip. Maybe we’ll see Jackson one of these days.

In spite of it being chilly and overcast all day, Sunday was special because we got to visit with our friends, Curt and Linda, whom we haven’t seen in about 5 years. They live roughly 1-1/2 hours north of Branson and drove down for the day to see us. We know them from St. Louis, but they retired a few years ago and relocated to Carl Junction, MO, where Curt spends his days fishing and playing golf. Linda has been doing some contract work for her former employer for the past 20 months but next week will officially retire again. After enjoying one of those breakfast buffets, they took us over to the Branson Landing area, located on the waterfront of Lake Taneycomo in downtown Branson. The boardwalk area consists of shops, restaurants, and hotels, and a trolley will take you up and down the promenade, or you can enjoy a leisurely walk. The Christmas decorations were up and right after we arrived so did Santa! Every hour there is a fountain show merging water, fire, light and music, and suddenly we heard the Star Spangled Banner being sung and realized it was the fountain show with 120-foot geysers shooting into the air and fire cannons blasting...all choreographed in time to the music! From here we took the scenic route back to the campground so Curt could show us the lake and dam area. Lake Taneycomo is a man-made lake on the White River that was created in 1913 with the completion of the Powersite Dam. However with the completion of Table Rock Dam in 1958, the source of water to the lake was changed from the White River’s flowing waters to the tailwater of Table Rock Lake from the dam spillway. When the power of the dam is not being generated, Lake Taneycomo has characteristics of both a river and a lake. We made a couple stops along the way to take in the views, then finally made our way back to the campground. After a few more hours of chatting and catching up, it was time for them to head home. It was so great to spend some time together and hopefully it won’t be another five years before we do so again.

And Then There Were Three

When we arrived at Pine Island RV Resort last week, there was only one other camper on our side of the campground. As the time drew closer for the Board of Directors meeting, several other campers joined us but come Tues. all had returned from whence they came except for one that is still situated several sites away from us. So now there's only three again. Russ keeps wondering when those folks are going to leave because it’s gotten way too crowded here! LOL

This has been another laid back week with our only excursion being on Veteran’s Day for a trip across the lake to Wal-Mart and on the way we passed this display at the local VFW. Russ was also searching for the local Smoke Shop because the cigarettes are so much cheaper on the Indian reservations than they are in the stores. As it turns out the regular brands (Marlboro, Winston, etc.) are the same price or higher, and it’s the Indian brands (i.e. Skydancer) that are significantly cheaper. We finally found one at the parking lot of one of the local casinos. We went inside to check it out but did not gamble this time…though Russ was almost tempted as we watched the players at the one and only blackjack table that was open. But the max bet was only $50, and Russ said you couldn’t get a good roll going with that small a max bet! We stopped at Lowe’s to pick up a couple items before doing our grocery shopping and heading home. You know there’s only so much excitement you can take in one day!

The weather has gotten a little cooler than crisp this week. In fact the high yesterday was 43 with an overnight low of 28! The dogs didn’t even want to go out! At least we don’t have a foot of snow like some places in Nebraska or worse further north. One of the reasons we didn’t get tickets to watch Missouri play in Ames, IA, this week was because we were afraid the weather might really be ugly up there this time of year. Yesterday was the coldest since we arrived here but today it's supposed to be 60...go figure. We've seen some white tailed deer amid the trees, but these deer are way more skittish than those at Canyon Lake were. They don't get anywhere close enough to even take a picture. We’ve still enjoyed taking the dogs out for walks this week through the fallen leaves. With practically nobody around, we’ve even let them off leash to get a little more exercise and enjoy the world as only doggies do. We even let Jo go outside for a little bit…under close supervision of course.

I've taken advantage of the colder temps to do some cold weather cooking...you know those dishes that warm the belly and soothe the soul. I made a huge pot of French onion soup, broke out the bread maker to make a large loaf of bread, and used the very ripe bananas to make chocolate covered banana cake...all from scratch (okay the icing on the cake wasn't). The soup is a recipe I've had for years, cut out from the newspaper when an article had been done on the restaurants that used to be housed in the Famous-Barr department stores. Their French onion soup was their signature dish enjoyed by many lunch time shoppers. All the Famous-Barr stores were eventually converted to Macy's but not sure what happened to the restaurants.

A couple nights ago we witnessed one of the most spectacular sights. With barely a cloud in the sky, the light from the full moon above was reflected in the Grand Lake below. This picture just doesn’t do it justice but you get the idea.

Tomorrow we leave this beautiful, tranquil place for Branson, MO. We’ll spend almost two weeks there and hope to catch up with a nephew and a couple friends who live in the area. The day after Thanksgiving we’ll head for Kansas City for the MU/KU football game on Sat. Scott has decided to skip the trip to KC and will head on down to Orlando to await our arrival.

Autumn in the Midwest

Autumn has always been my favorite time of year. The crisp cool air…the colorful foliage…the crunching of the fallen leaves beneath your feet…there’s nothing like it. Unfortunately the last several places we lived didn’t really have an autumn like that. So what a treat it was to arrive Mon. at the Pine Island RV Resort in Jay, OK, a small town in the northeast corner of the state. Autumn had been in full swing for some time and the leaves were at their peak color with many already on the ground. Once we got everything set up, I took the dogs for a walk, and the crunch and smell of those fallen leaves took me back to my childhood.

This campground is divided into two sections with one having sites situated on a bluff overlooking the Grand Lake o’ the Cherokees and across the lake from Grove, OK. By boat it’s only 2 miles but by car it’s 17 miles! Though this section is further away from most of the camp amenities, i.e. office, rec center, indoor pool, etc., it is by far the more picturesque. We were given our choice of the 172 sites at Pine Island, and we think we found the best two. The sites are supposed to be back-ins, but we decided to situate ours facing the lake and what a view! As you can see in the photo at left, I even have a beautiful view out the side window as I sit at our dining table working on the computer. We haven’t driven to Grove yet, but Scott did the other day and took this photo of our side of the lake from over there. To the right of the two white fifth-wheel campers you can actually see the front window of our rig! He called once he got over there, told us where he was standing, and after eventually finding him with our binoculars, we took this photo of him and his truck at the marina. If you open the photo, you can make out his pickup truck just a little left of center and that’s Scott standing in front of it! Zoom lenses are wonderful, aren’t they?

Weather for the most part has been crisp and cool with highs generally in the 50s, and evenings getting progressively colder. In fact last night it got down to 30! We turned off the water to the rig last night, then back on this morning, and we’re running our propane heat at night so it’s nice and toasty warm inside. The forecast is not calling for it to warm up much though the nights will be in the low 40s. It is so beautiful and peaceful here that in spite of the chilly weather, we made the decision to stay an extra week and push back our reservations in Branson.

During the spring, summer, and early fall they have many planned activities here, but come Nov. things slow down considerably. Since this Sat. was to be the last meeting of the year for the Board of Directors and members, the Activities Director decided to hold a Thanksgiving dinner potluck. The resort provided the turkey and ham while the approx. 60 people in attendance provided all the side dishes and desserts. What a feast! Scott and I arrived early with our contributions and Russ joined us a short time later. Since we were early, I offered to help and was assigned directing arrivals where to place their goodies. As dinner time approached I also was given the task of distributing numbers to each table that would determine the order of going through the line by random draw. Another lady drew the numbers and as luck would have it, our table got to go first! At potlucks, first is always good!

Not much on the agenda for next week except to enjoy Mother Nature’s splendor as evidenced in the picture of this sunrise. So until then stay warm and stay safe.

Leaving Texas....Heading North

On a very warm November Saturday we watched the Tigers squeak out a win against the Baylor Bears in Waco, TX. We arrived a couple hours before game time and stopped by the Mizzou Alumni Pep Rally (no tailgate event held here). With the Floyd Casey Stadium in the background, part of the Mizzou Spirit Squad (formerly known as cheerleaders) and team mascot, Truman, got everyone in the mood with a couple rounds of the Missouri fight song followed by speeches from the Alumni’s International President Elect and Mike Alden, the Director of Athletics. According to Mike, nearly 1,500 tickets had been sold through the Missouri Alumni Assn., and he encouraged everyone to be loud and let the team know we were there! Shortly afterwards we made our way across the parking lot to the stadium, and since we were in no hurry, took our time walking around the stadium.

One of the great things about visiting the different college campuses are each school’s traditions. This was homecoming week for Baylor, and there appeared to be several class reunions with many holding tailgate parties on the grounds. From inside under the stadium seats we watched as the Baylor band prepared to march out onto the field followed by alumni baton twirlers and band members playing right along with the marching band. What a cool homecoming tradition! Following behind them was another tradition known as the Baylor Line, a spirit organization composed of only freshmen. The Line wears gold jerseys (group leaders have green shirts over their gold), with each member sporting a unique nickname on the back of the jersey. Before each home football game, the Line gathers on the ramp of the south end zone on the student side of the stadium where the students begin the cheers and help energize the game-day crowd. Led by specially selected students carrying flags leading the freshmen, the Line runs around the field prior to kickoff, and then forms an extension to the players' tunnel as the Baylor football team explodes onto the field. We watched them walk down the tunnel into the stadium but didn’t watch them run around the field because we had discovered where the Tigers would be exiting to the field from under the stadium. As we walked back towards the visiting lockers, we discovered that metal gates had been dropped on either side of the door so the team could run out from the locker room through the tunnel and onto the field without any interference. And for some reason they wheeled out a chalkboard to somewhat block the view. Why I don’t know, but even so we were still close enough, and it was kind of cool to see them emerge from the locker room led by quarterback, Chase Daniel, as their faithful fans cheered them on.

We finally made our way to our seats amid over a thousand other Mizzou fans. I think it’s always so much more fun when you’re surrounded by those who are rooting for the same team as you! This is the smallest venue we’ve attended a game at so far (only holding about 50,000) so our seats at about 2/3 up on the 20-yard line weren’t too bad. The only unfortunate thing was that they were not on the shady side of the field! At most football games in Nov. you’d be happy to be on the sunny side, but it was 83 degrees and the sun was on us the whole game. We didn’t think to bring sunscreen so both of us got a little sunburned. Things looked great for the Tigers at halftime as they were winning 21-7. Then things got a little ugly. A different Bears team came out for the 2nd half and suddenly it was tied! The Tigers weren’t playing their best ball, and back and forth it went. We weren’t sure they would win, but after the Tigers scored a field goal to go up 31-28, the Baylor quarterback threw an interception with a minute and a half to go, and that’s all we needed to win! At the end of the game, the players from both teams came together in the middle of the field, and knelt in prayer. Then our Tiger team came to the base of our section and led their fans in the Mizzou fight song before heading back to the locker room….now there’s a fun tradition! Throughout the game, the stadium never did fill up even with it being homecoming and the Bears facing the 14th ranked team in the nation. But those in attendance were quite enthusiastic…especially during the 2nd half.














I guess we shouldn’t really complain about the heat since I’m sure winter will find us soon enough. In fact the first couple mornings after we arrived in Whitney, TX, were downright chilly at 38 degrees. Each day it warmed to the 70s and as the week progressed, even the mornings were in the 50s. This campground, located near Lake Whitney, has its own golf course and several activities for the members, residents, and transients like us. I had put up a few Halloween decorations on our coach, and Fri. night was their first annual Halloween party complete with a hay ride. Initially none of us (Russ, Scott, or I) planned to join in the hay ride but at the last minute I decided to hop on while the guys awaited our return at the clubhouse. What a fun group of people! The group was all older adults with one lady starting a sing-a-long, and we covered all genre of music….starting with a Christmas song! Of course we had to include Deep in the Heart of Texas, but it didn’t seem that anyone knew all the words, which sent everyone into spasms of laughter (guess you had to be there). Back at the clubhouse we saw a beautiful sunset and enjoyed apple cider and donuts as we sat around getting acquainted. They had hoped for an attendance of at least 10 people for their first effort and were pleasantly surprised with about 25.

Yesterday we arrived for a week at the Pine Island RV Resort in Jay, OK. The next Missouri game for which we have tickets isn’t until Nov. 29 in Kansas City, so we’re biding our time with a few stops here and there until then including a couple weeks in the Branson area. So until next time, be well and be happy.