Hi Kids!

Having been on the road for almost three months it's gotten to the point where I hardly remember what it's like not living from a suitcase, calling a hotel room home for less than a day before packing up and heading to the next place. It's an interesting feeling. I mean, I've never done any extensive traveling in my life and never been away from home for more than a couple of weeks, so this has been and eye-opening experience in more ways than one. We're on the road for another two and a half months and I wonder what the end of it will feel like...Will I be sad to say goodbye to this new family of strangers who will have spent so much time together only to be separated and scattered about the country at the end of May. As so many of you know it's hard to accept the end of a show when you've invested so much emotionally and found yourselves so close to the people who have gone through this ordeal with you. It might be a bit on the maudlin side for me to express this, I know, it is a business after all and I'm sure some of these folks are already looking ahead to the next project and the thought of the end of the tour in May holds no great emotional weight for them, and that's ok.

Then again, I think I'll be very happy to be back on the Cape again, just in time for summer. It'll feel good to be back home and be somewhat stationary for at least a little while...no bus call,no traveling, no hotel rooms, no continental breakfasts, no god-awful hotel room tv remotes. I wonder how strange it will feel the first week being back home, not jumping up and packing and running for the bus or feeling like I should be at the theater, signing in and hanging around for company meetings and sound check. And what will I do without the catering! LOL!

Well that's enough introspection for now. Hey! We had a couple of very exciting stops on our way through Florida.

Del Ray Beach is an interesting town, definitely a place where money likes to hang out to see and be seen. It's got a hip little main street full of sidewalk bistros and expensive gift shops and art galleries. You're apt to see a Bentley or two cruising down the street or a Lamborghini parked in front of a popular restaurant. The theater is located at the old Del Ray high school, quite a striking looking old building complex ( built around 1925) that since the 1980's has been home to the Crest Theater and an art museum. The theater itself is very small, just a few hundred seats with a backstage area no bigger than a postage stamp or so it felt. The artistic director would get up and do a speech and remind all the locals that it was election time in town and that he was worried people might vote for a candidate who wants to build a 1500 seat theater right next to his. And I kept thinking " I really don't have a problem with that."

The next stop was Sarasota and the Van Wezel Theater, a huge theater right on the water. The place has the well deserved nickname of "The Purple Cow" and as you will see by the pictures it certainly is purple. The whole building is purple...the outside, the inside everything right down to the couch in my dressing room is purple. But that didn't bother me at all because this was an incredible theater to play in. It has a HUGE stage and wing space and a cavernous dressing room area, so much so that we didn't use but half of them. I was so impressed I had to take pictures of the empty ones, we're so used to being snugged into rooms with little space. But the crowd was great and the house was sold out on a Monday night no less. Truly one of the highlights of the tour.

We were preparing for a letdown after "The Purple Cow" when we traveled to Ft Pierce to play the Sunrise Theater and while we knew the backstage was very cramped and we were not doing a "full show" I know I was blown away by what a great audience we had there, they were so vocal and really reponsive. I know I tend to dwell on that a lot but to me it makes the show so much more enjoyable if the crowd is into it. And the topping...there was catering. Gotta love it!

Now we do one more show in Key Largo before we head north to the cold weather...BOO!

Be back soon

Glenn