Message:
Greetings to all from Sparks. Your roving reporter here to give you the latest
on Tony's two week engagement at John Ascuaga's Nugget.
This time I arrived on time for the show--no wild drive changing clothes in the
car. That would be impossible to do while driving through the winding roads of
the Sierras... Of course I couldn't help but stop at the Outlet Malls along the
way and pick up a few Memorial Day bargains so I didn't arrive as early as I had
anticipated. I was so looking forward to jumping in the pool before having to
get ready for the show, but oh well, there's always tomorrow.
The crowd tonight was wild. But as I've said here before, his fan base in this
area is huge and at times very vocal. Tony wrote a new song here and added it to
the show tonight--Aboard the El Capitan--it's a Country tune. He told us that
tonight was the first time he performed the song. He wrote it for his wife,
Frannie, and was inspired by the fact that their hotel room looked out over the
train tracks here. The story goes that both of their mothers took them on that
train, The El Capitan, which ran the route from Chicago to LA--albeit many years
apart. Just think, if they had given them a room on the other side of the
building, he may not have written that song!
As today is Memorial Day, in addition to his regular tribute to the Veterans, he
also stopped the show for a moment of silence. You could have heard a pin drop
in that showroom.
The opening act, a comedian, Chris Bliss, was terrific. He had most of us
falling out of our chairs and ends his part of the show with a juggling routine
that's unbelievable. After the show he was out front selling his CD and giving
away autographs to the fans and you couldn't even get near the table. The crowd
loved him.
Again, Tony announced Billy's upcoming wedding at the show and the crowd cheered
him on. As I said before Congratulations and Best wishes to both Karen and Billy
and many many years of happiness.
Pat
Re: Aboard the El Capitan....
Tuesday, 30-May-2000 20:23:57
Thanks Pat, for your great review! Though I did miss hearing about your own act of changing clothes while going through toll booths or turnpikes, I was glad to hear you had the time to do some shopping!! Hope you did as well as you did at Bloomie's here in New York.
Glad to hear that the show was wonderful. It must make it all the better when the crowd is wild and gets into the show, I'm sure that Tony appreciates a "live crowd"!
Was so glad to hear that Billy and Karen's upcoming marriage was announced again. Billy really deserves the recognition and I'm sure Karen's enjoying Tony's announcement as well.
Good Luck Karen and Billy!
JO
Re: Re: Aboard the El Capitan....
Wednesday, 31-May-2000 08:45:17Well Jo, sorry to point this out but there are no turnpikes in California or Nevada and the only toll booths are on bridges... Keep in mind we don't charge any toll to leave town (we don't mind that at all)--just to come into town.
Funny you should mention the changing clothes thing--a friend who joined me at tonight's show was late and I wondered if there would be someone else doing the same thing...
As for the shopping, I think I did better than at Bloomies in NY.
And you are absolutely right. I know both Karen and Billy are enjoying the fact that Tony has announced the wedding every night. The crowd certainly does give them the recognition they deserve as well.
Pat
Re: Aboard the El Capitan....
Tuesday, 30-May-2000 21:01:47Pat, you are a wild woman and how lucky are you! Glad you had a great time and time to mall it. Cannot wait to see Tony again hopefully he will come back to New Jersey soon.
Tara
Re: Re: Aboard the El Capitan....
Thursday, 01-Jun-2000 11:56:59205.188.192.23 writes:
Hi Tara,
Wild? LOL!!! I'm just a firm believer in living life to it's fullest and having as much fun as possible along the way.
I am also a world class shopper. Friends often tell me that I could teach people how to shop and if they ever had that as an Olympic event, I would take home the Gold!!!
It was a great couple of days there and I'm always happy to share the stories with everyone. Glad that you are enjoying reading about them. That's a very important part of being involved with the Friends of TOAD--sharing with everyone--longtime friend or newcomer--it doesn't matter to us. We are all Friends of TOAD.
Pat
Re: Aboard the El Capitan....
Wednesday, 31-May-2000 08:25:31Pat: So glad that you had a wonderful time in Sparks. Thanks for always keeping us up to date on Tony, we really appreciate that. Cant wait to hear that song he sang, love that country stuff you know. Our wishes and congrats go out to Billy and Karen on this wonderful occasion.
Sue
Re: Re: Aboard the El Capitan....
Wednesday, 31-May-2000 18:38:11Sue, I promise the song will make you want to put on your Dancin shoes (or is that boots?) and I was thinking while he was singing the song--gee too bad Sue isn't here to hear its debut, since she loves that Country music. Yee haw!
Pat