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at the Ford Theater
Reviewed by Bobbie
Arriving in Wabash early, allowing for delays which did not occur, I leisurely visited the local Subway sandwich shop on my way into town. There is nothing quite like knowing that no matter where you go in this large diverse country of ours, you can easily find just the hamburger, sandwich or piece of chicken that you are use to eating back home!!! I depend on Subways when I'm traveling and don't want any surprises! Getting a footlong sub, I proceeded to eat half, and save the other half for the trip home. ----- Nothing like a late night snack when you are driving in the middle of the night!
After my tummy was content, I drove on to the theater, and parked in a yet empty parking lot. I had an hour to walk around and make myself familiar with the layout of the theater. The also called "Ford Theater" is in beautiful new building, and the theater is marvelous!!!!! Upon entering the Lobby of the theater my attention was immediately drawn to Too Slim's Mercantile. It was already busy, with folks all around it. I walked up to it, and to my surprise I saw an item that I did not already own. Notice I said "did not", as I now DO own two red kids cowboy hats with RIDERS IN THE SKY sewn across the front! My excuse for buying two was that I needed one for James, and one for Jessica. Now I realize I should have purchased three, -- because "TRINKET" has already confiscated one of them. She's been wearing a white Roy Rogers hat with a Saddlepal badge on it. --- Now she has a REAL RIDERS IN THE SKY HAT. How happy can one clown get!!!!!!
The doors opened around 7:15 and I made my way to my seat. --- It was WAY up front. So up front I felt a little obvious walking to it!!!! It was in the orchestra pit, ---- front row, Woody's side. Just the seat I would have picked if given a choice! There ARE advantages to attending a show alone! Single Tickets for good seats are usually available right up until show time, although I had purchased mine three days earlier.
For the first few minutes I sat turned backwards, looking at the view into the rest of the audience. It is a very BIG theater! When my attention finally moved to the stage, I realize that the microphones were not set up for our guys. Horror of horror, ------ there was an opening act!!!!! Now I can appreciate the music of others at times, but not when I just traveled over two hours to see RITS!!!!! I KNEW it meant I would not get a full show!!!! It was the price I paid for not asking if anyone was playing with them!
Shortly I was joined by a couple of women, dressed as I was in blue jean jackets, and western ware, who made me feel a bit more comfortable in a theater filled with "theater goers" dressed to the hilt! We were a little few and far between, but the saddlepals were very obvious in the audience which was quickly filling the theater! Quite a few kids were wondering in tooooo. A sight that made me miss Jessica and Jamie, and wish that they were with me!
Time went by quickly, as I discussed RITS with the two gals next to me. They just kinda shook their heads at the distance I had traveled...not knowing that to me, this was a LOCAL show.
They too were upset at noticing that we would have to wait till after intermission for our Cowboys! We weren't happy, but the only way to get to RITS was to sit through the first show, ----- and we did! As the first act went on, --- boredom tried to creep into my mind, --- but it was not allowed to stay there long! I have a feeling that if I were more of a fan of Bluegrass music, I would have recognized Mark Barnett, who plays a marvelous banjo, -----and who was accompanied by Barbara Mandrel's lead guitarist, and Porter Wagner's fiddle player, just to not name two! Their show was WONDERFUL, and I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed the Kentucky Waltz, - Blue Moon of Kentucky, The Flight of the Bumblebee, amongst others, and the wonderful humor that they worked into the show. ---- But, at the same time, I was still watching the time "just a little bit"! Then finally, ------- intermission came and went, and it was time for OUR GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first group had performed in front of the main curtains. RITS, on the other had, were behind the curtains, ----- and in 48 shows this was the first time I had even seen the curtains open to them standing in place on stage. It was quite a dramatic opening, and the stage was decorated accordingly. There was even a horse drawn wagon (sans horse of course) on stage with them, and they have a new back drop banner. It is an enlargement of their new 20th anniversary poster, and to my delight it is the Red One!!! My favorite, and the one hanging on my wall! Good Choice, guys!
Doug was dressed in black, with flowers. Slim in Frog's with drums, --- and Woody in Red with Fringe, --- and they looked GREAT!!!!!!!! I don't think I have ever seen them looking or sounding any better!!! And there is NOTHING as grand as one of their shows in front of a huge audience!! The audience response was WONDERFUL!!!!!! Jokes I have heard over and OVER, brought new laughter to me as I joined in with the rest of the audience!!! I even finally GOT one of Woody's attempts at humor. "A Solar Powered Flashlight" temporarily out of stock at the merc? ----- I had never gotten it before!!!!!! DUH!!!!!!!!!!!
The play list was a bit short, because of the shared stage, but it was still grand! It went something like this.
Texas Plains, -- How the Yodel Was Born, -- Ride Cowboy Ride (YES!!),-- Tumbling Tumbleweeds, -- And Palindrome, (the new line IS TOTALLY AWESOME!!! I won't give it away, -- but you'll know it when you hear it!!), -- Four Footed Friends, -- South of the Border, -- Sioux City Sue, -- Reincarnation, -- Night Riding Song, --Rawhide, -- Wabash Blues, -- Cowboy Camp Meeting, -- Amber Eyes, -- The Arms of My Love, -- Don't Squat With Your Spur On!!. And then "Questions for RITS"
When the house light went up for the questions, Woody just stood with his mouth hanging open, and said he thought he was gonna get nervous because of the size of the audience!!! All three seemed surprised by it's size! The winning question was " Too Slim, --- Who designed your Cucumber Tie?? " Slim's reaction was priceless!!! He manage to go through the yet to have been done tie routine, as cucumber lines flew back and forth! It was a question truly deserving of an eight track tape!!!!!
That was followed by "requests", and Surfin USA, ---- and one song with had been requested, "Line Rider". Ghost Riders in the Sky followed, as did Varmint dancen, the Merc spiel, and When Payday Rolls Around. After closing with Happy Trail, they came back out with the Loony Toon Theme, -- You Are My Sunshine, and then a song off their up coming album, - He Walks with the Wild and the Lonely. Ranger Doug had some reservations about doing it "unplugged" in such a large theater, but after Slim tested the acoustics by going to the front of the stage and saying "Can you hear me?" and getting a large response, - they proceeded to do it sans electricity. Truly an awesome experience when they are only about ten feet away!!!!!!!
And then it was over. ---- Sad but true, -- Now matter how long we wait for the show, -- no matter how excited we are, --how far we travel, or even how much we pay for the tickets, -- the show always ends. And when they do, ---------- they are over!!! Bummer Dudes!!!!!
Of course Autographs in the Lobby were still to come, so I hung around, and hung around and hung around!!!!! There were a WHOLE LOT of folks there!!!!!!!! Finally my turn came, and I got my RITS COWBOY HATS autographed, and got one photo with the three for them and me. Doug commented on the HUGE theater, and I mentioned to Woody that donnaj, her friend Amy, Ellen and I will be in Nashville for the Prime Time Country taping, and donnaj and I will be back in Dec. for the RRT taping.
----- Then it was over, ----- completely over, -- nothing left but the ride home!!!!
It had been quite a day. --------- Another adventure, alone, into unknown territory, chasing Cowboys!!!! Groupie Gramma had stuck again!!!!! So I headed my "RIDERS" plated van back north, ---- and listened to their music all the way home. The trip home is always such a satisfying ride. I did it, I told myself contentedly as I pulled in my driveway, stopped the car, and added another notch to my steering wheel! And this happy little cowgirl went in, went to bed, and dreamt "Sweet Dream" of RIDERS IN THE SKY!!!!!!
Catch ya later, Cyberpals!!!!!!
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