Back on the Road - Again

After a wonderful week off for Christmas spent with family, were I ate too much and said too much, we are back on the road in Phoenix, Arizona.  We are playing at the Arizona State University Gammage Auditorium which a very large, unique and beautiful theatre.  We opened last night and the the show was great and the audience amazing.  It is these kinds of nights that make being out on the road tolerable.

I love the desert! There is a certain majestic beauty that is unique to this part of the country.  The weather here is beautiful after having been in the snow and ice of north Texas last week.  It is sixty degrees today and the sun is shining.  It is very dry here which I can tell is effecting my voice.  I can't seem to drink enough water to keep my throat from being dry.  But it is a small price to pay for being in such a warm and wonderful place.

Tomorrow we have a show at noon and then have the rest of the day off.  The Insight Bowl is being played here tomorrow, and I have thought about seeing if I can get tickets.  I don't care anything about the teams that are playing but I have always wanted to go to a Bowl game and this would be my best opportunity.  We'll see.  I probably can't afford it.  Maybe I'll just stand outside the stadium and watch the people go in.

Tempe has one of the top ten New Year's Eve celebrations in the country and it is taking place just down the street.  I think most of the company may participate in those fesitivities.  There is lots of free music and activities and it sounds like it should be a lot of fun.  If I can't spend New Year's Eve with my family what better way to celebrate than with 150,000 loud and crazy strangers!

I hope your New Year is filled with many blessings and that all your dreams come true.

Cay, Alayna, and Ashlea, I especially pray that God blesses you all and that life is nothing but good to you.

All my love,

David

Christmas Layoff! Hooray!

Tonight we did our last performance before heading home for a week long layoff over the Christmas Holiday!  We are in Mason City, Iowa where we played to a sold out house and where I had one of my better performances thus far on this leg of our tour.  We also, said goodbye to the young lady who has been playing "Molly."  So it was a night filled with emotions and we are heavy hearted to say goodbye to "Molly" while be excited at the prospect of going home for the holidays.

Tomorrow I will fly out of Minneapolis and arrive in Nashville around 9:30 p.m.  Tuesday, Cay and I will do our last minute Christmas shopping and prepare for the trip to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to spend Christmas with our families.  Ashlea will be traveling with us and Alayna will meet us in Dallas on Wednesday.  We will celebrate the holidays with both of our extended families before I head back out on the road in Tempe, Arizona on December 29th.

I hope that this holiday season bring you all many blessings and that all of your days will be filled with Joy!

Mighty Mississippi

Tonight we played as close to the Mississippi river as you can get without being in the river.  The theatre is in Cape Girardeau, MO.  It was a beautiful space in a beautiful setting.  The lighted structure you see behind the theatre is the bridge that crosses the Mississippi River into Illinois.  It was another sold out performance which is awesome.  Almost all of our shows to this point have been sold out or very close to it.  Hopefully that is a trend that will continue after the layoff.

Most of our local helpers tonight were college students.  It was great for them, but I could tell that it made our crews job a bit more challenging.  It was a great show, though, and one of our best audiences thus far.  It is always exciting to perform for an audience that so obviously appreciates your effort

Today was our company managers birthday so we had two cakes at the theatre tonight.  One to celebrate his birthday and the other just because we were here.  The wife of the local production manager made this cake for us.  It was really sweet, in more ways than one.  It is always special to have strangers treat us in extra special ways.