Good Attendance

OK after almost a month of taking over the Visalia Tuesdays-attendance is UP, The Plus DanceShop in Coarsegold is going well and at 10 per person the value seems to to be on track.

I hope that clubs will not fold over a concern that "$10/person is too much" I'm proving that it's not-it's just the math given the reality of MWSD

Is YOUR club in trouble financially-raise the fee- what is the worst that could happen-Fold anyway??

Rick

Glad for healing

I'm glad that the aforementioned club did reach out to the aforementioned caller, I think that while it was likely complicated (it was) I'm glad all ends well and the healing begins. I've been doing lotsa parties for the summer ( 600 people were introduced to SD this week by me-2 events) and I'm REALLY glad my voice seems to be finally healing. Now if the Visalia Tuesday group (a club which was folding as of 7/1-and I took it over) keeps the attendance over this summer as we had last Tuesday- I might be able to "give them the keys back"- Healing

Rick

My Blog

I wished for this to be an interactive discussion but many folks decided to to not interact in this forum, I will blog every now and then here but facebook seems to be a better way to have active chats. I may shut this down or maybe "ramp it up" for important things- I'm really gald to hear that after 20 years of anger, a particular club is using a "Sub" caller that I've replaced as the bad guy- That works for me-I don't hold grudges, perhaps this is a start of healing-We'll see

Rick

Long Time No Post

What a wild month-sorry for not posting, Let's see-Callerlab in Vegas-2500 miles of driving to other gigs,I finally went to the doc (allergist) and found I'm allergic to EVERYTHING around here,

Clubs are declining, My caller run stuff is stable and a car wreck almost killed my best friend's son (Now he's out of the woods -no more coma- but a lot of healing to go) oh yeah my sprinklers got trashed over the winter. So a major project in in line after the next 10 days (a day off)

Rick

Will the weather make up its mind

OK so it was 90F 2 days ago and now we may have to go dark tomorrow for snow?????????

Must be the global warming causing cold record temps.

Fun nite in Bakersfield- 4 of out snowbird friends were passing thru and that was icing on the cake.

Looking forward to the "Ozzie" awards in Vegas-I'll be one of the presenters (maybe a winner too LOL)

Rick

Wet and Weird Fun Weeks

We've been getting soaked for a couple of weeks- Too bad there's no more storage so most is off to the ocean. Anyway The Fiesta turned out well- and a small increase in attendance. and COLD and WET.

This last week was monsoonal drives and over the weekend a first- Never been bumped from a hall for a crab feed before-weird. The alternate hall was set up for Hamlet and we danced around the staging.

Now it's sunny and supposed to be 75 by Wednesday- Goofy Weather

Rick

Note to Self

OK I am going to help out a caller and club this Saturday-I will sub for the caller and insure that the club has a great dance- But what a Pain in the ass-doing this favor-The drama of "who's in charge" I accepted the gig with the president, We both though all was well-then the political drama started- Finally after I called back and said if this is a problem, I'll not do the gig (president again)-Now the Cuer (why this fool was involved escapes me) and the VP finally realized that the PRESIDENT had hired me to fill in-Now all seems well (It is just Monday hehehe)

NOTE TO SELF- Next time I have a rare Saturday off- Take the day off- If asked to sub-just say no!

Rick

Lousy Weather-Cancelled Dances

The Valley got hit with a real snow scare-as such 2 groups wisely cancelled, given the info at the time.

Turns out the Coarsegold group could've danced-The snow did not close 41. The Bakersfield group could have, but without mountain club folks.

ESP would be handy eh'

Rick

Fun Event-Yet Curious

It was a great start of the NEW Tulare weekend-I hope this grows, as a replacement for the old association weekend is soooooo needed!!!

Interesting observations

1) Lotsa way out of town folks

2) The 2 local areas were well supported by my Advanced Dancers and 2 of my plus clubs

Question

Where were the (any) folks from 3 plus clubs all within an hour or less?-I know the 2 V area clubs really don't dance much anymore-they prefer to BS and go home early , but the 1 U area club missing was weird!- I know there is much overlap between the Advanced and that Plus club there but c'mon where were the plus only folks-perhaps it wasn't "pushed"-but how is that?-Management says we "promote" SD- We don't ever not promote. For that matter was the caller unaware of such a wonderful dance opportunity for the dancers

DISCLAIMER-I was not calling at this,I was not involved other than as a registrant a dancer and a helper to some good friends!!

Oh well- Nice to see so many folks-I hope the Bakersfield weekend goes well, as well.

PS-Look to the future-we must all promote and truly support events so close to home!!

Rick

Good Nite

The Wed A2 group has been having above average crowds this month-YAY, We're dancing at festival tempo and exploring more "weekend/festival" approaches to call. I was asked to call for this group for another contract term (thru 2012)

I also hear the Bakersfield Thursday group has a sizable class, that's great-Hopefully this year the sizable class wont dwindle to almost nothing again- I REALLY hope so!!!!

Rick

WOW

Funny how all (the few politicos and suck up callers) that swear that there is no boycott of callers or clubs so often get caught-sheez people Do you really think that actual pro-square dance folks don't talk.

Keep it up and you will kill SD in YOUR area. I'm saddened that folks who don't much dance do so much damage.

Rick

Great Restart for Fresno Area Plus DanceShop

What a difference 2 days and 20 miles makes.

The Re-started Plus DanceShop kicked off with twice the crowd as before.

Now we're 20 minutes up the hill (Coarsegold) and now on 2nd and 4th Fridays.

The only sad part is I won't be able to do the Bakersfield MS 4 week Blast DanceShop this year, perhaps another SV Caller can pick it up

Rick

January SD update

So I've finally got (almost) over everything that ill'ed me - A good trip thru Southern Cal and a fun afternoon in Clovis-It's weird that the Fresno area is now growing a bit-Literally rising from the dead ( MUCH less political stuff MUCH more dance focused- I guess the groups I have are making some inroads) but south is falling into further the hellhole- Tried to warn ya- I can sleep well, knowing that I saw it kill an area before-and this time tried to stop it!!! So very sad my efforts failed-and for some "callers" shame on you for not trying (Very Hard) -I Guess a paycheck is more important that the long term -But wimps are wimps!- So now what do y'all wanna do- keep up the crap-or fix it while it's still easy??

Rick

Better

Well I'm on the mend, I'm sure glad I was able to get covered for ALL the gigs I had to miss (No one chose to cancel ALL went with a sub). Now let's see if I can make it thru 4 days in a row-I will!
So how is your SD life going?

Rick

New Years and I'm Sick

Thanks to Rod Shuping for calling the New years eve dance for me-It's now 1/1/11 at 11:11pm(give or take) and I'm heading back to bed- I got up bright and early at 2pm-uggghhhh

Rick