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Salia

Rhode Island Tasted GREAT!!!

Guys, I don't even know how to BEGIN to describe this weekend!!!! This is going to be a Mammoth undertaking! I may just have to leave this job up to Damon, and Eddie. My thoughts are so scattered, at this point. (due to lack of sleep, LOL!) I got 3 hours sleep Thurs night, 9 good hours on Friday, 4 hours on Sat, and NO sleep on Sunday! Oh where to begin???

As I got out of the shuttle, I was greeted by some old familiar faces, The Fritzes, The Walls, etc. And then, I met Jennifer, finally! (What a CUTIE!!!) We all squealed and hugged for a few minutes, then I got the presence of mind, to check in to the hotel, gather my stuff, and head for my room. I just went ahead, and left my door propped open, so I wouldn't miss greeting anyone, walking down the hallway. I got so into chatting, that I nearly forgot to unpack.

We picked up our t-shirts and hats (which looked AWESOME, guys) and Connie, I was so impressed by your filing system! You know, Connie, as well as Becky, (who organized previous marathons, that I know of) and anyone else who organized previous marathons, my hat is off to you guys!!! What an undertaking!!! I watched the two of you stressing over these marathons,(the ones I attended) and I just want the rest of the Hair Heads to know just how much work, and effort, you guys put into organizing these events. Its not like you guys had any previous experience in this sort of thing, and yes, perhaps SOME glitches occurred, and you couldn't be 3 places at once, etc., but, hey, had I been the one organinzing this event, there would have been a Total Disaster!!! I thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart, for taking this yoke upon yourselves!!!

I also wish to thank Jo and Vicky for their huge contributions, in this department, too! And anyone else who underwent stress to see to it that this weekend (as well as previous marathon weekends) went as well as it did!!! My hat is off, and may I express my gratitude, in advance, to whoever "Dares" to shoulder this burden in the future!

Next, my group went to AppleBee's for dinner. Connie had requested tables to accomodate 50 some people. Weeell it didn't happen. I felt badly for the latter HH's who had to wait a good while, to be seated, but the rest of us had a GREAT time! They were talking about going on a Vampire tour, but I was too wussed to be able to go on it. I went on to bed at 9:00 to "rest up" for the remainder of the weekend.

The next morning saw some of us heading over to "The Creamery" or something like that, (see my memory is such a blur) The highlight of that event was all of us ordering glasses of milk and creating "milk moustaches" and having our pictures taken with them on.

Then came the meet and greet, and who should show up, but dear ol' Dickie! He livened the place up, with his infectious enthusiasm, to say the least. He lead us in a few songs, and had us all laughing, and getting even further "psyched" for Sat. night. Susan, his ever thoughful wife, finally had to step in, and suggest that he save his voice for later, to which he concurred. (what would you men do without us wives to look after you??)

So the next main event of the morning, (for me) was that a group of us went "in search of Collinwood" (the house featured in the old soap opera "Dark Shadows") We also enjoyed oohing and ahhhing over the mansions, that we passed along the way. I couldn't, for the life of me, remember, from 2 years previous, how to find Hallidon Hall, so we had to miss that. (bummer!) We were about to abandon finding Collinwood, when I asked to pull over to a hotel, and ask for directions. I took Vicky along with me, cuz I am awful with directions. A girl in there, showed us how to get to it, on the map. But she failed to tell us that the house was "on the campus" of some college. (See, I can't even remember the name of the college right now.) So we wandered around some more. Finally, I made one last attempt to get directions, and had us pull into a "Mailboxes, Inc." place. Well, that guy didn't know either, but this very sweet woman customer, in there, came forward, and said that she worked on the campus, and would be happy to lead us to it. So off we went. There it was!!! I had to walk all the way to the edge of the lawn to get all of it into my camera's view. Unfortunately, it didn't look all that great, cuz it was undergoing some renovations, and there was black tarp draped over part of it, and some scafolding over on another part of it, but that rounded tower on the end was still there, and you could recognise it, from that angle. Sigh! Well, I went inside the building, trying to see if the show was filmed inside there, but alas, that was all done in some New York studio, with various props. Now, it has been converted into a dormitory for co-ed students. We were running out of time, so we couldn't locate the "Summer Home" where Barnabus Collins resided (in the show), but we had to get back to prepare for "The Saturday Night Fever!!!"

By the way, the weather was PERFECT this past weekend!! Not too hot, and not too cold, mostly sunny, with just a touch of sprinkling AFTER it was all over with.

We wandered around "A Taste Of Rhode Island" shopping, eating, mingling, proudly advertising our T-shirts and caps, and who they represented. I met several people who, either went to school with the C's, or were friends with their family. There was one real cute little ol' lady who was the president of some club that Barbara had been a member of. She said that Barbara "Was a characta". She told how they all loved Barbara, and how much fun she was to be around. I met so many people who said that they used to go over to "the garage" and listen to the C's rehearse, etc. It was neat to hear the stories some of their old buddies had to share with me. (anyone for Blackmail??? VEG)

It was getting to be "That Time" and so I made my way into the big, long tent, to find a seat. BLESS LYNNE'S HEART!!! She had saved me a seat, so I could sit just a few rows back from the stage! (kiss, kiss, kiss, Lynne!) Every time they would announce that the C's were going to come on, we'd all scream! LOL! We were determined to let Rhode Island KNOW, that we Hair Heads were there, and we were "a force to reckon with."
(St. Bernadine's only got a smattering of what Newport received from us. heh, heh, heh)

Then the fateful moment arrived... From Newport Rhode Island, THE COWSILLS!!!!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't even BEGIN to describe all the emotions that coursed through this po' li'l ol' body of mine!!!! FINALLY, after ALL THESE YEARS!!! I get to see all of them, on stage at the same time! And this time, RICHIE was up there, too!!! WOO HOO!!!! I had never had the privilege of having seen the Cowsills in concert way back when, so this was a first for me.

They started up with "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things". There was Bill, decked out in Country/Western garb, with a "John Lennon stance" singing that song just as wonderfully as he always had, and there it was....that intricate harmony created by no less than the other 6 siblings. It was back!!!!!!

Now I am not one of those HH with the ability to recall, in order, all the songs they sang. (I'll leave that up to better qualified Hair Heads. lol) But I tell ya, my heart was full to overflowing!!

I couldn't help but chuckle, on Sunday, over the group that was singing prior to the C's, cuz they were all dressed alike, in these stiff white shirts, black slacks, and these bright red blazers. I giggled over the thought of the C's absolutely shuddering, over the rememberance of those "united group suit looks".

Well, you sure couldn't say that about them, this past weekend. Bill was dressed in his country/western look. Susan was looking soulful in her flowing garb. Bob was dressed conservatively. John, was midway between Bill and Bob. Paul was rather sporty looking. Richie looked like he'd just stepped out of a "Beach Boy's" Marathon, and then there was Barry...How could I describe Barry??? Unique. You'll see pictures of him, I'm sure. But he had style!!, I'll tell ya that! He looked GREAT!!!

Their singing styles were unique to each of them, as well. Bill (reminding me of a Jerry Lee Lewis number, "A Whole Lot Of Shakin' Goin' On". (only his was more controlled, and more sensuously subtle)) crooned out several songs from his "Blue Shadows" albums,(I thought I was going to have to administer oxygen to one of our beloved HairHeads, (of whose name I won't mention, but you can take a GOOD GUESS.LOL!) I knew she wouldn't DARE pass out, cuz then she might miss some of it. ROFL) Barry sang songs from "As Is",(and there were some Hair Heads that I was keeping a close eye on, on account of him, as well, Lol) Susan sang songs from Global, as well as some from Continental Drifters, (I was watching out for some of our male Hair Heads on her account, just in case, lol) Bob, sang from Global,(I was watching out for myself, by this time, and couldn't be worried about any other HH's.) John belted out his "What About Love" and was tearin up those drums, let me tell ya! (I think I saw a few girls getting carried out after his number) Paul, well, Paul, with his ebullient energy, was really rockin' on his numbers, and he beat the heck out of that ol' cow bell he was whacking away on. But I must say that, in my opinion, our dear Richie stole the show. He looked like he was having the time of his life up there. He was SO animated, it was just TOO FUNNY!!! He was just dancin', and prancin' around on that stage havin a good ol' time. The others were letting him have his "rope" and just playing around him. lol! I tell ya, it did MY heart good to see it all happening up there! Ever faithful Robbie was back in there too, making his contributions to that AWESOME SOUND!! Oh and you should have heard Peter adding that mandolin to some of the numbers. WOW! What a musical genius that guy is! (of course, he hails from North Carolina, like myself (as she polishes her knuckles) And last, but certainly not least, Barbara's spirit was all over that place!!! We all felt enveloped in this wonderful feeling of warmth, and abundant love! And I knew we were feeling a sense of her joy, and contentedness.

There were video cameras everywhere, Gary, "the documentor" was so cute, easing his way all around on top of that stage, and under it, and just trying to get good shots and angles of every one of them up there. Sometimes he even turned the cameras on to the audience. I can't wait to see the results of his work. He took such pains to make it good! There were others, who dedicatedly set up their tripods, and grrrred at anyone who stood in front of them. lol. Then, at one point, there was this drunk chic, (who was havin' a "good ol' time" herself) who got up in the front, and started dancing with this guy, and trying to get others up there, as well. I ran up to her, and tried to explain to her, that there were a bunch of cam-corders that were set up, over there, and that she would be blocking their views. I certainly understood her desire to dance, I was having a hard enough time containing my own self, for that matter, but I asked her to go over to the sides, and dance her little head off, if she wanted to, but just not up there in the front. She wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind to understand what I was trying to say to her, but when the security guards came over, and reinforced what I said, I think she, begrudgingly, complied. (bless her heart)

But the place was really rocking! People were howling, cheering, yelling, clapping, singing along, and just really adding to the overall spirit of the event. And I guess we overdid it, or something, cuz the next thing we knew, the nearby, "not with it" neighbors were complaining about "The Noise" over there. NOISE???!!!! How DARE THEY???!!! So, the C's, after much eye-rolling, and comments about suggeting that the neighbors support their local community events a little better, toned down the songs a bit, and we had to prepare ourselves for the begining of the end of "The Saturday Night Fever". All too soon, the "last song was played" and they left the stage. UH HUH!!! Nothin' doin'!!!! We yelled, clapped, cheered, chanted, "MORE", and sure enough, they got back on stage. Susan, in her chuckling voice, commented something like, "Wow, we never did encores back in the "Old Days". We were treated to another song, or two,and then, it was over. BUT!!! Our dear Barry, not quite spent for the night, managed to secure a Pub, (can't remember the name of it, right now. (sorry guys) and we were rescued from late night boredom. He set up shop, and dished out at least 3 hours more of that "musical drug" that we are so "addicted to". Lol.

Then, we were thrown out of there, too. Sigh. We had no choice but to leave, and go hunt for some food. My group chose to eat at IHops, where we were waited on by the cutest little Irish guy, who was spending, I believe he said, his last day in America. He was having to return to Ireland. I think we dragged our tired bodies back to bed somewhere around 3:00am. All too soon, (for my body, but NOT my spirit) the alarm went off at 7:00am. and it was time to get ready for "The Meet and Greet the Cowsills" event. We quickly ate breakfast, and made our way over to where the C's were signing autographs, and chatting with us.

Ok, Sunday morning's "Meet and Greet" went well for and with the C's. I was impressed that they looked as good as they did, considering that some of them stayed up pretty late, earlier that morning. But there they were, acting just as jovial as ever. I hope I NEVER see Paul down, and depressed! I just don't think I could handle it! It just seems so contrary to his nature! He and Richard just amaze me with all of their energy! Like I've said before, If only we could tap it, there would be no energy crisis in the world.

I just try to imagine them, back in grammer school, trying to sit still in those little seats, and be quiet, and pay attention to the teacher??? I'd be curious to know what kind of grades they got in conduct. LOL! And they didn't have Ridalin(sp)back then, either. LOL! But only the crabbiest of teachers could look into those pixieish faces and be hard on them.

Now don't get me wrong, I am certainly impressed with ALL of the C's energy. All of them seem to have this reservoir of abundant energy. Some of them just seem to be able to mask it better than others. But, I LOVE the variety of the C's personalities! If all of them were the same, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

Anyway, the C's sat at this long table, and we all lined up, and each took his/her turn having the C's autograph various items. I guess the reason people ask for autographs, is that it gives us an excuse to go up to them, and, maybe, say a word or two to them, as they sign it. But, no matter, there I was with my little Moo-Shu (an adorable little cow doll, that I found at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant, once. He, originally, had a little sign on him which said, "Eat mo' chickin'". He was black and white, with a Beatle hair cut, Mod sunglasses, and a tie-dyed t-shirt on. He was so perfect! He was made in China, so I named him "Moo Shu Beef", but called him "Moo" for short. Anyway, I asked the C's to sign him for me, and then, I asked Bill to autograph the back of a picture of my daughter, Alura. He is her favorite Cowsill, simply because he has the same birthday as her. (Later, she was absolutely thrilled that he signed it for her!!!)Some of the C's had fun choosing where they would put their signatures on this poor doll. Guess where Richard signed his??? I thought Barry would go straight for the hind part, but "Today is Sunday, Madame" was his reply. As it was, John signed there.(Perhaps because he came in at the "tail end" of the signing session??) (But hey, he was certainly worth waiting for!) Bill signed on the back side of Moo, cuz "I'm Back!" (he said, with a wink.) And the others had to take what was left of Moo.

At one point, Bob (Mr. Organized, himself) stood up and announced that we would have to wrap this up soon, cuz Walmart was going to come and take over that tent, soon. At that point, we learned of Susan's disdain for Walmart, and how she favors Kmart, instead. However, later, on, Bob stood back up, on the chair, and said that Walmart had decided to move elsewhere. Well, how do you like that, Walmart yielded to the Cowsills??!! (polish knuckles)

Then Bob suggests that the C's should, personally, autograph some of the Global CD's and just charge $5.00 extra for them. DRATS!!! Right after I had just purchaced a cassette tape of Global! (I already have a Global CD, but I wanted a cassette, to put into my car tape deck, so I can cruise around town, with Global blaring out my windows.) I was, then, tempted to go ahead and buy one of those signed CDs, just in case something happens to my other one. Now I wish that I had!(whine!)

I did buy Barry's CD. I already have a tape of his, but I just had to see the semblance of his tongue sticking out of his mouth, (ie. my finger through the hole of the center of the CD) on the CD face. (Buy it, and then you'll know what I'm talking about, hee hee!)

They also had posters of Global for the taking, and I picked one up, but, just as I had feared, it got all crumpled by the end of the concert. Oh well, I'm sure there will be more to pick up at another time. (Right Bob??)

As I was standing around, after that,the thought occurred to me, to go ahead, and camp a seat, for the afternoon session, so off I went. I was able to get a second row seat, and blocked off some of the other seats, so the gals, who had been so kind, as to drive me to the concert, could sit with me. (I don't do the drivin' thing. I'm a big chicken behind the wheel, in unfamiliar territory!) There was this local band that was playing 50's and 60's tunes at the time. The people sitting up on that, much coveted, front row, were mainly there, for them. I asked them if they intended to stay for the Cowsill concert and they said, "yes." Well, for the C's sake, I was happy that they were staying, but for MY sake, I wanted them to stay, yet trade seats with me!!! But the woman was not about to consider such an offer. *$%@#& (However, after the first half of the concert, after having to endure the 2nd row's yelling, cheering, screaming, and singing, and possibly, because the music was turned up so loud, the lady turned to me, and said that I could have her seat, now.) YES!!!!! Front Row Seats!!!

I let Connie have first pick of the seats, cuz I knew she was wanting the best view of Barry. Others chose the best seats to see John, I was just happy to be up on the front row!!! Now I could move around better. (Sorry, but I just can NOT sit still, and listen, quietly, to Cowsill music, folks!!!) But, poor Darlene made the, regrettable mistake, of sitting beside me, with her bad arm exposed to me. I tried to steer clear of it, but alas, not once, but twice, I accidently bumped her. I saw her poor face squinch in pain, and I felt so badly! I offered to kiss it, and make it better, but she turned me down. I so sowwy, Darlene!! After that, she, very wisely, put her arm around my chair, and remained safe after that.

Anyway, as I was waiting for the C's concert to begin, this group that was playing, in the mean time, sang the song "Cryin'". I'm sorry, but I couldn't HELP but compare that guy to "our John", and there warn't no comparison! I kind of sighed, cuz Bob had already forewarned us, on the board, that John was going to deprive us, of hearing him sing that song, during this concert. The group also played some other songs that the C's sang on the "Cowsills In Concert" album, with, once again, NO CONTEST!! (heh heh) It seemed to me, that 4:00 would NEVER get here!!!

FINALLY, they announced that the C's were going to come on, soon, so everyone quickly found a seat,and eagerly awaited. I was surprised to see that they sang many of the same songs that they had the night before, but I guess that was for the benefit of those who had missed out on Saturday night. NOT that I was complaining!! It was GREAT to hear those songs again! But! Surprise Surprise, instead of singing "What About Love", here comes John with none other than, "CRYIN'"!!! (Not that we don't LOVE to hear him sing "What About Love", mind you, but let's just say, we were "pleasantly surprised". So much so, that we gave him a resounding standing ovation, after he finished it.

Lets see, at one point, poor Richard got up to sing "Vagabond" again, as he had done so well, the night before, but, as fate would have it, he was just as hoarse as he could be, poor baby! He made several, valiant attempts at it, bless his heart, but then, just had to, helplessly, turned to Big Brudder, Bill, to finish it off. We cheered for him anyway!!!

"Hair" hadn't sounded that good in 30 years. Just having all of them up there, singing their original parts, made it just so much more complete! AND, on Sunday, we were especially treated with "Cowsills, The Next Generation", when the children of the C's got up there and sang Hair along with their parents.

Now, like I said, I am NOT one of those people who can recall the order, in which the songs were sung. I can tell you the first song, and the last ones, but that's about as good as I can give you. But somewhere, along the line, they took a break. During which time, we Hair Heads occupied ourselves by filling out a questionaire asking for our opinion of "Taste Of Rhode Island". When they asked us, "How could they improve for next year?" we responded with things like, "How can you improve over The Cowsills??? Except that next time, allow them to start earlier, so they can play longer, until the, fateful, 8:30 deadline, so that the "neighbors" won't be irritated, to the point of "calling the cops on the Cowsills"!" Hey, we want the C's to be WELCOMED by the Newport Community! Not be considered a nuisance, by them!!!! And, by the way, ahem, we, ah, sorta, kinda, STUFFED that ballot!!(VEG!)

Also, while we were back there, we noticed that the booth was, also, selling the "Global" CD's. The only problem, was that they had it in the center, of the back, of the booth, which was NOT in a high traffic area. People just weren't seeing them, as they walked past the booth, unless they happened to look back, and spot it. Soooo, we sorta, kinda, rolled up our sleeves, and started bringing it to people's attention, for a bit. We were recommending that the customers buy the autographed version of the CDs for just $5.00 more. We assured them, that we witnessed the C's signing those CD's in their own handwriting, just that morning. That seemed to help. We would have stayed there, till the very last CD was sold, except that the people inside the booth, started giving us annoyed looks, so we left. (I guess, perhaps, they felt insulted that we took matters into our own hands, but hey, they weren't even mentioning it to people! They were too busy selling their own t-shirts, etc.) We also informed the customers about Cowsill.com, Barry's "As Is" cd, Continental Drifters, as well as Bill's music. Several people wanted to know how they could purchase our AWESOME t-shirts and caps.(I wore mine, two days in a row, primarily, for advertisement purposes.(wink)) We told them to visit the web-site from time to time, so that they could get in on the next offers.

After the break was over, The Cowsills brought one of Barbara's sisters up on stage, (Aunt Flo) and introduced her to us. She looked sooo much like Barbara, it was almost like seeing Barbara, herself! She was cool too! That music didn't bother her one bit! She stood up there, beside Susan, and just smiled throughout the entire song they sang. She, then, sat back down, after the song was finished. We had already been treated to "Uncle Bob" the night before at the Naragansette Cafe.(or however you spell it!) I asked him if "our Bob" was named after him, and he said yes. He'd gotten up, at the Cafe, and sang, "Oh Danny Boy". So we could see that talent ran throughout the family!

Like I had said, earlier, we were now privileged to be sitting in the very front row, and it was SOOOO AWESOME!!! We could see all that was going on up there, and sometimes hear the little teasings, and jokings going on between them. That was priceless! Oh, one really cute thing to mention, here, was that as John sang, "Cryin" to us, Bob sat down, on the stage, and kinda hunched over, all the while, playing his guitar, so that everyone could get their eyes full of John.

And also, during one of Barry's numbers, Barry got down on his knees, in front of the mike, and Bob ran over there to lower the mike for him. Then, with a gleam in his eye, he pulled the mike away from Barry, for an instantanious "Big Brudder" teasing. Oh yes, we caught that, Bob!

Susan sat down on the floor, a few times, as she strummed her guitar, but not while she was singing. She was so cute, how she would turn towards Bob and them for something, and have to rush back to her mike to sing the next part, try to turn again, and then, have to run back to the mike, again. She'd give them this "GUYS!" look. She also has this cute little way of rocking back and forth, a bit, before she approaches the mike. (and forgive me for all the "cute" descriptions, Sue, but I can't help it! You are just so cute! and I don't mean "cute" as one would refer to a child with, but as "appealing". Ok?) (Now that we have that understood) She was up there making wise cracks left and right. It was just too funny. And I love her chuckle. Okay, enough said.

They seemed more relaxed on Sunday, and were having fun kidding around up there, which made it even MORE appealling to us! But, sigh, all good things must come to an end, and suddenly, (at least to me, it seemed)they were leaving the stage. And, as I have previously posted under Suzanne's post, I was majorly upset!!! They hadn't sung "Some Good Years"!!! Ah!!!

How DARE they not sing "Some Good Years"!!! My favorite song on the entire "Global" cd!!! So, by all means, we yelled, hollared, clapped, whistled, etc. until they were "forced" to return to the stage. Then, Paul belted out "Shine", which, yes, I was very GLAD for him to do, but ...  then ...   they got off stage again! Uh uh! Nothin' doin'! Not until I got my SGY!!! So then, Susan, and Bill got up there, and did another song. Well, that was fine, and dandy, but ....  then they got back off again!!! One could have spring boarded off of my bottom lip by this time, yet we continued to appeal to the C's for ONE MORE!!!! FINALLY! I saw Mary Jo climb onto the stage with them, and my hopes arose. I heard a few practice notes, strummed, and then, YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! THERE IT WAS!!!! Needless to say, there was hardly a dry eye in the room after that one. I was holding up just fine, until I looked at Connie,and That Did It!!! See, some women, (myself included) just HATE to cry, because it messes up our , carefully, applied make-up. I mean hey, it looks so ridiculous to see someone with mascara running down her face. Then, when she tries to wipe it off, it winds up smearing over the rest of her face. Bill, later, saw us over there snifflin', and snufflin' and grinned at us, and called us, "a bunch of ol' Saps!" Grrrr. So I went over to him and gave him a BIG OL' HUG, and thanked him for coming, that Hair hadn't sounded that good, in 30 years. He said, in a cute little, cocky voice, "Of course! ... I'm back!" and gave me the biggest grin, I think I've ever seen on his face. DID MY HEART GOOD!!!

So the rest of us Hair Heads were going around, hugging everyone, and saying our goodbyes, just in case some had to leave before another chance could be had. We went over to the C's and got our hugs in with them, too, as well as congratulate them on a job "Excellently Done"!!!! Some of us were planning to go eat at "The Black Pearl", which was, formerly, "The Blue Whale" restaurant in the show "Dark Shadows", but as I was approaching Sue, to give her a hug, I overheard some of the Cowsill family mentioning to her, that they were heading over there, to eat, themselves. Weeelll, not wanting to appear to be a bunch of inconsiderate "Groupies", we decided to eat elsewhere, instead. I can save "The Black Pearl" till the next time I go up to Newport.

Barry had secured another "gig" at the Naragansette(sp) Cafe, again, and so, we all headed over there, again, to get another "fix". LOL! This time, his whole family was there, with him. They kidded around, and Bob sat down and confirmed the rumors, that he, too, could tear up a set of drums. We were impressed. John, Dale, and Bill came in, briefly, but all too soon, they had to leave. (sniff, sniff) But oh, I wish you could have seen the touching "Kodak moment" when Bill was saying goodbye to his little nephews and nieces!!! One of the smaller ones came up to hug him, and he squatted down, took her in his arms, and just closed his eyes, as he hugged her. There was so much love in his face, at that moment!!! I wouldn't have missed seeing that ...  Oh! What a moment!! (still brings tears to my eyes!!)(I know, I know, I'm just an "ol sap"!)

Anyway, the children, of course, were too young to go into the bar, but, not to be thwarted, they climbed up on this brick windowsill, and peered into the bar, through the front windoow, so they could see what was going on. That was another "Kodak Moment"!

Speaking of the children, I was so glad to be able to see them again! And this time, I got to meet Keira, and Collin, Barry's children. (and I have no doubt, but that I've misspelt Keira's name. I knew how NOT to spell it, cuz they messed up the spelling of it, on her name tag, but I never saw the correct way to spell it. Anyway, I learned, from her, that her parents named her after the heroine in the movie "The Dark Crystal". In fact, her middle name is Crystal. Isn't that NEAT??!! It is to me, cuz I LOVED that movie! Right along with "Willow"! The musical scores, alone, in those two movies give me "goosebumps"!!! Anyway, Keira was ADORABLE!!! She was so precocious, warm, and understanding, for her little 12 years of age. I was very impressed with her, as I am with all of the C's kids! Ya'll have done a GREAT JOB with Yo' Chillun', Folks!!! I didn't get to chat much with Collin, but he is so adorable, also! He has the prettiest red hair, and green, impish eyes. (Hmmmm, wonder where he got those kind of eyes from???) Keira looks just like a female version of Barry at the same age. She also has the same "Barry smile" that we all so adore.

Debbie was wonderful too!!! She is just So Right for Barry!!! The loving glances that they exchanged were just so heart-warming!!! She is very approachable, and easy to talk to. She was thanking US??!!! for everything. At one point, at the Cafe, she was trying to express her feelings, and, bless her heart, she could hardly get it out, for the tears that were falling from her eyes. She is wonderfully expressive, and caring!! In fact, you know, there isn't a single wife of the C's that I don't just Love to pieces!! (Okay, so Dale isn't exactly John's wife, but I think he has certainly picked a winner in her! She is just so willing to mingle with us, and I love to see how she beams at John. There is so much love in her face, when she looks at him, and that is exactly what we want for him, LOTS OF LOVE!!!)

Okay, back to the Cafe. Unfortunately, my throat was so sore from all the screaming and hollering, that I'd done for the past two days, that the smoke, inside the Cafe, was scratching the heck out of me when I would try to breathe in there. So, sigh, I wound up spending most of my time either outside on the curb, chatting with other smoke escapees, or sitting in the very back of the room, on the pool table, where it wasn't as smokey. (thank goodness noone wanted to play pool) I couldn't see all that was going on, up front, but I was having a good time, just watching all my fellow Hair Heads whooping it up, and enjoying themselves so much! I was outside, when the other people got up to sing, so I missed out on watching them, but I sure heard them! They sounded so "excellent dude"!

It was kinda cute, as I was listening to Marilyn singing, I was sitting next to Damon, outside, and had just made the comment, that I could just imagine how well she could do Janis Joplin! Well, the very next song she sang was "Bobby McGee"! LOL! And she did an AWSOME job!

Our dear "Star Baby", Eddie, sang some, and of course, sang "Beautiful Beige" and Susan ran in there, and joined him on it! I can just imagine how that made Eddie feel. (feeling like the richest man in the whole USA, eh, Eddie?)(wink) (inside joke, there folks.)

Towards the later part of it, I think it was Richard who put a paper bag over Barry's head as he was singing. (sounds like something he'd do. LOL) Anyway, Barry just kept right on singing! Oh it was too cute! What was even cuter, to me, was that Lynne wound up with that paper bag, by the end of the night, to add to her vast collection!! ROFL!!!

Oh speaking of Richard, we TRIED to pull a "dirty trick" on him Sat. night, at the Cafe!!! He had just started up on a cigarette, while standing outside the Cafe, when he changed his mind, threw it on the ground, and went in to get something to drink. He said he would smoke it when he got back. I teased him about picking that nasty thing back up, after it had been on the ground like that. He looked at me, and with that impudent expression on his face, said, "Hey, I've been through Viet Nam! I've EATEN far worse things than that cigarette!" and marched inside. Well, with him gone... I borrowed some lipstick, from a gal, whose name shall remain anonymous, to protect the innocent, and smeared it all over the mouthpiece part of the cigarette, so that "when" Richard, returned, and put it back up against his lips, the lipstick was supposed to rub off onto his lips. Well, the dern DUDE didn't come back to finish the cigarette!!! Aurghh!!!! Curses, foiled again!!!!

Anyway ... Before we knew it, it was time to be thrown out of the Cafe, again. We begged to stay, but with no luck. Sigh! So we, once again, went around hugging everyone, and then filed into our cars. Barry was just so cute in saying goodbye to us. I can't remember exactly how he used it in the sentence, but he used the term, "Flyin' Wamboozie" which is gonna be a big hit around here. You could tell that he had had a great time, himself, and I think that, even he, was a little sad to see it all over with. Well, we all piled into our cars and just cried all the way back to the hotel!!!

When I got back to the hotel, I had to fly into action, cuz I had to meet the shuttle to the airport by, what I thought, at the time, was 4:00am. Katherine was sharing the room with me, at that time, and I think the poor girl was looking forward to at least a LITTLE sleep. But she picked the wrong room-mate for that. LOL! Yak, yak, yak, yak, yak! She got a bit of a break as I stepped in the shower for a bit. But after I got out, it was Yak, yak yak yak yak, again.

Finally, it was time to leave and go on down to the lobby. We had 30 minutes to kill, so we watched Xanadu on the tv, that was playing, in there.(I'd forgotten how BAD the acting was in that movie! Sheesh!) But, right when it was getting to the good parts, here comes the shuttle! Aurghh!

We climbed in, and gave the guy our tickets, as he called out our names. When he called out the name, David Jones, Katherine and I both whirled our heads towards the back of the van to see who David Jones was. RATS!!! It wasn't THE David Jones, but hey, he was nice enough. We teased him about it, and I found out, then, that David Bowe's real name is David Jones. How 'bout that for trivia.

The van pulled away, we rode to the airport, hugged each other goodbye, and started our ways down towards the airplanes that would lead us back to our "regular worlds". Sigh! But WOW! WHATTA WEEKEND TO REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah ba dee, ah ba dee, ah ba dee, that's all folks. Whew!!!

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