Back on Tour

We’re enjoying a great tour this January. The travel has been easy and the weather has great. We’re back on the road doing our Alaska show at promotional events for Holland America Line. Nice audiences with a dream in their hearts of visiting The Great Land. It is such a joy to get to sing and talk about such a special and beautiful place. We love that after all these years, our passion for Alaska’s beauty, history, culture and spirit just keeps on growing.

Visiting Alaska back in the late 1800s, naturalist John Muir wrote:

To the lover of pure wildness Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world. No excursion that I know of may be made into any other American wilderness where so marvelous an abundance of noble, newborn scenery is so charmingly brought to view…

 

Performing NYE on the Delta Queen

Performing to ring in 2012 on the Delta Queen

We had such an amazing weekend performing aboard the Delta Queen for New Year’s Eve weekend. The Delta Queen team was at the top of their game for the huge boat-wide New Year’s Eve party. Special kudos to Hotel Manager Lloyd, Chef Joyce, and of course operators Leah Ann and Randy Ingram.

The New Year’s Eve event was marketed as a private event package including hotel stay, DJ and dancing down in the Orleans Room, Laura and I having a blast with the crowd in the Texas Lounge, and Joyce’s amazing food stations scattered downstairs, all along the Forward Cabin Lounge, and up in the Texas Lounge. What an amazing buffet!

Thanks so much to the wonderful guests that supported the Delta Queen by ringing in 2012 with us. We had so much fun with you and look forward to the next time we can all enjoy an evening together aboard the legendary Delta Queen.

GREAT WEEKEND ON THE DELTA QUEEN

Laura and Bill performing in the Texas Lounge aboard the Delta Queen steamboat.

Wow! We had a blast performing on board the Delta Queen this last weekend. The boat was almost full Saturday night and we had a terrific crowd. With dinner being served in the Texas Lounge until 9 pm, things started out more relaxed as we provided nice dining music. As the evening progressed and the crowd grew, things got even more festive. Much of the night was standing room only with a terrific energy to the room. It was a thrill for us to see that the old Delta Queen can still get a party going! Even after finishing our scheduled sets, guests requested us back to the piano several times for a few more songs, laughs and fun. Thanks to everyone that came out to support us and the wonderful Delta Queen.

As a welcome balance to the universe, Sunday night was a more modest crowd glad to visit, enjoy a cocktail, make a few requests from us, and enjoy the music and the incredibly beautiful evening on the Tennessee River.

The boat looks gorgeous. Several previous steamboat crew have returned as part of the team and the boat (Hotel Manager Lloyd, Chef Joyce, Chief Fred). Fred and Lloyd were off this weekend, but it was great to see Joyce again. We ordered off the menu and it tasted like the delicious good old days. We’ll look forward to seeing Fred and Lloyd when we return at the end of the month. Operators Leah Ann and Randy Ingram have put together a great team and are lovingly caring for the vessel, sharing her with the public, and generating a wonderful energy aboard.

If you’re in the Chattanooga area, we’ll be back aboard Friday through Monday evenings, October 29-31, including a costume party on Halloween. Stop by for dinner, a drink, some music and fun. If you’re interested in staying the night, visit the hotel’s website at www.DeltaQueenHotel.com

 

PERFORMING ON THE DELTA QUEEN

We are so excited to announce that we will be performing aboard the Delta Queen in Chattanooga, TN the first and last weekends of October — on October 1, 2, and again Octtober 28, 29, 30, and 31. We’ll be performing each evening in the charming and historic Texas Lounge with incredible views of the Tennessee River and picturesque Chattanooga. We would love for you to come visit, stay aboard, and enjoy some music, magic and laughs with us for a fun weekend. Visit the Delta Queen Hotel website at

www.DeltaQueenHotel.com

Tour Update

Enjoying a nice dinner out in Honolulu.

Well, we’re just over a month into our tour and having a great time. We’ve enjoyed wonderful audiences and enthusiastic support across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and a few days over to Hawaii. It was nice to squeeze in a little beach relaxation time and some great seafood. We’re back for another couple of weeks looping through the midwest before flying over to upstate NY.

We send out special love and support to so many old steamboater friends down in New Orleans. We hope you all are safe and dry again soon. Hang in there!

 

Sonny and Cher

Laura's funny and sexy Cher and Bill's truly terrifying Sonny costumes. Wow!

Yes, one of the Must-Include duos in our “Let’s Duet” show was Sonny and Cher. Of course we did “I Got You, Babe” which has to be one of the most famous duets ever. Laura looked amazing in her long, slinky purple dress, while Bill was completely ridiculous in a crazy 70s shirt (you have to love the Goodwill store!) and a goofy pageboy wig.

We both ran back for the costume change as the intro played. That can be really scary with a recorded track as there is no forgiveness – you either make your entrance on time or you miss it – no vamping. There were a couple of times where we cut it awfully close! Sometimes the real show is happening backstage!

Laura entered first to sing the opening line and received a big response. But the crowd would roar and Bill entered looking so ridiculous! Despite the initial laughs for the costumes, we worked hard to provide a real musical tribute to the duo. Laura really has Cher down!

We watched some DVDs of the old Sonny and Cher television show and it was wonderful to remember how really charming and funny they were as a team. It was so much fun to include them in our tribute show.

George Burns and Gracie Allen

Our George Burns and Gracie Allen costumes.

Our recent debut of our “Let’s Duet” show was a big hit. The show includes tributes to famous duos of comedy, magic and music. One of our favorite sections was doing a classic George Burns and Gracie Allen routine. They were such an amazing team. I enjoyed portraying Burns’ straight man and watching Laura be absolutely hysterical as Gracie. And so cute, too!

George and Gracie performed together for more than 40 years and succeeded in vaudeville, radio, movies, and television. Their Burns and Allen Show on CBS ran for 291 episodes! I am learning from Burns’ wisdom to simply try and get out of the way and let Laura’s incredible talent shine! I hope we get to enjoy such a long career together and such an enduring and loving marriage.

The “Let’s Duet” show is one we feel will be terrific as a headline show on cruises as it certainly offers something for everybody – comedy, magic, and music from many eras and genres.

Our Heads In The Clouds

On tour, it’s always interesting all the different places we perform. But tonight “we had our heads in the clouds” as we performed at the Kalamazoo, Michigan “Air Zoo” airplane museum. Cool place, fun show. All I’ve been singing today though is that great old song… “K-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O-Oh, what a gal in Kalamazoo…”

Big crowds

We’re always thankful for the opportunity and enjoy performing to smaller audiences, but it sure is fun to perform to a big crowd! Tonight in Detroit we had over 200, which for us is a pretty big crowd. There’s just such a wonderful energy that you get as a performer from a large number of people. Thanks to all the Detroiters who came out!

Cleveland Rocks!

We started our tour with a great show in Cleveland and a squeezed in a visit to the impressive Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There’s lots of memorabilia (although Laura joked that it could almost be called “The Rock and Roll Costume Hall of Fame.” We also included a ticket to the U2 3D concert film, which was awesome. Bono reached out and I almost felt him Wipe My Tears Away.