Saturday - 23 Jan/16

We are cold - for Florida! 25 F below normal.

A good morning for another batch of pancakes with Maple Syrup. We always bring "Real" syrup from home. The grocery store syrup is actually corn syrup not maple syrup. Nothing like the real thing.

Charlotte worked on her T-Shirt Quilt and I doodled on the computer. The Gary Lewis concert prompted me to make a list of Music Stars we have seen in concert over the years. It starts with me being a "Roadie" for The Young Rascals (I helped them set up when they played in my home town in the 60's) and ended (for the moment) with Gary Lewis and The Playboys last evening. The list of 50 recording stars includes a number of repeats like Bill Medley (Righteous Brothers), The Beach Boys, The Guess Who, Kenny Rogers and The Drifters.

One of the most memorable on the list was a Sly and the Family Stone Concert at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. A rumour on the radio that day was that Sly was going to play his first (and only) concert in 20 years; but no one knew where. While walking on "The Strip" I just happened to notice a sheet of paper sized notice in a window of the Flamingo Casino indicating Sly and the Family Stone would be playing at 9:30 p.m.

I went in search of tickets. They had sold out almost immediately; however we got a lucky break, When I approached the box office the shift was just changing and the new girl didn't know anything about the "surprise" concert. I waited while she checked. She came back and said; "Somehow I found 2 tickets that had not been sold." - - SOLD!

What she didn't know was that these tickets were NOT TO BE SOLD! When we were guided to our table up front (best seat in the house) the elegant lady of colour looked quite surprised at our presence. Later, when Charlotte ordered an orange juice, she said, "That sounds good, I'll have one too".

this lady looked familiar. It took me a little while to realize that we were sharing a table with Mary Wilson of the Supremes! That explained why she was so surprised at our arrival. She was opening her own show in a few days and, as a long time friend of Sly, had a private table for his show. We respected her privacy and did not disturb her. We were just thankful for our good luck.

Yes, the show was terrific!

Supper was the remainder of the excellent spaghetti Charlotte made yesterday. It really does taste better on the second day.

A clear sky and full moon was out as we headed to the Rec Hall for evening's 50' and 60's dance. Brrr! The 40-50 mph wind made the air temp (below 40 F) feel like freezing (yes - they do have wind chill in Florida) .

As usual, the hall was packed. Bill's Rule 23: "At an RV Park Event; being there a half hour early means you are already 15 minutes late". We were almost the half hour early and the hall was virtually full. Luckily, there were a few seats left in the back section.

The entertainment tonight was "Solid Gold", a 2 man "canned music" group. It's like Karaoke with one or both singing along. Charlotte and I enjoyed the slow tunes.

We had the pleasure of sharing the table with folks from Canada (Hamilton, ON). We traded travel stories. We were both passing through Tennessee (years ago) during the same ice storm when the Interstate was closed. We both had the same reaction - we got on the back roads and kept on vacationing. Their company made the evening fly by.

By the end of the evening the music could hardly be heard above the crowd. Free draft beer tends to raise the noise level proportionate to the consumption (grin).

It was a cool walk back to the motorhome after the dance.

The Wi-Fi was "If-Fi" (grin) so I waited until Sunday morning to do today's blog.