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Home of Michael Perry – Author, Humorist, Singer/Songwriter, Amateur Pig Farmer

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Posts Tagged ‘Big Top Chautauqua’

A Stream Full of Tent Show Radio

Well, this is good news. I’ve just received word from Tom up there at the Big Top Chautauqua tent that Tent Show Radio can now be streamed pretty much any old time you like. Shows will be uploaded the first Friday after the original air date, and will be available online for one year (So far all shows are available…occasionally the artist may decline permission for streaming).

Several shows are online already and can be heard here. It continues to be my privilege to introduce that acts on air and to contribute a monologue over each intermission (included in the stream). Over the last several monologues I’ve been talking about my neighbor Tom and our attempt to weld up a brush hog.

Of course if you wanna listen in real time, you’re always welcome to dial in one of these stations.

 

One More Time Tonight

One more round of Keeper of the Light at Big Top tonight. Times and ticket info here. Such a poignant, powerful show, and a big Keeper thank you to all the BTC cast, orchestra, volunteers, and crew at every level. Every now and then I am allowed to merge with their life up there on Mt. Ashwabay for a few days, then go on my way. They’re at it all the time, whether hosting national acts or producing homegrown fare. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll consider including them on your trip.

Another Show Tonight

For information on tonight’s show time and tickets, please click here. For tomorrow, click here.

Last night’s premiere was a lively one, with an unexpected comedic moment when I opened the show by failing to light about four matches in a row whilst quoting Homer. Favorite part of the show for me? Sitting backstage mid-show, listening to a gung-ho crowd react to my fellow players. After watching how hard they worked all week to bring this together, it was nice to hear them rewarded by the folks in the seats.

Upshot of this show? I can now give you a nice little five-minute mini-history of the Fresnel lens.

Big Top Show Tonight, and Tomorrow, and…

Between stints working on the new book, I’ve been rehearsing with the cast and crew up on Mount Ashwabay. For the next three nights we’ll be performing Keeper of the Light, a tribute to the men and women who kept the lights burning in the sometimes treacherous waters of Lake Superior. It is a story of fierce storms, shipwrecks, and long haunted evenings for the families living out among the Apostle Islands – all taken from the old journals of the lighthouse keepers. This show was first produced at Big Top Chautauqua in 1989. Created by Betty Ferris and Warren Nelson, Nelson-Ferris Concert Company.

Keeper is historical, happy and humorous…but it also evokes the tragic fury of Lake Superior with an eery verisimilitude that will have you reaching for a life vest or offering a prayer for those who have perished trying to light or land upon her treacherous shores.

Times and ticket info here.

As always, it’s a privilege to be welcomed beneath the canvas by the BTC folks old and new. Thanks to all of you.

At the Big Top Tonight

I am honored to have a modest part in the Big Top Chautauqua show tonight. The show is Take it to the Lake, a humorous and heartfelt and artful look at the powerful history and presence of Lake Superior. This is an original work created by Betty Ferris and Warren Nelson, and the quality of the words and images are not only enduring, they have allowed me to see “the one and only queen of the inland seas” with an entirely new breadth and perspective.

In rehearsing for the show, I have also verified something I’ve known all along: What the Big Top actors and musicians make look easy isn’t easy at all. I’ll do my level best to get my lines and hit the mark, but the heart and soul of this show belongs to the big blue tent and the people who built it…those musicians and actors on stage tonight, and all the hardworking veterans behind the scenes.

At the Big Top Tonight

I am honored to have a modest part in the Big Top Chautauqua show tonight and tomorrow night. The show is Take it to the Lake, a humorous and heartfelt and artful look at the powerful history and presence of Lake Superior. This is an original work created by Betty Ferris and Warren Nelson, and the quality of the words and images are not only enduring, they have allowed me to see “the one and only queen of the inland seas” with an entirely new breadth and perspective.

In rehearsing for the show, I have also verified something I’ve known all along: What the Big Top actors and musicians make look easy isn’t easy at all. I’ll do my level best to get my lines and hit the mark, but the heart and soul of this show belongs to the big blue tent and the people who built it…those musicians and actors on stage tonight, and all the hardworking veterans behind the scenes.