Sal Goes to a Cub Scout Singalong

Sal and I are proud to be members of a wonderful group of Cleveland Jumping Fleas!  These dedicated folks practiced several times in preparation for a Singalong program for a bunch -- actually a pack -- of Cub Scouts.  It was only our second big public performance, and our first program for kids.   The husband and sons of Lisa, one of our members, are active in Cub Scouts, so she invited us to do a program for their April pack meeting.  Four dens of Cub Scouts -- 60 kids or so -- were expected to attend.  Add in the parents and you're talking a big audience.  We worked hard selecting songs and practicing them, and in two shakes, it was the big night!

To make a long story relatively short, the evening started as a bit of a disaster.  The program was to take place at North Royalton Middle School, but when the first Flea arrived, he was informed by the custodian that the staff had not been told about our event.   The custodian called somebody and there was some back and forth about whether or not we would be able to have the program at the school.  Eventually this was straightened out, and we started bringing in all of our stuff.  We carried everything to the Purple Gym -- which was where we were supposed to perform -- and began to set up.  We were then told that we would be in the Gold Gym instead, so we took all of our stuff to the Gold Gym.  When we had done this, we were told that some students were supposed to use the Gold Gym to practice basketball, so we would have to go back to the Purple Gym.  Once more we lugged all of our paraphernalia to the Purple Gym.  Then it was determined that since the Purple Gym did not have bleachers for the Cub Scouts to sit on, we should return to the Gold Gym, and the basketball players could practice in the Purple Gym.... Seriously!  We moved all of the stuff AGAIN!

Sal with Lisa's son, Dominic, in his Cub Scout regalia.  This is the Gold Gym!  With bleachers!

The fabulous performing Fleas!  From left to right:  Tom, Bruce, Terianne, Lisa, Brian, Nicole, me, Holly, Jeff, and Anne with Sal.

After intensive discussion about the best placement of the laptop (containing a PowerPoint of the song lyrics), projector, screen, backdrop, and music stands, and some rearranging of those things, we were all set up by about 6:45.  The program was to begin at 7:00, but as the hour drew near, a mere trickle of Cub Scouts appeared.   In the end, there were fewer than 20 Cub Scouts in attendance.  They brought their families, too, but the audience was much smaller than we had anticipated.  (Thinking about it later, the low turn-out could probably be explained by the lovely weather that evening.  After a truly horrible winter, perhaps people couldn't bear to be inside on such a warm night.)

As we began to play, I had an unpleasant realization!  Because of the acoustics of the cavernous gym, we couldn't hear each other well, and therefore were not playing together.  I looked down the row of ukulele players, and saw that the people at the other end were a few beats ahead of those at my end.  Fortunately we were able to overcome this problem by moving into closer formation after a couple of songs.  Lesson learned = a giant gym is not a good place for a ukulele show!  Looking on the bright side... despite the low turn-out and the lousy acoustics, the people who came seemed to have a great time -- and that's the important thing! 

After the program we went to Lisa's house for pizza, beverages, and delicious ice cream cake.  While enjoying the food we watched a video of our Fairview Park Singalong  (you can read about that Singalong by clicking here).  I'm unhappy to report that despite enjoying watching the other Fleas in the video, I had to cover my eyes whenever I appeared on the screen. I know it is wise and mature to accept oneself as is, and not be haunted by the image of oneself in a video, but unfortunately I am not that wise and mature.  I'm currently trying to recuperate from the experience.  Note to all videographers: please be kind -- don't videotape me!!!

On a happier note, Sal made some new friends at Lisa's house -- an armadillo and a racoon.   Photos of Sal with these critters -- products of Lisa's amazing artistic talents -- follow.

Sal with Lisa's paper mache armadillo.  I love how the texture of the armadillo and Sal's grain look together.

Lisa with Sal and the super-fun Cub Scout raccoon she created.

All in all it was a good night for Sal and I.  Lessons learned from the experience:
1.  Don't perform with un-amplified acoustic instruments in a cavernous gym.
2.  To maintain peace of mind, do not watch any videos in which I appear.

Kudos go to the performing Fleas for all of the time and effort they spent preparing and performing.  Extra thanks to...
Brian - for his infectious and entertaining MCing.
Bruce - for his terrible (in a good way) riddles and jokes, plus hours of PowerPoint proofreading.
Lisa - for her incredible PowerPoint artwork, percussion playing, whistling, and hostessing.
Jeff - for his musical leadership.
Nicole - for her super banjolele playing.
Tom - for his washboard skills.
Holly - for her virtuoso performance on the train whistle.
Terianne - for bravely joining us after playing uke for a short time.

And a super big THANK YOU to my sister, Anne!  Once again, she did a wonderful job as our PowerPoint slide changer.  She goes above and beyond to support me, and I really appreciate it!!!

And a round of applause for Sal -- for her ability to make people smile! 

And now it's time to plan for our next Singalong!!!  It will be here before we know it!