Mike Super-Illusionist/Magician

Mike Super

The McPherson Opera House

By Lydia Lowe
(photo courtesy of the official website)

     Mike Super made an appearance at The McPherson Opera House on Saturday night to a nearly sold out crowd.  

     The night started with a video wall that welcomed the crowd to the venue and then passed on information about the night's performer.  Mike Super won the reality show Phenomenon and was on America's Got Talent, where he took second place.  Since then he's won a variety of awards for his work.  

     A darkened theater welcomed Super to the stage and then the crowd sat there in wonder as Super created seemingly endless illusions that couldn't be explained.  I was skeptical because magicians are not my thing, but I have to admit that some of the illusions that Super did even had my attention.  At some point during the show I was completely taken in by the stage show and Mike Super's talent.  The show was broken up into two segments and during the second segment he took finger rings from three audience members and linked them together.  They were actually linked.  I'm not sure how he did that or how he separated them to give them back to the audience members.  It was amazing!

     After the show, Super greeted the audience out in the lobby at a meet and greet.  He took pictures, signed autographs and even ran into someone who he knew which made his day.  It's a small world.  All in all, a terrific evening. 

On The Air @ The Eisenhower Center

On The Air:

A Salute to Radio Stars From the '40's

The Eisenhower Center

By Lydia Lowe
(photo by James Lowe)

     This was the opener to the Tony Orlando appearance this past Saturday at The Eisenhower Center.  Lynn Rogers portrayed five well known entertainers from 1940's radio and Chuck Carson portrayed the NBC announcer.

     Rogers started the show as Bob Hope.  He had the look, the lines, the mannerisms, and the overall tone of Bob Hope.  You had to keep reminding yourself that this was an actor portraying Bob Hope.  He was very good and stayed in character throughout the performance.

     When Rogers went to change costumes to become Red Skelton, Chuck Carson took over entertaining the audience.  He did live reads of commercials from the era.  They were very entertaining.  It was hard to believe that at one time these commercials were taken as truth and made complete sense to radio listeners.  Now they sound so archaic and knowledge has advanced so that it was laughable to hear the claims.  One of the commercials recommended Camel cigarettes and stated that 4 out of 5 doctors smoked these, so they must be the best ones. It made me wonder how the commercials of today will be viewed 60 years from now. 

     Rogers became three more characters over the course of the afternoon: Red Skelton, Jack Benny, and Jimmy Durante, before returning to Bob Hope and closing out the show.  Carson kept us entertained as the NBC announcer throughout the show.  The jokes were old and many in the audience had heard them for years, but good humor, it stands the test of time.  Old jokes are still funny.

     It was a great way to open for Tony Orlando.  The crowd loved it.  It's always good to share a good laugh in good company. 

Tony Orlando @ The Eisenhower Center

Tony Orlando

The Eisenhower Center

By Lydia Lowe
(photo by James Lowe)

     Yes, Tony Orlando, minus Dawn, performed of all places at The Eisenhower Center in Abilene Kansas this past Saturday. And he hasn't lost one bit of his sex appeal or musical talent.

     Tony was in Abilene to celebrate Eisenhower's 124th birthday.  Ironically, he also sits on the board of directors for The Eisenhower Center.  Joining him in Abilene along with other board members was Eisenhower's youngest granddaughter, Mary Jean Eisenhower.  There were festivities all day long and Mary Jean served as the master of ceremonies for the day.  She introduced Tony, whom she has worked with and known for over 16 years.

     The Eisenhower Center was all decked out in flags and many of the trees were sporting yellow ribbons, of course, because of Tony's song, "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree".  Before Tony took to the makeshift stage which were the steps of the Eisenhower Library, Mary and Tony presented awards to three navel officers who had distinguished themselves from their peers on board The USS Eisenhower.  It was very moving. Later on, during Tony's set, he also recognized those in the audience who had served any branch of the service from WWII to Afghanistan, making sure to recognize those who had served in Vietnam.   

     Tony sang all his hits, he said there were really only five #1's.  And he sang all of those and spent time also keeping the crowd entertained with stories about his life, his music career, and his family.  He also spoke about visiting returning troops in the hospital.  The songs he sang were: Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree, Candida, Knock Three Times, He Don't Love You (Like I Love You), and Say Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose. During a couple of his songs he pulled two women from the audience and brought them up on the steps with him to sing a couple of his songs due to the fact that they knew all the lyrics.

     After the concert, Tony spent time with the audience signing everything they'd brought with them, including yellow ribbons that fans had taken off the tree's on the grounds.  He took pictures and chatted with every person individually.  This guy is a class act all the way.

The Texas Gypsies @ The Fox Theatre

The Texas Gypsies

The Historic Fox Theatre

By Lydia Lowe
(photo's by Bob Hunter)

     If you haven't been to a show at The Fox here in Hutchinson, you're missing a rare treat.  This past Friday night The Fox played host to The Texas Gypsies.  The group hit the stage dressed as gangsters and flappers which set the tone for the evening; a night of music from the 20's as well as some West Texas Swing.

     This group had a terrific mix of music that ranged from 20's jazz to Bob Wills country swing.  They played originally songs and cover tunes from the era.  One of my favorite songs of the evening was "Nothing to Worry About" which the group dubbed one of the fastest songs to play that has ever been written.  It was fast and it was fun to listen too.  The group played a Stevie Ray Vaughan tune, "Pride and Joy".  Who knew that this would fit in with 20's jazz classics, and yet it did fit, perfectly.  Also the group played a Beatles tune, "When I'm Sixty Four". And of course there was the classic Bob Wills tune, "San Antonio Rose".  Each one fit so perfectly into the line-up. The Texas Gypsies have a sound all their own.

     Steve Curry, the band's leader plays guitar and does vocals.  Here he is standing on the stand-up bass during the big finale to the first set.  That finale was a show all of it's own.  You had to see it to believe it.  John Hewitt played the stand-up bass and did a superb job with this instrument.  He also sang a solo of "Besame Mucho" in Spanish.  

     Then there's Mike Sizer who provided the sounds of clarinet and a variety of saxophone's.  Of course you can't have a group without the drummer, Andrew Griffith, who of course got to do a drum solo because no group ever forgets to headline the drummer with a solo performance.  He did a fantastic job and stayed within the music of the era.  Last but not least there is Brooke Wallace, who burned up the stage in her little black dress, stunning vocals, (she sang two of the songs the group played) and stole the show with sizzling fiddle licks.  Brooke actually won an award for her fiddle/violin playing at The Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas.

     What a show!  The group even took time to come out to the lobby and talk to the audience afterwards.  What was really great about this part of the evening is that the group actually mingled instead of sitting behind a table and making small talk as patrons walked by.  The group had CD's for sale including their recently released CD entitled: "Retro Deco Baby".  Head on over to their website: http://www.texasgypsies.com/index.html and check out samples of their music.  You'll be glad that you did.

Laura Moriarty-The Chaperone

Laura Moriarty

"The Chaperone"

By Lydia Lowe
(photo by James Lowe)

     This past Thursday night the Hutchinson Public Library hosted an author talk.  They chose Laura Moriarty who wrote "The Chaperone".

     I will have to say that I have been to a few author talks and this was by far the best one I've ever been too. Moriarty was engaging and well-spoken. She clearly was energized by the subject matter, the research involved in bringing her book to life, and the whole process of writing the story.  She explained how she gathered her idea's, how she developed her characters, how she used real life events to shape her book, and how she came to love her characters to the point that she didn't want to let them go as she moved on to writing her next book.

     "The Chaperone" is a historical novel that follows the exploits of Louise Brooks, a very famous flapper from the 20's and the woman who chaperoned her to New York while she attended a dance school during one summer. While Louise is a key character in the book, Moriarty explained that the book was really more about the woman who chaperoned Brooks, Cora Carlisle.  What prompted Cora to step out of her life for the summer to chaperone a 15 year old teenager in New York?  What did she learn from the experience?  And in the end, were Louise and Cora reunited later by this trip to New York that they took together or did they go their separate ways never to see one another again?  You'll have to read the book to find out.

     Laura is currently working on another historical book which she explained is NOT a mystery although there are murders in it.  She joked that the title might be: "Yes, He Did It", just so she could get that part out of the way. This book is also loosely based on real life events.  Moriarty didn't give out of lot of details about the new book. She did say that it is more about thinking that you know someone and trusting them only to find out that they are really a monster.  Sounds interesting.  I'm eagerly looking forward to the release of this next book.