Let's Play Catch-Up!

Things have been busy on the big purple bus, and the opening night of "Barney Live in Concert! Birthday Bash" is just a few days away.

We spent two weeks rehearsing in Minneapolis, getting fitted for costumes, running the show in costume at the Energy Center Arena in St. Paul...and spending some free time exploring the Twin Cities. This time of year is really beautiful in the cities. It is considered "early fall" and the sidewalks are covered in red, yellow and orange leaves, and we were lucky enough to have sunny days in the 50's and 60's.

For Halloween, we were able to go see Illusion Theatre's production of "Evil Dead," which was a lot of fun and very well done. We also found some eccentric nightspots with plenty of characters boasting rather intriguing costumes.

Just below the Hennepin bridge is a beautiful bike and pedestrian path that runs along the river. I ran down there the day of the New York City marathon and had my own personal marathon, if you will, somewhere in the ballpark of 7 miles.

The Nicollet Mall area is a nice outdoor length of shops and restaurants with some fun outdoor sculptures to check out (one of Mary Tyler Moore!) and musicians playing their instruments along the sidewalks for passersby.

I also ran through the Cancer Survivor's Park which is a vast lawn with inspirational plaques and a sculpture of cancer patients and their families and friends walking together through gates that are meant to symbolize treatment. I thought it was a very uplifting memorial to those who have survived and are surviving.

Another noteworthy park I came across was the Charles Schulz Park in St. Paul. It's fairly small, but it has bronze statues of the main Peanuts characters which made for cute pictures and a nice lunchtime diversion.

And our final hurrah in Minneapolis, before flying out during Saturday's blizzard, was the Shout House Dueling Pianos Bar. The place was packed, but the drinks were delicious and the pianists were not only talented musicians but hilarious performers. One highlight of the evening was a performance of "Tiny Dancer," when one of the more oaf-like wait staff attempted to perform some classic ballet moves atop one of the pianos. Another was "Baby Got Back," during which all the women felt compelled to demonstrate the "back" that they, in fact, "got." And another was "Shook Me All Night Long," because, well, I requested it.

And that brings us to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where we are currently tech'ing and then opening the show this Friday. So far, it's been alright. Not a whole lot to do, but we found a couple cute shopping areas uptown - in Utica Square - and then also along Cherry Street. There's not much open on Sunday besides church and sports bars, but we did find a killer pizza place that goes by the name of Joe Momma's...