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December 2006 Blog
Rick Hampton Square Dance Caller
December 1st
Ever feel like saying to hell with it? That's where I'm at today-Maybe
I'll just get back into school, Get a "real job" and let s/d die a quiet death-
Between callers who screw clubs (repeated multiple bookings) yet the clubs shrug
their shoulders -and keep 'em booked-for the Festival no less-and Clubs that
have lost the idea that the DANCING is the reason to be there- Politics,
Uncertainty of Club stability ( oh we'll just go dark-no big deal-don't have to
pay the caller) The music business end tanking due to "sharing"- Callers I know
just doing whatever to get that week's check-I'm trying to think of a good
reason to not say "hell with it" ..........OK I feel better, 51/49% I
won't Thoughts??
EMAIL ME
Hope you're doing well
Rick
December 2nd Part 1
Will tonight's V area Toys For Tots be resounding success ( more than 4
squares) and restore some s/d hope in me? Will the clear night and weather bring
folks- If they come will it be dancing or sidelines chatting?
OR Will it be the typical More Callers than Dancers-"Is it over yet" event that
brings in few people, few toys and embarrasses us again------ Inquring minds
want to know- Stay tuned for Part 2 of "as the V turns"
Rick
Part 2
5 Squares- Better than usual, still pathetic for a Metro Area of almost 1
million- anyway a FUN night, Toy donations were decent- Canned food donations
poor, but a whole bunch of cookies went uneaten??????- Thanks To Jan and Wes
joining the usual Me, Norm ,Rick B. and Ernie for a good visit........Thanks
Mirdza for the rounds................I'm at 53/47 now. A New Dancer
Hoedown in 12 hours, 150 miles away.................jus another nite at
Hamptonland.
Rick
December 3rd
A Very FUN New Dancers Hoedown , Maybe next year the Open Squares wont have
us as Dark- Club FUBAR-Oh well. The New Dancers Had a BLAST- I think I sold some
WingDing and Fiesta registrations (are U listening "V"-Oh yeah it's folding,
Part of that is the last few years that the Main PoomBah didn't tell the callers
that NEW DANCERS were attending(I called her on that and she said of course I
did- the 3 PRO callers said-"If we had only known")A previous blog spotlites
this -Add to that the too little too late publicity-Vaya con Dios ) The
new "V" area chief might want to figure out who the adjancent ( U area) prez is-
Sat was 2 times now that you had NO idea who !- Try going to an actual
DANCE-There ain't many in the "V" Try the "U"
Rick
December 5th
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! The V area club I call for, which had thought
they'd need to go dark next week, has been announcing for 4 WEEKS- Never
mind-we're dancing- So they decided that since they had announced they'd be
dark-(over a Month ago) in the V area newsletter, and despite the fact that that
would make ZERO difference in attendance-That we would-AGAIN AFTER 4 %^&%&^$^&
weeks of saying we'd dance- we'll be
dark.....................................................If not for the cuer
telling me I'd would not have known.............That would have been my last
nite at this group (Oh yeah they mainly forgot to tell the members
too)...............AGGGGGGGHHHHH
Y'know, Mrs. Rick and I have been saying I need a Night off, after all, that
would only have me calling 250+ nites a year- Get a GRIP Tuesdays- Your caller
is P/O'ed, an UnHappy Camper and a Square Dance Caller not a social director I'm
not happy- (Could be becuz of this rude behavior to the dancers and me, The lack
of leaving a parking space every week, the fact that most sit rather than dance
and ........oh yeah- You made a check out to another caller named Rick after
I've had 5+ years of calling for this group.........."Uh what's your name" said
the treasurer
Rick
December 6th
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mrs. Rick
I had a great, fun, everyone dancing-wanting to learn Workshop
tonight-As I did Monday and will Thursday
Saturday will be a well attended dance and fun with a full floor, as will
Sunday's dance, Then Full Floor-wanting to learn workshops on Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday- anybody see a pattern here???????????????????????
I wonder if I should take a nite off in 2007 and do only 250+ dates? The sad
part is that I have quite a few folks I like there-It's just the few, combined
with the "V" area-No need to Dance mindset that makes it tough- Believe Me that
this will get resolved, the only question is do I want to go thru the same drill
for the 4th time in 5 years or let someone else?
Rick
December 7th
Pearl Harbor- We won cuz we wanted to- Sept 11th- I hope the lefties don't
get us killed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Back to s/d- The Tuesday group said "were going dark-publicity says we are"-
Nope see the VASD December Newsletter It was a great Thursday-Christmas
party, Lotsa fun- and Lotsa dancing- So unlike the V-sad but true, Oh well SH#T
HAPPENS
BTW Ask Mrs. Rick about Shredders
Rick
December 9th
A GREAT Night- We Raised $550.00 for Toys for Tots, Had some fabulous BBQ
and the 4 callers called non-stop, alternating tips. Thanks to all who
came out (quite a few of ya)-I'm glad to see Visalia down!!!! - Tomorrow it's
The Hoedowners Christmas Party In San Luis-See you soon
Rick
December 10th
In spite of a HUGE rain event- It was a Great Afternoon on the not-so-sunny
Coast. I was nice seeing so many nice folks and Dave & Jo, Darren & Tom.
I hear that the classes are up swinging, casual dress and working for good
crowd(s) !!!!!- Perhaps other areas should look West?? I even had a friend from
Bakersfield's Whirlaways show up-After seeing him at Toys4Tots the night
before-Thanks Bob!!! Monday it's Bakersfield- Tuesday is Dark (why was
that again?) Wed, Thursday and the dentist of Friday
Rick
December 12th
I know of 3 people who planned to stop in to Visalia tonight- I let them
know about the dark nite- I hope (but doubt) that the club did as I asked and
called all regulars, and had someone at the hall tonight............Oh
well................
Anyway It was a GREAT day, I surprised # 1 kid with a Christmas Tree (they're
too broke to get one and were bummed)- I was hired for a slew of S/D in 07,08
and 09 (By groups who actually plan ahead-so unlike the V) I also noticed that
my contract with Tuesdays expired 4 months ago, That may make life a whole lot
simpler!!!
Rick
December 14th
A Fun Workshop tonight- We've welcomed "V short for G" to our club
(sometimes y'just gotta be there) Speaking of "gotta be there"- I am about to
BARF over callers who double book- Sheez I've done this for 35 years and have
not ONCE been in that position- Don't get me wrong- I have on many occasions
asked if I could re-schedule and the answer has always been (95% anyway)
yes-Of course I ask long before any publicity is out and at least 10 months out,
and only for festivals, kids, or other VERY important events- as far as the 5 %-
I called the gig I was scheduled for- Sometimes a caller will ask me trade a
date at the last minute-My answer is always No, I'll cover you but as far as
trades go-If my name's on the publicity-I'm calling (unless I'm close to death)-
That has happened - let me think- less than 5 times in 35 YEARS
Rick
December 15th
I called for the Fresno Group tonight-fill in- A small but FUN
nite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A fellow asked me why the "V" area was losing so many folks- Simple-NO DANCES,
lotsa classes,workshops, then lotsa classes, workshops
then......................oh yeah No Dances- DUH- Why learn if there is nowhere
to DO???
I'm really amused by a question I asked on a callers discussion group-the
question was simply "Will the double bookers please stop"- The answers I got
were 99.9% Yeah you're so right and 3 private replies from- "Repeat
Offender-Double Booked Callers" who are pissed at
me,.............................hmmmmmm wonder why??? I hope they're so mad they
quit (double booking or just quit, either way is good)
Rick
December 16th
So after Dan M. (an HVAC Contractor/Dancer) pronounced the Hampton Mansion
Heater/AC unit Dead, and on the COLDEST weekend this year- We went as a family
to see a play-depicting the "Journey" that was traveled by ordinary people to
meet the Baby JESUS-A great show, a True story and the "reason for the season"-
Home again we're FREEZING, and nothing can be done about it till Monday (By the
way anybody got an extra $3500+ laying around) 9 Days to go!!!!!!!
CELEBRATE!!!!!!!!!!and be THANKFUL, and PRAY for the good and the not so good.
Rick
December 21st
I've thawed enough to write in the blog again- The new heater will be
installed in about an hour (7:04am) I've been heating the Hampton Mansion with
our fireplace (didn't care if it was a burn OK day) and a space heater- My toes
and nose are cold, and home warranties can be a mixed blessing- Oh well, the
'estimated" costs are cheaper than an outright purchase but what a PAIN IN THE
A$$. A larger than usual crowd Monday- Tuesday the folks who weren't there
also weren't there the nite the "sudden dark nite" was announced- oh wait it
wasn't announced- I don't think too many cell phone minutes were used to notify
them :(...........I hope that's a coincidence- Wed was FUN but lite and we
decided to skip next week (many of those there had unexpected reasons to miss
next week) -calls/emails will be made to those absent as is the right way
to handle these matters- Tomorrow and Saturday I'll be at Cedarbrook with a pile
of callers who care about s/d in the O/C
Merry CHRISTmas
Rick
December 26th
A Wonderful Christmas- The Cedarbrook Benefit went GREAT- Over 25 Squares
and a whole lot of fun!!
As the old joke goes "How many callers does it take to make breakfast"
S/D in the O/C looks a whole lot brighter now. Thanks to all the Callers/Cuers-
(From Memory) Phil, Rod, Vic, Skip, Rick B. Bev, Milo, Zema, Eileen, Digger
Dave, Roy, Sheldon, Ken B. and more (I didn't get to meet all) THANK
YOU!!!! A Party Nite in Visalia Tonight, A Square Dance Party on the 30th
and New Year's Eve in Tehachapi will wrap up 2006 Dancing
Rick
December 28th
So I'm bored and did a wiki search for Square Dance----------------------I
LOVE the wiki description of "traditional (aka proper ) Square Dance
attire"
.................."Modern Western square dance has
developed a "look" that has become known as "traditional square dance attire",
a "look" that has nothing really to do with traditional square dancing.
This style of dress developed when square dance’s popularity in the United
States increased after World War II, and began soaring during the '50s and early
'60s. Several factors may have helped influence the look that has become known
as "traditional square dance attire". These include the visibility and
popularity of square dance performers such as
Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw‘s
traveling troupe of "teenage cowboy square dancers"; the way square dancing and
the west were portrayed in western movies and early television; and the popular
clothing styles of those times, for example poodle skirts"
Duh Who woulda Thunk????????????????????????????????????????????
Not some of the "pro callers" on
an Internet Discussion List-After all some of these have been calling for 10
years now
PS Wikipedia is the premier internet encyclopedia
www.wikipedia.org
Rick
December 30th
A fun, albeit a little weird, Square Dance Party tonight- I called for a
church group who were having a retreat (folks from The bay area, L.A./O.C,
Arizona and Texas) They had asked if I could play some music for their type of
dancing-Sure- It turns out they wanted to show me the traditional dances of
Greece, Arab and Russian. Cool
They LOVED the s/d-No hay Bales and no confusion between the various dance
forms. S/D was S/D, Greek was Greek etc. and the Chicken Dance was hilarious.
17-25 years of age and no fiddles either- 10+ Squares. I hope all will have a
GREAT New Year (I hope to see some of y'all in Tehachapi) and I'll chat with you
on the First- Oh yeah "Ding Dong the witch is dead" Bye Bye Saddam, Say Hi to
Adolf
Rick