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November 2006 Blog
Rick Hampton Square Dance Caller

Nov 6th
I haven't had a cigarette in 6 days.  I have done a lot of driving so that's really good.- Last week was good with trips to Torrance- A fun but small 5 Squares- (I'm told that's above average-sigh) Bakersfield Mavericks put on a nice party with 8+ squares- Mostly visitors- A FUN Night!!  C1 went well Sunday and the weeknights were low (Community Concerts and Halloween) It's Monday so off for 5 more days before a Night off ( I've driven 800 miles a week for many weeks-I'm looking forward to staying parked Sat.)

Rick

Election Day
Visalia went to its new format- 1 hour R/D Class, 1 hour S/d Class, 1/2 hour workshop, 1 hour dance- It reminded me of a dental visit-sigh, When will the V area start dancing>>>>>>>>?????????????????? Here was the announcement for the V area festival-"let's pre-register-we know it's the last" Speaking of Elections- Moonbeam is the Cal. A/G, otherwise Cal. seems to have gone the right way- The House-LEFTY The Senate-??? God Help us

Rick

Nov 14th
Yep the V area never ceases to amaze. When we finally got a new, affordable hall and put on a successful Sat dance the upward trend was significant- A low size class (as are ALL the Valley classes) and knee-jerk changes were made-back to the usual mindset and down we go fast!- ( anybody else trying to a r/d class, an s/d class, a plus wksp and plus dance w/rounds all on a Tuesday in 2 1/2 hours) A dancer (who went to her first non-V area Sat. dance that I called) said-"wow we had so much fun-they dance faster, they're more excited and I had a blast..........Yep that's what the real world is like (Ironically the particular club is the least enthusiastic in that other area- But still light years better than V.  The Friday Fresno group is sagging-same reasons- Those few who wish to polish their abilities and go dance vs. the V area social pro-learner dancer-  AGGGGGHHHHHHH  -kudos though to the new combined Oakhurst Club (The Dead Nuggets?) as they held a Sat dance-apparently just to dance- Whatta Concept-Nice crowd I hear, The Visalia 1st Saturday dance was very well attended-the club made some $$ and No more are scheduled- A day in the life of the V.  Finally I heard this announcement "Support our Squarama-It's the last one" Now everyone with common sense realizes that is extremely likely but to announce it that way-Hey Going out of business sales work-And like many of those sales- This Squarama is the best publicized one in years. Oh well I got 4 2008/09 contracts today- none in the V, I'll wave as I go thru

Rick

Nov 22nd
I'm really saddened by the direction of the V area Tuesday club- It's at a 50/50 split between those who want to square dance and those who want to chat.  I was approached about a new (3rd try) at a "let's do everything in one night format" and said "so who'll be calling for you?" We'll have to see what happens- Now I'm also saddened that in the "normally sane" U area- 2 things that are counter productive are starting to occur 1) The U president is a caller-EEK, Well let's see if he is a "caller" 1) He's been VP for @2 years -all the while starting to call-going to callers school etc. 2) He's gotten paid ONCE (and that was to bail out a demo that another caller snoozed on) 3) He's been active in club/association stuff for years.-Yet he's a caller-EEK (don't forget that it was only one u area vote back that a dude-who had to be arrested at a dance- almost got voted in as the U area Prez) So arrested good-caller Bad?  The second issue that is troubling me is the club with no "active members" to speak of Folds. The fold was accepted by the U and 6 weeks later-"can we rejoin-we have enough actives now" -Now how can a folded club come up with active members while folded????????????????? I hope this group gets conditionally re-instated and 6 months from now produces an "accurate" 16+ member active dancer list-If not My vote is "Sorry Nice Try"-Of course I cannot vote-I am actually a "professional" caller (Full time one at that)
The Fiesta Money benefit in the U area may turn out to be the cancer that kills it-I've publicly wondered that for 4 + years-Please let me be wrong- I agree with Ricky B's (hey that rhymes) suggestion of tying the fiesta money to new class size and spending some on publicity.

Rick

THANKSGIVING 2006
I'm thankful for Lynn, Jess, Cass, My family, Jess's first Thanksgiving Turkey at her place (10:45pm and I THINK they might eat soon-he-he) Lynn's Work, My work, My Friends ,Norm's Healing, The valuable ,remaining family time that so many s/d friends are able to spend together-while battling cancer-heart disease and other illnesses, and I'm thankful for so much more.
Thank You JESUS!!
I'm hopeful and pray that My girls will live a long, prosperous safe life, That Lynn and I will be here for them (That I'll be the first Hampton male (in 4 generations) to live to see grandkids (Not too soon girls!!!!)
I pray for the activity (Square Dancing and the Clubs I call for) that it will get out of it's self-defeating-often internally generated slump and again be a way for recreation and socialization on many (After all I would not have the wife or kids I have without do-see-do)
I wish and pray YOU were blessed with a day of family, friends (OK football if yer into it) and I hope you gave thanks to GOD who makes all of this happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday it's back to work - A Gold Wing Recording Session in Ventura, then a full calling week and A full December with 3 benefit dances I'll be calling at, 2 "party dances" for non-dancers- A New Years GALA and more Apple and Pumpkin Pie YAY
PS Pray for Lynn as she's driving teenagers at 4am for the 2nd annual "Black Friday" shopping nuthouse-I have to get up early too- 8:30am to get to the Ventura Studio-That might just kill me off

God Bless
Rick

Nov 24th
A really GREAT day in the studio- 2 NEW Square Dance tunes ready (well 1 done , 1 almost) for your dancing pleasure- I had a "hitch-hiker" with me and we had a great chat about what we (That's US y'all) can do to help s/d- For once my order at a restaurant was OK and Rod's and others were goofed- Thanks to "Tina" for the great studio work and I hope HE enjoyed seeing his kid tonight (Sometimes y' just gotta be there-hee-hee) I also want to applaud a Sterling Performance with the background singers- So y'all go out-get new dancers-so many you need more callers and they'll buy this music-Hurry

Rick

Nov 28th
A really nice attendance tonight, Thanks to all the "South" end dancers- Square 8's (Hanford) and Whirlaways (Bakersfield) These 2 groups have been regulars for a long as I've called for the group and before-so explain why the group almost always looks to Fresno to plan visits?????????????????? The same nice person who decided to schedule a Saturday dance (That's good) opposite the "U" area's 5th Saturday (That's BAD) -The "U" area is 1) a big chunk of visitors would've come from and 2) The same 5th Sat I'm calling (that's tacky) Nope they didn't want to go on 2nd Sats-(To avoid conflicts with the visitors they actually get so to not conflict w/Fresno-The group who seldom visits and The same Fresno bunch that just cancelled yet another Saturday (Non Anniversary) dance over , I'm told a mere 100 buck hall increase-Any excuse to not dance- It's the "V" way. -------I had to go outside to keep from laughing when somebody asked one of the Hanford Visitors if they were going to the "V" Festival- and were told NO, We much prefer the Fiesta (south end "U" area)...It went on with "but we need the money....it's going broke and folding"........No there's some fun motivation to go-eh?...The truly SAD part is, When the "V" festival was the biggest in CA. and the "U" festival was intimate- The nice folks from the south modeled their weekend after the old "V" weekend- and kept it up.  Oh well go figure, nothing new and does anybody need a caller on the day between Mon and Wed?

Rick