Riders in the Sky
Jan 28, 2000 , Great Bend, Kansas
by Nancy
Show # 4,051, Jan 12, 2000
Background: This was a spur-of-the-moment trip - I decided on Tues
night to drive to Great Bend Wednesday morning, so called and got my
tickets. There were 2 shows: 4 p.m. children's show at the
Crest Theater and 8 p.m. general show at the Holiday Inn
Convention Center. The shows were the finale for a two-day conference
of Agricultural Vision 2000 - lots of farmers. The Riders
entertainment was sponsored by radio stations in Pratt and Great Bend,
KS, Walmart, and Dillards. Here goes:
I left home at 7:44 a.m. Wed and drove into the Holiday Inn Parking Lot
at 12:44 - EXACTLY 5 hours. I started to check in, but my room wasn't
cleaned so I ate lunch and went back to check in. Got my room and
drove around back and was met by 3 housekeepers who yelled at me and
told me to stay in the car - that a vicious dog was loose in the
parking lot. They left and a few minutes later, one opened the door
and told me to drive around on the other side and come through. I did
and no dog mishaps. I freshened up, got directions to the Crest
Theater and drove around to find it and to pick up my tickets. By this
time, it was 2 p.m. The ticket lady, Jana, from the radio station in
Pratt KS was not there, so I went back to the Holiday Inn. I met
Ranger Doug driving their bus headed for the theater. I got back to
the hotel and rested up and left at 2:50 p.m. for the Theater again.
No one was in the lobby so I sat down on the balcony steps and listened
to their sound check - for 30 minutes!! Slim came out and said 'Nancy?
I'm so glad you came'. RD came out and said "Nancy! We didn't
know you were coming - glad you came!" The theater manager looked at
me like wow, they do know her! Joey wasn't with them - he was mixing
the recordings and doing Producer work for the Disney album due out in
March. Another ticket lady came in, but it wasn't Jana - she still
wasn't there at 3:50 so I just paid and went it - got front row, center
stage seat. Jana finally got there - the show finally started at 4:15
and Jana announced that "Nancy Chitty had driven 5 hours to see The
Riders for the 28th time - Let's give her a round of applause." Then
she introduced the guys for their 451 show - RD quickly corrected it to
4 THOUSAND 51 when they came out. I won't give the song list - but it
was exactly like their new video, Sasparillo.
About 5:30, I left to go back to the Holiday Inn. Ate supper, watched
a little TV and went to the Center (across the driveway) at 7:15 p.m.
They took my ticket, but the Conference was STILL going on and a
speaker from the State was still on. The speakers' stand/table was
across the room from the stage. They had the stage all set up and
ready to go. There were 2 empty chairs at the table in front - which
would be front row, center stage, and I asked the man if I could take
one and he said yes Mam, just help yourself. At 7:30 they started two
contests with 6 finalists - they must have had on-going contests
throughout the conference with elimination. The first contest they had
to cut up a whole chicken into suitable frying pieces in 3 minutes.
The last contest was a hoot! They each had a wiener and a cattle prod
- they had to get up on the table and roll the wiener down the two
tables and knock it off in a little bucket. I looked back and Slim saw
me and waved - he was in stitches. I thought they are going to use
this in their show tonight. Jana announced that I was there for my
29th show and that I stand up. RD looked at me and smiled real big.
Finally at 8:15, the show started. They did Texas Plains and Doug
said, "WOW - wieners are a hard act to follow!" They made remarks
throughout the entire show about wiener prodding. After the "Bowling"
count, Slim said that there were a lot of wiener prodders out there.
Woody says he is the cross bowler/trail driver, and RD said he was a
cross ice skater/wiener prodder.
When they did La Maleuguena, one of the men at my table got up and
walked out and Doug politely says Buenos Nachos! Woody says that's the
last Spanish song we're doing, and Slim says he's going to get his
compadres - this is a Spanish show. The man came back in just as the
song was ending. For questions, they were giving away the Great Big
Western Howdy CD!! One lady said a couple of years ago, her son got a
CacTie and she wanted to know if they were doing that again. Another
lady asked if they remembered John Paul. Doug said he remembered
Matthew Mark. John Paul had apparently been a soundman for them at
some shows about 15 years ago in Texas. A man at my table asked how
big their audiences are. Slim said on the average 800 to 1,000 a show.
Woody misunderstood and said "800,000??"
Doug said "More than that's here tonight! I've got more ex-wives than
this." (There were less than 200 people there! - I really felt bad and
I think they did too! When the conference was over, a lot of the people
just got up and left.) Slim gave the woman HIS CacTie (that would be
the Cowboy Way) and John Paul got the CD. They played until 9:30.
Slim said they were on the web: ridersinthesky.com soon to merge with
AOL and become farmers. I talked to them after the show and bought
their new video and 2 pony pals.
I left for home Thur about 8 a.m. and got home about 1230. It was a
very enjoyable trip and I was in heaven all weekend.
Nancy
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