by Donnaj
Photos by Bobbie and Donnaj
Related Photos are here

Bobbie and I (don't over look this one) left Monday and had a rather uneventful drive to Nashville. The weather was good and it was a pleasant drive. We arrived at the beautiful Fairfield Nashville resort where we had a condo reserved. We arrived just in time for the Fairshare staff to leave and let Security check us in (again!). After we unloaded the van (you wouldn't believe how much stuff two women need to take with them while chasing cowboys!), we set off on our first mission, locating Beanie Babies(R) for my mother and friends! We spent the evening shopping and got back to the condo, where we compared snapshots from the last road trip to Nashville and prepared our cameras for the show the next night!

Tuesday we spent shopping again (can you say "broke"? I knew you could!), arriving back at the condo around 3:00 to start getting ready for the evening's festivities. We prepared all the messages, tapes, and pictures we needed to deliver to the guys, got dressed and left for the show.

We arrived at the beautiful Vanderbilt Loew's Plaza Hotel shortly before the doors opened to the Centennial Ballroom. The first friendly face we saw belonged to Texas Bix Bender. He seemed as pleased to see us as we were to see him! We talked for a while, then he departed to get ready for the show. We also ran into the Cowpolka King, the King of the Cowboy Fiddlers, the Idol of American Youth, and the Man with a Dozen Friends before the show.

When the doors to the ballroom finally opened, and we quickly secured two seats in the front row. Then we partook of the fabulous spread of goodies supplied by WPLN. While eating and waiting for the show to begin, we made some new friends and ate some good food! Finally, after some very brief remarks by the station manager, Riders' Radio Theater was on the air again, for the first time in over two years!

I won't attempt to relive the story line for you, since it was rather complex (that's a better word than "convoluted," right?). Suffice it to say that it's one you won't want to miss, and you'll learn what "Bad Kathy Day" is all about! It was an hour-long show containing an entire "serial" (only two episodes). All our favorite characters made an appearance, including Slocum and Charlie, Cash Arbitrage, High Sheriff Drywall Paul, Riders in the Sky and Sidemeat, and a couple of new characters with familiar voices, and the special guest, Kathy Mattea! I honestly can't say whether I laughed so hard because the show was so funny or because it's been so long since I've heard a new RRT. It was probably a little of both. The audience had a little help from cue-card girls, Campfire Bert and Alice LaBour and Grace Green (who was ably assisted by the lovely Dianne Darling).

Kathy Mattea sang two songs during the show (quite a treat!), we learned about building a retirement fund the easy way, we saw Russian cosmonauts drop tools which fell to earth and caused a rare, 3rd-rate melodrama bipolar brain disorder to affect the special guest, and best of all, we saw five cowboys do what they do best, roll up their big sleeves and put on a radio show! To steal a line from my favorite play, "Ya shoulda been there? that's all I can say, ya shoulda been there!" (The play is Moss & Hart's "You Can't Take It with You." If you haven't seen it, go. If you can't go, check it out at the library and read it!)

We laughed ('cause it was funny), we cried ('cause it was over), we kissed five cowboys goodbye ('cause we won't see 'em again 'til February! **SIGH**).

donna j.