Kansas Part 1 Continued...

After looting thrifting in Lawrence, Patricia and I loaded up and headed over to Topeka to go to my FAVORITE thrift store in the entire world!  On the way we stopped and saw our friends  Donneta and Jeff who my family stays with every year on our trip to Kansas bringing a gift of wild flowers, and lots of attentive petting for our favorite Golden Retriever Cooper, after saying hello we were on to Topeka!

While this pickings were pretty slim, I did pick up a record player for $40.00 for Casablanca regular and friend Sheldon, and some new records for myself!

( Julie Andrews in "Camelot", Yule Brenner in "The King & I" , "Promises Promises", Dean Martin "Everybody Loves Somebody", Angela Lansbury in "Mame" )

 I also found a new piece to save up my money for, I would have bought it this go round if only we could have made it fit in the car! This crank Victrola is bused, but it looks JUST like the one in "It's A Wonderful Life" and I've wanted it for a couple of years now, and its always there so If it happens to be there at Christmas I might just fork over the  money for it and bring it home.

After Joyland Patricia Treated me to a birthday dinner at Outback Steak House, and then we headed back to Lawrence... but made a side trip to Lake Perry in scenic Perry Kansas!

As the sun set we headed back to Curtis' place, and finally fell asleep listening to our new Dean Martin record.


-Mick-

Colorful Kansas & Magnificent Missouri, Our Trip Part 1.

Bright and early Tuesday morning, Patricia and I loaded up the car and headed out for Lawrence Kansas! It's about an eight hour drive and we were on our way to see and stay with friend Curtis for a few days.

So we drove, and drove, and drove some more through Oklahoma City....

Through the Kansas Flint Hills and finally we made it to Curt's house.  Once unloaded,  Curt and his girlfriend Lauren took us over to the "Lawrence Observation Point" it is a neat Civil Engineers project that's free to the public.

(Lauren, Curtis, & Patricia)

(The Observation tower)

We got there just as the sun was about to set, and it gave to us a spectacular view!

(Patricia & I watching the sun sink over the hills )

To end the Day we took a hike on a small trail, then headed home for dinner and a good nights rest! 

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Wednesday June 22, My Birthday...

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Was a day of thrifting fun! Our little group started in down town Lawrence Kansas on Mass street. Massachusetts Street is lined with old buildings and is mostly antique and reporupus shops... theres also parts of the street that have been taken over by the Dreaded "Hipsters" Ugh.

Patricia stopped to pose by the bicycle, shes wearing the favorite dress that I got her on another thrifting trip and two seconds after this picture was taken a lady walked up and told her she "Looked absolutely stunning"  and I would have to agree!

The next stop was in The Love Garden record shop on Mass St.  They have so many records it will  make your head spin... haha Okay I'll stop trying to be punny!

(Curtis has a listen to Mr. Conway Twitty...)

After that we hit a few vintage clothing stores here and there...

(Lauren likes to play dress up, poor Curtis...)

Finally we wrapped up the Mass Street activities with a trip to my second favorite Antique mall in Kansas...

(Patricia Looking for vintage hats)

(The Haul from The Antique Mall)

The Lamp I purchased for the set of Hairspray for $30.00, the fireplace TV lamp I snagged for $14.00 and the Commemorative plate I got fro $8.00 and will soon have a place in the kitchen of the Casablanca!

(" 'America's First Family' President & Mrs Dwight D. Eisenhower") 

Well that's all I'm going to show for now! Tune in Wednesday for the rest of my Birthday adventure and Friday for our electrifing outing!

-Mick-

We're Off!

Patricia and I are off on a Midwest, Birthday road trip adventure this week!

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Be back and blogging about it next week!

-Mick-

Yay More Junk!

Found yet another teacup with my Grandmothers blue and pink flower pattern on it from her Wedding Dishes for $0.33!! I had just been telling Patricia about the last time I came and out of no where spotted one and then just as I was gesturing to where I found it BAM! There was another one! Of course a frantic search ensued to see if there were any matching plates or candy trays, but alas one little teacup was all that remained. The record in the back is an Ebay find, from the 1953 Broadway musical "Wonderful Town" after stumbling upon the 1954 telecast with Rosalind Russell!
I HAD to have it, mostly because of the song in the show titled "Conga!" What Basically happens is Ruth more level headed sister (played by R.R.) in dire need of a job heads down to the Brooklyn Ship yard to get an interview (for a paper she thinks she has been hired at, but is really just a mean joke from her more attractive sister Eileen's beau.) from the foreign Saliors  who only know the English words "American. Dance. Conga!" and Hillarity ensues...

Its just a terribly fun show I hope to be apart of someday! AND who doesn't love a good conga!

Now I owe a great big thank you to Chris over at Im not Old im Vintage!

She read my post about the fantstic Frankoma I scooped up, and offered to send a few pieces my way. She totally surprised me and made my day with the White glazed vase for my Birthday (June 22 is right around the corner!) I love the way it looks and its marked "43" on the bottom, I know that's the pattern number but the Casablanca was BUILT in 1943, How perfect! Thanks so much Chris I'm just itching to use it!

Hope your thrifts are good ones!

-Mick-

Seussical - The Musical

"Oh the things you can think, when you think about Seuss..."

(Cat in the Hat & Jojo)

This show has been a trial for me, You see I am a "period set" guy, period...

None the less this show has broadened my horizons, every set piece was made from the imagination of Myself, Director Lara, and  Set dressing team!

(The very last photo of the Villa Von Trapp)

For the vast world of Seuss we used lots of open space and only about four moving stages pieces, I wanted the colors to be vibrant and flow with the setting. The show has action in two distinct places, the Jungle of Nool, and the Planet "Who".

(Rough drawing of stage overview, Maize's tree, and the Who Instruments )

 

(The Jungle of Nool )

For the jungle Center stage, we created foliage effects by painting with wadded up T-shirts using a base coat of green, the slopping a darker green over the base coat and finally adding a medium green to even it out. The stairs were painted bright orange to contrast, and to be visable for exits in a black out.

For "The Planet of Who" which flanked both sides of the stage. I used a bight yellow with red accent, Most people say it looks like someone took a giant crayon and scribbled everywhere and that's exactly what I wanted!

(Put it all together and Ta-da! Click to enlarge!)

(before the red swirls were added)

The four set pieces have been so much fun to dream up and make!  The first being the red claw foot bathtub and the rolling platform it sits on.

Originally the entire stage floor was to be painted with the yellow and red swirls but was changed later in production ...

The Piano with special made curvy keys, painted a base of purple then splattered with blood red and white, The I used a sharpie marker to draw in the keys! The design comes from the Broadway production of Seussical, (with our own twist on it ) built by Nick. 

(Friend Chloe finger painted the titles of the books on the steps!)

The Tree is the home of Maize La-bird, thinking outside the box I gave it a coat of blue and then added purple and white zebra stripes!

The Clover patch...

Made from muslin and quite a few funny looking sponges spray painted pink! One of the other "plant life" props included the "Pill-berry bush"...

(Crappy office palm before)

 (Pill-berry bush after!)

What really makes this show, is a combination of the Lights, Costumes and Sets everyone has worked hard and its really paid off!  We got an outstanding review which you can read Here.  One of my favorite lines being...

"These tales jump to life with the brilliantly colored costumes and brightly painted sets."

 But none of this would have been possible with out my Team!

(Cameron, Sheldon, Myself, Bryson, Chloe, Jordan, Joe, Patricia, Director Lara & Spencer)

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For my memorabilia fix for the production, I was lucky to snag a "Horton Hears A Who" Record off of Ebay.

(Seussical is basically the story of Horton Hears a Who/ Horton Hatches the Egg)

All in all another smashing sucess for Myself, the Set Dressing Team and the Wichita Theater!

-Mick-