My Weekend in Wisconsin

I've talked about this sort of thing with other performers and industry types before. Some gigs you take for the money. Some bookings you take to help your career. Some are jobs you take because YOU want to have some fun. The National Mustard Day festival is one booking I took purely for my own enjoyment.

As many of you well know, I LOVE the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum. Every year they put on this great little festival without ANY help or support from the town, made famous by the Mustard Museum . They try to get sponsorship from the various vendors with some success but the majority of the cash put up for the FREE HOT DOGS (and the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile!), the games, the food, and other giveaway items comes from the Museum. Naturally they didn't have a lot of cash to spend on a professional entertainer like myself that some of the other fests do. This didn't bother me. I was willing to work for MUSTARD!

They have so darned many different and delicious types of mustards available there, I rarely exit the place without spending a lot of moolah. We use it all in various recipes here so it is never considered a waste of money to us. All I wanted was a little gas money and some mustards to be named later as payment for one show and some strolling entertainment.

Barry & Patti, owners of the museum, are arguably the nicest people on Earth and they put on one heck of a fun fest! They made me feel right at home and were very appreciative of the time I spent at their small festival. They allowed me to take more than any man's fair shore of tasty condiments home with me and they even awarded me a diploma from Poupon U., the world's foremost collegiate authority in mustardology.

Alongside some edible products I was also treated to some fine wearables. Check out these kick-ass medical scrubs. How comfy are these? You KNOW you're jealous of me! I imagine these will be quite a hit for the college kids around Wisconsin and elsewhere.

After bestowing upon me the goodies they even presented me with a check that was CONSIDERABLY more than the allotted gas money we'd agreed upon. I couldn't believe the generosity of these folks. They made it perfectly clear to me that my work was appreciated and that I was welcome there any time. I believe I know where I'll be spending the first Saturday in August for many years to come.

I also took some time to watch "March of the Penguins", see the sights in Baraboo, play some slots at the Ho-Chunk Casino, and found a great cheap motel near my next day's destination, Watertown, Wisconsin.

The Watertown Riverfest continues to be one of my favorite festivals to work. The setting is so beautiful and the people are always friendly. This year I was fortunate enough to work when Peter Noone was there. I was within "spitting distance" of the guy, but I opted not to spit nor bother ole Herman. I saw many women in their 50's and older running to get a glimpse of the man. I couldn't decide if it was sad or cool to watch these aging women act all giddy for Noone. I chose to find it sad for the ladies and cool for Peter Noone. Why not?

Anyway, with the good food, the fine friendship, the beautiful weather & scenery, and the accompanying satisfaction of making a living at a job I love, I had one GREAT weekend in Wisconsin.