"Fun" Show

It has been a long, long, long day.  And a lot of what happened to lead up to today I don't want to talk about.

The summary is that a friend of mine was going to perform Chasing Cars in my dad's church Fun Show and enlisted me for a backup vocalist because I can invent harmonies on the fly.  Then the parents of the lead vocalist decided to change some of the words so that no one could "take them out of context" and get upset about them (said lead vocalist and I later went through the entire song together and pointed out to each other how the entire song could be read in ways that could potentially offend people in the congregation; we're awesome).  Then I spent at least an entire day trying to decide whether I felt okay singing the new lyrics and decided I didn't, and then everyone's parents got mad.  I didn't care.

But it sort of ruined the event for me, understandably.  I recorded the performance for them, and I was wistful and annoyed the entire time.  I wanted to be singing.  But I wanted to be singing the actual song, not what it became.

There were some really great acts though.  Some of my favorites were:
Five little girls who sang Let It Go, complete with single gloves and adorable capes.  And I mean actually sang, not yelled.  Sure, some of them were a little off-key, but overall there was a tune and it was the correct one.  They also knew all the words.  It was awesome.

A skit that basically went through the entire Old Testament in five minutes, Dr. Seuss-style.  A parent with a microphone stood off-stage reading the poem, while a bunch of kids, teens, and parents crossed the stage from one side to the other, pausing in the middle to illustrate the poem -- David slew Goliath, Noah picked up all the animals in his shopping cart ark, Ruth and Boaz skipped around arm in arm and stopped to kiss (obviously this one was played by a couple of parents).  It was surprisingly sweet.

A silent skit that is apparently Hindi, about a homeless man who assembles a woman out of a broom and some discarded clothing, and dances for/with her.  It was particularly amazing because the person performing the skit was a woman wearing makeup to look like a man who hadn't had a shave in a few days.  She put her hair up in a bun and hid it under her hat, which is a seriously impressive feat considering it falls well past her waist if she leaves it loose.

My dad reciting The Man From Snowy River.  In an Australian accent.  Complete with getting up off the seat when it got exciting and walking around, making hand gestures.  Twice he forgot the next line, repeated the previous one and still couldn't get it, consulted his printout, and carried on.  The poem is just over 1,000 words though, so I think that's pretty good.  I've been waiting to hear this performance for years (literally), and I may have made some embarrassing hand-flapping gestures when I found out he was doing it.