Esther's Follies

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Friday, Nov 13. 

Kate has her presentation today at the RHI conference, we're going to Esther's Follies tonight. It's the keynote presentation so the pressure was on. She tells us afterwards that the presentation was okay, not great, but people enjoyed the jokes and pictures. She managed to get some pictures from the Robert Earl Keen concert last night into the presentation.

There was a book signing afterwards (Kate & Ross Homel have a recent, on topic, book entitled "Raising the Bar") which was sort of fun for her. Jim, who has organized the conference, has apparently sold almost all of the 50 books he brought. Kate chatted with her new pal Jean, the manager of the 9:30 club in Washington DC, and she keeps saying that Kate is her "hero". She says Kate is her hero because when she went on the internet to find out about preventing bar room violence, Kate's name was all over the place. Kate says Jean has been trying to get her "Safer Bars" program into Washington DC. For Reg, the 9:30 club is famous for National Public Radio concerts and podcasts. Although we've never been there.

At the conference after lunch, the owners of the Continental Club on south Congress, a club on Red River, and the MoMA which is in the Warehouse area, gave a little talk on their various entertainment areas. Reg sat in on that talk. We're always looking for fresh places to explore in Austin.

After the Austin entertainment talks Kate has decided to take the afternoon off. She was pretty tired having been up quite late to see Robert Earl Keene in Gruene the night before. So we went down the street to the Iron Cactus, recommended by staff at the Driskill, for their highly rated margaritas which we enjoyed sitting outside on their rooftop patio. We also had some tortilla chips, crab cakes, and shrimp. Two young "Paris Hilton" types at a nearby table took a fancy to a table of young bucks and managed to get their cell phone number. Then they texted messages back and forth. We said to the guys that they should talk to the girls but they didn't bite. The girls talked about setting the bait and then reeling them in. It didn't work today.

Before we left the Iron Cactus, Reg went down the street to buy tickets for Esther's Follies that night. Reserved seats were sold out but, after an afternoon nap to recharge our batteries, we arrived early to the club and managed to get good seats in the front row to the one side. We have been before and really wanted to see the show again. The show was great of course, incredibly dense and fast-paced. Perhaps a little over dominated by the magician, but then again he was very funny and the magic tricks were quite good. There were some skits we have seen before but there's lots of new stuff as politics locally and nationally have changed.

At Esther's, before the show starts, we can see out through the windows on the stage to "Crazy Carl" who is outside on the sidewalk twirling a flower, balancing it on one finger, and flashing his black lace bra. Crazy Carl has an oxygen tank with him and the tubes and such under his nose so he can breathe! We're not sure if the oxygen is required or just part of his skit — he doesn't look to be a picture of health. Volunteers from the audience are dragged onto the stage and into the show. There's a couple drawn into the magic skit with the dog in a box and another fellow was drawn in as a player in a skit saying "Yes, my darling" on cue. There was a pretty girl beside Reg who was brought onto the stage and cut in half!  Kate predicted that she'd be called on. She might have been a plant.

The windows onto the street involve people passing by (e.g., Crazy Carl before the show) and is used in skits within the show. For example, they shoot the dog through the windows into the box held outdoor on the street by a reluctant audience member.

Kate had a good day at the RHI conference, she gave her key-note presentation and found some fans. We enjoyed ourselves that night at Esther's Follies. A good day all around.

Transcribed and edited during the OMIGOD! pandemic of February 2022 from notes taken at the time.