On the Road: End of the Tour

Never to part since the day we met
Out on Interstate 91…

At the end of the tour
When the road disappears
If there’s any more people around
When the tour runs aground
And if you’re still around
Then we’ll meet at the end of the tour.

~They Might Be Giants, John Henry
‘The End of the Tour’

I’ve liked this particular song by TMBG since I was in high school. Seeing as FoodPlay’s home office in Hatfield is just off of I-91 in Western Mass, it seems all the more appropriate to me this week–my last week on tour with FOODPLAY.

The Home Stretch
It’s been a long and winding road for FOODPLAY Troupe 1 as we’ve performed across the Northeast–from the North Shore of Massachusetts to the wilderness of Central Maine and all of the darling hamlets, townships, and military academies in between.

Check out what Pointer View had to say about our recent show at West Point. Our final week on tour has us performing in Vermont in partnership with Hannaford Supermarkets, and we close out the tour with performances in Marlborough and Berkley, MA. All this is to say that we have just three more shows before we truly reach the end of the tour.

Coach J’s Pick of the Tour

If there’s one thing I’ve learned on the road with FOODPLAY in the past year, it’s this: everything we do is for the kids. And my favorite part of this work are their contagious smiles, their pure laughter, and their unexpected one-liners. With that in mind, here are my top five kid quotes on tour this Fall.

#5 “Fish sticks! Fish sticks!”
~A very excited front-row audience member turned beat-red exclaiming his idea of a healthy ‘go food’ he likes to eat for breakfast.
#4 “You talk a lot.”
~An astute observation from a child in the opening moments of the show. I think he wanted more of the juggling tricks, less of the talking.
#3 “Don’t eat a greasy beef stick. Fool.”
~ A third grader dismissing her classmate, who was yelling out, “Greasy beef stick!” in Snack Attack, our game show finale. For the record, the answer for the protein ‘go snack’ is trail mix with nuts, seeds and dried fruit. Not the greasy beef stick.
#2 “Um….um…um…I like to do Karate.”
~ A child at a public performance in Carmel, NY who got up onstage with us, danced around in nervous excitement, and raised his hand to be called on. After his announcement about his karate expertise, we gave our ‘karate kid’ a big round of applause, sat him back down, and continued on with the show.
And the top kid quote for FP Troupe 1’s 2011 Fall Tour…
#1 “This is fun!”
~ A girl in the front row in a loud whisper to her friend at Summit Elementary School in Essex Junction, VT.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s the biggest complement any Coach could ever get.

Thanks for a great ride FOODPLAY!

Happy Holidays!
~Coach J