University of Illinois at Springfield

Sunday was a day off for us, so we went to Columbus, OH to visit our favorite magician friend Michael Kent. On the way we stopped off for a round of mini golf, where Jonathan stomped me by 14 strokes, boasting 4 hole in ones. After trouncing me on the green he proceeded to successfully attack the high score on the Ms Pac Man machine.

At the Kent residence, we watched football (Steelers lost), and talked with Michael about how our shows have been going (we've all been having an amazing year). We played with the dogs, went out to eat, and had an overall solid day of "R&R".

On Monday 9/28, we flew to St. Louis for a show at the University of Illinois at Springfield, but before driving to the school, we took a little time to go check out the St. Louis Arch. I'm a big fan of the Arch, and having grown up in Missouri, I have been to visit it many times. It looks really interesting from each different angle. When you're right up next to it it seems like it could be a giant slide. We didn't go to the top this time, but we did check out the free "Museum of Westward Expansion" below the arch. Interesting! Historic! Educational! Free!

Our show at the UIS was an MC spot hosting their homecoming pep rally. We introduced the various varsity sports teams and the homecoming court. It was a drastically different experience performing in a gymnasium to bleachers (as opposed to a theater) during a pep rally, but we didn't suck. And got some laughs, too.

U of Illinois at Springfield has a unique mascot, "the Prairie Star". Nobody really knows what the Prairie Star is because it's something that the school invented, but it was described to us as "a blue star with a constipated face". Check out the pictures and decide for yourself.

P.S. This was the last day for Jonathan's Mustache. Some day he'll post his thoughts on the subject.

University of St. Thomas

Back in Minneapolis, we had a day off to catch up on computer work and also to visit the Walker Modern Art Museum. The Walker currently is free admission on Thursday evenings (sponsored by Target, which is headquartered out of Minneapolis). Modern art museums are amazing and frustrating at the same time: some of the exhibits are so cool you want to jump up and down with excitement, and some are literally just a nail in a stick. One of my favorite things was a video installation of a shed that had been loaded with explosives and filmed in high speed slow motion (does that make sense?), and then looped just before it blows itself to bits. You see the shed just expanding and contracting as though it's breathing. I couldn't take pictures here, so you'll to have to go see it for yourself.

Our show at the University of St. Thomas was packed beyond the point of standing room only, and that always feels good to our egos. St. Thomas is the patron saint of Catholic schools, which is pretty specific if you ask me. During our Questions From The Audience segment of the show, we had someone ask if we know the stanky leg dance, which we didn't, so he came up to demonstrate. Here is a link to the dumbest dance on earth.