Nothing to talk about…

  

Well, with Ballet Austin’s Nutcracker gracing our stage until Christmas, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of off-stage information to share.  But I did finally get pictures from the evening with Craig Ferguson.  Above left, is a picture of Craig receiving his certificate of Honorary Austin Citizenship from Arts Commissioner Kathleen Harman, which Craig left behind and still doesn’t appear on his on-line list of cities (maybe due to writers strike?).  Above center is Craig with our blog winner Marsha McNeese and her guests.  And finally there is a picture of me boring the hell out of our guest of honor.

When Craig was given his Honorary Citizenship, he didn’t believe that our Mayor’s name really is Will Wynn and he was equally amused by Council-member Brewster McCracken’s name. 

While Craig’s show was a blast, I am amazed that someone traveled over 1,000 miles to see him.  But then again, he seems to have a lot of fans who are crazy about him. I am sitting here trying to think if there is a celebrity out there like that for me… someone I would drive 1,000 miles to see… hmmmmm… no.

Well, he’s kind of normal and tall

 

Craig Ferguson seems likes a nice enough guy.  Backstage he asked for hair gel and a toothbrush.  How’s that for normal?  His stand-up is a bit more naughty than his TV show -OK, quite a bit more – but for the most part everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

I was backstage talking to RandyKagan (looks nothing like his photo above) who writes for Craig and who opened the show tonight.  I didn’t know if Randy wanted me to introduce him or if I needed to say anything special when I did my curtain speech.  I had been chatting with him for a few minutes when the tall guy next to him said, “Hi.  I’m Craig.  Nice to meet you.”  I had know idea.  He’s like Clark Kent – he had on a pair of glasses and suddenly the celebrity is gone. 

So after the show, a funny little thing happened.  A photographer wanted to get a picture with Craig, Randy and me.  Craig told me to stand in the middle.  I did the natural thing which was to put my arms out like we were sort of in a huddle for the picture, but as I put my arm behind Craig, a wind caught his jacket (a really nice leather one by the way) and blew it out away fromhis body for a mintue.  When the jacket fell back into place my hand was on the inside in a rather too familiar way.  So suddenly I am trying to explain why my hand is sort of closer to his skin than it really should be and all the time the photographer is taking pictures and I am not completely sure but I think there might be a rather embarrassing photo.  If so, I’ll post it and other photos from the evening when I get them.

But anyway, back to Craig being a normal guy.  Before he and Randy headed off to explore the bar at the Stephen F. Austin, we chatted for a minute about our children.  I have a six year old daughter, Craig has a six year old son and Randy has a five year old daughter.  We  shared a non-celebrity moment.  For a few mintues we were just three dads talking about our kids.   Then I think they left to go find some hookers… or maybe they just went for a drink… who knows?  I headed home to go to bed.

Congratulations Marsha!

The winning bid was $1,000.  Now we just have to wait for Craig to get here…

I would have enjoyed beng a part of the countdown.  Alas, I leave tomorrow morning at 7AM to go to another Board of Directors meeting, this time for the Texas Music Project. I don’t get back to town until about 7PMish. A staff person will be in contact with you via email in the morning to arrange everything so we can get you tickets, etc. I will find you on Friday before the show to introduce myself and give you your pass to the reception. This was fun….Marsha, Chris, Sasha, Frances….see you at the show

Delayed Gratification

OK.  So I have a Board of Directors meeting tonight at 5:00 so I won’t be able to post the winning bid until after 7PM.  But don’t worry, all comments are timed stamped so I will know which is the highest bid at 5PM.  To bid leave the amount in a comment.  The winner will be contacted via email.  You are bidding on 4 front row seats to Craig Ferguson’s show Friday night at the Paramount… free drinks… free parking… and a private reception after the show to meet Craig.  The current high bid is $1,000.  Good luck!

Wednesday at 5 will the bid still be at $1,000?

Chris, my man.  What about the free drinks…the free parking… and the post show reception???  Marsha, I love you and your $1,000 bid,  but this was just beginng to get good!  Maybe this will be like EBay where someone swoops in at the last second and bids it up… you gotta hate that unless you are the seller!  And in this case, the seller is the Paramount Theatre which needs a new roof!  Do I hear $1,250?????

To bid,  just leave an amount as a comment.  I will capture your email when you do and will contact you if you are the high bidder.  The auction closes at 5PM on Wednesday.  The tickets are valued at $180 so anything above that is a donation.  You are bidding on 4 front row seats and all the benefits that I listed for Chris above.

Concerning Craig’s quest for Honorary Citizenship, I found the following on Wikipedia:

Ferguson is in the process of becoming a US citizen, and has commented in various venues, including the David Letterman show and his own show, on his intentions.[14][15] Sometimes, after making a joke about President Bush, he will make a comment along the lines of “They will never let me be a citizen now.”

He has recently started to try to get an Honorary Citizenship from every State in America. So far, he has received honorary citizen status from; Arkansas, North Dakota, Tennessee, South Carolina, South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska, Texas, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and honorary Indiana Hoosier, and various towns in the US. He has as well been named “The Honorary Celebrity of South Dakota”!

An 11 year old girl who watches the show emailed the governor of Pennsylvania asking for Ferguson to get citizenship in her state and it succeeded. As is noted by the segment intro graphic on the show, “Honorary citizenship is legally meaningless.” Ferguson was also named a “Duke of Hazard, KY” along with receiving a key to the city.

On September 17, 2007, Oscar the Grouch appeared on The Late Late Show and appointed Craig an Honorary Citizen of Sesame Street.

One locality in the US that has refused such an honor to Craig Ferguson is Portland, Oregon. A viewer had sent a request to Portland mayor Tom Potter. She received a response saying:

There are no plans to make Craig Ferguson a citizen at this time, Portland does not have an established tradition for offering this honor. If we did, our inclination would be to award the honor based on social and humanitarian accomplishments, rather than the privilege of hosting a television show.

Craig then used multiple profanities when referring to Mayor Tom Potter which had to be bleeped. Later in the show, when adjusting his map showing where he has been made an honorary citizen, he placed a photo of Michael Moore’s head on top of Portland.

$1,000 and counting…

Wow, this is beginning to feel like an alliance on Survivor! I will let Chris and Marsha sort it out while others consider bidding, but I will answer a few questions raised:

1.  If you donate your tickets back, the theatre credits you with a donation in the amount of the tickets original price, and then we open those seats back up for sale.  If you ever are not able to make a show, this is an excellent way to help the theatre.  Also, check our homepage frequently during the week leading up to a show.  We post premium tickets that get returned there.  Often times, sponsors and event the artists give back unused tickets last minute.

2.  The reception is by invitation only to sponsors (KEYE for this show) and members of our Century Club who are attending the show.  Century Club members make a minimum donation of $10,000 that is used, in part, for historic preservation purposes to get ready for our 100th anniversary in 2015.  Our goal is to identify 100 members each year between now and then so that eventually an endowment exists to permanently protect the Paramount.  The sponsors and CC members alone have taken us to our maximum invitations for this show, but due to the LLS issues I extended one more invitation for the four people who come to the show as a result of this auction.  I really can’t open up anymore invitations as there would be no way to fairly decide when to cut them off again.  Sorry about that….unless you want to join the Century Club which you can do by clicking here to learn more.

3.  Craig has a campaign to get honorary citizenship from as many cities as possible.  I  do not know what Governor Perry has done, but a representative from the City of Austin is presenting Craig with honorary citizenship at the reception  (yikes, one more invitation).

 4. Finally, I realize that these auctions quickly get to a level that prevents many from bidding.  I want to point out, however, that the Paramount has a mission to make our shows available to a wide and diverse audience.  To honor that, tickets to this show started as low as $25 as part of our introductory subscription rate.  When shows are “age appropriate”, we also give away tickets to local non-profits working with disadvantaged youths.  Often those kids get private receptions as well. That effort is called our Skinny’s Gallery program named after Skinny Pryor.  You can donate to Skinny’s Gallery by clicking here.  Oh, and sometimes members of our Century Club donate additional gifts so that we can offer these non-profits food as well as transportation  to and from the show.  Over 2,000 kids benefit each year.

I hope all this helps, and I am very excited about the bidding.  Thank you to everyone so far…

To bid simply leave a comment.  I will update the high bid each day.  The winning bid must be confirmed before tickets are issued.  The market value of the tickets is $180 so anything above that is considered a tax deductible donation and will go towards ongoing preservation and community outreach for the theatres.  Bidding closes at 5PM on Wednesday.

 Comments now closed on this post.  To bid, please go to most recent post.

$600… Do you want to meet him?

Chris!  Can you feel the love all the way from Milwaukee? I am out here (up here) for a meeting of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Leauge of Historic American Theatres… of which the Paramount is one.  Oh and for the beer too. Thanks for the $600 bid.

Realizing that the writers strike may affect tapings of the Late, Late Show in LA, we can’t guarantee the tickets to the taping on the 29th (but we will try).  However, I am sure that I have 4 front row seats to Craig Ferguson’s show here in Austin, and if anyone can get you into the reception afterwards…well that would be me.  So the bidding is for an evening in Austin with Craig, and a possible reunion in LA for a taping to his show.  Not much I can do to take care of you while in LA, but in Austin I can get you complimentary parking and free cocktails!  (Just don’t drink too much, or you won’t remember meeting Craig after the show!)

Comments now closed on this post.  To bid, please go to the most recent post. 

Who is Craig Ferguson’s Biggest Fan?

I am getting ready to head out of town to a conference for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, but before I go I am happy to announce another sold out show at the Paramount.  Gosh, I like how that sounds. 

The only seats we have left for Craig Ferguson’s show next Friday, November 16th are obstructed view in the balcony.  So once again I am giving up my personal seats in the front row to raise money for the theatres. 

And to make it interesting, I am throwing in 4 tickets to the taping of the November 29th CBS Late, Late Show at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California.  The taping begins at 5:30 PM.  Many thanks to our friends at KEYE for those tickets.

That’s 4 front row seats next week at the Paramount and 4 tickets to the taping of his live show on November 29th in Los Angeles.

To bid simply leave an amount as a comment (any amount) and I will keep track of our high bidder each day.  This isn’t EBay so some bids will be out of order but don’t worry as it tends to work itself out.  In case of a tie, the high bidders will go into a drawing.  The winning bid must be confirmed before tickets are issued.  The highest bid at 5PM on Wednesday, November 14th wins.  Good luck and remember, it’s for a good cause.

Comments now closed on this post.  To bid, please leave a comment on the most current post.

A comic, a chef and some tuna…recipe for fun

  

There are still a few good seats left for the final week of Tuna Does Vegas… 

We just received word that the Anthony Bourdaine special that was filmed while he was here will air Friday, November 9 on ABC Nightline.  As you know, they can change their minds depending on what is going on in the world, but that’s when it’s scheduled.

Also, I think I may have some Craig Ferguson front row seats as well as some tickets to the taping of his show in LA.  Stay tuned…

Craig Ferguson Tickets

To bid on Craig Ferguson tickets click here.