Old Man

Old Man

Friday, March 25, 2005-11:55 A.M.

My Comedy Roadtrip finds me in Grand Rapids today, last night was an engagement in Rockford, Michigan at the Crazy Horse Saloon.  I was working with my good friend, Mark Knope (pronounced kuh-NOPE), who happens to be the first headliner I ever worked with for the Funny Business Agency (the company I am working for this week).  We had a great show, there were over 225 people in attendance, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

After a quiet Denny's breakfast after the show, I retired to the Grand Inn for a good night's sleep...I was bushed after only getting about five hours of sleep, having got to bed late preparing for this weekend...packing clothes, printing out driving directions, and stocking up on copies of my CD, Original Gagster.  They only take a couple of minutes each to burn, and a couple of minutes to label, but by then, you're talking an hour of sleep time sacrificed.  I slept right up to my 10 o'clock wake-up call.

I needed a haircut badly this morning, so I tried a hairstylist across the street from the hotel...I was almost up to the door when I saw the sign "Women and Children's hairstyles."  No mention of large Italian men or monkeys.  My second try was a Supercuts in the very next plaza.  That place had a 45 minute wait.  The third time was the charm, though, when I found in the same plaza a barber shop called the Yankee Clipper.  A good, old-fashioned barber shop with old guys talking sports, and the news playing on a color TV that was doing really well with the greens but not too well with the reds or blues.  The kind of set where you turn it off, and there's a white dot in the middle of the screen for about two minutes.  The kind of set that's seen all the Super Bowls, the first moon landing, the inaugaration of at least eight Presidents, and the shooting of two.  I got a good, old-fashioned haircut.  From a girl who was about 22 years old.  Not that I'm complaining,  The two old guys working with her looked competent, but old guys' hands shake, and I like my ears the way they are....not bleeding.  Regardless, I have what I call an "old man" haircut...lots of razor on the sides and short on the top.  Even though my hair grows really, really fast, this one's gonna last 'til the end of Summer.

Tonight, it's off to Big Rapids, but first I must find lunchables.  There's a couple of Chinese buffet restaurants on the same street as the library where I now type this entry, the Kent District Library (www.kdl.org), so I might try one of them out.  I have two shows tonight, and one tomorrow, so this is turning out to be a pretty good week.

Have a very blessed Easter weekend, or Passover if you prefer.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY