LaughFest

“Spring is when you feel like whistling, even with a shoe full of slush.”

Doug Larson

No better way to welcome Spring than with a whistle and a laugh!

As stated in a previous post, we are volunteering this week at Gilda’s LaughFest in Grand Rapids. Last Saturday night was our first show. We are part of the ‘Front of House’ team, which entails either ticket taking or ushering. For Saturday’s show, we ushered on the main floor of Fountain Street Church.

This photo shows the venue at a previous LaughFest event. The main act for our show was Billy Gardell, of Mike and Molly fame. As ushers, we did get to listen to some of the show. That was fun!

I’m sure some folks are asking “Blue collar comedy in a church?” Well, Fountain Street Church (FSC) is quite unique. Founded in mid 1800’s as a liberal Baptist church in a very conservitave town, FSC has always pushed the envelope to the left. The congregation has become non-denominational, centering itself with spirituality over any affiliation with a set religion. Over the years, they have hosted speakers such as Clarence Darrow, Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Frost and Malcolm X. They have had performers such as Duke Ellington, Frank Zappa, The Grateful Dead and U2 take to the sanctuary. So to host LaughFest shows for a good cause is not a stretch at all for FSC.

And the gigantic neo-Romanesque building is a spectacular setting. If you ever have the opportunity to tour Fountain Street Church, do so. The stained glass is outstanding, and quite unique.

The opening act was Dale Jones. We were still fairly busy seating latecomers during his show, so we weren’t able to concentrate much on his act. From what we did see, he was extremely funny and was quite physical in his comedy. We definitely would like to see him again sometime. Near the end of his performance we were told to fan out, as that is when the cameras would come out for Billy Gardell. Per his wishes, no photography was allowed.

Billy hit the stage and the first word out of his mouth was the ultimate expletive. He then looked up into the rafters, grinned and said “Just checking”. The irony of doing his act in a church wasn’t lost on him. 🙂 We had about 15 minutes of people trying to take photos before they settled in and enjoyed the show. While still doing our jobs, we did get to catch most of Billy’s act and he was hilarious!

On Sunday, the weather decided that it would get in sync with the time change. We had our first temperatures in the 40’s since January! The sun was out, the sky was blue, and we headed out to Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids for a stroll.

The birds were singing like crazy. Check out this Downy Woodpecker working away on a branch.

Mr. Squirrel was having a blast hopping from tree to tree.

And the buckets were hanging from the taps on the maple trees, gathering sap in preparation for the spring maple syrup production that Blandford hosts. A sure sign of Spring!

Our temperatures are forecast to be in the 40’s and 50’s for the next 10 days, so that should take care of most of our snow. That ice we have been showing you on Lake Michigan will take a long time to melt, so our temps inland will be better than those at the lakeshore. Our propane usage has gone way down…thank goodness…and it won’t be too long before we shed the trailer skirting and the plastic on our windows. Michigan has a way of surprising us with late season snow, so we will hold off on those projects for a bit. In the meantime, we will be whistling away, totally oblivious to our soggy sneakers!

“Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.”

Gilda Radner

Very few of us over the age of 40 are unaware of Gilda Radner, that hilarious spark plug of a woman who tore up the airwaves each week on Saturday Night Live.

With her characters such as Roseanne Roseannadanna, Emily Litella, and Baba Wawa, she found a way to our collective funny bone on SNL with every performance. Little did we know at the time, she was to only to be with us for a short time. Ovarian cancer took her from us at an early age, as that awful disease so often does in the families it touches.

Gilda was married to Gene Wilder at the time of her death. Upon her passing, Gene wanted to leave a lasting legacy to her. One of the things Gilda was quoted as saying was ” Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I’d rather not belong to”. So with that in mind, Wilder teamed with Joanna Bull and Joel Siegel to form Gilda’s Club in New York. The purpose of the ‘club’ was to provide a place where people touched by cancer could go for information, guidance, to talk, cry or (most importantly) laugh. Before long, Gilda’s Clubs opened all over the country.

GIlda’s Club opened a chapter in Grand Rapids in 2001.

It is located in a restored farmhouse in a peaceful setting at the outskirts of downtown Grand Rapids. Gilda’s Club of Grand Rapids offers cancer, grief and emotional health support for children, adults, family and friends. People with cancer and their families can come and go as they please, to seek out comfort and compassion as they work their way through their journey with the disease. They also offer community outreach and in-school programs. People are encouraged to give themselves permission to smile again…something Gilda referred to as ‘finding her funny again’. We were invited to GCGR by Sister Sue Tracy to hear her speak. Being surrounded by other cancer survivors let us know that we were not alone.

We were first introduced to Sr. Sue when she, in the role of chaplain at Spectrum Health, sang Christmas carols with my extremely ill mother. She will go to any length to get patients to laugh, and is a joy to be around. She is in her 5th battle with cancer…yes, I said FIFTH. I have had the pleasure of walking laps with her at the downtown YMCA on occasion. She once told me that she was invited to speak on Mackinac Island and was given a beautiful room with a king sized bed. But the real bonus was that there was two mints on the pillow and she got to eat them both. She then told me “Jim, there ARE benefits to being celibate!” What a great lady. If anyone deserves sainthood, it is undoubtedly Sr. Sue.

With Gilda’s Club being free of charge for the people it serves, they rely on donations to keep them going. In 2011, they launched LaughFest, a 10-day comedy festival in March. Quite honestly, Grand Rapids usually needs a reason to laugh by March! This is but one way they seek to fund their programs.

That first year saw 642 artists on 49 stages around town, and included names like Betty White, Bill Cosby, Margaret Cho, Kevin Hart and Gabriel Iglesias. It was a huge success. Each year has brought more talent to town, and the festival has spread throughout the entire metro region. This year, the headliners are Wanda Sykes, George Lopez, Billy Gardell and Colin & Brad from ‘Who’s Line Is It Anyway?”. LaughFest will have somewhere in the vicinity of 900 artists. Obviously, a festival of this size requires an army of volunteers.

Count us in! With us being retired, we decided to give back to the community for all the support we received though our journey with my cancer.

We attended a meeting last night for new volunteers. By the time the meeting started, this room was packed. Next week, we will meet with the specific group we will be working with, namely ‘Front of House’. We will sign up to work events over the course of the 10 days of LaughFest, and will do things like taking tickets, ushering, greeting patrons and so on.

It promises to be a very fun experience, that is for sure. We will keep you posted on the festivities, as they occur. There will be a lot going on in a short time frame. Or, as Gilda would say… “It’s always something!”