On the Atcheson, Topeka and the Santa Fe

Osha
schomsa

Believe it or not, before the personal injury lawyers stalked the earth, we were a hearty race. Back in the day, it was assumed you had a head on your shoulders and could think. i.e. "if I want to work in a dangerous job - I should be careful." Now somewhere in the middle there should be a trade off of "I should have common sense not to stick my hand in a hot fire." and "How can we cut every corner to maximize the bottom line and the hell with whether or not an employee loses an arm in the process."


I don't know if we'll ever find it.

(Video is 22 seconds long -- Taken at the Wichita Museum of Transportation.)

Music Theatre of Wichita Rules!!!

It's a hit, a palpable hit...

This long weekend my friend Christine (who lives in Michigan) and I are on a sojourn to Wichita to rack up another notch on our theatre going belts. This particular objective was to see James Brennan star as Applegate in Damn Yankees in Wichita, Kansas. James Brennan is our most favorite actor on planet earth, and we'd get tickets to see him to read the Nome, Alaska phone book. In Nome.

The Hyatt where we are staying is treating us as if we own the place -- they ended up throwing us free high speed internet for our entire stay, along with a bottle of California Zinfandel and the staff is all so friendly. Neither of us has ever remembered having such comfortable beds! Believe me, if it wasn't a sin to "midnight requisition one" - we'd pack them in our suitcases would that we could. Exceptionally well priced too.

We can't believe it has been NINE YEARS since we were last here, having come in 96, 97, and 98...when Brennan was Henry Higgins here, and Fagin in Oliver, and later directed Where's Charley? It's too bad only people who follow stage know of him. He's been in 9 Broadway shows, and plays in excellent region theatre productions from coast to coast. He's even done a few turns in Canada, and one in Portugal, of all places. He's a terrific director too. Anyway, we'll see the show again twice on Sat. and twice on Sunday.

Music Theatre of Wichita is blessed to have Wayne Bryan as its producing director now for the last 20 years. This man is an absolute joy to be around and a credit to the community. He's outstanding at nurturing young artistic talent, and Wichita is highly regarded as a venue for both established players and new fresh faces hoping to go on to big careers. Wayne has been friends with Jimmy Brennan and his wife since all three met in Good News - they had their Broadway debut together back in the 1970s. Wayne still does turns here and there, starring at MTW as Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl a few years back.

We did hit the Wichita Art Museum today, they had a nice display of Eudora Welty photos, and some treats which were on loan from the Pennsylvania Impressionists.

Show me a home where the buffalo roam,
and I'll show you a house full of dirt.

Later this morning we will try to hit the Transportation museum (Wichita is and was a major USA train hub - so we think they'll have some neat displays.)

The people here are very accomodating and friendly. Now if they could just DO SOMETHING about the humidity! ;-D