Left the Drawbridge Inn(in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky) at six this morning(July 22nd) back home in Canada at 5:00p.m. What a blast..what friendly people. Yay for the Axtell booth! I'll provide details later this week. Ron

Ron I can't wait to hear your report! Sorry I missed meeting you and other folks who attended Vent Haven this year. My son Ryan got married and this year is very busy with scheduling.

Dan and Mary Fry repped us at Vent Haven this year. They are wonderful friends and great people. Did you happen to take any photos of their booth? I would love to hear stories and see any photos. We introduced some new things this year.....

The Bee Puppet http://www.axtell.com/bee.html

The Dolphin puppet (with squirter) http://www.axtell.com/dolphin.html

The Jack-O-Lantern puppet http://www.axtell.com/jackolantern.html

Okay tell more about the convention and our booth!
Thanks.

Ax

Greetings Steve, Man what a great picture..my two haven't brought home Mr./Miss Right yet. Must been a wailer to see the young people moving into a big stage of life.
Steve, it's been 1990 since I completed 22 years as an on air newsman(not journalist!), but here's all the news that fits.
Wednesday..registration was no problem. The oil-based food of northern Kentucky was introduced to us..so far no reports of exploded arteries.
That night Bob Rumba(he's either not taken his medicine or way too much of it) was the MC for the Holiday(holidays was the theme of this convention).My favourite was Mark James when he did not only vent but DEAD-ON SINGING AND SPEAKING impressions.
After the show the dealers' two rooms were open..Mary Fry of Axtell is an encyclopedia on vent figures and sound systems..good looking and an absolute sweetheart. I(in my stunned newbie state) didn't see many Axtell figures on the stage ,but some of the top ventriloquists in the world wanted to try mine. Wow, Floyd never did so well!
Thursday..Gary Owen in a morning workshop showed us how to enter and leave the stage properly with a vent figure. He is an absolute techie/vent genius who is ten feet ahead of the newest technical innovations...a former radio person so his teaching on cues etc. was old home week. That evening the young vent hot shot Jeff Dunham showed us how to experiment with new material Folks, what can I say..he is one of the top give gun slingers on the vent circuit. Folks, I'm skipping a few events, but next was the free for all. The General Open Mike for all levels including
almost beginners. Steve, contact your friends about the Please Stop sign which had to be displayed!
On Friday morning Steve Kissell gave a workshop on how to MC. And MY favourite was how to add variety to your act by Maryland's Al Moessinger(Allo). He showed us new folks how to craft a really easy school/nursery. seniors' home show. He used a really easy song round, a simple but effective,easy relaxing way of teaching. Tai Chi night..must run.More later Ron Crowley

I used an Axtell orangutan in the open mic, I was number 7. I felt great till I started my act and looked out at all the experienced ventriloquist then I forgot 1/2 my act....ugh. But it was my first time at ConVENTion and I got on stage.I only have been studing ventriloqusim for a few months so I had a good start. I did much better with the press. The orangutan attracted alot of attention. She is so beautiful and moves so easy. All the press and documantry crews filmed and interviewed us and I made sure they all knew my puppet was from Axtell. The booths were great, I was hoping that the Axtell booth would have the big brown bear, thats what I wanted, I also wanted to meet Steve. Oh well I got to met Dan Horn my favorite. I cant wait till next year. As a newbee it was awesome, I'll be back.......
Ribbons the clown
Robin Bremer
www.ribbonstheclown.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ribbonstheclown
me@ribbonstheclown.com
405-584-1579

Thanks Robin. It was impressive to see a newbie up there. Folks, you can't even begin to understand the pressure Robin was under. Robin, it was a newbie blur so sorry for not mentioning your sweetheart orangutang.The room was packed with top notch vents. We also learned from one middle aged gentleman that it is not a good idea to use Dutch courage to get through the Open Mike. meanwhile, back to the post mortem I began Saturday.
Folk, I was burned out so hopped on the $1.50 incredible bus into Cincinnati. Man, what a beautiful city!Perhaps Robin can talk about the Second Set of workshops at 1:15Friday with the legendary(now senior) Bill DeMar, Steve Taylor, and Joe Lefler. I was back for the Vent videos which were compressed videos of the some of the greatest vents in the world performing over 2 weeks on the Letterman shows,. SO funny..so good! That night friend Stevo Schuling of German MC'ed the International Show with Manami Iimuro of Japan; Allan Blumenstyk of Israel, and Mary and Peter Kingsley of Alberta, Canada(I really liked talking to them).Stevo kindly, but thoroughly suggested to the many Americans at the International show that other parts of the world have different ways of handling things which are just as valid as the US way.There was some discussion on whether Jeff Dunham's Achmed figure of an Arab terroist(two lines of dialogie(1) shut up! & I kill you!) was not a bit questioanable. Allan Blumenstyk(born and raised in the States) defend Jeff's bit and said the humor in Israel is even more hard edged. I argued that in a multicultural country like Canada the bit would have been racist to many Canadians. Great talk and Stevo was so smooth. I just heard the dinner bell so I must run. I'll continue later. Ron

Robin..sorry for my flaky reporting. I went back to my journal..yes..Robin the woman with the reddish outfit and the kerchiefs in your hair. I did not realize you cut back your routine..I couldn't tell in the audience. I'm really impressed. Good on you.You seemed so friendly. Wish we had talked.
Continuing..I mixed up Friday afternoon's International Show with Saturday morning's International vent Panel in which we debated Ahmed the Terrorist. So returning to Friday night..the International show...Stevo was MC..Israeli vent, Allan Blumentstyk performed well..followed by veteran Japanese vent sensei..Manami Iimuro . Much different..different from most of the American vent routines which strung together gags or incredible vent prowess. The woman from the Land of the Rising Sun did more of a story which promoted ecology and the oneness of our cosmos. I believe this group of Japanese used vent more as a teaching method for children and for many members of the Japanese Police departments!I love this style..hope to do some of it myself..but the American routines were entertainment and I loved them also.Robin I retired as a teacher(all divisions) so I will leave a description of Dan Horn's workshop on creativity to you. I think that it's sad that some of the people who volunteered for Dan did not know of a concept taught in white belt(beginner) Aikido..one must ensure one's partner(s)looks good so therefore one strives to help them learn.More later. Ron

Dan Horn's workshop was followed by the group photo outside in the hot sun around the outdoor pool. I had a towel over Floyd because of the heat. Lunch, and my first siesta in four days. Up by two and on the bus out to the Vent Haven Museum about 10-15 minutes away based in three small house like buildings. About 700 vent figures of all types including some of the most famous in vent history. It was quiet there and with my Mick blood I thought I was at a wake and in just a few minutes we'd be drinking ale by the pail to celebrate the clean looking corpses! I missed the last round table. The New year's Eve celebration began at 7:30 pm..we all had party hats! So good looking Nancy Roth..a top flight vent got an innovation with a perfect act..it included the Row Row Row Your Boat round. She did one part and her figure did the second part.So impossible! Then Bill De Mar who ruled the vent world for so long returned to the stage for us. His dummy got cocky and told Bill he could shut him up. Masking tape was used to completely cover this gray haired, distinguished gentleman's lips. Bill's voice was muffled but his vent figure spoke perfectly. As they say up north..another standing ovulation! And finally, a guy who might catch Jeff Dunham..the incredibly well educated Keith Haddrill(degrees you will not believe). This young man who is a vent full time used house flies to fill all the body orifices above the neck! Nose, ears, mouth..way too crazy and funny. Then it was over..we all stood up..Auld Lang Syne was sung and then the balloons went nuts. Gosh, it was sad..how could four days go so fast. Ron

Steve, I know that my report was 2 pages longer than one of Paul's epistles. In Canada the flash cube stuff takes longer to process. I expt my snapshots in about 9 days and shall send you copies. Ron

Dan's workshop was great. I think his idea to use the "Who's line is it anyway" was creative also. Dan picked several people from the audience to use props creatively. Some of us had a hard time understanding what he wanted and probably gave Dan a hard time. Sorry Dan. I knew He was gona pick volunteers because I saw the stage set up. So because I am new and came to learn I volunteer. I knew it would be fun and scary. We had to pick props up from the table and use it in a way it was not created for. A nother thing he did was have us make up a story by each person making up the next word. He also introduced a drawing pad to get creative juices flowing The workshop gave me many ideas. Plus now I can say, "I've been on stage with Dan Horn" ha ha, Dan is my very favorite ventriloquist in the world, I wish he would mentor me! Hint hint.
What I loved best was his little show with his female puppet. I don’t know her name.
It was very funny, fast and action not a second went by with out something great to see
& Hear.
As a first timer I felt like a kid in a candy store!!! I talked with everyone I could. I tried to meet every puppet I saw. The only thing I regret is while I was changing into my clown custom for the open mic I missed one of the round tables.

Morning Robin. Is it possible the sitting routine was the stand up comedian who MC'ed the New Years' Eve show.I can't remember a sitting bit. His bits on how to deal with seat mates on a plane(vent with the barf bag!)Twice I had to stop listening or there would have been a Code Four event.Ron

Again, Ron, I say that if I had known I could sit down while doing stand-up I wouldn't have worried about my bad back! A sitting stand-up comic reminds me of a pick-me-up that was a real let down, or going back to the front of the room, or going up the down staircase, or an uppity person looking down their nose, or a single minded double talker,...

Ouch! Yes Canadian football has three downs,; a bigger field,the backfield's allowed to be in motion, and our balls are bigger. Yet even in Canadian football, a blind side hit must be acknowledged. Ron

The funny old man that said something funny about sitting down was one of the workshop teacher. He only said one sentence about it, but it was so unexpected. Everything he did was the straight man funny and seem so unexpeted from his personality.
I like your joke about the rolling vinyl banner. I had to read it 3 times before I understood it... But then it was very funny. Hey how did you know I was a Yankie? I'm born and raised in PA, but lived in NY, OK, TX, CA.
Ribbons the clown
www.ribbonstheclown.com
www.youtube.com/user/ribbonstheclown