Ventriloquist Central - A Tribute To Ventriloquism

While in Vegas, I received this email from Pete…

Hi Dan;

Sorry you couldn’t make it this year. We missed ya.

Yes, this was one of the best we ever had. Thanks to Terry and Jeff, the Museum received two very generous donations.

We had over 80 First Time attendees, who were identified by a red dot AND a red ribbon on their name tags. It made them much easier to see and identify.

The “family” feeling was abound this year. I think people are finally getting it. This is a GROUP thing. We are all there for each other. To help and learn. And that’s a great thing!

The workshops, lectures, shows and open mic’s were great!
My son, Peter Jr. performed again with his partner, Tommy. They closed with Tommy singing The Four Seasons hit “Rag Doll” to Tommy’s new “friend,” a little rag doll. He was a hit!

My lecture this year was “What Comes First, The Puppet Or The Voice?” For this one-hour lecture, I brought Gitch, Woody D., Mr. Johnson, Papa, Krelmin, and Milo Deville.
All in attendance found it to be very informative and entertaining. I had Lee Cornell tape it for me and I will be releasing it soon on DVD.

Later that evening at the Saturday Night Show, while waiting backstage, I began to feel a bit cold and clammy. As we got closer to show time, it seemed to be getting worse. As Jerry Layne was giving my intro, I suddenly felt like I was going to vomit. I walked onstage and went into my act. Three times during my set, I almost “tossed my cookies.” I was sweating profusely and my stomach was doing barrel rolls. I could barely talk, much less sing. (Which I did three times during my set.) After we all took our bows, I made a Bee Line to the men’s room just outside the hall and threw up twice. I looked at myself in the mirror and my face was the color of Cream Of Wheat. LOL!

I went to my room and got sick again. Fortunately, Bonnie Halfond had a fresh bottle of Pepto which helped ease the discomfort.

I tried to figure out what caused this, as I was FINE during my lecture earlier in the day. I had lunch with Ken Groves and ate the Sirloin Burger. I found out later on, that SEVERAL of us who had the Sirloin got sick.

Whoever coined the phrase “The show must go on” needs a slap! LOL!

That aside, Stacey, Diana, Peter and I all had a wonderful time and we’ll be back next year. Hope to see you then!

Pete

Thanks, Pete.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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Here is a great video interview done by Val Hilliker as she interviews Mark Wade about the Vent Haven Ventriloquist ConVENTion. Mark has a message for everyone about next year’s ConVENTion.

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I want to thank Val for her help in providing video interviews for Ventriloquist Central. She has sent up many more video clips and we’ll be putting them up over the next few days and weeks…so keep checking back.

A special thanks to Mark Wade for allowing Val to interview him and share it with the ventriloquist community.

For more information:

Val Hilliker: http://www.valhilliker.com

Mark Wade: http://www.kidshowvent.com/

Vent Haven ConVENTion: http://www.venthaven.com

In the next day or so, Steve will be creating a Vent Haven ConVENTion 2008 web page. If you have pictures of the ventriloquist convention you would like to share, please send them to:
webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

He’ll put them up on the page very everyone to enjoy.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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All writings here are copyrighted by Dan Willinger and Ventriloquist Central. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

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From Tom Crowl

Here is my final info about the convention.

Before driving back to Maryland I met up with Ken Groves for breakfast and he discussed some possible ideas for next year. It will be a tough convention to top, but I have no doubt that Mark Wade and staff will make it happen.

Tom, thanks for all your updates.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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From Bill DeMar

I’m sure there have been others that have reported on the convention, this is just my take on it. Like last year, there was a lot of love being shared. You won’t find a better group of people.

There were 82 newbie’s, and I never really heard what the total number of attendees there were, well over 400. There were some regulars who were not there, and we missed them. Al Stevens, Bob Isaacson to name two.

I doubled up with a fine gentleman, Donald Woodford. What a convention. Everyone knows there is no finer gentleman than Jimmy Nelson. Everyone is always glad to see Jimmy and his lovely wife there. Fine gentlemen seem to run in the vent world. What a gracious, thoughtful, considerate, GENEROUS man Terry Fator is. He gave generously of himself, his time and his money. Ten thousand to the museum.

And Jeff Dunham can not be outdone by either of those find gentlemen, for Jeff also gave Ten thousand,(as he found out) ;-). Both men got a standing ovation, of course. Steven Knowles, (I hope I have that right) gave 1700, along with a very well done, clever auction, which netted another couple thousand, I’m guessing.

What a show, by Terry Fator. I was lucky enough to get one of the hundreds of DVDs he was GIVING away. Jeff did better than an hour of entertaining and Q&A. Dan Horn did a great lecture, AGAIN. Val Hilliker did a lecture and was on the International show, along with Elgregoe and Zilla and Totte, MC’d by Stevo Schuling, of course.

The Sat. night show had Mike Hemmelgran and David Turner who got a standing ovation, and closed with Pete Michaels. MC’d by Jerry Lane.

I don’t know what more anyone could ask for. Mark Wade did a fine job AGAIN. Some fine new people there.

A lot more find things could be said, and more fine people’s names that could be mentioned, but I’m thinking I’m running long. So….maybe someone else can give there version.

Thanks Bill for sharing your thoughts about the ConVENTion.

If you’d like to share your thoughts about this year’s ConVENTion, or pictures you would like to share with everyone, please send it to us and we’ll gladly post it. Send them to:
webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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All writings here are copyrighted by Dan Willinger and Ventriloquist Central. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

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I just received this email from Hugo, who is ventriloquist Ed Thomas’ partner (Ed & Hugo live in Altamonte Springs, FL).

Dan,

Ed and I went to the convention and all I got was this t-shirt.

Now I find out he bought it last year and just gave it to me now.

That is the problem working with an OLD vent.

Hugo

The Ed Thomas and Hugo Show

Hugo, sorry it took so long for you to get your t-shirt but I must say it looks very dapper on you.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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All writings here are copyrighted by Dan Willinger and Ventriloquist Central. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

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