From the Farthest Western US Stop on the Tour....

Here I am in Woodinville, Washington,in the Pacific Time Zone, and what a night.  Woodinville is a suburb of Seattle.
When I finally got to the Zembruski home after an eight hour drive north through mountain passes and the like I was in shock and awe at the brilliance and size of their Christmas display.  It's got a combination of lights, blow molds (those plastic figures) wire frames and inflatables plus things that Mark has made (like the beautiful Peanuts Nativity) and it lights up the night like nobody's business.  I knew right away that I was in the right place!
This lovely family treated me to a dinner of Chinese (hadn't had that at all since starting the tour!  YUM YUM!)and then we set everything up.We tried to get the streaming broadcast going, but the internet was somehow not cooperating.  We did, however, get the whole thing recorded and that should be up on the site soon.
The Zembruskis are raising money for the Woodinville Wranglers Special Olympics team and many of them were there last night which made it extra special.  The concert went off without a hitch....and then it came time to  do "Candy," which is a song where a look for a volunteer from the audience who has a "great big deep manly man voice."  Mark led a man, I presumed a friend of his, up to do the "audition".  This man introduced himself as "Bob" and was wearing a Maine sweatshirt...so since I was born and raised in Maine, we chatted a little about that.  Then I went through the "audition" process.  Part one, the guy has to say "OH YEAH" into the mic in his deepest, most manly-man voice.  Well, this guy made my bones rattle, his "OH YEAH" was so deep and resonant.  Long story shorter, he passed the audition.  Then I had to teach him the chorus, in which all he has to do is say "OH YEAH" at the end of every line.  Along about the second "OH YEAH" I was about to say, "You know, you've got a great voice...have you thought about doing radio?" when my brilliant mind put this together like a jigsaw puzzle:  "Bob" + "radio voice" + some time ago Mark told me that the world- famous- Christmas- novelty- song- legend- Bob Rivers ("12 Pains of Christmas" among many others)  lived up here= what I blurted out, which was "WAIT!!  Are you.....BOB RIVERS?"  to which he responded "yes" and I proceeded to do a Wayne's World "I'm not worthy" bow and make a complete giggling fool out of myself.  It was a moment that totally, as John Mayer once said, kicked me in the b--t (well, that's not exactly what John Mayer said, but this is a family friendly blog...) 
The whole thing was a massively mind-blowing experience.  To understand this, you have to know that Bob Rivers "Chimney Song"and his whole TWISTED CHRISTMAS CD (well, we have it on a cassette) have been among our family's favorite Christmas music FOREVER.
Unfortunately, Bob had to bolt right after the song and I never did get to chat with him, but I suspect somebody out there will post a video of it soon.
The rest of the concert went swimmingly as the kids warmed up and danced and a wonderful time was had by all, especially me!
THANK YOU to the Zembruski Family, to Sarah my handmaiden for the evening, to Bruce "Indiana Jones" the camera man who tried valiantly to get the concert to stream live, and to everyone involved.  It was a evening that made memories that will last me for the rest of my life!!