I am writing this from my hotel room near Nazareth, PA. Soon I will head over to Jason Reph's "Reph's Winter Wonderland" for my second concert of the tour. I'm so looking forward to seeing Jason and his family and all of their guests. I think this will be the fifth time I've been to their house since I started doing these tours in 2010!
I cannot stress enough what a wonderful time it was at my first concert last night at the home of Rich and Wendy Motz in Lititz, PA last night. I was really exhausted when I got there because I'd had such a full day in NYC the previous day, going to a Broadway show in the afternoon - a Christmas present from my dear brother Michael Pierce- and then a HANSON Christmas concert with my daughter, Emma. Which was SO MUCH FUN!!! But anyway, I was really beat when I got to Lititz, but the smiles on the faces of Rich and Wendy Motz and their family and friends when I arrived perked me right up. They really went all out. THEY HAD SANTA ON THE ROOF! They got a professional stage and, of course, their display was magnificent. They had around 250 people out in the street with VIP seating in front of the stage! AND as the concert was a benefit for the town volunteer fire department they arranged for me to arrive at their house on a fire truck! It was a hoot! Many thanks to the wonderful firemen who made sure I climbed up and down safely and didn't fall off. A photographer took my picture as I climbed down and I'm sure THAT will be a shot for the memory book. HAHA!
Wendy and Rich have a neighbor named Frank who came over and helped with the technical part of the set-up so I could sing "The House on Christmas Street" along with the animated lights. He mentioned that he is a performer himself, so I got him up on stage near the end of the concert to sing "Candy" with me and he was a big hit! A real showman! Thank you, Frank!
A bunch of kids came up to sing "Frosty the Snowman" with me and it's so funny....kids always SWEAR they know the whole song. They get past the "eyes made out of coal" part and everything disintegrates! So if you are planning on attending one of my shows down the road make sure to bone up on your "Frosty" lyrics! Go ahead, try to sing it now without looking at the lyrics and let me know how far YOU get!
Rain had been predicted but it held off until after the show when I had just finished signing autographs. Thank the Lord! I was being interviewed by the local cable station when it started raining and it was a big rush to get all the gear out of the rain, but everything survived--- I hope. I'll know when I set it all up at the Reph's in a little while. Fingers crossed.
My dear friends Larry and Carolyn Heard came to the concert and took me out to an Italian restaurant for dinner after the show. We had a lot of catching up to do and closed the place down. They are both crazed Carpenter fans and that's how we met. They are beautiful people and we had a wonderful time. Thank you, Larry and Carolyn! I'm so lucky to know you!
I got to lay my head in a wonderful bed at the General Sutter Inn, a historic inn in Lititz and it was extremely comfortable. This morning Rich and Wendy met me and treated me to a Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast - there was apple pie on the buffet, for breakfast! - but I resisted that temptation. It's a good thing because I ended up eating three of Wendy's delicious cookies (she gave me a giant bag of them from last night) on the way to this stop.
Lititz is an amazing little town. Not only beautiful, but interesting. There is a place called "Rock Lititz" that does staging, lighting and sound for major concerts all over the world and we dropped over there for a look around this morning. They also took me to a huge, beautiful park where many events are held and I enjoyed watching the ducks in the canal. Perhaps I'll come back to perform in the park on the 4th of July! We talked about that possibility. Oh, and by the way, at the concert last night they gave me a basket of Lititz goodies, including chocolates from the Wilbur Chocolate company that I'm told are the forerunners of the famous Hershey kisses....but better! I haven't broken into that bag yet. I want to fit into my coat for the rest of the tour!
And here's the best news of all....this first concert on The House on Christmas Street 2017 Charity Tour raised just shy of a thousand bucks for the Lititz Volunteer Fire Department!! HOORAY and many, many thanks to all the people who came out and donated generously! You are all heroes in my book!
I cannot stress enough what a wonderful time it was at my first concert last night at the home of Rich and Wendy Motz in Lititz, PA last night. I was really exhausted when I got there because I'd had such a full day in NYC the previous day, going to a Broadway show in the afternoon - a Christmas present from my dear brother Michael Pierce- and then a HANSON Christmas concert with my daughter, Emma. Which was SO MUCH FUN!!! But anyway, I was really beat when I got to Lititz, but the smiles on the faces of Rich and Wendy Motz and their family and friends when I arrived perked me right up. They really went all out. THEY HAD SANTA ON THE ROOF! They got a professional stage and, of course, their display was magnificent. They had around 250 people out in the street with VIP seating in front of the stage! AND as the concert was a benefit for the town volunteer fire department they arranged for me to arrive at their house on a fire truck! It was a hoot! Many thanks to the wonderful firemen who made sure I climbed up and down safely and didn't fall off. A photographer took my picture as I climbed down and I'm sure THAT will be a shot for the memory book. HAHA!
Wendy and Rich have a neighbor named Frank who came over and helped with the technical part of the set-up so I could sing "The House on Christmas Street" along with the animated lights. He mentioned that he is a performer himself, so I got him up on stage near the end of the concert to sing "Candy" with me and he was a big hit! A real showman! Thank you, Frank!
A bunch of kids came up to sing "Frosty the Snowman" with me and it's so funny....kids always SWEAR they know the whole song. They get past the "eyes made out of coal" part and everything disintegrates! So if you are planning on attending one of my shows down the road make sure to bone up on your "Frosty" lyrics! Go ahead, try to sing it now without looking at the lyrics and let me know how far YOU get!
Rain had been predicted but it held off until after the show when I had just finished signing autographs. Thank the Lord! I was being interviewed by the local cable station when it started raining and it was a big rush to get all the gear out of the rain, but everything survived--- I hope. I'll know when I set it all up at the Reph's in a little while. Fingers crossed.
My dear friends Larry and Carolyn Heard came to the concert and took me out to an Italian restaurant for dinner after the show. We had a lot of catching up to do and closed the place down. They are both crazed Carpenter fans and that's how we met. They are beautiful people and we had a wonderful time. Thank you, Larry and Carolyn! I'm so lucky to know you!
I got to lay my head in a wonderful bed at the General Sutter Inn, a historic inn in Lititz and it was extremely comfortable. This morning Rich and Wendy met me and treated me to a Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast - there was apple pie on the buffet, for breakfast! - but I resisted that temptation. It's a good thing because I ended up eating three of Wendy's delicious cookies (she gave me a giant bag of them from last night) on the way to this stop.
Lititz is an amazing little town. Not only beautiful, but interesting. There is a place called "Rock Lititz" that does staging, lighting and sound for major concerts all over the world and we dropped over there for a look around this morning. They also took me to a huge, beautiful park where many events are held and I enjoyed watching the ducks in the canal. Perhaps I'll come back to perform in the park on the 4th of July! We talked about that possibility. Oh, and by the way, at the concert last night they gave me a basket of Lititz goodies, including chocolates from the Wilbur Chocolate company that I'm told are the forerunners of the famous Hershey kisses....but better! I haven't broken into that bag yet. I want to fit into my coat for the rest of the tour!
And here's the best news of all....this first concert on The House on Christmas Street 2017 Charity Tour raised just shy of a thousand bucks for the Lititz Volunteer Fire Department!! HOORAY and many, many thanks to all the people who came out and donated generously! You are all heroes in my book!
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