I have been to hillbilly heaven, and it’s name is Branson.

We arrived there late Sunday afternoon.  We had to do that because when I ordered our package, I got the dates wrong for the shows.  Our original plan had been to get their Sunday, rest, and start doing shows Monday and Tuesday nights.  Instead, we had Sunday and Monday shows and nothing Tuesday.

Sunday night was Jim Stafford.  Man that was a good show.  Jim Stafford is incredibly personable and funny.  More impressive, at 64 he is still very capable of putting on a very high energy show, with lots of antics and physical comedy.  What really impressed me was his skills on the guitar.  He is truly a master guitarist.  His ability to play the guitar has apparently earned him the title “The Victor Borge of the guitar”.  It is well deserved.  He played Pop, Classical, Flamenco, and of course Country.  Seriously recommended.

Day 2 was the afternoon performance of the 12 Irish Tenors.  We only had 11 as one was out sick.  Didn’t miss him however.  We were in the center left seats on the 2nd Row.  Wow.  Those boys can sing.  They are all irish, although not all from Ireland.  They sang a range of music from Classical opera to Irish standards to Broadway.  Very VERY good singing, lots of energy, lots of style.  Very impressive.  The theatre did not impress though.  The seats were very crammed, and the sound engineering was IMHO a bit inadequte.  Lots of distortion when the tenors vocal dynamics got very loud.

Our overall impression of Branson was positive, although we were not terribly impressed with the various places we went to eat.  We want to bring the kids next time.  There is a lot of stuff for them to do. 

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WHEEE!!!!

Packing to leave tonight.  Two youngest to Camp St. Raphael, 2 oldest staying home, and my wife and I are taking the first real vacation together without children since the first year we were married.

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