as promised...the Fabulous Fox Theatre

I love the Fox Theatre. It is beautiful. The detail that was taken when it was built in the 1920s is amazing. It was originally built by the Shriners to look like a Moorish Mosque. Unfortunately the Depression hit and the financial backing for the undertaking fell through. The Shriners made a deal with William Fox, the mega millionaire who built the other FOX theatres in Detroit and St. Louis. I'm told he built theatres in Brooklyn and San Francisco as well but I'm not sure if those are still around.

This shot shows the auditorium from the stage. It seats roughly 4500 people when full. The "tent" over the balcony ceiling helps with the acoustics. The ceiling is painted ultramarine and has bulbs in it to look like stars. For a recent production of "White Christmas" the theatre renovated the old snow machines they had in the coves and made it "snow" for the finale.

The lobby is exquisite. This is a wall fountain (not running) behind one of the "buy some stuff to fund the renovation" display counters.

The bathroom lounges are bigger than my whole house and the stairwells are a bit over the top.

The lighting fixtures are great too.

This is one of the wall sconces in the back of the auditorium. The following is one of the chandeliers.

The Fox also has a huge organ that they play before the shows. The organist is hilarious and wears an assortment of Liberace style jackets. The organ has 4000 pipes! It is maintained in a room under the stage that still has the original sign. It has never been changed, probably because people would object to losing the photo op.

The exit signs and doors are amazing too.

A last thought: it would cost over $300 million to build the FOX today.

My journey is complete...

Well, I've done it. The one thing that decrees its time for time off. I've barfed in a hotel lobby. A nice hotel lobby. A lot of barf.

Turns out what I thought was indigestion was actually severe stomach pain followed by vomiting. I was rolling around the floor moaning because my stomach hurt so bad. So we went off to the Emergency Room, which was only 3 blocks away. You know I was sick because I didn't object to an unnecessary taxi for such a short distance.

It was 2AM when we got there. Thankfully, John did all the paperwork with the people as I rolled around the couch in the waiting room. It took 45 minutes to get taken into a room. A nurse stuck an IV in me because I was dehydrated and kept trying to get me to say I thought it was appendicitis. 2 hours later a doctor showed up. I guess she may have looked like/had the same last name as a famous ---ball player because we tried to ask her a question as she was leaving the room and she turned around and said "no I'm not related to Manute Bol".

A couple hours later, maybe 6AM, they decide I need a CAT scan, because they think its appendicitis. So I have to drink 2 enormous cups of what is basically Tang that tastes worse than Tang. Keep in mind I've already puked 3 times and am still feeling nauseous. I got the 1st one down and was supposed to wait 30 minutes before drinking the next. 6:30AM rolls around and I start to drink the second one. I managed to drink that and on the last swallow I know it's coming back. John managed to rustle a bag out of nowhere and catch the orange wave before it got on me, him, or too much of the floor. John went out in the hall with the bag of sick and couldn't get anybody interested enough to come in the room and check on me.

So around 7AM a new nurse comes in and says that its time for the CAT scan. I explain that the orange stomach dye didn't take real well. She gave me some anti-nausea medicine and a "GI cocktail" then I went off for the CAT scan.

After being parked in the hall for a while on my buick of a gurney the CAT scan tech came out to get me. He put some more dye into my IV and in his best "Ladies Man" voice (you SNL fans know what I'm talking about) told me that when the dye had made it all the way through my system that it might make me feel like I had to "tinkle".

So after the CAT scan it was back to my room and we waited for 2 more hours for results. Around 10AM, oh and another doctor later, we get told that the results are negative for time bomb appendix. After another hour they give me some crackers and apple juice and if I keep them down I get to go home. Thankfully the anti-nausea medication plus the lidocaine/maalox cocktail were still in effect so I managed to eat 2 crackers and 4oz of apple juice.

They released me at noon with a diagnosis of viral gastro-enteritis, basically sneak-attack stomach flu. 10 hours in the ER in Atlanta...

Stay tuned for some pictures of the Fabulous Fox Theatre.

Dinner Break

Dinner break between shows on a Saturday in Clearwater FL. Lots of options, none of them fast and good and cheap. You can have 2 out of 3, but never 3 out of 3. So we opted for Panera. The girl behind the counter had a hard time with English. Then we waited in the line, forever, and saw 2 ladies so old they looked like they had crawled out of the grave to get some dinner. Finally, the food was ready and they called "Hater". That's how it was spelled in the computer.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve. 2 Shows in Sarasota FL. A dump of a hotel. It's too bad we weren't back in time to see the Magic Show/Dinner (a magician and his wife, who rode a unicycle). Bet that would have been funny.