We were up early Saturday morning to leave Kelso, WA and finish the trip to Salem, OR. We are scheduled for a performance at the Historic Elsinore Theatre on Saturday night.
We arrived in Salem easily and the directions to the venue were great. We pulled right up to the loading doors to a crew that was ready and able to get us in. Greg Rieder is the technical director here and he had everyone prepared for us…which made our day so much easier AND enjoyable! Everyone – Jay, Wayne, Becky, Michael and Greg – were incredibly professional and helpful. We were up and teched for the show by 5pm; doors would open at 7pm. That gave us enough time to finish up the smaller things and grab some food.
The Elsinore Theatre is unlike any other restored venue in which we have ever been. The design and style is very cathedral-like – stained glass, large murals, double staircases, embellished workshop and a magnificent proscenium that I can’t even begin to describe. With almost 1300 seats, it is very intimate and grand at the same time.
The show went very smoothly and we had some good volunteers (and some that were a bit more enthusiastic than we’re used to). The comments from audience members after the show were all very positive. The age was very mixed and there were lots of students from the local college, Willamette University. We love these kinds of audiences! I also had the pleasure of meeting several of the area magicians from Salem and Portland.
After loading out, we said our goodbyes to everyone and took off for the hotel (with a pit stop at the local Dennys). On Sunday morning, we’ll head back to Portland where Cindy and Kylie will fly home while David and I make the 3100 mile drive to Virginia.
This was the last show on our “western” U.S. tour….a nice one to go out on. Thanks Salem, Steve Martin, Greg Rieder and everyone at the Historic Elsinore Theatre!