From September 2008 I will be touring America with a theatre production of "The Gruffalo". The tour will take me all over America. This is my random mutterings on it all
And so it is then at 11pm Eastern Time every US network in the land called the election OBAMA!!
It has to be said its an odd thing. In the UK we have journalists broadcasting from school halls waiting until a returning officer delivers the outcome. Here the networks are king and they watch the votes and then project who will win, sometimes with only 10% counted- which is madness. So at 10:59pm ET here the count stood at 220 for Obama then as soon as the polls closed on the west coast the place went beserk as they all called the West Coast for Obama and that took him over the line and to the White House.
So whilst I don't agree with the electoral process I can't help but be overjoyed at the outcome. Here is a man that the world can proudly stand by and call the leader of the free world. His campaign was one of hope not fear, people voted in hope of things to come, not fear of what had gone. Whilst I understand some at home questioning why we care so much about an election that isn't ours, the point is that we share a bed with America, when they fart we smell it, and we should care about who we share the world with and happily tonight we're sharing it with an America with Barack Obama as president
ELECTION DAY and I'm all set. Beer, chips and dips, and NBC all tuned in as all the talking stops and the people have their say.
The last 2 days have seen us leave sleepy Iola (via a place in Kansas called Garnett which Karina got very excited about- her surname is Garnett) and we're headed toward Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
I'm sure interesting things have happened over the last 2 days but I can't really focus on that as the election is currently all consuming. Barack is ahead at the moment and my earlier bad feelings seem to be ill founded. Anyway, I'm rambling and have to get back to watching. More soon (but you're all asleep so you'll probably read all this as one anyway)
Alan State lines crossed 3 (24 Total) Time Zones crossed 1 (3 Total) Oil Changes 0 (1 Total)
2 more days tick by to the election and the race hots up. Certain right wing groups are investing heavily in anti- Obama ads and you get the feeling that whoever gets in, somewhere something will kick off. Below is an example of an ad. None of these are paid for by McCain. It seems he'd getting his right wing cronies to do the dirty on his behalf.
As for us we had a nice day off in Des Moines. We took in the state Capitol and of course the statue of the lady with her boobs out
We ambled through the east village shops, including a nice visit to a shop of second hand goods where the owner plied us with M&Ms and wassail! Yup, with Halloween out of the way the Christmas drive has begun, we even heard our first Christmas song in Walmart today, as well as seeing our first tree. As we left the second hand store the owner said "keep your fingers crossed for a good election", she didn't say who she was supporting, and to be honest she didn't need to. If only crossing fingers were enough, it has to be said that as time goes on and the McCain campaign gets more desperate and slings more mud, the more worried I get for the outcome. The prospect of a McCain victory is frightening and, at the moment, just not worth thinking about. Later on that day we passed an early voting centre that had queues forming around the block. Its difficult to believe that in a such a proud democratic nation it requires a 4 hour wait in a line to even have a chance of casting a vote.
Even then the republican efforts to suppress the vote continue, its a bona fide tactic that they hope will get their guy in. I daresay if its close we could have another 2000 situation as republicans attempt to get legitimate ballots discounted as false, or spoiled. Some democracy. By the people and for the people as long as the people do what we want.
The rest of our day took us to an "English" pub where we whiled away a few hours getting homesick and studying the English tat on the wall, one piece of which was a picture of Petergate Fisheries in York, a picture Anna insisted on posing next to in a shameless attempt to get mentioned in the Blog.
When she quizzed the barman it transpired the 7 owners had gone on a recky to England when researching the bar and assembled their tat from that.
Today we've gone South to Iola, Kansas. Certainly the most remote point we've been to we're here a mere day before eventually heading east to North Carolina and something more like a civilisation than deepest darkest Kansas. By the time we get there America will have a new president. We'll be taking in the results from a motel on the road, probably in Kentucky. I'll be blogging frequently through the night for anyone that cares, but before then 2 shows and a few hundred miles.
Be good
Alan State lines crossed 2 (21 Total) Time Zones crossed 0 (2 Total) Oil Changes 0 (1 Total)
History is a fickle thing. Sometimes down to the winning side it records the words, places, times of those who seem most significant, who are at the rudder of the world as it turns. So in years to come history will record that President (hopefully) Barack Obama returned to Des Moines, Iowa on the Friday before an historic election victory to deliver a key note speech on the very spot where he won hist first caucus on the road to the White House. Similarly it will record how he drew a record crows weeks earlier under the St Louis arch. What history will fail to record is that on both occasions Alan Park (aka Gruffalo) was either in town, or on his way, and that he missed history by a matter of hours and by now is getting a bit pissed at missing history.
As we strolled through Des Moines' east village this evening the signs of Obama were still present, a projected advert from a truck touring the town, and best of all the CNN election bus
So I missed history (again), but I'll live and were it not for this job I would be nowhere near this place right now. Maybe me and Barack can share a beer another time. Back tracking a tad, day 31 brought a killer 3 shows in the space of 3 and half hours. I had no sooner unGruffalo'd that I was stepping back into the sweaty jump suit to do it all again. Luckily Alex kept us all amused by raiding the theatre's wig (they had only 1).
All in a days work, but it did mean the rest of the day was seen from my hotel bed as I struggled to summon enough energy even to drink (I know!)
As you know today brought us into Des Moines 4 hours after history had left town. A day off tomorrow to see the land that gave us Bill Bryson and some famous statue of a woman clutching her breasts- neat!
Till then a pic from backstage in Red Wing.
Alan State lines crossed 1 (19 Total) Time Zones crossed 0 (2 Total) Oil Changes 0 (1 Total)
Our long circle around the US came full circle today as we pulled into Red Wing, Minnesota, A few miles from where we set out a month to go. "Ah" I hear you exhale, "then your tour is done Alan, well done, good job. Those efficient tour booker's have brought you right back to where it all began so you can conveniently drop the van and the set off and come home."
Sorry, no. Still a month to go (although we're all rather happy about that) and the small matter of Kansas, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, New York and New Hampshire to go.
Anywho, yesterday brought some more jollies as we performed in the morning and partied in the afternoon. Well, I watched a Newcastle game alone in a bar, Alex and Anna went round a lake and Karina bought tat, so lots of individual partying... yeah.
My walk into town from the sports bar took me along some real American streets, with big wooden houses, basketball nets in the yard and lots and lots of leaves to kick!
Dinner involved a restaurant that claimed to be Mongolian. We couldn't see much authentic Mongolian cooking on offer but having never been to Mongolia, who are we to argue. It did involve putting a lot of meat, veg, noodles and sauce in a bowl, passing it to a man who put it on something hot and then gave it back. We did this several times and were jolly full by the end. Well done those Mongolians (although my Mongolian was called Chad and from Iowa).
Today we took a little jaunt up the US-63 to Red Wing, Minnesota. Home of Red Wing shoes (apparently they don't make you fly, lesson learned) The town is nice enough and our hotel is next to something called the Bierstubewhich I plan to investigate thoroughly later.
Right now Obama's infamous half hour ad is airing on most channels. Its quite an audacious feat but if it gets him through the door at the white house then its worth it. Just watching it now, as I write this, I am filled with a sense of urgency and this guy NEEDS to be elected next week. Quite simply it will make a difference, and the world will be a better place. We can but wait
I shall leave you with another common sense sign from those adorable yanks. This one only just beat the sign on the back of a lorry that said "DO NOT FOLLOW ME INTO WORK SITE". I plan to wear a similar sign tomorrow stating "DO NOT FOLLOW ME ON STAGE" can't be too careful.
Hope everyone is well
Alan State lines crossed 1 (18 Total) Time Zones crossed 0 (2 Total) Oil Changes 0 (1 Total)
It has to be said its an odd thing. In the UK we have journalists broadcasting from school halls waiting until a returning officer delivers the outcome. Here the networks are king and they watch the votes and then project who will win, sometimes with only 10% counted- which is madness. So at 10:59pm ET here the count stood at 220 for Obama then as soon as the polls closed on the west coast the place went beserk as they all called the West Coast for Obama and that took him over the line and to the White House.
