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Week Seven
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Saturday May 5, 2007 - High School Overall Recap (Culver City, California) We had some issues with weather quite a few times on the tour this spring, but we were pretty lucky, and always managed to make a show happen. We only had one more show to go, and it was scheduled for Friday at Oakmont High. The rain moved back into the area on Thursday night, and sure enough it was pouring when we woke up Friday morning. Armand, Tyler and I drove to the school, but it was still coming down pretty good. Our show was scheduled for an early assembly on Friday, starting at 9:30. The three of us waited around for an hour, but the rain never let up. The school wasn’t able to let us use their gym for a flatland or box jump show, so unfortunately that meant the last day of the 2007 spring tour would go down as a rain out.
It’s been 7 weeks, but it seems like it flew by in a matter of days. It seems like just yesterday was March 19th, and we were starting things off with some live television shots at Chula Vista High in San Diego. Seeing as how this is the end of the high school tour, I need to take this opportunity to thank a lot of folks who make this tour possible, and also to give everyone an idea of what goes into making a tour like this run so smoothly.
In the last seven weeks this tour has seen, four different rental vehicles, the ramp truck, and countless gallons of gas and diesel fuel for the truck. We’ve rented over 175 nights worth of hotel rooms. We’ve seen our fair share of traffic jams, rainstorms, and even a few snowstorms in the Sierras. We’ve driven over 2,500 miles, gone through several mops, used over 60 feet of got milk? sticker tape on the ramp, 13 gallons of Simple Green to clean the ramp, 40 cases of water, 100 pounds of ice, 20 intense wiffle ball games, 1 really fun kickball game, 2 woofers in the speakers, 15 nine volt batteries for the cordless mic, 25 feet of XLR cable, countless numbers of Got Milk? hats, jerseys, skateboards and t-shirts. We’ve gone through at least 100 towels to clean off the ramp, countless rolls of duct tape, 23 cans of WD-40, several heavy duty truck straps, and well over 1,000 zip ties. We’ve seen 34 high schools and almost 100,000 high school students. One of our athletes even became a father on this tour (congratulations to Mike and Bri Crum on the birth of their daughter Samantha Jordan).
As you can see, there are a lot of “behind the scenes” things that take place in order to run the tour each year. I would like to thank all of the athletes who participated in this year’s tour: Fabiola da Silva, Marc Englehart, Danny Mayer, Alex Perelson, Anthony Furlong, Mike Crum, Gabe Weed, Dave Voelker, Rob Nolli, and Tom Haugen. Thank you for all the amazing things you do on the ramps on a daily basis, and for all of the extra media stuff we did this season. A big special thank you goes out to my ramp crew, Armand Sylvie and Tyler Hank. These guys are the backbone of the tour each and every day. Without them and their dedication to setting up the entire site, this tour couldn’t happen. Armand can drive our 55-foot long ramp truck like it’s a compact car. He is truly amazing. Tyler Hank will be moving on to a new job after this tour, Tyler, thanks for everything and you will be missed out here on the road.
On the office side of things, I need to thank Todd Shays from ASA Entertainment for dealing with our website issues, and handling all of the insurance certificates for each school. Steven Perelman for all of his hard work booking the schools. He started this process in January and it’s a lot to book 35 high schools. Sally Hassler and Michelle Sampson our accountants, for dealing with all of our receipts and making sure our company credit cards are ready for anything and the athletes and crew get paid. Jason Hines, our ASA Entertainment’s demo manager for all of his behind the scenes work and planning, and dealing with budget issues, and always being there for me if I need any help while out on the road. Anne Mastoris and Olivia Elizandro, for coming to each one of our shows in LA and for bringing me and the ramp crew breakfast each morning. I also can’t forget about Tim, our German intern, who really helped out a lot during the Stockton Asparagus Festival. A big special thankyou goes out to all the dairies who came out to sample free milk on the tour. Swiss, Producers, Berkeley Farms, and Crystal Cream and Butter all made appearances on the tour, and the students love getting the free milk. Thanks goes out to Molly, Kiaran, and Melissa from Context Marketing. You guys did an amazing job this year, and the tour had more media attention in these last seven weeks, than I have ever seen on our other tours. A big thankyou goes out to all of the high schools we visited, and all of the Principals, Activities Directors and ASB Directors who allowed us to perform at their schools, and to all of the students who cheered us on.
Lastly, I want to personally thank Michael Freeman, the entire California Milk Advisory Board, and the 2,000 dairy families in California who make up the CMAB. On behalf of myself, ASA Entertainment, and the schools we visited, we thank you for the opportunity to provide this service to California students each and every spring. It’s been a great 10 years, and we hope to do it for 10 more.
-- Jimmy C
Monday April 30, 2007 - Christian Brothers High School (Sacramento, California) It’s hard to believe that the last week of the spring tour is finally here. It was a blistering hot weekend in Stockton, and rumor had it that the heat would continue for the earlier part of this week. It was fairly warm today, but not nearly as hot as the weekend was.
Our show today was at Christian Brothers High School. We had an early morning media appearance schedule for this morning, so Armand and Tyler and to set the ramp up on Sunday night. We arrived at the school early to re-hang the signage and tighten up the ramp, and then were greeted by the news van around 8. Good Morning Sacramento was the crew that came out, and they did several live hits from 9 to 10. Fabiola da Silva and I were interviewed, and this reporter decided to try skateboarding as well. He was pretty nervous, but he gave it a try anyway. He was actually able to make it partway up the ramp without falling. That was pretty impressive considering the shoes he was wearing.
After the local media left, we had some time to kill before show time, so we decided to go with our favorite pastime on this tour, wiffle ball. We usually just play 3 on 3, but today, we had a few extra bodies, and even our contact person from the school. Mr. Morrison decided to play. His first at bat, he smashed a double into center field, but then slipped while rounding second and slid on his left knee. It left a HUGE grass stain on his nice pants. You have to admire a person who is willing to slide like that in a wiffle ball game, especially in a pair of slacks.
After the game wrapped up, it was show time. We had a 35-minute assembly time, and all of the students were allowed to come out and watch. The athletes were a little sore and tired from all the crazy shows we had in Stockon over the weekend, but it was still quite a display for the students and staff of Christian Brothers High. Marc Englehart was spinning 720’s and flatspins with ease, and Anthony Furlong did plenty of kickflips and varials. Marc and Anthony did their patented doubles run again, and Gabe Weed and Fabiola da Silva were consistent as ever. The folks from Producers Dairy came by early in the morning, and dropped off a refrigerated truck full of milk. As the students made their way out to see the show, Tyler passed out free milk.
After the show, students were dismissed to lunch, but they were allowed to come back and get autographs, and participate in the trivia session for got mik? prizes.
Special thanks go out today to Kent Morrison of Christian Brothers High. Thank you for the hospitality that you and your staff and students showed us all today. We also thank you for allowing us to set up on Sunday night, and lastly, I thank you for driving in three runs for my wiffle ball team, and taking that slide out into second base, despite the threat of grass stains. You guys were great, and we look forward to seeing you next time around.
-- Jimmy C
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Tuesday May 1, 2007 - Sacramento High School (Sacramento, California) We heard on Monday that there was a threat of rain moving into the area. We were fortunate to wake up this morning and see that it was dry outside. Our show today was at Sacramento High. It’s a very eclectic campus, close to downtown, and is actually several schools all on one campus. We were originally scheduled for the football field, but due to some last minute schedule changes and what not, we had to find an alternate location. It took some figuring out, and a lot of last minute hustle with the staff, but we managed to agree on a suitable location for the ramp, and the show was still on.
We ended up setting up on a paved area, that was actually a driveway, and it was located right next to the cafeteria/front commons area. This worked out well for us, because our shows were during lunch. We had two performances today, both lasting 30 minutes or so. That’s not really a lot of time for our total show, but we made that 30 minutes memorable, for each group of students.
Tom Haugen was still a little banged up from dislocationg his shoulder on Monday, but he put his pads on, and rode anyway. He was still able to do some pretty high tech lip tricks. With Tom being injured, the other athletes had to step up a notch, and that’s exactly what they did. Fabiola and Gabe Weed were on point as always, and Marc Englehart and Anthony Furlong went for a doubles run during both shows.
After our second show, I went into my usual “tobacco trivia for prizes” routine. My grand prize each day is a got milk? skateboard. I give that away to the student who tells me the best tobacco fact of the day that I did not tell them during the show. One student in particular, was at the first show, and in between shows, he went to the library and got on the Internet. He downloaded an entire page of tobacco facts off of the campaign for tobacco free kids website. That’s showing some serious initiative, and it’s something I wont soon forget.
That’s it for today, keep your fingers crossed that it wont rain this week.
-- Jimmy C
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Wednesday May 2, 2007 - Pioneer High School (Woodland, California) I woke up this morning at 6, and looked outside. It was completely dry. I went back to sleep for an hour, and when I woke up, I heard that familiar sound of rain hitting the roof. This wasn’t normal rain either, it was coming down pretty good. I quickly turned on the TV and scanned some local news channels for weather updates, but it didn’t look good for the remainder of the day. While I was channel surfing, I did come across Gabe Weed and Fabiola da Silva on a local TV station, doing an in studio interview. I had forgotten that they went in early to do this, so it was a nice surprise to see them on the tube. Shortly after that, I received a call from Shirley McNichols over at Pioneer High. She said it was only misting in their area, and the sky showed patches of clearing. We decided to play it by ear, and we were off to the school.
As we arrived at the campus, the sun was out, and the clouds had all but gone. Due to the rain, their football and soccer fields were saturated, so we had to find an alternate location. Fortunately, they had a nice wide outdoor basketball court area that was fairly level, and paved. Shirley gave us the OK to set-up there, so we got to work.
All during the set-up, it looked pretty clear, but then ten minutes before our first show, it started to rain again. It would stop and start again for about 20 minutes, but it finally stopped and the show was on. We had two shows today, both were 45 minute assemblies. The show was a reward and a way for the students to decompress, after spending the last several hours doing S.T.A.R. testing. The rain had stopped, but we had a new foe to contend with now, the wind. It was pretty windy during both shows, and it would have cause most shows to cancel, but not the got milk? Gravity Tour. Despite the wind, the athletes still did some amazing tricks. Tom Haugen’s injured shoulder seemed to be feeling worse today, so Gabe Weed took up the slack and had some marathon runs on the flat bottom, to help take the pressure off of the vert skaters. In addition to the riding and skating, the students were also treated to lots and lots of free milk. One of the many dairy families that help make up the California Milk Advisory Board, Producers Dairy, came out today to sample free milk. This was our last stop on the tour with a local dairy coming out, and it was greatly appreciated by the students.
Special thanks today goes out to Shirley McNichol of Pioneer High, for being so flexible, and willing to work with us on the alternate locations. Another big thanks to Producers Dairy, for putting in the extra time these last three weeks, to make sure the students we perform for get their share of free milk.
-- Jimmy C
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Thursday May 3, 2007 - Woodland High School (Woodland, California) We thought the rain had moved out of the area, but apparently that was not the case. When I watched the news last night, they had mentioned the threat of rain for the remainder of the week. I was pretty concerned, but when I woke up this morning, it was nice and clear. That was good news, because our show today at Woodland High School was scheduled to be on a soccer field.
We had actually dropped the truck off at Woodland High the night before. After yesterday’s downpour, we were worried about the condition of the field. After a quick walk of the field last night by our truck driver, Armand Sylvie, we knew it would be OK as long as it didn’t rain again. It was clear skies all morning, but the temperature had definitely dropped. It was hard to believe that over the weekend and Monday that it was in the low 90’s and high 80’s, but now it was only in the 50’s. The cooler temperatures were a nice change though, after the heat wave of the past weekend.
We had one big show today, an assembly that lasted 45 minutes. Woodland High was a repeat school for us. It was actually the 1st stop of our 2005 spring tour. The last time we were here, the show was on the football field, this time around, the students were able to crowd around the ramp, and get a lot closer. As the bell rang for 4th period, each class took roll call, then made their way out to the field. As they came onto the field, they quickly crowded around the ramp and received quite an eyeful from the athletes. Everyone was firing off big tricks, but Fabiola da Silva received the most applause of the day. Every time she would drop into the ramp, the girls in the crowd would cheer, and every time she did a flatspin, the whole crowd would scream out. That being said, it was only fitting for her to be the last run of the show, and of course, she gave the flatspin an encore performance.
That’s it for today. It’s hard to believe there is only more day of this tour left. It’s supposed to rain tonight, and tomorrow morning. Our show tomorrow is an early one. I don’t want to end the tour with a rainout, so everyone cross your fingers that the rain will hold off for another fifteen hours.
-- Jimmy C
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