Sun May 1 = My allergies started bothering me with a runny nose, so I'll be starting Nasoex tomorrow until I run out then switch to Nasacourt [Triamcinolone acetonide (glucocorticoid) 55mcg per spray Original prescription strength 2X 120 sprays], which my allergist says is the same thing, only over-the-counter and cheaper.
- This morning I refolded my comforter to get a greater width and a pattern I like a little better on top.. Also I drove around the Walmart parking lot and found a perfect, shady spot for the mornings... almost. It is near the truck lane and the freeway.
- Bummer: The manager on duty at Walmart, said customers were not allowed to pass out anything, which included my comedy information tabs.
- I spent most of this afternoon at the Madison County Public Library, updating some videos and then went to Walmart for some apples, grapefruit and Nasacourt. That's where I spent the night
Mon May 2 = Today's main event; I mean this evening's main event was doing comedy at the Main Street Cafe there in Berea. It was a fun group; I was the only comedian; I did an almost 20-minute set.
- I spent the night at the Berea Walmart.
Tue May 3 = This was a LONG, hard day of driving from Berea, KY to Raleigh, NC. I got to Goodnights early, but barely a half hour before sign-ups started.
- It was good to be welcomed again and hang with some of the comedians I had met previously there. It is one of the most congenial group of aspiring comedians around. My three-minute set ended abruptly, before I could get out my zinger of a closing, after 2:48 when they started an applause and turned down the mic. I should have known, because all the comedians before me had short sets.
Wed May 4 = I headed for Gastonia, NC. There I found a Gold's Gym, did a little working out and showered.
- This evening it was my first appearance at Zoe's Coffee House and I was the only comedian for the open mic. The crowd of 38 was awesome and everything seemed to click for me. Everyone had a lot of fun. I did my relatively new Sympathy/100/Boxes/Oscar/Avalanche routine, wanting to perfect it, instead of the old man routine I usually do on my first appearances.
- This evening I installed the iKitesurf app on my Nexus6P phone.
Thu May 5 = Up to Greensboro for an appearance at The Idiot Box Comedy Club. Since it was my third time there, I enjoyed some of my comedian frends from my previous visits. I did pretty much the same routine as last night. Didn't get nearly as many laughs, but it was still OK.
Fri May 6 = I spent the night in the Tyrrell Library parking lot in Colombia, NC, after researching the Zoom H1 and H2n digital recorders. Amazing features, but a little bigger than I would like. The key is to get an audio recording that EXACTELY matches that of my video cameras.
Sat May 7 = This morning, at the library I analyzed some test videos I did in Phoenix and found that after recording 30 minutes the audio was off by a difference of one frame, or .03 seconds. Not particularly good, but probably workable with my multi-camera comedy videos.
- I drove on to the
,
stopping by all the kite shops on my way south to Dollar Tree in Avon. On the way I showed interested people my Comedy-n-Sunset poster, passed out micro-poster reminders and put posters up at Kittyhawk Kites, Hatteras Realty, the Avon post office and Dollar Tree.
- Also I think I made a kid really happy this afternoon. Near Hatteras Island Sail Shop I met 9-year old Keith Owens and his parents, Brian and Amy. We talked about kiteboarding for Keith and I suggested that, at his age, he might want to first learn to fly a two-line stunt kite. I have three of 'em in my van that I hardly ever fly and have been thinking of giving away some time. It was perfect. I gave Keith a delta kite, lines and all. This was the slower one, just perfect for beginners. You may remember,
Stan
Stanley, my older brother who is a machinist for Eaton Corporation in Hutchinson, KS
,
it is the purple one that you flew several years ago. Good luck, Keith! Also his dad bought two of my comedy T-shirts.
thanks you, Brian.
- I spent the night in Rodanthe.
Sun May 8, MOTHERS' DAY = It was windy the last of the night and into the morning, but since I got to bed around midnight I lazied out and did not do the dawn patrol kiteboarding.
- I ordered a Zoom H2n digital recorder with an awesome set of features... and still fairly small (1.7 x 2.7 x 4.5"). I just hope that it produces recordings that EXACTELY match the time frame of my Canon video camera and my Panasonic camera.
- This afternoon I put out more comedy posters. The vacation rental companies were glad to see me doing the comedy again this year and were happy to put up my posters - except one, which agreed to lay a poster on their counter. We'll see how long it stays there.
- Then a little grocery shopping at Food Lion with a few more stops on the way to the Hatteras Billy Mitchell air strip (BMA) to work on comedy and my website and, of course, give airport advisories to pilots as they flew in.
- Drove up to Rodanthe for the night. I put up my weather station's anemometer up for the first time since last trip, about nine months ago. It still works, even with a superglued cup post.
Mon May 9 = Around noon I went north to the S-Turns and walked across the dunes to the ocean where I did a dress rehearsal for tomorrow's half hour show. The noise of the waves gave me an opportunity to make sure I had the voice strength for the show.
- Later in the afternoon I kiteboarded about a half hour at Canadian Hole on a southwest wind with my 12 and twin-tip board - my first time in almost a year. Nothing fantastic, but I worked my way up to a couple jump (puny) jibes with a down loop.
- I got final word that I will not be showing up at The Laughing Skull Comedy Festival in Atlanta. Good news, I'll have more time for kiteboarding and comedy here on
Tue May 10 = This morning I drove down past Frisco to the ocean side of The Washout to lay in the sun then to the Billy Mitchell air strip (BMA) where I hung out, gave airport advisories on unicom and downloaded instructions for the Zoom H2n audio recorder which is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Also I revised posters and my COMEDY web page since I am not going to Atlanta. That means I expect to be here on
straight through July 14th when I plan to head to NYC for the Laughing Cup Comedy Festival.
I also changed my posters from Promptly at 7:00pm to 7:00pm SHARP, for readability.
- My first Comedy-n-Sunset show for this season started with a lean crowd. Well, no one showed up... anywhere! I had set up for a three-camera shoot, so decided it would be a good chance for another dress rehearsal and also to check out the cameras, so started the show at exactly 7:00pm. After about 8 minutes an SUV load of enthusiastic fans (from Washington State to South Africa) pulled up, waving out the windows and calling, Arizona Lou as they parked. We moved the venue about 50 feet from the beach to the steps leading down to the beach, since the audience brought no chairs.
- I spent the night in south Avon.
Wed May 11 = This morning I got up relatively early and drove out to my GPS waypoint HANOR1 for breakfast and to work on my comedy writing and editing of last night's videos without distraction. Driving through some soft sand on the way to the sound went OK, after I jogged it to check it out.
- Just as I was leaving I got a phone call from Bryan at Ocean Air that my package was in from B&H Photo - my new Zoom H2n digital recorder. As soon as I got it, I started a test recording of it and my three comedy cameras. Toward evening, at the BMAS where I immediately started uploading the video from last night to YouTube, I determined that my new Zoom H2n synchronizes perfectly with all three of my cameras (Canon, Panasonic & Nexus phone), I got stuck (figuratively) with the YouTube upload. The file took about 24 hours to upload, which is not handy when you are on a road trip.
- I was stuck with the uploading video so spent the night in Frisco.
Thu May 12 = The video finally finished uploading this afternoon. Here's some information followed by the video:
Comedy-n-Sunset seasonal debut for Arizona Lou on Hatteras Island at Canadian Hole (Haulover) and his 255th comedy appearance, May 10th, 2016. The show was produced by Louis Self, as were the videos.
Cameras were: #1 Canon VIXIA HFR600 (for the comedian); #2 Nexus 6P front-facing camera (wide view from the back); #3 Panasonic DMCFZ200 (view of the audience from the side, front).
Audio was with a Rode VideoMic Pro, set on normal level, positioned by Camera #1 and plugged into that camera. A dead cat fur cover was used to control any wind noise.
Editing was done with CyberLink Power Director 14 using the audio sync feature of its multi-cam function.
Lou's set is 23:50 minutes of this 25:57-minute video
- Tonight's Comedy-n-Sunset started just like last night's, with no audience, so I started the show close to on time at 7:05pm, practicing, with the cameras rolling and my new Zoom H2n recording audio for the first time. About 7:15 Alan and Susan arrived from New Jersey and sat on the steps for a show, which I started again for them.
- Sort of a downer this evening. The Food Lion manager, Rick Lattage, decided that I was soliciting by telling people about my comedy show, and soliciting is not allowed there. Food Lion was my major publicity push, especially on Sundays. Also it was a lot of fun for both me and the people I got to laugh in the process.
Fri May 13 = Today was pretty good wind form kiteboarding, but I spent most of the day chasing around. You see, the first strut to the right of center on my 12m Epic Screamer didn't stay inflated when I tested it the other day, so I decided to fix it before the wind came up. The bladder is pretty well trashed, so I had to chase to three kite shops in three towns to find a replacement for my 60" bladder. Then there was the matter of the elbow valve, which is a specialized one that can not be replaced. I found that out after I bought an Airtime replacement that I ended up returning. I coaxed the old valve off the old bladder with steaming hot water, created with my Jet Boil. I finally got the old valve glued to the new bladder with some vinyl adhesive I had on hand. The reinsertion of the new 70" bladder went well with the help of some talcum powder and the thing appeared to hold with my 10-minute test.
- I replenished the 6-gallon water supply for my van's running water system. Thank you, Askins Creek BP! So far this trip I have averaged 13 days per six gallons
- Then, there's the matter of my sunshields, which I HAVE to have for privacy in my van. At the end of all the running around, two of them were missing. I retraced by steps to the three shops in the three towns, as well as Ocean Ramp 30 where I had fixed lunch. Nowhere to be found. I was heading to south Avon to find something with which to replace them when, just before Salvo Day Use Area (SDA), I thought that maybe they disappear by getting shoved way to the back of my sunshield pocket. Low, there they were. DUH! Never got in any kiteboarding.
- So I spent supper, a nap, working on this blog, editing last night's video and joke analysis by myself at SDA in my van... in the dark... in the rain.
- Spent the night in south Avon under one layer of comforter.
Sat May 14 = This morning I drove down to Avon and stopped by five rental/real estate offices to check on my Comedy-n-Sunset posters. Some of them said that their policies did not allow any posters. Others were enthusiastic about a free comedy show, as their customers were always looking for things to do. Thank you, Midget Realty and Sun Realty
- I spent most of this afternoon at Canadian Hole where I composed an email to The Comedy Club, OBX in Kill Devil Hills and worked on comedy.
- Today I started experiencing a little pain in my top second molar tooth on the left, and the gums seem to be a little swollen on the outside.
- For the night I drove up north to Rodanthe, anticipating good winds early tomorrow.
Sun May 15 = The wind did not pan out this morning, and what little there was, was the wrong direction.
- IWhile working in my van at Canadian Hole, up drives Jeff Bealer and company from Buffalo... and my distant kiteboarding past out here at OBX. They invited me for supper with their family of three generations, in their big Avon rental house. Supper was delicious and the company excellent. They have some cool and entertaining family vacation traditions, which suited me just fine. After supper I did a 19:32 minute comedy show about a visit to the Dominican Republic and hurting my hand there. Everyone chimed in, which made the house rock with laughter. Kathy said she laughed so hard that her ribs hurt. I spent the night in my van on the east side of their house.
Mon May 16 = Hardly any wind today. I spent the morning and some of the afternoon at Canadian Hole checking out and testing some of the attachments for my new Zoom H2n mic/recorder and testing it for wind noise, Plug-n Power and with my Sony stereo microphones. The Zoom microphones have slightly better sound quality.
- Toward evening I drove down to the Hatteras Air Strip, downloaded some podcasts, sent an email to The Comedy Club OBX in Kill Devil Hills, rearranged some things on my PRESS KIT, added a couple of quotes from last night's show and added a Wednesday open mike at Turner's High Moon Bar to COMEDY.
I drove back up to Avon to spend the night in the driveway of Jeff Bealer's house. Thanks, again, Jeff!
Tue May 17 = First thing this morning I drove out to the first turnout north of Avon and spent almost two hours going through my full show routine of 1:11, taking audio notes along the way, then to Canadian Hole (Haulover) for most of the rest of the day.
- I quit chewing on my left side, trying to give my top second molar tooth a rest, due to a swollen gum on the outside. If it still is a problem after a couple weeks, I may do something about it.
- Comedy this evening was a 40:52-minute show at the Haulover. The audiance was Roger Lauzon, windsurfer/photoghrapher from Quebec. He used some SLR cameras to take photos and some videos. After the show Roger and I, huddled in his motor home, due to rain, and talked about video editing. He gave me the videos and images he had taken. Thanks, Roger!
- Later, after returning my stool to Dollar Tree, I was so sleepy that I could not even get the Zoon audio file of the show transferred to my computer. I almost lost the file.
- I spent the night in the driveway of Jeff Bealer's rental house.
Wed May 18 = At Canadian Hole today I informed three kiteboarders that they were pumping up in a no-kite area (due to power lines and windsurfers). They were unaware and seemed to appreciate the information. Most people are nice and want to do what's right.
- It took me a while, but I organized and inventoried my Comedy T shirts. I am out of L, but have all the other sizes from XS to 6XL.
- I learned that
Cindy
my younger brother George's wife
's
headaches are nothing to worry about, that
George's
younger brother who lives in Mesa with his wife
van was totalled when a lady ran a red light and hit him, that he is OK (thank goodness).
- This evening I did nearly 30-minutes of comedy at Turner's High Moon Bar in Avon. I had planned on about five minutes, but fairly easily came up with the rest. I DO need to smoothen out my routine and make it more relaxed. Chad, the gracious host played and sang for the first half hour, then me, then Chad for almost two more hours of amazing variety, then another guitarist/vocalist. I felt bad leaving early, but had to, a little after midnight.
- I spent the night in the Blue Crab driveway.
Thu May 19 = The audience at my 52-minute Comedy-n-Sunset show started out with two French Canadians, Amy and her dad, until he left. Amy was attentive and laughed a lot. My Zoom H2n was the only device that did what it was supposed to do during the show. I forgot to turn on my Canon Camera 1 until the last third of the show; my Panasonic quit after 30 minutes, and camera #2 (my phone) shut down for some reason.
- Spent the night in the Blue Crab driveway. I thought of a new idea: Comedy for Charity.
Fri May 20 = I hung out at the airport his afternoon where I made a Private Comedy Shows for Charity poster and typed up the information sheet I had outlined earlier this morning.
- I also edited last night's video - what a job! I had to hand-sync one of the cameras, because the wind noise made audio sync impossible.
- Spent the night in the Blue Crab driveway. This will be my last night there. With new arrivals, the house is full of people and the parking area is pretty-much also full.
Sat May 21 = This morning I went out to Ramp 34 to fix breakfast. While I ate it I read more of Mark Twain on my Kindle.
Around noon I went to the four main real estate offices to share my new idea of doing Private Comedy Shows for Charity.
- This afternoon I went to Chad Bennett's house. He hosts and plays guitar and sings in Wednesday's open mic shows at Turner's High Moon Bar. I had the privilege of meeting his wife, Mary Jane, and her dad, Jack. Chad and Mary Jane have a lovely house with all sorts of little personal touches due to Chad's projects and hard work. We talked about my my parking in a vacant lot of theirs, French Canadians with an entitlement attitude and the Avon bully.
- Most of the rest of the day I spent at Canadian Hole finishing up the joke analysis for Wednesday's show, working on this blog and practicing for a possible show for Jeff and Company. Maybe it will be tomorrow night.
- Tomorrow I need to be sure and make a dead cat mic fuzzy for my Canon camera, as the wind noise can make its audio unusable and unsyncable.
- Spent the night in Chad's vacant lot in central Avon.
Sun May 22 = This morning Chad took me on a grand tour of possible over-night spots around Avon. He certainly is an encyclopaedia of property information around central Avon, needing to clear the title of a property and his resultant research of records all the way back to the property grants from the king of England. Thanks, Chad
- I spent much of the rest of the day at Canadian Hole. The biggest thing I did was to spend a little over two hours going through my full routine of 1:11 and tweaking it.
- I spent the night at my night spot #2. The only problem was self-inflicted. Since I didn't finish drinking my daily 80oz of water until late in the day, I got up to pee four times, UGH!
Mon May 23 = This morning I drove to a mostly abandoned parking lot northwest of Avon's north traffic light for breakfast. Then I followed up by phone, or directly all five realty companies about my Private Comedy Shows for Charity project, which I may rename to Free Comedy for Charity. Good idea?
- Canadian Hole was my hang-out most of the afternoon, with a little sun, some cold north wind and quite a bit of rain. I spent quite a bit of time digesting this morning's contacts and emailing the director of marketing of one of them in Hatteras Village.
- With the aid of my GPS receiver, around sunset, I retraced Chad's tour of yesterday morning, taking pictures of each and determining which ones offer the best shade in the mornings, for when it gets hot.
- I topped off tonight by working on this blog, updating it on my website (Thank you Ugly Mug) and transferring the May rental house payment to my checking account.
Tue May 24 = An almost all-day project was to make a
dead cat
a furry microphone cover designed to reduce unwanted wind noise
for my new Canon camcorder. The camera was not designed to accommodate one, so I had to jury rig some fake fur, stretched over the microphones with elastic, held in place with little hooks I made from stainless steal fisherman's leader line. Thank you, Sarah at Frank and Frannie's in Avon.
- This evening's comedy was not fun. It was COLD (72° F), windy and there was no audience. The people who were around were not interested in comedy. That's OK, but they probably thought I was crazy doing 20 minutes of my routine in front of three cameras. At that point, I hung it up. Also my newly made
dead cat
a furry microphone cover designed to reduce unwanted wind noise
did not work very well in the 25 mph wind.
- I'm spending the night at my night spot #B, which is deathly quiet... an old graveyard.
Wed May 25 = I took time, about 1:30pm, for a sound-side sun and beach run from Canadian Hole.
- I did 21 minutes of comedy tonight at Turner's High Moon Bar. It was somewhat frustrating, with all the visiting, as is typical of many bar gigs.
- I spent the night at my GPS location #A.
Thu May 26 = Today's big project was to make a special bracket for my Vivitar tripod for a second camera or microphone. This is necessary because my Canon camcorder does not have a flash shoe, on which to mount an external microphone, which is necessary in windy and some other situations. To make the bracket, I combined a couple of stainless steel bolts, a stainless steel washer-nut and the tail of an aluminium house number 9. It looks pretty good.
- From a Clark Howard podcast, I learned that some of the most economical sunscreens are also some of the most effective, according to Consumer Report. Also that a SPF of 30 is as low as you sould go. Here are the results:
Walmart's Equate, SPF 50 at 49¢ per oz.
No Add Sport SPF 50 at 63¢ per oz.
Walmart Equate SPF 30 spray
Dollar General's DG Body Sport SPF 30
- I did some wind tests with my Rode shotgun microphone with its
dead cat
a furry microphone cover designed to reduce unwanted wind noise
,
on my Canon camcorder, so used it for tonight's comedy show rather than the custom dead cat I made for the canon. Next time I'll try to remember to plug the microphone into the camcorder's mic jack (DUH!). It turns out that the canon's built-in microphones (with no dead cat) recorded good enough audio to synchronize with the other three recording devices. I had an audience of six, including people from Russia.
- I drove up to north Rodanthe for the night so I'd have a head start for Kill Devil Hills to see the first comedy show of the season at The Comedy Club OBX.
Fri May 27 = Being flexible is what life is all about - especially when your van's power steering pump starts making its singing sound. A stop by North Beach in Rodanthe for 12 oz of fluid solved the problem at 318,729 miles.
- Further flexibility occurred when I met Ross at North Beach who suggested I check with Jennet or Judy at camp Hatteras about doing comedy there. Jennet was most gracious and took my information. I mailed a thank you note to her, which was placed in her PO mail box the same day.
- Next I stopped by StingWray's Bar & Grill and visited with Howard the manager and met Frank the cook. I left my Free Comedy For Charity information.
- Before heading north I also stopped by the KOA Campground and visited with Sheila who is now running the restaurant there, having sold the Atlantic Coast Cafe.
- I finally made it up to Nags Head about 11:30am and stopped by Auto Tech where Scott checked my power steering, found no disastrous leak and topped it off. Thanks Scott.
- Then to the Outer Banks Sorts Club for a light full-body workout, then to the Baum Dare County Older Adult Center to check my email and update my website. Then, the reason I drove up north in the first place...
- I arrived at the Ramada Plaza Hotel. Running up the stairs to the fourth floor Comedy Club of Kill Devil Hills, on a landing, I met a familiar face: Cliff Cash tonight's headliner I had seen him on the Internet. Cool! Then I met Leslie Kappes, the show's producer, who introduced me to Roger Keys, tonight's feature comedian and Brian Shelsby, tonight's host. Three different and entertaining comedy styles. Good show.
- I spent the night in Kill Devil Hills.
Sat May 28 = My Epson WF-100 quit working, even after I installed a new black ink cartridge and reconnected its Wi-Fi direct.
- My new word of the day, which I got from reading Mark Twain, is corpulent.
- There was lots of mostly heavy rain today, and on through the night, which I spent at #3.
Sun May 29 = I am spending quite a bit of time each day at the air strip, giving advisories on unicom as people fly in... and working on my comedy etc.
- Toward evening I was hanging around Canadian Hole, when it started to rain... again. Holed up in my van, I fixed my van's kinked radio antenna, which I had removed from its stump, by coaxing the kink back to mostly round and straight with a screw and various other implements and then stuck in a piece of threaded rod as reinforcement. The antenna should work well... until I hit another tree branch with it.
Due to lots more, mostly heavy rain today, many roads in Avon were flooded, pretty deep in places, so I spent a second consecutive night at #3, which had only a little standing water in a lower area.
Mon May 30 = My Kindle locked up and I had to get out the instructions (on my
Vaio
Sony Vaio Duo 11 computer with 11.6" touch screen, Windows 10, 8gb memory and 256gb SSD
,
of course) and do a hard reset. I ordered a free sample of Comic Insights: The art of Stand-up Comedy by Franklyn Ajaye. Unfortunately it is an older book (published 15 years ago in 2001) and kinda pricey at $14.96 for the Kindle edition.
- Due to continued flooding I spent a third night at #3.
Tue May 31 = I hate, But first.... It's aggravating on TV, but more aggravating when I do it to myself. I arrived at the air strip ready to follow up with people from Friday in Rodanthe about my comedy for charity. But first... I decided to work on my blog some. After about 2 hours I had my blog updated, but hadn't yet made any contacts. I watched some video clips of the comedians mentioned in a book sample I am reading, Comic Insights: The art of Stand-up Comedy by Franklyn Ajaye. I also watched some of a tribute/roast of a comedian who had just died at 26. A little further research revealed that he had committed suicide, possibly the result of PTSD.
- At 1pm (solar noon) I did a beach sun/run at the Bath House.
- The threaded rod in my van's kinked radio antenna allowed enough flexing so that the kink broke off completely. Now the antenna sort of waggles loosely over the threaded rod I added, acting like it is going to leave its precarious perch at the most inopportune time.
- I didn't get tonight's 7:00 comedy show started until about 7:35, because it took that long to get an audience rounded up. The audience, it turned out, was a family of five, plus one man. The family included three kids between the ages of about six and ten. I tried to tailor the show to them, but wasn't sure how it would go over with such young ones. Well, they enjoyed it and laughed a lot, as did their parents. I held their interest for the entire 22-minute show. Good for me... and good for them.
- I spent the night east of Avon's south traffic light. I hope it is cloudy in the morning so my van does not heat up. The forecast is for an 80% cloud cover between 6 and 9 tomorrow morning.
