OTC 2014..What do you think?

[Gilligan]

there always seems to be a "full house", when they are playing.....

The problem with the Homestead Pickers is no one ever leaves.  There are visitors that just stay in the cabin for hours which means no one can get in, even between sets.  Hubs and I have personally stood outside for 45 min. trying to get in, and only one of us finally made it.  We had a guy actually blocking the door once as we tried to open it.  I mean the guy was aggressive!  We pushed on the outside to get in, and he body slammed it back shut.  I was caught in the middle!  And, it hurt! 

[Junior, too!]

The popularity of the pickers tells me maybe they ought to bring in more acts like them! Remember Jan and John? Swing and Turn Jubilee? River Rats? Norm and Norm? James Garett?

[cheesehead57]

I agree with you Junior too. More acts like the Pickers are needed. And you need to get to their shows 20-30 minutes before they start.  We never have any problems seeing them.

[History Buff]

Not to be repetitive, but...

What kind of new show?  Let's use the Riverside Playhouse/Courthouse again with the great old music of the Ozarks revue like the shows they did in the past.  They did some great shows in that theater, but they don't seem to care that the venue even exists now.

[biscuitcreek]

Not to be repetitive, but...

What kind of new show?  Let's use the Riverside Playhouse/Courthouse again with the great old music of the Ozarks revue like the shows they did in the past.  They did some great shows in that theater, but they don't seem to care that the venue even exists now.

Riverside Playhouse is being used for the Living Nativity. Not sure why another group cannot appear between performances of the Living Nativity. Or why another group can't share the Dockside Theater or the Boatworks Theater. Why couldn't the Homestead Pickers perform in one of those locations?

[shavethewhales]

^The homestead pickers don't seem to want to move away from the homestead. I mean, it's part of their name and identity, so I guess I can see it, but I wouldn't mind one show a day in riverside to make them easier to access. If you don't get to the homestead early, you often can't even get in for a show.

There are indeed plenty of bluegrass musicians who'd love to stop in on weekends at the city to perform there too. I know plenty of people who'd love that.

[cheesehead57]

The Homestead is the Homestead Pickers venue. For then to do one show a day somewhere else would involve hauling a lot of instruments around and in this changeable weather would take a lot more tuning than to just keep in the cabin. It would be nice to have a larger place for them. A thought was to set up in the barn like they used to when there were barn dances, but the disabilities act wouldn't allow it like it is now and to comply would have to tear down the barn. We can't have that. Too many of the Park's mainstays are already disappearing.

[Duelist]

I miss The Cleverlys.

[Junior, too!]

Gotta give a big thumbs up to SDC for using McHaffie's Homestead to showcase the traditional Ozarks stuff...the pickers, Aunt Judy, the animals out back, along with the school house  Case steam engine, and church. In my day on park, these were static attractions, not much was done with them. Now this is a living history area. I think they ought to do more with Birdle's Cabin. More traditional music would be nice. However, this area of the park reminds me of early cable TV. Used to be each cable system offered public access, but no more. Times changed. I think you better enjoy the traditional stuff while it lasts, there may come a day when the rest of the crafts are replaced with a rollercoaster. Hope not.

[cheesehead57]

Junior  too....I agree with you. We have to cherish what is left of the whole Homestead area including Birdles cabin.  Most of the people that go to the park aren't even aware of the story of Birdle or her cabin. Maybe Aunt Judy  or Frisco Jack ought to retell the story of Birdle and also about the McHaffie cabin again.

[History Buff]

I was told by an administrative employee that the cabin and that part of history is being emphasized in the educational program when students are brought on field trips.

[okiebluegrass]

If they wanted to have a show in another theater on park it would not require them to move anything but themselves. Get them another set of instruments and park them in whatever theater they wanted to play in. The sound system and everything else that is needed in a theater setting could be set up in advance.

[Swoosh]

Or have a back porch stage like at Dollywood where their Pickers perform. It is basically like Boatworks

[cheesehead57]

It would be hard to have every instrument that the Pickers  use ,that they have personalized doubled for a different show. Maybe some performers do that, but not them.They all have many instruments, but only use certain ones for their shows.

[Joy]

I know this thread hasn't been posted on in a month now, but OTC 2014 is still going, and I've been away for a while, so I wanted to put some input in regarding the Christmas tree...

I totally agree that it needs updating. It's been around enough years that Christmas light technology has advanced so much that now it just looks old.

I'm going to post some links to personal Christmas displays from the last year or so, to show just how behind SDC's tree is now, and to point out what can be done nowadays by just a handful of people (and sometimes just one!)!

Now, this first one is produced by a team of people, hired by Fred Loya for this year's display, which won him a trophy from the Great Christmas Light Fight. Look at what someone from the general public can do with a team of engineers, etc!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rctTGYPwkkQ

This 2014 display, uploaded just one month ago, shows just how detailed lights can get; they have an actual picture of Elsa going across the tree!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BbOf-WhXxk

This one, done by the same guy in 2013, is a great show of all the amazing colors that can be customized on a single tree:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmzsxokAQ9U

Here's a house display from 2013 featuring my all-time favorite Disney music, "Reflections of Earth" from Epcot's Illuminations fireworks show; this video is a great example of how to integrate "pixel" lighting with "normal" lights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQHT80kMbzo

Not a Christmas-y song, but this 2012 synchronization is AMAZING. The display was done by a single person, and there are some amazing examples of "video" displayed with the LEDs on the roof:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2e1w3gPkms

Finally, here's a wonderful "pixel tree" from 2012:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxlEI66CuBc