Daily Archives: November 5, 2021
A Branson Precursor . . .
A month from today Jan and I will be on our way up to Branson for our Christmas adventure. So I thought I’d reposted our last visit back in 2009.
November 11, 2009
Smirnoff and SIX…
Sounds like a new drink, doesn’t it.
Today was a twofer. We saw Yakov Smirnoff at a 3pm matinee, and then SIX, a singing group at 8pm.
But first we stopped off for lunch at Sadie’s Sideboard, a well-regarded buffet restaurant on the Branson Strip, and not too far from Yakov’s theater. The fried chicken was really good!
Yakov’s show was great! And as I expected, very pro-American.
What I didn’t expect though, was how decidedly conservative some of his comments were. Having been born and lived in Russia until he was 26, he says,
“I know socialism when I see it, and I don’t like what I see”.
He also had a team of Russian folk dancers that were really good.
And the “Santa Claus and the Pirates” was cute , but corny. As Yakov said during the scene, “Maybe we should have hired real writers”.
And his President of the United States skit was pretty good, too. He took real questions from the audience and answered them both seriously, and hilariously.
And everyone seem to enjoy his Secret Service detail.
And of course, the obligatory dancing toys Christmas skit.
It was a great show, and as good as we had heard. It was easy to see why Yakov has been filling an 1800 seat theater almost daily for the last 17 years.
What I didn’t know is that he is a well-recognized artist. His large mural painting “America’s Heart” has hung at Ground Zero in New York after 9/11.
And this one is called ‘God and Country”
Leaving the show we decided to eat dinner at El Portal again, since we liked it so much last night.
A little before 7 pm we drove over to the Hughes Bros. Theater to see SIX. We had never heard of them before, but we saw their billboards coming into Branson, and the ticket guy said it was one of the most popular. We only got tickets because of a cancellation.
SIX is a group of six brothers who have been performing since the late 70’s. They are six oldest of ten boys and no girls. As they said, their parents really wanted a girl!!
The really neat thing is that they perform everything a cappella, but not without instruments. They make the instrument sounds, too.
They do drums, trumpets, trombones, clarinets, etc., and they are dead on. It’s really amazing.
And their harmony is fantastic. Check out their version of the Star Spangled Banner on YouTube. And this one too is done a cappella.
And they do dead-on voice impersonations of Elvis, Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra, etc.
They also did a great “Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons”.
And they tribute to their mother who died of cancer in 1992 brought tears to everyone’s eyes.
If you’re in Branson, this is a show to see.
By time we got home it was almost 11 pm.
Tomorrow we’re going to take a road trip about 90 miles up the road to Colaws RV Salvage in Carthage, MO.
Thought For The Day:
I chose to be a sheepdog once I saw what happens to the sheep.
