Gary Sinise Foundation “Red, White, and Blue Comedy Tour” ~ Colorado

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11^TH, 2022 — NASHVILLE TO COLORADO SPRINGS – FIRST GARY SINISE FOUNDATION COMEDY TOUR:

So excited to be a part of the first Gary Sinise Foundation Comedy Tour for U.S. military bases in Colorado. Josh Blue, Adam Keys and Dewayne White will be performing at Ft. Carson, Peterson Space Force Base and Buckley Space Force Base this week. Adam actually came up with the title for the tour which is “Almost Red, White and Blue Comedy Tour”.

James Stuckmann and I departed Nashville this afternoon and will meet Dewayne who is flying in from DC. Adam chose to drive all the way from California! Our flight was on time but Dewayne’s was delayed by over an hour. I had been watching the weather because the forecast was for extremely high winds in Denver where we would be landing. As everyone reading this report knows, I still hate to fly and never get over my “fear” especially if there is turbulence. The turbulence was unbelievable. Even James agreed that he was nervous when we were landing. For about the last 20 minutes of the flight, we flew very low to the ground….I assume to get out of some of the wind gusts. I promised God just about everything I could think of in exchange for a safe landing!

James and I had planned to pick up the rental vehicle and then go back to the airport and pick up Dewayne. But with his one hour delay, we had time to kill. We grabbed something to eat and then went to Starbucks for the free WiFi and electrical outlets. Got a little work done before Dewayne landed at 7:30 pm.

First time either of us have met Dewayne and he’s a great guy. Adam had sent us a text saying he arrived at the hotel at 6 pm. When we told him it would be after 10 pm before we arrived, he decided not to wait up for us. I’m sure he was extremely tired after driving from California to Salt Lake City yesterday and Salt Lake City to Colorado Springs today.

As background, Adam toured for me on the Triple Threat Comedy tour for AFE to Alaska last November. He is an Army Veteran and a triple amputee and a darn good comic! Adam recommended Dewayne for consideration for future tours and Dewayne is also a retired Army Combat Veteran. Josh Blue is our headliner and was recently on “America’s Got Talent”. The shows will kick off with a “personal” message from Gary and a short video about the Gary Sinise Foundation.

If you are not familiar with Gary’s Foundation, you need to be! He supports the military and first responders and has accomplished so many amazing things in such a short period of time. His Lt. Dan Band has performed at more than 500 military bases around the world. This is the first time he has provided an entertainment tour other than his band to the bases. But, this is only one program out of many. Please look at some of his accomplishments at:

https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/by-the-numbers

Compared to other tours that I have produced, James and I put this one together in record time. Fortunately, everyone we are working with at the military bases are excellent professionals. I checked my email file folder and there are 1,088 emails since the end of March and that is only the ones I “saved”. There were also countless telephone calls and text messages between James and I and the comedians and bases for the past 7 weeks. This has truly been a labor of love for both of us. Based on our conversations with the base coordinators yesterday, we are going to be at full capacity every night.

THURSDAY, MAY 13^TH – FIRST PERFORMANCE AT FT. CARSON, COLORADO:

Met Adam and Dewayne in the lobby for a few minutes before James and I drove for about 30 minutes to the base. As usual, the base did not have our access roster but at least the security officer was very nice about it this time. He made a quick call to Gate 3 where the production truck was being cleared to come on the base and got our information from them.

We started loading in at 9:30 am and the production crew is great. Everyone at Ft. Carson was awesome to work with and had all our requests handled before we ever arrived. We all worked non-stop with only a quick lunch break at 1:30 pm. Josh arrived at 3 pm and James drove to the Visitor’s Center to pick him up and bring him on base. Once again, there was an issue getting on the base. I had Adam and Dewayne go ahead and do their mic check and Josh came in shortly thereafter to do his.

We had a Q&A Session at 4 pm and 30 people had signed up to attend. We have learned from previous experience that usually 50% or less of the people who RSVP will actually show up. We had about 20 people in attendance and it was a great, funny session for everyone. The comedians took photos with everyone afterwards and then we sent to the Green Room to eat the meals that we had pre-ordered.

The Deputy Garrison Commander – Thomas Joyce – was scheduled to introduce the group tonight and he came early and sat in on the Q&A Session as well. I had a chance to spend some time with him and we learned that we have a mutual friend—Colonel Ed Shock who was a former director at Armed Forces Entertainment.

The show started right on time and there were a little over 200 in attendance. We had 250 RSVP so we’re really happy with that figure since usually only about 50% of the people who RSVP actually show up.

I can’t describe what an awesome show it was! Adam was much more comfortable with his set and had added several new jokes since the Alaska Tour. Dewayne and Josh were equally amazing. The audience laughed at every joke and their laughter was big belly laughs. One of the soldiers came up to me in the autograph line and thanked us. He said that laughter is very therapeutic and the show took him away from thinking about all his worries for a couple of hours.

After the show, the guys took photos with everyone in line. We wrapped up the evening at around 8:30 pm.

One of the “highlights” from the day: The doctor who saved Adam’s life in Afghanistan attended the performance! And, he’s going to come to the show at Peterson tomorrow night and bring his wife. That was a very touching reunion.

Looking forward to another great performance at Peterson tomorrow night.

Jude

LUCKY FRIDAY, MARCH 13^TH , 2022 – SECOND SHOW AT PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE:

The high winds that we faced flying in yesterday are also causing wildfires to spread quickly in this area. Several people that were working on our show yesterday had to leave and go check on their homes. One lady said the fire was only 3 miles from her house. Pretty frightening and the wind is still blowing really hard today.

We left the hotel at 9:15 am and arrived at the base at 9:30 am. We didn’t have any problem getting on base this time but our production guys did – once again. Curtis – our POC here – definitely had “taken care of business” and everything was set up perfectly. The first thing he told us was that after they received the 250 RSVP’s, they decided to open the room up more and add another 25 people. Then he got a call from the Base Commander this morning saying his office was receiving emails from people who were upset that they couldn’t attend the show! So, we opened up yet another portion of the room. Fortunately, our production guys were prepared and we had enough PA to cover the entire room.

Curtis treated us to his “buffet” that is held in the Hub (where our show will take place) and we finished setting up at around 2:00 pm. Just in time for the 3 pm mic check. Josh, Adam, and Dewayne arrived at 3 pm for the mic check – which took all of 5 minutes. The Q&A Session was full today – 30 people – and it was great! I did notice that the comedians turned the table on the attendees. The comedians were asking the people attending the questions instead of the attendees asking them the questions.

While we were having dinner right before the show, we got a phone call saying that Debra – -our POC at Buckley – had been in a serious car wreck and would be unable to attend the show. Not sure what happened yet but they do think she’s going to be all right. She does have bruised lungs though which sounds like it could be the result of the air bag inflating. Debra is the flight chief and we were so looking forward to meeting her. Really hope she recovers quickly.

A Three Star General was in the bar serving drinks to the men and women (something he obviously does every week which is soooo cool) and he came into the dressing rooms to welcome us. Turns out we have lots of mutual friends in the Air Force. His name is General John Shaw and we really enjoyed talking to him. I gave him one of my coins and he apologized for not having any coins on him.

Lt. Colonel Heath McKim came by to meet us earlier and he is the one who will introduce the group tonight. I gave him one of my coins and then he came back right before the show and gave everyone one of his coins. I’ve receive more coins this trip than I have in the last 3 tours! Obviously, the coins are my pride and joy and each one is special and means so much to me.

Usually, as I said in the past, when 250 people RSVP, the actual turnout is only around 50-80% of that figure. Curtis told us that would not happen at this base. He was right. We topped 300 people tonight! So AWESOME. We actually had to delay the start of the show because people were still coming in and lots of people were still in the bar getting their drinks.

The show kicked off with the short video about the Gary Sinise Foundation. I cry every time I watch it because it is so moving. The audience claps, cheers and stands afterward. Then we have the video message from Gary and as Dewayne posted on social media today, “OMG, Gary Sinise just said my name!”.

Lt. Colonel McKim thanked Gary and the Gary Sinise Foundation and then introduced Dewayne, who was the first act up tonight. Once again, the audience was great and loved his show. Adam came up next and then Josh closed out the show. I can’t begin to tell you what funny shows these three have. It is the perfect blend and hopefully we will be able to take the “Almost Red, White and Blue Tour” to other bases. I know the three comedians hope so, too. All three had people standing for them after their shows tonight.

We took photos with everyone in line as well as all the staff who worked so hard to make the show a success. Tomorrow night at Buckley, we are going to do the Q&A after the show.

Can’t believe the first Gary Sinise Foundation Comedy Tour is about to come to an end. What a wonderful couple of days this has been. Watching all the people in the audience laughing and having so much fun each night is incredibly rewarding.

Jude

SATURDAY, MAY 14^TH – FINAL SHOW AT BUCKLEY SPACE FORCE BASE FOR THE “ALMOST RED, WHITE, AND BLUE TOUR:

Today has turned out to be an interesting day….

We departed the hotel at 10 am for about an hour and 15 minute drive toward Denver for the performance tonight at Buckley Space Force Base. This is the show where our POC was in a car accident yesterday. We checked on her situation this morning and she is not in the hospital. Evidently a truck hit her from behind, pushing her car into the vehicle in front of her. The back windshield exploded into the car. My guess was right – the bruised lungs were a result of the air bag deploying…which probably saved her life!

Melissa is handling everything by herself for tonight’s performance and doing an awesome job. Production company didn’t have issues getting on base today and neither did James and me. The base has had a little over 100 people RSVP and I’d be very happy if that number shows up. Saturday night on a base this close to Denver is a challenge to get people to come back on base for a performance – even if it is free of charge.

I was sitting in the Green Room working when Melissa came to the door and said there was someone here who knows me. I had no idea who that could be. Turns out it was Debbie Southee – someone I worked with way back in 2001 when Jolie Edwards and Ricochet went on a tour for the U.S. Air Force into Spain, Italy, Germany, Macedonia, Turkey and the Azores. We worked with Debbie on three of the shows for that tour and I can’t believe she remembers me. I definitely remember her name as she was one of the “good ones” to work with. She is now the FSS Services Director at Buckley. She couldn’t believe I was still taking entertainment to the military bases after all these years. She said I look 20 years younger than I did when she worked with me which definitely got her a big hug but did make me question her eyesight. It was so nice to reconnect with her and talk about all our mutual friends.

So, in 2013, I had Craig Morgan on tour in Afghanistan and I had placed my mobile phone in the back pocket of my jeans. It fell into the toilet and was immediately destroyed. Devastating to be the tour manager in Afghanistan with no way to communicate. I told myself that I would never again put my cell phone in my back pocket…until today. And, yes, the same thing happened. Only this time, the phones have improved to the point to where it doesn’t seem to have done any damage to it. Praying nothing starts going wrong, especially with me leaving in a couple of weeks to spend the rest of the Summer on tour in Europe.

The room at Buckley is set up theatre style with a few round tables in the back. It looks really nice. I’m hoping the new “format” of hosting the Q&A Session at the end of the show works nicely.

We had great barbeque provided by the base for dinner tonight. It was a nice break from the salads I’ve eaten for the last 2 nights. The show started on time and final count was 103 attendees. The military in and around Peterson Space Force Base has a lot of older retirees and a lot of them came to the show. But there were also a lot of young, rowdy men and women in attendance.

Adam kicked off the show tonight, followed by Dewayne and then Josh closing the show. At the end of Josh’s show, he brought Adam and Dewayne back to the stage and announced to the audience that they were going to do a short Q&A Session. We knew this was the right format when no one in the audience left and everyone started applauding. It was a very “lively” Q&A session with lots of humor inserted. After that ended, the comedians took photos with everyone who stayed around.

Tonight’s show was a very good reminder to me of “why” I wanted to provide entertainment to the bases. It definitely isn’t about how many people attend the show. It’s all about getting to the more remote areas that don’t always receive “headlining” entertainers. Reaching even one person who really needs a morale boost makes the visit worthwhile. Melissa and the Marketing Director thanked us after the show for bringing entertainment to their base since this is one of the bases in the area that sometimes is overlooked.

We said our “good-byes” to Josh and Adam and thanked them on behalf of Gary for giving so generously of their time and talents to support the men and women serving. Dewayne, James and I will be heading to the airport for flights back to Nashville and DC tomorrow afternoon. While everyone is sad that the short tour is over, we’re also a “mile high” after having three awesome performances and bringing so many laughs to everyone who attend.

Jude