We had a nice fourth of July weekend. On Friday night Ponca City put on its annual fireworks show out at Lake Ponca. Last year I found a good place to watch the fireworks and took a great series of photos of them. The view was so good that this year I convinced my wife to come with me even though she doesn't really like the outdoors and by the end of the evening she was glad she came with me.
We set up our folding chairs right next to the bridge that separates the East Lake from the West Lake. There isn't any parking there so you have to walk but the big advantage is that since there is no parking very few people come to that spot. Last year I was the only person along a 50 yard stretch of the shore. This year there were about a dozen people but it was still felt quiet and secluded like the fireworks was a private show just for us. I dropped my wife off at the bridge, parked the car, and walked about a quarter mile to come back.
I set up my camera, but as soon as the show started I quit taking photos. I realized that the photos weren't going to be any different that what I took last year and I decided to just sit there with my wife, holding her hand, and enjoy the spectacle. We were so close the fireworks filled our entire field of vision. The show lasted 20 minutes but it felt like time had stopped while we enjoyed the lights.
Afterwards we were feeling mellow so we drove around a while. We went down to another one of our other favorite places in Ponca City, the fountain in front of the Civic Center and watched the lights change in the fountain for a while. I got out my camera and took a series of the lights changing in the fountain.
Saturday night at the Poncan Theatre we saw a Jimmy Buffett tribute band called "Son of a Sailor." We enjoyed the show and I got some good photos. It was nice but it didn't move me like the 1964 Beatles tribute we watched a few weeks ago. I think one of the problems may have been that while I know all the Beatles songs by heart and could appreciate the artistry that went into creating the illusion of a Beatles concert, I'm not really that big a fan of Jimmy Buffett and don't know his songs well enough to evaluate whether the tribute was a good facsimile of the original or not.
Another problem was that while the Fourth of July may sound like a good date to put on a show, a lot of people were out of town so the theatre was only about half full. The audience was enthusiastic but it really makes a big difference if you have a full house like we did for 1964 and Terry Fator.
I think the next tribute show on August 22 is going to be a good one - "Hotel California" doing an Eagles tribute. I am expecting a full house for that one. Even my mother at 80 years of age was asking me if there were still tickets. My dad was a big Eagles fan.
One minor technical complaint. The lead singer, Johnny Rio, was having a lot of problems with his microphone. "Jimmy" was complaining that he couldn't hear himself on his monitor speaker and he kept motioning for the sound guy to raise the volume on his vocals. However, whenever they raised the levels, you started hearing feedback. Six or seven times during the show "Jimmy" interrupted the proceedings to complain about the levels. It was quite distracting and really broke the spell of the show.
Note to the band: Aren't you guys supposed to do a sound check and get these problems ironed out before you perform?
Take a look at the series of photos I took for Son of Sailor and for the Fourth of July Fountain Lights.
Here are my photos of the fireworks from last year's Fourth of July.
Hi Hugh we really enjoyed your blog. It's a nice asset for Ponca City.
Posted by: McMillens | July 13, 2008 at 03:45 PM