Cloquet Road Trip

I hit the road last Wednesday to start a long journey to Cloquet, MN. It is only about 4 hours from where I live, however there were a lot of stops along the way.

Wednesday night I was able to hang out with DonB! and Mike Norton. They both are local entertainers who travel and perform all over the place.

Thursday I made my way up to Two Harbors, MN to hang out with my old roommate, Addison Houle. Incidentally Two Harbors is an hour past Cloquet, but it was a good excuse to visit. Friday night we went rock climbing. It was a blast, but since I'm not used to it my forearms and hands were really sore the next day. Furthermore that happened to be the day of my first program.

I shortened my practice session before the program and made sure to get in some extra stretching. I was still a little worried that I would not be too sharp in the juggling area. Once I walked on stage the adrenaline kicked in and the show went great... so did the juggling.

Thanks to everyone in Cloquet! It was a blast!

Tenative 2010 Partial Itinerary

March 20-21 Cloquet, MN - Cloquet Gospel Tabernacle
April 3-4 - Mora, MN - Mora Assembly of God
April 23-24 - Denver, CO - One Way Street Puppet Festival
May 26-30 - Las Vegas, NV - Tour with Adam Cope
June 23 - Bismarck, ND - Evangel
July 12-16 - New Hampshire - NNE Kid's Camp
July 23-28 - St. Louis - Ponderings of a Fool
August ? - L.O.L. Tour

A Weekend With the President

Last weekend my church was able to host Del Wilson, the current Fellowship of Christian Magicians president. I had to leave one evening in order to do a birthday party and when I returned we decided to get a few pictures since I was in full clown. I thought I would put them up here for everyone to see. Enjoy!

Mayhem in Maple Grove

Last night I did a show in Maple Grove at Life Church. It was an interesting evening. It started as I was walking in after a couple of hours in the car. I noticed that my right hip had tightened up and I had some pain when moving it. After setting up I took extra time to stretch out and really made sure I was loose. Once the show began adrenaline kicked in and I didn't even notice.

I had also failed to notice that during my club routine I cut my thumb with a fingernail. As I reached out to take a dropped club from an audience member I realized that my hand was smeared with blood. Luckily, I don't think that they noticed. I wiped it off quickly and continued, stopping to wipe it off a second and then third time before moving onto 4.

The audience was great to play with and I was able to share the Gospel with everyone. Now I'm off to do a birthday party in Olivia and then nurse my wounds this evening.

Found Video

I recently found this video of my Father and I plugging the kid's stage at the Sonshine Music Festival this past summer. We were juggling in front of somewhere around 11 thousand people.



You may also be interested to know that I have a Lasik Eye Surgery scheduled for next week Thursday. I am nervous and excited, but it seems that the pros outweigh the cons. Please keep me in your prayers.

Thanksgiving

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I was able to be at home celebrating with family. The turkey and the pie were great! Now that it has passed and I'm all shopped out we can now officially look forward to Christmas! In fact I was in a Christmas parade last week (before Thanksgiving). I walked with Willmar Assembly of God in Willmar, MN. There were two or three other clowns there including my dad, Randy, who stilt walked the entire route. We also had costumed gorillas and others with candy. We were even able to see ourselves on TV later!

I walked with a bunch of Christmas lights wrapped around me. They were tangled under and around arms, legs, and costume. It took me the entire parade route to get untangled again! :o)

"The Fantasticks"

I have been involved in the production of "The Fantasticks" at North Central University. I have done all the promotion and all of the lighting (which happens to be a new area of discipline for me). It has been a time consuming, but very fun, job. We opened last Friday night here in Minneapolis and the show is looking great.

As apart of the promotional side I wrote an article for the school newspaper. I'll include it at the bottom of this post. It describes a little of the plot and interviews a couple of people involved in the production past and present. We have another show today and then some time off before we run four more shows next weekend.




“The Fantasticks” 2009 Debut by Ben Christensen

The lights dim, everyone is seated in quiet anticipation of the spectacle that will captivate and entertain hundreds over the next eight performances. In a flash of light, colors, and sounds memories will be made and an experience will be shared. Soon the illusion that is “The Fantasticks” will make its 2009 debut. This one-of-a-kind musical blends comedy, melodrama, love and disturbing situations to take the audience on a journey into a world only one step away from reality.

It is amazing the teams of people that have come together to make this production all it can be. A production team has been working hard since the beginning of the semester to make sure props, costumes, lights and sound are all ready to go. Other areas include choreography, live music and, of course, the cast. All of these areas have been spearheaded by Director and NCU Theater Professor Wayne Matthews. Wayne directed Little Women during the spring semester of 2009 and is currently in his second year of teaching at North Central.

Surprisingly this is not the first time “The Fantasticks” has been seen at North Central. In an old publication used for promotion of the 1997 production, Jeff Emmrich, a North Central Bible College Professor in the Drama department, stated that “The Fantasticks is the longest-running musical in history. There have been more than 8,500 productions of this musical world wide. It is a parable about love. What makes it fun is the rare style in which it is told and the sweetness and dry wit of the songs. The Fantasticks has a captivating combination of wise wit and innocence. This solid family entertainment is filled with infectious humor and lilting tunes.” The same can be said of the current production. The charm and dry wit has been reinvented by NCU in a production designed to make the audience laugh and think.