The 15th International Sons of the Desert Convention kicked off officially on Wednesday night, July 12, 2006. Bob, Ashleigh, and I had made our own excursions to Atlanta, Americus, Plains, and Warm Springs before our initial arrival in Augusta. Then travelled along with some Sons on the two pre-convention trips back to Americus and Plains and then to Savannah to see the area. Now we were back at home base in and Augusta ready to dive into the convention activities.
Ashleigh, Bob, and I meet up with the Duffs and Wileys for dinner before the mixer began. Here we are looking fed and happy.
The first one was strange, to say the least. All conventions usually kick off with a cocktail mixer of some sort. This one was to be held at the Modjeska, a location within walking distance of the hotel. From its name, we all inferred that this was some sort of theater. And it was…in a way. It was a former theater that had been transformed into a nightclub. A bizarre, dark, disco-ball-laden, loud, smoky nightclub.
Our group entered it, confusedly walked through it, tried to find our seating area in it, before we finally realized that this was ‘it.’ Some Sons decided that it wasn’t their cup of tea and took off. Others got into the spirit of the situation and danced to the rock tunes, mostly not well. There were some appetizers that everyone flocked around like flies to a dead mule.
The Wileys had arrived earlier in the day so it was fun to hang out with Jimmy (pictured below with Ed Greim) for a while before he too decided to abandon ship. Big Jimmy was enraptured by the musings of Bob Duncan (below). Bob S, Ashleigh, and I tried to find a quiet balcony in which to kick back and relax – but we were joined by some annoying fella that we just wanted to kick off. I bought Ashleigh a whiskey sour, figuring that since I had dragged her into this, she deserved to having some numbing fluid.
Little Jimmy’s new haircut and Ed Greim’s old one
Bob Duncan shows off some karate moves
Skip and Rick, dancers extraordinaire
Eventually, there were some traditional festivities like the singing of the Sons of the Desert song, the toasts, a welcome from the mayor of Harlem, and an introduction to our celebrity guests. Laurel and Hardy look-alikes were on hand to provide some laughable antics. These are the guys that formerly played L&H at the Orlando Universal Studios, so they were fairly good – as look-alikes go.
The imitators show how to use a slapstick
Finally we all left and hiked back to the hotel. I found an abandoned toilet along the way which I posed with in the top picture. Ashleigh found a photo-op with some display luggage. We all convened in the hotel lobby for a nice chat and were joined by our pal David Rodriguez whose flight had just gotten in. Bob was attacked by Sons member Steve Wichrowski and then by a gorilla (as seen below).
OK, she’s ready to go home
Bob’s ‘camera look’ when confronted by Steve Wichrowski
Bob and a gorilla. Bob is on the left.
The convention was off to an inconspicuous start…but it would get better. To be continued…
Well, someone’s excited anyway…
Leave a Reply