TRF Ho!

Good news! We've finally caved and hit the age of wireless. That means we can conceivably post here regardless of our location since we also now have a laptop. That doesn't mean we will, but we can. Don't be too disgruntled. It only happened last week, and now we have to figure out where we last left off.

So, where did we last leave you? Somewhere around the birthday party. Ok. Scarby and Colorado were not only fabulous, but frenetic as well. Between the two businesses and back to back shows, we worked 7 days a week for 4 and a half months.

Didn't do any blogging during that time.
Didn't have any brain cells left.
Didn't have enough hours in a day.
Then came August.

Our first weekend off, and it must be admitted, we had pure playtime. We finished with our "Parade of Homes" houses. There were people to visit, family to see, and concerts to attend all of August...to say nothing of a mad dash to Minnesota to visit that faire. Holy Moly! That was fun!

Since it was the most recent, can we tell you how much fun it was? Good.
See, we left out of Colorado Springs on Thursday and ambled up to Mt. Rushmore. Now, we only live a few hours away from that National Park, but it was the first time either of us had ever seen it. Awe inspiring, honestly. Photos, and then off to the cabins to spend the night. Eat at the fancy schmancy restaurant, terrorize the server and night desk clerk, and sleep until a whopping 6am. Out the door, drive through rain and arrive at Minnesota festival just in time to pitch our tents in the dark. Go shopping, stop to eat, go back and crash.

The rain followed us.

Saturday dawns clear enough, but by noon it begins to drizzle, and by one it's raining without any signs of stopping. Never ones t let a little water stop us, we go and do our thing at the wine tasting, with Ten Seconds of Harmony (hereafter known as TSoH), and the smoker. Day ends, we go to change clothes and discover the only dry thing in the tent is the bed. GAH! Fine, then we'll go to bed.

Sunday dawns dreary, damp, and dismal. First order of business- Laundromat, followed by coffee and breakfast. Dress in clean, dry clothes and hit the site around noon. Sunday goes much like Saturday except we had a lot more wine at the wine tasting. We kinda had to hide, eat, and sober up some. Maybe we should consider food more often than every 7 hours or so. Still, we managed to straighten up and perform at the smoker. Let me tell you, we had a great time, but I wouldn't have wanted to be one of the following performers. Minnesotans like their bawdy humor! We could learn to love them. Seriously, we may have to see about getting hired there next year.

Now, since it was Labor Day weekend, we have a Monday story as well. Let's see, Monday morning the rain was gone. Our clothes were still largely dry and we had a big day ahead. TSoH were not going to be performing that day so (bless you guys!) we got their stage spots. Now, with no advertising or marquee signs, we didn't expect much. Imagine our surprise when our first show ended up as a success. Did we mention Minnesotans like their bawd? OK, off to the wine tasting- many songs later- back to the stage, and a full house waiting for us! Word spread. Woohoo! That was an incredibly fun show. Between 4 and 5 we actually found food, and then made it back for the 5 o'clock show. It was smaller, but still a kickass time. We hit our money line, got what we could, handed over the microphones and then raced to the smoker. Iris made the king spew, and we got a standing O. Race to the Feast Hall. Singing in the round is tough...still, they like the song and then race back to the smoker for the final song...oops, we missed it. Still, a lovely, fun time was had by all. We rode our euphoria through dinner and then back into our tents for some well earned rest.

The last couple of weeks have been a constant game of catch up. We have invoiced clients, filed our taxes and prepped for TRF. Also, we got to see the Bare Naked Ladies and the Ditty Bops for an E-Town recording...if you don't know the Ditty Bops, you absolutely must find out about them. Incredible harmonies, beautiful and fun songs. They recently signed with Warner Bros. Everyone knows the Bare Naked Ladies, so we don't have to gush about them, except to say "Them boys, they rock!"

Now, it begins again. We leave on Wednesday to head for Texas. We'll see you this weekend!

Web-sites back up!!!

Hello again!

We have three new things on which to report!

1) We've finally, finally updated our Iris & Rose website! All new info should be posted in the next couple of days.

2) We've finally recorded a new CD and it should be available by the 3rd weekend of Scarborough or through the web-site if you cannot attend.

3) We've finally gotten our blasted Just Faux Fun, Inc. web-site back up and running. (If you don't understand what we're talking about, then read on...)

As we mentioned in our last newsletter, Iris and Rose are more than just a comedy duo, more than just actual sisters, and more than just a couple of drunken whiskey sots...Although all of that is true, we also have another joint venture called Just Faux Fun. We specialize in painted decorative wall finishes, stenciling, murals, etc. Unfortunately, the web-site was down for a few weeks and we've only just recently gotten back on line for your viewing pleasure.

You can visit our web site at www.justfauxfun.com. A few of you have expressed an interest in having a new wall finish, and over a fifth of Irish whiskey we have come up with a brilliant plan!!! Here is our idea: If enough of you decided you want some work done, then we are thinking about staying through the week in Texas, instead of coming back home to work with our clients in Colorado. We, of course, will be offering a significant discount to any of you who choose to hire us as you will be saving us the cost and hassle of flying to Colorado Springs every weekend. It's a win-win situation. Whaddya think? Don't post here if you are thinking about this for your home. Just go to the web site or e-mail us at jffinco@yahoo.com.

Hope you all are doing fabulous and we can't wait to hear from you soon and to see you at Scarborough!!
...only 7 weekends left!!!

Smooches!

Iris & Rose

Birthday Update

Hello!

A big thank you to all who braved the weather and joined us for Rose's Birthday celebration and to all of those who couldn't make it and sent warm birthday wishes instead. We had a great time, even though Rose kicked everyone's butt on the pool table. (She also won a few games!)

Cheers!

Iris & Rose

Iris & Rose Bletter

Iris & Rose Newsy Bits

Greetings and Salutations one and all! Our, now annual, newsletter is here! Boy, was it ever a busy year. For all of you who have reminded us that it was well past time for a new newsletter, then we have finally conceded to your requests, and even if you gave up hope that we would ever get back to you again, then we have defied expectations. We have good reasons for being so behind schedule though, and we will hit those reasons eventually. For those that are getting their very first newsletter, well, you cannot say we overwhelm you with junk mail, now can you? So that being said...let's recap.

2005 was a very good year. We began with the 3rd annual Renaissance themed party for our dear friends (and Cabana booby and booty at TRF) Dana and Clint. Two days of drunken debauchery, songs, poetry, lack of sleep etc... Makes you remember why you started festival in the first place. Then is was off to a glorious season (our 8th!) at Scarborough Faire where we enjoyed mild and mostly dry weather, great attendance, and amazing continued friendships with cast and fans alike. Scarby rocked!

Then it was back to Colorado and the Colorado Renaissance Festival. This is year #3 (consecutively), and we seem to have developed a new fan base that could conceivably rival the size of Scarborough, eventually. No, we don't intend to start a war here, but we are just pointing out (with our usual lack of tact) that Coloradoans are hungry for a little more dirt in their diet. The weather wasn't quite as perfectly cooperative. Yes, some days were "stormier" than others...(Coloradoans will get a titter out of that snide...um...we mean side note), but the umbrella of love provided to us by the performance company cast and crew and the Rogues kept us safe and secure. As far as we know, we will be there this year. BTW, this is the 30th annual season at Colorado Festival, and it's gonna be a blow out of previous and current performers. This is the year to make it if you are ever going to go!

We took a break. No official festivals for August and September, so naturally we went visiting. Minnesota Festival, here we come! Now before we get into what we did and who we saw, it must be stated that we have never gone visiting any show and worked harder! They worked our buttocks off! Man did we have fun. The smoker, pre-shows, the queens tea, a real show... etc, etc, etc. Our dear friends from Ten Seconds of Harmony were kind enough to provide food, shelter and lots of scotch during that weekend, and we were kind enough to accept it. Heh. We got to see them, our friends the Washing Well Wenches, Her Highness - Ms. Lolly, Zilch the Torysteller, London Broil, Puke and Snot, Tastes Like Burning, and of course, too many shop owners, gamers, and other performers to mention unless it's in private with the doors closed and the lights dimly lit. What a wonderful weekend!

Then it's time for TRF...in the wake of all the hurricanes we weren't sure there was even going to BE a TRF, but it was fine- beautiful even. Still, natural disasters have a way of dampening enthusiasm, and it was a smaller turnout this year than normal, but all who came were as frisky as they could be. We felt the LOVE this year, and that was nice. While there, we had the pleasure of the return of our friends "Sound and Fury". It was so great to have the guys back! Eventually, all things must come to an end, and thus we ended TRF with grand plans of returning again in 06. We left Texas...

2 weeks later, we are back! Dickens on the Strand in Galveston was a new experience for Iris, if not for Rose. It's always a lovely, and fun festival, but one of the reasons we had so much fun is that WE showed up, dressed, and sometimes even acted, like LADIES! Gasp! The shock! The horror! But it is nonetheless true. Pictures will be posted eventually, promise, after we figure out this blogging thingie. It was a truly wonderful weekend where we did NO work at all, and even drank out of plastic cups! Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!

The holidays came and went without incident so we celebrated with a New Year's trip to LA to visit Phil and Shelby from Sound and Fury. We even squeezed in a visit with Joel of the Mud Beggars (aka Slippery When Wet), the Getty Museum, and a comedy night in some remote bar that served great beer. We acted like super stars, stayed up late, slept late, saw the hot spots, drove down all the famous streets, and even looked for our star. Alas, alak, it was not to be found...yet. One exhausted trip home and we have been trying to catch up from this roundhouse of vacations and trips ever since.

That brings us to our next extravaganza, or event if you will... We are planning Roses' 2nd annual- post holidays- post actual birthday-happy birthday to me party. Yes, it it later in this year than last year, but we have been busy. The tentative date is Friday, February 17th at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Castle Rock, CO. E-mail if you need directions.

Item number next...for those of you who don't know it, Iris and Rose are more than just a comedy duo, more than just actual sisters, and more than just a couple of drunken whiskey sots...Although all of that is true, we also have another joint venture called Just Faux Fun. We specialize in decorative wall finishes, stenciling, murals, etc. For those of you in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, you may have seen some of our work in the home of our one and only Queen Anne Bolynn, aka Shannon, aka "el Diablo"(different story, another time). If you haven't seen her home, then you can visit our web site at www.justfauxfun.com. A few of you have expressed an interest in having a new wall finsh, and over a fifth of Irish whiskey we have come up with a brilliant plan!!! Here is our idea: If enough of you decided you want some work done, then we are thinking about driving our work van with supplies to Texas and staying through the week, for as many weeks as it takes to get the job(s) done instead of coming back home to work with our clients in Colorado. We, of course, will be offering a significant discount to any of you who choose to hire us as you will be saving us the cost and hassle of flying to Colorado Springs every weekend. It's a win win situation. Whaddya think? Don't post here if you are thinking about this for your home. Just go to the web site or e-mail us at jffinco@yahoo.com.

Now here's what's coming up... We will be at Scarborough Faire in just a few more weeks, we are anticipating a fabulous season with Colorado Faire, and of course we are most anxious to see everyone again at TRF. That being said, we may also be performing in Austin sometime in September. We don't promise, but will try to keep you posted. And as always, we will make surprise guest appearances in places unknown, even to us, as of yet. We haven't been blacklisted from many places yet; we will see if we can improve our percentages.

Now, we will leave you with a toast:

I've drunk to your health in company,
I've drunk to your health alone.
I've drunk to your health so many times,
I've damn near lost my own.

Cheers!

Iris and Rose
iris_n_rose_garten@yahoo.com

Oh, Santa Baby!