One Fabulous Fourth
It was a busy, but absolutely unforgettable 4th of July weekend in Northern Michigan. We met so many dogman fans our heads are still spinning.
The weekend began with a visit to the National Cherry Festival Airshow on Saturday, July 3rd. Although we weren’t there in any official capacity, the good guys from WTCM invited us into the media area to watch the show, which included the US Navy Blue Angels. As it happened, I was wearing one of the new Michigan Dogman t-shirts, and to my surprise, I was approached by one of the Blue Angels spotter crew. She said she had noticed my shirt and was wondering if I knew anything about that song. When I told her I had actually written it, she said, “No way! We were all hanging around last night and that dogman song came on the radio, and we freaked!” She then told the rest of the crew that I was the guy who sings the dogman song. You can’t imagine how awesome it feels to have the Blue Angels thinking you are cool. We made sure to send the Angels home with copy of the CD/DVD set.
From the airshow, we headed south to world-famous Luther, site of the infamous dogman “attack” on a remote cabin in 1987. It was our third visit to Luther Logging Days, and they always roll out the red carpet. John and Roz Gamarra, owners of the Luther Grocery, had us all set up with a table and canopy from which to sell our CDs, T-shirts, and other merchandise. When we arrived, Roz told us about an event that had taken place earlier in the day, a lip-synch contest called “Mock-Rock,” and the winner was a seven year old boy named Gabe, who performed “The Legend.” After meeting Gabe, I decided to invite him up on stage to do the song live with me. He was amazing, and did not miss a single word!
Steve and Gabe sing "The Legend"
After a great evening in Luther, we were up early for the National Cherry Festival Craft Show on Sunday. It’s always a great time to share space with dogman author extraordinaire Frank Holes, who generously allotted us half his display canopy for this huge show. We met hundreds of fans throughout the day, and heard some pretty breathtaking tales of encounters. The Blue Angels were overhead once again in the afternoon, thundering right over the craft show several times. Of course, we did have to deal with some pretty intense heat and wind that threatened to blow us into the street, but overall the day was a huge success.
"Chopper" was quite an eye-catcher at the National Cherry Festival craft show!