Tulsa - 6/22/11

This morning I performed for Charles Page library in Sand Springs. We had a very outgoing group of kids and I had fun interacting with them! 

After these photos I'll tell you about my afternoon show at Connor's Cove...

The Purple Horde! All the kids in purple came from the same daycare. They were looking for their daycare logo on my purple shirt!

These kids made "Silly Song" their own, suggesting verse ideas with no prompting from me. Here I'm being chased by a wolf.

"Loose Tooth"

On our way to Connor's Cove we got curious about the name of the library where we'd just been and Evalyn asked me to look up Charles Page on my iPhone. He was a really great guy and a founder of Sand Springs. You should look him up too, to find out why he has a library and a street named after him.

Connor's Cove is the most awesomest place to perform for families in Oklahoma, I think, even if awesomest isn't a word. It'd be worth a drive to go there and see any performer. They even put a quote from me on their website!

Down in front of the audience for "Howdy Song."

Acrocanthosaur Roars

"This is the sun shining down on Earth..."

In line for the sales table.

My buddy Adam here is a teen volunteer for the Hardesty Library (where Connor's Cove is). He told me he first saw me about ten years ago at a library in Kansas. And I remember him because he had a foam guitar that he was playing along with me on. He was about three years old then! Very cool to see him again!!

Tahlequah - 6/21/11

Yesterday we were at Tahlequah. We've been to the library there many times before but this year the program had outgrown the program room, so it was my first time in the adjoining building, which is the old Carnegie library. The building is on the historical registry, so they are limited in what they can do to renovate. It's a huge rectangular room with plaster walls, high ceiling, wooden floors, and no curtains. Needless to say the acoustics are - well, a challenge. But the kids were great, and even though it was tough to hear, we all had a good time!

The second show - even more full-up than the first!

Watonga - 6/20/2011

The Watonga library is another of those that has had me back nearly every year I've been doing summer reading programs! We always look forward to seeing what they've done to decorate, and this year they did not disappoint. There was a huge igloo in the program room, made out of empty milk jugs!

Evalyn is counting - trying to guess how many jugs for a drawing for a stuffed penguin.

Never mind that penguins are South Pole and igloos are North Pole, this is still the coolest thing ever!

I stood between a rain forest and an igloo for this program - and you thought the weather was weird where you are today!

This little guy fell asleep and was dead to the world while other kids did the "Acrocanthosaurus" dance.

Coming up - programs in Talequah, Tulsa, Hollis and Altus this week. See the full schedule here: http://www.montyharper.com/Schedule.html

Ada - 6/16/11

We always love to visit Ada! This time Lisa had to stay home, so Evalyn and I went on our own. Well, we did bring Evalyn's stuffed buddy, Purple Monkey. He was given to her by the Ada librarian the year she was born, so she makes sure he gets to have a little homecoming every summer.

We had a great group and lots of fun with the performance as always!

Evalyn took the photos for me during the show!

AND Evalyn ran the sales table for me. She did a great job all by herself - her first time!

SE Oklahoma Trip

These past two days we've been in Southeastern Oklahoma. I did four library shows - Hugo, Valiant, Poteau, and Heavener.

Hugo is a circus city - three different circuses overwinter there. The library is decorated with a circus theme.

Evalyn with her new worm buddy.

The program room in Hugo was decked out with a world travel theme, including the giant colorful hot air balloon in the corner.

"Pop!"

Must've been something I said. ;-)

"Back off!"

At Valiant we had a small but fun group.

It's been years since we visited Poteau! Great to be back!

Evalyn on Poptropica.

Heavener has a new program room - a renovated stone building with a wooden ceiling that Evalyn says looks like an upside down boat.

We had a great audience in Heavener - the boys and girls club, which included quite a few older kids. They were super attentive and great singers!

Next up: Ada! See you soon!

Kansas Trip

Can I really be two weeks into summer shows already?!?

So sorry I haven't been keeping up, but here are some photos from our trip to Kansas last week. More to come!

The first set are from the library in McPherson. I did two shows there, with two fantastic audiences. We met some big-time fans who knew my music from checking it out at the library, and we ended up going to lunch with them!

The second set of photos are from the Junction City library. We had a very small group, and sometimes it's tough to get small groups to participate. But as you can see, that was not a problem in Junction City!

We took advantage of the space and moved around a lot, especially during "Roundy Round."

We've got a very early morning tomorrow as we head for SE Oklahoma. Stay tuned for more photos and video as I try to play catch up.

My schedule is here:

http://www.montyharper.com/Schedule.html

I'll be in Ada, Stillwater, Wichita, Norman, Tahlequah, and many other places. I hope to see you soon!

Silly silly silly...

Signing autographs for our new friends,

who had lunch with us between shows.

Back off!

Roundy Round in Junction City

Roundy Round!

Big Red Fire Truck

Everybody got a kazoo after the show!