Dash Rippington

(From Myspace)

Rumors of our incineration have been greatly exaggerated! The Palace of Wonders is, indeed, open for business!

A multi-alarm rooftop and alley way fire, which started slightly before midnight on Tuesday, December 2, at the corner of 12th and H St, NE, rapidly spread to the roofs and through the alley of adjacent businesses. Fast-responding firefighters quickly contained and extinguished the blaze. Early reports indicate there is extensive water and smoke damage to the interiors of some neighboring businesses.

Since The Palace of Wonders was occupied at the time of the blaze, firefighters were able to gain access to the building and prevent any damage from occurring to the popular performance space/nightclub in the Atlas Entertainment District.

"The firemen ran hoses thru Palace," said Priscilla Jerez, owner. "I saw the back alley in flames. We were really lucky." The beloved museum attractions were completely unharmed. Palace Museum Director James Taylor noted, "This was an amazing Christmas present: Those attractions are irreplaceable."

While fire and sideshows are historic foes (the legendary P.T.Barnum had his American Museum destroyed by fire; twice) the Museum at The Palace of Wonders is unscathed, intact and OPEN!

The Palace of Wonder is grateful for the concerns expressed by our fans and patrons, but we have one more request to make. Please help spread the word: The Palace of Wonders is open for business tonight!

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
ambassador@palaceofwonders.com

The Palace would especially like to extend its gratitude to the courageous people who serve in the District of Columbia Fire Department. Thanks to all of you, The Palace of Wonders continues to stand as the place to enjoy novelty and variety entertainment in the Nation's Capital.

Does anyone out there in LJ-land know of anyplace that I could go to make a bulk order for Adult Sized, "Fight School Underoos" with the padded footies?

(Yes, Hamish's would have a sash and hairy legs.)

Thank you in advance!

~Dash

Last Night, I was interviewed for the 3rd time by the Univ of Maryland Journalism Undergrad. During the interview, he asked a question that I couldn't really answer other than by giving him 2 POSSIBLE reasons and one doesn't even come with/as an explanation.

The Question: What is it that makes people want to watch sideshow performances? Especially the overly gross/dangerous acts.

My 2 answers:
1: The same reason people can't look away from a train wreck... or say they go to the hockey games for the fights... or watch NASCAR for the wrecks.

2: To feel better about themselves. Afterall, if a 'normal' person is able to watch someone else in danger/pain... then it is a self affirmation that at least it's not them and that they are better off.

Any ideas? Further thoughts? If you're a fan of Sideshow.... why do YOU watch?

Thank you to all who came out and supported our fun little show again this year. Fight School had an amazing season this year, but honestly, it would not be the show it is without all of you coming to see us and having fun with us.

The closing weekend is always bitter sweet for us, as we each seem to be struck with the "Where did the time go" and the "Thank the heavens it's over" vibes at the exact same moments.

We saw the return of the All Mullet Extravaganza with added Unicorn goodness on closing Sunday. Our show derailed often during the run with some various wild results. We even had Romero get "Served" by a real drummer. So many things happen in our shows throughout a single season, I would be hard pressed to mention them all here.

So in closing... Thank you all.

Sing it with us won't you?

"Now it's time to say goodbye... to Fight School for this year.
FIG - Gee, we're gonna miss ya!
HTS - See ya next year!
CHOOL!"

Then gather round my friends. For the subject line of this post (one of the best show hawking lines EVAH!) refers to the Animal Trap routine I've been working on in the streets of Revel Grove.

This 10-15 minute street show has been so successful that I added 2 additional performances this past weekend.

If you haven't caught it yet... or didn't know about it till now... you can find me performing my trap routine 2x daily.

The first showing will be at 1:00 (I'm thinking of moving this performance to the maypole/front gate area.)

The second show will be at 4:00 over by the Thor's Hammer game. (In the big open area)

Come on by and watch me put MY HAND IN THE TRAP! (No Dash, Don't!) Scream with me as I endure the immense amounts of pain and subcutaneous bruising caused by your everyday, ordinary Wolf Trap! (Or just be able to say that you saw me doing stupid things for no real reason at all!)

Good Afternoon Happy Campers! Fight School is officially making this contest thingy (technical term: "Thingy") Official!!!

Here's the scoop, In between the dates of October 1st and October 31, 2008; you (in the collective sense of the word 'you'), will send an email to:
( You have to makey with the clicky if you want to find out! )

My wife asked if serenitysgaze would be able to do the light saber treatment to Hamish and my quarter staff fight from the first show. I asked her... and she complied in a BIG way!

I honestly have not had such a good laugh in a loooong time. She truly outdid herself with this one. Enjoy!

My Geektitude... Let me show you it!


oh, and if you want to watch the high res version... of course you can hop on the link train to here: http://serenitysgaze.com/qt/Render.mov

JUDGE BURNETT: MOTIONS DENIED
September 11, 2008

Judge Burnett has denied Damien's, Jessie's, and Jason's Motions for a New Trial. In Echols' Order, the Judge claimed "the Petitioner's DNA testing results are not compelling evidence that he would be acquitted." Judge Burnett also refused to consider the jury issues: "The Court agrees with the State that it cannot entertain the Petitioner's juror bias and misconduct claims under the DNA-testing statute and that the Court's consideration of them in any proceeding is foreclosed by law of the case." According to KATV, the defense team plans to appeal.


( Judge: No New Trial for West Memphis Three )

http://serenitysgaze.com/qt/Trailer2.mov for the high res version
I am honored.

The Eagle HAS landed... I repeat... The Eagle HAS Landed!!!!

The DVD's are now in hand (I have gotten official word from Nym) and they look GREAT!!!

(I want my copy NOW!!!!)

Our own Crying Scottsman (Hamish) has created a Fan Page for Fight School.

You can friend it here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fight-School/35258849840?ref=ts


Also... The Annual Renaissance Festival Podcast Awards are once again open. Fight School has been voted the #2 Festival Fight Show for 2 years running... can we make the Tri-Fecta... or even, I don't know... Make it to #1???

You can vote for us here: http://renaissancefestivalmusic.com/awards/

Lastly, I would like to thank those of you that offered to pick up our DVD last week in Jersey. However, we found out that the printing was being done on the East Coast (Jersey) and the disc pressing/burning was taking place on the West Coast... therefore... the Disks shipped from the West Coast. I have not had 100% confirmation of their delivery as of yet... but today was the confirmed delivery date. I will update once I know for 100% positiveness of them being in our hands.

/shameless promotion

The Good News:

Fight School will have NEW T-Shirts for this season. If you got one last year... it is now a collectors item... as I will not be making any more! The NEW T-Shirts will have the classic Fight School Crest on the front, (as seen in the above icon) however, on the back... it will read;

"Fight School: The T-Shirt"

(Yeah, I know... how original... but under the title, we have included several of our favorite punchlines from the show.)

Pictures of what the shirts look like will be forthcoming. And this year, we've got the shirts in Grey with Black lettering. (We're still working on getting the Black shirts with White lettering finished.)

Just like last year... we are only charging $15 a shirt. (And remember... all of these shirts were printed, lovingly, by hand. We do our shirts the old fashioned way... in my mother's basement.)

Now for the Sad News:

It appears as though, for ALL the EXTREMELY long hours and effort our Nymblewyke has put into creating DVD's of our show for you all... the rest of the Fight School Boys are slackers and couldn't get our stuff together in order to help Nym complete the project with enough time to get the disks pressed and approved in time for this weekend. ;^(

However... we are still hoping for a Labor Day Weekend Release. (Which is NEXT weekend) We DO sincerely apologize to all those that were hoping to take us home with them this weekend. (We'll keep you posted as to the status)

Now for some AWESOME:

As I said, we will be selling/signing the new shirts this year for only $15.00. (We got a case of Sharpie markers for Hamish)
We WERE going to be selling our DVD for $20.00. (However... because we don't have it ready for opening weekend... we will be selling it for only....................... $15.00!!!!!!!! O.M.G. Can we actually DO THAT??? We don't know... and we don't care! But that is what we will be charging for the DVD.

BUT WAIT... THERE'S MOAR!!!

Starting when we have the DVD's, we will also be offering "The International Fight Hero's Package!" (Not THAT kind of package)
If you buy BOTH the Shirt and the DVD... you will get BOTH for only $25.00!!!!!! (You save an ADDITIONAL $5.00 off the DVD price!) ****While supplies last. Pending DVD Approval.Void where prohibited.****

Needless to say... we are looking forward to this years Festival... and not because we're sellin' stuffs. But because It's been a WHOLE year since we've seen you crazy people. So stop on by the Market Stage or the Militia Tent and say, "Hi!"

Your Friend,
Dash

PS... just because this post is public... please do not copy/paste/whatever it. If you simply MUST get this info out there... kindly use the link to this page.

Ok... per the Entertainment Schedule over at:
http://www.rennfest.com

You will be able to find the Boys of Fight School at:

Front Gate
10:00 Cannon Duty. (Usually only Nymblewyke and Rippington as Romero and Stuart can't be bothered to get up early enough.)

Inside the Front Gates
10:15 - Nymblewyke's World Famous International Flea Circus! (The name is bigger than the performers.)

O'Shucks
10:30 (Until we're going to be late for our show) for Breakfast.

The Market Stage
11:00 (After Oyster/Shrimp Shooter Breakfast) for Fight School 1
4:30 for Fight School II; Reloaded!

The Globe Theater
12:00 for Romeo & Juliet (Romero and Rippington only... and Rippington for only the first 5 minutes)
3:00 (NEW TIME!!!!) for the Human Chess Game. (all 4 Fight School Boys)

The Militia Tent/Joust Arena
1:00 for the Archery Demonstration. (Nymblewyke and assorted others)

Front Gate
6:45 Cannon Duty (Usually only Romero & Rippington)

Come on over and say HEY!

Now... Please lay off sending Carolyn emails and phone calls about the things that are wrong with it. She's working on it... and would appreciate some time/space to do so. All will be well. All will be well.

If you see a padlock on the top of ANY post of mine... DO NOT F'ing take that information and post it publicly.

Because it is locked... it is for specific people ONLY. Not the world at large.

I am EXTREMELY Pissed off right now... I don't even know what to say.

Can you kindly get in contact with me? I have an urgent request.

dashrippington at aol dot com

Go See it now!!!

I want... no MUST see The Dark Knight.

Heath Ledger supposedly BLEW Jack Nicholson's character AWAY with his portrayal of the Joker.

VERY realistic action movie... better than Batman;The Beginning, they've said.

I MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/

Go and watch it spread like the plague!