Monthly Newsletter: July 2022 (No. 6)
Updated: Jul 8, 2022
This is the sixth newsletter and monthly feature highlighting events, happenings, and general news of all channels of Our Technicolor Life.
Welcome to Our Technicolor Life! We have a lot of new subscribers and we wanted to welcome everyone and thank you for following us! For those new to Our Technicolor Life, we are a husband-and-wife team that lives a vintage lifestyle and has a passion for the arts. We entertain, sing, travel, create, and host tea parties out of our historic home. Follow along each channel - tea, travel, entertainment, art, lifestyle, and more that make up Our Technicolor Life.
TEA
June was a fast and furious kind of month with schools out, return of festivals, and longer warmer sunshine days. We kicked off a new series of tea party themes that we plan to continue offering throughout the year, Tea & Trivia Tuesdays.
As we are big Downton Abbey fans here at The Old Capitol Tea Room, we thought it fitting to host a Downton Tea & Trivia tea party! Don’t worry, there were no spoilers in case not everyone had a chance to see the latest movie. It’s really wonderful in case you haven’t seen it yet, treat yourself to a lovely evening in the theaters seeing the last feature by Julian Fellowes. Tea & Trivia Tuesday Downton edition was a big hit and we had so many wonderful outfits on display during the tea. That’s one of the most fun features about coming to the tearoom, it’s an excuse to dress up and play pretend for a while. It was so nice to hear those sentiments expressed during the tea party because we always encourage a good dress up opportunity!
We also saw the return of fan favorite, Murder at the Capitol Club! This interactive 1920's themed murder mystery was full of suspicious characters, live music, and magnificent costumes. Our murder mystery events are a great excuse to dress up and play detective while you help us solve the mystery. The next Murder Mystery will kick off our jam-packed holiday months of October - December and will be Friday September 30th. Stay tuned for ticket sales at the end of this month.
June is also the perfect month for our summertime Fairy Princess Tea party! So many lovely fairy princesses in attendance makes this afternoon tea party a very special and magical afternoon. We had tea, treats, fairy princesses, a gnome, and even some facepainting!
We also hosted a couple of private parties. We host private parties for groups of 10 or more weekday or weekends based on schedule availability. Our private parties are a great way to have the full tearoom experience with your family and friends. We frequently host bridal showers, baby showers, birthdays, book clubs, church meetings, appreciation celebrations, or just an excuse to play tea party with your own group. To schedule a private party, please fill out our private party form and we will check the schedule for availability.
The tearoom is closed the month of September. Our private party availability October - December is very limited on weekends with the public tea events on schedule, but we are happy to look into weekday or weeknight private party dates during October, November, & December months.
Our Pirates & Mermaids as well as Under the Sea Sing Along Tea events have sold out but we a few seats left for our Tuesday Tea & Trivia night Villains edition in July as well as a few other weekend tea events in August. Tickets tend to sell quickly so if you see one you would like to attend, don't delay, grab a table when the events go live.
Upcoming Tea Parties:
SOLD OUT Pirates & Mermaids
Saturday July 9th at 3pm
SOLD OUT Under the Sea Sing Along Tea
Sunday July 10th at 3pm
Villains Tea & Trivia Tuesday
Tuesday July 12th at 8pm
SOLD OUT Flower Power Sing Along Tea
Friday August 12th at 7pm
Musical Monday Sound of Music Sing Along Tea
Monday August 15th at 7pm
Harry Potter Tea & Trivia Tuesday
Tuesday August 23rd at 7pm
Musical Monday TCT Taking Care of Tea Elvis Sing Along
Monday August 29th at 7pm
TRAVEL
Gardening has been on our brains lately as we work to build our tea garden patio area and what better inspiration than an afternoon exploring gardens at the Crescent Hill Garden show. We've been attending this garden show for year and I must say, this past collection was quite impressive with so many different styles and beautiful spaces created. The Crescent Hill Garden Show is held one day every June featuring private gardens in the Crescent Hill neighborhood as well as the grounds of the historic Peterson-Dumesnil House. It's a great way to spend a Saturday outdoors taking in the sights and smells of unique urban garden spaces and the creativity of the local gardeners.
June also means it is time for the annual Rock Creek Horse Show. This five-night annual Louisville classic, held in one of the most beautiful natural settings in the nation, is one of the community's most picturesque and entertaining events. "Tonight, the old trees, the bright lights, the colorful tents, the concession stands, the children running to and fro, the pretty young girls and handsome young men in their tailored riding habits, the beautiful women dressing up the scene are all part and parcel of this picturesque event. So, enjoy yourselves and lend your voices to the cheers of others as classes are tried, announcements are made, and champions are crowned." Growing up not too far from Rock Creek, I loved hearing the organ music playing through the summer nights and watching the beautiful horses around the ring under the lights surrounded by the trees and magical atmosphere. It's an annual tradition to spend an evening at the Rock Creek Horse Show.
ENTERTAINMENT
With the return of so many festivals, we found June to be a flurry of activities that combined travel and entertaining! We had several Lucy & Desi Tribute Shows, some Rosie & the Rockabillies gigs, and a couple of Tin Pan Alley Cat bookings as well!
We started off the summer season with being the official kick off band for Corydon's First Friday Summer Concert Series at Bicentennial Park. Thank you so much to Main Street Corydon for making this concert series a part of the fun taking place in downtown Corydon. Rosie & the Rockabillies had a wonderful time for a packed crowd and will be downtown again for the Popcorn Festival.
Rosie & the Rockabillies also returned to West Boggs Park for their summer concert series. We had a very enthusiastic crowd and a perfect summer evening entertaining the campers and folks of West Boggs.
And before we hit the road for our first Lucy & Desi Tribute Show of the month, we headed back to the WHAS studios with our good buddy, Mr. Terry Meiners. Jeff has done voices for the Terry Meiners show for the past 25 years. It was good to be back visiting with his once partner in crime again but a bit surreal, however. The once bustling studio and offices at 400 Radio Drive were all but silent, except for the WHAS studio: the fallout from the pandemic. Still, it was so good to visit with Terry again! It reminded him of the old days when he would make the trip to his studio at Clear Channel to record radio voice bits of Bill Clinton, George Bush, Ross Perot, Ronnie O’Brien, Jay Leno, Patrick O’Neal, Joe ”Beasman” Hall and many others.
We talked about our many projects and the Red Skelton Festival in Vincennes, IN that we’ll performed at as Lucy and Desi. You can hear the whole broadcast here.
So back to Lucy & Desi! We were so excited to be a part of the annual Red Skelton Festival in his hometown of Vincennes, IN. We attended the opening night Gala where we had the privilege to meet Red's wife, Lothian Toland who was just as kind and sweet as can be. The opening night gala was hosted in the gorgeous Pantheon theatre where the new Red Skelton Performing Arts Center statue of Little Red was unveiled.
What a great honor it was to perform alongside Brian “Red Skelton” Hoffman at the Red Skelton Festival in Vincennes, IN this weekend! Brian is an amazing tribute artist that captures even the slightest of nuances in his characterization of Red. By the end of his performance, you are thinking he must surely be related to Red to be able to capture him so fully and completely.
Brian has his own theatre in Pigeon Forge, TN - The Red Skelton Tribute Theatre, where he performs his show “Remembering Red” multiple times each week. If you are ever down that way, we highly recommend it.
We want to thank Anne Pratt and Mark Kratzner of The Red Skelton Museum in Vincennes for inviting us to perform our tribute show to Lucy & Desi on Saturday afternoon and then perform a couple of skits during Brian’s show that evening at the beautiful Red Skelton Performing Arts Center on the campus of Vincennes University.
Anne and Mark are wonderful people to work with and the museum is truly a gem that the Hoosier state should be most proud of. Seriously, if you have never been to The Red Skelton Museum in Vincennes, you are missing out on a wonderful and entertaining attraction. It is one of THE best comedy museums we have ever visited, even rivaling the Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, NY. Both are tops and both should be on your bucket list, if you have not been to both.
We also had the opportunity to participate in the clown parade on Saturday afternoon! It was the second parade this spring for The Not So Long Trailer! SO MUCH FUN!!
More Lucy is always a good thing so next we headed to one of our other favorite towns, Madison Indiana. Thank you to Sallies Small Batch Ice Creams for the opportunity to perform and for the AWESOME ice cream and dogs! Sallie, herself, is a huge Lucy fan, so she invited us to perform our Lucy & Desi Tribute Show at her ice cream trailer (they operate out of a truly awesome vintage Vagabond trailer).
Folks, the owners (Sallie and Brent) are pure gold. The staff is attentive and personable, and the ice cream and hot dogs are AMAZING!! The crowd for our shows (2) were lovely, kind and welcoming. If you make a trip to Madison, make sure you check out Sallie’s and her hours of operation! I had the Dark Chocolate Toffee combined with the Banana. It was like a creamy, cold banana split.
Sallie's Small Batch Ice Creams is a family run, small batch ice cream company voted TOP 20 in Indiana in 2020 with real ingredients, real flavor, and real enjoyment. Located 105 E 2nd Street, Madison, IN 47250 be sure to stop by and check out some of their many delicious flavors.
The music of the 20s-50s is truly some of our
most favorite tunes so when we have the chance to perform whether it be with Rosie & the Rockabillies or the Tin Pan Alley Cats, we love it. This booking with StoryPoint Prospect was a particularly special occasion. We performed a special set of 1950s tunes for the residents as part of their Night Cap Concert Series. We were twisting the night away, enjoying cocktails and crooners well into the evening. The music brought back countless memories, and with each toe tap and hand clap we reminisced about those good ol’ days. Then we quickly remembered, that the good ol’ days are far from over!
And to round out the month we had the honor of playing for the 50th wedding anniversary of Sharon & Larry Loew at the Loft. Kudos to Jude Loew and Barry Woolley for creating this beautiful space!! Wow! Absolutely gorgeous and filled with so much warmth! We’ll be back to check out this spot, which just opened recently. Check out Loft at The Biscuit Lounge. Barry Woolley Designs is located at 118 S 10th Street in downtown Louisville and is open 11-5 Monday - Saturday. See more of this beautiful space at loftatthebiscuitlounge.com.
This space made my lounge singing dreams come true in the best way! We can't wait to come back and make the Biscuit Lounge a regular place to play. The Tin Pan Alley Cats will be back at The Limbo next month Wednesday July 27th from 8-10pm and we'll have an exciting new theme just for the occasion. Stay tuned to our upcoming shows on the website as well as our Facebook page.
ART
Not exactly fine art but we think of the space as creating a work of art so this month's feature is our brand new outdoor tea garden. We have been funding and designing this space for the past 2 years and the patio portion was the biggest area we needed to get in place for upcoming festivals and holiday use. So some 12 tons of rock; 4 tons of sand; over 450 pavers; power washing everything; repainting 3 of the 4 sets of newly acquired metal patio sets; planting shrubs and bushes; AND we are officially exhausted. But we absolutely love the space! More pictures and videos coming of our tea garden transformation.
It's been nice to have a break inside because these guys are apparently the hot item of the summer! I can't seem to paint them quick enough and I'm incredibly thankful for folks shopping small and handmade with my Etsy shop. Christmas orders will be starting up next month and you can be sure I'll have my shop stocked up with these nesting dolls.
Get your set here! https://etsy.me/3xKmxXn
LIFESTYLE
In Our Technicolor Life a big part of our lifestyle is what we wear. It's so funny how many times we get asked if we're in a show or where we're going or coming from when we are genuinely out and about. We have a lot of fun wearing the vintage clothes and vintage style we do, and we both especially love hats. There was such a greater sensibility of dressing up or dressing nicely when you were out and about during the days of yesteryear and I know its something we both take pride in. We are big thrift store enthusiasts and love finding unique items to wear and give it new life.
Thus concludes our June and we move into July in Our Technicolor Life! Please explore the website and share with friends & family! We try to make this website a one stop shop for all of our events. Don‘t forget to subscribe so you stay in the loop and check out our upcoming events section right on the home page!
Yours truly, Carrie & Jeff
AT A GLANCE - JULY EVENTS
Saturday July 2nd 2-4pm Rosie & the Rockabillies Popcorn Festival
Corydon, IN.
SOLD OUT Pirates & Mermaid Tea Party Saturday July 9th
The Old Capitol Tea Room
SOLD OUT Under the Sea Sing Along Tea Party Sunday July 10th
The Old Capitol Tea Room
Villains Tea & Trivia Tuesday July 12th 8pm
The Old Capitol Tea Room
Tin Pan Alley Cats Do the Limbo Wednesday July 27th 8-10pm
The Limbo Tiki Lounge Louisville, KY
SOLD OUT Rosie & the Rockabillies Bourbon & Botanicals Thursday July 28th
Yew Dell Botanical Gardens
SOLD OUT Moulin Rouge Tea Party Friday July 29th 7pm
The Old Capitol Tea Room
SOLD OUT Harry Potter Birthday Tea Party Sunday July 31st 7pm
The Old Capitol Tea Room