Bandito hits the target in "Ready, Fire, Aim," "Hairspray" is hilarious

The Pickleville Playhouse is a Garden City/Bear Lake tradition and success story that's truly remarkable.
Three and a half hours away from Salt Lake, up and running only a few months of the year, this theater, run by Andrea Davis and her family, pulls in sell-out, sun-burned, crowds year after year — mostly because of a lanky, overly-confident, mustachioed character who goes by the name of Juanito Bandito.
He's the heart of these shows.
And although the shows that run alongside the Bandito productions are wonderful on their own, (Hairspray with Kenzie Davis as Tracy and Kurt Haaker as Edna is non-stop funny), it's the Bandito who drives the train.
He's plucky, proud to be the fastest gun and rapper in the West and not a bit ashamed of being a heartless bank robber though he's not nearly as tough as he talks.

The Bandito (left) with his sidekicks.

In the latest show (written by the Bandito who is T.J. Davis in real life) he's tied up and awaiting execution — yet again.
"Have you ever had one of those days?" he asks the audience.
He isn't cowed or even sorry for anything he's done. But he is still trying to talk his way out of trouble.
He's hysterically funny as a blind bandito even with moldy-oldy, blind man jokes: "I'm part-time blind, 20 hours a week!"
"You know! You speak Dumb!" He tells Freddie (Kenzie Davis), thinking she can help understand a finer point and "There's no crying in Cowboyland!" to Troy Boone who is Gator in "Ready, Fire, Aim."
The rewinds and slow-motion action are crazy fun and must have taken hours of rehearsal. (Watch for how the Bandito defuses the other guy's gun.)
The references to things like the upcoming presidential election, Russian athlete doping at the Rio Olympics with Bolt T-shirts and the Bolt stance make the show timely as well as comic.
The spooky, white rabbit on stage from a post production is now a Pokeman Go! creature.
It's all funny and it's all so well done.
The humor is fresh and handled so well that whole families enjoy it (even the little girl invited to try and stare down the show's pianist).
There really is nothing quite like it anywhere.
And it won't last forever. I'm quite sure at some point, someone will come along and take away the Bandito to a national forum.
In the meantime, we make it a point to attend every show that we can at Pickleville.
It's part of our Bear Lake tradition.
One year, I'll even wear a mustache!
(It's been extended through Sept. 10. See a promo video at: http://www.picklevilleplayhouse.com/2016-shows.html)

My coat's gone to China

In the interest in saving money and in supporting local businesses, I decided to have the lining on my travel-weary trench coast replaced.
Rather than spend money on a new coat, I thought if I had a tailor fix the shredded pieces it would give me back what I needed at half the cost.
I've loved my London Fog trench coat and it's protected me in rain and snow and sleet.
It's served as a warm blanket on the plane and and extra layer when the bedsheets in various hotels were not enough.
I've practically worn it to death.
But London Fog stores are hard to find and usually located across the ocean from where we live.
So I decided to take it down to the local tailor.
That was in mid-May.
I explained my needs and the owner of the shop gave me a ticket for pick-up.
I left thinking I was looking at a couple of weeks and maybe a $100 charge?
When I came back, it wasn't done but the fabric for the lining had arrived.
I was excited to see it come together.
I checked back in another week. In fact, I started making it a habit to stop in whenever I went to town.
"The girl working on that quit on me!" said the owner.
"It won't be long now," she said. "I know you need it."
"The girl working on that was in a terrible car wreck," she said the next time I came in.
"I don't know where it is. It must be at home," she told me next.
"I know I saw it come through here. I'll look again," she said at the end of June after she and I searched the racks and piles.
The last time, she saw me coming.
"I know what happened," she exclaimed. "I think it's in China."
China?
Seems a customer who had a bunch of coats relined might have picked mine up by accident and taken it with him to China.
She is going to try and contact him to get it back.
Sigh.
I think I'll start shopping for a new coat.