Good memories were conjured when a friend recounted his experience of recently attending a wedding at the Beverly Hills Hotel. During a meal at the hotel's Polo Lounge, he spotted Phyllis Diller at a table enjoying herself. Phyllis is featured in our video of "Love You Madly." She agreed to be on the judging panel for a cooking competition between two of our band members. She is an incredibly gracious comedienne and celebrity, and just to hear a story about her enjoying herself as usual in Los Angeles was gratifying.

Phyllis Diller= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGD7TNnDeSQ

our video= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4_Nb9uKSs0

The Town Ballroom, where we performed to an amazingly great audience, used to be called the Town Casino. Performers such as Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin appeared here. During prohibition Al Capone did brisk business in this very building. When the heat was on by the law in Chicago he'd come to Buffalo. In fact, underneath the theater there is still a network of tunnels and rooms where liquor was transported and gatherings held. With Buffalo being right across a frozen lake from Canada, runners could smuggle liquor directly across the frozen surface in winter. There are still cars that can be found at the lake bottom from whiskey runners who encountered thin ice. More recently, in the 1990's, when the city of Buffalo was constructing their light-rail tracks across the street from The Town Ballroom , there were many bodies discovered as digging commenced.

Speaking of bodies discovered, there is a solid group of daredevils and stunters over the last 100 years who have been inspired to defy death(or not) in spectacular ways at nearby Niagara Falls. The very first person to go over the Falls in a barrel was a woman. On October 24, 1901, 63-year-old school teacher Annie Edson Taylor survived, bleeding, but virtually unharmed. Soon after exiting the barrel, she said, "No one should ever try that again." However, 14 other people have intentionally gone over the Falls since then, despite her advice. You can read about their varied fates, and see photos here, here, and here.