I'm no professional reviewer of stage performances by any stretch, but I sure know a dazzling show when I've seen one.
And I left Branson's Clay Cooper Theater the other evening amid an equally awed crowd mumbling praise for what they'd witnessed for over two hours.
We were in the audience to see the mega-talented five grown Haygood brothers and their only sister do their thing.
Having seen the advertisements consistently proclaiming the Haygoods as Branson's No. 1 performance, I decided it was time to determine the validity of that claim for ourselves.
Settling into our seats, it took less than a minute to audibly gasp as we watched Michael Haygood enter the auditorium above the audience to a background of colorful laser-like beams while hanging upside down from the ceiling and strumming his electric guitar as his siblings played on stage.
From there, the music, dancing and related entertainment unfolded seamlessly before a crowd of 700 who seldom stopped applauding.
I've never been one to offer unjustified praise. That sort of thing always catches up when others discover your hyperbole is just that, sending a chunk of your credibility up in smoke.
So when I say this world-class show is among the top three or four stage performances I've seen over seven-plus decades, you can believe those words.
This family, encouraged and assisted by mother Marie and father Jim, that began playing 20 various instruments together as children introduced and thanked both parents during their performance.
Their music (ranging from rock 'n' roll to country and religious favorites) invites audience sing-alongs. Two brothers even tap dance ... upside down!
Their efforts have been attended by audiences for three decades, with over a whopping six million tickets sold, and more than 400 sellout performances over the past five years.
As for the carefully structured special effects, well, I wouldn't be surprised to learn they could well be unprecedented in stage performances.
I later read the Haygoods grew up in humble beginnings in a small mobile home in the backwoods of the Ozark Mountains.
According to the show's website, "In 1983, at the age of 5, the oldest brother Timothy was watching 'Sesame Street' on PBS and world-famous violinist Itzhak Perlman was performing on the show. Afterwards, Timothy was inspired and begged his mom to get him into lessons, so Mom Haygood enrolled him into classical violin lessons. Timothy's brothers grew up watching him play the violin and they wanted to be just like him, so they began learning the instrument as well, except for Patrick who chose the marimbas as his instrument.
"In 1987, Timothy began taking country fiddle lessons. Due to his classical violin training, Timothy was an accomplished fiddler very quickly at a very young age. Pretty soon the Haygood kids were singing in harmony, playing fiddle tunes, and dancing as part of the act. As children, they played music and sang at festivals and fairs all across the Midwest."
The family eventually moved to Branson and began performing daily shows at Silver Dollar City for eight years, completing over 6,000 shows before moving on.
The only female among seven brothers (only five of whom perform today) is Catherine. The brothers say the pretty, dark-haired woman really runs the show. She was raised on stage from the time she was old enough to walk.
Today the personable woman plays more instruments than any of her siblings, including the saxophone, violin, piano, drums, guitar and harp, as she sings as well.
Whew indeed!
During the intermission, I left my seat to visit for a moment with their father Jim (who manages concessions) to ask how in the name of Branson entertainment they had managed to create such wildly talented children then hold them together over three decades as a musical family.
He paused momentarily from a steady line of merchandise sales to smile broadly. "It was their mother Marie and God," he said.
Kudos for Steinbuch
Odds are you know very little, if anything, about Professor Rob Steinbuch at UALR's Bowen Law School in Little Rock, other than what I've written of late about his struggles with the Bowen administration as a devout Jewish professor.
On this topic, Steinbuch currently faces yet another attempt to interfere with his religious observances, this time by a small band of faculty seeking to undo the longstanding policy of using guest speakers in classrooms to fill in during planned absences.
That conflict aside, our state owes this professor a bona fide debt of gratitude for all he's contributed to explaining the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act citizens can use when elected and appointed public officials choose to conduct their business in secret.
Accordingly, a news release the other day spoke of a richly deserved award for excellence in research and creative endeavors presented to Steinbuch for his extensive efforts as the sole author of a forthcoming treatise, "The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act" (seventh edition), a major revision of the book's sixth edition, which he co-authored. Moreover, between 2016 and 2020, Steinbuch published four law review articles, and has four additional forthcoming.
I'd say we all owe the good professor a debt of gratitude for his work after becoming involved in transparency law when he was confronted with intransigence in Arkansas governance. As he developed his widely recognized expertise in this important topic, Steinbuch joined forces with the then-co-authors of the state's initial FOIA publication, who asked him to assume the lead in co-authoring and completing the current edition.
Meanwhile, Steinbuch, whose scholarship also includes evidence, federal securities, and immigration law, has over the years been prominent in drafting legislation with various legislators and often testifying on transparency issues before the House and Senate.
I'd be hard-pressed to find an Arkansas academic more involved in crafting legislation that not only became enacted but also has made a real difference in lives across Arkansas.
So congrats to this accomplished professor and keep on keeping on with your battles against secrecy in government. We need such diligence more than ever.
Criminal insanity
What level of utter insanity is reflected by a heavily armed communist nation invading a smaller, far lesser-equipped neighboring country without provocation?
I don't view the unjustifiable mass murder of Ukrainian men, women, and children a "war" in the classic sense. It's nothing more than a criminal invasion where innocent people are being indiscriminately slaughtered simply because of one dictator's evil desires.
I've seen the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin described as crazed. I don't see that as much as I do a bloodthirsty, power-mad megalomaniac indifferent to human life and without even a trace of empathy or compassion.
The odds are this man-beast likely will eventually assume control of Ukraine with an army reportedly including thousands who never realized they would be ordered to actually invade and murder innocent civilians without provocation.
Yet maintaining control of this sovereign nation is bound to prove all but impossible. The Russians will continue to be surrounded by an large, armed Ukrainian insurgent population consumed with deep hatred over the unjustifiable ruination of their country and murder of their friends and families.
Angry Ukrainians always will know where and when their invaders sleep. Anyone else recall how the Soviets' invasion of Afghanistan (and our own) turned out?
Many of TV's talking heads believe Putin invaded Ukraine in a calculated effort to begin restoring the former Soviet Union, and that may indeed be a part of his plan.
Yet to me, his larger purpose was to place much of Europe under his control by conquering this country, thereby allowing Russia to control Ukraine's bread basket and abundant natural resources, along with further facilitating the flow of oil and gas supplies throughout the European region, thereby expanding and tightening his influence and control.
Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.