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8 November 2011 Moscow Children's Hospital Video of Clowns Dancing in Hospital Cafeteria Be sure to watch this video full screen! Direct link to the YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDuL-Y203Bk
To see the original unedited footage, scroll to the bottom of this page.
Dearest Patch, clowns and friends, What we have here is a video that has been 4 decades in the making. It is the result of what appears to be an accidental, random and spontaneous chain of events from 1973 to 2013. From the early days when Patch first saw me fiddling at Mardi Gras until Dean put the finishing touches on this zany video, it has been an amazing odyssey. Personally, I do not believe this was a lucky, accidental or random chain of events. I believe that whatever force or power is connecting us had a hand in this production. For this reason I've created this webpage to accompany the video. Here you can read about this incredible chain of events and realize how they all needed to click into place at just the right moments over these 4 decades to produce this wonderful video recording. This video is a composite edit of two videos shot spontaneously by Holton and Andrew. It employs split screen when the two videos overlap. Patch Adams is the tall clown with a long gray and blue ponytail. The fiddlers are Kate Fritz and Henry the Fiddler. Guitarist is Rich "in Spirit" McKay. The 4 fiddle tunes played in this medley are Ragtime Annie, Liberty, Soldier's Joy and St Anne's Reel. "Clowns on the bus!" Henry the Fiddler <henry@htfiddler.net>
Cast of Characters listed in their approximate order of appearance in the historical timeline below: Dr Patch Adams
Historical Timeline, 1973 to 2013 1973, Patch attends Mardi Gras in New Orleans with a bunch of The Zanies (as in Dr Zany Ramorsky) from The Rocks in Charles Town, West Virginia. Henry is doing his street fiddling act and Patch recalls having a brief conversation with him.
1978, summer, Henry visits The Rocks in Charles Town and recalls meeting Patch for the first time. Patch informs Henry that he recalls seeing and chatting with Henry at the Mardi Gras. Henry invites Patch to attend the Rainbow Gathering and meet the Love Family of Seattle. 1979, July 1-7, Patch attends his first Rainbow Gathering in Arizona where he meets the Love Family. This was Patch's first of 3 Rainbow Gatherings and many ongoing meetings with the Love Family over the coming decades. 1980, July 1-7, The Rainbow Gathering comes to the east coast for the first time and sets up in Pocahontas County, WV, close to Gesundheit!. Patch and Gesundheit! come out in force and set up a medical unit in a large yurt. Patch invites the Love Family to visit Gesundheit! after the Gathering. Jessica who was then 9 year old Heaven Israel is on the Love Family bus. She meets Patch and has some brief conversations with him.
1985, The USSR's President Mikhail Gorbachev initiates sweeping reforms known as Perestroika and Glasnost, paving the way for better relations with the West. In response a delegation of 80 citizen diplomats visited Russia for 2 weeks under the name of Projects for Planetary Peace. Patch was part of this group along with Dennis and Gerrie Weaver, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Mike Farrell and his wife Shelley Fabares, James Durst, Ferne Bork, Swami Satchidananda, Patricia Sun, Gretchen Christopher and Rama Jyothi Vernon (to name a few). A 116 minute DVD is available here.
1986, Patch had so much fun clowning on the 1985 tour that he decided to organize his own Russia Clown Tour. Over the coming years Patch invites Henry to Russia many times but the stars don't align until 2011. 1995, Aug, At the European Rainbow Gathering in the Czech Republic, Henry and Rich meet, play music, and start a long friendship, seeing each other at Rainbow Gatherings many times over the coming decades.
1996, After leaving the Love Family, Jessica moves to Los Angeles and becomes a graphic designer. 1996, Kate starts going to Camp Winnarainbow. She meets Patch at camp and learns of his Russia Clown Tours and sets her mind on going someday.
2002, Jessica marries Dean, a free lance filmmaker and they continue a happy life in Los Angeles.
200?, Somewhere in here Andrew Shabalin gets involved with Maria's Children in Moscow. [Andrew ... can you give us the year and some information about your association with Maria's Children?] 2010, Nov, Kate's first Russia Clown Tour. After the tour, Kate plans to go to China to live and work. On the bus, Kate overhears Patch mentioning that he'll be moving to Illinois and needs a new assistant. Kate thinks, "Why not me?" Patch and Kate talk and Patch agrees to hire Kate for the job. This means Kate will now be bringing her fiddle back to Russia on the 2011 tour.
2011, June, Patch moves Gesundheit! headquarters from Arlington, VA to Urbana, Illinois. Kate moves to Urbana and becomes Patch's executive assistant. 2011, July 9th, Henry heads to the Oregon Country Fair for the first time, unaware Patch and Kate are there. On arrival Henry learns Patch is there and greets him. Patch's first words are, "Henry, when are you coming to Russia with us?" Then Patch introduces Henry to Kate and they play their fiddles together for the first time, their music clicking instantly! By the end of the day Henry commits to go to Russia in Nov, 2011. Henry and Kate immediately start plans to twin fiddle on the tour.
2011, July 29th, Rich learns of Henry's upcoming trip to Russia and emails, "Going to Russia with Patch Adams - I am jealous - I wanna go!". Rich contacts Morrighan however the Nov, 2011 tour is already filled up so Rich schedules to go in 2012 and gets on the waiting list for 2011 incase of a cancellation. 2011, Sep 15th, Morrighan notifies Rich of a cancellation and he immediately gets on the 2011 tour. Rich informs Henry and the first "Russia clown band" is formed with Kate, Rich and Henry. Henry immediately starts work collaborating on the band's repertoire.
2011, Nov 6, The 27th Annual Russia Clown Tour starts in Moscow. Three dozen clowns fly in from 10 countries.
2011, Nov 8, Clowns are at the Moscow Children's Hospital. During this visit, Andrew is along on the bus with the Maria's Children crew. Patch, Rich and Henry get stuck in a freight elevator for a half hour singing, "Keep a sense of humor!"
2011, Nov 8, After clowning with the children, it's lunchtime in the hospital cafeteria. After lunch Kate takes out her fiddle to play a few tunes. Rich and Henry join her and start what becomes an 8 minute medley of 4 old-time fiddle tunes (Ragtime Annie, Liberty, Soldier's Joy, St Anne's Reel). Holton, Andrew and others start filming spontaneously. As the band starts to play, the clowns start to dance and Patch drafts one of the Russian cafeteria workers to join in the fun. Soon the dancing becomes a circle dance and the band heads into the middle of the circle. At the end of the dancing Morrighan stands on a chair, blows her whistle and says the clown tour's famous magic words, "Clowns, we go to the bus!"
2011, Nov 11, Just 3 days later, Andrew uploads his 5:18 video to his YouTube channel. See his unedited footage below. 2011, Nov 23, Back in the USA, Rich uploads Holton's 8:41 video to his YouTube channel. See Holton's unedited footage below. 2011, Dec. Henry notices that Holton's and Andrew's videos have almost 4 minutes of overlapping simultaneous footage. He figures out how to put 2 web browser windows side by side and synchronize the videos to create a split screen effect. Over the coming months Henry shares this effect with a few others but it's time consuming and tedious to set up and synch the 2 videos.
2012. May 12. Patch is in Boulder, Colorado for a Maria's Children fundraising event. Henry happens to be nearby and attends. Patch calls one of his Virginia reels for which he is famous while Henry provides fiddle music. At the end of the evening Henry shows Patch the 2 synchronized videos. Patch asks Henry, "Can you put this on a DVD for me?" Henry explains that it can be done but will require the talents of a professional video editor which he is not. Patch says, "I'll give you one year Henry" to which Henry responds, "That's a tall order Patch. Can I have 2 years?" Patch agrees. Henry feels a mandate has been issued and starts searching for a way to make the big edit happen.
2013, Jan 6. Henry is in LA and visits Dean and Jessica. Henry shares the video editing project unaware that Jess had met Patch at Gesundheit! back in 1980. Dean and Jessica are excited about the project and volunteer to do it gratis. Dean will do the editing and Jessica will do the graphics. This wonderful moment of serendipity keeps the project within the "Gesundheit!-Rainbow-Love Family" extended network. Henry and Dean work by email and telephone over the next 4 months. 2013, May 1. Dean delivers the final edit to Henry who uploads it to his YouTube channel. This is the video at the top of this page, or you can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDuL-Y203Bk And so, some 4 decades later ...... fait accompli and delivered within the 1 year time frame Patch originally requested on May 12, 2012!
Links and Contact Information Gesundheit! Institute http://www.patchadams.org Russia Clown Tour http://www.patchadams.org/russia-2013
Patch Adams, Google Video Search patch adams gesundheit Maria's Children (English) http://mariaschildren.ru/content/view/141/96/ Henry the Fiddler http://www.htfiddler.net Kate Fritz http://katefritzmusic.com Rich "in Spirit" McKay http://www.keywestperformers.com Dean Pollack, video editing http://www.deanpollack.com Jessica Falcone, graphic artist http://www.jessicafalcone.com
Original Footage from Holton and Andrew, still on YouTube If you'd like all 3 videos on a DVD, email Henry at henry@htfiddler.net Holton's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWzH9ZUaLJs
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