Thursday, June 10, 2004
Out in the West Texas town of -- Towanda?
Performing cowboy visits for a spell
By Bob Holliday
TOWANDA -- Cowboy Randy Erwin twirled the rope in a giant circle and
teased the children at Towanda Elementary School with "Should I?"
when they begged him to jump through.
Erwin, who moments earlier had fascinated the children with yodeling, wasn't
quite ready to oblige.
First, he coaxed one of the children inside the twirling rope, making her
the center of attention.
Still not ready to do what the children wanted, Erwin asked a little boy
from the audience to help him demonstrate rope twirling.
In the process, Erwin delivered a science lesson, talking about Newton's
laws of gravitation and motion.
To illustrate, he stopped twirling and the rope fell to the gym floor.
Only momentarily impressed, the children again urged Erwin to jump through
the rope.
This time he did, to the delight of the young audience of about 100 children
sitting on the gymnasium floor last month at the school.
Erwin, a children's entertainer whose visits to numerous libraries in Illinois,
Missouri and Indiana will include a June 17 stop in Normal, got his biggest
reaction when he took his twirling rope right into the student audience.
Some screamed as the rope passed just over their heads.
By this time, Erwin had worked up quite a sweat and decided to slow the
pace of the presentation.
He asked for questions.
"Where do you live?"
"Springfield."
"How old are you?"
"Have you ever ridden a horse?"
"Yes, I've ridden a horse. I had one as a kid, but I can't afford to
keep him anymore."
Erwin, whose real name is Randy Erwin Skalicky, dropped the last name because
he didn't think it was a good stage name.
Erwin has performed much of his life. His interest in music and performing
was cemented early when growing up on a rice farm in Texas and listening
to Bach and Beethoven for hours on an old stereo.
Kids keep him sharp
Stints in a variety of bands followed before Erwin decided about eight years
ago that entertaining children was his calling.
"Kids keep you show-sharp. If they're bored, you know right away,"
Erwin said.
Erwin, who has four nationally distributed compact discs and has done music
for several film scores and television commercials, has been yodeling since
his mid-20s, when his baritone matured.
Erwin's Towanda and Normal visits are pegged to summer reading programs.
His Normal Public Library performances are open only to participants in
the summer reading program.
His children's entertainment business got a boost with the recent release
of the Disney animated film "Home on the Range." In the film,
Erwin provides the distinctive yodeling that enables villain Alameda Slim
to hypnotize and steal cattle.
This summer, however, it's more about Midwest library visits than Hollywood,
with Erwin having a full schedule of library shows.
Yodeling involves singing with abrupt changes between the normal chest voice
and the falsetto.
"You either have it or don't," Erwin said.
He's happy to have the gift and plans to continue entertaining children.
"I'll probably drop the trick rope when I'm 80 or disabled," he
said.