Talk of the Town: Time to travel to the weird and wonderful

I know some of you loyal readers are headed off to vacationland and beyond.

How about getting out of the typical travel rut and try something a little bit different, even wacky. Here are a few unusual travel tips thanks to our friends at Real Simple Travel and infoplease:

Six museums where you won’t find a C/zanne or Van Gogh:

The Museum of Bad Art, Dedham, Mass. (www.museumofbadart.org): Forget the Museum of Modern Art, check out the Museum of Bad Art, dedicated to the collection and the exhibition of questionable artwork, featuring a tongue-in-cheek display of poorly conceived or executed examples of na•ve art in the form of paintings or sculpture.

Founded in 1993, the museum’s permanent collection includes 250 pieces, 25 of which are on public display at any one time.

The museum’s motto is “Art too bad to be ignored.”

According to former director, Jerry Reilly, “the paintings and sculptures that we collect are works of exuberant art by people who sometimes don’t have a clue what they’re doing.” Most of the collection has been moved to the Dedham Community Theater’s basement, just outside the men’s room.

Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wis. (www.wisconsinhistory.org/circusworld): Wisconsin was once known as the “Mother of Circuses,” home of winter quarters to more than 100 traveling circuses. The most famous of these was the Ringling Bros. Circus, founded in Baraboo in 1884.

The Circus World Museum preserves this heritage through an impressive collection of circus memorabilia, including thousands of posters, photos, films, props (such as clown hammers), and more than 200 brightly painted circus wagons.

Visit between early May and mid-September, when the museum presents live circus acts, parades, circus music concerts, clown shows, animal rides, and presentations on wagon history.

Liberace Museum, Las Vegas (www.liberace.org): Wladziu Valentino Liberace, his full name, later shortened to just plain old “Liberace,” was a larger than life entertainer, to say the least.

The Liberace Museum boasts more sparklies per square inch than a troupe of Vegas show girls.

The museum comprises two buildings. The first displays an eye-popping collection of cars and pianos, including a Phantom V Landau Rolls Royce covered with mirror tiles and etched with galloping horses. (Trashy chic!)

The second gallery includes costumes and jewelry and the Liberace family gallery. Highlights include the gold lam/ jacket that began the extravagant costumes Liberace would later refer to as “an expensive joke.”

Did I mention the glitter? The collections include the world’s largest rhinestone, a rhinestone-covered Baldwin grand piano, a 1934 Mercedes Excalibur covered in Austrian rhinestones, and a black diamond mink coat lined in more than 40,000, 2-1/2 karat Austrian rhinestones (hand-sewn, of course). If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is that good taste can’t be bought.

London’s Fan Museum, Greenwich, England (www.fan-museum.org): Set in two 1721 buildings in the time-zone gatekeeper of Greenwich, a London suburb, this jewel box of a museum is, in a word, fan-tastic. The only museum in the world devoted entirely to the art of fan making, it houses more than 3,500 mostly antique artifacts, some dating from the 11th century.

And one museum where you can see a Paul C/zanne or Vincent Van Gogh: Museum of Modern Art in New York

Back by popular demand after a sellout Valentine’s Day show, magician Rodney Housley and his entertainment partner and wife Kimberlee Kae performed their music and magic March 22 to the delight of a holiday crowd (many visiting from out-of-town for Easter and spring break) at Amado Territory’s Madaras Cultural Center.

“Spring Into Magic” featured dinner by Chef Charles Deeby, followed by the magic show which highlighted some of Rodney’s (also known as Rod Spade) best illusions, including his very popular “snow in the desert trick” as well as the Houdini escape trick performed by both husband and wife.

A blend of quick-wit magic and humorous dialogue by Rodney, accompanied with music by the classically trained Kimberlee Kae, audiences are sure to have a delightful evening regardless of the show’s theme, which varies. The couple frequently use members of the audience to help with the tricks and this is always a crowd pleaser.

At his latest show, Rodney called upon the assistance of Jorie Heinz, 22, from Chicago, who was visiting her mother Dale Cunat, a part-time Green Valley resident.

Jorie helped out in the balloon animal gag and went home with a half dozen balloon creatures for her part in the show. Also visiting Arizona with Jorie was her best friend Kendal Wapotish, 23, and her mother, Jill Wapotish, both from Chicago.

Also in the crowd was Green Valley resident Maycle Cummings and some of her family members, as well as

Rodney’s love for painting led the magician to create an act called, “The Painter” filled with color and magic.

The Housley’s next show at Amado Territory Inn is April 18, with shows running throughout the summer and fall. Call (520) 398-8684 for information and ticket prices or go to www.amado-territory-inn.com.

When Rodney isn’t performing tricks for the public, he’s entertaining his infant son Preston, 5 months. who’s already learning the tricks of the magic trade.

Check out the Housley’s Web site at www.spademagic.com.

Hey loyal readers, how about these U.S. roadside attractions worth pulling over for (thanks to World’s Largest things, Inc. and Real Simple Travel:

World’s largest: twine ball, Cawker City, Kan. (Yipee!): Just how big is the ball of twine? Look at these figures: 17,980 pounds; 40-foot circumference; more than 7,827,737 feet of sisal twine measuring 1,444 miles.

Frank Stoeber started this ball of twine on his farm in 1953. By 1957 it weighed 5,000 pounds, stood eight feet high, and had 1,175,180 feet of twine on it. Stoeber gave the ball to Cawker City in 1961 before his death in 1974. (What a guy!)

Largest chair, Annniston, Mo.: Not far from the House Of Gas (make your own joke) sits the World’s Largest Chair, measuring 33 feet tall. For years, the world’s largest chair has been the site of speculation about when it would rightfully support the “world’s largest butt,” or when someone would drape the world’s largest blazer over it, or stand up in it to change the world’s largest light bulb.

World’s third-largest cherry pie: Charlevoix, Mich. (My husband ate the largest. Sorry!)

World’s largest baseball bat: Measuring 120 feet tall in Louisville, Ky., it is housed in the Louisville Slugger Museum. Erected in 1995, the bat is 34 tons and made of hollow carbon steel, simulating the wooden bat used by Babe Ruth in the early 1920s— which was all of 34 inches long.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740