Ok... So I posted the things that I attempted this morning here: http://groups.drupal.org/node/137409#comment-486629. Andy pointed out that having them as a comment on our meet-up will probably make it hard for other people to find. So, I tried with a fresh Drupal install (with absolutely only those four modules running) and ran into the SQL syntax error which I found was an issue here: http://drupal.org/node/1137538. There is a comment there about updating a line in the calendar module code that I did do, but it did not fix the error. I'm also getting this error that seems to be helpful, but I don't understand it:
* Debug:
'Exception: SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation: 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near \'AS field_data_field_date_
FROM
node node
LEFT JOIN field_data_field_date field_\' at line 1'
in views_plugin_query_default->execute() (line 1362 of /home/clients/websites/w_tcal/public_html/tcal/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_query_default.inc).
* Debug:
'Exception: SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation: 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near \'AS field_data_field_date_
FROM
node node
LEFT JOIN field_data_field_date field_\' at line 1'
in views_plugin_query_default->execute() (line 1362 of /home/clients/websites/w_tcal/public_html/tcal/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_query_default.inc).
It's all in green...
But, my conclusion... there are still lots of bugs with calendar and date. I was wondering, could it be possible that some of the issues are being caused by the servers where my site is hosted? I haven't tried it locally or on another server, so I was thinking that could be a problem too. (I'm desperate and willing to try anything!!)
Again, thanks for all the help! I'm really blown away by the willingness of everyone within this community to help each other succeed.