Friday, November 30, 2007

Christmas is here again...

Tonight was opening night for CenterStage's A Christmas Story. We had a good opening, a somewhat small but receptive audience, and a very nice cast outing to Formaggio's afterwards. Yesterday was opening day of A Christmas Carol at BCT, and it is going well. We have already done 4 performances. Obviously, I am beginning to feel the Christmas spirit.

I was taking a reflective moment today at BCT...and I started recalling the very first time I worked there. It was 1985, and I was 15 years old, playing the "goose boy" who fetches the bird for the newly-redeemed Scrooge on Christmas morning. I remember thinking the Birmingham Civic Center was the most massive theatre in the world...and one of the most modern.

There was a special feeling to that Christmas. This is complete conjecture, but I think my dad got a substantial rise that year, or perhaps there was some investment that really did well for my parents. Whatever the reason, that was a particularly lavish Christmas at our house. Gifts had always been plentiful at Christmas, but that year I remember my sister and I were basically swimming in gifts. It was also (and much more importantly) the first year I truly felt the significance of giving. I was a sophomore in high school and there was a collective drive to provide gifts and food for a needy family. I remember walking through the hall on the way to homeroom and contemplating the act of giving and enjoying the way it made me feel. (Don't misunderstand...I am no saint, but I do enjoy giving to others.)

Anyway, 1985 will always be remembered as the "Rich's Christmas." Rich's was a department store in Birmingham at the time. While not extremely expensive, it was a notch or two above the other department stores. Rich's was a little more dimly lighted, the walls were stained a darker wood-tone, and the salesgirls were just a bit prettier than the ones at Parisian or Pizitz. The Christmas lights were rich and luminescent gold and red, and the piped-in music at Rich's was usually a symphonic recording of something like "Coventry Carol" or The Nutcracker. In short, Rich's was the "nice" department store.

We usually bought a few special gifts at Rich's, and then went to the more everyday stores for other gifts. My parents, while very kind, loving, and giving, were not ones to pay an extra five dollars for the right of carrying a Rich's bag through the mall...especially if the bag contained an item whose identical twin could be purchased elsewhere for less.

For whatever reason, we bought pretty much every gift at Rich's that year, and I will always associate BCT and A Christmas Carol with that really wonderful Christmas I had in 1985. I even remember my mother picking me up at the theatre one day and asking if instead of going back to school (we were doing daytime shows requiring a "check out" from school) I would like to get lunch and go shopping. Needless to say, my answer was yes.

We ate lunch at cafeteria in the mall and shopped at Rich's after I performed in A Christmas Carol at BCT in the morning. That day remains one of my favorite Christmas memories...a very uneventful and ordinary day, but for some reason one that has become emblematic of warm holiday happiness.

I know, that story had no point...I am just free-flowing.

Today from The Motherland...Sarah, the wife of PM Gordon Brown, promotes reading. I agree.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7122428.stm

FLT3

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thankful...

Somewhere in one of his commentaries, professional curmudgeon Andy Rooney said that Thanksgiving is a "good, quiet, low-key holiday." I agree. Basically, the day consists of eating, sleep, and more eating. Not a bad way to spend an autumn afternoon...

It finally feels like autumn. Outside, the trees have turned a Norman Rockwell brown/red/orange and there is a definite nip in the air. Even for us warm weather fans, it's kind of nice.

I won't get obscenely maudlin and do a syrup-laden "this is what I am thankful for" essay, but I will say this...I have a pleasant, satisfying life, some good friends and a loving family. I am lucky, and I know it. :-)

Paula Deen is prattling on the tv screen across the room...I find it very amusing that she keeps talking about "using her grandma's pot" or "how wonderful grandma's pot always was" or my favorite..."grandma's pot was just something special." Yes, she's talking about an antique cooking utensil, but the thought of Paula and Grandma Deen getting completely baked is entertaining...perhaps that's why Paula became a cook...

In today's News From The Motherland, a look at the colonies...and the good news that The Grinch has not stolen Christmas after all...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7107264.stm

FLT3

Monday, November 19, 2007

Diamond Day...

Today from The Motherland...a royal anniversary.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7101094.stm

Not much else to say today... God Save The Queen!

FLT3

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Good Day Thought...

Today has been a very good day for a variety of reasons...won't bore any of my seven or eight readers with the details...it's just been a nice day.

That sort of set me thinking about the absolute crapshoot that is any given day...when we wake up in the morning, it's a clean slate. Nothing has yet happened, failed to happen, etc. All is possibility...then we begin to take actions and make decisions, and the day becomes whatever it will be. Granted, our actions mold and shape our outcomes, but there's quite a bit of random chance and dumb luck involved. If one was inclined towards Calvinism, predestination could be blamed. I, however, believe that God gives us the power to choose, and then sits back and watches us to see what happens...

Okay, moment of depth is over...here's a lovely story from The Motherland about a Swiss gentleman who blamed his excessive speeding on the absence of goats on the road.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5322302.stm

FLT3

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

God Bless Us Every One...

Yes, it's that time of year again...I have been cast once again as Bob Cratchit in BCT's A Christmas Carol, which is always one of my favorite holiday stories. Yes, it's syrupy, hackneyed, trite and predictable...and I love it! I have always read the Dickens book on Christmas Eve (you can read it in a couple of hours) and usually either perform in or see at least one stage version per year. Add to that the near-ubiquity of the various film incarnations, and it's pretty hard to escape Scrooge and Co. at the holidays!

A Christmas Story is moving along nicely. Ralphie's eye is still intact, but that BB gun could lead to trouble...

On a personal level, I am happy to say that my dad is out of hospital and back home. He seems to be recuperating slowly but steadily, which is just fine. I spent a little time with him this morning, and he seemed in good spirits.

Our London excursion draws closer...from 27 December to 03 January, I will be leading 15 people on a trip to The World's Greatest City...a few among us have never been, so I am looking forward to playing unofficial tour guide. Rule, Britannia!

Not much else going on right now...the pre-primaries continue apace. So far, my girl Hillary is doing well. A few missteps aside, I think the nomination is hers for the taking. Hopefully by this time next year, we will be reading news stories about President-Elect Clinton.

I will withold comment on Dubya the dumbass. I'm in a good mood and want to keep it that way.
The whole "I'm gonna veto health care for poor kids but give me countless billions for a pointless war" thing just gets me riled...

Today from The Motherland...some changes in EuroStar service to Paris.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7093761.stm

FLT3

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Guy Fawkes Day

Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
I know of no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

05 November is an important day for us anglophiles...it was on this day that Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent to blow up king and parliament...(with apologies for what I am sure is a paraphrased quote.) I haven't seen too many effigies burning in Birmingham, Alabama. Oh well...there it is...

Today From The Motherland...an amusing story from the archives...about a monkey who likes to fly commercial air...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6936533.stm

FLT3

Monday, November 05, 2007

Quick Catch Up!

I am afraid I have once again neglected my readers...from what I have recently been told, there may be as many as 7 or 8 of you...can double digits be far away????

Lots has been happening...Thoroughly Modern Millie closed, rehearsals began for A Christmas Story, and Rumplestiltskin continues for this week and next with BCT. I really like my fellow actors, and will always seek out their friendship...however, I will not miss the show...six weeks is long enough...

Those of us who work in local theatre (I hate the term "community theatre") get rather spoiled with a 5 or 6 week rehearsal period followed by a two-weekend run...you really don't have time to get tired of the project at hand.

My dad has been in hospital for several days and will most likely be there several more...won't bore anyone with details...he's just getting old, and that's sad, but what can you do? As the saying goes, getting old beats the alternative...I have been trying to visit as often as possible, and my mother and sister are usually with him, so he hasn't lacked for company. Hopefully he can come home soon.

Mortality, as the saying goes, is a bitch. I was texting with a good friend today, and he mentioned having had chest pains over the weekend, which turned out to be nothing, but were still scary. I suppose we (my friends and I) are all reaching the age where we need to take better care of ourselves.

Time marches on...the BCT show was in Tuscaloosa last week, so I took a friend of mine from the tour out to Buffalo Phil's (beer and chicken wings) and another friend who had also gone to UA drove down and joined us. After we got through staring in utter confusion at all the junior high kids (who turned out to be college students,) we marveled at how much the landscape had changed...new buildings, etc. This reverie was wistful, but bearable, but then we saw...the horror...

THE BOOTH IS NOW A POLICE STATION!!!!!!!

For the uninitiated, The Booth was a grand old beer joint in the tradition of a bygone era...dark, smoky, loud, and in disrepair. A couple of mangy pool tables and a shabby bandstand were the only decorations other than grafitti. It was a low establishment, and reeked of beer, sweat, cigarettes and God-knows-what...relationships, vows of sobriety and good common sense seldom survived an evening at The Booth...

...and I loved it.

Now a cornerstone of my misspent youth is a police substation...all glass and chrome and shiny clean...no drug dealers, drunk sorority girls or aging hippies (except those in the drunk tank)...no beyond gawdawful student bands banging away atonally on stolen guitars...no loud laughter or rebel yells permeate the interior of this once revered/reviled establishment...

Farewell to The Booth...whenever I get almost-sick off watermelon shooters (not planning to anytime soon, but you never know...) I will think of the nights spent inside your walls.

Today from The Motherland...Harry Potter comes to Broadway...sort of...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7079618.stm

FLT3