Facebook
Comedy Connections
Erin Donovan’s infamous snort almost gave her away at Side Splitters Comedy Club on Saturday night. She was sitting at the table behind Terry Morrow and me during the show headlined by Lynne Koplitz. I think a few of the audience members nearby recognized Erin’s laugh from “Live at Five at Four” but Lynne assumed the noise came from a man.
Lynne presents her act as advice rather than jokes. She tells the women in the audience what men really want. She says food and quiet rank ahead of what everyone assumes to be the most obvious desire. For some of her more outrageous material, she jokingly apologized to her friends in the front row. I had read in Terry’s column that Lynne’s early career included the Tennessee Stage Company and a day job at Old City Java. I recognized Lynne’s friend in the front row as Amy Leigh Hubbard, a local actress who is also very active with Market Square events such as First Night Knoxville and the Farmers’ Market.
The opener and middler were both great. Corey Forrester is from a town near Ringgold, Georgia. He told me after the show that his town was somehow spared by the recent tornado that destroyed several towns around his. He had to rework his act slightly to avoid mentioning Ringgold so as not to dampen the mood. Brian Sawin has a fun way of using awkward pauses for comedic effect. A large chunk of the routine he did in Knoxville is available on his website in a clip recorded at Side Splitters in Tampa. I watched it when I got home and enjoyed it all over again.
Speaking of Side Splitters, I recorded the voiceover for a new television commercial that they plan to run during episodes of “Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza.”
Raw Umber
One of the names in my high school’s alumni magazine was familiar. Sadly, Robert Crayhon was mentioned on the “In Memoriam” page. Robert was in my graduating class. Twice during my senior year, I bought tickets to see Steve Martin perform. Robert was either in the small group of us who went to the Nassau Coliseum show or to the Garden State Arts Center show. Maybe both.
I haven’t kept in touch with anyone from high school. In fact, I was very surprised this past year when I started receiving mail from the alumni association. I don’t know how they found me. As a result, I didn’t know how Robert had died, or more importantly, how he had lived. I was amazed at what I found.
Robert Crayhon died of colon cancer in September. Tomorrow would have been his birthday. He was an author, a nutritionist, a concert pianist and a stand-up comedian. The search results revealed many blog posts mourning his death. As I read through them, I feel that I missed out on the opportunity to know someone who was extremely interesting.
Hail Wary
Wednesday night is church night in the South. Maybe that’s why some former Baptists at All Saints Catholic Church scheduled choir practice on Wednesdays. Last night’s practice was a full rehearsal with the orchestra for the Easter Cantata that will be performed on Friday and Sunday evenings in the church. Admission is free but a collection will be taken for Catholic Charities of East Tennessee. My wife sings with the choir and I will be one of the narrators.
The weather turned nasty while we were rehearsing. Several choir members got phone calls from concerned spouses who were at home watching tornado warnings on TV. The first wave of storms brought mothball-sized hail. A forecast of even larger hail prompted someone to suggest moving our cars under the covered walkway outside the church.
Fifteen Bones
The FBI Knoxville Citizens’ Academy tried something new for its April meeting on Tuesday evening. They made it a fundraiser and charged admission. Of course, only a superstar speaker could warrant such a move. The guest was Body Farm founder Dr. Bill Bass. He was available to sign autographs, pose for pictures and answer questions about forensic anthropology.
One of the beneficiaries of the FBIKCAAA is the Richard Yoakley School. The group regularly sponsors a cake walk and a junior agent program at the alternative school. FBI employees often volunteer there as reading tutors.
When I approached the Bone Zones team about booking Dr. Bass to speak at the meeting, they were interested in supporting a cause that helped troubled youth. The plot of the latest Jefferson Bass novel, “The Bone Yard,” centers around a corrupt reform school in Florida. After speaking about the new book, Dr. Bass presented a slide show on the infamous Thomas “Zoo Man” Huskey case.
Dr. Bass surprised the group by inviting us to have a future meeting in the classroom space at the new William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology Building, which should be open by the Fall. We enthusiastically accepted the invitation.
Crow Hawk
The hawk that has been visiting my backyard has as friend. On Sunday, blog reader Giannine watched the video I posted and suggested that the bird is a broad-winged hawk. Later that day, I spotted the hawk sunning itself on the deck railing. A few hours later I saw it again, perched on the pool slide. I made the mistake of zooming in on the video camera, which put the bird out of focus. As I crept up with the camera, the video reveals that there are two hawks on the slide.
The weather was beautiful on Sunday. I had the windows open and could hear a flock of crows making a huge commotion. They don’t seem to feel the same way I do about the hawks. As I approached with the camera, the hawk let out a screech and flew deeper into the woods. Its voice made me think that it might be a red-shouldered hawk.
Egg Timer
To keep me from sneaking a peek at our Easter baskets, my wife draped them with an extra tablecloth. This came about around midnight, when we got home from the Easter Vigil. She would be leaving early in the morning to sing at two more Masses and hated to miss seeing my first reaction to the baskets. That’s when I suggested covering them the same way furniture was covered by drop-cloths in old vampire movies.
My wife knew I would be happy to see the See’s Scotchmallow Eggs, which she had ordered from their catalog. The Marshmallow Peeps dipped in dark chocolate were not a surprise because I had purchased them at Food City a few days earlier. The Peeps Freezer Pops were new to me. I put them in the freezer right away and will get to them eventually. I hope that the “marshmallow flavor” doesn’t taste like vanilla.
A Twitter joke from Russell Biven reminded me of an Easter spent with friends in California. Russell said he couldn’t wait to hide eggs this year so he could find the eggs from last year. One year at the annual egg hunt that we did with our friends Anja and Charlie and their family, I wrote the previous year on an egg. This year, I helped my wife by decorating one egg. Although instead of writing “2010″ on it, I just wrote “Last Year.”
Blazon Night
48 adults and 6 children were received into the Catholic Church at All Saints last night. It was almost the largest RCIA class in the history of the Diocese of Knoxville. The group would have been even larger except that a few people had to delay their participation while awaiting finalization of their annulments.
It had been a few years since I celebrated the Triduum at my home parish. Last year I visited Holy Family Church in Seymour. Two years ago, I was the RCIA sponsor for a friend at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The four priests concelebrating at All Saints were from four different countries: Fr. Michael (Ireland); Fr. Miguel (Colombia); Fr. John (Ghana) and visiting priest Fr. Andrew (Vietnam). Meanwhile Fr. David, the American-born associate pastor, was filling in for a ailing Fr. Joe at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in LaFollette.
I noticed something new about the vestments this year. The priests and deacons were dressed uniformly in chasubles branded with the diocesan crest.
Andrew Ballew, one of the church musicians, posted on Facebook that he was looking forward to the Litany of the Saints. John Becker’s musical arrangement of the litany has long been a favorite of mine too. I want it sung at my funeral by our friend Mary Kay and said so in a comment on Andrew’s wall. RCIA leader Tanya Belanger agreed, saying “Mary Kay was awesome. I’m with Frank.” My wife saw this and said, “we all want Mary Kay to sing it at Frank’s funeral.”
-
Site Search
-
A Word from Our Sponsors
-
With Humble Appreciation:
-
Connections:
-
For Your Consideration:
Frank Murphy in "Fish Bait: the Movie" -
Welcome Visitors
-
Olden Days Archives
2005
- August 2005
- September 2005
- October 2005
- November 2005
- December 2005
- January 2006
- February 2006
- March 2006
- April 2006
- May 2006
- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
- November 2006
- December 2006
- January 2007
- February 2007
- March 2007
- April 2007
- May 2007
- June 2007
- July 2007
- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
- August 2008
- September 2008
- October 2008
- November 2008
- December 2008
- January 2009
- February 2009
- March 2009
- April 2009
- May 2009
- June 2009
- July 2009
- August 2009
- September 2009
- October 2009
- November 2009
- December 2009
- January 2010
- February 2010
- March 2010
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010