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It practically gallops!

Cracker Hack

Frank tries on the wrong costume at rehearsal for Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association's production of "The Nutcracker" This is not my Halloween costume. In fact, it’s not my costume at all. For a few minutes on Sunday, I thought I would be wearing it in the Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association’s production of “The Nutcracker.” After I tried it on, I found out it belongs to the Mouse King and that I will have to find a different costume at next week’s rehearsal.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Heather Tang danced with Mark Nagi in Star 102.1’s Dancing with the Knoxville Stars. Last week she sent me a Facebook message asking if I would play a cameo role in this year’s ballet. In a bit of typecasting, I will be an elderly party guest who can’t handle his liquor, dances poorly and crashes into the host.

“The Nutcracker” will be performed at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center on Saturday, November 19 at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. and on Sunday, November 20 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.

October 31, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Pin Da Club

S'mores at Tennessee Food & Wine Festival on 10/22/11 S'mores at Tennessee Food & Wine Festival on 10/22/11 The s’mores at the Tennessee Food & Wine Festival on October 22nd had some added pizazz. The marshmallows were impaled on wooden sticks that were similar to the stirrers at Starbucks. The chef toasted them using a small blowtorch. In addition to the graham cracker and chocolate sauce, they were garnished with peanut brittle and coconut.

There are thousands more s’mores on Pinterest.com. I hadn’t heard of the website until yesterday when I noticed that one of my especially crafty friends had mentioned it on her blog. Since then, I’ve spent more than a few minutes scrolling through pictures of delicious treats. I’ve even typed a few of my favorite words into the search bar, such as Oreo.

October 30, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Seven, Eleven

St. Louis loves the Cardinals the way Knoxville loves the Vols. I was similarly wowed by an area’s devotion to a team when I first moved to the Washington suburbs and saw the love for the Redskins.

During my most recent trip to St. Louis, the Cardinals were struggling. They were 10½ games out in the National League Wild Card Race, yet I still saw fans decked in red making their way to the ballpark on a Sunday afternoon. It was great to see them win the World Series last night.

I admit that I didn’t pay much attention to baseball this year. The Mets had another bad season and two of their rivals, the Phillies and the Braves, were doing well. When the regular season ended with the Braves’ collapse and the Cardinals making the playoffs, my interest was piqued. Things got better when the Cardinals eliminated the Phillies.

When my wife and I got home from a movie screening on Thursday night, the Cardinals were on the verge of losing the Series. Friends on Facebook were writing things like “I hear the fat lady warming up.” I turned off the TV and carried my computer upstairs. I would read a few more posts before going to sleep. All of a sudden, the news about the Cardinals tying the game hit Twitter. Since there’s no TV in our bedroom, I turned on my WiFi clock radio, intending to find the ESPN Radio broadcast. To my surprise, KMOX.com was streaming their coverage of the extra innings. Earlier in the evening, I noticed that they were rerunning a talk show on their Internet feed. It’s common for sports broadcasts to be pre-empted online.

The experience of hearing rather than watching the end of Game Six reminded me of 1986. I was working late and listening to the radio when Mookie Wilson propelled Bill Buckner to a life of infamy, as recently parodied on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” This year’s Game Six will go down in history as one of the greatest games ever. Thanks to the Internet, we can watch the unbelievable finish online.

October 29, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Shake It Up

A scene in the new movie “Anonymous,” resonated with me. The movie imagines that Shakespeare’s plays were actually written by the Earl of Oxford, who dared not reveal his identity. He felt compelled to write because it quieted the voices in his head. Granted, I’m no Shakespeare, but I understand what the screenwriter was saying. Once an idea for a blog post or even an idea for a tweet gets in my head, it increasingly takes over my consciousness until I purge it by posting it online. Some people write to remember. I write to forget.

The older version of the Earl of Oxford is played by Rhys Ifans. Years ago, he played the annoying roommate in “Notting Hill.” More recently, he played Xenophilius Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies. The Earl of Oxford as a young man was portrayed by Jamie Campbell Bower, who played Gellert Grindelwald in the last two Harry Potter films. My wife recognized Bower as Anthony in “Sweeney Todd.”

Perhaps the most enjoyable character in “Anonymous” is Queen Elizabeth I. The aging monarch is played by Vanessa Redgrave. The younger, bawdier version of the queen is played by Redgrave’s daughter, Joely Richardson, who radiates beauty in the role.

The movie starts with two separate groups who ultimately cross paths. At first, I had a hard time keeping track of the various Earls and Lords but I found it easy to identify and to identify with the actors and playwrights. There are flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks at the start of the film, with a different set of actors playing younger versions of the aristocracy. I figured it out by the end of the movie, but it would have been a good idea for me to look at the official website, which explains the relationships between the characters.

October 28, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Bean There

A picture of the interior of Doc Brown’s DeLorean got me thinking. Yesterday was the 26th anniversary of Marty McFly’s fictional trip from 1985 back to 1955. I realized that on the real Saturday, October 26, 1985, my friend Bean and I were hard at work on a show called “The 25th Hour.” Without the benefit of digital technology, we put together a one-hour program full of songs about time. It aired on WAVA as Daylight Saving Time ended on Sunday, October 27 and the clocks were changed from 2:00 a.m. EDT to 1:00 a.m. EST. One of the songs in the show was “Back in Time” by Huey Lewis and the News from the “Back to the Future” soundtrack. I don’t think either of us realized that we were using that song on the pivotal date from the summer’s hit movie.

Six years later, October 26 once again fell on a Saturday. That year I was in Los Angeles, interviewing for a job with Jay Thomas at Power 106. After a bizarre meeting in which Jay and the station’s marketing director pretended to be a gay couple just to make sure I would be okay with it, I had the evening free. I went to dinner with Bean, who by then had started working at KROQ. After burgers at Carl’s Jr., we went to Bean’s apartment near the Hollywood Freeway to watch the World Series. I’m pretty sure we heard gunshots in the neighborhood.

Bean asked if I wanted to go to a movie or if I would rather go to Las Vegas and be best man at his wedding to Donna. I had not been to Nevada, so I chose the wedding. In rapid succession, we took a Southwest flight to Vegas, a cab to the Clark County Courthouse and another cab to the Graceland Wedding Chapel. The sign out front said Lorenzo Lamas had been married there two years earlier. According to Vegas.com, the Thompson Twins were also married there on October 27, 1991. I never stopped to figure out if Bean and Donna’s wedding took place before or after midnight local time. As a result, I’m not 100% sure if their 20th anniversary was yesterday or today.

October 27, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Yay Cloud

Kelly Clarkson sounded great on “Dancing with the Stars” a week ago. Of all people, she should sound good singing on a live television show, considering it was that exact skill which propelled her to stardom.

Her new album, “Stronger,” came out this week. I got a promo copy and immediately uploaded it to my clouds. My WiFi clock radio came with a free MP3tunes account. Like I did with a Bruno Mars album last year, I uploaded the Kelly Clarkson songs so I could listen as I went to sleep.

More recently, I have started using the Amazon Cloud to store MP3s. Before Monday, I had only saved songs I had gotten for free in the Amazon MP3 store. Instead of downloading the songs, I chose the “save to cloud” option. “Stronger” is the first thing I have actually uploaded to the cloud from my own computer.

Of the two clouds, Amazon’s works much better. I had no problems with it, while MP3tunes seems unable to play certain songs. I may have to try re-uploading the songs that MP3tunes doesn’t like. I think I had to do that last year with one or two of the Bruno Mars tracks. The experience makes me wish I could access the Amazon Cloud from my WiFi clock radio.

“Stronger” will likely yield multiple hits for Kelly. “Mr. Know It All” is already doing well. The title track, “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)” sounds like an absolute smash to me. I like “You Love Me,” “I Forgive You” and “You Can’t Win” as much for the messages in the lyrics as for the catchy pop rhythms. I’m also partial to “Einstein” because of the name.

October 26, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Hold That Tiger

In the aftermath of the Ohio private zoo tragedy, Josh Ault of WATE did a report on how Tiger Haven in Roane County has taken precautions against an animal escape. Similarly, Ben Tracy of CBS News did a feature on Wildlife Waystation in the Angeles National Forest, where many former exotic pets can live out their lives comfortably. Seeing Martine Colette on the news reminded me of the many times she visited KLOS to promote various fundraisers for the sanctuary.

One day Pam Baker and I decided that we needed some tigers for a photo shoot, which prompted us to call Martine Colette. We had persuaded Mark & Brian to dress as Siegfried & Roy and to pose with the big cats. Martine, of course, knew better. She strongly suggested that the tigers and deejays be photographed separately. We could combine the images later.

At the time, ABC’s West Coast offices were in Century City. Because we were required to use a network photographer for the publicity shoot, we arranged to meet Martine and the tigers there. The tigers relaxed on the grass just outside the network photo studio until we were ready for them. Martine and her associate posed them in front of a green screen for us. After the cats went back outside, Mark & Brian stood in the same spot and posed as if they were straddling the tigers. I would love to see those pictures again but I don’t know who has them.

October 25, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

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