Just Like Mama Used to Make...Almost

I have to say, without a doubt, fried chicken is one of my favorite foods. My dad would often tell the story of how when we were traveling on the road for family vacations, I would often fall asleep in the back seat, as small children often do. I would stay asleep until we passed any Fried Chicken Establishment, and then I would raise my head up, eyes closed sniffing, like some infant puppy in search of food. I can't say I have ever had any fried chicken I didn't like, but certainly some rank above others. First and foremost, I loved my mother's pan fried chicken growing up. There is nothing quite like pan fried chicken, but there is an art to cooking it, and not everyone can do it correctly. My mother taught me how to fry chicken, and I added a few changes, and it became one of my specialties, my signature dish, if you will. But, as anyone who pan fries chicken knows, it takes time and attention, so my craving for fried chicken must often be satisfied by the eat-out variety. Hands down, my favorite take-out restaurant for Fried Chicken would be Bojangles. Sadly, there is not a Bojangles near me. :o( However, Popeyes runs a close second, and although I must travel to get to one, it isn't too terribly inconvenient to get a fix. My side of town offers slim pickins' when it comes to fried chicken. It's not that the chicken available is bad. It's just not good! That is until Hardees introduced the hand-breaded chicken tender. Now, the chicken tender is an entirely different breed of fried chicken. It is meant to be dipped in the sauce of your choice and consumed. Until now, to get a fresh chicken tender you would have to pay upwards of $10.00 in a sit-down restaurant, but now Hardees offers 5 pieces, fries and a drink for a little over $7.00. It's fresh and crispy and juicy, and it's my new favorite fast food thing. It still doesn't beat Mom's pan fried, but it's pretty close.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today would have been my Daddy's 75th birthday. Emphysema claimed his life in November of 2007. I am the baby of the family, and I was definitely Daddy's little girl. We also had our share of arguments, probably because we were a lot alike, and the qualities I most dislike in myself were the ones that caused most of the problems between us. But all those things aside, I felt we had a really good relationship. My dad was an honest and fair man. He was very sensitive, and I teased him often about the fact that he would cry at the drop of a hat, something I also get from him. And anytime I get anything new, I "always read the directions first." He was handy and extremely intelligent eventhough he never finished high school. He was an avid reader, and loved crossword puzzles, a trait I didn't inherit, and there are scores of inventions that came down the pike that he had the sketches and ideas for first, but he never acted on them.

My dad played a huge part in the person I am today because he always believed in me and encouraged me. He was fiercely proud of me, and if I could have made it big in show business on sheer belief in me alone, my dad's would have propelled me to stardom and beyond. He took me to my first audition when I was 10, and sat through countless rehearsals through my pre-driving years. If he had wanted to persue it, he could have been an actor himself and probably a pretty good one. He was great with dialects and voices, and he could tell a joke like no one else.

My dad gladly took on a dual role when I found myself single at age 34 with a 2 year old and a 5 year old. He became their caregiver and pretty much their Dad. He had a great relationship with both my girls, and they had a wonderful "Papa" for many years until the emphysema got so bad he was pretty much confined to a chair in the den. He loved them so much, and they loved him too! They took his death really hard, and I know they miss him as do I. If he were here, he would be so proud of the young women they have become, and if you're wondering.....yes, I have cried all the way through writing this. I miss you, Daddy, and there will be many times in the next several years that I will watch your granddaughters meet milestones in their lives and wish you were there, but I will strive to remember at those times that your love will always be with me and them. Happy 75th Daddy!

A Guest at Norman's Summer Home

This past Saturday, I was treated to an afternoon at the theater by my sister. She had won tickets to "On Golden Pond" at Barksdale's Hanover Tavern on Facebook. I had been wanting to see this show since its opening, so I was a happy camper, or should I say happy pond tourist? I loved this movie back in 1981, but I had never seen the play. It was delightful, especially watching the back and forth between Ethel, played by Kelly Kennedy and Norman, played by Joe Inscoe, but this play is not about a summer's stay on Golden Pond. It is about Norman Thayer and everyone's relationship with him, his long and loving relationship with his wife, Ethel. His brief, awkward encounter with his soon-to-be son-in-law, Bill Ray (played wonderfully by Andy Boothby), the new bonding relationship he builds with soon-to-be grandson Billy Ray ( a role you could tell Eric Pastore had a wonderful time playing) and his strained relationship with his daughter, Chelsea. Considering the play revolves around Norman, he has to be played by a POWERHOUSE of an actor. Joe Inscoe is that and so much more! I had the honor and privilege of working with Joe this past December in "A Christmas Carol" with Theatre IV. Eventhough he and I have been in Richmond Theatre for a lot of the same years, this was the first opportunity I had gotten to work with him. Joe was our Scrooge, and he was amazing!!!!! I found myself standing in the wings many times just watching him work. Cedric Hardwicke said, “When [actors] are talking, they are servants of the dramatist. It is what they can show the audience when they are not talking that reveals the fine actor.” If there was ever a quote to describe Joe Inscoe as an actor that would be it. When you watch Joe on stage, you never think, "He's acting." He never looks like he's "acting". You feel like your watching this person's life, that you have been invited in to look through that 4th wall to glimpse a piece of the everyday of whichever character he happens to be playing. Last Saturday, I happened to be invited into the world of Norman Thayer, and I found myself wishing I were older so I could trade places with Kelly Kennedy just once to play Ethel. If you can't tell, I'm a big Joe Inscoe fan, and Richmond Theatre is lucky to have him. Henry Fonda won an Oscar for his portrayal of Norman back in 1981. I sure hope we'll be hearing, "And the RTCC award for Best Actor goes to Joe Inscoe." It plays at Hanover Tavern through August 28th. From what I've heard, most performances are sold out, but you owe it to yourself to call just in case a seat has opened up.

Long Live the King!

33 years ago today, on August 16th, the King died. He was only 42 years old, just under 5 years younger than I am now. I am sure the TV stations and Hollywood entertainment shows will make mention of the anniversary of his passing, but his devoted fans will mourn today and remember him just as they have for the past 32 years and will probably continue until their own deaths. I am, of course, talking about Elvis Presley.

I can't remember a time that I didn't know who Elvis was. He was my first official "crush". I can remember watching his concert from Hawaii live on TV, and sitting fixed to the television when his movies came on. Whether you liked his voice or not, no one can deny that he had something special, a charisma, a magnetism, that playful way his lip turned up when he would smile, those eyes, that hair.......Is it hot in here? Somebody turn on a fan. All joking aside, he definitely had the "it" factor, the star quality. Elvis was no "flash in the pan" evidenced by the fact that 33 years after his death you would be hard pressed to find someone who does not know who Elvis is. What other star can you name whom scores of people make a living impersonating him? He wasn't just a man, he was an icon, and will forever be remembered as the KING of Rock 'n Roll!

Welcome to the Big Show!

The "Big Show" is a term used by minor league baseball players when they are called up to play for the major league team. This post, however, is not about baseball. It is about church. Sunday I was prompted by a link posted on Facebook by a friend to read an article in the New York Times about the increasing pressure for pastors to become entertainers. He also sent me a link to another blog post about a child attending a Vacation Bible School and how the church was offering an iPad to the child who brought the most friends.
Now, before everybody jumps on the "Hater" band wagon, and starts criticizing me for judging unfairly, let me say this. I have been on both sides of the street. I have attended traditional worship, blended worship, contemporary worship and Mega Churches, so I feel I have the background to be able to draw comparison. I was raised in a very traditional Methodist Church. We didn't clap or speak out or hardly laugh unless it was the polite titter at one of the jokes that the minister would open his sermon with that he had gotten, I'm sure, from a book entitled, Jokes to Start Off Your Sermon. We never said the "J" word (Jesus) and we didn't really talk about a personal relationship with God or Jesus. Along about my freshman year in high school I stopped going to Church all together. I started attending again when I was engaged and about to be married, dropped out, and then I went back as a regular attender once I was married. Not only was I a regular attender, but my husband (husband then, ex now, but that's a post for another time) and I became heavily involved with the church. We sang in the choir, my ex taught Youth Sunday School, and he and I were MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) leaders. We stayed on that course for several years, and then I became more and more dissatisfied with the turn this church was taking, and I was really attending out of obligation rather than wanting to attend. I made the church hop to blended worship. Stayed there for almost 15 years, but left there once my husband and I were separated, too much baggage. I began searching and ended up at a fairly contemporary church. At first, I liked it, but gradually it became more and more about the show for me. The pre-service music was so loud you could not speak to someone without yelling, and it seemed more like a club than a church . I was on the "hop" again. This time I went back to tradition, and that is currently where I am.
My children occasionally attend an ultra contemporary church with their father, and even though they are teenagers, they many times come away from the service with a "how did that have anything to do with God?" attitude.
How far is too far? I have had discussions about this in my Sunday school class, and have actually heard this phrase, "whatever it takes to get them in the door." Really? I'm sure a FREE BEER night would get them "in the door". Should we offer that? What about strippers? Usually attendance from men in the 25-35 age bracket is down, I'm sure that would bring them "in the door". Why have we reduced worship, and that's what church should be, in my opinion, to a business with marketing campaigns and free iPads and incentive programs. If we "hook" people with things and promises of a  flashy show, who are we hooking, and what have we set ourselves up for? Yes, I realize that churches need people to give money so they can operate, and when attendance falls, so does the budget, but if you are padding your attendance with people who come every week for the FREE show, you might as well call yourself a theater and sell tickets. People who come for entertainment are not going to be your huge givers, and when they tire of the show, they will leave.
If Jesus were alive, would he want us hawking him like some smarmy barker at a second rate carnival? " Hurry, hurry, hurry! See the Savior, the King of the Jews. Step right up. Don't be shy! Look closely! See the hole in His side, the nail pierced hands! Hurry, Hurry, Hurry."

From Page to Stage

Saturday night closed a chapter in my life, at least for now anyway. I say a chapter was closed. Perhaps I should say a prologue was closed. Saturday night was the last performance of the workshop production of “Company of Angels”. Back in June, a dear friend of mine, Julie Fulcher-Davis, sent me an email with the subject, “Favor?” What I agreed to do never seemed like a favor to me. It was an honor and an incredible opportunity as an actor. Julie had written a musical and she was trying to get a cast together to workshop it. She asked me to play the role of "Cornecia". She sent me a copy of the script and some wave files of my songs. I was on board immediately. In fact, I blogged about it in a round-about way in my post, "I Really Need to Practice What I Preach". A few emails back and forth about ideas and castings, and when all was said and done, we had a date to meet for a read-through with the cast, including my own daughters playing roles of angels in a celestial back-up group called "The Divinettes" From the first read-through and music rehearsals, I knew I was part of something special. It's rare that an actor gets the opportunity to bring life to a role. Along with the help of the writer and director, both of whom were Julie, you shape the character and propel it off the page and onto the stage. Julie is an incredibly giving and open director, and we, as actors were given quite a bit of freedom. "Cornecia" on the stage turned out to be totally different than "Cornecia" on the page, but that's what a workshop is about. It's a growing, living process. Hopefully the show will continue on it's journey and become a full scale production. The cast and crew would often say in rehearsals, "When we get to Philadelphia....[insert grand idea that takes grand budget here]." Philadelphia is usually one of the last stops a show makes before Broadway. The workshop production only ran here in Richmond for 7 performances. By closing night, the box office was turning people away. A very good sign, considering most of the advertising was through Internet, email, Facebook and word of mouth. Not everybody who came liked it, but the general public patron seemed to love it, and the audience reaction was very good. There were standing ovations more than once, which is more than I can say for some full scale productions I have been in. I hope this does make it all the way to Philadelphia, heck, we're Angels, let's shoot for the stars, Broadway. My character, "Cornecia", has a song in the second act with this line, "Even forgotten, a dream will unfold." I am so glad that I am a part of this process to let Julie's dream unfold. Now, if it could just get caught on the feather of a Broadway bound Angel wing.