Well, dear readers, fried chicken. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, fried chicken. So it is written, so it shall be done. I have always loved fried chicken ever since I was a wee sprig of a twig of a tad of a lad of a youth and that’s the truth. My mother didn’t make it often but when she did it was a favorite. Occasionally, we’d have Swanson’s frozen dinner fried chicken and that was pretty disgusting. And then came Colonel Sanders’ Kentucky Fried Chicken and that was the berries for quite a while. Then the followers, like Pioneer, but none of those were nearly as good as KFC. And that was it for me until I discovered the gospel according to fried chicken in the year 1966. I was on tour with the Bishop’s Company, doing Do You Know The Milky Way all over this fine country of ours. At one point in our tour we passed through Lebanon, Ohio and went to the Golden Lamb, a very famous hotel where many old presidents stayed. They’d kept it the same, and it was like a museum. And we went to their restaurant and I ordered the fried chicken. One bite and the heavens opened and I suddenly knew what real fried chicken tasted like. It was simply one of the ten greatest meals I’ve ever had. After that, all fried chicken was disappointing to me and I all but stopped eating it. And then, one fine day in the early to mid-1980s I discovered Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles on Gower. I was driving down to Paramount for some meeting or other and I noticed a crowd waiting outside. I took note of the name and was intrigued by the combination of fried chicken and waffles, which seemed mighty strange to me. It would be another couple of years until I actually ate there.
A year into my Totally Hidden Video gig, we moved our editing facilities to Hollywood, on Sunset a block east of Gower. So, one fine day a whole group of us went and ate there, and again the heavens opened and again I knew what real fried chicken tasted like. It was amazing. The waffles were equally amazing and somehow the combination of the two just worked. I’d always eat the waffle first, then the chicken. We had it quite often, either going there or bringing it in to the editing room. As if that wasn’t heaven enough, they also had great biscuits and gravy, great potato salad, great rice and gravy, and great red beans and rice.
After Totally Hidden Video ended, I only ate at Roscoe’s occasionally, because it was just so hard to get in (it was a VERY small place). By that time, they’d opened a second location on Pico, a few blocks east of La Brea – actually only about two miles from where I grew up. They took over a Piece o’ Pizza location, one of the few Piece o’ Pizza locations that was actually a restaurant rather than just a little takeout stand. I went there a few times, too.
I could no longer eat KFC – it was just gross to me. And then came Popeye’s Fried Chicken. I knew nothing about it at all but when I moved from the beach back to the Valley to be closer to the Varese Sarabande offices, there was a Popeye’s a block away. A friend who was helping me move in went and got herself lunch from there, and I had a bite of a chicken breast and really liked it. Later, I got a couple of chicken breasts and attendant biscuits and they were just as good as what I’d eaten earlier. No, it wasn’t Roscoe’s, but for a fast food jernt it was pretty damn tasty. I know a lot of people wince at the mention of Popeye’s, but I’ve always liked their chicken breast (mild) and their biscuits.
Yesterday, after doing the work session with the thirteen-year-old, we all moseyed on over to Roscoe’s – it was her father’s birthday and that’s where he wanted to go, having never eaten there before. After a ten-minute wait (at 4:45 in the afternoon!) we were seated. And, as always, the heavens opened and my taste buds were very happy buds indeed. The chicken breast was mammoth and succulent and tasty. The waffle was amazing. The biscuits were heavy and yummilicious. The father loved his chicken (somehow he managed to eat the half-chicken). I can barely get through one breast and one waffle. I can eat a half-chicken anywhere else but at Roscoe’s the breasts are so huge you just can’t do it, especially after the waffle.
Prior to that, I’d gotten a decent night’s sleep, then arisen and began writing my contextual commentary for the next Gardenia show. I also found out that the guest star we’d been waiting on won’t be able to do it, so we either have to find someone today or we’ll go without. The writing took about three hours and I got about two-thirds of it done. I also picked up the important envelope and got its contents in the bank. Then we did the work session – we ran all the songs, and began chatting about the patter and how certain songs would be set up. And there are certain songs that won’t need any set-up at all, so that’s fun. I began giving small amounts of direction, but from now on in subsequent rehearsals, we’ll be going through each number and we’ll be stopping and starting and discussing the intention of the song and how to color the words and find variety in the music. I love doing that kind of detail work and I hope the thirteen-year-old will, too. The show is slated for the second week of August – and there’s some tricky timing as I was planning to come to New York on a little personal project at the end of July and since the thirteen-year-old is a small part of that project she’d have to come, too. So, we’re trying to figure out the dates – if it’s too crazy, I’ll push the New York thing to the week after her show, and just attend to the LA portion of that project.
After dinner, we all came back here and went through about 100 photographs of Melody – we chose about fifteen potential photos for her postcard and flyer, and those are now going to the Kritzerland designer. They then left and I finished writing the rest of the commentary. Some of it’s probably too long, so I’m sure I’ll make some cuts and also finesse the writing, but all the information is now there, so that’s good. I then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
I began watching a motion picture I’d TIVOd in high definitions entitled Bad Day At Black Rock, starring Mr. Spencer Tracy. I really like the film and I’ll finish watching it this evening. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I need my beauty sleep, even though my tummy is still quite full from fried chicken.
Today, I have a ten o’clock meeting in the Bank of Bur, and then an eleven o’clock meeting in North Hollywood with Miss Barbara Deutsch, and then a two o’clock birthday lunch with dear reader Jeanne, and then I must come home and write liner notes and try to relax.
Tomorrow is a holiday and I’m hoping to finish the liner notes and actually begin planning the next Gardenia show in terms of cast, as well as writing on my personal project. But it should be a nice, relaxing day and I’m looking forward to it. Tuesday we have our stumble-through, Wednesday is sound check and show, and then there are some meetings and meals to have, work sessions to do, and I’m pretty certain The Berlin Affair will arrive and we’ll have to get that shipped out. And we’ll prep our new release announcement and I’ll have to approve that master. Luckily, we’ve already got the packaging designed and all that has to happen is the liner notes get inserted.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have two meetings, lunch, try to do a jog, write liner notes, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, and do share your fried chicken memories with us, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall dream of Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.