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[bk]

It's criminal that all the food we so dearly love is so damnably caloric and fat-gram ridden.

[DERBRUCER]

all the food we so dearly love

Speaking of which...

In light of the impending earthquake disater in Indonesia, I hope that before our God Fearing administration launches another PR-based "What Would Jesus Do" crusade to spend our tax-dollars they would address the following data reported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, "Hunger and Homelessness 2003,""

An average of 14 percent of the demand for emergency food assistance is estimated to have gone unmet in survey cities during the last year. Unmet need numbers were highest in Louisville (30 percent); San Francisco (25 percent); Cleveland and Los Angeles (20 percent); Philadelphia and Phoenix (15 percent); Denver (10 percent); and Boston and Burlington (5 percent).

Fifty-six percent of the cities report that emergency food assistance facilities may have to turn away people in need because of lack of resources. Forty percent of cities said emergency food assistance programs were not able to provide an adequate quantity of food. Fifty-two percent of the survey cities report that emergency food assistance facilities have had to decrease the quantity of food provided and/or the number of times families or individuals can come to get food.

der "Charity-begins-at-home" Brucer

[JoseSPiano]

GOOD EVENING!!!!

GGRRRRRRR....

-Roomie "issues" when I got home last night... "Hey, do you mind if my drunk friend crashes on the couch tonight?  Oh, and since me and my boyfriend are drunk as skunks, we're gonna go ahead and make some pasta and meat sauce."  -At 3:00 in the morning?!?!?!?!

-About four hours of fitful, "angry" sleep.

-Dirty dishes in the sink when I woke up.  Red wine spilled on the counter and floor.  And a broken wine glass to boot!  Thankfully, I had my socks on when I first stepped into the kitchen this morning.

-Horrible rain today...

-Traffic on the way up to Fairfax....

-Flight delayed for 3 1/2 hours due to the bad weather in the mid-Atlantic...

BUT... The Flight Attendant was a hoot, and I have a nice BIG corner room here at the hotel in Memphis!  -And free high-speed wireless internet!  So...

I'm starving, and I'm gonna walk on down to Beale Street and get some good, greasy, fattening, very caloric food!

I'll catch up on the posts once I get back.  I hope chat was lively and sparkling.  If I could have been there, I would have... -Oh, and the United Express terminal at Dulles is a total joke!  -Too small, looks like a bus terminal, they weren't letting people board since the sidewalk/walkway(!) was flooding(!?!?!?), and they have NO wireless internet connection available in there.   AAAGGGHHH!!!!!

OK - Time for me to grab a beer or two. Oh, and some food.

Laters...

[DERBRUCER]

I'm starving, and I'm gonna walk on down to Beale Street and get some good, greasy, fattening, very caloric food!

Shucks, find a Burger King and tell them bk sent you.

der Brucer

[Matt H.]

I enjoyed chat, and with 14 or so people in attendance when I was there, it was lively indeed.

[Matt H.]

It is after 11 here, and all of a sudden I'm starving. I hope I can resist my growling stomach and not eat anything.

[Matt H.]

With SWEET CHARITY not opening, that leaves LA CAGE and PACIFIC OVERTURES as the only potential nominees for Best Musical Revival. I wonder if they'll eliminate the category, I know they've had it with two nominees in years past, but neither show got great reviews.

[Jed]

Thanks to the earlier chat, I'm currently dining on some FRIED CHICKEN!!!

[bk]

WUSSBURGERS, nothing but WUSSBURGERS.  

[bk]

Had a lovely call from our very own Christiane Noll - nice to catch up with her.

[bk]

Holy moley on rye, it really IS the ATTACK OF THE WUSSBURGERS.  Chat must have really tired everyone out.  

Nobody here but us chickens and us chickens are laying HARD-BOILED EGGS.

[bk]

So, for ninety minutes I'm the only one posting.  Feh, I say, and feh I say again.

[S. Woody White]

Feh is Hef spelled backwards.

[S. Woody White]

Dinner tonight was very nice, indeed.  We both had roast duck for the entree, which was served on a bed of wild and brown rice, with a pleasant bourbon sauce and roasted apples.

Der Brucer started with escargot, something I've never been able to stomach.  Snails is snails, and I'm not going there.  I, on the other hand, had a soup of pureed spinach and sweet green peppers, which tasted wonderfully green.

Dessert was cheesecake, which Charles makes himself.  I had his award-winning chocolate mocha cheesecake, der B had the lemon with raspberry sauce.

And we dished with Charles and his staff about some of the other restaurants in town.

That's why der Brucer wasn't there for chat tonight.

[bk]

Why is Jose sitting there like a herring in the moonlight?

[bk]

Chat was where it was at.  We chewed the fat.  We begat the begat.  It was never flat.  

[JoseSPiano]

Good Evening!  (again)

I headed on over to Beale Street, and settled into a table at Beale Street Blues - I think.  In any case, I had some tamales and a bowl of chili.  Very good.  The ribs looked good, but I'll have my Rendezvous Ribs later in the week.  I passed on dessert there.  Of course, now I'm craving chocolate.  And there's no candy machine here in the hotel.    Ah, well..

The hotel is in a very nice location.  About a 10 minute walk from the theatre and Beale Street.  The trolley line is right outside the front door.  Lots of great places to eat nearby - cheap eats and not so cheap eats.  I'm gonna have to check out "Memphis Grits" sometime this week.  And it's right next door to "The Peanut Shoppe" which I've seen featured on FoodTV a couple of times.  They roast their nuts in-house - and the exhaust is fed right out onto the sidewalk.  They also "oil roast" some of their nuts - frying them in oil!  I'll most likely pick up a bag or two of goodies before heading to the theatre for sound check.

[JoseSPiano]

Why is Jose sitting there like a herring in the moonlight?

I was digesting.

 

-Thanks for noticing.

[JoseSPiano]

In other news...

It's definitely time for me to move from Richmond...

Ah, well...

[S. Woody White]

In other news...

It's definitely time for me to move from Richmond...

Ah, well...

Either that, or it's time to invent disposable roommates.

[JoseSPiano]

The flight attendant, as I mentioned earlier, was a real hoot.  She was just what I - and everyone else who had been waiting for three and a half hours - needed once we got on the plane.  Here's a sampling of some of her bon mots.

Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen.  Welcome aboard.  Now, if you all listen to me now, this will be quick and painless...

Please return your seats to the upright and most uncomfortable position...

In the very, very, very, very, very, very highly unlikely event that we should have a water landing between here and Memphis, your seat cushion is a flotation device...

Now for those of you sitting in the Exit Rows... (she waves).... Hello?!?!...  Can you guys say HI so we know where you are?...  Thank you.

I shall now demonstrate the way the seat belt works....  -Hey, it's not rocket science...

Now, if you do plan to smoke in the lavatory, please be aware that you could be fined up to $2500, and you will also have to stay behind and help me clean the cabin after everyone deplanes.

Thank you for listening to my announcements.  I shall be dimming the cabin lights once we leave the ground in order to make the flight attendant, moi, more attractive to you.

Welcome to Memphis.  The current time is...-Uh.. well, maybe you don't want to know how late the flight really was...

We all applauded her at the conclusion of the flight.  

[JoseSPiano]

Either that, or it's time to invent disposable roommates.

Were it that easy...

But he apparently found a new roommate, so... I'm actually wondering if I should fill the new guy in on the potential problems.  And, heck, I don't even "live" there that much, and he still manages to get on my nerves.  I truly was pissed last night as  I was trying to get to bed.  Yes, I probably got a bit upset more than I should have since I was a bit tired from all the travel, but still..

OK - That's enough rehashing for now...

Onward and upward!

[Charles Pogue]

I listened to the amusing Mr. Kimmel on Donald's radio show.  Highly entertaining.  

I've been sucked into the DaVinci Code the last couple of days.  While I find the thriller part somewhat standard,  the historical mystery that forms the basis of it is fascinating.  

SLIGHT SPOILER AHEAD!

I did know a lot about the historical aspects (like that the Christian religion was pretty much cobbled together with councils and votes and stealing and perverting rituals and aspects from various pagan religions), but the parts about DaVinci and other elements come as a bit of surprise.  I'll never look at his LAST SUPPER the same way again...if I had ever really look at it before...

[JoseSPiano]

Favorite TV actors from the "Golden Age" to the 70s...  Well, since I wasn't born until 1968...



Lucille Ball, hands down.  The "All In The Family" group.  And, subsequently, "Maude", Bea Arthur.  And the show may not have been "golden", but I was - and still am - a fan of "Good Times".  The funny episodes were funny, and the serious turns it took were pretty serious.

Damn, Damn, Damn!

*Oh, and I remember Suzanne Sommers singing a medley of TV theme songs on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson".   It was first time I ever understood all the word to the "Good Times" theme song.   Or was it "The Jeffersons"?

[S. Woody White]

As long as Jose is in Memphis, here's something I came across that might help him...

Tips for Travelling in the South

1) Don’t order filet mignon or pasta primavera at Waffle House. It’s just
a diner. They serve breakfast 24 hours a day. Let them cook something they
know. If you confuse them, they’ll kick your ass.

2) Don’t laugh at our Southern names (Merleen, Luther, Tammy Lynn, Inez,
Billy Joe, Sissy, Clovis, etc.) or we will just HAVE to kick your ass.

3) Don’t order a bottle of pop or a can of soda down here. Down here it’s
called Coke. Nobody cares whether it’s Pepsi, RC, Dr.
Pepper, 7-Up or whatever… it’s still a Coke. Accept it. Doing otherwise
can lead to an ass kicking.

4) We know our heritage. Most of us are more literate than you (e. g.
Welty, Williams, Faulkner). We are also better educated and generally a
lot nicer. Don’t refer to us as a bunch of hillbillies or we’ll kick your
ass.

5) We have plenty of business sense (e. g., Fred Smith of Fed Ex, Sam
Walton, Turner Broadcasting, MCI WorldCom, MTV, Netscape). Naturally, we
do, sometimes, have small lapses in judgment (e. g. John Edwards, Al Gore,
Bill Clinton, David Duke). We don’t care if you think we are dumb. We are
not dumb enough to let someone move to our state in order to run for the
Senate. If someone tried to do that, we would kick his/her ass.

6) Don’t laugh at our Civil War monuments. If Lee had listened to
Longstreet and flanked Meade at Gettysburg instead of sending Pickett up
the middle, you’d be paying taxes to Richmond instead of Washington. If
you visit Stone Mountain and complain about the carving, we’ll kick your
ass.

7) We are fully aware of how high the humidity is, so shut the hell up.
Just spend your money and get the hell out of here, or we’ll kick your
ass.

8 ) Don’t order wheat toast at Cracker Barrel. Everyone will instantly know
that you’re a Yankee. Eat your biscuits like God intended with gravy. And
don’t put sugar on your grits, or we’ll kick your ass.

9) Don’t fake a Southern accent. This will incite a riot, and you will get
your ass kicked.

10) Don’t talk about how much better things are at home because we know
better. Many of us have visited Northern hellholes like Detroit, Chicago,
and DC, and we have the scars to prove it. If you don’t like it here,
Delta is ready when you are. Move your ass on home before it gets kicked.

11) Yes, we know how to speak proper English. We talk this way because we
don’t want to sound like you. We don’t care if you don’t understand what
we are saying. All other Southerners understand what we are saying, and
that’s all that matters. Now, go away and leave us alone, or we’ll kick
your ass.

12) Don’t complain that the South is dirty and polluted. None of OUR lakes
or rivers have caught fire recently. If you whine about OUR scenic beauty,
we’ll kick your ass all the way back to Boston Harbor.

13) Don’t ridicule our Southern manners. We say sir and ma’am. We hold
doors open for others. We offer our seats to old folks because such things
are expected of civilized people. Behave yourselves around our sweet
little gray-haired grandmothers or they’ll kick some manners into your ass
just like they did ours.

14) So you think we’re quaint, or losers, because most of us live in the
countryside? That’s because we have enough sense to not live in filthy,
smelly, crime infested cesspools like New York, Baltimore or Boston. Make
fun of our fresh air, and we’ll kick your ass.

15) Last, but not least, DO NOT DARE to come down here and tell us how to
cook barbecue. This will get your ass shot (right after it is kicked).
You’re lucky we let you come down here at all. Criticize our barbecue, and
you will go home in a pine box… minus your ass.

[JoseSPiano]

As long as Jose is in Memphis, here's something I came across that might help him...

Well.... Remember, I have been living in Richmond, VA - The Capitol of the Confederacy - off and on for the past 17 years...

[JoseSPiano]

Hmmm... I've lost track of which clocks (computer, watch, PDA, etc.) I've changed to Central time...  Just what time will I go to bed tonight?

[JoseSPiano]

...Or was it the "The CapitAl..."

You say capital, I say capitol...

They seem to be used interchangeably (by mistake) nowadays.  I remember being taught the difference back in fourth grade... But I still get confused.  And I've forgotten the nemonic device to remember the difference/proper usage.

[bk]

It is REALLY windy here.

[bk]

Last call for NOMENCLATURE!