Today is an exciting day in The Jazz Hands Family, as another one of us has joined the blogging ranks, and in true form, joined it big time.
Today my brother Ryan launched "Life On The Red Carpet." It's actually much more than a blog -- a landing place for his growing business in PR and event support, from charity dinners to red carpets, in NYC and beyond.
Everyone knows Ryan as a talented Broadway dancer (even though it should have been me on the stage at the Winter Garden theater). But he also has a long tracker record in talent booking, management, and event support, including for some pretty big names, like this Naomi person???
I love getting early morning calls from him where he shares the latest adventure about life working the red carpet. This site is an extension of that, along with a dose of how to navigate life in front of and behind the camera, mixed in with his unique take on pop culture and a jet-setting life.
I enjoyed working with him in the months leading up to the launch (yes, I taught him everything he knows abotu dancing AND blogging;)
We spent many afternoons and evenings when he was home in Birmingham sitting at DoDiYos and working on the blog over feta dip. (OK and a few glasses of wine.)
Here he is during one of our marathon blogging sessions at my house. (Gatsby provided excellent ideas, I provided coffee.)
"I am secretly convinced that in my past life I was a fabulous African American female dancer named Yolanda. I'm talking Studio 54 go-go dancer with huge hair, Gold Lame unitards, and big hoop earrings. I'm not kidding. When I was growing up in Florida most kids spent their afternoons swimming in pools. I spent mine watching Oprah and The Wiz on repeat. My poor family had to ease on down the road with me about 10 times a week."
In that post he also goes on to show his serious side in writing about his work with Verizon during last year's "How Sweet The Sound Is" tour. The tour was designed to find the best Gospel Choir in the country, and while enjoyable, it was months of tough work.
Here he shares what he learned:
"Sometimes we forget that there is so much positive change happening in the world. That's the best lesson I took away from this tour. No matter how bad you think your life has gotten or how low things may seem, you have the power to flip it."
Yeah! Conrats to Ryan for flipping it many times over. Now, guess it's time to make my long-overdue blog re-launch happen. Social media silbling rivilary!
Check out his blog, and follow him on Facebook at My Life On The Red Carpet and Twitter @lifeonredcarpet.
Today would have been Elvis' 76th birthday -- long live The King! I always try to do something to mark this day and August 16. This year we're going to do something new and go to Chuy's Mexican Restaurant.
Known for their touch of Elvis throughout the restaurant, they are having an all-day celebration, and anyone who comes dressed as Elvis or Priscilla gets a free meal. (That would be Nate).
In starting this day, I did a search to see just how many times I wrote about Elvis this year alone. Let's just say it comes up as a key theme. Here's a collection of some of these posts. (Unfortunately this doesn't have the story that I wrote for Southern Living about "must-sees" of Elvis history between Memphis and Tupelo. Have to get a copy of that to share ... )
How did Elvis change my life again this year?
Last summer I met a very special friend in Elvis, my Aussie pal Mandy. I knew we'd be great friends when, at running camp, she told me that she came to the States with the dream of riding up to Graceland on a Harley. Yes!
Today she celebrates her "Hen's Night" (what we call a bachelorette party) with peanut butter and banana sandwiches in Australia. Cheers, Mandy!
I love how Elvis continues to influence so many people and bring people together. So, for his birthday, let me know: how does Elvis continue to rock your world?
Of my 34 years, I've spent 18 of them, half a life, interviewing people for a living. (OK, I spent more time at USC writing about moody postmodern Irish poets, but I spent plenty of time in the summers cutting my teeth as a newspaper intern, so that counts!)
But today I did one of the most, if the not most important interview of my life -- interviewing Dad for the StoryCorps Project.
For those not familiar with StoryCorps, it's a non-profit that travels the country and offers people the opportunity to quite simply tell their stories. In short, you bring a partner and ask anything of him or her in the span of 45 minutes while sitting in their tricked out Airstream (more about this in a moment). Participants are then given a CD and their stories are archived in the Library of Congress, with some of the best being played on NPR.
Their motto: "Every Voice Counts."
***
I've been a big fan of their NPR broadcasts for years, and was excited when StoryCorps announced a visit to Birmingham. So, when tickets went on sale, I was sitting by my computer, nervously hitting the refresh button to get a spot. (It's a good thing that I did, since all the spots were taken within a few minutes.)
I didn't think twice about who I would interview. My Dad is such a great storyteller, and despite the tales he's told me and shared on his blog, we'd never sit down and done a formal interview, never mind a recorded one. He seemed a little trepedatious, but I promised that I wouldn't throw him any crazy curve balls.
Preparing the list of questions was tough -- there were so many subjects I wanted to cover. Going over that list was like a flashback of our family's life, and more than a few tears welled up when I got to some of the more difficult questions.
Against the advice of some, I actually shared the list with him. I get why in general it's not good to do this (and as a journalist I rarely share). But I asked Dad if he would feel more comfortable getting a general outline and he said yes, so I respected his wishes. (It worked out well for us, but I also understand not wanting to compromise the spontaneity too -- everyone has to decided on the best strategy for theme.)
***
We arrived a few minutes early to the shiny silver Airstream parked outside the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum and were greeted with warm welcomes by a young woman who would help facilitate our discussion. The first step was filling out paperwork. (On a side note, I thought it was interesting that they listed "transgender" as a category -- right on. Not sure about the difference between "gay" and "queer" -- meant to ask aout that.)
I was getting really nervous at this point, mostly because I wanted to get the interview right -- and because I'd never interviewed my Dad before. Before we got started, asked him how he felt:
Before we knew it, our host was ushering us into the Airstream, which felt a bit like hallowed ground. The Airstream! We were lead to its studio, which takes about half of the space (the other half has a small space with a desk and seating). She closed the door and was great at explaining what would happen.
Dad and I sat face to face in a booth similar to that of a restaurant. In fact, she stressed several times to think of our talk as a conversation that would take place at a kitchen table, which is always good advice. She advised me to just use the question list as a guide and to feel free to go wherever the story took us.
We were asked to turn off our cell phones and advised that any noise, including the shuffling of papers, would be recorded. (She even took away my beloved pen cap -- they know what they are doing!) We were also given small cups in which to pour our drinking water. Shhh...
She explained that she would help us keep time by giving simple signals when we were reaching 10, 5 and one minute points. I also put my father's watch on the table to help me gauge time. And we were off ...
(Note: both of these images were taken afterwords.)
The conversation flowed effortlessly. We talked about questions I'd prepared -- about how a boy who grew up in New York ended up in Alabama, about his time at Woodstock, about the evolution of technology and its influence on his life, and advice on how he did such a great job of raising three kids (ahem).
But we also talked about things I hadn't planned for, like the state of his religious beliefs (I seriously didn't know I would ask about this) and the time he could have gotten a full ride to Harvard (wo.)
There were many other things we shared too, which were recorded on a CD and handed to us right after we finished. Some of them are a bit private to talk about now, but we might share later. And heck, you can look it up in the LIbrary of Congress to get the real skinny.
***
Why did I think it would be so difficult to interview Dad? Maybe, in addition to admiring him so much and always wanting to make him proud, it's because I knew that long after we're gone, great-great-great Shaws and Streets could listen to the recording and learn about this great person's history -- and our family's history. That's pretty serious stuff.
At the end we were both pretty relaxed, and posed for photos that they take to go along with the recording. We listened to the CD in the car before he dropped me off, and the audio was remarkably clear.
I'm eager to hear about the experiences of others who participate in Birmingham (and elsewhere). Thankful to have been given this opportunity.
And wanting to record more stories of my family, with a reminder that sometimes the best stories are right in front of you.
I am convinced: every four year old boy needs a British postdoc.
Nate is captivated by "his" postdoc.
Robert has been exceedingly patient, including hours of playing Wii (under the tutelage of an often bossy instructor). And this morning he had to deal with early morning cries as Nate didn't feel well.
Did I mention he has also smiled in the face of two hurdling pugs who snort in his face?
Birmingham is incredibly lucky to have many talented food writers, bloggers, photographers and stylists who write about and make food look beautiful. (I'm lucky enough to work with some of them.)
Thanks so some of them (especially the multi-talented Shaun Chavis), the Magic City is home to a new food blogging conference, Food Blog South. The conference, which will be held January 22, is drawing national attention.
Organizers have assembled an amazing roster of talent, including New York Times writer Kim Severson, cookbook author Virginia Willis, and blogger (and author) extraordinaire, Christy Jordan.
I'm thrilled to be moderating a panel about the safety of Gulf Coast seafood after the oil spill. I'll have more to come about panelists (they are excellent).
In the meantime, I'm gathering questions. What do you want to know about the safety of fish and shellfish now? Are you cautious when buying seafood at the grocery store or ordering from restaurants? Are you asking where your food comes from?
Please let me know, and I'll take these questions with me to the panel.
I've waited for more than a week (since Christmas morning) to make this big announcement: I am going to be an aunt! My sister, Megan, and her husband Ricky are expecting my first niece or nephew in July.
They broke the news to us on Christmas (though Mom and Dad has known for a few weeks) by giving us T-shirts:
My brother's says "World's Hottest Uncle (Stare If You Must):
Mine says: "Disco Aunt"
We're super excited for Megan and Ricky and the fact that we'll have a new baby in the family -- without having to be sleep deprived ourselves. Plus Nate will have a cousin, a big first for us too.
Here we are at our annual Christmas dinner. Next year there will be one more in the Jazz Hands Family!
After starting the new year by riding an a parade float and watching the giant moon pie drop in Mobile (video to come), we drove through the pouring rains to return to Birmingham and a house full of Christmas decorations needing to be put away. But instead of doing all that, we've spent the weekend with a delightful house guest from across the pond, Robert.
Robert has put up with my silly questions about his homeland of Wales, of which all I can remember is hurdling toward the countryside on a train watching a young girl shove her face full of Kit Kats. Turns out that Wales has much more to offer than that and Tom Jones. It also has lots of karaoke and The Porthcawl Elvis Festival in his hometown. Sweet.
We dug out our kettle for Robert, who brought his own tea from home (along with a nice bottle of whiskey and his guitar -- my kind of houseguest!)
Today we took him up to Vulcan, during which time a cup of tea would have been lovely because it was FREEZING.
Then for ribs at Jim N Nicks, the latter of which blew his mind. Yee, I love showing people Birmingham and indoctrinating them into the ways of Southern food.
He just asked, "What are grits?" So glad he's going to be in the South for an entire year.
Tomorrow he heads to Tuscaloosa to start his postdoc with Shane, but he'll be back. Tell us what you think he should do and we'll pass it along ...
Writing from the beautiful Battle House in Mobile, Alabama, where I am transfixed by a 600-lb homage to a Moon Pie outside my hotel window. It's dropping in T-minus 14 hours, and I'm here to witness it for the magazine. (Here's an SL blog post about the Moon Pie madness sweeping the city.)
Just as exciting, we're riding in the New Year's Eve Parade. On a float.
Since I haven't been in a parade in about 28 years (during which I rode in Clearwater's Fun N Sun parade in Officer Friendly's Car for winning the safety slogan contest thank you very much) I'm not entirely sure what to wear.
But since this parade celebrates the beginning of Carnival season, I am thinking these will be our outfits:
Yes, that's Nate's Elvis cosutme. And what New Year's Eve would be complete without gold sequins?
Throw in some masks ...
And Moon Pies:
So long, 2010. May 2011 bring everyone their version of huge Moon Pies and gold shoes.
Everyone has all gone home, except for Ryan, who decided not to return to the puddle of snow that is NYC. So tonight it's me and two CDs full of photos from Christmas that Dad burned for us. There are some really great ones in there, like these:
Nate playing with this super cool puppet from his Uncle Jack.
And him discovering the big boy bike under the bookcase:
Then, later, taking it for a spin during an unprecedented White Christmas in Birmingham.
Plus catching snowflakes with Grandma and Grandpa, which was equally fun.
Dad is so good about saving all these photos and burning them for us, as well as bringing up prints (he's a popular guy at Sam's photo processing lab). This year as a gift he even gave us all thumb drives with all the photos of Christmases throught the years (and DVDs of all the Flip movies we recorded - a huge project).
I love all the photos and the stories behind them. Right now, though, I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to share my personal stories. Tweet a photo? Write a blog post? What kind of blog post?
Here's a snippet of one -- Dad reading "'Twas The Night Before Christmas' on his iPad" on Christmas Eve?
And the goofy hat that Mom got for Ryan ("to stay warm!") that we all passed around and tried on:
Even Gatsby.
Then there was Nate ringing the bell for everyone to come sing "Happy Birthday" to the Baby Jesus.
And more Gatsby.
Soon it's going to be a new year. I'm launching a new website and am wondering ... what's the next chapter of this story? How will I share it?
What do pepole want to read about? Pugs with furry hats? How do they want to read it? I want to know. And in the meantime, I'm just going to put one letter in front of the next.
We've received two days of snow in Birmingham, the first "White Christmas" in Birmingham's history. (Though apparently the Weather Service wouldn't call it an official one, since there wasn't enough to measure at the airport. Tell that to Nate!)
I've been having fun playing around with filters on photos using the Instagram app.
More photos and stories to come later but for now ... let it snow.
Garage Sale America The companion website to Bruce Littlefield's brilliant book about the magic of garage sales.
Bureau of Communication Wacky pre-worded communcations for every occasion, including "Happy Divorce" and "Grievance Letter" with Ad-Lib type room for your own special personalizations.
Jancee Dunn Blog Pop culture/rock critic wrote a great memoir about being a writer for "Rolling Stone" and VJ for MTV. Most importantly, she hits the 70s and 80s right on the head, particularly with her descriptions of JcPenny's, where her father spent his career. Her blog has great photos from 70s Penny's catalogs, as well as links to her essays, etc.
Disco Museum Brilliant. Check out the entry on Paul Jabara, a fairly unknown singer songwriter who wrote for Donna Summer and more. He was also the person who created the red ribbon to bring awareness to HIV.
Roadside Architecture The author spends much of her time traveling across the U.S. taking photos of giant faux food displays, neon signs, fairytale villages ala "Rock City," old diners and malls and pet cemetaries. Nothing short of genius and addictive.
Bad Fads After buying a squishy porcupine type toy for Shane and I -- I mean Nate and I -- to play with, I remembered the wonderful Koosh Ball of the late 80s. Shane didn't remember this, so I Googled the term and came up with this great page -- the Museum of Bad Fads. Excited to see that there is a reference to Sea Monkeys, my personal favorite. Though they are not a "fad" -- they are a lifestyle!
Dead Malls The guys that run this website travel the country documenting malls of bygone times. I love it!
Florida's psychic to the stars Gary Spivey has an amazing silver afro and a gift for seeing the future. Of course he's from my homeland of the greater Tampa Bay Area, Florida.
Graham Nelson Minnesota baby extraordinaire and son of Alisa!
Nat Reads Natalie writes about books, movies, and life in Birmingham.
Nikko's Blog Nikko is an American ex-pat living in Madrid. I met her through Cliff.
Hugh's News Blog of an exceptionally talented Dad, grandpa and Yankees fan. In-depth commentary on said Yankees, grandson and state of the world in general.
Pugs
http://www.nalldaniels.com/ This is the homepage for our vet. Lola's picture has been known to make an appearance here.
Lolita Pearl Lola enjoys prancing about, provoking her brother and being a vixen pug.
F. Scott Fitzpug F. Scott enjoys napping, pooping and being the cutest male pug in West Central Alabama.
Alabama Pug Rescue Wonderful organization that cares for AL pugs in need.
Moms Rising This site advocates for moms to decide how they want to raise their kids -- whether it be to work outside the home or to be a SAHM. Most of all, it's about fair, equitable conditions in which one becomes a mom and the chance to raise healthy kids.
Mojo Mom A site that helps moms reflect on the fact that they are actually people, not just baby-making beings.