The No Pants Players will be performing this weekend, Aug 17 and 18 at 8pm, at the Labelle Theater, 311 D Street in South Charleston. There will be live music by current Radio Free Charleston guests, InFormation. There will also be concessions and NPP clothing for sale. Admission is six dollars. Call 1-877-IMPROV9 for more details.
Month: August 2007 (Page 2 of 3)
It’s nostalgia time, folks. I’ve been thinking about the old radio incarnation of Radio Free Charleston lately, and I’ve learned some surprising new details about one of my old RFC cohorts with whom I’d lost touch. Let me share the story with you. This is the wild and happy story of what happened to Bridget, the second jingle singer for RFC.
Bridget Sapp was a very special young lady. I had a huge crush on her, as did everyone who’d ever encountered her. She worked at the Benetton in the Charleston Town Center and I’d met her at the legendary Charleston Playhouse during one of the Tuesday jam nights. When the original jingle singer for RFC proved to be “difficult” I wiped her voice from the show and brought in Bridget, who was a better singer by far anyway.
Bridget and I also spent about an hour just doing improv in the studio, which resulted in all sorts of hysterical short comedy bits that made it to the air. I even ran tapes of us flirting, which were strangely entertaining in their own right.
Bridget and I were never romantically involved (not for lack of trying on my part) but we were buddies and I spent more than a few hours standing around an overpriced sweater store in the mall just to talk with her.
I lost touch with Bridget shortly after the RFC radio show was canceled. She’d left her job at the mall, and was pursuing her dream to be a pastry chef. I’d hooked up with RFC Big Shot Melanie Larch (our current jingle singer, by the way), and was busy taking care of my ailing parents. Still, once in a while I’d think of Bridget and smile.
Getting closer to the present, RFC Big Shot Brian Young had mentioned to me a few months ago that he’d seen Bridget on a cooking show on WPBY, our local PBS station. I figured she was probably still local, and appeared on one of the cooking shows that they produce here in West Virginia. “Good for her,” I thought at the time. I missed my old girl-buddy and was hoping she was happy, where ever she was.
It seems I was mistaken about the extent of Bridget’s cooking career. Bridget came up in conversation again just last week, and Brian elaborated a bit and guided me to some pertinent webpages. Bridget had indeed gone on to pastry school, had married a fellow chef, and had become a successful cooking expert, joining the staff of the prestigious “Cook’s Illustrated” magazine back in 1998–and since 2001 she’s been one of the co-hosts of “America’s Test Kitchen” on PBS. She’s living in the Boston area, where the show is produced.
I feel like a complete doofus for not knowing this until now, because after this revelation I remembered an article in the Sunday Gazette-Mail a few years ago that mentioned one of the hosts of “America’s Test Kitchen,” Bridget Lancaster, had local ties. At the time I wondered for a few fleeting seconds if that was “my” Bridget, but I was then distracted by a bouncy ball or shiny piece of plastic or something and never bothered to Google the matter any further.
It was my loss. The girl had done good. Hell, as a writer she was more widely published than I was. And she’s on national television with a weekly audience of three million viewers. Last Saturday I caught her on the show for the first time. Bridget is as lovely and funny as ever. Still capable of dropping a single line into a conversation that brightens the world with the light of fresh absurdity. Thanks to JoseMonkey’s blog, you can hear ten seconds of Bridget’s sly wit on display….
“Money shot” on PBS, no less. That’s why you gotta love Bridget. I hear from the ATK message boards that Bridget is currently on maternity leave with her second child. I wish her all the happiness in the world and hope she’s back on TV soon. I know that “America’s Test Kitchen” has a new fan.
This whole episode does make me feel somewhat stupid for not knowing that my former jingle singer has been on national television for the last six years. Especially since I’ve actually been watching cooking shows all this time, just not on PBS (sue me, I’m an Alton Brown fan). Here I get a little frustrated sometimes when I meet an old RFC buddy and they haven’t heard that I revived Radio Free Charleston on the internet over a year ago, meanwhile one of my closest friends from the old days has been on national TV since 2001 and I was totally oblivious.
So that’s what happened to the lovely Bridget, our jingle singer during the highest-rated era of RFC. She’s now Bridget Lancaster, the famous TV chef and magazine editor. I hope sometimes she looks back on her time on Radio Free Charleston and smiles.
As I’m writing this on Saturday, August 11, I do not know what the results of the referendum on table games here in my home of Kanawha County will be, but it doesn’t really matter. I’ve gone from being an enthusiastic supporter of the idea to being so turned off by the promotional campaign that for the first time in my life, I am deliberately not going to the voting booth. I’ve reached a point where I can’t support either side.
Let me preface this by explaining my take on legalized gambling. I couldn’t care less about it. I won’t indulge in it. In fact, I consider it a tax on stupidity. As someone who tries very hard to keep his indulgence in stupidity to a minimum, it doesn’t really have that much of an effect on me, so I say tax the hell out of stupidity. I’m all for raising taxes on those vices in which I don’t participate. They pass a tax on cigarettes, liquor, ATVs or Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I won’t mind at all.
I’m not opposed to legalizing table games in principle. I half-jokingly tend to lean toward supporting anything that organized religion opposes. I think that area churches that hung banners saying “Vote No” should have their tax exempt status revoked for violating the laws governing political neutrality among non-profit organizations. I’d even include churches among those vices in which I don’t participate that I’d like to see taxed. My guess is that the churches are mainly concerned because they know that the tithe money is going to be the first to be wagered at the roulette table.
Which is not to say that I disagree with everything the anti-gambling faction puts forth. Of course there will be more money-related misery and family-disintegrating drama introduced into the area with the casino culture. That’s a given. The more stupid stuff there is for people to do, the more people will do stupid stuff. The cost of maintaining the infrastructure for and fallout from a casino will be much greater than anyone realizes.
The lure for me, and what had me excited at the prospect for this casino resort deal in the first place was that this area would finally have a decent convention facility and entertainment complex. The Charleston Civic Center is a bit of a lost cause. I’m in contact with many organizations that hold national conventions, and I’ve always been sort of embarrassed by the fact that I can’t recommend my home city as a location, because the facilities are just woefully inadequate.
The idea of a 12,500-seat arena along with a first-class convention center had me psyched. Then Charleston Mayor Danny Jones stepped in. Now I like Danny–he doesn’t even know it, but he’s going to be on an episode of Radio Free Charleston in the near future–but I hate the political maneuvering that he applied to get the casino developers to scale back their plans so that they wouldn’t challenge the Civic Center. It sure looks like Danny traded his support for the casino for the scaled-down resort plan that would see the Civic Center protected from competition.
So the only reason I would have to go to this place evaporated. It makes me wonder about all the other rumors surrounding the casino. “If we get the casino, we’ll get an IMAX theater, and a Dave and Buster’s and WWE would hold a pay-per-view there.” How much of that pie is real, and how high up in the sky is it?
And if those promises are bogus, created just to get people to vote “Yes,” then what about all the other promises? Let me look at one of the countless pieces of junk mail that I’ve received in the last couple of weeks:
Here are highlights from “11 Great Things Will Happen If You Vote Yes On August 11th.”
“1. 1,000 good-paying jobs will be realized for the people of our area.”
First of all, that doesn’t even seem correct grammatically. Second, it doesn’t define “good.” Are we talking about reversing some of the brain-drain that saw a couple thousand near-six-figure incomes transferred out of state when Dow bought Union Carbide, or are we talking about “slightly better than telemarketing good?”
“2. A fabulous $250 million dollar destination resort will be built with private funding and will include a hotel, restaurants, spa and entertainment complex.”
There’s no mention that the plan was cut in half so as not to threaten the obsolete Civic Center. I’m resenting on that, big time.
“7. With more than 65% of Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center’s patrons coming from out-of-state, the new facility will attract an even larger percentage of tourists who bring revenue to our local communities.”
Right. After blowing their mortgage money at craps, crestfallen gamblers are going to hit an antique mall, check out Camden Park, and then go whitewater rafting. “Honey, we have a hundred bucks left. Should we gamble it away, or go buy a vase at Blenko?”
Oh, and if I read that correctly, you’re promising that we’ll have EVEN MORE drivers in this area from Ohio? That’s a selling point?
“8. Funding will go directly to Kanwha County municipalities, which could keep our taxes from increasing.”
and
“11. Money will go to our cities to provide many needed community services.”
Is anybody else concerned that, with this slick, expensive ad campaign at their disposal, that the people pushing for legalized table games were so hard up for reasons to support their cause that they used the same reason twice? Reasons numbers 8 and 11 are THE SAME!
On top of that, they really don’t promise much. Reason number 8 is worded as if it’s a threat that taxes will go up if table games aren’t approved. Reason number 11 is just the same reason without the implied threat.
And just exactly where was Danny Jones in all this? He could have guaranteed a slam-dunk win on behalf of the pro-gambling forces by simply making one promise: Vote Yes, and the user fee will be eliminated! With so much money coming in from the suckers fine resort guests, the City of Charleston could do away with that onerous user fee. Mayor Jones could have coerced three-fourths of the county to come out and vote yes.
But he didn’t do that. So much for all that gamblin’ money coming to the rescue. Why would the city give up one revenue stream for another when they can have BOTH?
Actually, reasons number 5 and 10 are pretty much the same, too. Funding the unfunded pension plans is promised in both of them. I’d go into detail, but I feel dirty handling the pamphlets they’ve been sending to me.
I’ve gotten so much junk mail that I’ve grown suspicious of the motives of those involved in the “Vote Yes” crowd. Millions of dollars have been dumped into this issue, and now I don’t trust either side. Corporations don’t pump that kind of money into an election without expecting something in return. Just look at Don Blankenship.
So I’m not going to vote. Let the chips fall where they may, but I’ve got no interest in participating. Sure, I’ll still have to deal with whatever aftermath results, but I find myself hard-pressed to sympathize with either side now. Millions of dollars were spent to secure my apathy on the matter. If more people are thinking like I am, then that’s money that was gambled and lost.
UPDATE: As of late Sunday night, the pro-table games forces are claiming a narrow victory, but we won’t know for sure until the recounts and canvasses are completed a few days from now. This may be one of the closest elections we’ve seen in Kanawha County. If there were more people like me, who were gung-ho about the idea at first, but were then badgered into disinterest by the relentless campaigning, it looks like the pro-gaming folks have veered dangerously close to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
This week we kick out the arty jams with a celebration of my birthday. To commemorate being older than I feel, I have Warholed myself, sort of. This is a picture I took last week for the Radio Free Charleston MySpace Page, and since I’d digitally-assaulted it out the wazoo, I decided to combine the different versions of me into one big tapestry of Rudyness. The joke here is that I shaved off the goatee right after I took this photo, so it’s not really current.
As always, click the image to enlarge (if you want to break your computer monitors, that is). The Monday Morning Art Cafepress store is still be re-worked, so this image, which no sane person would want anyway, won’t be for sale until later this week.
Tonight at the Blue Parrot, future RFC guests Doctor Senator and the band Freak Tent take the stage around 10:30 PM. Five dollars gets you in the door. The first 50 fans will receive a poster for the event. It’ll be way cool, so get out and support the local scene.
In Formation, fresh from appearing in the latest episode of Radio Free Charleston, takes the field tonight at 6PM at Appalachian Power Park to play before the “buck night” ball game by The Power. Curtis Chittendon, Shane Durham, Luke White, and Craig Boyd are one of the most creative young bands on the Charleston music scene, and this will be a cool chance to catch the band and a ballgame for only one measly dollar.
You can also see In Formation August 17 and 18 opening for The No Pants Players at the Labelle Theater in South Charleston. Of course, you can also click on over to watch them on the new RFC, where you get to see me call Craig “Chris” by mistake in their introduction. Sorry Craig–it was a very trying host segment shoot. There were bugs and UFOs and winged monkeys and the then we had to call a tow truck.
The 24th episode of Radio Free Charleston is online now! This was sort of the “getting back on the horse” episode after the long summer delay. With music from In Formation and Seven Minutes To Midnight, a bit of animation from Frank Panucci, and “Cooking With The Atrocity” by the folks at Crowza TV, this is our strong statement that we’re back. Oh, and I’m topless for most of the show. I was so eager to get this show to you, the viewing public, that it’s chock full o’ mistakes! The details are below. This is also the first episode of RFC that was rejected by your esteemed Gazz editor. A few extra bleeps later, and all is fine with the world.
You can still go watch Episode 23 of Radio Free Charleston, featuring the reunion of The Feast Of Stephen, but that was a departure show that was entirely taped back on May 12. It was a great show, but this latest episode is the first one where we get back into our groove (or rut, if you prefer) with our normal format.
Inspired by the Summer heat, here’s a shot of Summer’s Street, digitally-assaulted to make it look the way it feels out there right now. Click the image to enlarge. The Monday Morning Art Shop is down for maintenance this week.
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I’ll be there, and you can see some of the IWA East Coast wrestlers in the next Radio Free Charleston. More details on both IWA EC and RFC to come later tonight.
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