Tony Stars meet their Film Counterparts

This is again, another photo album share. In honor of last week's Tony Awards ceremony. Broadway Box teamed with photog Jenny Anderson. They took some of the current season's "break-out" stars and recreated a few iconic stills of favorite New York characters. We have Moonstruck, When Harry Met Sally and of course the classic Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. Here is the link to the full feature.

Tedra Millan @ Present Laughter

Laura Osnes & Corey Scott @ Bandstand

Eva Noblezada @ Miss Saigon

Broadway Box - New York icons

Women's World Wear

After featuring the nostalgia for Men, here is an equal feed for the Women. Although this one goes back quite a bit further through the annals of history.

For some reason I am drawn to the visual in my posts. Photos, art, color - grab my attention easily. I appreciate photography and design as much as I do writing. So this album makes ideal material for this blog. It is from the Mind Circle a year back in 2016. Somehow, they have amassed lovely portraits from a century ago. And they also offer up a global mix of women from cultures around the world. There are vintage postcards from Flappers to Royalty. Here are a few, but be sure to follow the link for the complete digital album.

The Mind Circle: Vintage Women 1900 

Full Head of Hair

A year back, I commented on the trend of Man Buns - which still have not made a positive impact on me. Lately the annoyance has been the burly beards of the Lumberjack look. Myself, I'd be thrilled to retain my full head of hair.

I found a fabulous photo archive of Men's hair styles in the early 1970's that took me down memory lane. And they were BIG! It talked about how they were Romantic in the Gothic sense, going back to Edwardian England. Imposed on the flower power era, that became the essence of an epic Quentin Collins in Dark Shadows. Big sideburns, over the ears and mullet down the back. I saw a Tom Jones video clip this week and had to stop the frame to see if it was indeed a hair-do and not an actual wig. Women had bouffants, but the men were not far behind. Add facial hair and you look like the Woolly Man magnet games. Here is a gallery of some doozies. They say that style is cyclical.... Enjoy.

Wonderful Wisteria

There are few flowers as lovely as vines of lovely purple wisteria hanging from a trellis, patio or gazebo. I have friends who have tried to cultivate them here in MN. But whether harsh winters or humid lake temps, they just do not thrive here. Most things here tend to grow upwards rather than cascading down.

A year back I was in Amsterdam where the tulips & bulbs were the show-stealers, But there was also an abundance of lovely Wisteria on ancient doorways and hidden in alleys. Last week I found an article about two amazing floral gardens in Japan. One is Ashikaga Flower Park outside of Tokyo.It will feature more than 350 wisteria trees in full bloom during this year’s Great Wisteria Festival from April 15 to May 22. Even the nighttime display under lights is ethereal. The other is in a distant city of Kawachi where they have the Fujien Wisteria Garden with ticketed admission from April 22 to May 7. There are tunnels and arcades just dripping in literal Purple Rain. Putting this on the bucket list, but it has to be perfectly timed for these late spring weeks of April and May.

Soda Pop

I have not, and will likely never jump on the bandwagon of craft beers. I am good with a simple Mich Gold on ice during a hot summer day, or maybe an Illusive Traveler - a tutti frutti malt beverage - if I can find it on a happy hour menu. Craft cocktails are great, if you can afford them. Wines are always fun to explore. But sometimes I am met with disappointment on opening the wrong bottle that just didn't hit the mark and then having to finish an entire litre of acidic grapes. I am a freak that still grabs the Bartle's & Jayme's from the back of the grocery store for a guilty pleasure.

But when it comes to soda pop, I am all in. I'm a Pespi guy over Coke. And anything with artificial sweeteners in it, just curdles in my mouth. Sugar rush for me. But I tend to gravitate to the unusual flavors; like a Mug rootbeer or a Vernor's ginger ale. A childish pilgrimage for me is heading West out to Jim's Apple Farms where I can explore their massive coolers of small-batch pops. Everything from Grape to Creamsicle. When I get the occasional horrible concoction, it is only a few sips lost and then you move onto the next.

On a recent flight out East, I was taken by a feature in the magazine that pointed out a new website called Five Star Sodas by So Hearn and Zach Slaight. It is basically a blog listing of any possible small batch soda in the US. They target mom and pop shops that have a Regional following. Boot's Coconut Cream Soda - "imagine a pina colada with notes of pie crust." Root's Soda Kaleidoscope - "like a fruit punch with balsamic vinegar, but so much better than it sounds." The possibilities are endless. The web page sorts them in knowing categories like Citrus, Colas, Fruits, Root Beers....... The art direction of the photos themselves deserves mention. Each explicit review starts with the History of the product as well as where to find it. Then the taste buds are highlighted in Nose, Taste, Finish and finally a rating. It is a slick, informative and playful way to experience the wonder that is soda pop. Check it out!
Five Star Soda

Fear of Flight

I love travel but hate the aspect of flying. Most of my early travel for drum corps and summer camps was via a Greyhound bus. But as a young adult, I lived for that lift off and always wanted a window seat to see the fading skylines and the clouds close enough to touch.

 

As I've gotten older the charm has worn thin. Some people think of airports as a hive of activity, but I view them as a hub and a means of getting from one place to the other. Security check points, baggage claim, and terminals connected by shuttles and trams bog me down. And I tend to have lousy luck with with the airlines themselves. I argue about this often with friends of mine who work in the industry. I understand that in any business there are complications that come up - And with air travel there are a plethora of variable like weather and mechanical issues that arise. Not to mention the millions that travel through the skies on a daily basis. It is not a foolproof situation.

However - it is not chump change we are paying for said services. I am more forgiving of a shut down on the light rail where I have only invested 2$. Any flight is going to set me back at least $250. For that price, I assume to be treated with respect at least. I have spent Christmas night sleeping on a cot in an airport so that a flight crew could rest in a comfy hotel while on furlough. Luggage that is lost for 3 days. A recent "experience" on #American had us on a scavenger hunt @ O'Hare going between 5 gates and 3 terminal wings trying to track down the plane. None of us was told by a gate agent; it was cell phone technology and working as a team that got us to boarding the flight 3 hour later. And I was one of those forced "bumped" passengers on said flight - because the airline had rebooked my original itinerary from Philly to Chicago - in an ideal world I should not have even set foot in Chicago. For weight restrictions! If they can't hold enough weight for all the seats, put less of them on the plane! No apologies issued there.

Not sure what vacant customer service agent I am particularity bitching to, but all the recent viral blasts against airlines certainly struck a note with me. Let's get back to some ethical treatment and basic service for the fees we are paying for. Fly the Friendly Skies - my ASS

Weird Erie

Although I have fond memories of my formative years in Erie, the PA city on the lake; this town is a magnet for all things bizarre. This is everything from the wacky weather that rolls in off the lake to the odd trailer parks that populate the lovely landscape that should be serene pastures.

With the latest installment being the suicide of Facebook murderer Steve Stephens at a Harborcreek McDonalds - the legacy continues. Even his name has quirk written all over it - like a bad porn moniker. And that the whole fiasco played out in a drive-thru window waiting on an order of french fries. Nothing grand and complex like our own Andrew Cunanan/ Versace murders that took Minneapolis by storm decades back. Just today Wayne Kozak was arrested for killing his own mother in Buffalo - he was found hibernating in an Erie hotel! It always has an air of Darwin Awards there. 
Darwin Awards 

This article in Go Erie frames up the consequence of small town/ big town bizarreness. Remember the 2003 Pizza Bomber? Kyle Johnson on the lam with his girlfriend in the trunk? 2012 brought on an unusual amount of UFO sightings over the lake and even reports of a mysterious "bigfoot". In 2011 prison inmate Jamie Cruz filed a lawsuit against Miley Cyrus for allegedly stealing a song that he wrote. Only in Erie.All of this amounts to an unusual season of #Fargo - if that series were not set itself in Minnesota. Maybe at the very least, there could be a pitch for Ryan Murphy to set a future season of #AmericanHorrorStory there - something of espionage, witchcraft and ghosts back to the early days of Oliver Hazard Perry. Dark Shadows meets the American battle fronts?
 
The article tries to explain why it draws "the odd into it's orbit." Erie seems to be a crossroads for people on their way to somewhere else. The article also talks about the economic blight that has been prevalent in the area for some 50 years now and not being able to "break the cycle of the negative." With it's graveyards of rusted out factories and discarded shipyards, Erie was an obvious boon for Donald Trump on his campaign tour to represent the under valued. That seems to be working out real well since then...

GoErie - Weird article