Mountainfilm for 5th summer!!!

I had thought it was going to be next weekend, so it kinda sorta snuck up on me this year.

In early June, I'd reserved five seats for my and Christina's family, as well as one for her boyfriend of the past year.

Remember, I did that last year, too, even though she and Anthony had only known each other a few months. 

Then, on Thursday, I saw the email reminding me... 

reading that the MountainFilm On Tour Savannah was in two days...

yikes!

I let my first niece know, but she wasn't able to go on short notice.

How about Michael and the twins?

Nope, they couldn't, neither.

That's okay, I was still going to partake of these movies not otherwise available to me at the local cinemas.

I've been enjoying these Telluride films for the 16 years they've been here!

The big program will be in January, of course, but I also like these short film festivals in the summer and for Veterans Day. 

There were five films from Telluride, plus a local one from a group of guys named Max at Savannah Arts Academy... seriously!

The young men screened "Clean Coast Club: Tides Of Change", a four-minute short that featured them cleaning up the marshes and beaches around, and between, Tybee and Savannah.

As we were all at Savannah Arts Academy for this film festival, they received a very nice round of applause!!!

The first film from Telluride was from 2025, a 34-minute documentary titled "What The River Knows", featuring songs from Katie Lee.

She fell in love with the Colorado River and its beaches in Glen Canyon, then became an environmental activist who called for the closing of the Glen Canyon Dam and the return of the area to its natural state.

That was followed by a shorter, 10-minute, piece, "The Opening Prayer (Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen), with spoken Iroquois and English subtitles.

Although beautifully done, with many Native Americans taking part in each stanza of the prayer for the Creator, Earth, water, fruits, trees, medicine, and more, I couldn't help but remember that younger audience members would have felt a bit left out, with only lovely photos on the screen.

(I did find an English-spoken version on youtube, though.)

I was a little surprised that the third film hadn't been saved for the Veterans Day screenings, as its focus was a Coast Guard veteran.

Titled "First In, Last Out", the 25-minute documentary followed surf photographer Christa Funk, who was always in place in the water before the surfers arrived.

What incredible images she captured!!!

I do believe Miyah and Chloe would have loved that one!!

"About Damn Time: The Dory Women of Grand Canyon" was the fourth from the Telluride film festival.

It was 24 minutes of white water rafting in little boats called dories, which are regarded as "the ballerinas" of the rapids.

It was so much fun to watch those guides cum cooks power rowing down the Colorado River in those six-person crafts!

In fact, I'm glad I found the video on youtube to watch again!!!

Yes!

After that fourth film, there was a brief intermission to give away t-shirts and other souvenirs for those kids who could answer questions.

I took a bathroom break... and missed the last film!

"Strike - Mary Rand" was only 3 minutes long...

but I found it, too, on youtube!!!

Nice to cool off while watching all that shushing in snow!

Very nice way to be welcomed home from the cruise vacation!

(smile!)

yippee-ki-bang bang bang!!!

Yeehaw!!!

What better way to end the month than a Western musical?

Especially one with lots of shoot-em-up action!!!

I won't spoil the fun by naming names, but the body count adds up, with two dead in Act 1 and another in Act 2.

Plus there are a few stray shots along the way!

 

Thankfully, there's a Columbo-style detective named 'Frank Cioffi' - performed fabulously by Carson Brown - who's on his best game during these two nights with the actors of "Robbin' Hood", a little musical with Broadway dreams.

Scored by 'Georgia' (Megan Borges) and 'Aaron' (Naomi Antoine), once-wed but no longer, the show gets panned by local critic 'Daryl Grady' (Ben Tatom) of the Boston Globe, dashing their hopes of finally making it to the bight lights of New York City.  

Did I say panned?

He hated all of it except one part: that of the lead's understudy, 'Niki' (Genevieve Perry), who he spurned when she thanked him for that favorable review.

The cop, however, really took a shine to her and they have two wonderful numbers, the real-time "Coffee Shop Nights", and the fantasy dance scene, "A Tough Act To Follow" - loved those!

Oh, I just realized I never said this musical's name!

That would be "Curtains: School Edition", a modern musical that first graced the boards of Broadway in 2007.

And guess who originated the role of the cop?

None other than David Hyde Pierce!!!

Oh, yes, that's right: the little brother of TV's 'Frasier Crane'. 

Honestly, I think Carson Brown did a superb job as the Boston cop!

Kudos to all for nailing this show in a scant two weeks of rehearsals!!!

I'll be looking forward to seeing these 9th to 12th graders in future productions at the Savannah Children's Theatre this coming season!!! 

Special kudos to Carmen Titus, Katie Grace Lanier, Reagan Barnard, Ella Nixon, and B Cela.

I know I've seen y'all before and so looking forward to more!

greek gods, mere mortals...

... the thing is this: love is love.

On this Arthouse Theater Day, I chose the one film that best encompasses that duality of both the stage and the silver screen.

I said two days ago that I'd already been three times for "the sad song, the old song, the love song" of "Hadestown: The Musical".

I also said then that I might got for a fourth viewing...

but I had not decided for sure.

I have Cinematique of Daytona Beach to thank.

The email this morning from this favorite place from my not-so-distant past reminded me of the importance of this date as Arthouse Theater Day.

 

How could I not venture into the crazy heat for such an important day?

How could I not venture off to "Hadestown" when the weather feels like I'm already there?

All week, the highs have been in the 90's, plus a double-digit heat index. 

Not ever on the cruise was it this hot and humid!

At least the storm forecast yesterday by the weather song never came.

That's made today slightly more tolerable, without the sauna effect.

In other words, it was perfect for sitting in a very cool cinema...

once more enjoying "a love song, an old song, a sad song"...

singing along, dancing in my seat, crying in all the right places.

Let me leave this post with words that are not mine.

This is what Orpheus said early on in his toast.

"Here's to the world we dream about...

and here's to the world we live in now."

Amen, and amen.

queen of hearts at TFP

Hunter Griffin is a very patient man.

He's the area sales rep for Youngco Enterprises, the company owned by Olin Young.

He was invited to be at the Two First Posts meeting tonight to discuss use of his games as fundraisers for the American Legion business.

He arrived at 6 PM with all his materials, as requested...

then was relegated to the small game room almost 90 minutes while we carried on our business meeting.

That's mostly because we had two special visitors from Post 500: their new Company Commander (Trey Singleton) and Vice CC (Emmett Prescott).

That's Trey at the end of the table, trying to stake his claim. 

They two were inducted Monday night at the special meeting of Post 500 and lost no time trying to gain a foothold in Two First Posts of Georgia.

Their bid for that stake in the LLC was unsuccessful.

I'm glad we had a good turnout for tonight's meeting.

I'd had a call earlier from Doug, during my lunch with my first niece.

I had another call a little later, from Brenda, wanting to make sure I knew Trey was stirring up trouble, wanting to make sure I would be there.

So I was, as were both of them, plus Joe Cetti, Billy Cope, John Parker, Sabrina Scale, Eric Bolden, and Eddie Patterson (albeit briefly).

Kat was also there, mostly to talk about the grease trap inspection (earlier today), the 8 cubic yards dumpster cost ($328/month), pest control cost ($150/month for 5509 and 5511), and the need for the DRAM rider on both the WTF liability as well as the TFP liability.

Doug confirmed that he has filled out the 14-page application to have the DRAM rider added to the Hartford policy for TFP, as well as having spoken to the insurance rep about getting that done.

Kat reminded all that rider is needed as one of the stipulations for TFP's liquor license request to be on the City Council's docket for August 27th.

Billy spoke of the outstanding bill he has for reimbursement from TFP for the TV cart, wire, and other supplies used for setting up the internet and TVs.

Billy also talked about the 3-year contract cost for two phones to be installed by RING Central at TFP, one for scheduling events there and the other for WTF; his contact is Paul Lambert at Celestial Business Solutions.

Billy said he has two more security cameras to install (at grease trap area and in the bar at WTF), with all billing for RING monitoring and security camera footage stored in the 'cloud' to be set up with TFP.

Doug said all paperwork is to be submitted to Brenda to go into Two First Posts for official purposes, including an inventory of all materials and equipment currently at the 5509 and 5511 Montgomery Street addresses.

Brenda stated that facility use contracts must be filled out for any groups wanting space in 5511 for meetings or events.

Brenda reminded all that military and veteran groups will pay $250/quarter to regularly meet once monthly at TFP.

Brenda said that schedule will be posted on a TV facing outside so all will know who is to be in 5511 at any given time.

John told us that several groups - Catholic War Veterans, the Marine Corp League, the Navy League - have already signed their quarterly contracts and paid.

Kat reminded us that TFP is to bill WTF for their portions of utility bills, rent, and other items as agreed in their lease.

Eric requested that a 10-day notice be required for scheduling of an event, to allow time for him to get the space ready; all agreed.

Get the gist?

We wanted all parties present to realize that the Two First Posts building had bills and obligations, and was not by any means debt-free, still having a sizable mortgage as well as utility bills.

That emphasis was not lost on our two visitors from Post 500.

Trey requested that he receive a key to the Post 500 office, as well as a key to the exterior door of 5511; John agreed that he should have such.

What that means is another locking door will need to be erected between 5509 and 5511, as no one but the tenants of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot need access to 5509.

Sounds like yet another change order for Justin and Wells Construction.

Trey also wanted to discuss having a veteran organization paint a mural on the building's wall, though it was not clear to me if he meant the exterior wall or an interior wall of 5511.

In either case, the matter was tabled until next Wednesday's meeting.

The visitors left and we adjourned to the game room, to the oh-so-patient gaming rep who had been waiting.

Did I say gaming?

I did, as in not lottery.

Queen of Hearts consists of a board with pull tabs, with money-winning 'cards' beneath several of the tabs, and a cost to TFP of $110 per board. Players purchase raffle tickets (a roll of those costs $6) for the opportunity to pull a tab, with the raffle drawings occurring at some set frequency. The game continues until the Queen of Hearts is revealed.

Two First Posts is responsible for paying for all wins, but TFP keeps all proceeds from selling the raffle tickets, in hopes of raising money.

My only problem is that it's all cash, so security will be needed, as well as someone to deposit said funds into the TFP bank account.

The other game that was discussed was bingo, though that has a larger initial outlay of funds and would require hosting a game night that did not interfere with already scheduled meetings or events at 5511.

I think I will suggest either Queen of Hearts or Bingo be a once-monthly event, preferably during the week.

My question would be: will TFP need to pay the $250 security/cleanup fee?

Good question!

meals and more with my girls!!!

Monday, it was time for Music Bingo again!

This was the first time any of us had been since the debacle a month ago.

"Us" would be me, Sandy, Marcia, and Elissa.

Hey, we've been busy, vibrant, women, a'ight, with family from out of town, cruises, and what-not going on!

I remembered to bring my free appetizer reward that I won about six weeks ago, too.

Fortunately, Midtown Sports Grill has changed their menu yet again.

Potato Skins is a new entry, loaded with bacon and cheddar, and that made for a mighty fine "welcome back" dinner with my friends!

And just look at that first bingo game of the evening!!!

That "Dance Party Mix" yielded me the first "Bingo!" of the bar!

Russ was even surprised that I'd won without using the 'Free Space' - I'd managed to do it with five actual songs that had been played, straight down the "I" column!!!

Andrew, the new bartender, was glad to bring me a free lemonade as my "free drink" reward for the game!

How wonderful to have shared that those three hours with friends!

(smile!)

Then, today, my first niece came to share a favorite movie with me!

This was the last week of the NCG Summer Camp Film Festival and they've been screening "The Wild Robot" since Sunday.

We love that movie about parenting and kindness!!!

Want to know how much?

She stayed awake through the entire movie!!!

That's saying a lot, as she has sleep apnea and tends to take a nap if she sits in one place too long.

That wasn't the case two weeks ago when she joined me for "Sing", but that was okay... it let me munch some of her popcorn!

That time, she was early and bought our tickets and kids' packs; this time, she was running on her standard time, so I bought the tickets and snacks.

(smile!)

After, we popped over to the Chick-Fil-A on Victory for our luncheon.

So glad the lunch crowd had mostly passed by then!

She grabbed the last table and we had a leisurely two hours together...

just us, no children, no boyfriend...

letting us truly talk about issues with that latter item.

Here's hoping for the best resolution for that problem.

Oh, plus a really bright spot!

We had been talking about friends from the past and she mentioned one of her middle-school buddies and spoke of them spending nights together.

"So, you're friends still, on fb?"

No, they weren't... but she quickly found her on that social media... and they are now reunited again!

Maybe I should do a few searches of lost friends, too.

(smile!)

thrice to hades... and i don't mean the summer heat

I speak of the romantic Greek tragedy, the musical I so loved last year when the good folks at Savannah Children's Theatre brought it for me, courtesy of the JEA providing a space after the debacle of the snow-laden roof trashing their previous location.

This time, it was courtesy of my A*List and AMC 11, bringing it to me at no extra charge, to welcome me home again from vacation.

Hallelujah!!!

This performance was recorded last year at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End theater district.

Amazingly, its five leads are the ones who originated the roles back in 2019 when the play first opened on Broadway!!!

"Hadestown" was nominated for 14 awards that year and won the Tony in eight of those fields - wow! 

'Hermes', the conductor of the train and the man in the spiffy gray suit at the bottom of the photo, was performed by Andre De Shields, now 80 years old.

He won the Tony for Best Performance By An Actor In A Featured Role In A Musical in 2019. 

The god to his left, 'Hades', was performed by Patrick Page, who was also nominated for that category, but lost out to his stage-mate. 

What an amazing low bass voice he has... especially considering that he's now 64 years old, the age my brother Ronnie would be.

The woman across from him in the photo, in the green dress, is Amber Gray, reprising her Tony-nominated role as 'Persephone' in this production at the Lyric.

(My guess is she's in her mid-to-late 40's, though her bio doesn't say.)

The couple at the top of the poster are 'Orpheus' and 'Eurydice', of course, the other love story in this epic musical.

They're played by Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada, respectively, who are now 43 years old and 30 years old, respectively.

Although they didn't get nominated for any Tonys back in 2019, they are just perfect as the lovers who miss out on their happy ending.

I have cried every time I've seen "Hadestown: The Musical" this week.

 

That's really saying something about its impact, right?

I've seen it three times so far, and cried at the ending each time.

Actually, I've cried three times during the musical, with all three near the end.

The first time is when 'Orpheus' reminds 'Hades' and 'Persephone' of how their love story had begun and lets them know they are still very much in love.

The second time I cry is when 'Orpheus' returns topside but 'Eurydice' is not yet there, so he turns around to look for her...

and there she is...

but she is banished back to Hell because he doubted and turned.

Just heartbreaking!

The third time is at the very end, when 'Persephone' is making a toast to all the 'flowers that bloom in snow'...

and I even raised my cup tonight and drank.

Will I see it again on Thursday?

Tomorrow, my first niece will be here during the early afternoon, then I have a Two First Posts meeting that evening.

Thursday, at 4 PM, will be the last screening.

Maybe I can be there.

I'm so glad to have had this treat in town for my return from vacation.

i thank You, God. 

home from Paradise

I was up in plenty of time to watch as the Paradise sailed back into port early this morning.

I met the sight with a tinge of sadness, as it meant the end of our cruise vacation.

I was glad I'd had the foresight to have breakfast waiting for me on the night table.

The paper towels had wicked away a lot of the oil from the cheese, making it just right for my start of day meal.

Usually, I would have had it chilled, but there wasn't enough room in the tiny fridge.

However, the water was cold! 

I was out of my room by 0745.

The schedule for the day called for us to wait in the Euphoria until our floor was called to disbark.

Instead, Christina called me about 8:20 AM.

They were already in line on Deck 5!

I was to join them there as they waited for Terry to give the girls one last hug.

Miyah even had a gift bag for her Auntie Terry!

And my first niece and I were again hair twins, sporting single braids down the back and swooped to the side this time. 

I'm so glad her ESP with me works!

So there we were, waiting, and suddenly Terry was there, surrounded by Miyah and Chloe!

Terry even had a gift for them: two free future cruises with Margaritaville At Sea!

She'll be on the ship until sometime in October and really hopes they will soon be back.

Wasn't that so sweet of her?

Then we had our papers checked, collected our luggage, and were off the ship.

Vacation was officially over. 

The trip back to Hinesville took almost nine hours.

That was about 2 1/2 hours longer than the drive down had been.

Part of the delay were the frequent bathroom stops, as the medication Christina is on for the weight-loss drug was cramping her style.

Part of the delay were the frequent stops for drinks, as the van was having the same loss of air conditioning as it had on the way to Palm Beach.

We took an hour-long stop for lunch at a very nice Dairy Queen, letting us all stretch out a bit and get rehydrated.

As I told Christina, I haven't been to DQ since her dad died.

That was four years ago.

My best memory is watching the Super Bowl with him.

Anthony took over the driving after that, so we stopped once and by that time I was about dehydrated in the heat of the van.

I drank one bottle at once, then half the other bottle before we left.

Between that stop in Woodbine and their turn-off to Hinesville, the rain began.

Hallelujah!

It was still raining, but lightly, when we pulled up to her house.

I helped take things into the house, then went back into the rain to move my suitcase and butterfly tote into my car.

Thanks, Michael, for the unicorn rubber duck!

So glad to be home, with my own bed tonight!