Nashville Confidential

Introducing Mr. S

S
Originally uploaded by nashconf.

Here are the obligatory cute baby photos I previously promised. Everyone spent at least part of Thanksgiving holding Mr. S. He quickly adopted our family tradition: spending the day alternately eating and sleeping. However, he did not participate in the post-feast Battleship playoff.

We love Mr. S.

things that weren't supposed to last

My parents were married on Thanksgiving Day 1966 in a tiny ceremony before the traditional meal. My grandpa, a minister, officiated as a handful of family members looked on in the church chapel. For most of the photos, my parents stood in front of a bulletin board with a cornucopia and a phrase stapled in an arc: “Let Us Give Thanks.”

My dad had been halfway around the world, including the jungles of Vietnam. My mom had always lived within five miles of her birthplace. Their backgrounds could not have been more unlike. Between them, they had two high school diplomas and little else.

Their pictures were taken with a Polaroid camera, photographs that aren’t known for their long shelf life. Oddsmakers probably would have bet the marriage would lose its color before the pictures did.

They were wrong. My parents will tell you that their 1969 decision to become born-again Christians is the main reason that they are still together, vibrant and happy beyond all expectation, nearly 40 years after that humble ceremony – an anniversary that this year falls again on Thanksgiving Day.

I’ve often joked that my happy childhood has ruined my chances as a great novelist. For that I blame my parents and the stability and love and values they provided not just to me, but to one another.

Let us give thanks.

alarmist

Maybe it's because my allegiance is with print, but I do not care for cable TV news. In my last office, we had a little break area where CNN was on all the time, and I got to the point where I didn't want to go in there because of some bogus "breaking story" that infuriated me. (Runaway Bride, anyone?) An example: I don't think the death of Rose Kennedy, although sad, merited the attention of the nation at that immediate moment.

Yesterday in the cafeteria at work the omnipresent TV proclaimed the dumbest news alert of all time:

FOX NEWS ALERT
Bush pardons turkey in White House ceremony

The turkey didn't even have that bird flu.

you could say she gave me the finger

Is it just me, or are we as a society experiencing the absolute nadir of customer service, particularly in the food industry? I am coming off an unbroken streak of surly shopkeepers and servers. I thought the cake-taker was the server who glared and scowled at me unapologetically when I pointed out the error in my meal. But a new top contender has emerged.

Last night JFA and I went to a chain restaurant (our first mistake) and the hostess leaned over to a nearby basket and handed us one of those electronic buzzer deals. She mumbled something. I said, "Excuse me, how long did you say the wait is?" She said about 20 minutes. In about 20 minutes, the buzzer went off. I walked about three paces to the hostess, who, silent and stone-faced, mustered all her energy to raise one hand and point at another employee across the lobby.

Her utter apathy stunned JFA and me. Well, not so much that we didn't shake our heads in amazement and have a laugh over it.

Today I got an e-mail from JFA. There were no words in it. Just clip art of one hand, index finger raised to point. I almost had an aneurysm, I laughed so hard.

more than one right answer

As you know, I love the Farmer's Market. Although I no longer live in downtown Nashville, I am extremely interested in what happens there and anywhere in the Germantown area.

The new director of the Farmer's Market wants to take it in a new direction. I like the ideas but I am not sure everyone is ready to hang at the Market once the sun goes down. In 2002 I went to a dance / social function that a local civic organization had at the market, and I loved it ... but they never had it there again. I am all in favor of anything that brings people to the Bicentennial Mall and showcases what's amazing about that part of town. But I'm also a realist.

Wonder what S-Town Mike thinks about this?

he's still got it

Jerry Seinfeld is doing stand-up on "The Tonight Show" (the only reason I'm watching Leno) and he is still the funniest comic out there. He is doing a bit about weddings and says, "I'm the only one who will tell you this: we are not excited about going to your wedding. We open the invitation and groan, 'Oh, it's on a Saturday!' "

It's funny because it's true.

Did you know I got to interview him once? Right before he shot the pilot for that show about nothing? Well, I did. Ask me about it some time. It was one of the biggest deals of my life.

I have a favorite "Letterman" show from about 1988: Viewer Mail starring Flunky the Clown, Bill Murray, and Seinfeld, doing his post office routine. That was TV gold, baby. I need to find that VHS tape (part of the ever-growing Thanksgiving weekend to-do list).

yet life goes on

Three concerts I have missed in recent days:

Nov. 4, The Blasters
Nov. 12, Jason Ringenberg
Right now, Will Kimbrough & Rodney Crowell

I do not say this with pride. Somehow maturity, professional responsibility and good judgment have overtaken me.

'i have seen the future of christmas gifts and its name is bruce springsteen'

Oh yeah.

From today's New York Times, by Jon Pareles:

Thirty years later, Mr. Springsteen is rereleasing "Born to Run" in a box set (list price $39.98) that Mr. Landau described as a "victory lap." It includes a remastered CD of the original album and two DVD's: "Wings for Wheels," a documentary on the making of the album, and "Hammersmith Odeon, London '75," a two-hour concert film of Mr. Springsteen and the E Street Band going all out to win over a skeptical audience at his first concert in England. Tucked at the end of "Wings for Wheels" is another performance: Mr. Springsteen leading his 1973 band in Los Angeles, playing three songs, including "Thundercrack," which wouldn't surface until Mr. Springsteen released his collection of outtakes, "Tracks," in 1998.

The documentary, including video shot during the recording sessions that has not surfaced until now, shows some of the trauma of the recording process. Film of the London concert, which sat unwatched for three decades in Mr. Springsteen's archive, presents a heady, rambunctious triumph: unabashed Jersey guys running on nerves, adrenaline and virtuosity.

[Bruce's now-manager, Jon Landau, was first to utter the famous phrase about the future of rock 'n' roll ... but I'm sure he will approve of my Christmas gift sentiment, since he likely gets a cut of all proceeds.]

memo to hollywood

Do you want to know why I'm sitting at home watching a 20-year-old movie I've taped off television instead of paying money at the cineplex? (And you know I love to go to the cineplex.)

It's because you're not releasing ANYTHING worth seeing this weekend. At least in my second-tier market, there's not a "Bee Season" in sight. Oh no, you couldn't release "Pride & Prejudice" this weekend. Or "Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" just yet. Here it is slim pickings once again. There isn't one thing I have a whit of interest to see, now that "Good Night, and Good Luck" has been marked off the "to do" list.

You're saving it all up for next weekend. Why?

Next weekend, I don't want to fight a billion Harry Potter fans. I do want to see that movie, and about three others -- all arriving next weekend. I would have loved to paid for a show this weekend, and next weekend, and the weekend after that.

But you all had to get greedy and fixate on the 18th. That's why "The Godfather, Part II," won my time and attention tonight.

10 fingers, 10 toes, lots of black hair

Nephew #3 has finally arrived. He is beautiful. Someone joked that the noise generated by his two brothers made this new one want to stay in utero as long possible. It's going to be fun to see how he turns out ... I'll keep you posted. Warning: obligatory cute baby photos also forthcoming.