The first time my brother, Charlie went to a family Thanksgiving Dinner with his new bride-to-be back in the 60s, his then future and now present brother-in-law said, “Watch out for Aunt Polly’s Dressing.”

Every family has one, or every neighborhood, or book club, or coffee clutch or what ever.

There’s always one.

Bad cook that is.

Sometimes, more than one!

You know, that dish you won’t touch at the church carry in, the mystery casserole brought in by your chain smoking, over perfumed Aunt Sally, or the tuna casserole prepared by the lady with nine cats…that one!

Now, Aunt Polly, may she rest in peace, really didn’t make such bad dressing, well, at least according to my brother.  “After all” he added, “there was always enough gravy to put on it.”

Apparently it was a tad dry.

My brother-in-law, who shall remain nameless, but you can Mark my word, that after every family dinner, he stopped at Hardee’s for a burger after ignoring the food prepared by the aunts.  And these gals can cook, really cook.

But, he didn’t know what was in them, so there might be mayonaise, and it was outside, or there might be bologna, and to quote him, “I won’t eat that with your lips!”…so he stopped at Hardee’s…hmmmmm.

Ever seen the movie “Waiting”?

But, alas, there’s always something that comes from a place or a person who’s not the best of house keepers, or doesn’t own a measuring cup or spoon, or has nine cats.

I’m not a picky eater, and to quote my mother-in-law,  “He’ll eat anything you put in front of him.”, but there are a few dishes I stayed away from at church socials, school lunches, and the like.  And with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming UP, welll…

…I like a lot of exotic cusine, but you can keep the cat hair casserole!

…on ABC!

ABC’s new Sit-Com, “Better With You” stars two of my favorite actresses. 

Joanna Garcia and Debra Jo Rupp have been gone for a while.

I’m sure they’ve been resting on their residuals from “Reba” and “That 70s Show”.

Yes, Cheyenne and Kitty are back!

Not as Cheyenne and Kitty of course.  but the comedic talent of these two funny ladies may save the show all together, at least for me.

The show chronicles the lives of two very different sisters Mia, played by Garcia, and Maddie, played by Jennifer Finnigan.  The sisters are at very different places in their lives, have different attitudes about most everything, and rarely make similar choices.

Maddie has been in a relationship for years and hasn’t married, Mia is jumping into marriage after seven and a half weeks…because she’s in love…and because she’s in the Jenny way preggo expecting knocked-UP!

Maddie, the conservative sister, is appalled!

Mom, played by Debra Jo Rupp, is simply happy there’s going to be a wedding.

The dad, portrayed by Kurt Fuller, is a bit too much of a Red Foreman look-a-like.  He’s fortunate however, because he has some of the best lines.  He’s a Emilyist Grammar Freak, and Maddie’s boyfriend tries to help the new husband to be out by giving him a list of dos and don’ts.

The list, next to the family dinner, is the funniest thing in the show.  “He’s a grammar freak”, and “He gets chatty at the urinal” are the best.

All in all, it’s a good show, not a great show, but one that could have a future and a cult following…but, I’m betting you’d better catch it fast.  It airs on Wednesdays at 8:30 PM.  (That’s tonight!)

Although it should, it won’t last. 

And that’s a sad thing!

I feel sorry for the kids today, I really do.

They don’t have Ed Sullivan.

We did.  It was great.

Today is Ed’s birthday, he was born in  1901 , and has been gone since  1974.  His show, his name, his persona, are all part of American History. 

He changed TV.

At first television critics gave the show a bashing.  Time Magazine seemed surprised that “…instead of frightening children, he charms the whole family…”.  Nice, real nice!

His speech was syntaxically sloppy, he wasn’t all that pretty, but he knew talent.

Alan King, a frequent guest said, “Ed Sullivan will last, as long as someone out there has talent.”

And Alan was right.

Appearing on the Ed Sullivan show was the hallmark of success.

Pissing Ed off was the end of a career for some, and banishment from Televesion for others.  Bo Didley comes to mind.  Bo never appeared on live television after he ticked Ed off by singing two songs instead of one.  The Doors broke the rules by not changing the words to a song, and their next six scheduled appearances on Ed’s show were cancelled.  When told “You’ll never do the Sullivan show again!” by their manager, Jim Morrison replied, “We just did the Sullivan show!”. 

All it took was one time and everyone knew your name.

Here are some of the people he let us see.

Bo Didley, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Topo Gigio, Castro, The Supremes, Barbra Streisand, The Beatles, The Stones, Liza Minelli, Sonny and Cher, Salvador Dali, Gladys Knight, The Jacksons, Robert Mitchum, Lillian Gish , Rocky Marciano , Nat King Cole , Johnny Carson,  Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Edward R. Murrow, Dave Brubeck, Ed Begley, Tony Randall, Nat King Cole & wife Maria, Jack Palance, Rod Steiger, Andy Griffith, Jean Simmons, Phil Silvers, Liberace, Rise Stevens,  Edith Piaf, Shirley Booth, Pearl Bailey, Dick Shawn, Abbott & Costello, Sugar Ray Robinson, Cab Calloway, John Raitt, Helen Kane, Mitch Miller, Kim Novak & Susan Strasberg, Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz , Rodgers & Hammerstein, Orson Welles, The Ames Brothers. Shirley Jones , Pearl Bailey, Carl Sanberg,  Hal Holbrook, Edith Piaf, Walt Disney , James Cagney , Jack Lemmon , Susan Hayward, Roger Williams, Marcel Marceau , Eli Wallach , Nat King Cole, Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus’ Top Acts , Emmett Kelly, U.S. Air Force Talent Show,  Phil Silvers, Frank Sinatra, Sal Mineo, Mario Lanza,  Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Johnny Cash,  Steppenwolf ,  The Temptations, Santana, Henry Mancini,  The Band , Petula Clark,  Nancy Wilson, Creedence Clearwater Revival , Jerry Lee Lewis,  Neil Diamond , Julie Budd , Sergio Franchi, Ferrante & Teicher,  The Fifth Dimension , Tiny Tim & Miss Vickie , Connie Stevens, The Everly Brothers , George Carlin , Shirley Bassey, George Hamilton, Oliver, Melanie, and over 1,000 others, but I’m tired of typing.

Like I said, I feel sorry for kids today, now you know why!

Meet my friend Kathy!

She retired shortly after school ended this past May.

It was a surprise, there was no party, no going away, and no good-byes.

But she fixed that.  More on that in a minute.

Kathy is a good friend.  We were the first two in our department at school each day.  I was usually the first; I was in charge of the coffee.

Being in charge of the coffee makes one a pretty important guy, and I took that part of my job seriously.

Kathy usually came down the hall just moments after I started the first pot of the day.

She’s not a coffee drinker.  I frankly, don’t get that, but I’ve heard there are people out there who don’t imbibe, and I’m willing to accept it, as wrong as it is.

She’s a water drinker – NO!, a tennis player – NO!, a runner – Never!, which explains the slight frame that made every one else at school jealous.

She reads my blog, she pimps my blog, she even hands out my business cards…like I said, she’s a good friend.

And the girl knows how to throw a party.  To celebrate her retirement and her new job as an Assistant Professor at two local colleges, she held a Mexican Fiesta Saturday evening.

It was great, there was good food…

…catered by Frontera Mexican Grill.

There were beverages…wine coolers…

water, and Cokes, or pop for all my Northern readers.

And, there was music.

Flamenco music to be exact.

It was very fitting, and very, very good.

His name is Rouzbeh.  It doesn’t sound Spanish.  That’s because he isn’t.  He’s from Iran and works at Mercer University, one of the two Universities where Kathy teaches.  (The other is Oglethorpe University.  Mercer and Oglethorpe are old Georgia names…Oglethorpe was the founder of Georgia, and Johnny Mercer wrote “Moon River”.)

He’s great and made the party more festive.  You can book him too.  Just hit www.rguitar.net.  And you can get his CD!

It was fun to be with friends whom I don’t get to see often, and meet new people;  some of the neighbors were there.  The food was good, the music was great. 

The only problem was when all the ladies wanted to take a picture with the “sexy guy”, they were talking about the singer and not me!  OK, now that I just don’t get!