Nutty, Nuttier, Nuttiest

Saw the "Nutty Professor" musical in previews last week! Enjoyed it very much. Perhaps at some point I'll expound upon the experience a little, but in the meantime let me say "Bravi" to all involved, I think the show has great potential, and thanks to The Nuttiest One himself — Jerry Lewis — for appearing at curtain call!

Alice Ripley on Hee Haw!

I was surprised to hear that Broadway star Alice Ripley did time in 1992 as a Hee Haw Honey in the final year of "Hee Haw". Twern't hard to find the evidence, though. That's not her in the frame below, but she's the first one to appear in this video (with fellow "Les Misérables" Broadway star Gary Morris).

She's not in it again after the first 12 seconds, so you can quit watching after that. You're welcome.

All Aboard with Mr. Be!

One of my earliest TV watching memories is a show called "All Aboard with Mr. Be". It aired on WDCN, the Nashville public television station we watched in my hometown of Clarksville. A little recent research revealed that the show was shot at WKNO in Memphis. I also read that the puppets were built by legendary Nashville puppeteer Tom Tichenor, and performed by a Memphis high school student named John McDonald. I have always remembered the name of one of the puppets, "Poncey de Lion", who was of course a lion.

And today I got confirmation via email that the "Mr. Be" puppeteer was the same John McDonald who is now artistic director of the Roxy Regional Theatre in Clarksville! John and Tom Thayer have done an incredible thing in creating a professional theatre in Clarksville. I saw their "Into the Woods" a couple of years ago, and was very impressed.

As I told John, my childhood self would be very proud that my grownup self knows Poncey de Lion personally!

Ringo at the Ryman 7/7/12

Wow, what a great concert! Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band played the Ryman last night on Ringo's 72nd birthday, and we were there! Burton, Laura, and I have now seen two Beatles live, and I'm afraid it's going to have to stop there.

Earlier in the day, I braved the 100+ degree heat solo to attend Ringo's traditional "Peace and Love" moment in front of the Hard Rock Cafe at noon. I was able to snag two of the white P&L wristbands that Ringo and others tossed to the crowd, but I wasn't so lucky with the large peace-symbol-frosted cookies.

The concert started at 8. While my knowledge of 70s-80s rock is severely limited, I knew practically every song played last night. The line up of the All-Starr Band was Todd Rundgren, Steve "Toto" Lukather, Gregg "Santana" Rolie, Richard "Mr. Mister" Page, Gregg Bissonette on drums, and Mark Rivera on everything else. When Ringo wasn't singing up front, he drummed on every number except Black Magic Woman. (He played a cajón on Page's "You Are Mine".)

Ringo played a piano intro on "Don't Pass Me By", which he described as the first song he ever wrote. He seemed a little sheepish about it, and after the song he mentioned the lyric "You were in a car crash/And you lost your hair", saying something to the effect of "When I wrote that, I thought 'Look out, Lennon and McCartney!'". Nice to hear the song, but I'm probably not the only one who wishes he had done "Octopus's Garden" instead. Or both.

With the exception of "With a Little Help From My Friends", Ringo sang all his hits in lower keys, sometimes by as much as a fifth. But if you were going to a Ringo concert for his sterling vocals, you were going to be disappointed anyway! He sounded great. He's Ringo. He's a Freakin' Beatle. Who can quibble? And he looked incredible; not an ounce of body fat on that 72-year-old frame!

When Ringo returned to the stage after "Black Magic Woman", Rivera led the house in singing "Happy Birthday" (the traditional song, not the Beatles one). Ringo joked: "Thank you, Mark! Enjoy this show; it's your last." Ringo then sang "Anthem" from his latest album, which he followed with the Lennon-penned "I'm the Greatest". Funny to hear him sing "Now I'm only 72/And all I wanna do/Is boogaloo"!

It was after this number that we got a special guest, as Joe Walsh took the stage to perform "Rocky Mountain Way". Walsh returned at the very end to sing backup on "With a Little Help From My Friends", along with Brendan Benson, Kix Brooks, Gary Burr, Felix Cavaliere, Vince Gill, Richard Marx, Brad Paisley, and Lucy Walsh.

Here's the complete setlist:

Matchbox (Ringo)
It Don't Come Easy (Ringo)
Wings (Ringo)
I Saw the Light (Rundgren)
Evil Ways (Rolie)
Rosanna (Lukather)
Kyrie (Page)
Don't Pass Me By (Ringo)
Bang the Drum All Day (Rundgren)
Boys (Ringo)
Yellow Submarine (Ringo)
Black Magic Woman (Rolie)
Anthem (Ringo)
I'm the Greatest (Ringo)
Rocky Mountain Way (Walsh)
You Are Mine (Page)
Africa (Lukather)
Everybody's Everything (Rolie)
I Wanna Be Your Man (Ringo)
Love is the Answer (Rundgren)
Broken Wings (Page)
Hold the Line (Lukather)
Photograph (Ringo)
Act Naturally (Ringo)
With a Little Help From My Friends (Ringo)
Give Peace a Chance (All)

There were several videocameras there, including one on a jib; the concert will reportedly be released on DVD! Look for me in it; I'll be the middle-aged guy in the audience with the big smile on his face.

UPDATE HERE!

I didn't order any whistles...

Wow, this is great:

I thought it was so great, in fact, that I studied it carefully to try to figure out which episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood John D. Boswell used to make the video. By keeping track of Mister Rogers' sweater and tie colors, along with some Googling, I was able to figure out that the episodes are 1563, 1651, 1653, 1751, and 1753. Using my Amazon Prime membership, which allows for free streaming of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood episodes, I edited together a video of the clips that were used to make the song. Here it is:

Henry 6.2

Last night we watched Henry VI pt 2 from the BBC Shakespeare series. It was certainly all of a piece stylistically with Henry VI pt 1, and I suppose with the two following plays. The "Nicholas Nickleby" effect is in full force, where prominent actors in one scene show up as mere faces among the crowd in the next. Although many actors did appear in multiple roles throughout the series, one wishes that more of an ensemble approach had been taken in casting the entire project.

Of special note to me was David Pugh in the relatively small role of Peter Thump. Usually when an actor plays a dim-witted character, there remains some small remnant of the actor's persona, just to remind us that he's not actually that slow and simple. Not so with Pugh; he disappeared completely and opaquely in his role, and was a delight every moment he was onscreen.

But what a gruesome play! So many heads rolling about the stage. And Saye's and his son-in-law's fate -- having their severed heads mounted on tall spikes and made to "kiss" -- was a reminder to me that puppetry is, indeed, everywhere.

My Shrinking Tweet Project

Today I concluded my "shrinking tweet" project, begun on 1/1/12. It was a fun and challenging project to do, and is also (for me at least) an interesting sort-of-journal of the first four and a half months of the year.

Here it is:

1/1

For 2012 I am writing a daily tweet, starting at 140 characters, with each successive tweet shorter by one character. This is the first one.

1/2

This is the second in my series of ever-shortening tweets. Perhaps eventually they won't be so self-referential. Perhaps that's inevitable.

1/3

140 characters is actually plenty to use for expressing yourself. Of course, now I only have 138. I think I'm beginning to hyperventilate.

1/4

So I followed Huffington Post here, but I was so bombarded with tweets that I unfollowed them. It's crucial to keep a balanced tweetflow.

1/5

I'm down to 136 characters in my ever-shortening tweet project. I will end by tweeting one character. The floor is open for nominations.

1/6

I'm down to 135 characters today. I've put my tweets on a diet for New Year's! I wonder what a tweet eats? Just a few bytes, I suppose.

1/7

With each day's tweet being shorter by one character (this one is 134), it's getting harder to pack them with meaningful content. See?

1/8

I've seen "The Muppets" four times now and am intrigued by the copy of Bernstein's "Joy of Music" displayed prominently on the piano.

1/9

Burton loved "The Muppets", and has gone from "Why do you like them so much?" to "Do you think they'll bring back The Muppet Show?".

1/10

It's the second week of 2012! How are all those resolutions going? If you've already broken them, I say just wait for 2013 to come.

1/11

Ten days in on my shrinking tweet project. This one has 130 characters, a savings of ten characters! I pass the savings on to you.

1/12

So I guess I have an unspoken rule not to use text speak in my shrinking tweet project. That would make it too easy. mayb l8r tho

1/13

So one of my tweets is missing. This ever happen to you? My tweet of 1/2/12 doesn't appear on my page. Kind of ruins the effect.

1/14

My shrinking tweet project would be more effective if Twitter showed a character count. I could cheat and you wouldn't know it.

1/15

Two weeks in on my every-day-a-shorter-tweet project. This one is 126 characters. This could get interesting. In a few months.

1/16

Beauty and the Beast 3D is in theaters. But it's been playing at Disney World daily for the past 20 years...and sans glasses!

1/17

If I really wanted to make my tweet-shortening project difficult, I'd do it without the letter "e". Like the novel "Gadsby".

1/18

Dog my cats, us Fotts is lovin' Volume 1 of Fantagraphics' complete Pogo. Walt Kelly were a natural born brown-eyed genius.

1/19

The Belcourt just screened "Being Elmo" and now has scheduled "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "Clash by Night". Sequels?

1/20

Day 20 of my shrinking tweet project. I start each morning with a bowl of Shrinking Tweets. Part of a balanced breakfast.

1/21

Starting on 1/1 with 140 characters, I have posted a tweet a day, each shorter by 1 character. Why? Because we like you!

1/22

Using hashtags in this shrinking tweet project would be cheating. I could throw one in if I needed an extra #character.

1/23

Every day a shorter tweet. If "brevity is the soul of wit", can't you just feel my tweets getting funnier and funnier?

1/24

Listening to "Pacific Overtures" in great anticipation of Blackbird Theater's Nashville production next month. Yo-ho!

1/25

My shrinking tweet project will finish on 5/19 with my tweeting just 1 character. Should I then work my way back up?

1/26

Our "All the World" and "Scaredy Squirrel" are ALA/ALSC 2012 Notable Children's Videos! Thanks to the Bigfott team!

1/27

Why does "T.G.I. Friday's" have an apostrophe? Like there's some restauranteur named Thomas George Ichabod Friday?

1/28

How many songs about rainbows are there, actually? I can think of six. That's including "The Rainbow Connection".

1/29

Down to 112 characters in my shrinking tweet project. Starting to feel the pinch. I must think smaller thoughts.

1/30

Wow, January almost gone! What's next? Oh yeah, February. Kind of reassuring how that works. Good ol' calendar.

1/31

Burton is now mourning because Lego Universe ended last night. Way to hook kids and then dump them flat, Lego.

2/1

Costco had "Shakespeare in Love" on Blu-ray for $8.99. Impulse buy. How could I possibly not? It's a mystery.

2/2

I suppose the mark of Twitter Fame is when your number of Followers is higher than your number of Following?

2/3

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday. Is that six more weeks of winter, or of what we've been having?

2/4

I wonder if you could sell product placement in your tweets? What an absolutely ridiculous COCA-COLA idea.

2/5

Don't you think that on February 29th, Twitter should let us write 141-character tweets? A man can dream.

2/6

Question: How is the "Pogo" comic strip different from a tweet? Answer: Tweets only have 140 characters.

2/7

It's too bad Coca-Cola never had their own "throwback" product. Would "Diet Coke Throwback" be Tab? Ew.

2/8

I should hire a ghosttweeter to write my tweets for me. Maybe I already have one. Yes...maybe he does.

2/9

I've loved H.R. Pufnstuf ever since I saw "Kaleidoscope" at HemisFair in San Antonio when I was four.

2/10

Starting on 1/1 with 140, each of my daily tweets has been shorter by 1 character. This one has 100!

2/11

At 99, my shrinking tweet character count is now in double digits. Single digits will not be noted!

2/12

Nashville, you have 1 more weekend to see Blackbird Theater's production of Pacific Overtures! Go!

2/13

Burton and I can't go past a display of talking toys without pausing to set them all off at once.

2/14

Happy Valentine's Day to my beautiful wife Laura Jane Bigbee Burton Fott! Our 23rd one together!

2/15

There are 95 characters in this tweet. I got married in '95. A random coincidence? I think not.

2/16

Watched "The Wizard of Oz" on Blu-ray. After seeing Oz, the Scarecrow packs a pistol! How odd.

2/17

Perhaps the Scarecrow's pistol in "The Wizard of Oz" is really a water gun? Watch out, Witch!

2/18

Excited that Ringo Starr is coming to the Ryman on 7/7, his bloody birthday! Peace and love!

2/19

Show idea: Semi-neglected & under-developed corporate mascots. The Bunny Bread Bunny stars.

2/20

This tweet has ninety characters. I'm applying the other fifty toward a novel I'm writing.

2/21

Even as I tweet and enjoy others' tweets, I can't figure out exactly why this is popular.

2/22

What was Twitter like before so many people joined it? "Boring and lonely" I'm guessing.

2/23

I joined Pinterest. I have no idea. Thought it was another name for the "Pinter pause".

2/24

Going out now for Ringo tix, right from the Ryman box office. Take that, Ticketmaster!

2/25

We saw the Oscar-nominated animated shorts, and I think I am rooting for "Wild Life".

2/26

Incredible that the Mac has a 15% market share in the US. I remember the days of 2%!

2/27

Saw "Lost and Found" over the weekend, an excellent animated short from Studio AKA.

2/28

I thought "The Artist" was just dandy. But Best Picture? "The Muppets" was better!

2/29

Today is Leap Day. A magical, Brigadoon-like happening. February with a hangover.

3/1

If we just add 59 seconds to each day, we won't need Leap Day. Much better plan.

3/2

Since 1/1, each of my daily tweets has been 1 character shorter. This 1 has 79.

3/3

Poltergeists make up the principal type of spontaneous material manifestation.

3/4

Following some celebs on Twitter makes you glad you don't actually know them.

3/5

I had one scrambled egg and toast for breakfast. In case you were wondering.

3/6

C'mon! Let's make this the best 3/6/12 EVER! (Sorry, 1912. You're history.)

3/7

I try to avoid politics, but I just can't stay mute any longer: I Go Pogo.

3/8

Good morning world! Sleep well? Any strange dreams? Ooh, that's so weird!

3/9

"The new iPad" is .11 pounds heavier than the iPad 2. That's a negative.

3/10

With "the new iPad", I guess Apple no longer numbers hardware releases?

3/11

This 70-character tweet is exactly half of the maximum length allowed.

3/12

Shrinking tweet project is officially "over the hump". 69 characters!

3/13

A puppy? Yeah, just what we needed! 7 cats, 2 goats, and now 2 dogs.

3/14

Our cats are Indy, Shadow, Dash, Petunia, Sparta, Keypot, and Mary.

3/15

Our goats are Milo and Buddy, and our dogs are Cornelia and Missy.

3/16

The best thing about the "Pufnstuf" movie: The score is terrific!

3/17

At six, I hated that Pufnstuf had a different voice in the film.

3/18

The word "characters" sure does have a lot of characters in it.

3/19

Some tweets can be pointless and without intrinsic merit. See?

3/20

Reading the Steve Jobs bio. On my iPad. Home court advantage.

3/21

Sixty characters/Is just barely sufficient/For writing haiku

3/22

Happy birthday, Stephen Sondheim! (Yeah, Lloyd Webber too.)

3/23

Disney: Release seasons 4 and 5 of The Muppet Show on DVD!

3/24

My tweets are growing shorter daily! As am I, supposedly.

3/25

Looney Tunes at the Belcourt in original 35mm yesterday!

3/26

Following a 55-characters-per-tweet limit. No speeding.

3/27

Don't forget: To legume makes a leg out of you and me.

3/28

My tweet project can be called "constrained writing".

3/29

I'll smell the roses...but do I really have to STOP?

3/30

Dreamed about Meryl Streep. She was terrible in it.

3/31

I am not the very model of a modern Major-General.

4/1

This shrinking tweet project is too hard. I quit.

4/2

Is Hungry Hungry Hippos one of the Hunger Games?

4/3

We have too many pets. By "too many" I mean 11.

4/4

With only 46 characters, what would YOU tweet?

4/5

45 characters. Getting kinda cramped in here.

4/6

All work and no play makes Galen a dull boy.

4/7

Opry Mills's Sweet CeCe's has Junior Mints!

4/8

Nutty Professor in Nashville! Thanks, Mac!

4/9

"41 characters of Twitter on the wall..."

4/10

40 characters! Who needs that other 100?

4/11

It gets harder to say much of anything.

4/12

Nashville Film Festival starting soon!

4/13

This tweet has exactly 37 characters.

4/14

Now aiming my tweets toward "pithy".

4/15

But I'll always settle for "terse".

4/16

Don Hertzfeldt. Belcourt. Tonight.

4/17

Shrinking tweets, now very tight!

4/18

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

4/19

Meaninglessness has its appeal.

4/20

My Lava Lamp needs a new bulb.

4/21

This tweet has 29 characters.

4/22

antidisestablishmentarianism

4/23

I have a Kermit marionette.

4/24

My tweets are almost gone.

4/25

1 score and 5 characters.

4/26

I am a man of few words.

4/27

This is my daily tweet.

4/28

Beauty is Embarrassing

4/29

Coherency may suffer.

4/30

What more can I say?

5/1

Circling the drain!

5/2

I'm a bit peckish.

5/3

Is this thing on?

5/4

Today is Friday.

5/5

¡Cinco de Mayo!

5/6

14 characters!

5/7

Almost there!

5/8

RIP Maurice.

5/9

Sleep well?

5/10

I am here!

5/11

I'm cool.

5/12

Morning!

5/13

Mom Day

5/14

Tweet!

5/15

I am.

5/16

Yes!

5/17

Hi!

5/18

O!

5/19

1