SEEING "WAR HORSE" AT THE FOX IN ATLANTA

I've blogged about being at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta before, so, even though this is 8 or so days later, I felt the need to document this wonderful experience in my life.

On September the 30th, Terri and Steve, Judy and I got up early that Sunday morning and made the trip south.  It's only 3 or 4 hours away, but plenty of time to catch up on each others lives.  Trips to Atlanta come a couple times a year, whether it be to attend a Becky's wedding, as mentioned in an earlier post, or to visit Tony, Judy and Terri's brother.  However, the trips to see stage plays at the Fox have been some of the best times.

"War Horse" won six Academy Award nominations after opening last Christmas.  The movie and subsequent stage plays were based on the 1982 children's novel by Michael Mopurgo by the same name.

The play first appeared on a London stage in 2007, and is based on a horse's perspective of the horrors of World War I.  

Now, you might not think you could get into the mind, or the story, of a 100 pound cane and metal horse puppet, but believe me, you can!  Some have written that the stage "Joey" is somehow more real than the live one in the Spielberg's movie!  That's so true!

You start out in the first minutes seeing a huge horse size mechanical thing heaving and moving around the stage supported by two men inside, whose legs, for the most part is all you see, and one guy sliding around beside the huge frame holding up a horse shaped head.  However, as time passes you begin to see the star, the real star, Joey, who is telling the story.  He breaths, twitches his ears and his tail, moves his eyes, and soon he's as alive as any "real" horse.

As the play progresses, you feel Joey's pain and suffering, and by the time he becomes entangled in the horrible biting barbed-wire of War World I, you weep for him.  You find yourself quickly wiping away your feelings so no one can see, but then you find that you're not the only one.  Everyone feels the real suffering of war...part of purpose for the original book.

Eight million horses in total are believed to have died during the four year war that begin in 1914.  Sounds like a lot, huh, but think about there being twice as many human deaths; 10 million military and 6-7 million civilian!  Mind boggling! 

I'm not sure what happens in the movie or book, but on stage Joey survives...barely, and by chance events.

Joey was just one of Britain's conscripted horses.  England lost over 484,000 horses, one horse for every two men!

I'll not go into the story, because you should read or see it yourself.  You're cheating yourself out of some real raw emotion if you don't.

On the way home we treated ourselves to a great meal at the "Marietta Diner", just off I-75.  

I had the fried scollops, and I don't remember what the others had, but we were all full and satisfied.  There's some great food there and plenty of it!

The girls got to enjoy their brother just a little longer and Steve and I got your bellies full.  Which was just the ticket we needed to dose all the way back as Terri drove.

So, bottom line...go see the play...not the movie!  

Unfortunately for you though, it's no longer at the magnificent FOX!

I so wanted to go back last weekend and see Jack White, but alas, I'm the only one here that even knows who he is! 

But, there's still time to educate them, so maybe we'll go back sometime soon!

A VISIT TO THE FOX THEATRE IN ATLANTA

This past Sunday, Judy and I took Terri and Steve to Atlanta to see the "Jersey Boys" at the Fox Theatre. I hadn't been feeling well, so Judy asked Katie if she wanted to go. However, Katie is too wrapped up in Zack right now, so she declined. Well, I didn't want Judy to go alone, so by Sunday morning I was feeling much better and went. I sure am glad I did!

The show was fantastic...I had no idea the Four Seasons had that many hits, but I seemed to know every song. If you look back over your life, you always wonder where the time went. Well, we spend part of it listening to 2 and 3 minute songs on the radio, sitting in movie theaters, clipping our toenails, or some other insignificant thing, but the sum is our lives...minute by minute.

The time we've spent setting in theaters has not been a waste of time. It's those times that we've shed the stresses of life. You get lost in another world and forget our troubles. Even walking into a theater, especially one like the Fox in Atlanta, just relaxes us and fills us with great expectations and hope of seeing and experiencing something far different than our mundane lives.

My brother-in-law Bill, has worked part-time at the Fox for ages. I'm sure it was just to remove the stress of being an accountant that drew him to the off-hour work. Bill took Terri and I on a "back stage" tour of the theater.

Since spending time on the Princess Theater project, I've been interested in old theaters and their history, especially the story of their restoration projects. So, as we walked around we happened to meet Len Tucker, the Director of Operations at the Fox. He took us even further into the secret places of the Fox.

It turned out, after Terri told him about my current work, that he offered the Fox Theatre's assistance in our local theater project. This knowledge base will be invaluable to us, so even without the "Jersey Boys" show, the trip was a "networking" landfall!

GO HERE to see the photos I took of the Fox (click on Slideshow). It will only give you a small feel for the grand ol' place...you need to go there yourself!

YOU TAKE WHAT LIVES GIVES YOU

Somehow you get locked into a community, a local area that becomes your home, and you cannot remember exactly why. If you put loved ones in the ground, or you attend a school for more than five years in a row, then more than likely you will become rooted whether you want it that way or not.

I probably could have lived anywhere besides Harriman. I mean Waverly, Tennessee was nice and I have a lot of memories from that time, even went to school there for over three years, but I guess it was because we did not have to bury anyone there.

Florence, Alabama was nice, and I attended school there for two years, but I suppose it was the threat to tornadoes, the red clay soil, or possibly the flatness of it that prevented me from going back.

The truth is I settled in Harriman because I went to school there for six years, including my last two in high school, buried my dad there, married a girl with life long roots there, got my first jobs there, and my mother retired there.

One day you just wake up and you realize that this is where you will also die. Nothing will make you move from the familiarity of it all, or the relationships you have intertwined into life.

Oh, there was a time I wanted to leave, and had my first wife not had her roots deep into family and the area, we would have left and probably ended up in Atlanta, Georgia.

During my senior year at UT, the College of Communications arranged for “field trips” of a sort to Atlanta to participate in “mock interviews.” I suppose some of us could have been offered jobs, but the truth, as it was given to us upfront was that these were trial runs designed to give us experience at interviewing and to test our portfolios.

The top advertising agencies in the United States has offices in Atlanta, and in those days the top two were Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), of Alka Seltzer and Volkswagen fame, and McCann-Erickson, of Coca-Cola fame!

I instantly wanted to work for McCann-Erickson, because in my view it was such a laid back and creative environment. To me, it appeared that the account people just sat around in this big room and brainstormed ideas. All around the room were red and white Coke creations (signs, print ads, coolers, etc.) they had come up with and I wanted to be a part of that so much.

I knew I had what it would take to be creative mentally, but after a few of the copy writers explained how tough the business was, I had second thoughts. Some of the agency people talked about working for 2 or 3 agencies during the course of a single year, while others said they had been working on the same product, but had just walked across the street when the account changed agencies! It began to sound like a dog-eat-dog world, and a voice whispered “you had better be good if you want to survive here.”

Nonetheless, the big ad agency was what I had my heart set on!

Atlanta was a fun time in 1972, running around with a dozen college friends with life leading us on and a tiger by the tail. Even an encounter with a homeless wino on the Atlanta streets did not seem to dissuade me from my dream.

The wino grabbed my arm and demanded money. I was scared out of my wits and my entourage just kept walking, leaving me to deal with the situation. I jerked my arm a couple of times and it was obvious he was not letting go, so, always quick to mentally work my way out of a situation, I reached into my pocket for some change. I was shocked to find that I only had a nickel! I was doomed, I thought if I handed it to him. Therefore, the smart thing to do was to flip the coin into the air. The drunk released his grip and cupped his hands and ran away to get under the coin.

Meanwhile, I had already caught up with the cowardly crowd and moved on down the street. Bastards never said a word or looked back.

Quick thinking would also save me from an even nastier scene years later!

Suffice it say, we did not move to Atlanta. You just take what life gives you!

I finished school, still living with my in-laws, and took an advertising sales job with The Roane County NEWS in Kingston, Tennessee.

There was little glamour in the job, but it paid $200 a week, provided me with transportation, and gave me little moments of creativity genius to satisfy me.

Looking back, had the job paid more, or had provided better insurance, I might still be there plugging away with my pencil and layout pad, and my 35mm camera, shooting football games on Friday nights, and attending local community events shaking hands and smiling superficially. Who knows, I may have even become an editor and/or part owner, with a bottle of creativity down in my bottom drawer.

However, I know one thing, I would not be retired now…if ever.

UPDATE ON ROGER WATERS!

We got our tickets! Hopefully, my right will be limber enough by then to hoist a few!

An Evening with Roger Waters

Philips Arena
Atlanta, GA
Tue, May 22, 2007 08:00 PM
5 American Express Cardmembers Presale
209 E 8 - 4 PRICE LEVEL 2
LOWER LEVEL OF ARENA

Seats could be closer, but are what was available. Makes my arm feel some better.