Movie tickets

A friend of mine just returned from deployment in Kuwait. When he got back, he took his girlfriend to see a movie. He was astounded to find out tickets have gone up to $9. He told her that it won't be often that they'll go to a movie. After buying two tickets and snacks, it cost almost $30.

Now comes a study by the University of California-Santa Cruz and Stanford University that says the high price of popcorn keeps movie ticket prices low.

What?!

The San Jose Mercury News said in a story Wednesday that researchers studied data from 43 multi-plexes in 30 cities over a five-year period. It basically said that the concession stands subsidize ticket prices. Without the concession stands, ticket prices will rise at least 25 percent.

Yikes!

I'm really glad that I'm able to buy discounted tickets here at the paper. At $6 each, they're $3 less than at the theater.

Of course, I take advantage of the second-run movie house at Peachtree Mall. If I wait maybe two months, I can see a Hollywood blockbuster there.

Are you going to movies fewer times a year? Buying DVDs more? Waiting 'til the movie is on a premium cable network?

I guess I'm doing all three.

Empty Bowl Lunch

I love the Empty Bowl lunch.

Those of you who know me know my trick and probably do the same thing.

I go over to the Britt David Cultural Arts Center, 2700 W. Britt David Road, and check out all the bowls ahead of time. I'll pick one and "hide" it.

Then on the day of the lunch, I go early and find my bowl.

I know it's sneaky, but I have a great collection of bowls now.

This year's Empty Bowl event is 11 a.m.-3 p.m. March 9.

For $10 ($6 for children 11 and younger), you get a handmade bowl. Then you pick a homemade soup. And then you get a dessert. It's yummy.

There are also door prizes.

All proceeds go to the Second Harvest Food Bank's the Kids’ Café. The Kids’ Café is a program that provides meals each day to the needy children of our community.

Lisa Castile, the director of Britt David, said, "Last year this event was able to raise enough money for Kids’ Café to feed approximately 36,000 meals. This year we want to do even more and with your help we will."

I'll see you next week.

For more information, call 706-653-4196.

I REALLY need your help!

Well, since Monday, I've been told that my request to interview comedian and actor Jerry Seinfeld has been submitted. I still don't think I'll get the interview.

You know that he's doing two shows in the Bill Heard Theatre on March 7. The first show sold so quickly that a second show was added.

Soooo. What I need is YOU.

If you bought tickets to either show, please call me at 706-571-8580 or e-mail me at sokamoto@ledger-enquirer.com

I want to talk to you about your reasons for buying tickets and a couple of other questions.

Please get in touch with me!

New Columbus Museum exhibit opens Sunday

Here's something you might consider doing Sunday.

A new exhibit, "The Chattahoochee Valley: Colonial Frontier" opens at the Columbus Museum, 1251 Wynnton Road, on Sunday. While you're there, check out the other exhibits, "Introductions: Diane Edison" (which closes March 9), "Eames: An Exploration of Modern Design" (closes June 22) and the spectacular "Objects of Desire: Collectors and Collections in the Chattahoochee Valley" (closes May 4).

The new exhibit shows a great collection of artifacts from the site of Fort Apalachicola. Where is this, you might ask?

It was a 17th century Spanish fort in Russell County. There were several Indian villages nearby as well.

The exhibit addresses contact between the white settlers and the Indians. And how the Spanish, French and English tried to curry favor just to control the territory.

You'll be able to see tools, weapons and trade goods.

The exhibit can be seen through Sept. 7 in the Chattahoochee Legacy history gallery and in the glass cases in the Galleria.

The museum is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. It's closed Monday.

Admission is free.

Call 706-748-2562.

Seinfeld

Hey, I just found out that Jerry Seinfeld is not doing interviews before his show on March 7.

If you bought tickets, can you e-mail me at sokamoto@ledger-enquirer.com? Or call me at 706-571-8580?

I'll want to talk to you about why you bought tickets and other questions like your favorite episode, etc.

I'll need your help to write a story to preview the show.

Thank you!

The Oscars

This was the first year in, oh, probably 20 years that I did not fill out an Oscar poll. I guess with the writers' strike and all, I wasn't that interested.

And, sad to say, I hadn't seen very many movies at all. I mean, at all.

I blame Tom Ford. When Tom was here, he was the one who kept us going to movies every week. Sometimes multiple times. We watched movies all the time. So the only categories where we guessed were the foreign films, short films and documentaries. And we'd go to Atlanta to see some of the foreign films, so even those were not wild guesses.

But then he moved to Los Angeles to work in visual effects. Tom says he's too busy to go to movies now, too. One day, he said he went to work in the movie industry to see more movies and wound up watching fewer films.

OK, so it's really not Tom's fault that I haven't gone to see any movies this past year. I always made excuses. I'll go after work, but then I'd be too tired to go after work. On weekends, I'd spend more time resting that going out. Maybe I'm just getting old. All right, there's no maybe about it. I am getting old!

I did watch the whole Oscars, which didn't run too long this year.

I just didn't find Jon Stewart that funny. Maybe eight days isn't enough time to come up with a good workable script for the Oscars.

Maybe he's just not that good.

But then even the dresses weren't that great this year. None were really memorable, either in a good way or a bad way.

Where was this year's swan dress? No where to be seen.

Where was this year's Halle Berry dress from the year she won the Oscar? No where to be seen.

It seemed to me that the best dressed women were the pregnant ones — Cate Blanchette, Nicole Kidman and Jessica Alba.

To me, the best dressed woman wasn't an actor. It was Alexandra Byrne, who won the best costume Oscar for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."

And where was Halle Berry? I know she's pregnant, too. And she couldn't be as pregnant as Blanchette, could she?

The best part about the Oscars? Jimmy Kimmel's show after the local news.

He did this hilarious video that he was "f---ing Ben Affleck." Apparently it was in retaliation to his girlfriend Sarah Silvernman's "I'm f---ing Matt Damon."

But in Kimmel's video, he had Brad Pitt playing the FedEx guy. And in the video within the video, there was a "We Are the World" set-up featuring people like Josh Groban, Cameron Diaz, Harrison Ford, Lance Bass, Huey Lewis, Macy Gray, Don Cheadle, Robin Williams and the Madden boys from Good Charlotte.

It is hilarious!

Both videos are on YouTube.

Check it out.

Here's hoping next year's Oscars are better.

Tell me what you thought of the whole show and the clothing that goes along with it.

The Springer Opera House pioneers

OK. As promised, I got the names of the Springer Opera House pioneers.

These are the men and women who bridged the gap from the Columbus Little Theater to the Springer when it reopened in 1965.

From left in front, Dot McClure, Mary
Ann Birnbaum, Alice Anderson, Margaret Kendall. From left, standing, Debbie Stillwell Adams, Dennis Richardson, Betty Auten, Jack Bassett, Cy Dietrich, Julia Jones Williams, Ed Williams, Joan Crowder Wall, Russ Wall, Mary Dana
Knight, Sam Rawls, Raymond Campbell, Eleanor Jones, Betty Britto, Jack Malott, Jenny Lynn Berry, Sandra Taylor and Flo Hiatt.

Bravo!

The Springer Opera House season

If you've read today's newspaper or went online last night, you know what the Springer Opera House is bringing to the Valley next season.

Just in case you didn't do either, here it is again.

ON THE MAINSTAGE:
Stand By Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story: A musical revue about the First Lady of country music. Sept. 18-20, Sept. 25-28 and Oct. 2-4. At left, Debbie Anderson sings "Stand By Your Man" during Thursday's preview party.
Father of the Bride: The basis of the movies starring Spencer Tracy and later Steve Martin. Oct. 16-18, Oct. 23-26 and Oct. 30-Nov. 1
Hamlet: The Shakespeare classic about the prince of Denmark. Jan. 22-24, Jan. 29-Feb. 1 and Feb. 5-7.
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Huck Finn helps his friend, Jim, a slave, escape to freedom. March 5-7, March 12-15 and March 19-21. At right, Springer artistic director Paul Pierce announces "Big River" at the preview party Thursday. And at left is Gerald Atkins singing "Muddy Water" from "Big River." Again, I'm so sorry I missed the party because I haven't seen Gerald in forever and I adore him.
Red, White and Tuna: It's the Fourth of July in Tuna, Texas, and the hijinks begin. April 30-May 2, May 7-10 and May 14-16.

THE STUDIO II SERIES
Menopause: The Musical: Set in a department store, four women with seemingly nothing in common but a black lace bra meet by chance and discover a cosmic connection — hot flashes, mood swings, memory loss, wrinkles, night sweats and eating binges. In Foley Hall. Nov. 6-9 and Nov. 13-15.
Charm School: Good-ol-boy warehouse worker Raymond Saunders ends up in diversity training. In Foley Hall. April 16-19 and April 23-25.

HOLIDAY SHOWS
Peter Pan: Musical about Wendy, Michael and John, who follow Peter Pan and Tinkerbell to Neverland. Nov. 28-29, Dec. 5-6, Dec. 12-14, Dec. 17-23.
A Tuna Christmas: It's Christmas in Texas' third-smallest town. In Foley Hall. Dec. 4-6, Dec. 11-14, Dec. 17-23.

The Springer Opera House is at 103 10th St., and Foley Hall, 1016 First Ave. Ticket prices have not yet been set. Call 706-327-3688 for details.

Now, I'm really excited about one show. And that's "Menopause: The Musical." It's not just because I'm going through it. A friend of mine, Lynna Schmidt, who's done several shows here, has been in the Atlanta cast forever. She started a limited run in the 14th Street Playhouse through April 20.

I keep saying I'm going to have to go see Lynna. A bunch of my friends and I just might.

And seeing "Big River" will bring back some fond memories of a lost friend. The late Madison Rivers Jackson III played Tom in "Big River" in 1990. He went on to perform in many Springer shows until his premature death on July 4, 1996. He died in his hometown of Memphis, of cancer.

Madison had a big, huge voice and a smile to match. People will remember him in shows like the "Driving Miss Daisy'' tour, ``Ain't Misbehavin','' ``Kudzu: The Musical,'' ``The Will Rogers Follies'' and ``A Raisin in the Sun.'' He was only 37.

There's a whole generation of actors who won't be able to learn from this wonderful man.

Sigh.

And then there is the battling show. Yup. The Chattahoochee Shakespeare Co. will present "Hamlet" in the fall, and the Springer will have it in January.

I'm not sure what Troy Heard has in mind for his version, but Paul Pierce of the Springer says he's putting his "Hamlet" in contemporary times.

This should be very interesting.

For the first time, the Springer honored a group of very deserving people. These are the folks who kept live theater alive for many years. They are the one who formed the Columbus Little Theater and then helped save the Springer from becoming a parking lot. When the theater reopened in 1965 after renovation, they are the ones who kept working. So these dedicated people not only worked on the stage, they worked in the box office, built and painted sets, worked the spotlights and took up tickets. About 30 of them came to the Springer Thursday night to accept a token of the theater's appreciation. I wish I had all of the names. When I get them, I'll post them.
And another worthy person was honored Thursday night. Janice Biggers got two surprises. One was the star in the sidewalk in front of the Springer in her cousin Truman Capote's name and the other was the renaming of Pigeon Alley to the Hall of Legends.

Frankly, I like Pigeon Alley. It's the hallway that connects the Mainstage to the Saloon. Before the 1999 renovation, it had concrete floors and walls and the ceiling was all exposed pipes. It was always damp. When the renovation was finished and I walked in there. I turned to Paul and asked, "This is Pigeon Alley?" I swear that's the one part of the renovation that always amazed me.

To have it named in honor of Janice is a wonderful thing. She and a small group of Columbus citizens saved the building. We should all bow down to Janice and her gang.

Unfortunately, I couldn't be at the preview party Thursday night. I promised Chef Dennis Neuhring of Columbus Cooks that I would do a cooking demonstration for him.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that 16 people signed up for the class.

Yikes!

Well, I got through it. And people seemed to like what I cooked. Dennis asked me to come back.

Getting back to the Springer. When I wrote the story for today's paper, I interviewed several people who love theater. This part got cut from the paper. But here are some comments:

"Well, I like it. I'm excited about 'Red, White and Tuna.' And I'm glad we're doing more Shakespeare.
" 'Menopause: The Musical' is wonderful. We took a group of ladies from the club to Atlanta to see it. And I want to do that. That would be cool." — Karen Lord, a frequent actor on the Springer stage who works at the Country Club of Columbus.

"It sounds like a decent season. We're reviving a musical ("Big River"), doing a comedy that hasn't been done here ("Menopause: The Musical") and a title that everyone should know ("Father of the Bride"). It should be a lot of fun and a lot of people should enjoy it.
" 'Menopause: The Musical' is hysterically funny. Everybody will love it. I felt a little uncomfortable, being a male, but I knew every tune. I just loved the characters.
"The 'Tuna' is going to sell. Everybody loves the 'Tunas.' 'Hamlet,' we haven't done since Alabama Shakespeare Festival came and did it. And before that, it was Edwin Booth." — Steve Valentini, a Springer stage veteran, now working for the IRS.

"I actually worked with the woman who costumed 'Stand By Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story.' It's a real crowd pleaser. It was a nice show that people really enjoyed. She really enjoyed that show, which surprised me because it is not her cup of tea.
"I am tickled that they're doing 'Big River.' It's such a great choice for that space.
"I have a friend who stage managed 'Menopause: The Musical.' It's a show that most men will hear that title and say, 'Ewww.' But it's fun and it's even-handed. It's just fun. It's a female musical that everybody gets.
" 'Hamlet.' Wow! 'Hamlet' is 'Hamlet' no matter what. It's always great to tie into schools. It's important and necessary literature but it should be seen on stage and not just read." — Greg Thompson, an actor who appeared in shows like "Grease" and "Singin' in the Rain" at the Springer and played Darrell Waltrip in ESPN's "3," which starred Barry Pepper as Dale Earnhardt. He recently moved to Los Angeles from Atlanta to break into the film industry.

"I think it sounds like a great season. It's very diverse. Selfishly, I'm glad they're doing 'Big River.' That was the first show I ever did; ever auditioned for (in 1990). I loved that show. That show changed my life. It seems like just yesterday to me. Really, it took my life into a different direction. I was playing basketball at Columbus College (now Columbus State University). No one was more surprised than my parents that I auditioned. My parents are season ticket-holders now, too.
"I cannot tell you how excited I am that it's going to be back on stage.
" 'Peter Pan' at Christmas. That's a gorgeous, beautiful show. It's the perfect Christmas show.
"It's a really great season." — Kelli Franklin, who went on to star in shows like "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (twice), "Seussical," "The Rocky Horror Show," "The Will Rogers Follies" and "Annie Warbucks." She is now a pharmaceutical rep.

Exciting things at the Springer

I can't tell you about the new season that the Springer Opera House has planned until 7 p.m. when it is announced.

I an tell you that it's a going to be a great season. If you go to our Web site at 7 p.m., you'll be able to read about it then.

I can tell you that a new star will be added to the sidewalk in front of the Springer. It's Truman Capote, and it's dedicated to Janice Biggers.

Mrs. Biggers is a wonderful woman. I was her intern in 1974. She was the executive director of the Historic Columbus Foundation, and she wanted someone to write grants so HCF could do something special for the Bicentennial.

Well, I had no idea about writing for grants, but I could write. How hard could it be?

It must have worked because that's how the Chattahoochee Promenade was built. I'm not saying I had anything to do with the building of the Promenade. I just wrote some grants. I don't even know if they got any money from any of the grants I wrote.

Unfortunately, I can't be at the preview party tonight.

I promised Dennis Neuhring at Columbus Cooks that I would do a cooking demonstration for him months ago.

I'm looking forward to cooking, but I'm sorry to miss the Springer's festivities.

The season announcements begin

The first of the season announcements came last Friday when Troy Heard told a crowd at the Rothschild-Pound House what he has planned for the 2008-09 season.

So far, he still doesn't have a permanent location for the Chattahoochee Shakespeare Co., but he does have an inkling where he'd like to be. Dates are not yet solidified either.

He'll kick off the season with "Hamlet" in the fall. The winter show is "Hedda Gabler," followed by "The Taming of the Shrew" in the spring. The summer show is "The Tempest."

Great season, don't you think?

I can't wait to find out what the Springer Opera House has planned for its next season. I'll find out tomorrow.

"Dancing With the Stars"

Last night, the phone rang and it was my sister, Dorothy, who yelled, "Turn the channel to 'Dance Wars'! They're announcing the 'Dancing With the Stars' stars!"

Of course, I did.

Jerry Rice, Kenny Mayne and Lisa Rinna were making the announcement on the DanceCenter set.

We missed the first contestant, which was deaf actress Marlee Matlin. Dorothy said Mayne, who was wearing blue eye shadow and a sparkly purple shirt, intoned in his patented blank tone something like: "She's the lucky one. She won't be able to hear anything Bruno says."

The other "stars" are Priscilla Presley, Adam Carolla, Cristían de la Fuente, Shannon Elizabeth, Steve Guttenberg, Mario, Penn Jillette, Monica Seles, Jason Taylor, Marissa Jaret Winokur and Kristi Yamaguchi.

Matlin is the second Academy Award winner. Tatum O'Neal was the first. Winokur, the original Tracy in "Hairspray," is the first Tony Award winner.

Presley is the oldest at 62. I'm guessing that Mario, at 21, is the youngest.

I'm going to predict that Penn of Penn and Teller fame, will be the first to be eliminated. In case you're wondering, he's the one big one who talks.

My pick for the winner? Either Taylor or Yamaguchi.

The pairings are: De la Fuente and Cheryl Burke, Elizabeth and Derek Hough, Guttenberg and Anna Trebunskaya, Mario and Karina Smirnoff, Penn and Kym Johnson, Presley and Louis van Amstel, Seles and Jonathan Roberts, Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska, Winokur and Tony Dovolani, Carolla and Julianne Hough and Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas. Matlin will be paired with newcomer Fabian Sanchez.

Best looking pairing? Taylor and Sliwinska. No doubt.

I never got into "Dance Wars," but I love "Dancing With the Stars."

The first show is 8 p.m. March 17. There will be a double elimination on March 25.

I can't wait!

A first for me

Believe it or not, I've never been to a gun show before Saturday.

Let me back up.

We got up early Saturday morning to go to the annual Exchange Club of Columbus' pancake breakfast. We, being me, my mother, my brother Fred, my sister Nancy and her husband John and my youngest sister Patty and her husband John.

After eating all the pancakes we could eat, we went to the gun show at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center.

Nancy drove her husband home, but met us at the Trade Center. My mother, whom I thought would be the last person interested in a gun show, insisted on going. She said she could die and say she'd been to a gun show!

Silly woman. Of course, she said she could die happy because she finally got to see Frank Sinatra in concert in 1996. It was a couple of years before he died and he used these huge teleprompters with the lyrics. I mean, we were far from the stage but we could read them. It was kind of sad.

Getting back to the gun show ...

I don't think I'd ever held a gun before. I've been skeet shooting, so I have shot a shotgun and got a bruise on my shoulder. And I did hit the clay target! OK. It was once and it was a lucky shot because it was the very first.

Anyway, a handgun is what I'm talking about. Fred was a police officer for 27 years and he has plenty of handguns. I've never held one.

But since there were so many laying around, I had to pick them up. The thing is, they're very heavy. And my hand is about the size of a third-grader's. Most of them were way to big for my hand. Some of them, I wouldn't be able to shoot because my finger wouldn't go around the trigger!

My mother and I laughed, especially when she picked up a gun and asked, "You can kill somebody with this?"

Yes, if it were loaded, we told her.

My brother went to the gun show because he wanted to find a black powder gun. Or rifle. Or shotgun. I don't know. Something with black powder.

Being a guy, did he ask?

No.

I did and the dealer said though he carries black powder, he didn't have a firearm that used it.

But then I couldn't find Fred to tell him.

I did overhear a couple talking. They were very young. She was looking at jewelry. Believe it or not, there were several jewelry booths. He said, "You go to a gun show to try on jewelry?" She said, "Why not?"

Why not, indeed.

You'll be glad to know that I didn't buy a gun.

My editor at the time said she was frightened when she found out that I had been out skeet shooting. What, did she think I'd come in and gun her down?

Come to think of it, maybe.

Lost in "Lost"

I swear, every season, I'm giving up on "Lost."

The third episode just aired last night and I'm as lost as ever.

This season, they're going back from the survivors on the island to what happens to the something called the "Oceanic 6" or something like that. Apparently six of the survivors got off the island and they're flashing forward to those folks. So far, it's Jack, Kate, Hurley and Said.

What about the other 40-soemthing people? And those new people who allegedly came to rescue them? And then those crazy people led by Ben?

See, it's no wonder I'm confused.

Can anyone explain? And why am I still watching?

Columbus Mystery Theatre sells out first show

I know that Kate Musgrove is ecstatic.

She and her husband, JJ Musgrove, began the Columbus Mystery Theatre to fill a void for dinner theater lovers.

Kate told me that when she moved back here, that's one of the things she wanted to do. Kate grew up in Columbus and graduated from the Columbus College theater department. She came back as the chairman of the Columbus State University department of theater.

How things change!

Anyway, the first four shows of "An Inheritance of Murder!" sold out, even before the first performance.

Anyway, if you want to go, the deadline to buy tickets to the two additional shows is 5 p.m. Feb. 27. The additional shows are Feb. 29-March 1.

Doors open at 6:15 p.m.; doors will close at 7:15 p.m. when the performance begins.

The shows are in the Garrett-Bullock House, 1402 Second Ave. (the corner of Second Avenue and 14th Street). Parking is in the lot across the street on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and 14th Street or in the Downtown Elementary Magnet Academy's lot at the northeast corner of First Avenue and 14th Street.

Tickets are $35, includes the show, dinner and wine.

Call 706-536-4054 for reservations.

Chef's Corner

We started a new featured in the Life & Taste section that we call Chef's Corner.

Last year, after talking to several chefs about doing tutorials, I took the idea to Dawn Minty, the features editor, and she loved the idea.

We began with Austin Scott because he's a teacher and he's used to telling people basic things about cooking.

Joe Paull, our videographer, and I went to Jordan High School last week to film Austin's segments.

We got five segments from him, and the video is on our Web site, www.ledger-enquirer.com and the story in today's Life & Taste.

On Friday, we went to the Hilton Garden Inn and got executive chef John Chapiewski to do four more.

I got an e-mail from Austin this morning inviting me to the meeting of the local chefs' association.

I'm going to see who at the meeting will be willing to do more "how-to cook" videos for us.

I'ms really excited.

It's been fun so far.

And if you want to learn how to cook a specific dish or can recommend a wonderful home cook, let me know.

"Movin' Out"

I missed "Movin' Out" on Sunday at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts.

I wanted to go, but because it was a one-nighter, the tickets were made available to season ticket holders first, so it sold out fast.

V.J. Roberts went and said it was fabulous.

I interviewed Matthew Friedman, who played "The Piano Man," and he told some funny stories. I guess it helps that he was an attorney in his previous life.

Anyway, he went to Japan with the show and told me that Konishiki, the Hawaiian-born sumo wrestler, was in the audience one night. Matthew said usually, when you're on stage, you really can't see anyone in the audience.

He said he couldn't help but see Konishiki. The theater took out three seats and put in a bench for Konishiki so he could watch the show.

After the show, Konishiki went backstage and Matthew (far right) and the band had their picture taken with him.

Ten years ago, when I was in Japan, I was visiting my cousin Kotoe, who lives in the Edogawa section of Tokyo.

There's a sumo stable nearby and she said you can smell the sumo wrestlers before you see them. What? That puzzled me until I smelled something very perfume-y and sweet. Just then, a sumo wrestler on a bicycle passed me. That was a sight!

That explained that cryptic thing that Kotoe said. It's the hair oil they use to keep their hair in the distinctive top-knot.

We also got a tour of Fuji Television in Odaiba, which is a section of Tokyo that's on Tokyo Bay. One of Kotoe's friends works there and she gave us the VIP tour.

It was just before Christmas and there was a special being taped. Japanese television is goofy. If you think American television is crappy, it's "Masterpiece Theatre" compared to the real crap on Japanese TV.

This special featured the various "talents" of sumo wrestlers vs. Japanese baseball players.

I peeked into the green room and it was filled with sumo wrestlers. Several of them were stretching and I was very impressed. These huge guys were doing splits! I can't do splits. Never could; never will.

And then I spotted Akebono, another American wrestler. Akebono was the first American to become a yokozuna or grand champion. The highest ranking Konishiki ever got to was ozeki (the second highest rank in sumo).

Akebono (born Chad Rowan in Hawaii) is the biggest human being I've ever seen. I met Dikembe Mutumbo and he's probably the tallest person I've stood next to, but Akebono is 6'-8" tall and weighed well over 500 lbs.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to interview him. That would have been great.

Maybe next time.

Ever wonder how those guys get to be so big?

It's the chanko-nabe. Chanko-nabe is the dish that sumo wrestlers eat at every meal. In a pot, they throw in chicken, pork and seafood and make a broth. Then they throw in all sorts of vegetables. When all the meat and veggies are gone, they put either noodles or rice and you eat that until it's all gone.

A lot of retired wrestlers open up these chanko-nabe restaurants. My aunt took us to one.

It was great. And I was soooo full. I'm sure I looked like a little sumo wrestler after I rolled out the restaurant.

The good thing about Japan is that you have to walk everywhere. You walk to the train or bus station or to a street where you can find a cab.

We'll be going to Japan in May, and I'll be doing a blog from there.

Me and my big mouth

I just had to tell Dennis Neuhring that I would be happy to do a cooking class for him next week.

I was joking.

He thought I was serious.

Now I have to do a cooking class at Columbus Cooks next Thursday.

I don't even have a menu yet, much less the recipes to hand out the people who pay their hard-earned money for the class.

No matter what, we'll have some laughs.

And I promise, the food will be good.

I'll be doing Japanese home cooking. The same kind of things we eat at home.

Maybe my sister Nancy and my mother will come and bail me out.

Or else they'll be laughing their heads off somewhere.

No rest for old women

At least there was no rest rest for this old woman this past weekend

And it's my fault.

A couple of weeks ago, I agreed to judge a beauty pageant. I'd judged one before, and it was professionally run. It was the Miss Georgia's Outstanding Teen competition. It took all week, just like the Miss Georgia Pageant, but the winner was crowned on Friday.

Wait, I also judged a reverse Miss Columbus beauty pageant. It featured Columbus Cottonmouths' Jerome Bechard dressed like a woman hosting and singing. It was absurd. But the organizers knew what they were doing.

This time, it was a local pageant, and it was the most unorganized thing I'd ever been involved with.

It was supposed to start at noon Saturday. But at 12:45 p.m., they were still taking contestants!

I was also told it would last about 90 minutes. But I left Brookstone School around 4 p.m.

Toward the end of last week, I found out that one of my best friends' daughter was a contestant. I immediately told the organizer that I was practically there for her birth and perhaps I should recuse myself.

I was told that it was OK because another judge was also a good friend of the couple. I was relieved to find there were three more judges there. So even if the other judge and I gave the child really high scores, the other three judges may offset the scores. We didn't have a judges meeting and we were looking at each other and pointing to the right papers!

On top of that, we were judging on a 30-point scoring system for each category. And it turned out that the people tallying the scores didn't even bring a calculator!

Well, the child I know won.

But I didn't feel bad because I told them that I was close to that child. And I know judged fairly.

Another child in another category came in as the first runner-up. I thought she should have won.

Boy, was her aunt angry! I would not have wanted to be the organizers whom she cornered.

This will be the last children's pageant I ever judge. Ever.

I had just a few hours to get home and eat before heading to the Springer Opera House to see the final show of the run of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

It was a phenomenal show. It just may be among my Top 5 best non-musicals ever done at that theater. I still think "Dangerous Liaisons" was the best non-musical ever produced there. Well, since I've been going to the Springer.

Then yesterday was my mother's 79th birthday. I took her to Sunday brunch at the Hilton Gardens Inn.

The buffett is nothing like one at a Las Vegas hotel or Callaway Gardens, but it's quite good.

At dinner at Tokyo Japanese Restaurant last night, my mother told my sister Nancy that I ate a lot.

I did not.

And I'm sticking to that!

So it's not wonder that I was running late today. I'm just pooped

A friend lived through that devastating tornado

Steve Beverly and I have been friends for more years than I'd care to admit.

I met him when he was a reporter for WTVM 9. Back in those days, I was the editor of the Green Sheet, which later became the TV Book. I also covered local media.

Steve, for many years, also wrote a wrestling column for me, first in Arts & Leisure and later in To Do.

I see him about once a year when he and his family come to Columbus to visit.

He's in Jackson, Tenn., teaching broadcast journalism at Union University. If you've watched the news or read our newspaper, you know that his town was hit hard.

I tried to call him, but the lines were always busy. Duh! They must be down and probably won't be back up for a while.

So I e-mailed him, not knowing if he had Wi-Fi available somewhere.

I was elated to find this e-mail from Steve this morning.

I thought I'd share it with you.

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing from you. So many of our
Columbus news family have been so kind to just check in and be certain my
family and I are okay.

"Rebecca and Holly and I live 10 miles from campus ... and we rode out the
rather harrowing evening in our neighbor's basement that is as large as a
living room. We had battery powered TV and a police scanner, so we knew
everything that was going on. Our neighborhood, up in the country, was
spared, thankfully. But we were in our neighbor's shelter until about 2 a.m.
Wednesday morning.

"The moment the police radio sounded, "UNION UNIVERSITY HAS BEEN HIT!," my
heart sank because we'd been told how powerful this storm was (as it turns
out, it was an EF-4).

"How we avoided any deaths, much less 200 or more, is only by divine
providence. If you saw what I've seen the last two days up close, the modern
miracle is that no lives were lost.

"It will be a long road back. I don't think my classroom building will be
inhabitable until probably January at the earliest. They could fool me and we
may be able to get in it by fall semester, but we are going to have to do some
extreme makeshift things for this semester. They may even be bringing in
either a portable classroom or a small house trailer to allow us to have a
makeshift studio. You can't just put a broadcasting class in a standard
classroom and say, "Teach." But I'm not worried. This is a day-at-a-time
situation and I've learned a lot of patience. These are not normal times. We
do what we have to do to keep going and try to be of good cheer in the
process.

"We have had a pretty tough setback but our university is resilient and a
wonderful sense of community exists here. Slowly and patiently, we will forge
our way back, hopefully, stronger than before.

"Thank you again, my friend! I'll keep in touch, and also on TVgameshows.net,
I am keeping a daily blog ... I've had about 900 e-mails."

So if you remember Steve, go to his blog and check out what's going on in Jackson, Tenn.

This and that

About 10 years ago, we had a new assistant to the executive editor. She had just retired from the Air Force, so some people called her Sarge.

I called her Rhonda.

When I found out that she lived in Opelika and commuted every day, I told her to be very careful because the 280 Bypass is so dangerous. I called it the "death road."

She scoffed.

About a month later, she came to me and said that I was right. Of course I was right!

Anyway, I thought of Rhonda yesterday when I was going to Jordan High School to interview Austin Scott for a new series I'm doing. I'll tell you more about that later.

The car ahead of me had a bumper sticker that said, "Pray for me. I drive on the Phenix City Bypass."

I drove to Auburn Monday and the drive wasn't too bad, though the traffic was heavy. No one was really driving like a maniac.

I did buy gas for $2.82 a gallon, which was about $.15 less than gas in Columbus. Why is that?

Mardi Gras

My favorite Mardi Gras memory is from 1990. I know that's a long time ago.

A bunch of us from the Ledger-Enquirer and a friend, Linda Szabo of the local March of Dimes office, and I went to New Orleans. We spent a good week there.

We were lucky enough to get a room at the Hotel Monteleone, which is right in the middle of the French Quarter on Royal Street.

Yep. I said one room.

That meant Linda and I had to share a room with Tim Chitwood and Mike Haskey. All of us brought sleeping bags, so we took turns sleeping on the bed or floor.

The guys were very gentlemanly.

It's strange but Linda and I roamed around the city during the day but by some unspoken agreement, we all met up for dinner every night.

The king of the Bacchus parade that year was Dennis Quaid. I swear he blew me a kiss.

The thing I remember most clearly is the final night of Mardi Gras. We all had dinner and then went walking through the French Quarter, which was packed. I mean we could hardly turn around.

For a while, I was hanging on Tim while Linda was hanging on me. And then Mike and Tim stopped to watch a woman on a balcony take off her top. The crowd pushed us on.

When I saw the end of the block, I grabbed Linda and we popped out on a side street. We decided it was safer to go back to the hotel.

We spent the rest of the night watching the festivities on television.

I don't even know what time the guys came back in.

Of course, both Tim and Mike are married now. Sadly, Linda and I are still single.

I wonder what that says about us!

I doubt that I'd got back to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but I always tell people that they need to go at least once in their lives.

You'll have the time of your life.

Season announcements begin

I got word that the first of the 2008-09 season announcements are beginning.

The Springer Opera House will announce its season on Feb. 21. Please don't ask me what plays Paul Pierce has selected. I have no idea. Honestly. Every year, I'm surprised.

I do know that he'll probably do one new show, one classic musical, one classic drama and a rollicking comedy. He'll probably do "A Tuna Christams" and "A Christmas Carol" for the holidays. In the Studio II series, again, I'm drawing a blank.

And every year, people ask me if I'm going to do another show. And recently, I tell them I'm too old. I love it, but ...

So what shows do you think the Springer will present to us next season?

Let me know.