Down with the Crown!

Today I ran away and went to South Carolina. Here I live like an Overmountain Man, so I took a trail that they might have taken during the Revolution. Where many of the militia walked to meet up at King's Mountain to help the Piedmont'ers defeat Ferguson. From Asheville through Hickory Nut Gorge t Lake Lure and Chimney Rock. Then backroads to Cowpens.

At Cowpens, I walked to the where the Second Line of the militia stood waiting to fire on the British that they could see clearly through the woods and pasture (thus the name Cowpens...no cows, though). I walked where the despised Tarleton (never forget Camden!) probably rode horseback, sabre in hand. The hour long battle was won by the Patriots on the heels of King's Mountain. This gave Tarleton a mortal blow sending him North and his final surrender at Yorktown.

Then I was off to King's Mountain and stood where Ferguson's horse was shot right from under him. He was plugged 7 times by musket balls and was dragged by his horse while his foot was still in the stirrups. What would've happened if Cornwallis or Tarleton had sent troops. (Cornwallis was in Charlotte, 40 miles away). Col. Patrick Ferguson is still there under a Scottish cairn. He is one of the more sympathetic of the Brits to me. Maybe because he was Scottish. I can't forgive him (and hardly understand) his wearing red and white plaid. This from a man who introduced camoflauge to the British army! What was he thinking?

It was great being swept back in time. Walking back into time with the Redcoats, the Overmountain Men, the militia, Patriots, Loyalists...it was a great day. As I drove back to Asheville, you see the mountains suddenly rise up from the Piedmont. They do rise suddenly and I think of the dauntingness of them to the colonial peoples. How my drive used to be (and still is to me) adventure. The new frontier. I think of those Overmountain Men and how after they defeated (and annihilated) the British and Loyalists at King's Mountain they disappeared into the mists of the mountains. I, too, disappear back to my mountain home. I'll be back until I'm called back to duty.

Pluto's still my friend

So Pluto is no longer a planet. I think about all the kids and adults who were kids who had to do that solar system model. No longer is it accurate? You've got to be kidding?

I had a certain affinity for the planet Pluto. Cold, alone...on the edge of the solar system. God of the Underworld. A certain quiet. He never bothered anybody. Now they say he's a dwarf planet or he's one of Neputune's moons. Pluto was always getting the shaft...even in mythology as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, well. It's like that with all outsiders. Everybody's a critic.

Pluto. I still adore you. No matter what any of those so-called award winning and very well-respected astronomers might say. You are still my favorite. You stay out there...alone with only the black edge of darkness as your friend. I will still think of you when I look up at the heavens. You're still a planet to me.

Lily! Lily! Lily!

Lily has decided that she likes to pee in the house. She also has decided that she likes to chew things. Go figure. She's a puppy. So she's being gated in the kitchen. If you hear her whining, we're not beating her. We're trying to housetrain her. Also, the furniture needs to be without teeth marks.

Oh my! I'll get sleep one of these days.

Joshilyn's new book: Between Georgia

Joshilyn's new book Between, Georgia has hit the shelves and you can see it on every bookshelf in the country. Right now it's on the front table at Barnes and Noble. Go Joshilyn! Joshilyn's Gods in Alabama just won the Southern Independent Bookseller's Alliance award for best novel last year!!! Go to her website for more. JOSHILYNJACKSON.COM

Pictures from the Sordid Lives benefit

Sordid Lives. I have some images to share from my time as a drag queen. Pictured here are college friends: Hunt Scarritt and Amy Bruner. We attended the after party at Cookie LaRue's here in Asheville. All the money went to a good cause as did the proceeds from the play. Brother Boy impersonates Tammy Wynette. With heels and the wig I'm about 8 feet tall. I was huge!

This picture is from the first scene when I'm made to not wear my wig in therapy at a mental hospital where I'm being held against my will. Dr. Eve is trying to cure me from my homosexality. Oh, well, there goes my appointment on the Supreme Court.



Dr. Eve is Kayla, aka Lettuce Lady. She rushed Giselle in Paris for her wearing fur. You go Kayla!

This is Jen Worthen as Bitsy. Originally Olivia Newton-John.

So I promised you pics. READ REVIEW.

Lily Taylor in the house!

Lily Taylor came home with me from the Asheville Humane Society on July 31st, 2006. Today is our week anniversary. Today we started in on some serious training. Frustrating, but she showed encouraging signs, though.

I'm very happy that she's with me. I knew She was the one the moment I saw her. My reaction was much like that to the actress Lily Taylor. So that's my dog's name.

She's addicted to chewing things, but I think that has something to do with seperation anxiety. I've been surfing the web. If you have tips, let me know.

Wish me luck!

Sordid Lives LIVE!!!

I will be playing "Brother Boy" Ingram in "Sordid Lives" at Asheville Community Theatre. The show opens March 31st, April 1st at 8pm, April 2nd at 2:30pm--also--the next weekend--April 7th at 8pm and April 8th at 2:30pm and 8pm. The show is a benefit for a good cause. So come out and see me in heels and false eyelashes! Hide and watch...you won't see it again!

The Messenger of Magnolia Street

Last night I got to catch up with my OLD friend River Jordan. (Check out her blog: River JordanInk.com) Amazing how she hasn't changed in ...how many years...I have known her for....what?...fifteen years!!! Amazing! Any-hoo...she hasn't changed. I mean not a line on her face. Beautiful hair, skin and teeth...and for a writer that's a feat. (We don't have steady insurance)

She had a modest reading at "Malaprop's" last night here in town. Her newest book, "The Messenger of Magnolia Street" is sure to be a hit from the excerpts she read last night. I'm very proud of her. I realized, yet again, what a very good writer she is.

Afterwards, we had supper at "Bouchon" drinking Gigondas and eating lamb shank and steak au poivre. Which is steak in butter basically. Very tasty. Good conversation. Two passionate story-tellers going at it.

Then we went to "Temptations" for cocktails and conversation about the Christian right. Something that we don't want to get into on this blog. Chocolate cake was dry, but put right once River asked for it to be microwaved to our waiter's confusion.

So go out and get this book! There are signed copies of them at Malaprop's.

Farewell, River. Go forth my touchstone wife. My linked power teller. My friend.

Lydia Diamond's play is headed for 42nd street

Lydia Diamond: My hero
The Bluest Eye, Lydia's adaptation of the Toni Morrison novel is headed for New York! Steppenwolf is re-mounting the play from a successful run last year. In the fall it will head across the street from The Lion King. Congratulations, Lydia! I'll be there.




Steppenwolf's production of The Bluest Eye: an adaptation by Lydia Diamond. Click on picture for article

VAN-ginas UNITE

Come celebrate women and a very special part of them.
Details to follow. Stay tuned. If you don't know these
women, then you need to get to know them. Anne Sexton and
Sylvia Plath. (Don't watch the Gwenyth Paltrow movie) Read
the poetry. Anyway, keep reading.


tulip or symbol of woman hood? you decide
I'm putting together a special night in my utility van to go to this great production for a good cause. We'll be going opening night. SEE you there? If you're not comfortable riding in a utility van with a bunch of drunk and rauncy women...feel free to convoy. Let's support Beth! She's directing.

I am directing Western Carolina University's production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, and I would love to see each of your lovely faces in the audience. Show and ticket info is below.

As you may know, The Vagina Monologues is performed internationally in conjunction with V-Day, a global campaign to end violence against women and girls. Proceeds of this performance will benefit REACH of Jackson County, WCU Women's Center, and the V-Day Spotlight on "Comfort Women."

Hope to see you there. And please pass along to anyone you know who loves vaginas!
Beth

Wednesday Feb. 15 & Thursday Feb. 16
7:00 p.m. (Seating is general admission, so arrive well before 7)
WCU Fine and Performing Arts Center Theatre
Tickets: $10 General / $5 Students -- Call 828.227.7450, or purchase at University Center Room 319 (WCU), CIty Lights Books (downtown Sylva), Osondu Books (Main Street Waynesville)

Water, Water Everywhere

Hooker Falls
Yesterday I awoke to a beautiful morning and an anxious dog. So Benito and I got in the car and headed to the DuPont State Forest to see three waterfalls in a matter of a couple of hours. Benito was smiling the whole time except for having to sit in the back...which he hates to do. However, all was forgiven when he was allowed to smell new smells and see some waterfalls.

There were kayakers actually going over Hooker Falls! Benito and I thought they were nuts. Didn't we Benito? Triple Falls

Benito and I came home and collapsed. Me watching Oprah.
He agrees. A perfect day. He would've loved to have
seen a squirrel or something, but I think he was content to
dream. If you haven't seen these falls...go! What a great hike!







High Falls

Good night, Wendy

Wendy Wasserstein has passed away. A strong voice in the theatre. She gave us sparkling women with dimensions and curves and with real problems. Their conflicts were everyone's conflicts. Not just women's. The striving to live a good life: alone or with someone. The ruminations on family. Living an intelligent life without shame. She showed us women who struggled with choices. Men who struggled with women who struggled. She'll be missed.

She also had skill, talent and a great laugh. Everything a playwright should have.

She said one time when she was in rehearsals for the Heidi Chronicles that she was fretting about the production. Full of anxitety. The director turned to her and said go home and write a play. She realized that was exactly what she should be doing and wrote "The Sisters Rosensweig".

I'll miss her plays and her laugh.

I'll miss her voice. Good night, Wendy. *click on picture for Chicago Sun-Times obit

Doing the Charleston

Over MLK weekend Hunt and I went to visit his sister Terese and her family on the beautiful Isle of Palms. One of the islands in Charleston Harbor. Her home overlooks the Intercoastal Water Way and Goat Island. Here people live without city services and take their kids to school in boats.

Full of history, neighboring Sullivan's Island was where the slaves and the pestillence houses existed. Edgar Allan Poe was stationed at Fort Moultrie. I walked around and thought about him: drunk, crazed, young and foolish. Fort Moultrie was also where General set out to occupy Fort Sumpter under the cover of night. Also, the crew of the Hundley cast off from here. Their confederate submarine sunk off the coast with all its crew lost. They have recently raised it and it's on display in Charleston.

We walked Fort Sumter and from their you can see where the 54th Massachusetts took its last steps. This is the subject of the movie GLORY with Denzel Washington. I wasn't a bit disappointed. The fort is where the civil war began and it's haunting.

We also walked the Battery and Rainbow Row. The houses here date back to the Revolution. If you saw Mel Gibson's THE PATRIOT, you might recognize this part of Charleston.

My favorite part of the trip? The crab cakes! Oh, my...Especially at 82 Queen Street. The best crab cake in Charleston! Click on the courtyard picture for the recipe.

Thanks to Terese and her family for making our stay comfortable and entertaining!

The Hike

This is Moore Cove falls. You can walk behind this falls and hike up to some smaller and higher falls.


Yesterday it got up to 60 degrees! In January. A beautiful, warm, bluebird, winter's day. So I decided to go for a hike with Benito and Hunt. We went to see some of the waterfalls on HWY 276 in Transylvania County on the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This is Looking Glass falls. You can pull off the road and park and walk to the bottom. Much higher than pictured here.

Benito is such a good hiker and climber for a dog. He had no problem going up to the higher falls. A good climber. I slipped on some mud a bit coming down. Benito and Hunt didn't have a bit of trouble.

This is sliding rock falls. A popular place in the summer as pictured here. When we went there wasn't a soul there and we sat at the bottom on the little dock.

Then we went to the Carl Sandburg NHS(Coonemara) in Flat Rock. Benito enjoys the goats and shakes all over when he sees them.

Then we went and ate Chinese Food. THE END.

More pictures from Loggerheads

Tim Kirkman with Bonnie Hunt and another actress from the movie.

Above is the character, Mark, whom the film revolves around.


Bonnie Hunt stars in Loggerheads. Shot in Asheville. Joanne Pankow is here playing a bartender. Joanne is a lovely local actress that you've probably seen in lots of movies. She knows one of my favorite actresses, Celia Weston.

I've promised some more photos from the movie Loggerheads! Here they are! Tess Harper and Chris Sarandon are two more stars from the movie.

Tim Kirkman folks. Director of "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me" and "Dear Jesse". Native North Carolinian and resident of New York and LA.

Tim Kirkman's Loggerheads

Hunt and I went to see Tim Kirkman's film Loggerheads. A really great film shot in North Carolina which shows off Asheville a bit. She looks really great on film. They really should film here more. Tess Harper, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Learned, Chris Sarandon are in it. An excellent cast. Anyway, Tim Kirkman did a film Dear Jesse about Jesse Helms, gay rights, relationships, etc. He also filmed The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me.

Tim Kirkman is a sweet man who's totally sweet and down-to-earth. His film is lovely. A good script with beautiful cinematography. The same cinematographer who did The Station Agent.

I'll post some more good tidbits about this when I get back to work...TOMORROW!! EEEK! The holidays are over! Good and bad. I'm not ready for the days off to be over, but will go back to work for a shortened week and then there's always Martin Luther King's birthday! Another three days....hmmmm....

Someone's dog wants to be taken out. Going to start my day.

HUMBUG!!

Christmas is here! It is Christmas Eve, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite family moments.

Dad was never in a good mood after working all day at the broken down savings and loan. Mr. Potter always gave him a hard time. Here I am on the bottom left. I liked feeling his tweeds.
Here is Uncle Clark with me after a few drinks.

In later years he liked us to dress up. We are all drunk.

My wife and I like to show our affection for one another around the holiday. We like to swap spit and give each other botox injections. She accuses me of bogie-ing the syringe, though. We fight a little in the hot tub, but make up in our matching flight jackets.

Merry Christmas to all! May your medications last until the pharmacies re-open!

Love, Waylon