Monday, April 4, 2011

A Jack Daniels Ramble

I was out with my cast the other night when I noticed that one of the actresses had a Jack on ice.  I went out with my cast a lot during this show.  It was one of those shows that you have to, in the words of one of the actors, "hold in your heart because they don't come around that often.."  We've all had that experience, on a project, on some sort of work thing.  It's precious.  I'm so grateful.  Anyway, she had Jack Daniels and it brought back memories.  Well, okay, the only one I have about Jack Daniels.

I went to the University of Vermont, not known as a great theater school.  But we had a small community of dedicated actors, directors, etc. and we got along and fought and loved like you do.  We decided to have a formal Christmas or Holiday soiree.  I have no idea how it came about but there we were, in someone's house, trading secret Santa gifts, all in our finest regalia.  I must have been 20 or 21. 

There is this great line in Superior Donuts.  Actually, it's my favorite line.  Arthur (the old hippie) is talking to Luther (who has had Franco's fingers cut off because Franco owed him $16,000):

Arthur:  He's 21 years old.
Luther:  Old enough to know better.
Arthur:  Yeah, cause you and me, we made good decisions when we were 21.
Do you remember decisions made at 21?  Not always the best?  Or are you one of those?

Anyway, there I was in my long velvet black skirt, an off-white puffy blouse complete with big shoulders and lace; this was, after all, the 80's.  I remember sitting in a bedroom with another woman (I can't remember who it was) passing a bottle of Jack Daniels back and forth and declaring our mutual admiration for one another.  This was Vermont after all:  Get drunk and love.

You know, now that I think about it, we may have fought that night with Jack but all I remember is the love. 

Isn't that all we should remember?

8 comments:

  1. most assured...better jack and love than jack and fights...any day...had a few jack days in my past...

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  2. Good decisions at 21? Ha. Few and far between. I'm speaking only for myself, of course.

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  3. Oh lordy. When I remember how I spent my 21st birthday...well.

    Bourbon drinkers are more relaxed, I think. Jack always puts me in a dancing mood!

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  4. I've noticed that if you drink enough Jack, you end up with two casts... one on each leg (and/or arm).

    "Yeah, cause you and me, we made good decisions when we were 21." That IS a great line!

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  5. At 21 I decided to quit being a bus conductor and go to University. I also met the Good Lady Wife and decided I would never find better if I lived to be 100. Both pretty good decisions as things turned out. A number of years ago I did decide to try a bottle of Jack Daniels but I never got the taste for it. Not in itself a bad decision, remember what Sir Thomas Beecham once said.

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  6. ah, 21 - the age i was when made probably the best decision of my life! when i chose my life partner

    jack might have been around now and then!

    love arthur - i found his character so wise!

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  7. A six pack of beer each, a bottle of jack to pass around, hang out all night on a frozen pond in a little town in VT in the cold of winter. Yes, I was 21. What the heck was I thinking? Was I thinking?

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  8. Nah I'm a cheap wino. Can't stand spirits even if they put you in high spirits. 21? Worst decision, deciding not to teach. Best decision, got engaged. Actually my worst decisions were made in my 30's and 40's. Silly woman that I am.

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