Three Things for Monday, and Hairspray!

In no particular order here are three very important happenings today.

First, of course, the meeting of the Bessemer Neighborhood Association is tonight at 7:00. Among other things, we will talk about the animal abuse issue, and we would like as many people there as possible. Even if you don’t live in Bessemer, you should be concerned that a city is sanctioning animal abuse, so you should come out in support. 7:00 at 1829 Dartmouth Avenue.

Of course, you will need to tivo the democratic “youtube debate” on CNN at 6:00 central time. Then you can watch it after the Bessemer meeting.

And by then you should have called your representative in Washington and urged him or her to support impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney. Today people across the country are being urged to do that…just three more sponsors and Chairman John Conyers says he will begin impeachment proceedings. 202-224-3121 gets you in touch with your representative. Today is the 5th anniversary of the meeting that produced the famed Downing Street Minutes and if you are unfamiliar with this check it out.

Hairspray had a large audience at 2:00 in Hoover, believe it or not. This movie musical about integration in 1960’s Baltimore might be more controversial in Birmingham than Brokeback Mountain was. Of course Brokeback played to crowded movie houses for more than 12 weeks here, and I predict Hairspray will do at least as well.

The biggest surprise was that I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry beat out both Harry Potter and Hairspray over the weekend. I guess too many people stayed home reading the new Harry book…or had already seen the movie since it grossed $139 million the weekend before. I want to hear from people who actually saw Chuck and Larry, because the reviews are awful, but you gotta love Adam Sandler and Kevin James, so yeah, we will got see it, but we aren’t in a big hurry.

The original Hairspray movie from 1988 finds its way to connect to the new production, in the form of John Waters, the writer and director of the original movie, making a cameo appearance as the “flasher who lives next door” during the opening number. Also, Riki Lake who played Tracy in the original appears as a talent scout during the “Miss Hairspray” finale. And, Jerry Stiller who played Tracy’s father in the original plays the owner of Hefty Hideaway.

John Travolta (as Edna Turnblad) and Queen Latifah may have been the big stars, but Nikki Blonsky as Tracy steals the show, and out sings, out dances and out peforms all the big names. Nikki was a singing ice cream scooper at Cold Stone Creamery before she was chosen for this role.

Hairspray may have come in third, but as for musicals it owns the biggest opening weekend in history. Dreamgirls doesn’t come close, nor does Chicago.

Whether it’s inequities of the past as in Hairspray or inequities of the present as in Chuck and Larry, movies that address social issues do well. And history marches on. I'm heading to Cold Stone Creamery.