and on down the lane

It never ceases to amaze and bemuse me as to the talents of our three children. Just how all this artsy fartsy stuff got started remains a mystery to me. Or maybe not. If I recall correctly, it started with Bobby opting to go the theater route instead of pursuing a second year of attempting to stutter step the high hurdles in track. The notion that theater might be more fun likely came from hanging around a kid, I forget his name, who was involved with the children's theater at Amarillo College. Bobby's first really memorable performance for me was Amos Hart in a production of "Chicago" during his first semester as a student at Amarillo College. I can still see him in that ridiculously tall, floppy hat, shoulders rolled and slumped forward, his hands in his pockets. I still get misty eyed as I recall him, chin tucked, eyes cast up at the audience as he sang " Cellophane, Mister Cellophane, should have been my name, Mister Cellophane, 'cause you can look right through me, walk right by me, and never know I'm there." Chills, I tell you and tears of pride and joy. I saw growth as an actor during his turn as Eugene Jerome in "Biloxi Blues." Regretfully we didn't get to see much of what he did while at Southern Utah. I got a kick out of sharing the stage with him and the rest of the family in AC's production of "Oklahoma" during the Summer Arts Festival. The highlight for me while he was at the University of New Orleans was his thesis role, portraying the tortured life of Amedeo Modigliani in the play, aptly name, "Modigliani." The play itself was not my cup of tea, give me a rousing musical any day, still there were moments when the tears ducts kicked into overdrive, revealing to anyone who might have been looking, the enormous pride his performance extruded from me. Sure there was his role in UNO's production of "Blood Brothers". I enjoyed his turn as Mitch in the two man show "Tuesdays with Morrie". But speaking of roles in musicals, what an evening, what a performance as Jerry Lukowski in "The Full Monty" at Le Petite in New Orleans. I'm sure I barely took a breath as he sang to his son "Breeze Off the River" and the tears came in buckets as he sang-- "All I know is I love you kid" and in falsetto, "All I know". Buckets, I tell you! The final notes of that song did me in big time. Shortly after that came the move to California and the process began again injecting himself into the San Francisco area theater scene. We hope we can catch him in something out there, perhaps this summer. So, we know from whence it all started. Now if I could put my finger on where all the talent sprung from. Hmmm... I wonder. Nah-- it must have come from his mom's side of the family!