ProudMary

@MaggieG What a great story! Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Glad you shared that with us. Hung is opening an Asian street food restaurant in Palm Coast, FL http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/05/12/top-chef-winner-opening-mamalings-asian-street-food-in-palm-coast

Interesting article on how Southern Charm came to be. http://m.eonline.com/news/847779/how-southern-charm-became-the-sleeper-hit-of-bravo

Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles sings it. I think you may be mixing up your girl groups! (Belinda Carlisle is the lead singer of the Go-Gos.)

Yes, pretty much. The arrangement for Team Blake had a bit more twang in it, to my ear but the original did have a bouncy melody. Here's the original from John. It got quite a lot of airplay on album oriented rock stations back in the early 70s.

Here's a link to the info on "Relationshep." http://www.holycitysinner.com/2017/04/27/southern-charms-shep-rose-gets-own-series/

Alligator mating season is always at the very least, interesting down here but this season has sparked more incredibly brazen alligator stories than I ever recall. I truly believe that Hurricane Matthew last October must have had a serious effect on gator habitats to cause this much crazy movement all along the coast.

Well then, my work here is done. :D The World War II Museum is probably the most interesting museum I've ever visited. And I've visited many!

The President is trying to persuade the Republican Senator to assist him in getting his two chosen candidates appointed to the Federal Elections Committee. David Huddleston plays Sen. Lobel.

It's a John Lennon song. One of his early solo songs shortly after the Beatles broke up. So tonight, we had a Lennon song and a McCartney song. Also, Troy botched the words during Drift Away. He was really shaky there.

I don't think it's the singer crediting the version; I think it's the show and that's wrong, especially in the case of the two songs I mentioned from last night because both Leon Russell and Don Williams were not only the original recording artist, they also wrote the song! That, to me, is the big difference. I think it is fairly well known that Dolly Parton wrote (and performed) IWALY, long before Whitney recorded it and also WH's version is markedly different than Dolly's. I don't think the "Reflection" example you mentioned holds water as neither Christina Aguilera or Lea Salonga wrote the song. Also, it's not that unusual for a song from a film to be covered by a big name artist. Your opinion is valid too but this is a personal pet peeve of mine so I disagree. I don't understand why The Voice doesn't at least mention both, especially when the original artist is also the songwriter. I think a great example was years ago on American Idol when David Cook performed "Billie Jean" and Ryan Seacrest introduced it this way: "Here's David Cook performing the Chris Cornell version of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean.'" Not that difficult. OTOH, I completely agree with you about Brennley. Some vibrato is natural but hers seems forced and I don't know why she continues to do that. Tone down the vibrato and that was a lovely version of the song but if I recall correctly, Gwen actually praised her vibrato in their rehearsal. (eyeroll)

I visited New Orleans for the first time last week and was able to have lunch at two Top Chef related restaurants. My friends and I spent a good portion of our final day in N.O. exploring City Park. There are not very many restaurants close to the park so I was delighted to find that Toups' Meatery is about a four block walk from the southern end of City Park. Even better, when we walked into the restaurant, Isaac was sitting at the bar talking on his phone! Ultimately he was joined for lunch by his wife and young daughter. They were seated just across the aisle from our table. I'm not the type to interrupt someone enjoying a meal with his family, so I didn't speak with him. Sorry, no story there. Interestingly, no one else bothered them either, which I thought was great. It was lunchtime, so we (3 of us) had sandwiches and all three were definitely a cut above. One of my friends had the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich dressed with grilled cabbage and Parmesan mayo. While tasty, this was probably the least favorite of our three sandwiches. The second was the Gulf fish sandwich served with brussels sprout slaw. The fish was delicious but I think I had the best sandwich of the three, a Wagyu Roast Beef Sandwich with gorgonzola cream sauce and sauteed mushrooms. Perfectly cooked. Truly delicious. All three sandwiches were served with tasty house made potato chips. All three of us enjoyed our meal here. I'm adding photos of the three sandwiches here. We spent almost an entire day at the National World War II Museum, meaning that we ate lunch inside the museum. Not a problem here as one of the on-site restaurants is John Besh's American Sector Restaurant. They had just gotten slammed by the arrival of a high school group so we opted to sit at the very large bar, where the full menu was available. I had the catch of the day which was pan seared black drum served over mashed potatoes with sauteed mushrooms and broccolini. Excellent. One of my friends had the strawberry salad which, being on the sweet side with the addition of the fruit, was served with Wedding Cake croutons. They actually had a sweetness to them that tasted mildly of wedding cake! A bit gimmicky perhaps, but nonetheless tasty. The third member of our party chose the Chicken & Andouille Gumbo. He wanted a larger portion, was told that it only came in cups but our server said that she would put it in as a double order. Someone must have messed up in the kitchen because when they brought out the gumbo, they served him two enormous bowls! He enjoyed the gumbo so much he ultimately ate both bowls; said it was the best gumbo he'd ever had!

Sitting in the corner having a mini-tantrum for the umpteenth time because "A Song For You" is a Leon Russell song!!! It's never, ever acknowledged on performance reality shows despite being a perennial song choice. If singers want to say that they're doing the Donny Hathaway "version," fine but PLEASE acknowledge Leon. Similarly, for "Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good," I think it was billed as a LeeAnn Womack song. When Lauren started singing, my first thought was, "I know this song from the seventies. It's a Don Williams song!" (I love Don Williams.) This non-attribution of original writers/performers drives me crazy.

It's near midnight and I was going to go to sleep, but instead I've been sitting here for the last 40 minutes or so thinking about ten stand-out scenes! In no particular order: President Bartlet gives the Paul Revere knife to Charlie. (Shibboleth) The scene at the bar involving Zoey's panic button, ending with Charlie's "Now I'm having a good time." (Mr. Willis of Ohio) Toby talking to his newborn twins. (Twenty Five) The President instructing Secy. of Agriculture Roger Tribbey: "Do you have a best friend?" (He Shall From Time to Time) The Butterball Hotline (The Indians in the Lobby) CJ and the Cartographers for Social Equality (Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail) The President and Dr. Jenna Jacobs (The Midterms) The President and Senator Max Lobel (Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics) The Dialogue between CJ and Nancy McNally. "They're beating the women, Nancy." (The Women of Kumar) CJ and Josh: "Technically I outrank you." "SO FAR UP YOUR ASS." (The US Poet Laureate)

Terrific idea for a thread @Only Zola! I'd like to give a Jersey shout out to sassy Ginger, who was a favorite of mine among the assistants. Unfortunately, she disappeared from the series somewhere along the way. I remember that when she returned for a cameo in the series finale, I actually cried out gleefully, "Ginger!" as I was so pleased to see her one last time. Only appearing in two episodes but stealing the scenes he was in, was the late David Huddleston as the gun-toting, redneck son of a bitch, Senator Max Lobel, who agreed with the President on nothing but election reform. His first name is Agent. (Even then!) ;)

Spoilers about the upcoming May 1st episode from TV Guide: http://www.tvguide.com/news/lucifer-spoilers-fired/

The best thing I found out from that article is that Cooper is back on Twitter! He had gotten himself kicked off Twitter a while back and I hadn't checked to see if he was back on. Now I know! I love following his tweets.

Hey, don't insult Scarlett O'Hara like that! :p

@Vyk You may want to check the Johnny Gates link you posted. When I click on it, it just takes me right back to this page. OTOH, when I copy the script and paste it to open on a new page, I can get to Johnny's Twitter feed. Strange. Who knows? It may just be my notebook. BTW, it's really nice to have all the good spoilers available without my having to go hunt for them myself. You're providing a valuable service! HaHa :D

In light of tonight's real world events, I surely can't be the only person whose mind went directly to "A Proportional Response," right? Quote from the Pentagon's official statement: "The strike was a proportional response to Assad's heinous act."

Dear Adam, I would have voted for Johnny Hayes had you advanced him to the lives. I can't see myself voting for Josh West who sounds completely off-key to me. I think you chose the wrong rocker. In the Blinds and the Battles, I very much enjoyed Felicia and Autumn, but song choice is everything in the Knockouts and not only choosing Celine and Aretha, but choosing their signature songs was a mistake. I honestly believe that with better song choices both women could have advanced to lives, at least via a steal. (No way Blake was giving up Casi. Personally, I think she's going to win.)

I'm sorry to have to break this to you but if, as your second paragraph seems to indicate, you're in the DC area, you are actually south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Maryland is the first state south of the MDL. Border is between PA/MD and DE/MD. (From a transplanted northerner who's made WAY too many trips up and down I-95! I was shocked the first time I saw the MDL sign crossing from DE into MD. I always thought VA was the first state below the line.)

That was awesome! I wondered how she got past the screening, but she probably told them she'd be asking a different question. Well, at least it led to Shep telling us that he lived in Dubai at one point and sold real estate. Although his ineptitude while assisting Cameran during real estate showings last season might belie that tidbit.

Our new champ holds the signal device in her hand as if it were a detonator. Boom! Other than that, she's a delight and I hope she sticks around for an extended amount of time.

It seemed to me that this is a new nanny. The nanny from last season was named Dawn and this one was Deirdre, I think. I feel so bad for those two little ones. And Kensie's saying "Mama" as she's sitting in her high chair. :(

Fashion comment: I loved Cameran's swimsuit. Also very amusing: The girl in the bar "named after Carly Simon" who wouldn't give Shep her number. She leaves and Austen reveals that he already got her number. It was so, "How do you like them apples!" Ha!