PINELLAS PARK Kris Creque had gotten used to the pilgrimage to Jollibee in Jacksonville, the one place in Florida she wanted to go when she was homesick for the Philippines. Shed rally her family, endure five hours in the car, order six buckets of crispy Chickenjoy and 10 sides of gravy and ferry the food five hours back to Port Charlotte. Whatever she didnt finish, she froze.

Early on Friday, the 33-year-old Publix cake decorator stood No. 138 in a line that had been building since 4:30 p.m. the day before, with a Sharpied sign that said #NOMOREDRIVINGTOJACKSONVILLE.

At 9 a.m., confetti cannons blazing, the double doors of Jollibee Pinellas Park would swing open, with the promise of Palabok Fiesta just ahead.

Creque had grown up eating Chickenjoy in the Philippines, where Jollibees dominate McDonalds, but married an American and moved here in 2016. On Friday morning, she made it to Pinellas Park before sunrise.

First in line was Angelo Honculada, 21, a University of South Florida senior studying cellular and molecular biology. While he waited with a blanket, his Filipina mom called and asked if he was doing his principles of immunology homework. Honculada passed the phone to the stranger behind him. No. 2 Arlene Bonifacio, 54, vouched for Honculada, even though she had just met him and he kept bragging about beating her by five minutes.

Nobody got much sleep, what with the mosquitoes and anticipation and drive-through pavement for a bed. Instead, they shared McDonalds snacks, camp chairs and blankets. By morning, a DJ had arrived, spinning Justin Bieber as Jollibee videographers roved the lines edges, taking in the homemade signs with glitter stick-ons and mini Philippine flags.

Near the front, Pinellas Park resident Melinda Schramm, 42, held her green No. 10 ticket along with her order form (2 Yumburgers, 1 Palabok, 6-pc. Bucket, plenty of rice). She moved to the U.S. 10 years ago from Manila after meeting her husband online. She, too, has caravaned to Jacksonville for Jollibee. Thursday night, she and her Filipina friends played cards and dreamed of Peach-Mango Pies and her favorite, peppery, garlicky adobo rice.

Schramm posed for photos, hunger building. Those first few years had been so hard, she said. She still remembers the first time she ate Jollibee stateside. It was Seattle, 2013, and she ordered more than she could possibly eat.

It tasted like home, she said, like home.

***

The day before, to inaugurate Floridas second Jollibee, the chain invited a roster of local VIPs for a morning of jolly fanfare. Pinellas Park city staffers mingled, sipping free Pineapple Quenchers, while a remix of Cardi Bs Bodak Yellow pulsed in the spotless, blond wood interior.

There were traditions to uphold: A reverend, in a humble brown cassock, crossed himself before speaking of the dignity of labor. While friers sizzled, Jollibee executives read from Genesis and led a responsorial psalm, the crowd echoing: Lord, give success to the work of our hands. The VIPs held red votive candles while Father Vijaya walked the kitchen, sprinkling its every corner with holy water.

They tossed lucky coins and candies to bless the space. There were speeches about Jollibees humble beginnings, two ice cream parlors in the Philippines opened by a new college graduate trying to feed his family. Beth Dela Cruz, president of Jollibee Foods Corporation North America, Philippine Brands Group, cited stats that show the fast-food chains seemingly indomitable, global growth, but admitted even she is sometimes surprised by the fervor.

In Canada and Arizona, people have camped out for days in punishing temperatures. Fans have burned gas driving across state lines. The menu is relatively small, a billboard of reliable favorites, mass-market comfort. At Jollibee, the ice cream flavor is ube, purple yam. Spaghetti is sweet, and Burger Steaks come with rice.

Jacksonvilles Jollibee saw 3,000 customers on opening day in 2017, when it became the first in the Southeast. Placards on the door there still warn, years later, that pricey orders might take extra time.

This Jollibee hired its manager from Jacksonville, Dela Cruz said, and sent some newly minted employees to train there, so theyd be ready.

Jollibee landed in Pinellas Park after pleas from Tampa Bay area Filipinos, who number 22,000, with 4,000 in Pinellas Park alone. Plus, Dela Cruz said, the corporation keyed in on blogs that boasted Pinellas Parks diverse, affordable food scene as a best-kept secret.

For months, eager fans had been driving by, posting forlorn photos of the empty building on Facebook pages like Pilipino Sa Tampa Bay, speculating about opening dates. As Friday approached, one fan wrote, isang tulog nalang only one more sleep.

The opening marked the 40th Jollibee in the U.S., with goals for 150 by 2023.

We cant do a champagne toast in here, Dela Cruz said Thursday, so out of the kitchen came a monster, waist-high bucket of Chickenjoy on wheels, still hot to the touch. She plucked a drumstick and held it up for a cheers.

***

Basking in the spotlight, first-place Honculada sounded like a Jollibee spokesman himself on Friday, praising the mascot for being hardworking, happy and sweet like his beloved sugary, hot-dog-studded Jolly Spaghetti, the first food he ate after getting his wisdom teeth out.

In a red and blue jacket embroidered with a map of the Philippines, he danced without reservation, dropping to the sidewalk to perform a stiff worm.

Have a nice day, he said to reporters, shaking hands. Stay jolly.

Were less than 10 minutes out, the emcee shouted.

Its our turn! yelled a fan.

The people with the best 50 signs would get a mini Jollibee doll wearing a traditional Filipino barong, a formal shirt. The first 50 in line would get free Chickenjoy for a year.

Thats a bucket every month, folks! the emcee yelled.

Finally 9 a.m. neared, and the dancing bee burst out, Jollibee himself, bouncing to the chirpy theme song. His eyes blinked, and he wiggled his striped bum to the words: Im your friend! Jollibee! Jolly, friendly Jollibee!

Melinda Schramm wiped the corners of her eyes. The cannons fired, and a hot breeze blew eddies of red-and-white confetti around the fans feet. The first customers bounded inside, while Schramm and her friends were held back.

Oh my god, hes coming! Schramm squealed as Jollibee neared and All I Do Is Win blared from the speakers.

An 8-year-old held his own in a dance-off with the mascot.

The wait stretched on, 15 minutes feeling like hours. Finally, No. 10 got the all-clear. Schramm scrambled inside, waving, Hi, hello! at the cashiers, high-fiving one of her friends.

Have a jolly day! the cashier said, ringing Schramm up for $48.64. She took her receipt, then paused. Her friends stood waiting with bags to go. Her shoulders sank a little as she realized they didnt plan to slide into a red booth and dig in. Well, she already had plans to come back with more friends for a 7 p.m. Jolly Spaghetti dinner. She made a phone call.

Twenty minutes later, another friend pulled into the crowded lot. Irene Rutter, a fellow Filipina, had wanted to stand in line, but shes three months pregnant and had worked late. The music was still pulsing, lunchtime traffic rushing by, but Rutters smile was tired and soft. Schramm handed her a sack heavy with palabok, burgers, peach-mango pies and small cups of rice. It was still warm.

Contact Claire McNeill at cmcneill@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8321.

Continued here:
The rush is on for Jollibee, a taste of home for Filipinos living in Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay Times

You know him, right? Shiny-suited prog traitor. Ruined Led Zeppelin. Wife ran off with the decorator. All true. But theres way more to the man who nearly joined The Who, once considered suicide and is, in all honesty, a Thoroughly Misunderstood Chap.

Ancient tape machines clutter the upper corridors of Abbey Road Studios. Theyre the clunky old contraptions, with big metal spools, that would have been pressed into service for his first recordings. At the age of 18, in 1969, he was in a rock band that had elaborate songs about the moon landing. A year later he was in a room downstairs in this very building, playing on a George Harrison album.

He started early, Phil Collins, and hes crammed a lot in. When still only 20, he signed up as the denim-dungareed drummer with Genesis. He ended his tenure with them as their satin-jacketed singer, and went on to release the eight solo albums now resurfacing in extended and remastered versions in a reissue project called Take A Look At Me Now. There was also a sideline in production, working with everyone from John Martyn and the Four Tops to Adam Ant and Tears For Fears.

Hes weathered every storm imaginable; one minute the revered godhead of atmospheric popsoul, the next lambasted as a mawkish balladeer, his two-continent appearance at Live Aid pouring petrol on the critical flames. But in the typically cyclical nature of fashion, a raft of American rock and R&B stars are now sampling and loudly applauding the very records that were supposedly over-processed and disagreeable 30 years ago.

Today Phil Collins is in a little side-room that contains only two chairs, a small table, him and his can of Red Bull. He has the thickest, most muscular arms imaginable, and two main emotional gears: when we talk about music and the people hes worked with, he lights up like a pinball machine I havent thought about this for years!; when we touch on that famous critical pasting or the sad recent events of his private life, he seems to shrink in size, so crestfallen and preoccupied that hes like a completely different person.

You ask it, he says, raising his Red Bull, and Ill answer it.

I can remember everything about seeing Genesis at Farnborough Tech on May 29, 1972, including a stupendous version of The Return Of The Giant Hogweed. Can you remember anything about it?

Yeah. It was good times. We played Farnborough quite often. It was always friendly, as some of the guys were from that neck of the woods. We did the Great Western Festival in Lincoln two days later, and I remember meeting the promoter, Stanley Baker, on the Embankment somewhere. He had a lovely penthouse overlooking the river. Hed been in Zulu with Michael Caine, so that was a real star.

Theres an elite club of former child actors who played the Artful Dodger in Oliver! when they were kids and went on to be rock stars: you, Steve Marriott, Davy Jones of The Monkees and Robbie Williams. Do you think you had anything in common?*

My manager once said Robbie Williams was a new version of me, a cheeky chappie. Stevie Marriott and Davy Jones, yes it was a great part if you were a precocious kid.

How did you get to be in The Beatles film A Hard Days Night?

Well I was in it, but not in it. Walter Shenson [the producer] asked me to narrate a Making Of DVD for its 30th anniversary in 1994. And I said: I was in it but they cut me out. And he gave me the outtakes of the concert scene at the end and I went through it frame by frame and I found myself! And on the DVD I circle myself on the screen. I was thirteen. I was also in Ive Got A Horse, a Billy Fury movie which has the Small Faces in it, but I didnt finish up in the film. And I was edited out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. So yes, theres pattern here.

But I did Buster later on. And I played Uncle Ernie in Tommy, which I loved doing though it was very politically incorrect playing a paedophile. But it was great cos I was with The Who. I was working with Townshend just after Moon died, and I said to him: Have you got anybody to play the drums? Cos Id love to do it. Ill leave Genesis. And Pete said: Fuck, weve just asked Kenney Jones. Cos Kenney Jones, unbeknown to most people, played on stuff when Keith was too out of it. He was far too polite for The Who. But I would have done the job. I would have joined them.

The band you joined when you were nineteen, Hickory, made a concept album about the moon landing. You couldnt make it up. How 1969 is that?

Yeah, it was. I remember it all. We were called Hickory, and then became Flaming Youth. Ken Howard and Alan Blakely were the writers they wrote for The Herd and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. And, being a gay couple, theyd taken a shine to our keyboard player, who drank at this club in Warren Street. And they were looking for a band to do this concept album theyd written. I said: Im in a band. And they came to see us at Eel Pie Island, and they liked us so we did it.

How did you get to play on George Harrisons All Things Must Pass?

That was when I was in Flaming Youth. Our manager got a call from Ringo Starrs chauffeur, who said they needed a percussionist, and he suggested me. So I went down to Abbey Road and Harrison was there and Ringo and Billy Preston and Klaus Voormann and Phil Spector, and we started routining the song. No one told me what to play, and every time they started the song, Phil Spector would say: Lets hear guitar and drums, or Lets hear bass and drums. And Im not a conga player, so my hands are starting to bleed. And Im cadging cigarettes off Ringo I dont even smoke, I just felt nervous.

Anyway, after about two hours of this, Phil Spector says: Okay congas, you play this time. And Id had my mic off, so everybody laughed, but my hands were shot. And just after that they all disappeared someone said they were watching TV or something and I was told I could go. A few months later I buy the album from my local record shop, look at the sleeve notes and Im not there. And Im thinking: There must be some mistake! But its a different version of the song, and Im not on it.

Edited out yet again.

Yeah but worse theres more! Cut to years later. I bought [former F1 driver] Jackie Stewarts house. And Harrison was a friend of Jackies, and Jackie told me George was remixing All Things Must Pass. And he said: You were on it, werent you? And I said: Well I was there. Two days later a tapes delivered from George Harrison with a note saying: Could this be you?

I rush off and listen to it, and straight away I recognise it. Suddenly the congas come in too loud and just awful. And at the end of the tape you hear George Harrison saying: Hey, Phil, can we try another without the conga player? So now I know, they didnt go off to watch TV, they went somewhere and said: Get rid of him, cos I was playing so badly. And then Jackie rings and says: Ive got someone here to speak to you, and puts George on and he says: Did you get the tape? And I said: I now realise I was fired by a Beatle. And he says: Dont worry, it was a piss-take. I got Ray Cooper to play really badly and we dubbed it on. Thought youd like it! I said: You fucking bastard!

All that effort for one little gag. Wonderful!

It was lovely, wasnt it? [laughs]

On that bill in 1972, Genesis played with Atomic Rooster, Vinegar Joe, Humble Pie and Wishbone Ash. I always imagined the rock underground were all in it together. Was there any sense of rivalry?

We were in it together, yeah. You didnt feel threatened by anybody. It was the days when youd bump into people at Watford Gap [service station on the M1]. We did the Six Bob Tour six shillings to see three bands: us, Lindisfarne and Van der Graaf Generator. We went on first, then Lindisfarne brought the house down every night Newcastle band, singalongs and then Van der Graaf came on and it all went very dark. We shared a coach together and we all got on very well. Its funny to think about [smiles fondly]. I dont often think of those days.

How did it feel to be suddenly out front in Genesis?

I felt exposed. Id lived all my life behind the security blanket of a drum kit, and suddenly there was nothing except a microphone stand. And the band sounds different from out front. You hear a different kind of balance out front, and it isnt comfortable. And I didnt want the job, frankly.

Why not?

I wanted to stay the drummer. We had people down every Monday [auditioning], five or six people, and I would teach them what they had to do. We were writing A Trick Of The Tail and I would teach them some old songs Firth Of Fifth or whatever and I ended up sounding better than anyone else. And this [Genesis] was kind of a family. Do we want this person in our family? Will he fit in with the way we do things? Anyway, we didnt find anybody and ended up with me.

Youd grown up listening to pop music and Motown, but I remember people being surprised when you released In The Air Tonight in 1981: Phil Collins is rock musician, but isnt this a pop ballad with synthesizers?

Face Value had a huge variety of songs on it. I was listening to The Beatles, Count Basie, Weather Report, Earth Wind & Fire, Neil Young They all featured in my life, so I kind of wrote songs like them. I remember doing In The Air Tonight at Live Aid and Townshend saying: Are you going to do that fucking song again? as it was the only one I ever played.

Why did so many people connect with Face Value?

Well, it was a very personal album, and I said it like it was. The romantic songs were heart-on-sleeve. The lyrics of the songs were real. I didnt hide it Youve taken everything else. You know what I mean?

So they identified with the heartbreak, the divorce?

[Theatrical mock-sorrow] Oh please, dont mention that! Yeah, people identified with it.

Did they identify with you playing In The Air Tonight on Top Of The Pops with a paint pot and brush on your drum machine as a message to your wife, whod gone off with your interior decorator?

All these stories come up and theres never enough time to talk about them properly. What happened was I didnt know what to do on Top Of The Pops. I didnt want to just stand there and sing cos of all that insecurity, so I thought: Ill play the keyboard. But I didnt want one of those poncey Duran Duran things on a stand. So I got a Black & Decker Workmate, and a drum machine on a tea chest. So there was a theme there.

So people just assumed it was about the bloke who went off with your wife?

Well she certainly did. I improvised the lyrics to In The Air Tonight and wrote them on a sheet of paper. And when I turned it over, weirdly, it was the letter-headed notepaper from the painter and decorator. She took great umbrage, my ex-wife, at me writing about anything like this. She didnt like the way I was giving people my side of the story. But I didnt colour it any way.

Musicians respected you but the press werent always as kind. One critic said: Phil Collins has been guilty of placing the bullseye on his own forehead a reference to the Concorde caper at Live Aid and after Another Day In Paradise he was a purveyor of tortured romantic ballads for the middle-income world. How did you react to things like that at the time?

I didnt understand it. I know what I meant with Another Day In Paradise, but people took offence to it because I was rich. What I was saying is that we should all be very appreciative of whatever weve got, as were all doing better than that. But they all took offence at it.

With Concorde it looked like I was showing off. Id played on Robert Plants solo records and he said: Are you doing this Live Aid thing? And I said: Yeah. And he said: Can you get me on it? [US promoter] Bill Graham doesnt like me and he doesnt like Zeppelin. Maybe you, me and Jimmy can do something? And I said: Great, yeah. And then Sting called me and said: Can we do something together? [UK promoter] Harvey Goldsmith said: You can get Concorde and play both. I said: Well, okay, if it can be done. I didnt think Id be showing off.

By the time I got there, me and Robert and Jimmy playing together had become The Second Coming Of Led Zeppelin John Paul Jones was there too. Jimmy says: We need to rehearse. And I said: Cant we just go on stage and have a play? So I didnt rehearse when I got there, but I listened to Stairway To Heaven on Concorde. I arrived and went to the caravans, and Robert said: Jimmy Page is belligerent. Page says: Weve been rehearsing! And I said: I saw your first gig in London, I know the stuff! He says: Alright, how does it go, then?

So I sort of [mimes the Stairway To Heaven drum part], and Page says: No, it doesnt! It doesnt go like that! So I had a word with [co-drummer] Tony Thompson cos Ive played as two drummers a lot and it can be a train wreck and I say: Lets stay out of each others way and play simple.

Thompson, rest his soul, had rehearsed for a week, and Im about to steal his thunder the famous drummers arrived! and he kind of did what he wanted to do. Robert wasnt match-fit. And if I could have walked off, I would have done, cos I wasnt needed and I felt like a spare part.

So you could tell it was going badly?

Yeah, frankly. But wed all have been talking for thirty years about why I walked off stage if Id done it, so I stayed there. Anyway, we came off, and we got interviewed by MTV. And Robert is a diamond, but when those guys get together a black cloud appears. Then Page says: One drummer was halfway across the Atlantic and didnt know the stuff. And I got pissed off. Maybe I didnt know it as well as hed like me to have done, but I became the flagship, and it looked like I was showing off.

Why did you let this kind of criticism affect you so much?

Because you tend to beat yourself up. You start to think you are the things people say you are. Things like that review you just read me of Another Day In Paradise [shakes his head]. I should be over that by now, but it still puts the hackles up occasionally.

Youve worked with such a variety of great people Thin Lizzy, Adam Ant, Tears For Fears, Anni-Frid from ABBA, to name just four. Why did you go for those four?

I kind of knew Phil Lynott. He lived with one of our tour managers, thats how I got the call. Adam Ant funny guy, lovely guy! Tears For Fears just wanted me to do that big drum thing from In The Air Tonight on Woman In Chains We want you to come in here in a big way. Frida flew over to the Genesis studio to meet me its so interesting for me to talk about this sort of stuff! and she was ever so nice.

She thought I was a kindred spirit as she was going through this painful divorce, and she liked Face Value and she thought Id understand her. I picked the songs with her or for her, actually. That whole Somethings Going On album is great.

Only Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson have sold more records than you as a solo artist, so it must have been impossibly hard to choose material. Dont you end up thinking this will sell, rather than this is good as your main concern must be to maintain your success?

You cant help it. You cant help but judge it by what position it gets to. Both Sides fell through the cracks a bit I mean, it still sold eleven million copies. But I was very aware that everyone wanted me to go back to doing You Cant Hurry Love and Sussudio, and here I was being serious and dark. People were saying: Youve lost your sense of humour, Phil. People didnt know what to make of it.

You were deeply unfashionable for a while, so how did it feel when you started getting support from the hippest quarter imaginable Kelis, Ol Dirty Bastard and the Wu-Tang Clan?

I felt good about it my people! Those R&B artists didnt have all that conditioning, they didnt have the rock critic backstory, and its refreshing. Whats written in The Sun goes everywhere; whats written in the Philadelphia Inquirer stays in Philadelphia. So theyre not as aware of it. They dont have the conditioning and the bias.

And Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters wrote you a note

He wrote me a lovely email: Us in the Foo Fighters, we think the world of you. Please dont feel bad about anything. Id done a thing in Rolling Stone which echoed round the world. Id spent three days with this journalist, and we started talking about things They were saying: When three marriages have gone wrong and youre not living with your kids, then sometimes its a dangerous word to use, but have you ever felt suicidal? Yeah, I have.

And people rang me up and said: Dont say that! What are your kids going to say at school? There was a picture of me with Davy Crocketts rifle and an axe. I thought it was lovely that hed taken the time to write.

You said you were going to retire, and did so for a while, and now youre not. What happened?

You say something one day and it goes around the world. I retired so I could be at home with the kids. Then my wife left me and took the kids they moved to Miami so I found myself in a void with no work. But I didnt really want to work, and the kids werent there.

That sounds terrible.

It wasnt particularly nice. I had a big hole in my life and I started drinking. And I wanted to stop so I could be with my kids. I also wanted to stop so that I could maybe do something else I didnt know what though I felt l deserved the right to do nothing. All this stuff happened. The ear thing was in 2000 I lost my hearing in my left ear and then [waves arm painfully] the arm [a spinal injury affected his nerves in 2009, making it impossible for him to play the drums]. I had various operations. I still cant play, but its better than it was.

Did you stop drinking?

Oh yeah. I havent had a drink for over three years. I nearly died from the damage, organs starting to break down. It was a series of things and I just kind of felt I want to be someone else. Im a man of my word but, at the same time, theres a hole where that used to be and I might as well do something.

Any regrets?

Not really. The serious things would be: Would you try a bit harder at a marriage? But things lead to other things. Theres a few people Id love to have worked with Miles Davis would have been nice, Aretha Franklin would have been nice. My daughter told me it was dangerous to stop working Its part of what you are, youre a writer and I realised it was important. Whats nice is I now realise people miss me.

This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 2017.

See the rest here:
Phil Collins interview: the Live Aid fiasco, going solo, and coping with criticism - Louder

A new life for the Queen's Theatre, now the Sondheim Theatre

Ahead of last night's re-opening of Les Miserables at the newly-redubbed Sondheim Theatre (formerly the Queen's), theatre owner and producer Cameron Mackintosh took members of the press on a quick hurtle around the theatre, from the upper circle to the stalls, accompanied by his long-serving archivist Rosie Runciman who had a collection of "before" photos to hand to remind us what it used to look like.

He last did this when Hamilton re-opened the Victoria Palace in 2017, and it was wonderful to see his palpable enthusiasm for the building and bringing it back to its former glory, completing a project which has now seen every single one of the theatres in his portfolio undergo extensive restorations. From the moment he took on the ownership of the Prince Edward Theatre, which he refurbished lavishly in 1992, he has made it his personal mission to make his theatres the most sought-after and glamorous theatrical addresses in the West End.

It comes, of course, at a cost: it was reported that last year's profits for Delfont Mackintosh Ltd, the operating company of his theatre empire, were down by 57%, falling from 12m to 5m on the previous year across the group, despite turnover increasing 14% to 50m. This was attributed to "the cost of extensive restoration work at the Victoria Palace", on which more than 60m was spent, instead of the originally projected 35m.

But then, as he once told me in an interview, the money that was invested in the Prince Edward has "come back time and time again and paid itself back, so I hope that in my lifetime this money will come back, too...I know that whatever happens, I will leave for my foundation and indeed the enjoyment of future theatregoers, buildings that are in a much better state than when I got them."

True enough. It may turn out to be his most lasting legacy; but it is also a source of great personal pride and enjoyment for him, too. As he also told me, "I get an enormous amount of pleasure out of doing the theatres up, helping to design the carpet and choose the wallpaper. I love old buildings my office and my homes are all classic buildings, so to have these beautiful buildings you could never afford to build now is lovely. But theyre also a big responsibility theyre all a hundred years old, and you know that if you left your own home for a hundred years, you'd soon be cold, miserable and wet, so why should it be any different for them?"

Indeed. His amazing example has also led other theatre owners to follow his example, even if they have less personal wealth than he has, from Nimax (whose co-owner Nica Burns once told me of personally applying a new lick of paint to the foyers in the Duchess Theatre) to Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is currently spending some 45m to refurbish the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, before it reopens late this summer with the British premiere of the stage version of Disney's Frozen. As Lloyd Webber commented, "The auditorium will be completely reconfigured into a comfortable and more intimate space. Producers will have the choice of a traditional proscenium arch or in-the-round configuration. Were reducing the audience capacity by 200 to create wider seats, more legroom and better sight lines. The auditorium will also be reshaped to create a tighter curve, bringing the performer and audience closer together."

There will also be 20 new ladies toilet cubicles added to make a new total of 55. A similar emphasis on increasing ladies loos has occurred at the Sondheim - though it's been matched by a significant reduction in provisions for men, who in the large stalls area have just one toilet now on auditorium left with only a handful of urinals and cubicles.

But it is also the enormous attention to detail that he proudly brings to the work, undertaken -as have all his theatre refurbishments -with the help of veteran interior decorator Clare Ferraby, who is now in her 80s and despite suffering two strokes, now counts the restoration of the Sondheim as the 103rd building she has worked on. As Mackintosh told The Stage, who named her their Unsung Hero in their annual theatre awards in 2018, of her work on the Victoria Palace, "Indomitably, cane in hand, she managed to create an extraordinary colourful and exhilarating temple of theatrical magic and light that will certainly last for another hundred years. The Victoria Palace is arguably her finest achievement and we should all sing from the rafters a hymn of praise and thanks for what shes done for the British theatre."

He was singing them again yesterday as he showed off her latest work, particularly in the theatre bars on each level of the theatre (in the dress circle bar there's a tribute to the studio theatre that was originally intended to be made out of the Ambassadors Theatre when it was scheduled to be re-named the Sondheim). She is that rare person who is apparently able to stand up to him: as she told The Stage, "When I feel strongly about something I will say so, and I dont take no for an answer, even from Cameron." She proves it with his anecdote about the Victoria Palace: "He wanted velvet for the curtains in the new boxes at the rear of the Victoria Palace stalls. I said I wanted to use organza because it gives off a shimmer and hangs better. So weve got organza. Its the Yorkshire in me."

Unfortunately, Stephen Sondheim was not able to be present for a lunchtime event that had been scheduled to mark the renaming of the theatre on Tuesday. In a statement, Mackintosh commented, "Stephen Sondheim suffered a fall a few days ago at his Connecticut home where he tore a ligament which has seriously compromised his immediate mobility... It is likely to be a few months before Stephen will be fit enough to travel to England again to celebrate the new theatre bearing his name." And Sondheim, in turn, said, "I would do nearly anything for Cameron. But to stand side by side with him on a West End stage holding onto a stroller is not something I will let him enjoy teasing me about. From the early reports of friends and the mouth-watering photos I have seen,Les Mizwill have to run another 35 years for him to break even on what he has spent creating such an extravagantly beautiful new theatre out of an old building. As I recover from my tumble, I'm impatient to throw away my cane, grab my hat and head across the Pond as soon as I can to see on which cherub Cameron has tattooed my initials. I am, to put it mildly, chuffed to have my name on a theatre in the West End I have loved visiting ever since my first trip to London almost seventy years ago."

You can read my review of the re-opening of Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre, but in the building, abeautiful painted portrait of Sondheim in the stalls bar will have to suffice. Sondheim's own connection to this theatre is that it is where Passionreceived its London premiere in 1996, with a cast led by Michael Ball and Maria Friedman.

As for Mackintosh himself, it was also a theatre where one of his earliest original musicals The Card played briefly in 1973, choreographed by the late Gillian Lynne (who just eighteen months ago had her own West End theatre named after her, the former New London Theatre. Aweek before she died, aged 92; she became the first non-royal woman to have a theatre named after her in the West End).

A fourth leading lady for Waitress

Last weekend there was an extraordinary run of bad luck at the Adelphi Theatre, where according to a press release issued on Monday, "All 3 of the Waitress company who play the role of Jenna (Lucie Jones and understudies Olivia Moore and Sarah OConnor) were struck down ill. It was too late to do anything about the matinee and sadly the producers had to take the difficult decision to cancel the show altogether. It was decided that the evening show would not be possible either... The company worked hard in the afternoon to put together a presentation of songs from the show that the remaining company members could perform to audiences members who turned up... The company performed, I Didnt Plan It, When He Sees Me, Never Getting Rid and the finale version of Opening Up. It was an incredibly warm reaction from those people who stayed, and David Hunter introduced it all very humorously and warmly."

And to enable the show to go on, as scheduled, from Monday, the producers madefast plans to fly in Desi Oakley, who has played the role of Jenna in the US tour of the show, to take over. She duly did; and a friend of mine who read my tweet of this account took himself to the Adelphi to make sure he caught her.

He reported back, "And thank goodness Ive seen this. She is phenomenal. Ive seen five Jennas now (in 6 performances) and shes my favourite. Its not just the voice. Desi is a terrific actress. So thank goodness you keep me in the loop."

See the article here:
Friday Briefing: Transformation of the Sondheim Theatre and intercontinental cast mates - LondonTheatre.co.uk

Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie VillainsBy Chad Oppenheim / Andrea GollinTra Publishing$75.00

Bad people dont always have good taste, but when they do, their homes are the stuff of architecture history. Curzio Malaparte was attending fascist rallies in between stays at his cliffside retreat, the various owners of Lloyd Wrights Sowden Housecommitted unspeakable crimes behind its stony facade, andPhilip Johnsons sordid past all but eclipses his career as one of the most accomplished architects of the 20th century.

Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains (Courtesy Tra Publishing)

While most of us may not be able to tour the homes of these baddies or live in anything remotely like them ourselves, the homes of movie villains are at our disposal however many times we wish to visit them. Chad Oppenheim of Miami-basedOppenheim Architecture and writer Andrea Gollin have come together to shine a spotlight on the homes of the silver screen that lurk in the shadows to draw an undeniable connection between low morale and high design. Their book, Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains, pries open 15 of the most diabolical abodes and renders them in silk-silver linework over depthless black paper, all of which were exquisitely illustrated by Carlos Fueyo, a VFX and CG supervisor behind some of the most visually sumptuous blockbusters of the last decade.

Carlos Fueyos perspective cutaway of the Death Star reveals more of the structure than can was ever depicted in the original Star Wars series. (Courtesy Tra Publishing)

Lairmakes evident that the average movies art production team is at its most creative when given theopportunity to imagine homes as sinister and calculated as the villains that would commission them with dark money. An eye-opening interview between Oppenheim andStar Wars set decorator Roger Christian uncovers the inspiration behind the Death Star, arguably the most famous evil lair in cinema, albeit one that doubles as a weapon capable of obliterating planets many times its size. When it came to the Death Star, Christian explained, that was inspired by the Reich architecture of Albert Speer, obviously. When you look at Nazi architecture, its very black with red on it. Very simple and very dauntingand strangely beautiful.

Fueyos illustrations render the highly articulate surface of the Death Star with all the wonderfully arbitrary detailing of the original and managed to produce a perspective cutaway that offers a glimpse into the orderly, clock-like work of its scaleless interior. The divergent paths of the light and dark sides of the force are as apparent in the contrasting austerity between the Empires home base and the humble desert residences of the Jedi as they are in any of the other cinematic choices made in the production of the blockbuster film series.

John Lautners Elrod House in Palm Springs played the evil lair in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). (Courtesy Tra Publishing)

About a third of the 15 lairs are owned by various Bond villains, from Ernst Stavro Blofelds sub-volcanic hideaway in You Only Live Twice (1967) to Karl Strombergs spider-like marine research laboratory in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). While Bond trots around the world as a stylish nomad, his enemies stay put in increasingly eccentric abodes that speak to their character just as effectively as their words or actions. The sensuous architecture of Los Angeles-architect John Lautner makes more than a few cameos and is otherwise the unsubtle inspiration for a number of the evil lairs throughout the movie series. A rarely-seen interview between Lautner and Marlene Laskey on the Elrod House, a home the architect designed in 1968 that was extensively featured inDiamonds are Forever (1971), reveals that the home was built with surprisingly few restraints, thus imbuing the structure with a number of eccentricities suited to the fictional supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Good design often comes at a price, either through its exchange with ones soul or a sum of money that no one person should reasonably have. While real-life crooks reveal little of themselves to the public by trade, the homes featured inLairgrants its readers a more-than-generous look into the lives lived by a fictional class of villains.

Continued here:
Lair puts a spotlight on the homes of famous movie villains - The Architect's Newspaper

Sometimes I'll survey my living space and recall Will Smith's advice to farm housewife Beatrice in "Men in Black":

"Hire a decorator to come in here fast because ... damn!"Even if you don't share Beatrice's love of 1940s wallpaper and stuffed deer heads, there's a good chance your living room, or kitchen, or dining room could use a fresh look.

Before you redesign your living room, kitchen or bedroom, check out the gallery above for what's hot and what's not for 2020.Maybe there's too much stuff for the space. Or it's awkwardly shaped, which makes furniture placement a challenge. Or your last update was sponge-painting the walls right before Y2K. Or there are knickknacks everywhere.

The new year is the perfect time to make some changes. For starters, see what's trending. We compiled the above gallery of what's in and out for 2020, according to several design firms.

Interior decorators and designers work with homeowners or renters to come up with a decor plan that fits their style. Decorators focus on aesthetics and furnishings of existing spaces, while interior designers must have formal training. Each conducts an analysis of how the current space is being used and then recommend fundamental changes for a redesign, such as a new floor plan.

One advantage of hiring a decorator or designer is that customers can give immediate feedback on whether their ideas suit the space. For many people, there's no substitute for face-to-face collaboration with a seasoned pro.

But the typical range for an interior decorator job ranges from $2,000 to $11,300, according to Home Advisor. That might be too steep for some budgets.

One alternative is to hire an online design firm such as Modsy, which offers professional advice via your computer screen to help you create your design at a modest price.

Modsy queries customers on their style preferences and needs and uses their photos of the living space to create custom design plans in 3D. Their experts then revise the schemes until you are satisfied with the final design.

"Our customers love that they have a dedicated designer who works with them through the entire process who carefully selects the products and layouts that are fully customized to their style, budgets and lifestyle all set within a realistic 3D model of their exact home," Modsy founder and CEO Shanna Tellerman said in an email. "Modsy is the best of interior design without the hassle, putting customers in the drivers seat while also providing the design support they need along the way."

The company said the furnishings their designers recommend are from well-known retailers and are never marked up. Some items are even discounted.

The base cost for a one-room redesign is $79; a premium package goes for $149. Other similar online design companies include Havenly and Decorist.

RELATED: 12 ways to maximize a small living room

Don't want to spend any money? Numerous free apps are available for do-it-yourselfers. They typically offer design inspiration and limited visualization tools, but not expert consultation from professionals. Last January, U.S. News and World listed its choices for best free interior design apps:

Houzz, for connecting with professionals.Wayfair, best marketplace.ColorSmart by Behr, for choosing paint colors.IKEA Place, for experimenting with room design.magicplan, floor plan creation.Hutch, for designing for fun (currently not available for iPhone).

Another free app, Homestyler, invites users to snap photos of their space and switch to a 360-degree panorama perspective. You can pick color schemes, floor plans and furnishings, and plug them into layouts for living rooms, kitchens or bathrooms.

Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate

See original here:
Is your living space ugly or out of date? Here's how to redesign it without spending a fortune - Albany Times Union

This news is definitely not what dreams are made of.

Terri Minsky, the original creator and showrunner of Lizzie McGuire, has exited the reboot coming to Disney+,E! News has confirmed, though the series is still in production at the streaming service.

"Fans have a sentimental attachment to Lizzie McGuire and high expectations for a new series. After filming two episodes, we concluded that we need to move in a different creative direction and are putting a new lens on the series," a Disney spokesperson said in a statement.

Variety was first to report the news.

Hilary Duff is reprising her role as Lizzie in the new show, which finds her living in New York, working as an assistant to an interior decorator, and about to turn 30. Duff herself announced the news late last summer, and also announced the news that best friend Gordo (Adam Lamberg) will be back too. The new series will also include Lizzie's family, played by Hallie Todd, Robert Carradine, and Jake Thomas.

Also returning is Lizzie's still-13 year-old animated alter ego, who popped into the original series to offer her thoughts and opinions on whatever was happening. You can keep up with everything we know about the series so far, at least until the "new lens" is revealed.

Lizzie McGuire is apparently coming to Disney+ sometime in 2020.

More here:
Lizzie McGuire Reboot Loses Original Creator and Showrunner - E! NEWS

You've probably noticed it in clothing stores: racks and shelves full of high-waisted flares, rib-knit turtlenecks, acid green sweatshirts and disco ball metallics. It's that '70s -- and '80s -- show.

These two fashion trends have, as usual, worked their way into home decor as well.

"Right now, in home design, it feels like a total '70s takeover," says Apartment Therapy's Danielle Blundell. "This time period had two pretty distinct things going on -- boho hippie vibes and glam, glitzy disco feels. Which means you can probably find a way to work something '70s into your home no matter your aesthetic."

Watch for patchwork and peasant prints, fringe and earthy hues. Shaggy, textured woven rugs. Modernist wall art. Rattan etageres and side tables.

One of the hallmarks of the 1980s was Memphis style. Started by Austrian-born but Italian-raised architect Ettore Sottsass, it was characterized by squiggle and geometric pattern, mixing of pastels with black and brights, and an overall playful, whimsical approach. Sottsass and his team designed for Fiorucci, Alessi and Esprit among others, and Karl Lagerfeld and Bowie were collectors.

New York-based designer Sasha Bikoff created the exuberant showstopper of a staircase for 2018's Kip's Bay Showhouse in Manhattan. Using Memphis Milano designers Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendinii as her inspiration, the space was filled with brights and pastels, mirrors, and a riot of pattern.- Genevieve Garrupo/Courtesy of Sasha Bikoff

Designer Sasha Bikoff created a buzzworthy Memphis-inspired staircase for the 2018 Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse in Manhattan. New Yorker Raquel Cayre manages an Instagram account dedicated to all things Sottsass, and even created a temporary space in Soho called Raquel's Dream House, chock full of Memphis themed interior decor.

Memphis originals are pricey, but you can find referential decorative items that are affordable. Street brand Supreme offers clothing and skateboard decks; designer Ellen Van Dusen's Brooklyn-based eponymous company makes clothing and home goods featuring her own versions of Memphis pattern.

Imola Ceramica has the Pop collection of ceramic tile, with Roy Lichtenstein-inspired art comics printed on subway-style tile. Their Let It Bee collection features groovy, semicircular, tone-on-tone designs in brick red, indigo, apple green and dark yellow.

Designer/architect Luca Andrisani has designed a collection for New York Cement Tile called Geometrika. Inspired by midcentury op art, there are retro hues, square and rectangular shapes, and eye-catching optical illusion patterns. Walker Zanger has Australian designer Pietta Donovan's hip new '70s-patterned tile collection.

A selection from Imola Ceramica's Let It Bee tile collection, which features half moon and circle patterns in vibrant midcentury colors, reflects the swingy artistic flair of the era.- Courtesy of Ceramics of Italy

At http://www.spoonflower.com you'll find several peel and stick wallpapers and fabric by the yard with Memphis style or leopard prints. Here as well are '70s-style florals in wallcoverings and fabric.

European bathware designers have been featuring pedestal sinks, toilets and tubs in colors like cranberry, moss, mustard, teal and pink -- colors that would have been destined for the bin a few years ago. Here in North America, eBay and salvage sites like Retro Renovation are good places to source vintage wares. For new products, Aquatica USA has roomy resin tubs in dark red or moss green with white interior, while Bella Stone's got a fun one in fire-engine red.

Check out http://www.roostery.com for whimsical '70s-style fruit and vegetable prints, geometrics and paisleys in softgoods like napery and throw pillows.

Sometimes it's the little things that bring the look home. Atomic starburst knobs, for example; and http://www.zazzle.com has several patterns. Cabinet and doorknob backplates come in starry shapes at http://www.rejuvenation.com.

At http://www.dusendusen.com, find soft furnishings printed with bold check, dot, stripe, cutout and squiggle patterns. There are patterned pet beds, pillows and shower curtains, too.

In a collaboration with London-based Soho Home, Anthropologie offers the Adriana chair; in a deep terra cotta velvet, the chubby, channel-seamed silhouette echoes Italian postmodern design. Kardiel's curvy Miranda gold-velvet two-seater has an Austin Powers flair.

At Beam, you'll find simple yet stylish chairs and tables made of powder-coated steel, hardwood and performance fabrics, part of a collaboration between Gus* Modern and LUUM inspired by the Memphis Group's color palette.

ModShop has a treasure trove of options, including the Chubby 2 lounge chair that swivels on a brass-clad base, and the St. Germain side table and credenza, with an abstract, patterned front in poppy colors, perched on chunky acrylic legs.

Ball-shaped and half-dome lighting in matte and polished metallics reference the '70s, as do embossed ceramic bases and cane and rattan fixtures. Look for combinations of pyramids, squares and balls, as well as thick glass circle shapes in '80s-style fixtures. CB2, Urban Outfitters and All Modern have well-priced designs, while Chairish and 1stDibs are good places to hunt for vintage pieces.

Link:
It's that '70s (and '80s) show in home decor - Chicago Daily Herald

You've probably noticed it in clothing stores: racks and shelves full of high-waisted flares, rib-knit turtlenecks, acid green sweatshirts and disco ball metallics. It's that '70s and '80s show.

These two fashion trends have, as usual, worked their way into home decor as well.

"Right now, in home design, it feels like a total '70s takeover," says Apartment Therapy's Danielle Blundell. "This time period had two pretty distinct things going on boho hippie vibes and glam, glitzy disco feels. Which means you can probably find a way to work something '70s into your home no matter your aesthetic."

Watch for patchwork and peasant prints, fringe and earthy hues. Shaggy, textured woven rugs. Modernist wall art. Rattan etageres and side tables.

One of the hallmarks of the 1980s was Memphis style. Started by Austrian-born but Italian-raised architect Ettore Sottsass, it was characterized by squiggle and geometric pattern, mixing of pastels with black and brights, and an overall playful, whimsical approach. Sottsass and his team designed for Fiorucci, Alessi and Esprit among others, and Karl Lagerfeld and Bowie were collectors.

Designer Sasha Bikoff created a buzz-worthy Memphis-inspired staircase for the 2018 Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse in Manhattan. New Yorker Raquel Cayre manages an Instagram account dedicated to all things Sottsass, and even created a temporary space in Soho called Raquel's Dream House, chock full of Memphis themed interior dcor.

Memphis originals are pricey, but you can find referential decorative items that are affordable. Street brand Supreme offers clothing and skateboard decks; designer Ellen Van Dusen's Brooklyn-based eponymous company makes clothing and home goods featuring her own versions of Memphis pattern.

Surfaces

Imola Ceramica has the Pop collection of ceramic tile, with Roy Lichtenstein-inspired art comics printed on subway-style tile. Its Let It Bee collection features groovy, semi-circular, tone-on-tone designs in brick red, indigo, apple green and dark yellow.

Designer/architect Luca Andrisani has designed a collection for New York Cement Tile called Geometrika. Inspired by midcentury op art, there are retro hues, square and rectangular shapes, and eye-catching optical illusion patterns. Walker Zanger has Australian designer Pietta Donovan's hip new '70s-patterned tile collection.

At http://www.spoonflower.com you'll find several peel and stick wallpapers and fabric by the yard with Memphis style or leopard prints. Here as well are '70s-style florals in wallcoverings and fabric.

European bathware designers have been featuring pedestal sinks, toilets and tubs in colors like cranberry, moss, mustard, teal and pink colors that would have been destined for the bin a few years ago. Here in North America, eBay and salvage sites like Retro Renovation are good places to source vintage wares. For new products, Aquatica USA has roomy resin tubs in dark red or moss green with white interior, while Bella Stone's got a fun one in fire-engine red.

Accessories

Check out http://www.roostery.com for whimsical '70s-style fruit and vegetable prints, geometrics and paisleys in soft goods like napery and throw pillows.

Sometimes it's the little things that bring the look home. Atomic starburst knobs, for example; and http://www.zazzle.com has several patterns. Cabinet and doorknob backplates come in starry shapes at http://www.rejuvenation.com.

At http://www.dusendusen.com, find soft furnishings printed with bold check, dot, stripe, cutout and squiggle patterns. There are patterned pet beds, pillows and shower curtains, too.

Furniture

In a collaboration with London-based Soho Home, Anthropologie offers the Adriana chair; in a deep terracotta velvet, the chubby, channel-seamed silhouette echoes Italian postmodern design. Kardiel's curvy Miranda gold-velvet two-seater has an Austin Powers flair.

At Beam, you'll find simple yet stylish chairs and tables made of powder-coated steel, hardwood and performance fabrics, part of a collaboration between Gus*Modern and LUUM inspired by the Memphis Group's color palette.

ModShop has a treasure trove of options, including the Chubby 2 lounge chair that swivels on a brass-clad base, and the St. Germain side table and credenza, with an abstract, patterned front in poppy colors, perched on chunky acrylic legs.

Ball-shaped and half-dome lighting in matte and polished metallics reference the '70s, as do embossed ceramic bases and cane and rattan fixtures. Look for combinations of pyramids, squares and balls, as well as thick glass circle shapes in '80s-style fixtures. CB2, Urban Outfitters and All Modern have well-priced designs, while Chairish and 1stDibs are good places to hunt for vintage pieces.

See more here:
RIGHT AT HOME: Its that 70s (and 80s) show in home decor - Worcester Telegram

In 30 some years of writing up weddings, it takes a lot to make me pull out my handkerchief. For years, I kept a scrapbook of badly worded headlines. My favorite came from the newspaper in Laurel, Mississippi, now the subject of HGTVs hit show Home Town. Neighboring towns included Hot Coffee, Errata, Soso, and Tuckers Crossing. The headline read, Boy from Hot Coffee Marries Soso Girl.

So it was wildly out of character for me to tear up when church friends had their wedding reception at the Carousel Pavilion, the new attraction at the Childrens Museum of Memphis, in November. Our staff affectionately called it My Big Fat Gay Wedding in the days leading up to it. Our choirs gift to them was an arrangement of Theres a Place For Us from West Side Story. Well, I took to blubberin and didnt stop until somebody stuffed a piece of cake in my face.

Location is the most important decision one makes, says Warner Moore, wedding designer and interior decorator. Everything else radiates from that decision. People know their venue when they see it. Once it feels right to them, everything can proceed from there.

The more the couple can hone in on their preferences, the more accurate a map he can draw for them, Moore says. Even the cleverest wedding planner cannot turn a casual space into a formal one, or vice versa. You also have to match the space to the number of guests. Theres nothing worse than having a small wedding in a big place because it looks like no one came.

Myriad elements go into creating a sense of place: lighting, color, season, formality, and the personalities of the couple. The variables are endless. The paper save the date card is the first hint at the weddings personality.

Kat Gordon, owner of Muddys Bake Shop, sees a consistent effort to match food choices to the mood of the venue. At a barn or vineyard wedding, for example, the couple may want a pie bar for dessert. That feels very Southern and authentic, she says.

The multi-tiered formal confection with the obligatory cake-cutting moment is rarely the centerpiece of the reception anymore. People are thinking about the experience they want their guests to have more than a photo opportunity, Gordon says. They want food thats not just edible but really tasty and represents who we are in our city.

With a seated dinner, a cake per table has become a Muddys signature. An 8-inch layer cake at each table in chocolate, lemon, or strawberry adds color and variety.

Whats trending in flowers in 2020 is a little tweak on the traditional, says Eric Lee Milner of E.L.M. Designs. Couples are wanting traditional flowers, but in unique colors. Calla lilies are a basic, but I had an October bride who chose them in dark purple and deep maroon and added a pheasant feather.

Milner predicts more saturated color in bouquets, centerpieces, and altar flowers. Youre going to see more strong orange, lime-green, and fuschia, and less white, pink, and peach, he says.

Short of having Oprahs money, Milner recommends brides concentrate their budget on one statement piece in a high visibility spot. You can get more impact with one singular wow arrangement at the entry or in the middle of your reception area than you can with an abundance of flowers all over the place, he says. Whether its a big raised arrangement on a table right when you arrive or one big arrangement in the middle of the buffet, that gives you more impact and its more affordable than trying to address the whole room.

In the world of wedding gifts, the charcuterie board (methinks) may be to the 2020s what the fondue set was to the 1970s. Charcuterie boards are big, both in terms of size and in popularity, says Brooks Terry, owner of Babcock Gifts.

Since couples are marrying later in their 20s and most have lived together, many already have the household basics. With their registries, theyre trying to equip themselves for entertaining, also a regional phenomenon.

Our vendors love the South because we still register brides, Terry says. In California and on the East Coast, wedding gifts are usually cash or Venmo.

Sorry I fainted there for a second from shock and dismay. Okay, Im back.

Another change is in the split between formal and informal dinnerware. The completion of a set of fine china was once the primary goal of every brides registry. Now the everyday set is the priority. Couples have gotten a little more casual, but they still like nice stuff, Terry says.

Going into 2020, Terry sees brides choosing a fine china as the dinner plate, but for the salad plate, theyll mix it up with some hand-thrown, artistic pottery. Three of the most popular lines are made nearby: Millers Mud comes from Dumas, Arkansas; McCarty Pottery is Merigold, Mississippis most famous export; and Potsalot is made on Magazine Street in New Orleans.

Judaica pieces like Seder plates, Shabbat candles, and menorahs sell well year-round, regardless of the couples wedding date, Terry says.

If you want to go rogue and choose a gift not on the registry, you can never go wrong with crystal, Terry says. No ones sending back a Baccarat vase or a Waterford salad bowl.

What do you get when you mix newlyweds, a popular fantasy series, and Downtowns newest ballroom?

Why, the Game of Thrones wedding reception at Central Station Hotel, of course. The first couple to marry at the new hotel wed there December 29th. They chose the venue in July when it was still under construction. Everyone was still in hard hats, but this couple saw the vision, says Helen Nelson, director of sales and marketing for Central Station Hotel.

The same could be said for McLean Wilson, the principal in the redevelopment of Central Station. Hes the grandson of Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inns, known to generations of travelers as the nations innkeeper. According to Nelson, Henry Turley first saw the potential of bringing a hotel to the South Main Arts District, and invited McLean to develop the concept.

Built in 1914, Central Station still serves rail passengers boarding Amtraks City of New Orleans, the historic 19-hour route from New Orleans to Chicago. Wilson reimagined the former offices of the Illinois Central Railroad, Amtraks predecessor, as hotel rooms.

But its the lobby and bar that bear the stamp of South Main. A tower of record albums overlooks the double turntable built into an antique organ housing. One wall holds speakers of all different shapes. Memphis music plays in the lobby and bar, and guests hear Isaac Hayes or Sam and Dave in the guest rooms.

At 6,600 square feet, the Grand Hall is 33 feet high. It was the original passenger waiting room for trains for 80 years (Some of the stations original benches can still be seen on a lower level). In the Grand Hall, Central Stations original arrival and departure board is outlined in neon lights. Hidden uplighting can be adjusted to customize the brides chosen colors.

Entering the hotel grounds requires driving a little south of the station on South Main and doubling back up the platform to the hotel entrance. Brides may have a challenge keeping people in the Grand Hall, because the lobby and bar have so many things to explore. Weve had inquiries about using the hotel lobby for receptions, Nelson says, but so far the answers been a hard no. We want that area to be for the neighborhood, not cordoned off for private events. We want it to feel like South Mains living room.

Marrying at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church puts you squarely in the 25 percent of couples who marry in church, down from 40 percent just ten years ago, according to weddingwire.com.

The foremost reason to marry at a church would be to honor your faith tradition, says the Rev. J. Lawrence Turner, senior pastor at The Blvd., as the church is known. My view of the Christian wedding ceremony is that it is more than a celebration of two people joining their lives together. Its of the God who joins them together. So a Christian wedding is ultimately a worship experience.

Turner officiates at 12 or 15 weddings a year, but there are other pastors on staff who solemnize vows. The Blvd. also has a full-time event planner on staff.

Marrying in the church matters less than the church being in the marriage. It is not so much where the wedding takes place or whether the church recognizes it, says Turner. Rather, I have found success in marriage depends on whether that couple honors Christian principles in their marriage such as unconditional love, mutual respect, honesty, fidelity, and grace.

When Bellevue Baptist vacated the sprawling campus at Jefferson and N. Bellevue in 1992, Mississippi Boulevard brought its ministries to the heart of Midtown. The Blvd. is home to dozens of ministries including meal distribution, wellness initiatives, Room In the Inn overnight housing for the unsheltered, pastoral care to shut-ins, and a college tour for high school seniors. Facility rental generates 11.5 percent of The Blvd.s $6.5 million annual budget.

We are certainly open to the public to be rented out for weddings, says Turner. Our space is memorable for not only being the place for many weddings for our congregation for the past 26 years weve owned this space, but also for the previous congregation that owned the building, Bellevue Baptist.

Soaring limestone columns support the broad portico leading to Mississippi Blvd.s two-story vestibule. Accommodating up to 3,000 guests, the sanctuary has seating on two levels. Contemporary stained-glass windows, including one depicting the Pyramid and the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, cast rose and blue highlights over the balcony.

Our chapel, which is where our smaller weddings take place, has beautiful natural light too, Turner says.

With 30 receptions already booked for the Carousel Pavilion in 2020, the bride who wants a merry-go-round wedding had best break out ahead of the pack. Like a jewel-under-glass on permanent exhibit, the historic carousel at the Childrens Museum of Memphis, located at Central and Hollywood, is the same one that thousands of us rode as children at the Mid-South Fairgrounds, later Libertyland.

Couples that are attracted to this degree of spectacle bring a lot of vision, says Melissa Latil, carousel events and operations manager. Theres not a lot of middle ground for this venue. People either say, Im in or rule it out quickly.

Brides may choose to make their entrance around the Carousel or through the sliding double doors. At a Disney-themed reception last month, a Tinkerbell pulled open the doors for the first look at the couple. The staff created a Mickey Mouse dance area with a round floor and two round tables to shape the ears. Guests watched a projection of the Happily Ever After fireworks spectacular from the Magic Kingdom.

While the Pavilion can accommodate up to 500 guests, Latil says the Carousel is ideal for weddings of about 150, which is slightly above average. According to weddingwire.com, the average guest list in 2019 included 126. Adjacent to the Carousel are a ballroom, lobby, catering kitchen, and separate dressing suites for brides and grooms. The Carousel Pavilion connects to the Childrens Museum of Memphis, formerly the National Guard Armory from 1943 until 1983.

With a four-hour wedding rental, the Carousel runs for 2 hours. Restoration of the 100-year-old merry-go-round carved by Gustav Dentzel began in 2015, and a team of woodworkers, painters, and machinists returned it to the museum in pristine condition for its debut in December 2017.

Of its 48 ponies, those on the two inner rings go up and down. The chariots were the first wheelchair accessible carousel seats installed in the U.S. In a three-minute ride, the guest makes 12 revolutions past scenes that evoke a Memphis of yesteryear: a paddlewheeler on the river, frontiersmen in canoes, mules plowing a farm, and deer pausing to drink from a stream. Cherubs keep watch over each rider while hundreds of Edison bulbs create a festive and photogenic vibe.

It doesnt get much more Memphis than marrying on the Mississippi. Two vessels, the Memphis Queen III and the Island Queen, have launched hundreds of couples into matrimony.

I have not had a single bridezilla, says Jodie Taube, director of marketing and events for Memphis Riverboats, Inc. Couples who book the riverboat for their rehearsal dinners or wedding receptions generally have a high sense of adventure and fun.

And just like in the movies, the captain of the boat can perform the ceremony. Captain James Gilmer is an ordained minister in the Church of God in Christ. He has officiated at 16 shipboard weddings. To his knowledge, hes the only African-American riverboat captain on the Mississippi.

With friends from all over the country in town for their October 12th wedding, Ginger and Josh Huckaby wanted their guests to have a quintessential Memphis experience. Josh owns the Green Beetle, the oldest tavern in Memphis, and Ginger moved here from Nashville to work as a nurse practitioner at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Ginger says, The weather was perfect, the moon was full, it was Memphis to the T.

Of the two boats, the Memphis Queen III is the classic Victorian riverboat with gingerbread trim and twinkling lights. The Island Queen has a more nautical look, with an open section in the center for dancing. Both boats are 100 feet long, accommodate up to 300 guests, and are heated and air-conditioned as the season dictates.

The most popular wedding package allows a half-hour for guests to board; a half-hour for the ceremony; and then two hours for cruising. The vessel departs from Beale Street Landing and heads south under the light show on the Harahan Bridge. Turning back upriver, guests can then enjoy the Memphis skyline. Then Capt. Gilmer takes the party under the light shows on the I-40 bridge, cruises past Harbortown, and returns to the landing.

Riverboat weddings are available all year, but March, April, June, September, and October are the most sought-after months. Taube steers brides away from the weekends during Memphis in May because the closing of Riverside Drive limits access to parking and raises the level of difficulty in bringing decorations aboard. The temperate months also afford nicer views of each bank.

Capt. Gilmer has been on the river 36 years. One of his favorite pranks is to tell Tennessee couples that its not too late to change their minds about matrimony. He says, I can just carry them across the river to the Arkansas side and it wont count.

Just a plain and simple chapel where humble people go to pray may have been okay in 1960, but couples in 2020 want something a little more photogenic and upscale.

When Elvis recorded Crying in the Chapel, most couples married in church. The etiquette-bound formal wedding performed in a religious setting was the bread and butter of the wedding industry, explains Vicki Howard in her book Brides, Inc: American Weddings and the Business of Tradition.

In September, British actress Michelle Hardwick married soap producer Kate Brooks at Graceland in Memphis, according to the Daily Mail.

Youve got to be progressive in 2020, says Christian Ross, Gracelands marketing specialist.

More than 2,000 couples have married or renewed their vows at Graceland. The original chapel was tucked behind the mansion for 18 years, but in 2018, Graceland unveiled the Chapel in the Woods, which seats about 100.

And not all the couples are Elvis fans. Many just want an intimate venue in a woodsy, but still accessible, setting. A bride might choose to have a family ceremony in the Chapel, but she can still invite more guests to a reception in the ballroom.

Most recently, the chapel was featured in the Hallmark Channels Wedding at Graceland, released last year. That movie was the follow-up to 2018s Christmas at Graceland, which was Hallmarks fourth highest rated and most watched original movie in network history. Priscilla Presley had a cameo role in Wedding.

Elvis and Priscilla Presley married on May 1, 1967, at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. Ten days later, they came home to Memphis and put on their wedding attire for a belated reception at Graceland.

Weddings in barns, meadows, and vineyards have been all the rage in the magazines for the last decade, but people dont realize that rustic simplicity comes at a price.

Sure, you have a beautiful spot, but every piece of that party must be brought in so you can look out over a meadow, says Warner Moore, Memphis decorator and wedding designer. When you have to import virtually everything lighting, chairs, tables it gets expensive.

Unless you want people standing up the whole time, youre basically building an infrastructure, Moore explains.

A viable country in the city alternative is the FedEx Event Center at Shelby Farms Park. More than 60 couples have tied the knot there since it opened three years ago, says Kate Phillips, account executive with the Park.

You feel youre immersed in nature, but youre connected to the city, she says. We get the benefit of beautiful views, and we still have air-conditioning.

The event center faces west with floor-to-ceiling windows affording views of sunsets over the 80-acre lake. Natural cedar planks adorn the ceiling and look as if they might have been milled on-site. Stacked stone walls further connect the event center to the natural surroundings.

A grassy berm hides the view of Walnut Grove Road just a few hundred feet away. At night, the only reminder of the city is the light from Clark Tower to the southwest. A tree-lined field next to the center can be set for an outdoor ceremony in fair weather.

Since 2007, the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy has managed the county-owned land that is five times the size of New Yorks Central Park. The group needed a revenue generator like the event center, Phillips says, because the conservancy has 4,500 acres, a dozen lakes, a herd of buffalo, and the Greenline to maintain. Early this month, Starry Nights just completed its tenth year as the parks primary fund-raiser.

Long-time Memphians remember the property as the penal farm from the decades (1930s to early 60s) when inmates of the Shelby Count Corrections Center worked the acreage to provide food for inmates and staff. Situated at the geographic center of Shelby County, the Heart of the Park is just one exit away from the interstate, making it an easy drive for out-of-town wedding guests cooped up in hotels.

Original post:
There's a Place for Us: Six Extraordinary Bluff City Wedding Venues - Memphis Magazine

IKEA is excited about Classic Blue releasing a full line of new products including the STOCKHOLM sofa.

Pantone Colour of the Year reflects on the past while looking ahead

Uncertain times call for stable measures. Thats the message from the Pantone Colour Institute in selecting Classic Blue as 2020 Colour of the Year, a colour that can do no wrong, says interior decorator Liz Ditomaso, owner of Elegant Living Decorating based in the Niagara region.Classic blue is a grounding colour, says Ditomaso, who likens the shade to the classic blue business suit or navy pump often associated with wealth. Its a very sophisticated colour, a very powerful colour and it speaks to everyone, she says.According to the Institute, Classic Blue offers reassurance, confidence and connection that people might be searching for in an uncertain global milieu. It brings the colour forecast world full circle as a reminder of Cerulean, the blue hue chosen as the first Color of the Year in 1999 when uneasiness about Y2K was widespread.The versatile colour is both regal and edgy, conservative and unusual. How it manifests in your home dcor ultimately depends on you, says Ditomaso.I dont think theres any colour that doesnt go with it, she said, noting that clients have paired deep blue with yellow, black, chocolate brown, rose gold pink, black and even other shades of blue, like aqua. Classic Blue pairs well with modern greys and whites, she adds, and is an ideal complement to gold fixtures and hardware, or any wood grain.It can go warm against creams, brown or beige and then it can go on the other side against your cooler whites and cooler greys, she added.Early adopters of the 2020 colour gravitated towards a blue Christmas this season. Ditomaso adorned several white flocked trees with rich, glistening gold and blue balls, and hints of silver, and NOMA actually released a flocked blue tinsel tree. Heading into the new year, she expects to see the deep shade show up in kitchens and baths where it is a top contender for islands and backsplashes, home accents such as throws, cushions and chairs, and even as the backdrop for a stunning feature wall for those who really want to be out there and live it up a bit, she says.As the year progresses, expect Classic Blue to continue to show up in fashion, food, scents and cars. The team at IKEA is excited about Classic Blue, releasing its trend report in December to inspire home dcor enthusiasts, with items ranging from chairs, throws and lamps to the BILLY Bookcase with glass doors or the STOCKHOLM sofa.Paint guru and colour expert Annie Sloan says the Classic Blue shade perfectly matches her Napoleonic Blue paint colour, which is reminiscent of the ultramarine and cobalt blue pigments used in neoclassical interiors, yet still looks fresh and modern. Sloan adds that blue is one of her personal favourites because of its calming qualities.My bedroom at home is Aubusson Blue and it sends me into a dreamy sleep every night, she says.

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Tis the season for Classic Blue - The London Free Press