The Dirt on 'Dirty Dancing'

I love the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. And all these years later, it's just as fresh as it was back then. 

There's the great music, acting (yes, the acting is really good) and dancing, and there's none of the fake boobs, facelifts, capped and whitened teeth, pumped-up lips and nose jobs so prevalent in movies these days. Beyond all of that, my reasons for loving the movie are twofold: 

1) It reminds me so much of when I was dating my first husband in the summer of 1960. We would go in his Chevy to the Cavalier Club on old Highway 40 at the intersection of Highway 54, a few miles east of Columbia, Missouri. Black bands came there to play and most of the people dancing to their songs were black. Why we went there, I don't know. I'm sure it was his idea. We never felt uncomfortable there. In fact, we loved it there, dancing to the tunes of the day. It's certainly possible that some of the bands playing there became big, but I don't know the names of any of them. Fats Domino, Bo Diddley and others played in Columbia and we saw them there. The movie Dirty Dancing brought back so many memories of those times although I don't remember doing any real dirty dancing at the time. And no one I knew had a basement where they were dancing in such sexy ways either.

2) Watching it over and over and over in the spring and summer of 1988 helped me recover from losing some of my beloved family, who passed away within days of each other. I got involved in the Johnny and Baby characters of Dirty Dancing and let some of the grief dissipate with every look they gave each other. 

Eventually, I bought a VHS tape of the movie and played it occasionally, then I sort of forgot about it. Recently, I saw Dirty Dancing was playing on one of the cable channels so I hit Record on my DVR. I watched it the next day and remembered how I had enjoyed it those many years ago. Only now, because of commercials, the movie was shortened and key scenes were omitted. A check on Amazon and now I have a DVD to play over and over and over. Plus, I bought the Limited Keepsake Edition, which is basically a boxed set with everything from a book to deleted scenes, interviews, and much more. I love it!!

For those of you who have only seen Dirty Dancing on television, with the commercials, I strongly urge you to watch the DVD. There's so much missing from what they show on TV. For example, when Johnny is telling Baby goodbye at his car, he mentions she'll have more time to be sawed in 7 pieces. The problem is that the scene where she's sawed in half for a show at Kellerman's has been deleted on the TV version, so Johnny's comment makes no sense. Also cut in the TV version is the scene where she's dressing in the car after they've danced at the Shelldrake. That's where he first realizes he likes her, a very important scene. In my view, what's showing on TV, almost on a continual loop these days, is worthless and should be avoided.

You won't believe some of the scenes that were deleted from the movie itself. One is perhaps the dirtiest dirty dancing you can imagine, although I find it to be very artistic and insanely good acting. Johnny and Baby are in his cabin, where she asks him to dance, just like what we see in the movie itself. Only thing is the deleted scene shows them dancing as if they're having sex. I can see why it was cut because they never could have received the PG-13 rating with that scene in it, but it's one that all fans of the movie should see. There are many alternate scenes included too. One is the end, where Johnny is lip synching to the song, The Time of My Life. In that scene, which wasn't shown in the final version, he's telling her that they must fight hard to stay together. She talks about going in the Peace Corps, but that they've got to remain together. I would love for that to have been the final version that was included in the movie because I always wondered what might have happened to them afterwards.

And then there's the commentary, one from the writer/producer Eleanor Bergstein, and one from the choreographers and others. You learn so much about the settings for the movie, what the actors thought about each other, and what they did and didn't do -- one example is where Patrick Swayze brought his dog Derek to the set every day and Eleanor had to get down on the floor with Derek to keep him from whining during the love scenes (so hilarious). 

Anyway, I can't say enough about how much I believe all real fans of Dirty Dancing must have a copy of this boxed set. It's not expensive and it's really, really wonderful. 

By the way, I Googled for anything new I could find about the movie and its stars. On one site, the choreographer Kenny Ortega is quoted as saying he's getting prepared to do a remake of the movie. While I would loved to have seen a sequel a few years after the movie came out, Patrick Swayze said no back then, probably because his knees were shot. There simply are no actors or actresses who could do a respectable new version of Dirty Dancing. It's not possible and I hope they don't attempt it. Let us have Johnny and Baby as they were then, never looking any different and always dancing dirty. 

Soothing Sweet Sammi's Sensitive Stomach

The last time I posted about my little Sammi girl's eating problems, I advised a plethora of things that I thought would help her keep down her food and not vomit so much each day. Among those suggestions were olive oil, a certain kind of Fancy Feast, etc. etc. Well, I've come up with something so much better and with lots less work involved.

For those who don't know, Sammi is my 14-year-old black pussy cat. She's a darling little thing with a sweet disposition. She loves me and I love her. She traveled many miles with my husband and I over the years and she's been my constant companion after his passing about 18 months ago.

Anyway, what's working for her -- and it's what I'm going to stick with -- is Science Diet for Sensitive Stomachs. Dry food, of course. Science Diet makes canned food, but not with such specifications. I put about 1/2 cup in her bowl when it's empty, choosing the small amount so the food is kept fresh, which she loves the most.

I also keep another bowl with Meow Mix Kitten Nibbles, which is there when she runs out of the Science Diet, mostly during the night. The reason for the Meow Mix is to somewhat ameliorate the problem she has with the runs from the Science Diet. It's a rather fat dry food, which is OK for her because she needs to put back on the weight she lost during all the trials about getting the right food for her. But it's the fat that I think might be causing the diarrhea. Now, if she'll just eat the Meow Mix from time to time, I believe the combo will work great. Little stubborn one she is, however, she typically holds out for her favorite, the Science Diet. She knows what she wants. For now, the runs aren't that bad for me to be concerned. And maybe her system will adapt to it -- I hope, I hope.

So, here we are. I love the fact that she loves the Science Diet. It's so much nicer having dry food available for her all the time -- and plenty of water, of course -- than trying to feed her several times a day with that messy, disgusting canned food. Even the Fancy Feast Elegant Medley variety, the least offensive of the lot, didn't work well because any food left in her dish turned hard almost immediately and then she wouldn't eat it. Not surprising, I guess.

With dry food available all the time, Sammi is so much happier because she can march in where her food bowls are anytime, night or day, and the food is there, unlike when she had to get me to attend to her each and every time with the canned type.

I hope the information I'm giving here will help others who have trouble getting their babies to eat and keep up their weight when their little tummies won't keep down food. She's looking so much better, she's really frisky, her coat is shiny, and she rests like she did before, taking long naps instead of the shorter catnaps. She's not constantly hungry and begging for food. More soothed, it seems.

I'll do anything for my little girl. It's just been quite a trip getting to what really works. The desire was there. Now the knowledge is there to match it.

Best Country Song Ever

I've been a country music fan since the early 1950s when my family turned on the Grand Old Opry every Saturday night on the radio. I remember when I heard Hank Williams had died and I felt that I knew him even though I was only 9 or 10 years old.

The first country song I ever heard on the radio was a Carter Family song and I don't remember which one it was, but I'm thinking Wildwood Flower. The simplicity and hill country twang captured my imagination of how music and words teamed to make us feel a certain way. For me, that was less lonely. Living on a variety of farms, being lonely was the order of the day. Country music on the radio took me down those country roads, away from the loneliness, even if only in my mind.

Through the years, country music morphed into country western and then into country rock and now there can't be a term for what's being played out of Nashville. One thing for sure, it's not my kind of country. So many of the singers seem to enjoy looking and sounding like rednecks, and I just don't care for it. They can do as they like. It's just that I don't have to listen to them and I don't.

Last week, the singer of my favorite country song died. Like so many others, He Stopped Loving Her Today was my favorite country song and George Jones sang it as only he could. I first liked the song when my grandfather passed away and I knew then that he had only that day stopped loving my grandmother. Twenty-five years later, I can't hear that song or even hear about it, without tears coming to my eyes. It's a great song. And if you haven't heard it, check it out on YouTube.

Thanks to George Jones for all the years of good, old fashioned country music, and for the song that always touches my heart when I hear it.

Golf -- Power & Control Rule

It's Sunday afternoon and my son is watching the Masters from Augusta, GA. As the professional golfers give their best to win the green jacket, the tradition of the crowd being quiet continues. But I must ask why.

Football, baseball, soccer, basketball, all of them have spectators stomping and yelling and the players still play. They're not thrown off their game by people talking. What is it about golf where they must maintain such quiet decorum? In my view, it's because that's the way the rich set it up in Scotland way back when, and by god, it's going to continue that way. The rich control and they have the power. And no other sport, exception perhaps being polo, shows the rich strutting their stuff more than they do in golf.

It's such a strange game, yet even blue collar fans seem to like it. They must not realize how little the rich players and others who have country club memberships really feel about them. How can a black person play golf -- think Tiger Woods -- when Augusta and many other such clubs didn't even allow blacks to play there until this century? Perhaps it's because Tiger and other rich blacks don't think of themselves as being black. Think O.J. Simpson and President Barack Obama.

Country clubs and golf courses are strange places indeed. My husband and I moved to a country club, residential, gated community 20 years ago. We lived there for 12 years. If there was one thing we didn't miss when we moved, it was that country club atmosphere with the golf members running the boards of director and everything else. Power and control and the rich -- the ultimate trifecta.

But back to the rule where spectators must be quiet when the golfers hit the little ball, it's certain that I'd be kicked out in seconds if I were along the sidelines (or is there another word for that area)? Anyway, I'd yell out that I like the pink shirt on one of the guys or some other nonsense. And that would be that. Out I'd be, escorted to the sidelines. Wait, that's where I was. I wonder where they would take me. Maybe there's a tea and crumpets table nearby. Not exactly punishment, right? Bring on the clotted cream and strawberry jam.

And maybe, just maybe, the birdies I'd see would be so much more interesting than those that come from the golfers' swings. Anything would be more interesting to me.

A Favorite Quote -- This One From Nelson Algren

From time to time, I'll share my favorite quotes. This one is from author Nelson Algren, who included it in his book, A Walk on the Wild Side:

"When we get more houses than we can live in, more cars than we can ride in, more food than we can eat ourselves, the only way of getting richer is by cutting off those who don't have enough."

He had no idea how prescient his words would be in these days of doing so very much to help the rich get richer, at the detriment of the poor. 

Anyway, thanks to Algren for that quote. If you don't know him, he's most famous for warning that we should never eat at a place called Mom's.

Baking -- My Mom's Taxes Cake

There are those who will argue that this should be called Texas Cake and perhaps they're correct. But my mother called it Taxes Cake on her handwritten recipe and that's my name for it too. I think she was in a hurry the day she copied it from a friend, however, I'm glad she mixed up the letters because it's so much more interesting than any reference to Texas.

Every single person I've given the recipe to has said it's the best chocolate cake ever and there's never any left for the next day. The flavor is unique and unexpected.

I'm including the recipe now because it's tax season. I think I'll make it soon to somewhat ameliorate the fact that I have to send a check to the IRS in a short time. A piece of Taxes Cake along with a mug of just-brewed French roast coffee might help me make it through the night on April 14. And it once again will bring back memories of my beloved mother.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks sweet butter

1/4 cup cocoa powder (Hershey's is what I use)

1 cup water

Cocoa-Pecan Icing:

1 stick sweet butter

6 tablespoons milk

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 package (1 pound) powdered sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Have ready a buttered 10 by 15-inch rimmed baking pan (jellyroll pan), or coat it with a nonstick cooking spray. (Some people have made this in a 9 by 13-inch baking pan, but I haven't. If you want to do that, I suggest that you bake it a few minutes longer, testing with a toothpick for doneness.) 

Stir the flour with the granulated sugar, salt, eggs, sour cream and baking soda. The batter will be quite stiff.

Bring the 2 sticks butter, 1/4 cup cocoa and water to a boil in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat; stir into the flour mixture until well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the icing. Use the same pan used for heating the cocoa mixture above. Heat the 1 stick butter, milk and 1/4 cup cocoa to a boil over medium-low heat. Stir in the powdered sugar, pecans and vanilla.

Let the icing sit until the cake comes out of the oven. Drop it by small amounts all over the hot cake, the idea being that the heavy frosting doesn't cause any part of the delicate cake to sink. Use a spatula to spread the frosting gently over the cake. Let the cake cool; cut into squares to serve. Makes about 16 servings.

In Memoriam: Iraq War Dead

Ten years ago today, the worst president in U.S. history, George W. Bush, declared war on a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack on America. Yet Bush, Cheney and other neocons tied their desire to invade Iraq to 9/11 to get support behind the war that has killed almost 200,000 military and Iraqi civilians and cost our country trillions of dollars.

There is so much more to write about this horrible crime, but for today I just want to say that those who volunteered to go over there did so with good intentions. I want to express my sympathy to their families -- also to the families of the Iraqis killed. I'm very sorry.

Paul Ryan -- Catholic Schoolyard Bully

My husband, a brilliant man who was a student of Catholic schools and the seminary, could identify schoolyard bullies at first glance. He had been the recipient of their cruel actions in his youth. He repeatedly said that 3 prominent white guys had been Catholic schoolyard bullies -- two from Fox Noise (as he called it), Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, and in recent years, Paul Ryan. 

I'll let others talk about O'Reilly and Hannity, both rich guys who appear to hate the poor. I base that solely on their own words. Ryan seems to have taken the top spot from those guys in terms of meanness. Although he uses language to make us think he wants what's best for the American people, what I think he's really saying is that if a rich guy isn't quite rich enough, take from the poor and give it to him. If a rich guy might be paying a percentage or two higher in taxes than Ryan thinks he should, take from the poor and give it to him. Medicare and Social Security also have special appeal to him as a way to cut government expenditures so the next war can be funded.

There appears to be no limit to what Ryan will cut in programs for the poor, whether it's food stamps, Head Start, health insurance, or nutrition for children. Never mind that Ryan voted 16 times to fund Bush's disgusting wars. He voted for Bush's Medicare Part D, also off the books, like both of the wars. I guess money's different if it's going to Republican causes. 

Ryan was fortunate to grow up in a wealthy family in Janesville, Wis. What he did to the good people of Janesville, I don't know, but I find it interesting that they know him so well that last November, he couldn't even carry his hometown when he and another rich white guy lost to Obama/Biden. (The only reason he was reelected as a Congressman again is because of Republican gerrymandering, moving his district's outline to incorporate more Republican votes than Democratic ones. This is a successful tactic that will ensure Congress goes Republican for years to come.)

For those who know me well, yes, I was honest when I said I've been trying to stay away from talking about politics because all politicians lie. But politicians like Ryan, bullies that they are, can't help themselves. They've got to be mean to the weakest, oldest and poorest. And I can't help myself writing about them because they're just so hateful and I feel the urge to talk about it. 

But about those schoolyard bullies like Ryan -- they're sociopaths and they're obsessed with being cruel and mean. During school years -- true, bullies are at non-Catholic schools, too -- they've got to keep trying to knock down the kid with glasses, the kid with uncool clothes, the fat kid, the gay kid, so often the poor kids. Many millions of those victims fought back last November when they elected Obama over Romney. They knew mean when they heard it.

Even though I don't particularly care for Obama because of his continuation of the wars and other reasons, at least he appears to be for the poor. True, it could be in words only, but at least he appears to have tried to help them far more than the Republicans who so often these days are part of the mean religious right.

I have to wonder what their favorite religious dude, Jesus Christ, would say about them not helping the poor. Then again, I believe their religious convictions are actually non-existent, there simply to help them get what they want. I say that because they're all against abortion, but once the kid is born, they don't want to take care of him. Those kids are being fed by women who are called names (welfare queens) and their kids are the majority in Head Start and other programs that Republicans, especially Paul Ryan, want to cut.

Mean schoolyard bullies, all of them.

Be Careful, Very Careful, About Who You Hate

Isn't it amazing when a hateful person rages against people he doesn't like and then changes his mind when the hate he spews affects him personally? Such is the case with Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who was on the short list to be VP with Romney last year.

Portman voted against same-sex marriage many times and made speeches supporting the Republican platform, which specifically rails against gays getting married. But now he's changed his mind, he said today, because his son is gay.

So, let me get this straight: It's OK to hate an entire group of people based solely on how they were born. But if your own family member is born that way, then you're no longer filled with hate for that group the son belongs to. Do I have that right?

I've never understood how people can hate gays and how they can hate the idea of them getting married. The same group of people will fight for guns, citing the Second Amendment, yet they'll not answer why they don't believe in the Fourteenth Amendment, equal rights for all. They're so hate-filled that they don't even make any sense.

I hope the voters of Ohio will remember what Portman said last year and not this year, and vote the bastard out. He doesn't deserve to be rewarded with anything at all, certainly not the job of Senator in such a pivotal state for national elections. He's a Neanderthal and he should go.

As for Portman's son, I wish him the best in his life as a gay man. He'll need everyone's good wishes, living in that family that never considered the rights of anyone other than those of white males who claim to be religious and upstanding citizens. Be aware of those who put labels on themselves and others. They just might have skeletons in their closets -- or gay people.

My Hero -- Scott Prouty

Not a household name, that's for sure. Scott Prouty. But those who search for heroes in everyday people should look at this guy.

Scott Prouty is the one who was the videographer when Mitt Romney made his now famous remarks about the 47% and the Chinese workers. Many think it's those remarks that put President Obama back in the White House for another 4 years.

Prouty, a native of Boston, but working as a bartender at a Boca Raton, FL fundraiser for Romney last May, was scared enough for his life that he waited 2 weeks before talking with someone about what he had. And anyone who knows what can happen in elections, especially with right-wing zealots, had every reason to be afraid.

Tonight, on the Ed Show on MSNBC, Prouty outed himself in his first interview. He had been offered lots of money to come forward, but he chose to talk with Ed Schultz, for no money, because of Ed's fight for workers' rights.

I think Scott Prouty should be afraid, very afraid. I can't believe he will be left alone by the likes of Hannity, O'Reilly, Palin, Limbaugh, and others who espouse the Republican's chant. While I won't go so far as to say that any of them will call for harm to come to him, you can bet that they'll fire up those on the far right who look for someone to blame for not getting their white guy elected last fall, just not fair that a black guy is still there. Gotta be somebody's fault and here's one guy to blame.

If you didn't see him on TV tonight, I hope you'll check youtube or some other site to see the entire show and listen to this guy. He's smart, he's courageous, and he should be commended for producing something that showed Romney for the guy he really is instead of who he was telling everyone he was.

Prouty said he might want to become a lawyer. I think the DNC should think about providing a scholarship for just that. If not for him, their guy might be writing his memoirs or putting his presidential library together instead of being President of the United States until January 2017.

Thank you, Scott Prouty. We owe you a debt of gratitude and I hope your future is a bright, safe one.