Trial Balloon: December 26, 2008 Archive

Two iconic show business figures passed this week - playwright Harold Pinter and entertainer Eartha Kitt. I don't know if they ever met, but both were willing to be unconventional in a world that prefers the safe and predictable, and each received their share of celebrity and scorn.

It's interesting to hear about crucial moments in the lives of accomplished people; a seemingly small event that sends them in an unexpected lifelong direction. For Eartha Kitt it was taking a friend's dare to audition for the Katherine Dunham Dance Company.
That led to travel, which led to Paris and work and Orson Welles, who saw her and was impressed enough to offer her a role on stage. In the blink of an eye, she was singing "Santa Baby" and playing Catwoman on TV.

Harold Pinter was an actor until he told his friend, Henry Woolf, about "an odd image" he'd seen of one man cooking and serving breakfast to another, and Woolf asked him to write it as a play for a group of drama students. Ten minutes later, a career is born. Add a few years, and here's your Nobel Prize, buddy.

Sometimes all it takes is a tiny push from one of your pals.

Anyone have a similar experience, where a friend encouraged you to do something and it had long term (positive) ramifications?

Speaking of staying open to the whimsical opportunities life sometimes offers us, here's something you didn't expect to get this Christmas - a chance to take a three day mid-January trip to New Orleans, courtesy of the program American Routes.

Nick Spitzer is celebrating the tenth anniversary of his fantastic weekly show and has issued an invitation to two MPR listeners to come to The Crescent City for a wild night at the House of Blues on January 16th. The problem is - we don't know who those listeners are. Could it be you? Yup.

Go to RadioHeartland.org to register for this quite sudden chance to take in some New Orleans warmth and hospitality and to see a great show.

And here's another reason to do it - the door for entries is only open from right now to midnight on Monday, December 29th. With so many people distracted by holidays and freezing drizzle, the contest will be over before most people even know about it!
What will you do with your free time in New Orleans? Discuss.