Monday, August 19, 2013

Big Bird, Baking and is Klecko off to Hollywood? (Part 1)

Funny,

Funny how 100 hours can impact your life.

Just 8 days ago I was basking in my opportunity to work with God's favorite baker's on their soda bread at the Irish festival.....but that wonderful moment has practically drifted off my rear view mirror.

In the last 100 hours Klecko has slalomed through more interesting experiences than he has in awhile.

DAY 1 / HOURS 1-25

T.P.T. is our local P.B.S. affiliate here in the Capitol City. I shouldn't try to come off like I know too much about it, because I really don't, but I do know that anytime they broadcast Jane Goodall......they own my attention.

Ken Burns on the other hand....not so much.

Anyways, they decided to put together a baking fund raiser, and I was invited to be one of the speakers.
Klecko on Channel 2.....I like the sound of that.

Anyways, the dealio was put together by their event coordinator Justin Madel.

 Justin is a multi talented guy who can sing opera, cook.....and plan one of a kind media events.

Recently he has been converting the T.P.T. studio's into a multi media lecture hall, where station contributors get to listen to experts talk about their passions (at a discounted price).

So Justin starts with his former colleague Susan Marks. She was a natural choice. This woman is tremendous. Susan's connection to baking was her book FINDING BETTY CROCKER (University of Minnesota Press).

This work is without a doubt the most comprehensive title that has broached the topic of who Betty actually was, or is......or could be?

When Sue McGleno read it (and as most of you know, my wife hates the kitchen) she laughed so hard she made grunting noises (which I will deny if you tell her).

But on a foot note, Marks also has worked on movies as well, in fact.....around the time I first met her, she was doing this creepy doll documentary....and she had the swag to get Baltimore's own John Waters to narrate it.  

So if Marks is in....Klecko is in.

Now for the final piece of the puzzle....

Will Marjorie Johnson join us?

As mentioned is past posts. Marjorie has won more Fair ribbons than any living human.

She's been on Leno 20 times, Oprah....Rosie, and now days she kinda has a thing for Dr. Oz.

M.J. lives in Mpls however, so the rest of us decided to go to her.

Justin suggests that everybody meet at the studio, when we do.......

Holy Christ of Warsaw.....Madel comes rolling through the underground parking ramp in a Channel 2 van that has a 10 foot Big Bird plastered across it.

The meeting went well, Marjorie signed on, so the next step was to promote the Sunday event with a Friday night cooking demo on T.P.T.'s Almanac.

If you have never done a TV cooking demo, you might find it hard to believe that it takes 8 - 10 hours to prepare for a 3 minute bit.....but it truly does.

First you have to figure out what your audience would like to see.

Shop for the ingredients.

Set up shop.

Bake it.

Decorate it.

Then find a safe way to transport it to the studio.

Moving cakes crosstown in the summer is like, uh...oh I don't know, like maybe transporting nitroglycerine across the plains on a buckboard.

Then you show up.

Meet the crew.

Talk to the producers...then the host.

So when I finally got to go on.....I started thinking........

You see, I had my granddaughter M-Rose up from Omaha, and I knew she was watching me on TV, and I don't know....I wanted to remain professional, but I wanted to say "HI" to my little monkey w/o seeming like a hack.

I squeezed it in, it seemed natural.

When I got home (after a 14 day), Sue McGleno said that my little Granddaughter did cart wheels when she heard me say hi.

She said that it was a lifetime memory....which of course is code for......

SHE'LL TOTALLY REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU ARE DEAD.

Next....

DAY 2 HOURS 26-50

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