Life - grace grits and gardening

Gloria Campos, Alexa Conomos and Me

November 1, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Saturday I went to the beauty shop for help with my Betty Draper hair. I say beauty shop because instead of my normal hair salon trim and highlights, my hair was curled and teased and ratted and encased in LOTS of hairspray. And to complete the look, a professional also painted on my 1960s eyeliner.

most of my curls had already fallen by this time of night…

“Someone wants to see your hair.” The shampoo woman guided me to her shampoo bowl where a lady looked up with wet hair and said Oh I love it and are you going to a party, or something like that. We chatted a split second, but I didn’t say much because she was being shampooed and I was starstruck.

It was Gloria Campos.

Gloria Campos, WFAA

Gloria Campos is rather famous in the Dallas metroplex. For over twenty years she co-anchored the six p.m. news on WFAA Channel 8. Plus, twenty years ago we were both pregnant at the same time. She had twin boys. I had one. Without her knowledge, we’ve been bonded by pregnancy since that time.

Three days later, I went to my favorite neighborhood nail salon for a long overdue pedicure. There was one other customer. I saw her only from profile view. She was blessed with very long, lush, black eyelashes, maybe false? (I’ve been noticing eyelashes more since my Betty Draper eyeliner…) Then I heard her speak.

It was Alexa Conomos, another long-time WFAA news anchor, the lady who made every crack-of-dawn-getting-ready-for-work-morning better for years.

Alexa Conomos, WFAA

Was it really Alexa? Probably not. I never really got a straight-on look. And she never noticed me, of course I was wearing a John Deere t-shirt which is only one step from camouflage.

“Was that Alexa Conomos?” I asked as soon left.

“Oh yes. You know Alexa?” Henry became animated.

“Of course! Everyone knows Alexa.”

In three days I ‘ran into’ two of the biggest Dallas news anchors. These random brushes with favorite, famous Dallasites has to mean something, right?

a. I hang out in the best salons

b. They hang out in the best salons
c. We should be hanging out together.
d. They should be reading my blog.
e. All of the above.

I choose ‘e’.

Maybe today I’ll run into Cynthia Izaguirre.

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

King Biscuit Time and the Music of Helena Arkansas

October 27, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

(Note: Helena Advertising and Promotions Commission sponsored this blogger trip. Opinions are my own.)

Until last week, my radio experience was limited to one WHBQ moment in 1976 when Anita Ashley and I showed up unannounced in Memphis and found ourselves live on the air with Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots. I adored Rick Dees and sitting shoulder to shoulder with him was intimidating for a giggly ninth grader. Mr. Dees was entertaining and accommodating, and later that summer the Keiser Jr. High cheerleading squad bounced around Arkansas State with a bit more spirit wearing Rick Dees ‘Mouth of the South’ shirts. I think that was the year we finally snagged the elusive spirit stick…

While Rick Dees was doing his thing in Memphis, “Sunshine” Sonny Payne was broadcasting live from the King Biscuit Time Radio Show only a few miles down river in Helena, Arkansas. King Biscuit Time, the first regular radio show to feature blues, began broadcasting in 1941 and still regularly welcomes musicians into its Delta Cultural Center studio on historic Cherry Street.

“Sunshine” Sonny Payne

Last week, Sonny Payne and King Biscuit Time welcomed me into the studio. I was part of a group of Arkansas Women Bloggers invited by the Helena Advertising and Promotions Commission to spend a few days in this charming delta town overlooking the Mississippi River.

One blogger may not affect great change, but put a group of lady bloggers together with a microphone and things tend to get exciting…

Synergy and all that.

Facing a mic, I was transported back to junior high.

Debbie Arnold (Dining with Debbie) eloquently represented Arkansas Women Bloggers while I managed to compound Sonny Payne’s already cloudy understanding of blogging… (joggers/bloggers, what’s the difference?)

Grace Grits and Gardening on King Biscuit Time

If you’d like to hear our live broadcast (including how we nearly brought down the longest running daily radio show in history), click HERE then select October 23, 2013…

Arkansas Women Bloggers, Helena River Walk

Helena is a unique town rich in musical heritage and devoted to preserving and sustaining the delta blues culture. Her impassioned citizens are eager to share personal stories of chatting with Elvis and hanging out with Conway Twitty. Musical greats have passed through this river town, and still do particularly during the annual King Biscuit Blues Festival held each year on Columbus Day weekend.

Next year, I plan to see the blues festival for myself.