Sonny's sub recipe, first recollection

Recipe for Sonny's sub, to the best of my recollection:
This works best with a time travel device that takes you to 1975 or so.

- 1 Hero roll, white flour based, custom made to order at the IGA bakery on Mt. Vernon Road
- 3 slices cappicola hot ham from DiPaolo distributors, Columbus, OH
- 3 slices hard salami from DiPaolo distributors, Columbus, OH
- A leaf or two of sliced iceberg lettuce
- A ring of thinly sliced onion
- A small ladle or two of equal parts shaken oil and vinegar plus Sonny's secret spice mixture
- 3 or 4 oz coarsely grated low-moisture mozzarella cheese from DiPaolo distributors, Columbus, OH

Slice the hero roll lengthwise. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella on BOTH SIDES of the sliced roll, bake it in pizza oven at 325 degrees until mozzarella gets a bit brown on the peaks. Slip it out of the oven and quickly spread out the cappicola and salami over the molten cheese, dress with iceberg lettuce and onion and then hit it with a generous wash of the oil and vinegar dressing. Pop the top on that sucker, slice it into two halves and eat it before it cools.

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In a moment of lazy nostalgia in NYC around 1990 in the East Village, I went into an Italian pizza shop that had subs. I asked the guy, "Make me your regular sub, but can you toast the cheese on it and then put the meat and everything else on cold?" The cook behind the counter said, "Oh yeah, I know about that way."

I went back about five more times over the next few months and each time the cook saw me he just nodded and started making the sandwich. Deep.

The Day After Closing South

Had a very fun and packed final weekend. Thank you to everyone who attended, supported, listened, put up with and cheered from the sidelines. What a hoot this has been!

I don't want to go overboard with the thank you's (You like me, you really like me!), but what a great team effort. It's been a truly fortunate time for me to have been able to play with so many talented and dedicated people. I can only hope that this has been as much fun for my collaborators as it's been for me. Cast, direction, design and tech crew all put out hugely, and people could see it on stage. Dixon Place was of course there from the beginning. The love and support they provide to artists such as myself is essential. I believe that many great works will emerge from the Chrystie Street theater. Maybe we'll be one of them. What a cool thing to be included in this opening season.

Now we get to load the scenery, props and costumes out of Dixon Place. The crate and props go to the apartment (!), the instruments back into the studio and the costumes back to the Costume Collection.

I've been asked what's next for South, and the truth is, first, a long nap. Then, dunno! We have great video of the show, and that must be edited so we can show it around. Another run? A CD? Film it, animate it? Hmmm...anybody looking for a show for their theater?

Onward!

A few reviews of South

Only one weekend to go! Here are some reviews...

A few from theatermania.com:

Crazy Fun! by theaterlady

Ive been losing faith in the off-off-Broadway world because, so often, the playwrights try so hard to be edgy or different they forget that theres an audience that may want to be engaged and, god-forbid, entertained. SOUTH is simple and complex, deep and frothy, meaningful and playful. The staging was creative and unique, the performers, just dynamite! THANK YOU!

posted on 06/15/2009 at 8:34:00 PM

Review: Excellent option! by lisasf

For those who appreciate creative, talented, off beat, poignant, funny, you'll LOVE South! The love child of Carmen Borgia, a quirky, hip, brilliant musician, with Bill Pace directing, its no suprise South takes you on an unexpected journey. Its refreshing when a musical surprises you with a destination you never imagined getting to. Since Broadway has turned Hollywood, you need to go downtown for all the exhiliratingly original pieces, which South has in plenty! Not only is the writer an amazingly accomplished musician/singer/songwriter, but the cast is filled with top notch performers. This supremely talented, highly enjoyable cast will impress in all the right ways. With Doug Skinner (Bill Irwin's partner in crime for years), Bill Tost (The Fantastiks), alongside Robb Sherman, Sadrina Johnson, Michael D'Emedio and Alison Davy you'll want to have seen South when it opens with the original cast, trust me! You'll be one of the cool kids who can say, "I was there when South was in a 100 seat theater in the East Village, how cool is that??"

posted on 06/06/2009 at 7:03:00 AM

Review: RE:Worth a look by jerrynick

Caught a preview, pretty cool music - Magnetic Fields meets Wilco....

posted on 06/03/2009 at 10:53:00 PM

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Various email salutations and encouragements...

Just got back from seeing South, a nautical musical by Ukulele Cabaret regular, Carmen Borgia. All I have to say is, GO SEE IT! It also features Ukulele Cabaret Regulars Doug Skinner and Alison Davy.

Ted Gottfried, Sonic Uke
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CONGRATULATIONS my friend !!! What a great work!
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The show was great fun and I look forward to seeing and hearing more from you!
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Hey Carmen, saw the show over the weekend and really enjoyed it- particularly the ukulele number. Awesome work man! Congrats!
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I loved the show last night! Hope we can catch it again the last weekend...
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What an incredible show! So many quotable lines, singable tunes, stunning characterizations...I LOVED IT! If you are ANYWHERE close to NYC in June, you must see it!
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What a delightful and delicious romp!

What's my motivation?

photo by Alison Davy

As an adoptee, family for me has long been a concept that I’ve felt I could rise above. If a child can be efficiently moved from one set of parents to another, then why all the fuss about where one came from, nationality or even the nature of one’s self? For many years it all seemed so simple.

South is a hummable response to my journey of searching for - and meeting - my birth mother. What started as something like intellectual curiosity tumbled for me like a log rolling down a hill, picked up momentum and ultimately became a personal odyssey. The dramas were small on the outside, but I found myself questioning my most basic assumptions of family and birthright. The emotions that I felt over the course of a year of phone calls, navigation between two clans and actually meeting a person who was eerily familiar in spite of being a total stranger screamed more or less into my ear to be shared, but how? I’d become acquainted with the standard search and reunion texts of Springer, Winfrey and Dr. Phil, but they all felt a bit vulgar… in a bad way. And so, a musical!

The whole trip for me was undeniably nautical; it felt lawless and far from terra firma. It was also a journey back in time, so it had to be a period piece. Since I’d met a number of unusual and helpful people along the way it would be a road trip. And because I’d always hoped – ultimately in vain – that my biological parents would be itinerant Cuban gymnasts, I went with Latin flavors of music, which I’ve always loved. I wanted to hit every permutation of family connection and abandonment: people leave, are taken, torn from one another, welcomed, feted, sold and freed and in the end we find our true families where we may. I hope that South reflects the curiosity, hope, hilarity, shock, acceptance and joy that may happen on a voyage such as this one. I also hope to have made some songs worth singing along the way.

South Opens This Week

"South" opens at Dixon Place this week! Come and check it out. Here's the draw:

It's a beautiful and hilarious nautical journey set in 1860 on the north coast of South America aboard a leaky merchant ship, the Worthy. As you may have heard, it's got a sailor, a cook, a captain, pirates, lesbian cannibals (the good kind), a monk, nuns, filthy townspeople and bandits. There may be more, a lot happens. Of course it's got that music I write; lyric-driven tunes that celebrate the tricky aspects of life. It's accompanied by guitar, ukulele, accordion, percussion, autoharp, marxoharp and upright bass.

It's a full production in an intimate space.
We have an excellent ensemble cast:
Carmen Borgia
Alison Davy
Michael A. D'Emidio
Sadrina Johnson
Robb Sherman
Dan Shuman
Doug Skinner
Bill Tost

It's been brilliantly directed by William Bradley Pace and choreographed by Kriota Willberg. The whole shebang was commissioned by the new Dixon Place for their state-of-the-art theater because they thought people oughta see it.

The deets:
Three weekends in June - 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27 @ 7:30 pm
Dixon Place 161 Chrystie Street, NYC
$18 General admission, $12 Seniors and students
212-219-0736
www.dixonplace.org
Reservations are probably a good idea.

This one is not to be missed!

Theatermania

Hey, we're on theatermania. I feel so New York. If you're feeling participatory, join the site and post a comment there... :)

9 days out

Moonlit night at sea by Mary Rasure

Opening next week and all is well. Some highlights of the past couple of days.
- I heard Bill Tost sing Yonder tonight and it made me weep in the good way.
- Sadrina and I tried When I Find You in another key, and it really sprung to life.
- Doug and Alison and I worked on Bless The Creatures and chose to err on the side of beauty.
- Michael not only nailed the guitar feel for It's An Adventure To Talk To A Stranger, he improved it.
- Last night we ran the entire first act and the wheels came off of the bus only once, where a tricky guitar handoff did not go unnoticed.
- Got to see some projection art by Mary, I've included my favorite above.