A Call from A.J.

I started today in a great way with a call from A.J. Spiridigliozzi. A lot of people who often or occasionally read my blog know A.J., but his name is new to some of my older friends. Suffice it to say that A.J. is one of my favorite people from my 33 years of teaching. To begin with he's a terrific guy and a loyal friend from a wonderful family. We count his mother and father as true friends. He's also a dedicated single dad with a terrific 3 year old named Noah. Joyfully A.J. was recently engaged to an ENGLISH TEACHER! There's a man with great taste.

When A.J. was in high school, he was in all things theatrical and musical. Lazar Wolf in FIDDLER, Harvey Johnson in BYE, BYE BIRDIE, Val (the "I've got it!! We'll do a show.! Guy) in BABES IN ARMS, and ABEL FRAKE, hog farmer extraordinaire in STATE FAIR. (That's A.J./Abel pictured at center in the photo at the top.) On the fall stage he was the tragi-comic Mercutio in ROMEO AND JULIET, but most memorable to me, the romantic, fearless adventurer Tanner in the first play that I wrote and directed, A GIRL OF TWO WORLDS.

Now, A.J. is a drama teacher at a big high school in Arkansas. He teaches, directs, acts, and is occasionally involved in improv. So when our phone rang at 8:30 this morning, and it was A.J., I was thrilled. We talked for 10 minutes or so, including mention of his beloved, Cinderella-Jets, and he told me about the musical that he is directing now called BACK TO THE EIGHTIES. He said to me, "You know when I'm working on a musical, I often say to myself, 'what would Mr. Ellstrom do here?' " That's one of the nicest things a great and talented friend could say to me. I got a drop of tear in my eye and a half a lump in my throat, wiped my eye, swallowed the lump, and smiled. I love you, buddy!