Monday, March 1, 2010

Live and In Person – Alton Brown is Awesome!



Most people who read about food or consider themselves foodies, know who Alton Brown is and some like him and some don’t. For those of us that like him, having a chance to be in his audience at a local fundraiser he did for a non-profit organization was sweet!

As a freelance writer, I have the opportunity to do and see things I otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to or better yet, wouldn’t even know about if I wasn’t out there looking and keeping my eyes and ears open.



However, this event was like the best kept secret in Upper Bucks County and I happened to find out from my boss who lives in East Stroudsburg – AKA, the Poconos. Seems her brother and his wife who are from Harleysville found out and told her about it and she just happened to mention it to me.

Lucky for me, I have the type of personality that could be described as terrier in nature and I keep at something till I get what I need or want. So, a few phone calls and emails later, I had secured two seats in the press section to see Alton Brown in person.

Always a fear to see someone famous that you really admire after having a one-sided relationship with their TV or radio or print persona. You hope that they are all you have imagined them to be.

In the past few years I have been lucky to have seen Garrison Keillor from Pubic Radio International and National Public Radio’s, A Prairie Home Companion and NPR’s David Sedaris. Both were great on stage and David Sedaris was lovely in person, chatting a bit during a book signing at the venue where I saw him. So far, I’ve been lucky to have good experiences, but there’s always that trepidation associated with the event.

Alton – and I call him that due to that one-sided relationship I have with him from watching The Food Network for the past 10 years – was even better in person than on TV. He exhibited his knowledge during a cooking demo, but his sense of humor and camaraderie with the audience was exceptional.

His Good Eats culinary assistant, Tamie Cook and he had a rapport that seems to occur when two people know one another well enough to work smoothly together and spar back and forth enough to see it’s fun for them and those of us watching.




Alton’s overall demeanor was the same as on Good Eats or Iron Chef America, just livelier and his attention to the audience was stunning…Quite up to poking verbal jibes back and forth when friendly hecklers spouted out silly questions or comments, he demonstrated to his fans that the stage show was unscripted and beyond the knowledge he also has a quick wit..

I took the opportunity to write about seeing him for the local paper I freelance for and if you’re interested, check this out http://www.buckscountyherald.com/~Dining%20Around%202-25.pdf

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