The Moth - The Moth Podcast: Birmingham

Episode Date: May 17, 2024

On this episode, we share two stories from Birmingham,  Alabama.Host: Suzanne RustStorytellers:Anne Wheeler tries to get a part in a play.Anthony Underwood figures that the best way to get good banana pudding is to make it himself.If you’d like to share your own story, or would just love to hear some incredible live storytelling, check out a Story Slam near you: https://themoth.org/eventsThe Moth would like to thank its listeners and supporters. Stories like these are made possible by community giving. If you’re not already a member, please consider becoming one or making a one-time donation today at themoth.org/giveback

Welcome to the Moth Podcast. I'm Suzanne Rust, the curator at the Moth and your host for this episode. In these next two stories, we'll be taking a trip to Birmingham, Alabama, where we've been hosting story slams since March 2019. Each story slam we produce really reflects the city it's a part of. There's some hilarious behind-the-scenes Hollywood tidbits in the LA Story Slam. The New York Story Slams have a real I'm walking here vibe, and the Birmingham Story Slams bring that wonderful sense of being on the front porch as the sun goes down, listening to a story in the dim twilight. Birmingham was one of the cities on the Moth's pop-up porch tour in 2022, and I was lucky enough to spend a week there getting to know hundreds of locals

and hear their stories. Great town, even better people. First up, we've got Anne Wheeler, who told this story at a Birmingham Story Slam where the theme of the night was vices. Here's Anne, live at the mall. One Sunday afternoon, I opened the Birmingham News, section eight, art and entertainment. On the second page, down on the left hand side, about two thirds of the way down, there was a little one column inch notice, open call auditions, Birmingham Festival Theater,

Sunday, two to five needed, three males, age 20 to 35, three females, age 20 to 35, one female, age 20 to 35. One female age 35 to 50. Next Sunday, I was there. I walked into the theater and the whole lobby was full of people. They were sitting on the floor and lounging against the wall, leaning over the counters, filling out the audition sheets.

When I got my audition sheets started to fill it out. Name, contact information, theater experience. And then I got to the bottom. There was a line that said, put a check next to the box of all of the following instruments that you can play. It was gonna be a musical, yes. Okay, piano, nope.

Keyboard, ah, no brainer. I was a piano major in college. Now if you know how to play the piano and you gotta play the keyboard, about all you need to know is where's the power switch and where's the volume control? Check keyboard. Next one, guitar.

Now, I've never had a guitar lesson in my life, but I am a child of the 60s. And back then, no self-respecting teenager got to their 18th birthday without at some point picking up a guitar and figuring out how to play a C and a D and a G chord, right? I mean if you could play those three chords and had a capo you could play any tune that was on the radio back then. It was great. Check guitar. Next one, accordion. Now I had never played an accordion in my life. And at that point, the only thing I wanted to do was go into the theater, interrupt the

audition, excuse me, Mr. Director, could you please tell me what instrument the female age 35 to 50 has got to play? Because if it wasn't the accordion, I didn't have to worry about that box. But there was no way to find that out. In that moment, the only thing I knew for certain was the more boxes I checked, the better chance I had of getting a part in that show. So here my professional training kicked in. I was a lawyer.

I was used to telling people how to testify under oath. And one thing we always say is listen carefully to the question. Only answer the question that is asked. Never volunteer. So I read that line again. Put a check in all of the boxes next to the instruments that you can play. Now I had never played an accordion but I had played the concertina, the squeeze box, you know?

Like it's that thing with the buttons on the edges and all the bellies in the middle. And after all, what is an accordion but, you know, kind of half of a squeeze box over here glued together with an upright keyboard over here. I mean, how hard can I play the accordion? Of course I can play the accordion. Chick accordion. The last box, drums. My favorite.

Again, never had a lesson. But I played the hammer dulcimer, right? It's like this. I played rhythm and backup all the time. And I knew from my drummer friends that the way you move and sort of do things to play that dulcimer, it's exactly what drummers do. Plus, I had an ace up my sleeve. Back home, I had a teenage son who was the drummer in a heavy metal punk rock garage band. I

already had a 20-piece drum kit, red with sparkles all over them and I had a built-in tutor. Check drums. I got up and went to hand my audition sheet in and I confess I had a few qualms about that check mark next to accordion, but I really wanted that part. I turned it in. Waited my turn, they called my name, I went in the theater, I read the part, went home and then you wait. A week later, I got it in. Waited my turn, they called my name, I went in the theater, I read the part, went home, and then you wait.

A week later, I got the call. I had the part. So, I didn't know which part. Except that it was female, 35 to 50. That I was sure of. Got down to the first read through, and it turned out the show was about four women who were friends. They decided to start a rock band because they wanted to

compete in the local battle of the bands because they were going to get a $5,000 first prize and these four friends thought we can do this. So at the end of the first act and the end of the second act these four women are on stage and there's a great rock band and we deliver a showstopper kind of big rock number at the end of each act. Well, turned out I didn't need to worry about the accordion. That part went to the gorgeous buxom blonde who could belt out a song like nobody's business and prance up and down in front of the audience while pretending to play the accordion. What did

I get? Well, let me just say this. For the run of that show, extended four weeks, from Thursday night through the Sunday matinee, I got to put on my black tights and my black turtleneck and high-top boots and a sleeveless red leather jacket covered with zippers. And red leather jacket covered with zippers and I got to live the dream. For those four weeks this otherwise respectable middle-aged lawyer got to be the drummer in a pug rock band on stage with lights and everything and it was great but I have to confess in the years since then, I have from time to time had occasion to ponder my behavior in that audition.

And I have asked myself, is it possible that your eager desire to get a part in that play sort of pushed you up to and maybe even across that very thin line between vice and virtue. I think if I had to make the argument in my defense, I would probably lose. But I'm sure of one thing. I am very confident that if the occasion arose again, knowing what

I know, with all the guilt that's been weighing on me through these years, keyboard Big check. Accordion. Check! That was Anne Wheeler. Anne is a storyteller and musician who divides her time between her native Birmingham and the mountains and rivers of Western North Carolina. In addition to family and local history stories, she loves telling tales from ancient Scotland and Ireland, often accompanying them with her Celtic harp. From Birmingham to Miami, London to Los Angeles, there are Moth story slams happening throughout the world. If you've only listened

to Moth Stories on the podcast or radio hour, you're missing out. There's something special about hearing them live, and maybe you'll be tempted to tell one yourself. You can find upcoming shows, themes, and dates by visiting our website at themoth.org slash events. Our next story is from, no points for guessing, a Birmingham story slam. We met Anthony Underwood at a green market in Birmingham where his bright smile and banana patterned pants drew us over to him. When he found out what we did at the Moth, he was intrigued. He came to a slam, threw his name in a hat, and got up on stage to tell his story.

Here's Anthony Underwood live at the mall. My mother made the best banana pudding in the world. Now this is fighting wars. This is the South. You make those statements at a church somebody gonna end up having a brawl and somebody get hurt but uh I trust this is a safe environment that I can share that okay. My mother Ruby Lee Underwood was born in 1929 in Harrod Times, Alabama. You can't Google that, that's not on the map. It's just a condition that you live under during that time. My mother had a first child when she was a teenager so she had to quit school and by the time she was 33 she had eight first child when she was a teenager, so she had to quit school and

By the time she was 33 she had eight of us and I was the sixth of eight kids She was a fighter I Remember when we when I was five years old we moved to government housing and I know how The Beverly Hill building felt when they moved to Beverly Hill to me. That that was a whole new world, you know? So we moved from a shotgun house to a house that had three bedrooms. And most importantly, we had a stove and a refrigerator. And you cannot appreciate those things until you live a short period not having those things.

With that stove, my mother worked magic. We had beans every other week, but she made those beans very special. We had cornbread. But one thing that she made special to my heart, it must be my birthmark, that she made a great banana pudding. Now those who know about real banana pudding, it's not easy to make. You got to stand with a stove and do some stirring and and make something happen. But someone who worked six days a week in domestic work to come and do that for her loved ones, it was very special to me.

My job at the time was to clean the pot. And that was the best job a kid can have. So I used that big spoon we call the table spoon and scrape that pot like a surgeon and make sure all that pudding was gotten out of that pot. And I cannot tell you there was any greater joy than that. My mother was when she made the banana pudding she's had sing those gospel songs, the Lord will make away somehow and she always give us some type of motivation about life. And I tell you though, when she gave me that pot and I cleaned it with a spoon, I don't know what she was talking about, but the Lord had made a way for me somehow

with all that pudding that I was able to eat from that spoon. When I became at finish high school, I left home. My mother's always called me and said, I got something special for you. I knew what it was. It was that good old banana pudding. So I come and spend time my mother and and share ideas and thoughts In 1997 she died and the phone calls of course stopped. It was a banana pudding was no longer available So I find myself going to a different restaurant. So when I see a banana pudding on the menu I get excited Wow banana pudding on the menu, I get excited. Wow, banana pudding. But more often than not, it wasn't the type of banana pudding my mother made.

There was a pop-up shop in a property that we was managing, and later was selling banana pudding, and it was very attractive, looked good, and I bought three. You know, banana pudding like religious, if you like, you're going to share with someone else. When I ate it, I realized it wasn't real banana pudding, so I went and told her my dissatisfaction. I said, this is not real banana pudding. This is fake. You know. My wife heard about the conversation and I thought that she would console me and say, don't worry honey, we'll find this banana pudding one day. But she turned on me. She said I was wrong by speaking to her later about banana pudding. Everybody make banana pudding different. She said by the way if you think you can

make one better make it yourself. That wasn't what I wanted to hear. So I didn't tell her but at that point I decided to find a way to make banana pudding. So So that next day I formulated a plan. I read, went on eBay, I went on YouTube and did my research about banana pudding. I talked to relatives who knew about my mother banana pudding and I got some ideas from them. So one Saturday evening I went to Walmart and I spent $35 to buy the ingredients for banana pudding. Now I know some of the ingredients we probably had in the house but obviously I figured I want to do it this way if I did not succeed I put it all in the garbage can and never tell my wife about the banana pudding trial. So but I made the banana

pudding, I put it in the refrigerator to chill. Or my wife of the next morning and say, hey, I got something I want you to try. I told her I made a banana pudding and she didn't believe me. She thought maybe it was too fair. It might have brought a banana pudding or something. I don't know. But anyway, she tried it and she told me something I couldn't believe. She said this is the best banana pudding I ever taste. Took it to work.

People loved it. One day she said, why don't you make one for us for our gathering for Thanksgiving. I did that and she said, what'd you charge me for? I said, $50. I figured I'd spend $35 for my initial ingredients and $15 for the hand mixer. And she paid for it. And I cannot tell you the joy that someone's willing to pay that kind of money for the banana

pudding that I made And I thought by my mother she worked I mean probably a whole month and she didn't make $50 back in those days So it was a confirmation My banana pudding now has been sold at Pop-up shop. We've got a certain restaurant care at the banana pudding. And people love it. They always say the same thing. It tastes like mama banana pudding. So somehow her transcending to me

how to make banana pudding, I was able to do what she did and it's made with love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That was Anthony Underwood. In 2003 Anthony Underwood was on the cover of

Used Car Dealership magazine as the automotive dealer of the year. Now he produces and sells his mom's homestyle banana pudding online at nannaspudding.com and at local Birmingham merchants. After Anthony told his story he actually shared some of his legendary banana pudding with the audience. I can confirm that it is delicious. Remember you can find Birmingham Story Slam Dates at the moth.org events where you can also find details about all of our other open mics and shows. We'll also have a link in our episode description.

That's it for this episode. If you like these stories, be sure to share this podcast with a friend and tell them to subscribe so they can take a listen as soon as it comes out. From all of us here at The Moth, we hope to see you and hear your stories soon. Suzanne Rust is The Moth's senior curatorial producer and one of the hosts of the Moth Radio Hour. In addition to finding new voices and fresh stories for the Moth stage, Suzanne creates playlists and helps curate special storytelling events. The rest of the Moth's leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Christina Norman,

Jennifer Hickson, Meg Bowles, Kate Tellers, Marina Glucce, Brandon Grant Walker, Leigh-Ann Gulley, and Aldi Casa. The Moth would like to thank its supporters and listeners. Stories like these are made possible by community giving. If you're not already a member, please consider becoming one or making a one-time donation today at themoth.org slash give back. All Moth stories are true, as remembered by the storytellers. For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story, and everything else, go to our website, themoth.org.

The Moth Podcast is presented by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, helping make public radio more public at PRX.org.