A few pics from Irish Fest 2013 at Gaelic Park just outside Chicago.
Runa
Irish Music School of Chicago
Fintan Stanley
Darby
Mother and baby – born earlier that day
Harp
Irish Wolfhound
Essays, Interviews, Observations, Pop Culture, Stories, and other Dodginess
My relationships with women. My friend Johnny’s incontinence. The Chicago Blackhawks.
All of which have fallen under the spell of Nicolle Moreaux, a spurned French-American girl from my past.
“She won’t turn you into a vampire or anything, but she could cock-up your relationships”
Nicolle Moreaux had a crush on me in high school. She was too sweet, cute, gangly. She was new in the area, attended a different school – which I thought was a high school. Turns out she was in eighth grade. I was a junior – so at that time it just seemed wrong. I wanted to date high school girls. The discovery of this came after we hung out a few times (we met at a concert). She was good at covering it up – plus I wasn’t so interested where I did any digging about her anyway. Later that summer leading into her freshman year I ran into her at a party.
Apparently she had wished to get things going again, but I was with another girl. I did the whole “like you as a friend” sorta thing and she left the party in tears. It kind of put a suck into that party for me, but things got worse when the girl I thought I was with left with this asshole, “Rich” Joey, at the end of the night. Damn you Rich Joey and your Porsche and your stupid shirts.
Nicolle’s best friend Sophie saw my friend Johnny a few weeks later. She told him that Nicolle cursed me. I couldn’t get the full story out of Johnny when he attempted to tell me because he was too stoned. So I messaged and called Sophie.
“What’s this about a curse?”
“How can I explain?” Sophie said. “It’s kinda like that witch Angelique in Dark Shadows. I mean, she won’t turn you into a vampire or anything, but she could cock-up your relationships.”
“I didn’t know Nicolle had a cauldron,” I said. “I can’t see her owning anything more dangerous than pom-poms.”
Sophie said it wasn’t like that. There is no “ritual” as far as she knew. Nicolle believes she’s been wronged and blurts out something about “curse him/her/you/it.” And for the remainder of high school life my girlfriend situation was cocked-up indeed.
Nicolle wasn’t too fond of my friend Johnny. I didn’t really see it then, but he could be a little assy when it came to her. Apparently he was exactly that when he ran into her at a different party in the fall. He doesn’t remember much, because he was really stoned, except for some “evil look” she gave him before leaving the party. Later that night he shit himself. What can I say. He was still my friend.
The next night a few of us were driving to yet another party when Johnny insisted we stop at the nearest gas station, or somewhere with a toilet. He bolted out of the car and spent some 15 minutes in some shithole toilet at a Clark station. He sauntered back to the car looking like death, and smelling like it too. I’m not sure why he admitted this to us, but Johnny said he was in such a hurry to void himself that he simultaneously flicked on the bathroom switch while sitting on the toilet. There was one problem. The toilet seat was up. There was another problem. Somebody laid down a No. 2 before him and didn’t flush. Ever since then Johnny has been known to many as either “Crap” or “Clark.”
The next day during cross-country practice Johnny disappeared for a while. We lost him during a 3-mile run through town. Later, while we were all back at the school doing our post-run stretches, here comes Johnny with that same walk as the previous night. It turns out he had a “crap attack” and found himself taking a detour to a river bed to relieve himself. Maybe he had the flu, or food poisoning. Or maybe, just maybe, he had Nicolle. A case of the Nicolle.
I called Sophie.
“All I know is she said he was an asshole to her at that party and that he probably wouldn’t be feeling well for a while,” she said.
Later that spring I started seeing a new girl named Elizabeth. She came to watch me compete in an indoor track meet against three other schools. One of them was Nicolle’s. Apparently there was a basketball tournament at the same school and Nicolle was a cheerleader for one of the school’s that also happened to have its track team at my meet. They decided to come over to cheer on their track team once the basketball game ended. I was about to run my big race, the 4x800m relay. I saw Nicolle and started to panic. First because of the curse. I was told by Sophie that the closer she is, physically, the stronger is the curse. My second reason for being a little freaked was her looks. She was a more beautiful and athletic version of herself from a year ago.
During the race I had to run right past where Nicolle and her squad were cheering. I tried to block them out as I was nearing them but my legs gave out and I fell. Race over. I limped away and sucked in some nasty indoor track air and wanted to throw up. Elizabeth eventually dumped me for some conceited guy in her theater class.
I tried to reconcile with Nicolle but she would have none of it. I had a few hand-written poems and letter that I kept from Nicolle (she was a voracious writer no matter what the platform) and Johnny thought I should burn them, thinking it would help. I’m not sure if he thought it would help him, although his bowel seemed to have calmed down (although odd things still happened to him). I didn’t. I saved them. I still have them.
Nicolle ended up graduating a year early and headed east to attend a prestigious liberal arts college where she starred on the lacrosse team and was a campus activist.
Now let’s get to the Blackhawks. They were predicted to win the Stanley Cup this year. The playoffs started out great and then the team fired Susannah Collins, who covered the team for Comcast Sports Chicago – which is partially owned by the Blackhawks. They are one loss away from elimination by the Detroit Red Wings. A lot of people were bothered by Susannah’s firing, calling it unjustly and hypocritical.
And so was Nicolle.
I heard about it from Sophie, who was in Chicago last week. Yea, she says, Nicolle was up in arms and didn’t hide her feelings on the matter on social media. She was also upset (rightfully so) about the sexist treatment Blackhawks player Duncan Keith served up to a different female journalist at the end of the regular season.
“She cursed the Blackhawks,” Sophie said.
Some people are already referring to the ‘Hawks collapse as “The Curse of Susannah Collins.” But I know someone else behind it. Her name’s Nicolle Moreaux and she’s in grad school and listening to Warpaint. And rumor has it her mom was once in a Sparks video.
I told this guy at Mickey’s pub in Bucktown, we call him Left Hand Jimmy, about this.
“It could all be true,” he said. “But then again, it doesn’t sound like much. It could be you’re just an asshole.”
UPDATE July 11: The Blackhawks won the title. Nicolle, it turns out, was in France when this occurred. “Plus I really didn’t give a shit anymore,” she was heard saying.
Eva Green as Angelique Bouchard in Dark Shadows
Lysette Anthony as Angelique Bouchard in Dark Shadows
Ariel Tweto became America’s Sweetheart with the popularity of Discovery Channel’s Flying Wild Alaska. If you didn’t fall in love with her then, maybe it was during her week-long appearance in Scotland last year with The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that co-starred Mila Kunis, Rashida Jones, and David Sedaris. Ariel’s been on Craig’s show probably more than any other guest. He likes her. So do we. Ariel recently talked with The Dodgy while hanging out near her North Hollywood home.
Craig Ferguson
“I owe him so much. He believed in me. He watched the show. If it wasn’t for him, I would never had gone to Scotland. I’ve got a new, different fan following because of him.”
Ariel’s most recent appearance on The Late Late Show was April 17. It wasn’t planned. She was at a meeting there and was asked to fill in for a guest who didn’t show up. “I hang out in the green room every once in a while,” she says. “They’re like family. Now if a guest doesn’t show up they call me.”
Speaking of family, Ariel visits hers in Alaska about three times a month. “I’m always in Alaska,” she says. “I can’t get out of there.” Ariel said her parents, for the first time in 26 years, went on a vacation alone without their three daughters (to Hawaii). “They survived. They’re busy and loving life.” Ariel said her youngest sister, who chose not to be on the TV show, is now flying for her dad and just finished a solo helicopter flight. “She’s a little trooper.” Ariel herself is flies about once a week out of Santa Monica “to maintain the hours.”
Ariel the Beer Connoisseur
“Beer! I love beer. I like my Alaskan Ales. Lately I’ve been into stouts though. Anything that resembles Guinness.” She had a long list of favorite beers on her phone – which she lost. “It’s a good excuse to start the list over again.” She was also familiar with the Flying Dog Ale I was drinking and said at one bar where you “build your own bucket” she chose all dog-themed brews.
The Perfect Date
“Something outdoors and adventurey. Something I haven’t done before that would get my adrenaline going. Because I’m not really scared of anything. I wouldn’t want to go to a movie because I can’t sit still. I love movies, but I don’t know. You’re not talking at the movies.” Ariel says she’s single but has been on a few dates “but I end up talking too much or doing something.”
“A lot of people in LA are very metro and I just take two seconds to throw on a hat. I like manly men like in Alaska or someone who fixes things or pilots or mechanics. I don’t know. I don’t know what I like. I like Blake Shelton.”
Ariel can’t see herself settling down anytime soon and right now just wants to be the best aunt to her older sister’s kids. “I love traveling and exploring and goofing off and I don’t think that would be…maybe down the line,” she says.
Music
Blake is her “celebrity crush” and she’s been getting into reggae and country. She also likes Elton John, Billy Joel, and “REM is awesome.”
Ariel’s music recommendation to me was “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke and Pharrel Williams. My recommendation to her was the band Hooverphonic.
Movies and Television
TV favorites include the Travel Channel and Food Court. She liked Girls but wasn’t too crazy for season two because it got darker with all the OCD and “stabbing ears.”
“I don’t want to be depressed after watching TV,” she says. Movie likes include Dumb and Dumber and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Her current favorite is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. “The book is even better.”
Sports
Ariel likes the Minnesota Vikings (her father’s from Minnesota) and is huge LA Clippers fan. Being from Alaska she has to like hockey, right? “I’m obsessed with the Penguins,” she says. “Sydney Crosby – aaaaahhh.”
College
Ariel is enrolled in television and film production classes. She started college in Boston immediately after high school but then “Flying Wild” started. Then every time she tried to take classes again a new project would come along and she’d have to cancel. “My parents always said once you start something you have to finish it.”
Ariel is also taking acting classes. She’s been told she’s “too animated” and would maybe be good for Broadway because she’s loud. “I just want to do everything,” she says.
Future Projects
Ariel is pitching an animated series called Ariel’s View in which she plays herself, goes on adventures and is friends with animals. It’s in development and has been pitched to major networks. As far as another reality show, she’s open to anything. “Nobody knows what to do with me,” she says. Ariel says she’s not dramatic enough for those kind of shows that strive on “cat fights.”
“I just want to make people happy and give them laughter in their day. We only live once so we might as well be nice and happy and make other people happy.”
B-sides
Ariel is enrolled in sign language classes.
Her name comes from, of course, flying – as in aerial. Her sister Ayla was named for a character in “The Clan of the Cave Bear.”
During our interview she was stopped by someone who said she had nice hair. She believes she’s been followed before while running and says everyone lectures her about safety and stuff, including Craig Ferguson. “I’m not dingy and I know what I’m doing,” she says. “I’ve been traveling myself since I was 13.”
Ariel gets recognized once or twice a day especially in airports. “If you’re in aviation you watched the show,” she says. “If I’m talking people recognize my voice more than they recognize me. I have an annoying voice.” – No she doesn’t.
Ariel, like some of my other interviewees, is up for an idea I have called “The Pint Interviews. ” We visit a local pub and share a few pints of our favorite beverage during a videotaped interview. “It sounds like a great idea,” she says. “I want to come have a drink with you.”
All photos courtesy of Ariel Tweto
The Dodgy 