Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

[Lightning Rod]

Picture this:

You've died and gone to Heaven (or Hell, if you prefer)

In either place you eat your meals at a large table. In Heaven it's called a lavish restaurant.

In Hell it's probably called the chow hall.

Your table has room for ten.

Who would you be sitting with?

I think I would be at the same table as Hunter Thompson, Alleister Crowley, Tim Leary, Judy Garland, Charlie Parker, Lenny Bruce, Gertrude Stein and Dorothy Parker.


what's the difference between heaven and hell?

At Hell's dinner table, everybody has a huge fork with some great food on the end but they can't feed themselves because the forks are too long to reach their mouths so they spend an eternity in longing and hunger.


In Heaven. everybody also has a big fork with some great food on the end so since they can't feed themselves because the forks are too long, they extend them across the table to feed their companions. An eternity of feasting and joy.

pretty simple really

Who would be at your No Exit dinner table?

[Terri]

Oooh. I love this.

I want Marc Chagall, Giotto, Lou Reed, Richard Thompson (they don't have to be dead yet; I'M not--), Alice Neel, Egon Schiele, Federico Fellini, Jean Dubuffet, Koko Taylor, and Virginia Woolf. Is that ten? I still want Isabel Eberhardt.

Thanks, Lightnin. This one made me happy to think about.

[Lightning Rod]

oops, I only had nine
add Whoopie Goldburg

[Doreen Peri]

i loved that you included the heaven vs hell description... i heard that years ago and have always loved it. Wish I could remember where I heard it and who wrote it but I can't... but it's great to hear it again!

A "No Exit" dinner table, huh? Hmmm..... this is a pretty tough question. I guess that means we're stuck with 'em? forever? heh... Hell, forever is a VERY long time. I'll have to think on this.

I saved a chair for someone for years who wouldn't show up for dinner. It made me sooo sad. So I have to deal with that before I can decide who to invite next.

OK.. I'll start with Jean Paul himself and maybe he can help me decide who else to include.

Oh and Dorothy Parker. So that's 2.

Ohhhh... and Lewis Carroll. That makes 3.

7 left.

Maybe I'll be back.



Do you have James Thurber's ph #?


.....
interesting lists, LR and Terri...!

[judih]

At a dinner party, one would need people who eat food. That limits it. Gandhi for example might not appreciate the soup, but it would depend on the day.

Let's see - if they're not fasting that night, I'd like to see
Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Gertrude Stein, Matisse, Allen Ginsberg, Graham Seidman (to take the photos), (hey, i've invited a lot of jews - i guess it's in the genes), my daughter, and panta rhei.

i think that'd be swell.
what'd we have? Amazing soup, the finest fresh salad, a brilliant pasta dish with a side of crumbled hard cheeses. Red wine - Cabernet Sauvignan or a fine Shiraz. Dessert - an amazing home created coffee ice cream with espresso. Fine, slim cookies for added crunch.
A lovely after-dinner all nighter with pipes and songs and heated discussions.

lots of rooms for individual refreshment. And night air for clearing the head.

[Lightning Rod]

I would give my chair to Lisa Simpson

[judih]

if you get Lisa, i want Bugs.

[YABYUM]

i prefer my meal in a state of nirvana.

my ten guests would be: neil cassidy, jack kerouac, allen ginsberg, walt whitman, henry therou, (i can never remember how to spell his last name and perhaps a face to face would help with this)george carlin, Hunter thompson, john lennon, paul the apostle and just to add some intensity....Dr. kevorkian.

and i think i would like to have sausage sandwiches from my home town as our main course.

I imagine this group would be a fantastic night of converse and debate.

[bennie2]

ten people?

christ! I can't function in groups that size. But, since this is hypothetical dining...

I'd have Billy Connolly, Bill Hicks, Jim Morrison, Yoda, Helen of Troy, Giuseppe Tornatore, Pablo Neruda, Oscar Wilde, and two empty seats, one at either side of me.

[Arcadia]

a table with all of you sitting would be great!!!!!! The problem is I only have 8 places in the table... and six chairs. I would invite all of you and also hope at the same time that some of you will come directly for drinks-hour, others wouldn´t mind to sit in plastic bancos and others wouldn´t mind to sit in cushions on the floor and hold their platos

[hester_prynne]

10 of us, dining on some delicious homemade macaroni and cheese, kale salad, cranberry fizzies and neopolitan ice cream for dessert.
Who would we be?

Jesus
Nat Hawthorne
Jane Austen
Sarah Vaughan
Eva Cassidy
Johnny Cash
Walt Whitman
John Lennon
Thomas Jefferson
Margaret Mead
Of course Bob Dylan would drop in too, making it 12, because of course I'm there so it rounds out the 11.....

H

[sooZen]

Gracie Allen, Miles Davis, Dale Chihuly, Miro, Pale Male (ok, I know he's a bird), Jane Goodall, judih, Janis Joplin, Molly Ivins, Dale Earnhardt, Gonzo and an mtmynd for good measure.

It would be pot luck altho Gracie can't cook, "This is a crazy receipe, it says to separate two eggs but it doesn't say how far to separate them..."

Miles would probably sit in the other room with his back to us but he makes a mean bar-b-que.

Chihuly would bring the coffee, Miro the potato salad, Pale Male a pigeon, Jane makes great spinach salad, judih can just bring herself!, Janis will provide libations, Molly cooks the buns, Dale Sr. burns the buns, Gonzo makes congealed jello salad and mtmynd is there for my heart burn.

[Dave The Dov]

I want to sit down with all my ancestors and fest!!!!
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