The Piedmont Chronicles
~ est. 2010 ~
[State of GA]
[Newton Co.]
[Newton Co.]
(C-town Representin' * 9/5/16) -
The other day I eased down to that lovely mill village of Porterdale, as I often do, to visit our old pal, contributing writer to the Chronicles, and general friend-of-the program, Mr. J. Ellis Millsaps. AKA Da. He's alive, and doing fine. I told him that I'd been wanting to do a Q & A with him for this fine publication, and he happily obliged.
Enjoy!
- Write-up done in Porterdale, GA; 1 Sept. '16 -
- Describe yourself in 5 words: Calm - Funny - Opinionated - Reckless - Studious
- Top 5 bands of all time: The Beatles, Nirvana, Outcast, The Stones, and The Who.
- Top 5 authors of all time:
- Robert Penn Warren
- Ken Kesey
- Shakespeare
- Lee Smith (N.Carolina)
- Faulkner
4. Top 3 food dishes to cook: Seafood Gumbo * Chicken Kiev *
Steak Au Poivre; favorite foods to eat: Lobster, Veal Marsala (ed. note - yes, you read that right, Mr. Bleeding Heart Intelligentsia supports the barbaric and inhumane treatment of baby cows), Oysters Rockefeller.
5. What are Da's five biggest accomplishments? 1. Raising his kids. 2. Helping to form and having been involved with Smart Growth Newton Co. 3. Bicycling the Natchez Trace. 4. Hitting the 99th percentile on his LSATs. 5. Having written two novels.
6. And his 3 biggest regrets?
- Something about when he was in Law School and him and Ms. Cynthia were living in 5 Points and they had just had Jack. Well, wouldn't you know it - their cat up and had kittens. With exams looming and money tight, Ellis felt like he couldn't deal with it, so he went into the neighborhood behind their place in order to leave the cats, preferably, at Vince Dooley's house. Da's not so sure if he had the right house because he did it under cover of darkness. Well...lo and behold, a while later and those cats showed back up next door to where he and his family were living. A neighbor apparently noticed and told Ellis that he thought his cats were next door. Allegedly, Da was just like - "Nope. Not my cats..." He says he regrets it, not for the actions involved, but because he lied about it. My word...
- That he didn't study entertainment law at UGA Law School like he felt like he should have.
- And he regrets not bringing flowers to his wife when their oldest child was born.
7. How is life as a recovering attorney? "It's easy...low stress. I can do whatever I want." Did you ever really and truly enjoy the practice of law? "There was a time when I was really excited about...but, at the end of the day, it was just about putting food on the table...it was never a true passion.
8. Tell our readership what you're up to, Ellis, or, if you will - whatcha gonna do, Da? - Still doing Trivia at The Speakeasy on Wednesday nights, and he is starting to do some culinary work in the kitchen in that same establishment(ed. note:the man has mad food skills. True story. In fact, just last night, Me and the girls went to a get-together that Da hosted and he just outdid himself. The esteemed and honorable Madam Mayor of Porterdale was there, and she can attest to it as well).
- Publishing his two finished novels, and working on a third, and continuing to write here in this space.
- Finally getting the much-anticipated Porterdale Municipal Bocci Ball Court finished.
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Hope y'all enjoyed that. 'Til next time.
Yours Very Truly,
-MBM