"...spread your wings to the sky..."

Sigh...those famous people DO always die in threes, don't they?


First Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins (Tragic home invasion shooting- also looks like there's a break in that case...nice to see the wheels of justice move rapidly every once and awhile...)


Next, Kevin DuBrow- lead screamer of the 80's metal band QUIET RIOT (nobody's talking- sounds like maybe he fell off a wagon or two) and now THIS bombshell!



CLEARWATER, Fla. - Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over crazy obstacles including Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Bummer of a week. DuBrow and Knievel really hit me hard! As a kid growing up in the 70's I, like most kids my age, idolized this guy! I had the action figures (with the cool motorcycle you could rev up and jump over stuff with!) and I spent many a Saturday afternoon constructing ramps to jump over garbage cans with my bike, or bails of hay with my motor cycle. (Somehow, I never so much as even got a skinned knee doing this- talk about a charmed life!)
Then, as a teenager in the 80's I adored QUIET RIOT! A lot of people look at these guys as sort of joke worthy now, but they really kicked open a lot of doors for the hard rock community back in the day. They were the first metal band EVER to have a #1 album, and amongst their early band members was one Randy Rhodes, perhaps one of the finest rock guitarists ever to grace the stage (who died a very tragic death WAY the hell too young!). These guys also were hitting it big around my Junior year of High School, so obviously this was some very seminal music for me.

It truly is a bitch to get older and watch the people you admired in your youth pass away. But such is the circle of life I suppose (cue the ELTON JOHN music and the barf bags!) Perhaps it's also the paternal thing, as the wife is about to give birth in a few weeks... nothing to make you stare your mortality right in the eyes like having a child. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, mind you...

Oh well- Rest in peace Mr Knievel... tell Kevin and Sean we miss 'em already.



* And just to keep the Q and A going (albeit in a slightly morbid direction)...what loss in the entertainment world has hit you the hardest this year?

"I've got another confession to make..."

(pictured, one of my fave shows of the year ANTON IN SHOW BUSINESS at AGL)

OK gang- so since another year is almost in the books, we're gonna do a few BEST OF lists!

Let's get the ball rolling in grand fashion- BEST PLAY YOU SAW IN 2007! It can be local, professional, Broadway, what have you....what was the best piece of Theatre you witnessed in the past 12 months? **NOTE- things you were in / directed/ designed for/ etc DON'T COUNT! And another thing.. this ain't just for locals. I wanna hear from you folks out in the hinterlands as well...

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOTS!!!! And just for fun, let's try to start getting these lyrics again! You people are gettin lazy on me...

"I see no sense in this crying and grieving"

Hey Gang!

Follow this link...

http://www.larryneuzelphotography.com/

and it'll carry you to shots of our recent production of THOREAU.

Unfortunatley, the set wasn't 100% the night Larry showed, but they still look pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

In for my usual holiday tradition, feel free to post anything you personally feel thankful for this year.

Peace,

X

"The Sun is just a morning star"

Greetings, one and all.

BCTC , in cooperation with AGL, presents Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee's THE NIGHT THOREAU SPENT IN JAIL, Nov 15th - 17th at the DAC. Showtimes are at 8pm each night.

Tickets are $5 for students , $10 for GA. For more info, call the DAC box office.

Love to see you all out there. It's a great little show we have in store for you.

Now, if you'll excuse me , I have 1000 things left to do and a sick toddler...


-x

" 84-68!!!!"

Soooo.....Tubby may have had his issues as the coach of the UK b-ball team, but to my recollection, he never got his ASS handed to him by the likes of GARDNER WEBB!!!!!!!!

Somewhere, in Minnesota, a man named Orlando is probably still enjoying a very well deserved fit of laughter!

"Look for...the union label..."

Well...looks like my favorite show WON'T be returning in February after all! In case you've been under a rock, there's a writers strike. This, I'm afraid, will be the result:

"Look for lots more unscripted shows, which were not a major commercial force (if they existed at all) during the last WGA strike nearly 20 years ago. “The Real World” didn’t arrive on MTV until 1992. The first three major-network reality shows – “Survivor,” “Big Brother” and the ABC version of “Making the Band” – didn’t arrive until eight years later.
Variety reports that CBS is contemplating the first-ever spring edition of “Big Brother” – possibly a celebrity edition – to launch in March should the strike prove lengthy. The highly rated “Brother” is a particularly potent network weapon as it affordably provides CBS three hours of new primetime programming weekly. "

GREAT! Just what the world needs...ANOTHER edition of BIG BROTHER! (As if the one in Washington wasn't enough!) My question is this- Is this going to be akin to the Baseball strike of a few years ago? Is it going to drive TV watchers away in droves? Is this finally going to be the death knell of scripted TV? I hope not, but when you look at the less than stellar ratings most of these shows get anyway, then add in a potentially lengthy strike? I'm afraid many of the consumers may say "No thanks!" when these shows return. There is actually discussion I've read that perhaps one of the major networks is considering going to , and staying WITH, an "all reality format". There are also TONS of viewers who'd rather watch their shows (particularly those with a continuous story arch) on DVD or the web. I just bought Season 3 of VERONICA MARS (a DAMN fine show, btw) and I never watched a single episode on TV.

Perhaps in this day and age of so much new media and new ways of distribution, the old TV model is broken. (I've thought for years that the Nielsen ratings were an absolute joke! How many times have we seen a show die an premature death, only to have the network bombarded with MILLIONS of protests from angry fans, ALL of whom must be watching in some fashion?)I've also wondered for years why studios don't do more direct to dvd releases with shows (or shows that the networks foolishly cancel that OBVIOUSLY still have a big market, i.e. the aforementioned VERONICA, or Buffy, Alias, etc...) Perhaps a good by-product of this strike is that it might usher in a different model for creating and distributing these products. Who knows...all I know is that Howie Mandel is most likely about to get an unexpected contract extension from NBC!

I won't get into the reasons for this strike, and whether or not it's warranted (probably only one person who comes to this watering hole with a truly learned opinion on that subject), and I was raised to respect the work that Unions do in this country. I just can't help but wondering, though, if perhaps some of these folks might not be shooting themselves, and the fans of their work, in the foot .

Thoughts?

.