Reader Review
Brave Combo
While a group that has been nominated for two Emmys this year and won the 1999 Grammy for Best Polka Band can't exactly be called "obscure", Brave Combo doesn't get the buzz they deserve. I like the description on Group Dance Epidemic, "Fun... and Functional". The group, which has changed personnel since their 1979 debut, plays dance music, and they play it very well... and they don't necessarily play the music you expect in the way you expect.
I only have two of their CDs and one tape (and have been to one concert), but I'm already a big fan. They gave a great concert here in the Twin Cities a few years ago (joking that the tech crew did a terrific job since all three groups on the stage that night needed sound checks for accordians). They had they crowd dancing to polkas and chicken dances and almost anything else. Any doubts about their playfulness were erased by the url of their web site, www.brave.com/bo.
Mostly what you do with Brave Combo is dance. They know their music and they know their musical styles and they're not afraid have you stomp your feet to an unexpected beat. As a DJ, I had people dancing to O Holy Night Cha Cha Cha from Musical Varieties when one of the dancers turned to me and screamed, "This isn't a cha cha, it's a Christmas carol!" AND a floor wax...
Without realizing exactly what's going on, you'll be shaking your bootie to The Hokey Pokey, Sixteen Tons, Mexican Hat Dance, People Are Strange (take THAT, Lizard King), The Chicken Dance, Havana Gila Twist, Never On Sunday and you have a short time to fill out your dance card answers to Jeopardy (schottische). Heck, I didn't even know what a schottische was until I danced to it. Fortunately, the CD liner notes on Group Dance Epidemic give dance instructions.
Small word of warning: Their releases often contain tracks from previous releases, so you don't have to get all of the CDs to get most of the group's recordings. Still, they're a lot of fun and if you can see them in concert I recommend going (for March and April they're only scheduled for Texas, but they occasionally foray outside the state).
Dave Romm is a conceptual artist with a radio show and a web site and a very weird CD collection. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here.
Thanks, Dave!
From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The kid ruled, and Faux it was...the whole package - 'King Of The Hills', 'Simpsons', 'Malcolm',
and 'Bernie Mac', too.
Thanks to TV #2 also got to see some of Angela Bassett's wonderful work in 'The Rosa Parks Story' on CBS.
And, thanks to TV #3 was able to also check out some of the Olympics, but thanks to commercial-over-saturation, it was
damn near impossible to enjoy. I hearby dub this XIX Winter Olympiad, 'Triumph Of The $hill'.
Tonight, Monday, CBS wakes up and realizes that it's sweeps. The whole night is
fresh...'King Of Queens', 'Yes, Dear', 'Raymond', 'Becker', and
'Family Law'.
NBC is also fresh, with 'Fear Factor' (the gimmick is WWF players), 'Third Watch', and
'Crossing Jordan'.
ABC also is fresh with 'Bloopers' and the movie, 'Practical Magic'.
The WB has fresh episodes of '7th Heaven' and 'Angel'.
Faux, fresh, too, has 'Boston Public' and 'Ally McBeal'.
UPN keeps the fresh streak going with 'The Hughleys', 'One On One', 'The Parkers',
and 'Girlfriends'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Creator Of ''The Boondocks''
Aaron McGruder
Controversial cartoonist Aaron McGruder, the creator of "The Boondocks," the story of a group of African-American city
kids adjusting to life in white suburbia, raises a clenched fist after accepting the Chairman's Award at the 33rd annual
NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles, California February 23, 2002. The taped show is scheduled to air March 1 on FOX.
Photo by Jim Ruymen
Speaking Off-Script?
Aaron Sorkin
"West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin says that the media portrays President Bush in too flattering a light, and he charges his NBC colleague
Tom Brokaw with leading the suck-up brigade. Sorkin, a recovering cocaine addict, says a recent Brokaw-anchored day-in-the-life look at Bush
was tantamount to "waving pompoms." "We're simply pretending to believe that Bush exhibits unspeakable courage," Sorkin tells the New Yorker,
noting, "Tom Brokaw let it happen." He says a more accurate portrait is an upcoming documentary about Bush's campaign plane, which shows him
wading into a throng of margarita-mixing journalists announcing, "It takes an animal to know an animal."
Aaron Sorkin
Eggboy has a lot more details....drudge
Interview In 'Time' Magazine
Bono
Rock star Bono says he's tired of just dreaming about helping the world's poor and sick.
"I'm into doing at the moment," the U2 singer tells Time magazine in its Feb. 24 issue, on newsstands Monday.
"I know how absurd it is to have a rock star talk about the World Health Organization or debt relief or HIV/AIDS in Africa," he acknowledges.
But the 41-year-old celebrity has access to media and money, and power-brokers listen to him.
As chief benefactor of a debt-relief advocacy group, Bono recently sat on a World Economic Forum dais with Bill Gates,
discussing how to save Africa from financial ruin.
"I refused to meet him at first," Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told the magazine.
But their scheduled half-hour session stretched to 90 minutes, and O'Neill changed his mind: "He's a serious person. He cares
deeply about these issues, and you know what? He knows a lot about them."
Bono
Visiting In LA
Liza Minnelli
If you ever doubted that Liza Minnelli's wedding next month will be a spectacle worthy of Las Vegas (or Madame Tussaud's),
consider her engagement party Thursday night in L.A.
Michael Jackson, Liz Taylor and Whitney Houston couldn't make it. But there was no shortage of vintage celebs.
Red Buttons, Ann Miller, Robert Goulet, Loni Anderson, Martin Landau, Eva Marie Saint and Janet Leigh were among the 200 or so
friends who came to toast Liza and her fiancé, manager David Gest, at Ian Schrager's Mondrian Hotel.
"They were the oldest people I've ever seen — it was like the 'Night of the Living Dead,'" said one snippy spy too young to
remember these legends in their glory days.
The tented poolside party also drew Buzz Aldrin, Nancy Sinatra, Larry King and wife Shawn, Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss,
former O.J. lawyer Robert Shapiro and Liza's no-longer-estranged sister, Lorna Luft.
James Ingram and Michael Feinstein both paid tribute to the couple with some lovely ballads. Then Gest took the mike and beckoned
Liza to entertain. Accompanied by Feinstein, she started with a vampy version of "I Love a Piano." After that came a re-tooled,
slower rendition of her signature, "New York, New York," which she dedicated to the victims of Sept 11.
Some are still mystified by her impending marriage to Gest, a longtime bachelor, but have to give them their due.
Says one: "I don't know what's going on there, but they do look like they're in love."
Liza Minnelli
Visiting In Jerusalem
Hillary Rodham Clinton
U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton visits the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem February 24, 2002, the scene of two Palestinian suicide attacks
within the last six months. Clinton is on a 24-hour solidarity visit which includes meetings with Israeli prime minister Ariel
Sharon and other officials.
Photo by Gil Cohen Magen
Defacing US Currency
The 'Elvis' Quarter
Elvis Presley Enterprises has licensed a company to replace George Washington on some of Tennessee's 2002 quarters with a color
illustration of the King of Rock 'n' Roll.
The coins, souvenirs honoring Presley on the 25th anniversary of his death, went into production this month through the International
Collector's Society. The process fuses a color portrait of Elvis over Washington's face.
Pete Davidson, EPE' senior licensing manager, said the British colony of Gibraltar mints Elvis coins as part of its currency, but the
refaced quarter is the only option in U.S. currency.
Secret Service Agent Tim Viertel said defacing U.S. currency is a misdemeanor crime but the Elvis quarters are in a gray area
because they are not part of a deceptive scheme.
"I don't know of a U.S. attorney's office around who would prosecute it," Viertel said.
The 'Elvis' Quarter
Big Dog Watch
Bill Clinton
Former President Bill Clinton is to head a mission seeking solutions to Africa's problems ranging from AIDS to debt, a group
of center-left government leaders said on Saturday.
The 11 leaders also called for a fight against terrorism and its causes, said they would work to carry out the Kyoto climate
change protocol rejected by the United States, and urged better global financial inspection to counter money laundering and tax evasion.
Clinton, who visited six African nations four years ago, the first U.S. president to do so, would identify the steps needed to be
taken by the world community and African governments to tackle Africa's challenges, they said.
Clinton was not in Stockholm for the "progressive summit." Africa was one of the main topics at the summit, attended by South African
President Thabo Mbeki, and officially devoted to deepening democracy, improving government and fostering development in a globalized economy.
The summit was the latest in a series of meetings set up by Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to bring together leaders
sharing an ideology seeking to combine capitalist market economy with a strong role for government in social welfare.
Besides Blair, Mbeki and Persson, the summit included French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Portuguese
Prime Minister Antonio Guterres and Polish President Aleksandr Kwasniewski.
From outside Europe came Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Chilean President Ricardo
Lagos, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Bill Clinton
Most Popular PBS Series In Prime Time
'Antiques Roadshow'
The man who owns the U.S. rights to the "Antiques Roadshow" program has sued Boston's public television station for $130,000,
claiming the station failed to comply with their licensing agreement.
Daniel M. Farrell says WGBH won't let him audit its records, according to a lawsuit filed in Hampden Superior Court. He wants
a court order to force the station to give him an accounting of its ancillary revenues from the show.
WGBH generates money from sales of "Antiques Roadshow" products, including a board game, books and calendars.
The show, which features members of the public getting free appraisals for their antiques and heirlooms, has about 16 million
regular viewers, according to court documents, and is the most popular prime-time show on PBS.
'Antiques Roadshow'
NAACP Image Awards
Saturday Night
Actor Denzel Washington on Saturday won the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Award
for best actor for the fifth time in the last seven years.
Last year he won for his portrayal of a pioneering black football coach in "Remember the Titans" and in 2000 he secured the award for his role
as a boxer in "Hurricane."
Actress Halle Berry, who has been nominated for the best actress Oscar this year for the racially charged "Monster's Ball" won the NAACP's best
actress award but for a different movie, the spy thriller "Swordfish."
NAACP's best movie award went to "Ali", a movie about legendary boxer Muhammad Ali which received mixed reviews and a relatively low box office.
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice was presented with this year's "President's Award", an honor which last year when to
former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
The show was hosted by comedian Chris Tucker.
NAACP Image Awards
Please let me know if you would like to see the 'Condi-all-dressed-up-with-somewhere-to-go' picture tomorrow.
Scheduled To Perform At Grammy Awards
From Bennett To Bono
Billy Joel will be joined by Tony Bennett to sing "New York State of Mind" at the forty-fourth-annual Grammy Awards on February
27th. The collaboration is one of several pairings announced by the Recording Academy this week. Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lil' Kim
and Mya will reprise their hit cover of "Lady Marmalade" from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack with the song's original singer, Patti
LaBelle, who took the song to Number One in 1975. And India.Arie, who is up for seven Grammys, will join Brian McKnight (who is
nominated for five), Al Green and Hezekiah Walker for a special inspirational segment of the program.
Those performers will join U2, Alicia Keys, Alan Jackson, Destiny's Child with Alejandro Sanz, Bob Dylan, the Dave Matthews Band,
OutKast, 'N Sync with Nelly, Train and musicians from the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack as the evening's live entertainment.
Don Henley and Trisha Yearwood have also been confirmed as presenters, joining Bonnie Raitt, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Ja Rule,
Kid Rock, the Dixie Chicks, Gloria Estefan, Diana Krall, Gwen Stefani, Michael W. Smith and comedians Ray Romano and Kevin James.
Scheduled To Perform At Grammy Awards
Orange British Academy Film Awards
Sunday Night
Epic fantasy reigned supreme Sunday at the Orange British Academy Film Awards, where "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
won five Baftas, including best film and best director for its New Zealand filmmaker, Peter Jackson.
But suggesting once again that acting a disability on screen can place a performer on the awards fast track, best actor and actress went,
respectively, to Russell Crowe, who plays a schizophrenic scientist in "A Beautiful Mind," and Judi Dench, who plays a celebrated novelist
afflicted with Alzheimer's in "Iris."
"We had the most wonderful time doing (the film) contrary to what you might see on screen," a clearly moved Dench told the black tie audience
at the Odeon Leicester Square cinema. Her award for playing the late Dame Iris Murdoch came as somewhat of a surprise: fellow nominee Sissy
Spacek ("In the Bedroom") has dominated prize ceremonies in this year's awards season to date.
And while Dench's screen husband in "Iris," Jim Broadbent, lost in the best actor category to Crowe, he won a supporting actor Bafta for playing
the furious showman in Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge."
The supporting actress prize went to Oscar front-runner Jennifer Connelly, who plays Crowe's wife in "A Beautiful Mind." The lone American
nominee up against four Englishwomen, Connelly said she was "really shocked and very much honored" to win — "the women in this category are
truly extraordinary." (At the Oscars, she will go head to head with three Britons and an American, Marisa Tomei.)
Notwithstanding the multiple wins for "The Lord of the Rings," a special audience award voted by the public included, the Baftas spread the prizes
generously over numerous films. "Moulin Rouge" received two awards in addition to Broadbent's, while Robert Altman's England-based "Gosford Park"
and the sleeper French success "Amelie" also won two.
The Academy Fellowship — Bafta's highest honor — went to actor-director-producer Warren Beatty. Receiving the night's sole standing ovation, Beatty
told the audience that he made his first film in England in 1961 — when his wife, actress Annette Bening, was three.
Since 1998, the event has been sponsored by the mobile phone company, Orange, with the ceremony's name changed officially to the Orange British Academy
Film Awards in 2000.
Orange British Academy Film Awards
Milan Fashion Show Week
Tops
Models wear lacy semi transparent tops as part of Clips' Autumn/Winter 2002/03 collection at Milan's fashion week on Sunday. The
Milan's fashion started today and will run until March 5.
Photo by Paolo Cocco
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BETTY BOWERS Cooks!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
'Bob Woodward vs. John Belushi and Me'
Michael Dare - 'The Life and Death of Captain Preemo'
BartCop TV!
Watergate v$ Enron!
From BartCop
The Bush Rap (Sheet)
Special Bonus From BartCop
