Reader Review
Children's Music, Part IV
By Dave Romm
Music for younger kids, most likely, appoximately ages 2-8, though adults can readily appreciate the songs.
It's a little unfair to talk about Danny Kaye for Children, since it's way out of print, but it's the single most requested CD from my entire collection. I get more mail from my CD collection than Shockwave. More people want to talk about their CDs than about conceptual science fiction humor, I guess. And no, I won't make you a copy. Danny Kaye doesn't boast the greatest voice in the world, but he's one of the most expressive and has done a lot of children's movies and songs. Several web sites mention pay tribute to the album -- for example and another -- and many of the cuts can be found on available CDs.
The Little White Duck was one of my favorite songs as a tyke, and it still pulls on the heartstrings. I'm Late, about the White Rabbit, and The Walrus and the Carpenter are from Alice in Wonderland. The Woody Woodpecker and I Taut I Taw A Puddy-Tat are from cartoons of the 50s. Kaye's verson of The Tubby The Tuba Song isn't up to the Paul Tripp original, but the whole album has stood the test of time. The Best of Danny Kaye contains several of these tracks, and some of his other children's songs, too.
The Banana Slug String Band comes from a place deep in the child's imagination. Penguin Parade explores the wide wonderfully silly world of animals and how we interact with them. Croak-A-Ribit is an a cappella doo-wop homage to "our froggy friends". What Do Animals Need explores ecological niches. There are songs about Fish, Moose, Ants, noses and nocturnal sounds.
The Cat In The Hat Songbook is as delightfully whimsical as Dr. Seuss lyrics can be. Not all the songs work, but I suppose that's a matter of taste. I really like the foods in Super Supper March and the a cappella rat-a-tat of Drummers Drumming. Others have covered My Uncle Terwilliger Waltzes With Bears nicely, while the animals admonish Let Us All Sing and you can try to finish The No Laugh Race.
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
Watched more of 'Godzilla' than I'd like to admit...had no idea Harry Shearer was in so much of
it.
Also saw some of 'Live & Let Die', which took me back a couple of decades & a couple of continents.
'SNL' was all the better for Jon Stewart's presence.
Think 'Mad TV' was fresh, but one of may pal's used to work there, and was let go in a most unceremonious
manner, so I don't care.
Tonight, Sunday, CBS starts off as usual with '60 Minutes', then a fresh
'Max Bickford', followed by the Robert DeNiro-hosted 2-hour special, '9/11'.
On NBC, an NBA game intrudes into primetime, so there will be local programming, as well as the
potential for a fresh 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'. May even have some 'Dateline', too.
On ABC the so-called 'Wonderful World of Disney' presents 'The Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister' (where
pretty wins out over smart and/or talented), followed by a fresh episode of 'Alias' (Roger Moore joins the cast), and
a fresh episode of 'The Practice'.
The WB rolls out a new adventure show, 'No Boundaries', then 2 episodes of 'The Jamie Kennedy Experiment' (at least
one of which is a rerun), and then fresh episodes of 'Off Centre' and 'For Your Love'.
Faux has an all fresh night! From 'Futurama' to 'King Of The Hill' to the 'Simpsons' to 'Malcolm' and
including 'X-Files'
UPN repeats 'Enterprise' and follows it with a fresh 'Tracker'.
TCM has 'The Great Escape' and 'Cool Hand Luke' (what we have here is a failure to communicate...).
TNT has the Screen Actor's Guild Awards at 8 pm (est).
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Last Night
Washington's Gridiron Club
The journalists of Washington's Gridiron Club distilled political humor Saturday from a harrowing year of terrorism, anthrax, corporate bankruptcy and war.
President Bush , the 20th president to be singed on the Gridiron since 1885, endured a white-tie evening of musical skits set
in places ranging from Guantanamo Bay to Vice President Dick Cheney's "undisclosed secure location."
Cheney's secret shelter is a place much like "Hernando's Hideaway."
"There is a dark, secluded place. A veep can sleep, without a trace. And no one ever sees his face — Dick Cheney's hideaway!"
Delivering the annual dinner's traditional lights-out "speech in the dark," Gridiron president Marianne Means of Hearst Newspapers
said, "A year ago we didn't even know there was an axis of evil.
"Now we do: Enron, Arthur Andersen and Global Crossing."
Later, the "axis of evil" was redefined as the skating judges at the Winter Olympics.
Opening the evening, Gridiron members stripped away the black burka concealing a captured "terrorist," revealing veteran White
House correspondent Helen Thomas, said to have terrorized every president since John F. Kennedy.
Freed from the burka, Thomas serenaded the current president with a chorus of "Hell-ooo Dubya."
The anthrax scare was recalled in a tribute to Cipro, the antibiotic tablet.
"Now when we go up to the Hill, we take precautions. This little pill. A patriotic antibiotic. We're taking Cipro."
Those seeking business advantage from the war got this serenade, to the tune of "What a Wonderful World":
"I see stacks of green, tax breaks in sight, business is good, when soldiers fight. And I say to myself, what a lucrative war."
The Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners being held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba were not forgotten as the
band played the theme from "Cabaret":
"We'll feed you Fruit Loops and granola. Would you like a Coca-Cola? ... Welcome to Gitmo Bay, old chum, welcome to Camp X-Ray."
Attorney General John Ashcroft was found to have a few "Favorite Things." They include: "Secret tribunals and racial profiling, intimate
things that I find so beguiling, listening in when your telephone rings, these are a few of my favorite things."
For one song, at least, reporters trained the cannons on themselves:
"Pompous pundits from the press, here to whine and second-guess. We dodged the war in '68. Now we're at war: The Fourth Estate."
Washington's Gridiron Club
Gridiron - Some Fresh, Lots Of Re-Hash #1
Gridiron - Some Fresh, Lots Of Re-Hash #2
Gridiron - Some Fresh, Lots Of Re-Hash #3
Gridiron - Some Fresh, Lots Of Re-Hash #4
Directors Guild Of America
Ron Howard
"A Beautiful Mind" director Ron Howard claimed the top filmmaking honor Saturday night from the Directors Guild of America, considered
one of the most accurate barometers of Oscar success.
"I don't know if that connection holds any more," he said backstage. "It's been so erratic the past few years that I just don't know if it holds up."
Howard also won the DGA award in 1996 for his direction of "Apollo 13" and was nominated in 1985 for "Cocoon."
Howard competed for the award with two other Oscar contenders: Peter Jackson for the fantasy film "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring," and Ridley Scott for the true-life military drama "Black Hawk Down."
Other DGA nominees included Baz Luhrmann for the frenetic, anachronistic musical "Moulin Rouge" and Christopher Nolan for "Memento," a thriller
told in flashback about a man with no short-term memory trying to solve a crime.
In the television categories, Todd Holland claimed a comedy award for directing an episode of Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle", while Alan Ball got the
dramatic series award for the pilot episode of HBO's "Six Feet Under."
Co-directors Joel Gallen and Beth McCarthy-Miller won in the musical/variety category for the multiple-network Sept. 11 telethon "America: A Tribute to Heroes."
Directors Guild Of America
17th Annual Induction Dinner
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Eddie Vedder, Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante may have grown up believing the punk axiom "kill your idols," but on March 18 they'll
be among the presenters honoring their forefathers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
New York's posh Waldorf-Astoria hotel will host the hall's 17th annual induction dinner, which will air March 20 on VH1 at 9 p.m.
Vedder will induct punk progenitors the Ramones — sans singer Joey Ramone, who died of cancer in April — and Kiedis and Frusciante will
usher in alternative rock pioneers Talking Heads. Grammy darling Alicia Keys will do the honors for R&B veteran Isaac Hayes, and Wallflowers
singer Jakob Dylan will induct classic rock radio staples Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Earthy songwriter Jewel will honor '60s pop-country singer Brenda Lee, '50s singer Darlene Love will induct '60s teen-pop idol Gene Pitney, and
rockabilly/swing performer Brian Setzer and bluegrass/country player Marty Stuart will honor Nashville pioneer Chet Atkins, who died in June
from cancer and is being inducted as a sideman.
Ramones descendants Green Day will perform during the show, as will many of the inductees and presenters.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Tickets Sold Out In 30 Minutes
Paul McCartney
Tickets for former Beatle Paul McCartney's first American tour in a decade sparked a stampede among fans on Saturday, selling out
by telephone and Internet within 30 minutes of going on sale.
A spokesman for the British performer said fans snapped up all 75,000 tickets for the first five shows on the "Driving USA" tour
of the United States and Canada.
The 15,000 tickets for McCartney's show in Toronto, the first to go on sale, sold out in half an hour. The Washington event sold
out in 28 minutes. The other three sold-out shows will be in Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia.
Tickets for the Oakland opener and a show in San Jose both go on sale on Sunday, with events at Rutherford, New York and Detroit going on sale on Monday.
Paul McCartney
Tonight - Between ''Malcolm In The Middle'' & ''X-Files''
Star Wars - Clones Trailer
A new commercial for the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" is set to debut Sunday on Fox.
The 21/2-minute trailer will be broadcast between new episodes of "Malcolm in the Middle" and "The X-Files."
Fox's theatrical division, 20th Century Fox, is distributing the Lucasfilm adventure, which arrives in theaters May 16. The film
is a sequel to "The Phantom Menace" but occurs before events in the original "Star Wars" trilogy.
The footage will show some of the elaborate special effects and battle sequences in the new movie.
The latest trailer will also be shown before the 20th Century Fox animated film "Ice Age," which opens March 15.
Star Wars - Clones Trailer
Web Sites of the Formerly Famous?
From Burt To Yogi
For people who were once in the news, life doesn't stop just because their 15 minutes of fame have run out.
Whatever happens after the spotlight moves on, chances are that someone has put it on the Web. No matter why the former headline maker
became famous in the first place.
Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, who was convicted of the 1970 slaying of his wife and two children, insists intruders committed the crime that became
the basis of the best-selling book "Fatal Vision," which in turn spawned a TV miniseries.
MacDonald's defense team, which won the right to use DNA testing to try to prove its position, has set up a Web site (www.themacdonaldcase.org).
Visitors can read messages from the ex-Green Beret surgeon, email him and review a wealth of information about the case.
Elsewhere on the Web, a Tonya Harding fan is documenting the comings and goings of the woman who took figure skating to the front page of the
tabloids when she conspired in an iron-bar attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan, just weeks before the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
Besides numerous photos and videos, the site (www.tonyaharding.org) lets the public know what Harding, 31, is doing now (taking on Paula Jones in a boxing match scheduled to air on March 13 on Fox. Jones, who unsuccessfully sued former President
Bill Clinton for sexual harassment and went on to pose nude for Penthouse magazine, is also the subject of Web site -- www.gargaro.com/paulajones.html).
Old-time New York Yankees great Yogi Berra is as known for "astute" observations such as "It ain't over 'til it's over" as he is for his 50-year career in baseball. His official site (www.yogi-berra.com) offers a biography,
a "Yogi-isms" page, an online store and email link.
The Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey, also has an illustrated biography of the former All-Star catcher, coach and manager on its site (www.yogiberramuseum.org).
Retired Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson is an owner of the team, but his Web site (www.magicjohnson.org) focuses more on his efforts to help others, particularly inner-city
residents. In fact, visitors must click on an icon for the Magic Johnson Foundation just to get to photos and a biography of Magic himself.
Similarly, Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. president, and his wife, Rosalynn, set up a nonprofit organization in Atlanta to promote peace and human rights after they left the White House in 1981.
The Carter Center devotes most of its Web site (www.cartercenter.org) to its programs, but it also provides personal information about the Carters.
Actor Burt Reynolds, a superstar in the 1970s and '80s, has worked steadily since then. Most notably, he turned in an award-winning performance in the 1997 movie "Boogie Nights."
Reynolds' Web site (www.burtreynolds.com) lists some of his more recent projects, although it hasn't been updated since last May. An online survey
gives visitors a chance to let him know the kinds of films they'd like to see him do.
Most people probably remember actress Karen Lynn Gorney for her role opposite John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever," the 1977 movie that defined the disco era.
Gorney's Web site (www.karenlynngorney.com) has plenty of memorabilia and also promotes her current activities, including paintings and a CD of her original songs.
Talking Heads, a popular New Wave group from the 1970s and '80s, broke up in 1991, but a fan's Web site (www.talking-heads.net) offers
updates about the activities of each member, as well as a bulletin board and chat room.
In the late 1960s and early '70s, singer Gary Puckett and his band, the Union Gap, had a string of hits that included "Woman, Woman" and
"Young Girl." The group has long since disbanded, but Puckett is still performing.
His Web site (www.garypuckettmusic.com) has an online store, fan club information, concert schedule
and a recent interview by PopMatters.
Web Sites of the Formerly Famous?
SAG Election - The Winner Is:
Melissa Gilbert
Former child star Melissa Gilbert won a resounding second victory early Saturday as president of the Screen Actors Guild, repeating her defeat of veteran actress
Valerie Harper in a rerun of last fall's nullified elections.
The outcome, reaffirming support for Gilbert's moderate posture over the comparatively militant stance of her opponent, climaxed weeks of acrimony and argument
in one of the most divisive campaigns in the 69-year history of the famously fractious actors union.
Gilbert, 37, best known as pioneer girl Laura Ingalls on the 1970s TV series "Little House on the Prairie," garnered 21,351 votes out of nearly 38,000 ballots cast,
while Harper, 61, the former star of "Rhoda," received 12,613 votes.
Two Harper allies also won repeat victories to national office -- "MASH" film star Elliot Gould as recording secretary and Kent McCord
of the 1960s cop show "Adam 12" as treasurer.
By comparison, just under 28,000 ballots were cast in the election last November, with Gilbert edging out then-presumed front-runner
Harper by fewer than 1,600 votes.
Melissa Gilbert
See It For Yourself
Sing Along With John Ashcroft
Sing Along With John Ashcroft
American Museum of the Moving Image Honoree
Mel Gibson
"Do you like this suit? It's Armani. Winona got it for me," joked Mel Gibson at the American Museum of the Moving Image gala Thursday
night at the Waldorf. The savvy crowd got the reference to Winona Ryder's alleged shoplifting. "What are you laughing about?" Mel
continued. "I meant Wynona Judd. She knows a lot about men's clothing." Fellow Aussie Barry Humphries, in his Dame Edna persona, delivered
a rude poem via videotape, claiming she'd breast-fed Gibson when she'd been his baby sitter. Jodie Foster made sarcastic remarks about
DreamWorks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was next onstage. Glenn Close mispronounced the difficult name of director M. Night Shyamalan.
Danny Glover said he was a narcoleptic. And - while haughty New Yorkers passed up a gift bag containing a blue synthetic blanket embroidered
with "The American Museum of the Moving Image Salutes Mel Gibson" - director Richard Donner, Gary Sinise and Goldie Hawn with Kurt Russell,
all walked off with the memento.
Mel Gibson
Working Steady
Muppets
Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy may very well be the hardest-working celebrities in Hollywood.
The Jim Henson Company has recently clinched deals for the famed amphibian and his porky diva companion to star in several new Muppet
projects, including their first prime-time television series in more than 20 years.
Kermit and Miss Piggy will join a brand new cast of Muppet characters in a variety-show format under development at the Fox network for
a debut in early 2003, the Henson Company said on Thursday.
News of the Fox project comes after the Henson Company signed a deal with NBC Studios to develop a new TV movie for that network, "It's
A Wonderful Muppet Christmas Movie," parodying some of the best-loved holiday films of all time.
Kermit, who first sprang to fame with the 1969 premiere of "Sesame Street," also will star in a made-for-video "biopic" slated for release
this summer -- "Kermit's Swamp Years," the story of the frog's coming-of-age years.
The Muppets also will appear with the stars of several other kids' shows in a three-minute music video, "We Are Family," airing next Monday
on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and PBS stations to raise money for various children's funds.
Finally, Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and other members of the Muppets gang are slated to make their NASCAR racing debut at a promotional
event in July at the Chicagoland Speedway.
Busy Muppets
Back To Work
Jane Kaczmarek
Whether Jane Kaczmarek was truly suffering from migraine headaches--or just suffering from the headache of a contract dispute--we may never
know. But we do know that Malcolm in the Middle's long-suffering mother is back at work.
The 46-year-old actress returned to the set of Fox's hit comedy Thursday, some three weeks after calling in sick during what many speculated
was a salary dispute. Kaczmarek's publicist, however, denied the sickout, saying the TV mom "has been medically diagnosed as suffering from
severe migraine headaches," which are "extremely painful."
All told, the actress's absence (along with non-Kaczmarek-related production delays) caused Malcolm producers to chop the season down from 24
episodes to 22, as well as piece together two other episodes with existing footage of Kaczmarek.
Whatever the case, USA Today reported that Kaczmarek had a history of butting heads with producers over her salary. Last fall, the paper says
she staged a two-day walkout, resulting in "small" hikes for her and the cast.
Jane Kaczmarek
Milan Fashion Show
More Underwear
Model Nieves Alvarez displays blue patterned underwear created by Andres Sarda during the Fall/Winter 2002/03 Cibeles fashion show,
February 20, 2002. The fashion week will run until February 22.
Photo by Sergio Perez
New Show Debuts Monday
Colin Quinn
Comedy has been a little timid since the terrorist attacks, and Colin Quinn is aiming to change that.
The former "Saturday Night Live" comedian plans jokes on the war, on Islam and on racial profiling in his new comic variety
show. It debuts Monday on NBC.
"I don't think people should exploit or disrespect the dead, but I think there has been too much timidity," Quinn told The Associated Press.
"It's fun," he said. "I have no complaints yet. Notice I say 'yet.' Get back to me in a few weeks."
Colin Quinn
Regulation Hours This Weekend
Erin Hart
Liberal radio - what a concept!
Regulation hours this weekend (9 & 10 March), 9pm - 1am (pst).
Live streaming audio available at
www.710kiro.com or www.kiro710.com.
Listener calls at 1-877-710-KIRO
And there's a chatroom, too!
Next Saturday, March 16th at 10pm PST, Greg Palast visits with 710 KIRO-Seattle talk show host Erin Hart,
and discusses his new book on globalization, ''The Best Democracy Money Can Buy''.
For more details, visit Erin's fan page (courtesy of 14Dem), http://www.erinistas.com/, or to join her mailing list, drop a
note to erinistas@aol.com.
Or drop me a note at one of the addy's below....after all, I am Erin's 'LA Producer'.
Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery Exhibition
'The Art of Paul McCartney'
Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery previewed its exhibition of some 70 paintings, sculptures and photographs by Paul McCartney.
"The Art of Paul McCartney" exhibition has colorful abstract paintings with names such as "Boxer Lips," "Brains on Fire" and "Sea God."
It also features "Yellow Linda With Piano," a portrait of the ex-Beatle's wife, Linda, who died of breast cancer in 1998.
The preview was held Friday, and the exhibition will run from May 24 to Aug. 4.
McCartney began painting in the early 1980s after meeting American artist Willem de Kooning. He said he was thrilled to be exhibiting his
work in his home city and in a gallery he used to visit with John Lennon.
"John and I spent many a pleasant afternoon wandering around the Walker when we were young, so going back to the 'Pool with my paintings
will complete some kind of circle for me," he said in a statement.
'The Art of Paul McCartney'
Walker Art Gallery
A 'Road' Scholar
Erik Demaine
Erik Demaine quit school at the age of 7.
If you had run into him a dozen years ago, it might have been in a bus station somewhere between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Miami Beach, on the road with his father, a
silversmith and glassblower whose only degree was from Medford High School.
And yet, there he was on Friday, lecturing a roomful of scientists on his obscure specialty: computational origami. Demaine, at 20, arrived in the fall at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology with the rank of assistant professor - one of the youngest the university has ever hired.
But the thing that is truly unusual about Demaine is the story of the path he took to get there - and of his father, Martin Demaine, who has devoted much of his adult
life to educating Erik in a decidedly unorthodox way. Raised among hippies and jugglers and free thinkers, Erik Demaine has found himself at the center of a field where
abstract math somehow intersects with street performance. That he is a prodigy is not even a question, say people who have worked with him; the question is what will amuse him.
But eight years ago, when the father and son walked into the computer science department of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, they seemed to have emerged
from nowhere. ''His dad and he walked into our department and just said he wants to join the university,'' said Sampalli Srinivas, an associate professor.
Administrators looked at them like they were crazy. Erik was 12 years old, he had no board scores, and no high school diploma. But they allowed Erik to take advanced
courses in abstract algebra and programming languages. The result was clear by the end of the term: ''He aced every single course,'' Srinivas said. ''I recognized him
as one of the brightest students I had.''
Over the next few years, a growing number of Canadian academics heard the story of Erik's migratory education. It was a project that kept father and son on the road
for five years, eating $1 meals in rented rooms, and strolling into prestigious universities to talk to professors.
For the rest of this story, Erik Demaine
For a picture of the 'Road Scholar', click here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks To Fud
Hear The 'Trifecta' Statement
(quoting)
'' And we've got a job to do at home, as well. You know, I was campaigning in Chicago and somebody asked me, is there ever any time where the budget might have to go into deficit? I said only if we were at war or had a national emergency or were in recession. (Laughter.) Little did I realize we'd get the trifecta. (Laughter.) But we're fine. ''
Scroll down 31 paragraphs to read it for yourself.
Hear The 'Trifecta' Quote Here.
Many Thanks, to Fud, a loyal bartcopper : )
11 New Recipes!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
'Bob Woodward vs. John Belushi and Me'
Michael Dare - 'The Life and Death of Captain Preemo'
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From BartCop
The Bush Rap (Sheet)
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