Out of sheer and total respect

When I was young, Sammy Davis Jr. was a guy who appeared on all the variety shows and of whom other entertainers all did impressions. (See, for example, Jim Carrey’s routine from his younger, stand-up days.) So I was pleased to discover this old clip of Sammy Davis Jr. doing impressions of a number of …

It happens every day, no matter what you say

It’s the end of the weekend. The Steelers found a way to lose, and I’m in my office putting in a little weekend work to ramp up for a long week ahead. I’m in need of a pick-me-up. iTunes is apparently magical, because it sensed my need and cued up the perfect tune: Tom Jones, …

Colder than a ticket-taker’s smile

A Plurk conversation today: Stevi Deter on KUOW, they actually said the forecast for today was “relentless rain”. Cynthia says more media should offer emotional weather reports. The rain, the rain, my god! the rain. plord says must now listen to Tom Waits: http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/tom_waits/emotional_weather_report.html Excellent thought. But why just listen when you can also watch?

If you don’t wanna be down with me you just don’t wanna be down

I’ve been on an Erykah Badu kick lately, triggered by a months-old review in the New Yorker by Sasha Frere-Jones that made it pretty much impossible for me to avoid buying at least one album by her. I feel pretty sure that she’s better in performance than she is on record — the video clip …

NaBloPoMo Day 1: Find your grail

Tonight my mother and I had a lovely, cultural sort of evening: We enjoyed listening to the Pittsburgh Symphony performing Mozart and Strauss, we stopped for a post-show cocktail and soaked up the downtown nighttime vibe, spotted the concert soloist and politely thanked him for a wonderful show, etc. etc. You might think that we …

Time is of the essence

A couple of time-critical items for your attention: Pittsburgh social media phenom Lindsay Patross has created a political action committee, P2PAC, that "supports candidates whose districts touch the City of Pittsburgh and whose agendas are consistent with its mission: good government, sustainable development, and social equity." As part of the kick-off they’ve initiated a P2pac …

Cover a band this weekend in Pittsburgh — free tix, great music

Purpose Was Again by Bloodsugars I’m late in posting this cool opportunity, but with luck you’ll still be able to take advantage of it. This info comes from our stylish and delightfully hip friend Sarah Madia: There is a band called the Bloodsugars coming to play Brillobox this Saturday night in Bloomfield. The label is …

Luckily there’s music to get me through

I wanted to show you a video of Ballboy performing “Something’s Going to Happen.” I envisioned that the title of my post would be “And no one will ever love you as much as I do.” It’s a perfect song for this evening. Also: It’s true, you know. No one will ever love you as …