Entertainment

Sony is releasing a new box set entitled Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music. It’s not apparent from the title, but this is a Seasme Street 3-CD compilation, containing some really classic remastered tracks like Ladybugs Picnic, People in the Neighborhood, and Mah Na Mah Na. The good news is that it also contains Pinball Number Count by the Pointer Sisters. This song is the funkiest funk ever funked on Seasme Street. It’s an awesome track and I’ve only ever been able to find poor quality mp3s of it, probably recorded off a poor quality VHS tape.

One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve. Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo etc.

Oh! Also on the CD is Madeline Kahn doing Sing After Me which I always thought was funny, if I’m remembering the right song.

This is a fantastic essay by jazz musician Pat Metheny about Kenny G. I think it’s important for every person on the planet to read it, and I will translate it into any language necessary.

The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players are releasing an album — their “major label” debut. Vintage Slide Collections From Seattle 1 has been added to my wish list and it should be added to yours.

My boss’s boss has a daughter named Penelope. The past two years, she has come to the St. Patrick’s Day reception to sing alongside Ronan Tynan, one of the three “Irish Tenors.” Penelope, who turned 16 this year, doesn’t exactly have a great voice. She’s alright… but nothing special (and not normaly in tune).

Well it turns out that she put together a demo CD at a studio in NY with some pretty well-known studio engineers, and she doesn’t sound half bad on the CD.

The music, which she wrote (with some help), is kind of poppy-folky. It’s kind of boring. Her voice doesn’t really take me anywhere. She isn’t into it enough.

I guess with all their money, it’s still possible she’ll end up with some kind of recording contract somewhere and then maybe she’ll get better.

My VCR finally bit the big one. I don’t think it was really made to last 17 years. I guess it’s kind of like a dog. You don’t expect them to live that long, and when they do, you almost take it for granted. And then one day, without warning, they just pass on, right after you stick a blank tape in them.

I was hoping to tape Damien Rice performing two songs on David Letterman (guest-hosted by the inimitable Tom Green). The recording was to be for Rebecca, and now she will be sad I don’t have it with me.

When I get back to New Jersey, I’ll have to hold an Office Space-style burial for the piece of crap. This was the VCR that replaced our Beta machine in 1986. And now it’s gone. So sad.

VH1 posted their full list of Greatest Songs from the past twenty-five years. Is this really the best of what popular music has to offer? How incredibly sad.

Unrelatedly, I hate it when coworkers point out that I’m losing my hair. Someone said to me today, “Did you know your hair’s thinning out? What’s going on there? Is your father bald?”

I will do this this coming week. It sounds amazingly fun. A theater company is producing Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, but it’s not just any production. It’s Shakespeare on the Run. Scenes apparently take place about 50 feet from each other. The audience (often part of the scenery) runs from scene to scene, led by the Artistic Director. Here’s the information.

Music was the order of the day. I attended a concert at Princeton Day School, had dinner with some of Denise‘s friends, and attended a They Might Be Giants concert.

The concert at PDS was very interesting. Several extremely talented students from the middle school and high school performed pieces, mostly string, written by the school’s composer-in-residence. Some of the performers were as good, maybe even better, than some of the people I studied music with in college.

Later on, I had dinner at Winberie’s in Palmer Square with Denise and four of her friends I’m happy to call my friends as well. The food was excellent; I will go back there some time and explore more of the menu.

Following dinner and ice cream from the Halo Pub, those of us attending the concert walked to the theater. When the opening band, Common Rotation took the stage, I almost immediately recognized one of the singers as Warren from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

It seems Adam Busch lives a double life—one as an evil actor playing an evil character, and the other as an evil musician playing in a really decent band. Following the openers, TMBG played another great show. I can’t get enough of these guys.

Yeah, that’s me, with Eric and Adam from Common Rotation. I’m such a dork, but a lovable, sexy and sociable dork. And modest, of course. There’s a similar photo including Denise, as well. You can find all my photographs from the dinner and the concert here.

I’d love to go to more concerts. Common Rotation’s or They Might Be Giants’, or any music, really.

This is going to be good. “Matrix” Sequel Unloads in Theaters. The Matrix Reloaded. What is The Matrix? Enter the Matrix. Visually stunning.

I just received an email from a musician-friend-frat-brother about a casting call for a Chili’s commercial. (You know the song… I want my baby-back-baby-back-baby-back etc.) They’re looking for musicians to be in ads like the ones they’ve been showing on TV for the past few months. I can probably come up with a clever angle if I spend some time on the train thinking about it…

Unfortunately the audition is this Saturday, May 3, so I’d have to come up with something fast…