Archive for September, 2008
Funny jokes and alt rock stuck in my head
Â
I just got around this evening to watching the 200th Strongbad Email that bowed last week over at www.homestarrunner.com. (Look, it’s been a busy couple of weeks, so cut me some slack. I mean, Homestar Runner is the home site on the BAM family computer and I still couldn’t get around to watching the 200th sbemail.) And now the celebratory 200th sbemail song is wedged in my brain, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon.
No wonder:Â Alt-rockers They Might Be Giants performed the ditty. It’s a testament to the band’s quirky charisma that it can make something so straightforward that’s still so wildly catchy.
Along with fun music, the 200th sbemail, “Email Thunder,” features zany inside jokes, the return of favorite characters (name one other TV, Web or comic series in which you can count paper as a character) and funny spoofing of those wretched flashback-laden landmark TV sitcom episodes.
If you haven’t checked it out, you definitely should go over there and get a little Flash-powered absurdist comedy fix.
-BAM
UPDATE: Janet Jackson released from hospital
Janet Jackson (Associated Press photo) Â
The Associated Press is reporting that pop star Janet Jackson was released from a Montreal hospital two hours after she was taken there Monday night.
Jackson, 42, became “suddenly ill” during her sound check and was taken to Royal Victoria Hospital shortly before her Montreal concert, which had to be canceled.
The singer’s representatives declined Tuesday to elaborate on her illness, according to the AP, stating only that she is ill and recuperating.
Jackson was set to perform Wednesday in Boston and Thursday in Philadelphia, but those shows have been postponed. She is set to resume her “Rock Witchu Tour” dates on Saturday in Greensboro, N.C., according to the AP.
To read the updated AP story, click here.
The singer, who is on her first North American tour in seven years, is set to play the new BOK Center in Tulsa on Oct. 26. It seems that her present illness won’t hinder her from playing that date.
Tickets for her Tulsa show go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. For more information, go to www.bokcenter.com.
-BAM
“Red vs. Blue”: “Control-alt-bingo”
Â
To quote Simmons: “Sir, you just blew my mind.”Â
Brace yourselves for the weirdest plot twists ever to come out of the insanely brilliant minds at www.roosterteeth.com.
Chapter 16 of “Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction” indicates that Burnie Burns and the rest of the Rooster Teeth guys are either really clever and patient long-term planners or they are really talented at coming up with a completely crazy turnabout out of thin air.
I don’t want to spoil it for you, so let’s just say that one of the characters turns out to be not quite what he seems, but in a way that kind of makes sense.
There’s not much humor in this, but Sarge manages to come through with a sideplot that is intriguing, hilarious and diabolical all at the same time.
-BAM
UPDATE: Janet Jackson Tulsa tickets will go on sale despite singer’s hospital stay
Janet Jackson performs earlier this month in Los Angeles. (Associated Press photo) Â
Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday for Janet Jackson’s upcoming show at Tulsa’s BOK Center, the venue announced Tuesday morning.
The sale date is set to go on as planned despite news that Jackson was hospitalized Monday night in Montreal, said Casey Sparks, sales and marketing director for the BOK Center, in an e-mail.
Sparks said to their knowledge, Jackson’s illness will not affect her Oct. 26 concert at the BOK Center.
The Associated Press is reporting that the pop star was hospitalized Monday after she became ill shortly before a concert.
The AP cites a statement from W&W Public Relations stating that Jackson canceled Monday’s show after she “got suddenly ill during” her sound check. She was rushed to a hospital just before show time.
The statement says that Jackson hopes to reschedule the show but gives no other information on her sickness, according to the AP, which also noted that attempts to contact her representatives for more information were unsuccessful.
Jackson, 42, launched her “Rock Witchu Tour” Sept. 10 in Vancouver, B.C.
Her Oct. 26 show will be her first Oklahoma performance in 18 years, according to the BOK Center.
Saturday will be the third sale date the venue has set for the Tulsa show; the previous two were canceled before tickets went on sale.
According to a release from the BOK Center, the previous promoter for Jackson, Ja-Tail Enterprises LLC, was unable to come to an agreement with the artist management. SMG, the company that manages the BOK Center, and promoter Live Nation worked together to save the show and bring it to Tulsa, according to the release.
“Live Nation is the No. 1 concert provider in the world and is a true partner to the BOK Center. This date would not be happening if they (Live Nation) did not come to the table and save the show,” Jerry Goldman, the BOK Center’s assistant general manager, said in the release.
Ticket prices are $125, $75, $55 and $35 for reserved seats. A reserved four-pack of tickets will be $99, and special VIP packages are set at $250.
Tickets will be available starting Saturday by phone at (866) 726-5287; online at www.bokcenter.com, www.tickets.com and www.livenation.com; and in person at area Reasor’s and Homeland stores and the Arby’s Box Office.
-BAM
New releases
Â
The biggest new release for the week has to be the second-biggest movie of the year, “Iron Man.” It may not have been the best superhero movie of the summer of superheroes - that distinction would have to go to “The Dark Knight” - but it was definitely the most fun. And Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark certainly wins the award for the most charming and fun-loving hero.
In CDs, rising country star Kellie Pickler, who will be playing this Friday at Oklahoma State University’s Orange Peel 2008, released today her self-titled second album.
And in books, music icon Prince and photographer Randee St. John have teamed to create “21 Nights,” what Amazon.com describes as “a stunning multimedia volume offering a rare glimpse into the life, lyrics and mystique of one of the most notable and prolific musicians of our time. This beautifully designed photographic essay flows from Prince’s sensational, unprecedented, record-breaking, sold-out 21 concerts in 21 Nights at London’s 02 Arena in 2007.” Since Prince has always been an enigma as well as a great musician and performer, that sounds intriguing.
Here is the list of this week’s new CDs, DVDs and books from Amazon.com, VideoETA.com and BarnesandNoble.com:
CDsÂ
Jennifer Hudson, “Jennifer Hudson.”
James Taylor, “Covers.”
Ben Folds, “Way to Normal.”
T.I., “Paper Trail.”
Kellie Pickler, “Kellie Pickler.”
DVDs
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
Chapter 27
CSNY Deja Vu
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Iron Man
My Name Is Earl: Season 3
My Three Sons: The First Season, Volume One
Numb3rs: The Fourth Season
Pulse 2: Afterlife
Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back
Taxi to the Dark Side
When We Left Earth
Books
“The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks.
“21 Nights” by Prince and Randee St. Nicholas.
“Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur” by Richard Branson.
“Charlie Bone and The Shadow (Children of the Red King No. 7)” by Jenny Nimmo.
“Giada’s Kitchen: New Italian Favorites” by Giada de Laurentiis.
“Hounded to Death: A Novel” by Rita Mae Brown.
“The Legs Are the Last to Go: Aging, Acting, Marrying, Mothering, and Other Things I Learned the Hard Way” by Diahann Carroll.
“Nation” by Terry Pratchett.
“The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life” by Alice Schroeder.
-BAM
Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert to perform at CMAs
Brooks & Dunn perform in August at Oklahoma City’s Ford Center. (The Oklahoman Archives photo by Sarah Phipps.)Â
The Country Music Association has announced its first round of performers for the 42nd Annual CMA Awards:Â Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Sugarland, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban.
The awards show will air live from the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 12 on ABC.
“The CMA Awards shine a three-hour spotlight on country music, exposing our artists and their music to the world” said Tammy Genovese, CMA chief executive officer, in a news release. “This first group of performers continues to raise the bar not only for Country Music, but for all forms of entertainment. We are excited to showcase their amazing talents on the CMA Awards this year.”
Brooks & Dunn, which includes Tulsa-raised Ronnie Dunn, has won more CMA Awards than any other artist with 19. The pairing is nominated this year for vocal duo, which they have won a record 14 times, and abum of the year for “Cowboy Town.” Kix Brooks and Dunn could each receive an additional trophy for producing their album with Tony Brown.
Lambert, who lives in Tishomingo, received this year two nominations for female vocalist and single of the year (her first nomination in this category) for “Gunpowder & Lead.”
Chesney, the reigning entertainer of the year with three total wins in this category, is received a leading seven nominations this year, including entertainer; male vocalist; album for “Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates”; single and music video for “Don’t Blink” (video directed by Shaun Silva); and two musical event of the year (one with Oklahoma native Reba McEntire for “Every Other Weekend” and the second with Strait for “Shiftwork”). Chesney could receive two additional trophies for producing his album and single with Buddy Cannon.
Jackson has 79 total career CMA nominations, the most of any artist in history. For 2008, he received four nominations: male Vocalist; album for “Good Time” (produced by Keith Stegall); and song and music video of the year for “Good Time,” directed by Trey Fanjoy.
Country Music Hall of Fame member Strait received five nominations this year including entertainer; male vocalist; album for “Troubadour”; single for “I Saw God Today” (which also received a song of the Yyar nod for its writers, Rodney Clawson, Monty Criswell and Wade Kirby); and musical event of the year with Chesney on “Shiftwork.” Strait could also receive two additional trophies for producing his single and album with Brown.
Sugarland, the reigning vocal duo, also received five nominations including entertainer (their first nomination in this category); vocal euo; musical event for “Life in a Northern Town” with Little Big Town and Jake Owen; and single and music video for “Stay,” (video directed by Silva). Sugarland members Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles could each receive a second trophy for producing “Stay” with Byron Gallimore. Nettles also received a solo song of the year nomination as songwriter of “Stay.”
In addition, the duo will perform this Friday at Oklahoma State University’s Orange Peel 2008 in Stillwater.
Reigning Horizon Award winner Swift received her first female vocalist of the year nomination this year.
Urban received two nominations this year: entertainer (which he won in 2005) and male Vocalist of the Year (which he won three consecutive years in 2004-06).
If you want to see the awards show in person, tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (615) 255-9600. Ticket prices begin at $110 for bronze-level seating (upper level), $327.75 for silver-level seating (club level), and $382.50 for gold-level seating (lower level).
-BAM
Tickets to Janet Jackson’s Tulsa show to go on sale Saturday
Janet Jackson at a concert earlier this month in Los Angeles. (Associated Press photo)Â
Tickets to Janet Jackson’s upcoming concert at Tulsa’s BOK Center are set to go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, the venue announced today.
Jackson is scheduled to play the new arena at 8 p.m. Oct. 26 on her “Rock Witchu Tour.”
Ticket prices are $125, $75, $55 and $35 for reserved seats. A reserved four-pack will be $99, and special VIP packages are set at $250.
Jackson kicked off her “Rock Witchu Tour” Sept. 10 in Vancouver, B.C. The show includes her past hits “Control,” “Rhythm Nation,” “Pleasure Principal,” “All For You,” “Young Love,” “Let’s Wait A While,” “What Have You Done For Me Lately,” “Escapade,” along with new singles “Feedback” and “LUV,” according to the news release from the BOK Center.
This is the third sale date the BOK Center has set for the Jackson show.
The previous promoter for Jackson, Ja-Tail Enterprises, LLC, was not able to come to an agreement with the artist management, according to the release. SMG and Live Nation worked together to save the show and bring it to Tulsa.
“Live Nation is the number one concert provider in the world and is a true partner to the BOK Center. This date would not be happening if they (Live Nation) did not come to the table and save the show,” Jerry Goldman, the BOK Center’s assistant general manager, said in the release.
Tickets will be available Saturday online at www.bokcenter.com, www.tickets.com and www.livenation.com; by phone at (866) 726-5287; and in person at area Reasor’s and Homeland stores and the Arby’s Box Office.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Sept. 30
Â
Today’s featured event:
STILLWATER - Rock along with Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers at 8 p.m. today at Eskimo Joe’s, 501 W Elm.
For more information, go to www.azpeacemakers.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Lindsey Buckingham show memories linger
One of the marks of a great concert is when the memories stick with you.
That’s been the case with Lindsey Buckingham’s amazing performance Friday at the Brady Theater in Tulsa. That’s one that will linger with me for a long, long time because it was, quite frankly, unforgettable.
When you’re watching a veteran musician in concert, there’s always the worry that he or she will perform on autopilot. Those concerns were completely ungrounded in Buckingham’s case.
It was clear Friday that Buckingham has a grand passion for more than just writing songs and fingerpicking in that wonderfully odd (maybe oddly wonderful would be a better way to put it) way of his. He showed in Tulsa a clear passion for playing his music live for an appreciative audience, and though the Brady Theater was only about half full, those fans who attended were loud and adoring.
As for Buckingham, he was definitely in the moment throughout the performance. Often, he sang with his eyes closed or fixed at a far-off point just above the heads of the floor-level audience. During those incredibly smoking guitar solos, he would screw up his face in concentration, and he several times finished with a big rock ‘n’ roll kick. After an amazing rendition of one of his new or old songs - and amazing renditions were the norm Friday - he often would pump his fist, raise his guitar aloft or shout “yeah!” away from the mike.
When the crowd rose to its feet for a pair of relatively new songs from his new album “Gift of Screws,” Buckingham smiled a little shyly, put his hand over his heart, mouthed “thank you” and blew kisses to the crowd.
After the loud crowd and his band indicated that one more song after the encore was warranted, he took the stage with just his acoustic guitar. As he played “Time Precious Time” from the new album, his fingers flowed over the strings with the delicate musicality of water over a falls.
And in the final moments, with his final notes fading and the audience cheering in adulation, Buckingham just stood on stage hugging his guitar with both arms and smiling beatifically.
From my excellent seat in about the sixth row center, I was able to snap a few shots of Buckingham during the concert. I rarely bother to take photos during shows but this was one I wanted to remember. Here are a few that show Buckingham fully engaged in making music just for us.
Â
 
If you ever get the chance to see Lindsey Buckingham in concert, please take the opportunity. And know that unless there’s some kind of mishap or extenuating circumstance, I’ll be there, too.
-BAM
Paul Newman obituary
Paul Newman and wife Joanne Woodward in the 1960 movie “From the Terrace.” Â
The Newman’s Own Foundation, the private independent foundation that distributes to charity the money earned from the Newman’s Own food products, has released an obituary for the late Paul Newman, who died Friday after a long battle with cancer:Â
Paul Leonard Newman
Jan. 26, 1925 - Sept. 26, 2008
Paul Leonard Newman, eighty-three, one of the most warmly admired and universally loved figures in motion pictures and philanthropy, died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse home near Westport, Connecticut. His death was as private and discreet as the way he had lived his life, a humble artist who never thought of himself as “big,” surrounded by his beloved family and the close circle of friends that had supported him through his last days. He is survived by his wife of fifty years, the actress/director Joanne Woodward, five children, two grandsons, and his older brother Arthur of Rancho Mirage, California.
Paul, known to family and friends as PL, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 26, 1925. His father, Arthur Sr., and mother, Theresa, raised Paul and his brother in Shaker Heights. Arthur Sr. was a successful sporting goods store owner, a man highly regarded for his business ethics and to whom Paul credited his own morality, untiring tenacity at work and sports, and standards for judging himself and others. At a young age, PL showed a keen interest in theater and with encouragement from his mother, he joined a local children’s drama group. He continued performing as a teenager at Shaker Heights High School, but on his eighteenth birthday, he enlisted in the Navy and later served as radioman/gunner on a torpedo plane in the Pacific during World War II. He had been rejected as a candidate for pilot training when a flight physical revealed that he was color blind.
Discharged in 1946, PL attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, on a football scholarship. While pursuing an Economics major and acting in play after play, Paul managed to earn money by opening a student laundromat where he tempted customers by offering free beer for every load of dirty wash they brought in. He graduated in 1949 and spent a season doing summer stock in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, where he met and married his first wife, actress Jackie Witte, with whom he had three children: Susan, Stephanie and son Scott, who later died in his twenties.
Following the death of his father in 1950, Paul returned home to help manage the family sporting goods store. After eighteen months, he turned the business over to his brother, moved east to study at the Yale Drama School, and later landed roles in numerous live television shows in New York, including an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Battler” written by A.E. Hotchner.
