OK, this is not an actual catch by a ballgirl at any baseball game. It is a stunt woman rigged up with wires making what looks like an amazing catch in left field…still very funny!
OK, this is not an actual catch by a ballgirl at any baseball game. It is a stunt woman rigged up with wires making what looks like an amazing catch in left field…still very funny!
When I was a kid growing up there were a couple of shows I never failed to miss on the weekend days.
1) Fat Albert
2) Wide World of Sports
3) Soul Train
I LOVED Soul Train because the music was so COOL and the dancing was UNBELIEVABLE!
In Columbus at the time I was growing up we only had one Urban radio station that had a hit and miss AM signal, “The Soul of the City, 1600 WVKO”, so Soul Trina represented my weekly fix of music from artists like Marvin Gaye, Al Green, The Jackson 5, B.B. King, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The O’Jays, Smokey Robinson, Sly & The Family Stone, The Staple Singers, Cameo and on and on…you get the idea.
In 1986 when I got my first fulltime job in radio it was for the NEW Urban radio station in Columbus (Johnstown) WZZT Z103 “The Mighty Music Machine”…actually it was one of the first “CHURBAN” stations in the country playing Urban artists alongside Top40 artists with a target of reaching people from both CHR and URBAN markets. Pretty daring at the time and because of stations like that, the urban culture crossed over to the suburbs like we see it happening today.
All of that said, Don Cornelius, who is the founder, creator, producer and brainchild behind Soul Train has sold off the rights to the show and the new ownership group looks like they may be producing new shows sometime in the near future.
NBC unleashed its latest incarnation of Last Comic Standing on Thursday night . I haven’t ever watched the show with any consistency and based off the premiere episode of season 6 don’t have any plans to start now.
The show had auditions in New York and Tempe, AZ in the hour long show. There were some funny people at both auditions that made it to screen and then of course they put up a few of the absurd candidates as well. A couple of the funny ones even made it through to the next round in VEGAS, BABY!
Sadly, a few of the acts that made it through are “gimmicks”, not comedians and that means that some really talented people got left out.
Here are a few examples of the gimmicky type comedians we are seeing push their way through to the front of the pack as the BEST COMEDIANS out there.
God’s Pottery: Funny duo who very accurately make fun of a lot of the stereotypical Christian performers and youth event acts that are out there. I get it and I think it is funny but once you’ve seen it is there anywhere else you can go with it? We’ll find out because they made it through the first round and are headed to Vegas.
Esther Ku who may turn out to be this years Dat Phan, I’m not sure but she leans into the same racial stereotype jokes only from a different angle. That said, I’m not entirely sure if she is playing the joke on us or if she really dislikes being Asian all that much.
An interesting excerpt from Esther Ku’s website is that she came to America with her parents who are Christian Missionaries. On her website she says “her parents immigrated from South Korea as missionaries thinking they were pioneers in “bringing Jesus to America.” Ku often wondered why her family traveled so far to bring Jesus to a country that already sells him on endcaps in K-Mart.”
Stone and Stone: They are FUNNY…but again, after seeing them once, I am not sure where else they can go with it. Their main shtick seems to be talking over one another.
I love food. I love to eat great food, nothing fancy, necessarily but GOOD food…I want it to be flavorful, balanced and interesting. That could be a steak or salad or something really exotic. Just make it balanced.
I am a fan of the show “After Hours with Daniel”. Daniel is Chef-Owner-Author Daniel Boulud who is probably best known as Executive Chef at Le Cirque in NYC. The idea of the show is an after hours conversation with chefs, food critics, restaurateurs and celebrities. For someone like me…AWESOME!
The most recent episode I watched was Episode 1 of Season 2. Taped in Los Angeles at Pizzeria Mozza in L.A. which is the creation of Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich. INCREDIBLE stuff they are doing there including the creation of a Mozzarella Bar, sort of like a Sushi Bar but with exotic servings of Mozzarella…when I get to L.A. it will be one of my first stops. Guests on this episode included Chef Nancy Silverton, Chef Alain Giraud, Chef Hiro Sone, Restaurateur Lissa Doumani, Actor Josh Charles, Actor-Comedian Ray Romono and Comedian-Author-Producer Phil Rosenthal. What a perfect balance of Food, Comedy, Showbiz and conversation. At one point in the conversation, Phil Rosenthal was describing his passion for food and wondered why he wouldn’t be better at preparing food since he loves it so much. He also explained the motivation behind his love of food. Turns out his mother was a horrible cook and when he moved out of the house, he was able to taste what he had been missing.
Phil Rosenthal has written a book called “YOU’RE LUCKY YOU’RE FUNNY” which I have designs on reading very soon. In fact, one of the great things about livig in Columbus is that we have a great library system and I reserved my copy of “YOU’RE LUCKY YOU’RE FUNNY” to be picked up at the Main Library in the morning!
Phil also directed and co-wrote a really funny piece for the closing days of the Clinton administration back in 2000. Odd to see how different life was pre-911.
OK, this is the first post of 2008. I have the very best intentions of writing more regularly this year but if you look at the blogs I’ve had over the last 7 years…chances aren’t real great.
Browsing through the headlines today I see that Reggie Bush has already lost his mind…YIKES! Run, Reggie, Run!!!
At this minute the rage is “The Flat Belly Diet” which supposedly “All about food and attitude.” Is that the secret recipe the Colonel was talking about? I don’t think so!
So what did you do to ring in the new year? We had a quiet time of it with some friends and family and then came home and watched a movie..yeah, life at 40 is good!
Check back again soon to make sure I am posting.