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Monthly Archives: December 2007
The Rat Pack: Live At The Sands
Last night, Laura, my dad and I headed up to Wilshire Blvd. to see The Rat Pack: Live at the Sands. Drinks at the bar – I had a Sailor Jerry & Coke (they didn’t have any Captain) and Dad and Laura had a Malibu Pineapple. Before the show, Laura and I got some lindy bombing in at the very front of the theatre and it was INCREDIBLE. I mean we’d lindy bombed theatres on two previous occasions (Jersey Boys and Pajama Game), but this time there was more room (even if it was on carpet). The last song, I finished with a frog(with a long hold)-tuck-turn-dip that was SOOO clean and smooth. 
We also experimented with a balboa cross-break/salsa transition that works REALLY well. We got applause after our first dance and at the very end. Then on with the show.
Frankie was dead-on (voice and look). Sammy was decent voice, decent look (was Mr. Bojangles ever exaggerated THAT much?). Dean was the most off of the three – his voice was too high (all songs were raised a third) and his look was alright, but not as close as the others. Beyond that, the show was absolutely incredible. While this wasn’t my first experience with a Rat Pack Trio (see The Atomic Gig story), it was the first time I’d sat and gotten to watch the entire show. I was REALLY happy when they did a joke that I’ve loved since I first saw it (during the reprise of “Me and My Shadow”, Dean and Frankie sing, “We are Italian and you are a Jew” to Sammy…hysterical). I missed Sam’s Song, which is a fun duet between Dean and Sammy.
What else was fun…Dean did an incredible prat fall down stairs – saved his drink by covering it….very funny.
Dean: These are phosisticated people.
Dean: *while holding Sammy* I’d like to thank the NAACP for this award.
Frankie and Dean did a High Society reference. *giddy*
Dean: Is this your drink Frankie?
Frankie: Yeah, you drank it.
Dean: Well did you evah.
Frankie: What a swell party THIS is.
Sammy did a great Louis Armstrong impression instead of singing “That Old Black Magic”. He has the perfect eyes for it!
Dean: *to audience members who didn’t get the joke* Go home and think about it, you’ll be howling later.
Jersey Boys, Across the Universe, Misbehavin’ Nightly, Pajama Game and Enchanted (i.e. The Past Three Weeks In Entertainment)
Jersey Boys
The show is a lot of fun. The story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, it’s definitely rated R (they’re from f*ckin’ Jersey after all), but a lot of fun. It’s a biopic musical! Well then again, all biopics about music stars are musicals…I just don’t think I’ve seen the jukebox musical format applied as a biopic and I love it!
Across the Universe
Wow, two jukebox musicals in one week? You’d think I’d be sick of it, but I’m actually having a heck of a time. Across the Universe is the jukebox movie-musical (has that been done before?) starring the Beatles and an incredibly talented cast (definitely triple threats). Directed by Julie Taymor (the “person” responsible for The Lion King musical), the movie is very enjoyable and taught me a lot of Beatles music. The soundtrack is amazing! It’s chock full of musical goodies and I’ve had a 7-song playlist on loop for days of my favorites (I’ve Just Seen A Face, I Am The Walrus, I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends, Hey Jude, Dear Prudence, All You Need Is Love and Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite) and it hasn’t gotten old yet!
Misbehavin’ Nightly feat. The Pacific Symphony Pops and Byron Stripling
It’s Flat Foot FLOOGIE, not flujie. Aside from that, Byron is an incredibly talented musician. About the only sad parts about this performance was that:
a) I couldn’t dance to any of the tunes (even though I brought my dance partner) because it’s a concert hall and that isn’t “appropriate”
b) I actually bothered the people in the seat next to me with my boisterous attitude (they didn’t come back after intermission – at least not to their assigned seats…)
Other than that I had an incredibly enjoyable time. Lots of incredible music.
| Duke Ellington The Essential Ellington |
| Various Sounds of New Orleans |
| Rodney Red Arrow |
| Delange/Alter Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans |
| Handy St. Louis Blues |
| Pinkard Sweet Georgia Brown |
| Duke Ellington Caravan |
| Irving Berlin Alexander’s Ragtime Band |
| Cab Calloway Minnie The Moocher (not listed in program) |
| Fats Waller Honeysuckle Rose (actually a two-song melody with a mystery song and Honeysuckle Rose) |
| Brooks Ain’t Misbehavin’ |
| Slim Gaillard Flat Foot Floogie |
| Various Louis Armstrong Tribute |
Pajama Game
Featuring the choreographic style that later became known as “Fosse, Fosse, Fosse”, the music of Adler and Ross (Damn Yankees) under the supervision of Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls, How To Succeed) and a very talented cast, this musical actually reminds me of Urinetown if I think hard enough…because it focuses on one big issue rather than a lot of little things (the audience is happier that way). It’s about a labor contention in a pajama factory. The music is very fun and quirky, the story is good and the performance was very enjoyable. Oh – and I HATE Hernando’s Hideaway (olé). The lyrics just annoy me because I recognize the music as something more classical and I’m just pissy about it. Meh.
Enchanted
This is a phenomenal movie. It is the ultimate Disney geek-out (featuring 3 Disney “princesses” cameos – Jodi Benson/Ariel, Paige O’Hara/Belle and Judy Kuhn/Pocahontas) with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.
[sidebar src="Walden Media"]
The Walden Media production company is behind The Chronicles of Narnia movies, but they forced Disney to push Prince Caspian to a Summer 2008 release so that it wouldn’t compete with Waterhorse this Christmas.
[/sidebar]
John Ziegler Targets Hillary and Gets Roasted By The Mainstream Media
Stolen from the John Ziegler Mailing List (this is what you’re missing).
I am writing because I wanted to share something REALLY strange/funny that occurred at/after a Fred Thompson campaign rally that MC ed this weekend.While warming up the crowd I made a couple of (very well received) jokes about Hillary Clinton.
The first one can be heard that the very end of a clip that can be seen here: http://www.floppingaces.net/2007/12/01/a-visit-from-fred-thompson/
It created a mini firestorm among the national media as they tried to follow the story line of how wonderfully Hillary handled the hostage situation.
The worst of the coverage (and the best version of PART of the “offending” joke) came from Fox News Here: http://cameron.blogs.foxnews.com/2007/12/01/talk-show-host-ridicules-hillary-was-it-appropriate/
Here is what ABC did: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/radio-host-swip.html
The CBS Evening News did this (taking the joke TOTALLY out of context): http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3562457n
And the REALLY funny part is the second joke about Hillary that they ignored was FAR more edgy. You will love it. http://youtube.com/watch?v=rwC84tvCx3k
Zig is a really funny political pundit who used to be on KFI (whole other controversy), but is now freelancing it and doing other stuff. I highly recommend paying attention to what he has to say.