Song of the Day: War & Eric Burdon - Spill the Wine

War & Eric Burdon - Spill the Wine

This song is on so many albums...one great one is the collection War: Anthology (1970-1994)

Song of the Day: Taj Mahal - Candy Man

Taj Mahal - Candy Man
from the album Songs of the South: Farther Along

I just LOVE this little ditty...Taj Mahal is one of my favs, no doubt about it.

Tues 5/22 & Wed 5/23: Dizzy Swank and LouRossi - Two Great Shows!

Two great shows this week, kids, before Yah Supreme on Thursday (see blog entry below this one for information)...
On Tuesday you have Dizzy Swank doing his lumberjack burlesque number (oh, I can't wait to see the pasties):

Cherry Pitz Hosts:
HOTSY TOTSY BURLESQUE
W/ Dizzy Swank, Burgundy Brixx, Fem Appeal, Stormy Leather,
Miss Mary Cyn, Viva Caliente, Ms. Dazie, and comic guest star DJ Hazard!
The Green Room in The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street. (Between Lafayette & Mott Streets)
Subway: 6 to Bleecker -or- F,V,B,D to Broadway / Lafayette
Tuesday, May 22 - 10:30 PM - $12.00

!!!Bring Your Own Booze....liquor licence is pending...it's sort of like prohibition!!!!
Box office info : Telecharge.com to order tickets 24 hours a day
Inside the NY metro area (212) 239-6200
Outside the NY metro area (800) 432-7250
The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street - Box Office is 212.253.5555




And then, dig it: another great show to attend is the Warper Party - where my pal LouRossi will be performing - at the Delancey:

May, 23 2007 at The WARPER Party @ the Delancey
168 Delancey (btw Clinton and Attorney), New York, 10002
Cost : free

Dj Shakey and Moldover present the monthly party: WARPER 2 Floors of Omnidigital DJs and Biomorphic Musicians! I'll be playing a set at 8:40 upstairs Live Music from 8pm sharp: 15+ live-electronic acts Live Visuals on multiple screens fromVJ Full Stealth & State Grezzi Wednesday, May 23th 8pm - 2am FREE, 21+ at The Delancey 168 Delancey (betw. Clinton and Attorney) 212-254-9920 VISIT our WEBSITE warperparty.com

Yah Supreme and Brohemian: This Thursday, 5/24, 10pm

Dig it: go check out my pal Yah Supreme and Brohemian this Thursday night!
These guys are really great - and Yah is an old college buddy of mine who is an amazingly talented individual...

You can check out his site YahSupreme.com



When: Thursday May 24, 2007
at 10:00 PM
Where:
Zebulon
258 Wythe Avenue (Metropolitan/N. 3rd)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
United States


CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

It's Back: Song of the Day: Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman

Technically, today marks a day when I have TWO songs of the day, because in the post below, you will note that I also include a song for my FAV band, Southern Culture on the Skids, that's playing tonight at the Mercury Lounge...

But...I have started to come out of hiding, and my server bandwidth is up, so I'm going to start the Song of the Day again, which will make many people happy, I'm sure...I've gotten quite a few emails wondering what the hell happened...lol

So, without further rambling...



Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
from the Superfly album soundtrack

One of the musical geniuses of the 20th century...

Southern Culture on the Skids! At the Mercury Lounge, NYC! Tonight!

If you want to get your groove on, I suggest you join me and the other chicken-fried cool mofos down at the Mercury Lounge around 9:30 to boogie. Actually, I suggest you get your ass there much, much earlier to buy tickets or just order them online to make sure they don't sell out.I was in line a couple of days ago getting extra tickets and there was a line of people behind me asking for SCOTS when I was walking away.



I have a possee of about 6 or 7 folks going...I would love it if we got a legion of bastiids to walk in there and give these folks a Yankee welcome they deserve...I love these guys. They are truly one of my very favorite bands (well, if you know me, then you know that already).

So please join me and a gaggle of pals as we invade the mighty Mercury Lounge tomorrow evening to throw down with the Hillbilly Rock Lovefest known as Southern Culture on the Skids....

You can check them out at
www.SCOTS.com
also at
www.yeprock.com

I'll leave you with a little tune of theirs that's one of my favs...

Eight-Piece Box from the album Dirt Track Date (which is my favorite of theirs)

Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

I just spent a wonderful day with my Mom for Mother's Day. We checked out the new Anthony Hopkins flick Fracture and it was awesome. Mom and I are both big Hopkins fans, and we both found ourselves enjoying Ryan Gosling's performance as well. My friend David Robinette had told me about his work in the movie Half Nelson, which I have yet to see, and said that he's going to be the next real "actor" of our generation, as opposed to the "stars and celebrities" that are very famous but can't act their way out of a paper bag...but that's a whole other rant...

So. About Mommy.



I'd like to take a moment for Mother's Day to reflect on what an AWESOME mother my mom is. I'm going to have to put more photos up of her later, for there are so many that I have that I need to scan...the ones on the internet are tired - everyone uses mostly the same ones...



My mother is the most loving mother anyone could ever hope to have. She's kind-hearted, over-protective (sigh), and always tries to be there for her children (that would be me and my sister, Danae).




Most people know Mom from her role as Lana on Three's Company, or as Lahoma on the soaps Another World and Somerset from the 70's; some folks know her as Aunt Fern who baked the armadillo cake in Steel Magnolias; or her role as Merleen from the hit show Evening Shade with Burt Reynolds in the 90's. Film buffs will know her as Frenchie from Scarecrow with Al Pacino & Gene Hackman, or as Bobbie DeNiro's girlfriend in Bang the Drum Slowly. She came within a hair's breath of being nominated for an academy award for her performance in Sweet Dreams with Jessica Lange & Ed Harris.

They talk about six degrees of separation of Kevin Bacon, which is fun and interesting; but I betcha we could do six degrees or less of separation with my Mom. Easy. Most of the "favorite actors" like DeNiro, Pacino, Hackman, Hoffman, Duvall - she's either worked with them or they were all in the same acting class together with Sandy Meisner. I can't tell you how many actors have talked to me (we're talking Name-Actors) who say "Wow, how is Ann? Man, she was there when I got my first gig. She's awesome."

My mother is all those things; she is also a Tony-award-winning actress who won the Tony for Best Supporting Actress in Neil Simon's Chapter Two on Broadway back in '78. She starred in Sam Sheppard's A Lie of the Mind and was part of the original cast. You open a New Dramatist play script for several shows and you'll see my mother's name in the original cast. She has done more theatre, film, and tv combined than most people in Hollywood or New York could ever hope to - and she has done it WELL. She is a talented, gifted actress who is known to the masses as being a sex symbol but to those who understand The Work as being a brilliant actress dedicated to her craft.



Two of the greatest compliments I ever received in my life were 1)That I looked like her (I then proceeded to slip the guy $100) and 2) That my acting in Before the Next Blue Norther reminded someone of my mother's work. (I was so happy I dropped my wallet on that one.)

I've been trying to get a website up for her and it's still in the works...but we get a lot of fan mail sent there. That's one of the projects I have on the list to do this summer: get Mom's website done. Lots of sites like imdb and wikipedia have partial information...but some of it is incorrect and its all incomplete. There is so much more that mother has done than is listed. Like playing Abigail in "The Crucible" with Leslie Nielson as John Proctor. Or the fact that she played Vincent D'Onofrio's mother twice - once on an Equalizer episode in the 80's (remember that show? that rocked) and in Vincent's The Whole Wide World. Thanks to Vincent she recently had a role in The Hawk is Dying with Paul Giamatti.

So, Happy Mother's Day, Mom...and always know that the world has not forgotten Ann Wedgeworth, because someone as incredible, talented, beautiful, and charismatic as you is one of the people who keeps the world forever illuminated.

Tribal Soundz Benefit Concert Schedule

Photo credit: www.tribalsoundz.com

Here is the schedule for the new round of benefit shows for Tribal Soundz, which will raise money for a great music store on 6th street about to lose it's space to the real estate bastards who seem to own NYC. My friend Dennis Driscoll is performing May 12th and May 18th. Try to pop in and support this store's future and the artists that will be performing...Dennis is a great author who does readings of his work that I have mentioned before.
Tribal Soundz is at 340 E. 6th Street.

Here is the line-up:


We're throwing TWO MORE WEEKENDS of rockin' gorgeous
B E N E F I T C O N C E R T S ... in-store !

Pleez come ... we seriously need your support,
or TRIBAL SOUNDZ wont be around much longer ...
BRING EVERYONE YOU KNOW.
these shows are magical and fun, and will help us stick around.

TRIBAL SOUNDZ BENEFIT CONCERTS
$10 minimum donation
FREE CD with each donation !
all shows held at Tribal Soundz - 340 e 6th st

......................................................................

FRIDAY MAY 11th 8pm SHARP

A N D R E W P O T E N Z A - Drum Circle
The audience creates a groove using Tribal Soundz drums !
Everyone can play ...

C H R I S T I N E B A R D - drums, percussion
Christine is a drummer/percussionist who
has worked with Bob Ostertag, Zeena Parkins,
Marc Ribot, Elliot Sharp, The Harry Partch Ensemble,
Bang On A Can All-stars, Chris Theberge,and John Zorn.
She has also worked with choreographers Yoshiko Chuma
and Jean Erdman and has composed music for Solo Drums
for several dance companies.

duo w/ N O R A B A L A B A N
timbila (african xylophone)

M I C H A E L A T T I A S - alto sax
The helpless result of migrations spanning North Africa,
the Middle East, Western Europe and the American Midwest,
Michaël Attias is a tribal world musician by default.
He will be playing the brass single-reed cousin of the
instrument used to charm serpents in the country of his
parents' birth, otherwise known as the alto saxophone,
in the company of long-time friend and collaborator tribal
world percussionist CHRISTINE BARD.

S I D H A Y W O O D E - British soul . vocals, guitar

J O E H A R V A R D - country eastern rock
Co-founder of Boston's legendary Fort Apache Recording,
author of 33-1/3's "The Velvet Underground and Nico",
Joe Harvard has played lap steel, gtr. synth and 6-string
on LPs as stylistically diverse as Dinosaur, Jr.,Throwing Muses,
and the Pernice Brothers. Those instruments, as well as
cumbus, pedal steel, strumstick and bazouki all surface in Joe's
Country Eastern style, combining indie rock and country w/the
timbres of indian and middle eastern instruments.

************************************************************
SATURDAY MAY 12th 8pm

S Y L V A I N L E R O U X - fula flute
French Canadian musician SYLVAIN LEROUX has
pioneered Jazz/African music collaborations
for almost thirty years. Sylvain is one of the rare
outsiders to master the tambin, fula flute of Guinea.
His latest project,"Source w/ Abdoulaye Diabate,
has been gathering accolades from the global
World music community. Tonights performance
will consist of solo improvised music performed
on various instruments as well as collaborative pieces
with surprise guests.

E X T R A V I R G I N M A R Y - Post Patti Smith folk
One dirty old man, his x-wife and her current boyfriend.
Deerfrance, Paul Chapin & several other floating members
including Dee Pop .

L E N I S T E R N - guitar, vocals

D E N N I S D R I S C O L L - dope fiends from Inwood.
True stories of sex, drugs and growing up in Inwood.

A GOURD, A STRING AND A MILK TRUCK . mbira music of zimbabwe.
Jim Pugliese & Nora Balaban

*************************
FRIDAY MAY 28th 8pm

J I M P U G L I E S E
Jim Pugliese is a drummer,percussionist,composer
and international recording artist on over sixty CD's
of experimental, Jazz and Rock music. He has toured
and recorded with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Anthony Coleman,
Elliot Sharp and The Philip Glass Ensemble.

duo w/ MARCO CAPPELLI
percussion, guitar

duo w/ ANTHONY COLEMAN
percussion, piano

trio w/ DENNIS DRISCOLL & ANTHONY COLEMAN
Stories of sex, drugs and growing up in Inwood.

A GOURD, A STRING AND A MILK TRUCK
JIM PUGLIESE & NORA BALABAN - mbira & voice

E A S S I D E P E R C U S S I O N
JIM PUGLIESE, CHRISTINE BARD, MICHAEL EVANS
Using traditional, world, and found percussion,
lo-tech electronics and electric collect-ibles,
Easside Percussion creates music that can range
from a calming sea of ambient sound to an exhilarating
massive drumbeat, leaving their audiences immersed in
a sphere of sound which touches a most primal and
intelligent part of the listener.

Virtuosos. Christine Bard, Michael Evans and James Pugliese
played rhythms off one another with split second coordination.

-Village Voice, NYC-

*********************************
SATURDAY MAY 19th 8pm


K A L I Z
solo performance


MICHAEL EVANS, KATO HIDEKI & ANDERS NILLSON
percussion, bass,guitar
Michael, Kato and Anders prepare to happily improvise until
they levitate themselves and then the audience!


A L E X O B E R T
Drums,voice,upright bass ...
and an addiction to world instruments.
Alex has played with the master musicians of Jajouka,
Mahmoud Ghana of the Gnawa, Zakir Hussein ,Cecil Taylor,
members of Sun Ra's orchestra,and his punk group THE SCAM,
which included NY times music critic and clarinetist Robert
Palmer,toured the world with Sonic Youth,Fishbone,Circle jerks,
and Phish. ALEX will be creating sonic landscapes with bass,
percussion, looping kamenche, zaphoon, bass, gimbri,and flutes
fusing his training and mental illness.

**************************************
SUNDAY MAY 20th 8pm -11

8pm
M A R I S S A - Bellydance
Marissa has performed solo throughout Maharastra,
India, where she has been influenced by hindustani,
bhangra, and bollywood styles of movement. As a
professional clarinetist as well,her artistic endeavors
have led her to western classical music and klezmer music,
having played in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

8:30pm
S O U N D S OF T A R A A B - Songs of Zanzibar
"The Sounds of Taraab" play popular music from
Zanzibar,Mombasa,and other towns of the east African
coast. This genre, known as Taraab, is influenced by
Arabic & Indian modes and is driven by a percolating
African beat. Tonights quartet will play Swahili songs
of unrequited love, emotionally charged Taqsim improvs,
and driving beats to boot!

9:30pm
S E A M A N & Q U E E R F U N K E L
The genius songs and sweetly harmonized vocals of
our favorite queer folk pop duo.

10pm
G U I T A R D U O
Marco Cappelli with Eyal Maoz

Abingdon Theatre's The President & Her Mistress: Final Weekend! Go See It!

Rosie and I had a chance to go see The Abingdon Theatre Company's The President & Her Mistress recently, and it was a BLAST.

The time is 150 years into the future: women rule the world (dig it!). Men are considered a threat to civilization and have been imprisoned.

Rebecca Shine is the President of the World; an ex-country-western singer who has hired her family and lover as her Presidential aides and is having second thoughts about the fate of all those men...causing whispers of her impeachment on the horizon...and then there's the issue about the special injections that promise her a fountain of youth - but technology can always get you into trouble...

The set is FABulous - emphasis totally on the FAB. This is a play that doesn't take itself too seriously - and asks that that audience doesn't either. Rosie and I both loved it - and I saw many men in the theatre getting a kick out of it as well, so don't think that it was just a show for the ladies - although chicks will get an extra giggle out of it, no doubt.

Written by Jan Buttram (author of Texas Homos and The Parker Family Circus) and directed by Rob Urbinati, this play is just a hoot n' a half. An extra delight for me was seeing Buttram star in the show. Buttram plays the lead, Rebecca Shine, and does so with humor and grace, playing her character naturally and simply, allowing the script to take her places - not forcing it there. Her style grounds her character and allows the outrageousness of the other characters to run free. I know Jan and have never seen her act, and it was a delight. The show reminded me of Brazil meets Coal Miner's Daughter. lol

If you want an evening to just enjoy some zany theatre and laugh, then I really recommend The President and Her Mistress. This is the last weekend of the show - I meant to post this earlier and left my mind somewhere...so buy your tickets at Smarttix and go have some fun at the theatre! You'll be glad you did.

Blogger's Choice Awards: Voodoo Jive Nominated for Best Pop Culture Blog

Hey, Cats n' Kittens:

Be a sport and go over to the Blogger's Choice Awards site and give Voodoo Jive a vote; it's nominated under a few things. If you come to this site and download music or read my stuff and dig it, do me a favor and stroke my ego and give me a vote...

It's so silly, but I'm an attention whore, what can I say?

:)



xo!
d

Da Birds n' Da Bees: A Mastercard Indecent Proposal

In honor of springtime and all the randiness that it seems to bring forth, I present this tasty morsel for your viewing pleasure...
It's yum yum - I don't think I posted it before... *glances around*

This is some seriously funny shit.

MasterCard Indecent Proposal

EDIT: I had a player of this up, but a certain blog aggregator (that shall remain nameless but pisses me off that they did this) bitched that I had video/music players up that autostart...so I'm taking it down. Sigh.

I'm So Disappointed: Looks Like the Geico Caveman Show is Going to Suck

Not that I should be surprised, but during my regular tour of Mark Lisanti's brilliant Defamer.com today, I saw something that...well, that made me a bit bummed, actually - even though I was laughing my ass off reading about it because they are so funny - including the commenters (bastards! Lisanti! I want to be a commenter!)

As some or most of you may know, the enjoyable and sometimes downright hilarious Geico caveman commercials had been signed on to do a 1/2 hour pilot for a series. Most people in their right minds would figure that this would probably not even last a season, but because the commercials are so adorable (I enjoy them almost more than 90% of the fucking programming on tv) most of us cheered them on, hoping that they could at least get their network groove on for a round or two of viable 22 minutes of programming fame.

According to defamer.com today, some reviews have come in, and the show just totally and completely sucks. Apparently getting stuck in an elevator listening to a bad version of "Girl From Ipanema" for two hours in 100 degree heat is preferable.

Eh, fuck it. It's probably still better than half the shit out there. I say: just make sure you drink the bottle of wine before you watch. Then it will totally rock. That is, if it ever makes it to the screen.

Nutrisystem: My New Salvation

Okay, some of you know that in March I finally got fed up with the weight I had gained after being sick so long with Benign Positional Vertigo and Vestibular Migraines - two things that combined, made me just sit and eat and not move too much, lest the whole room be in a tailspin.

Oh, yeah - and there was that tragic accident with the Swiss Colony catalogue and all the food that found its way into my apartment during that time...I was eating cheese logs and brownies, hitting the remote control, and making Jabba the Hutt look like Twiggy. I had cheesecake crumbs everywhere and boxes of chocolates that originally I meant to give as gifts that made their way to my ass instead.

But I digress...

So, in the middle of March I ordered and received the Nutrisystem diet. Being the web rat and internet junkie that I am, you can rest assured the author was online checking out chat rooms and other venues of reliable *cough* sources of information to get an idea of what others thought of this diet. More people than not totally trashed it.

"Man, the food totally sucked. It tasted like cardboard."
"I didn't lose nearly as much weight as I thought I would."
"Man, the food totally sucked. It tasted like cardboard." (uh...did I mention that one already?)

So, although I was considering getting it, I was prepared for it to arrive and totally taste like ass.

But, I was also fully aware that a lot of these people were comparing a diet that is mostly meals that are based around convenience (almost all the dinners are microwaveable) and low cal (small portions) to what they were already eating...which, if they were anything like me, meant that they were a bunch of fat bastards chowing down on pizza and the Swiss Colony catalogue, and how the hell do you compare with that????



There were also a lot of success stories. And to be honest, I needed help. ANY help, and with that, and a few greenbacks, I made my first order - which arrived pretty quick.

I was like a kid at Christmas, opening the box of dinners, lunches, breakfasts - and dig it: desserts. Dude. I totally get to eat chocolate every single night if I want to. Megatron super yum chocolate, too - not some nasty fake stuff.

And check it out: the food tastes great. You add a protein and fruit or vegetable to almost every meal, so it's also getting me to eat healthier again. I eat lasagna, stir-fry, mac n' cheese (I dig on that big time)...when you add the meals they give you with the proteins (yogurt/milk/cottage cheese, etc) and veggies, you're totally full. I am eating and happy and groovy.

Let the results speak for themselves: I have lost 17 pounds so far in less than 2 months (combined with going back to the gym again like three-five days a week) and I'm eternally stoked. I feel healthier and happier than I have in months and months. And do I look better?

Uh, jah.

Before, you could have balanced a six-pack on my ass along with an ashtray and an hors d'oeuvres tray...maybe could have even squeezed in Hervé Villechaize along for the ride.



Now, I'm gettin' the PR Pimp Booty back...and diggin' it.

So, if you want to lose some weight and get a little healthier, I recommend: get thyself to the gym and order some Nutrisystem. It's working for me...