Monday, April 27, 2009

Happy 40th, Bernie! Viva Von 10X, indeed - hot damn!


Well, what can I say? We had a fab cocktail party at the Aloha Alcohula (TM)* in honor of Bernie's 40th birthday!
Our wonderful guests - hot rodders, artists, musicians, the Usual Suspects and newbies - donned their swanky attire and joined us for martinis, much too much food, and mayhem. I cannot thank everyone enough for being fabulous guests and making this a very memorable event for Bernie, who so deserved it! Happy Birthday, Pootie-pie!


(a Johnny von 10x tribute by the joey Zone - With NO apologies to Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman!)

A shot o’ HOT DAMN gonna set my throat
Gonna set my throat on fire
Got a whole lot of shots down in front o’me--
Who set those stakes up higher?!?
There’s a thousand pretty women in THE tiki bar
But I wanna sit and talk about a CAR
For a gearhead like me that’s just about par
Viva VON 10X, viva VON 10X

How I wish that there were more
Than the twenty-four hours in the day
cause even if there were forty more
I wouldn’t sleep a minute away
Oh, there’s chrome and lacquer and a kustom wheel
A swapmeet somewhere with sech-a-deal
Ya jes’ needs a strong liver and some balls o’ steel
Viva VON 10X, viva VON 10X

ALOHA ALCOHULA with its barlight flashin
And some drink glass smashin
All that good hooch down the drain
Another shot o’ HOT DAMN turnin day into nighttime
Turnin night into daytime
If you’ve been to THE bar
Youll never be the same again

I’m gonna keep on the run
I’m gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke up well
I’ll always remember that I had a swingin time
I’m gonna give it ev’rything I’ve got
So bartender please let those shots stay hot
And let me shout “HOT DAMN!” with ev’ry shot
Viva VON 10X, viva VON 10X,
Viva, viva VON 10X!!! :D










* Best DAMN tiki bar in CT

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Dreamings, 5-Course Love and the Perception of Women

I haven't blogged in a while, so this one's all over the map.

I was absolutely blessed to see two theatrical productions within one month- I didn't realize how much I missed going to theater since I had left the Bushnell.

Elena & I saw 'Dreamings', performed by both the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble and members of the York Correctional Institute for Women in the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford. The cultural center is housed in CT's oldest synagogue building - there were glorious architectural gems to spotted in the building: stained glass windows, gorgeous chandeliers that would make great earrings, beautiful woodwork. (I brilliantly deduced we were in a synagogue by observing the Hebraic script right smack in front of me on a beautiful window....)

The performance included projections (brilliantly...projected...by a reacquainted Old Friend) on sail-shaped screens that enhanced the portions of the performance in which the dancers created a ship on the sea, traveling back and forth through the stories. (That particular portion of the performance strongly reminded me of the scene in 'Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead' that shows the Shakespearean actors silently recreating the well-known scenes from various plays. ) There was beautiful a cappella singing by a trio of women; modern dance sequences that were entertaining and thoughtful; and some spoken word pieces that, frankly, were.....not great. I do think the entire production was enjoyable, considering it could have been really heavy-handed.

Afterwards, I said hello to my Old Friend (now elevated to Friend category) and Elena and I hied off to a bar (shocking, I know) for a nightcap. Elena is one fun date.

Next: 5 Course Love-
Marko and I went the fabulous Spirit of Broadway theater in Norwich to see this musical comedy after dining at Paul's Pasta (Home of the Suitcase Full of Pasta) in Groton. The SoB is a tiny theater that maybe seats 100 people, so there's never a bad seat in the house and the productions are wonderfully minimal. Another added attraction was the ability to bring a bottle of one's own wine that they would uncork for a small fee.

Three actors played the three parts in the 5 vignettes of this performance. They were all fantastic, funny, talented, sometimes interacting with the audience, and the costumes and set were very stripped down, which only enhanced the script.

The book, music & lyrics were written by Gregg Coffin and it was fun, clever (in a good way) and the music did not sound like Rogers & Hammerstein, for which I am eternally grateful.

There was a little RHPS action during the German S&M/sexpot vignette: whenever the character's name of Heimlich was spoken, everyone was to turn their head & cough - very funny.

After the show, we trudged uphill to Billy Wilson's (Pub? Tavern? Ageing Still?) to have a nightcap and see every single person we know in Norwich. The bar actually had some decent wine! Marko is one fun date.

Ok, The Perception of Women. I'm prompted to write this because it just seems lately that world-wide culture is just dumping on women more than ever. I was listening to a story on the radio today about an American Idol-type contestant (who I'm sure is now world-famous by this point) who is modest, not botoxed, bleached and boob-jobbed out of proportion, and even more shockingly, is TALENTED: Susan Boyle. I watched the clips of her beautiful performance and was horrified at the smirks and disrespect directed towards her by the audience and 'judges.' Are you people really that shallow and unappreciative of others? The follow-up interviews of this 'miraculous' performance are even more idiotic as Ms. Boyle's looks and manners are still the major topic and not her beautiful singing- whoever the git was on NPR going on about how she's 'too far along' to be famous at this point in her life should be shot. If this was a man, his looks would never come into play to this insane level. One of the many reasons I loved watching 5-Course Love is that NONE of the actors were conventionally beautiful- what a nice change of pace.
And do I even need to spit about the new Afghan marriage law that essentially legalizes marital rape? Or some idiotic movie that has a 'well, it's not humor for everyone, so you women should just get over it' date rape scene? And I won't even go into the 'Powderpuff Girl's Football' email I received from the Athletics Department at work....we have Women's Basketball here, not sure why it can't be called Women's Football....

Thanks for tolerating my anger- come on over to the Aloha Alcohula* and I'll serve you a drink in my new Bearded Clam mug....


*Best DAMN tiki bar in CT (TM)

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Sharing the Wealth

The April 1st issue of Library Journal has two interesting articles:

one on the Redroom.com site (oh, authors, you need to see this....!)

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6645881.html

AND

The 'Music for the Masses' column highlights hardcore music: 'Hardcore: Wild in the Streets' by Matthew Moyer, pg. 57....

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6646653.html

(Was I just a total geek and blogged about Library stuff? Ssssshhh...don't tell anyone!)