We’ve always loved Inkwood Books around the Tribune/TBO offices, because it’s a short drive from here and you can find far worse things to do with a lunch hour than go over there and look over the available books. In fact I challenge you to find something *better* to do with that hour.
On Saturday (Nov. 7) the little store at 216 S. Armenia Ave. is throwing itself an 18th birthday party, and you get the benefits. There will be refreshments on hand and drawings to win special books, as well as discounts of up to 20 percent for Inkwood Regulars (if you aren’t one already, you can become a regular by paying a $15 annual fee). The event kicks off at 10 a.m. Call the store at (813) 253-2638 for more details.
Bobby Long is best known for a song he’s never sung.
The Brit musician, currently on a U.S. solo tour that comes to the Dunedin Brewery Saturday, Nov. 7, co-wrote “Let Me Sign,” which was performed in the film “Twilight” by its star, Long’s pal, Robert Pattinson.
Fans coming to hear Long solely for his “Twilight” connection will leave disappointed.
“When I came to American in April I was primarily known for that,” Long says of “Let Me Sign.”
While the “Twilight” connection may have been the initial lure for patrons to go see relatively unknown singer-songwriter, he says the audience is past that now.
“The “Twilight” fans are an absolute minority now,” Long says by telephone driving between gigs in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Atlanta. “I think more people come in who like my music. I see people in the crowd singing along to my songs.”
Long’s MySpace site is the primary outlet for fans to hear his music. He’s recorded two CDs, one live in New York, one in his bedroom, which are available only at his shows. He’s working on his first proper recording between tours at London’s Toe Rag Studios, where The White Stripes made “Elephant.” Studio owner Liam Watson is producing.
Toe Rag is known for its collection of vintage analog equipment, fitting considering Long’s influences.
“I really like Woody Guthrie, Richie Havens, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan,” Long says. “For modern times, I like Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith.”
Long and Watson hit it off immediately.
“I wanted to record live,” Long says, “and on our first day in the studio he told me he wanted to record live. We got on really well. I’m very luck to work with him.”
Long hopes to release the album in May or June.
As for “Twilight,” Long is grateful.
“It’s given me the opportunity to tour the U.S.,” Long says. “I’ve been constantly picking up new fans.”
Long performs at 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, at the Dunedin Brewery, 937 Douglas Ave. in Dunedin. For more information, call (727) 736-0606.
I’ve written here before in praise of Eduardo F. Calcines’ Leaving Glorytown: One Boy’s Struggle Under Castro. Calcines, who lives in the Tampa Bay area, provides a fascinatiing glimpse inside Cuba during (primarily) the 1960s. After the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro, his family went from enjoying a good life to austerity—food, medicine and jobs became difficult to find. Perhaps most significantly, this book is written for teenagers, although it is also enjoyable for adults.
I am mentioning the book again because you have a chance to meet Calcines tomorrow (Nov. 7) from noon until 2 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble, 213 N. Dale Mabry Highway. Mapquest it if you don’t know the way—this is the Barnes and Noble on Dale Mabry Highway between Ruby Tuesday’s and Village Inn. Calcines will be onhand to meet readers and sign copies of his book. For more details, you can call (813) 871-2228.
Local poet Jay Hopler is $50,000 richer and, perhaps most importantly, validated in a way all writers wish they could be.
Hopler, author of the poetry collection Green Squall, was one of 10 recipients of the the prestigious Whiting Writers Award, given annually to writers who show “exceptional talent and promise early in their career.”
Hopler, who was born in Puerto Rico and now lives in Tampa, received the award at a ceremony last week at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. His next work will appear in the The Yale Anthology of Younger American Poets to be published in 2010. Hopler is an assistant professor of English at the University of South Florida.
Character actor and comic magician Carl Ballantine, best known for his role as Lester Gruber on 1960s sitcom “McHale’s Navy,” passed away from natural causes Tuesday at his home in Hollywood Hills. He was 92.
Born Meyer Kessler on Sept. 27, 1922, in Chicago, Kessler took his stage name from a bottle of Ballantine Whiskey that he saw in an advertisement. He billed his magic act as “Ballantine, the World’s Greatest Magician.” But the joke was that none of his tricks worked. He appeared often on variety shows such as “Ed Sullivan,” and “Steve Allen.”
In addition to “McHale’s Navy,” Ballantine guest starred in a slew of sitcoms over the years including “That Girl,” “The Monkees,” “Mayberry R.F.D.,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “The Partridge Family,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Alice,” “Night Court” and “The Cosby Show.” His final role was three years ago in a feature film about Aimee Semple McPherson.
As a result of dwindling ratings, CBS is subtracting episodes from “Numb3rs.” There will be only 16 produced this season instead of 22. Look for a series finale in early spring 2010.
The series, which airs at 10 p.m. Fridays, debuted in 2005. It follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz), who helps Don solve crimes for the FBI.
“Numb3rs” is produced by brothers Ridley and Tony Scott Waiting in the wings as a potential replacement are Canadian dramas “Flashpoint” and “The Border,” and new medical drama “Miami Trauma.”
ABC has announced a new dance competition with a comedic twist called “Let’s Dance” with acid-tongued Kathy Griffin as host. Will they put a muzzle on her?
The show will feature “stars” competing for charity as they honor some of the most famous movie, musical and pop video routines of all time.
It premieres Nov. 23 with a 90-minute installment at 9:30 p.m. following the ninth-season finale of lead-in “Dancing With the Stars.”
Additional episodes will air at 9 p.m. Mondays through Dec. 14, with the finale scheduled for Dec. 15 at 8 p.m.
So I am a month behind on this post. I was out of town during Cafe Hey’s latest art opening.
I did however make it down a few days ago and brought back these photos.
I really enjoyed Justin’s work. Reminds me of Mel Kadel’s line work.
“Wound Tight”
Pencil, ink, and acrylic on paper
Justin Nelson
“They Will Appear”
Ink on Paper
Justin Nelson
“The Worm”
Mixed Media
Squid Dust
Mr. Zollo always with a new style.
“Untitled”
Acrylic
Anthony Zollo
“Hey Monsters”
Phillip Clark of Bluelucy
Acrylic and Color Pencil on Wood
“All Together Ooky”
Chad Mize of Bluelucy
Acrylic and Color Pencil on Wood
I really liked Josh Pearson’s “Boogie Man”
Singer Rihanna talks about her life, career and the night her former boyfriend Chris Brown beat her on ABC’s “20/20” at 10 p.m. Friday.
According to a release from ABC News, Rihanna says it was “humiliating” and “traumatizing” to admit the assault took place and that it was “wrong” that she went back to Brown afterwards.
“That’s embarrassing that that’s the type of person that I fell in love with,” Rihanna told Diane Sawyer in her first television interview discussing the assault. “So far in love. So unconditional that I went back. It’s humiliating to say this happened. To accept that? It’s a traumatizing experience.”
Her decision to go back to Brown, she said, was a mistake. “I stayed. I even went back after he beat me, which was wrong,” she said. “But again ... I’m a human being, and people put me on a very unrealistic pedestal. And all these expectations, I’m not perfect.”
The 21-year-old star acknowledged that Brown held her in a headlock twice that night and bit her on the ear and fingers.
After months of silence since the February beating, Rihanna decided to speak publicly about the ordeal so she can be a voice to help others who may be in danger of returning to abuse.
“It’s completely normal to go back. It’s not right. I learned the hard way, but again, this is what I want people to know,” she said. “When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part. I couldn’t be held responsible for going back.
“Even if Chris never hit me again, who is to say that their boyfriend won’t? Who’s to say that they won’t kill these girls?” she said. “These are young girls, and I just didn’t realize how much of an impact I had on these girls’ lives until that happened.”
After a nine-month hiatus, Rihanna is back on the music scene with a new hit album, “Rated R,” signaling a return from a time of intense loneliness following the assault.
“One of the most lonely times I’ve been was in the past few months because nobody understands what it’s like,” she said. “There are a lot of women who’ve experienced what I did, but not in the public. So it made it really difficult. I just felt like, ‘Oh my God, here it goes, my little bit of privacy.’”
In August, Brown was sentenced to five years of probation, six months of community service and one year of domestic violence counseling for assaulting the 21-year-old pop singer the night before the Grammy Awards.
Ken Auletta, who writes the “Annals of Communications” column for The New Yorker, has access to many of America’s heavy-hitting media moguls. Here’s the major “take away” from his new book, “Googled”: those media moguls aren’t so heavy hitting anymore.
Traditional media — referred to as “old media” often in this book, ain’t that sweet — is in crisis. Even the most casual reader is aware of this. Those who work in media are, I assure you, *very* aware of it. Here are the headlines in case you’ve missed them: newspaper circulation and advertising are down; television viewership is fragmented and the broadcast networks have lost huge chunks of audience share; Internet advertising is up but brings in a fraction of the dollars that traditional media advertising does.
In “Googled,” Auletta offers little hope this trend will reverse itself. He interviews many people involved with media, from newspapers and magazines to television, book publishers and the music industry. No two people completely agree on what the future might look like in terms of media consumption, but they all agree that one possibility is a complete steamrolling of traditional media models.
Google, while not to blame, has everything to do with this.
As Auletta writes in the book’s opening lines, “The world has been Googled. We don’t search for information, we “Google” it. Type a question in the Google search box, as do more than 70 percent of all searchers worldwide, and in about a half a second answers appears.”
It’s amazing, really, but like all amazing technological advances (GPS in cars, smart phones and — my favorite — air conditioning) it is quickly taken for granted. Certainly Google has made a wealth of information available to all the world, for free (well, minus the cost of an Internet connection). And that was the goal of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two engineers who wanted to make information easily accessible.
So why is this leading to chaos in media? Because Google, searching for ways to monetize their search engine, began selling advertisements to run alongside search results. The price is fairly low, but it makes money for Google because of the massive number of people — some three billion — visiting its search page every day. We’re talking truck loads of cash — Google had revenues of $21.7 bllion in 2008, and CEO Eric Schmidt predicts the company could become the first 100 billion dollar media company.
In short, Google built the better advertising mouse trap. Advertisers have flocked to the Web’s low cost, targeted advertising pioneered by Google. This isn’t the only reason that traditional media is in trouble, but Google has become a target of choice for frustrated traditional media types. The complaints got worse after the launch of Google News, a very handy aggregator of the day’s news that has siphoned readers away from daily newspapers and news media Web sites. Google counters that it is linking to news Web sites, giving them clicks.
Much of the book is like this — a back and forth between the complaints of traditional media titans and Google’s leaders, who often come across as naïve as the Google corporate motto, “Don’t Be Evil.” There is also quite a bit about the Google culture, which includes allowing employees to use 20 percent of their time to work on their own projects and stock options that have made many Google employees rich.
But what’s more interesting are the ideas from Google leaders and others in Silicon Valley about the possible future. For example, Marc Andreessen, creator of the revolutionary Netscape browser, predicts the Web will soon have 2.5 billion users worldwide. “When has the music industry and the movie industry and the TV industry ever had a market that big to deal with before? And when has the distribution ever been this cheap? An entrepreneur looks at that and says, ‘Oh, my God, it’s a monster opportunity.’ Somebody who is protecting an existing business says, ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to go out of business!’ Now, they’re both right. It depends on whether they radically make the changes they need to make.”
Smart phones like the iPhone and the Android (which uses software from a company Google bought) are just the beginning of a radical change in mobiles, which will continue to improve in quality. Auletta reports that some day, phones might have progressed to a point where you simply point it at a building and all the stores, restaurants and other businesses will pop up on your screen, as well as the pertinent telephone numbers and Web addresses.
Like it or hate it, Google has been a large part of the digital revolutuion that is changing the way the media world works, and the conclusion of most of those interviewed here is that people either need to adapt or get trampled. Whether Google continues to dominant advertising or a rival takes over, the new culture of media consumption that puts control into the hands of the user, not the media companies, is here to stay.
Loud, angry, foul-mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay (who is really a pussycat after he blows off steam) is bringing a new culinary competition series to Fox. Its working title is “Masterchef.”
The series will take wannabe chefs who simply cook as a hobby and have absolutely no experience in the food industry and attempt to turn one of them into top professional chefs. The show is already a hit in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Contestants will be put through the paces with various challenges as they compete head-to-head to create delicious dishes judged by world-renowned chefs. The series will serve as a platform for people from all walks of life who want to follow their dream of working as a professional chef.
The show probably will debut sometime in 2010.
Barbara Walters will sit down with former vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for a five-part series of ABC News interviews to begin airing on “Good Morning America” Nov. 17, the morning her highly anticipated book “Going Rogue: An American Life” is released.
The wide-ranging interview will cover her public life as governor of Alaska and her vice presidential run in 2008, as well as her private life. This is Walters’ first interview with the political figure.
Portions of the interview are scheduled to air on “Nightline"on Nov. 17, on “Good Morning America” on Nov. 18 and on “20/20” on Nov. 20.
Listeners of WMNF, 88.5 FM, know Duncan Strauss as one of the “Sonic Detour” DJs as well as the host of his own “Talking Animals” program. During the ‘80s, though, Strauss toiled in print for The Los Angeles Times, covering, among other things, music, working with the Times’ Robert Hilburn, one of the most well-known rock critics in the business.
Hilburn recently published a memoir, “Corn Flakes With John Lennon and Other Tales From a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life,” recounting times shared with Lennon, Bono (who wrote the forward) and Bruce Springsteen.
Hilburn will speak by telephone with former co-worker Strauss from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday during “Sonic Detour.” Hilburn ran with rock’s greatest for nearly 40 years and has plenty of stories to tell.
“Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome, America. A Final Night with George W. Bush”
Stars: Will Ferrell
Rated: Not rated, but contains profanity, brief nudity and mature material
Running time: 115 minutes
Release date: Nov. 3
My take: Wow. Even I was surprised that Ferrell “took it there” during some bits of this show, particularly the one involving the penis, which I will not attempt to describe, what with this being a family-friendly kind of blog (most of the time). Generally speaking, haters of George W. Bush will find this knee-slappin’ hilarious and Bush supporters will pretty much be appalled or bored (jokes about Bush’s lack of verbal skills have been old since about ’02). I found some moments laugh-out-loud funny, particularly the way Ferrell skewers Bush’s silver-spoon attitude of entitlement and superiority. Other bits fell a little flat, including much of the “Bush as cowboy” section. There’s plenty of bawdy humor that is easier to enjoy when you are in the comfort of your home and no one can judge you. I was constantly amazed at how Ferrell absolutely nails the former president’s facial expressions and verbal ticks. I also found some of this oddly sympathetic to Bush, mostly the way Ferrell humanizes him, so Bush-haters might not be entirely pleased.
Extras: One of the disc’s best bits is the “Bush interviews Bush” section, in which Ferrell plays the president both as cowboy and in his presidential suit attire.
Who will like: People who detest former President George W. Bush and people who enjoy satire of public officials and aren’t put off by penis jokes. And, I suppose, Bush supporters with a sense of humor.
Forget waterboarding. Reportedly, terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay may have been subjected to blaring music including songs by The Bee Gees, Britney Spears and James Taylor, as well as the Meow Mix jingle and themes to “Sesame Street” and “Barney.”
A coalition of musicians including R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Tom Morello and Jackson Browne have filed a series of Freedom of Information Act petitions requesting the full declassification of secret U.S. documentation on the strategy of using music as an interrogation device at Guantanamo and other detention centers. Apparently, blasting music might have been used as a strategy to coerce information from terrorist suspects before 2003.
An investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee cited one detainee who was subjected to hours of the Drowning Pool’s “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor.” Other detainees have been quoted as saying they were blasted with hours of the music of Eminem, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees played at loud volumes as a sleep deprivation technique.
A Freedom of Information Act request filed Oct. 22 names 35 musicians or songs that it says may have been used against detainees at U.S. military detention centers, including the one at Guantanamo Bay.
The National Security Archive—the Washington-based independent research institute that filed the request—is seeking documents that “contain explicit references to the following bands or songs”:
• AC/DC
• Aerosmith
• Barney theme song (By Bob Singleton)
• The Bee Gees
• Britney Spears
• Bruce Springsteen
• Christina Aguilera
• David Gray
• Deicide
• Don McLean
• Dope
• Dr. Dre
• Drowning Pool
• Eminem
• Hed P.E.
• James Taylor
• Limp Bizkit
• Marilyn Manson
• Matchbox Twenty
• Meatloaf
• Meow Mix jingle
• Metallica
• Neil Diamond
• Nine Inch Nails
• Pink
• Prince
• Queen
• Rage Against the Machine
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Redman
• Saliva
• Sesame street theme music (By Christopher Cerf)
• Stanley Brothers
• “The Star Spangled Banner”
• Tupac Shakur
Advertisement
