2013-02-16 American Songbook
Last night Bill and I attended the American Songbook series at the Time Warner Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Allen Room. The featured guest artist was Kristin Chenowith. Kristin has been a staple on Broadway for many years now and has made the transition to tv with the West Wing and Pushing Daisies. She won the Tony Award for her porrtayal of Sally in the revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which she displayed in her performance last night. Kristin is an amazing talent. Her show was about Broadway divas, but not always the ones that have the lead roles. She was in excellent voice, delivered her show with such a professional touch that you wonder why she isn't on Broadway right now in a starring role. She delivered an amazing array of songs from Kander and Ebb's "Quiet Thing" to Carrie Pepperidge's "When I Marry Mister Snow" from Carousel. She is a consummate actress and comedienne. This production was filmed for PBS Live at Lincoln Center and should not be missed. What a treat to see her perform again, and one hopes that she get's that starring role that she justly deserves.

2013-02-16 Eagle's documentary on Showtime

I came upon a documentary on the Eagles rock band tonight on Showtime. As I watched it, I was transported back to the seventies when I actually saw them perform in the Cleveland area. I saw their Hotel California tour. That album remains one of my favorite albums of all time. It was one of the best concerts that I have ever attended. I went to college in Akron, Ohio and Kent State was very close to Akron. One night we decided to go to Kent for the bars and the music. I was very much into pop music at that time in my life. There was a bar there called the Fifth Quarter (I think that's right.) It had a band called the Measles playing there, and the lead guitar player was an unknown named Joe Walsh. I remember having a good time there and enjoying the music. Joe Walsh then formed his own group the James Gang. The next time I saw him perform was as the opening act of the Who in Cleveland at Public Hall, the day after the movie version of Woodstock opened. It was an amazing night because after the James Gang performed, a little know perfomer who had recently released his first album came on stage, in barefeet and performed a few of his songs. The performer was James Taylor. He was practically booed off the stage because everyone was waiting for the Who to perform. The Who actually did a complete version of Tommy that night, which is one of the concerts that I will never forget. Getting back to the Eagles, they remain one of my favorite bands of all time, and this special just cemented in my mind how much I love their music and am glad that they reunited after all those years. The documentary is extremely well done and doesn't gloss over the friction between certain band members and the issues that they faced. All I can say is that I am glad that they got back together a few years ago and have continued to make amazing music, not to mention the impact that they personally have made on the environment (helping save Walden Woods) and our lives in general. Thank you Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, and Timothy Schmidt.