America’s plate is heaped high with terrifying unemployment rates, the issue of national healthcare, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  If this not enough to give us indigestion and worse, we were informed this past week that a portion of the nation would not be able to view The Oscars.   The tug-of-war between ABC [...]

The economy troubles me; no doubt about that.  So does this second Vietnam (the war in Iraq and Afghanistan), and the bailout of industries whose heads I’d prefer to see on stakes.  I have a full metal jacket of other issues ripe for baring in a blog whose writers are adults and desirous of exercising [...]

2009 was one heck of a year.  Tiger Woods got caught with his pants down, we elected our first Black (okay, half Black) President, and the unemployment rate rose to its highest in nearly three decades.  This year, we also lost a number of celebrities, some of whom passed quietly and some of whom passed [...]

The performer known today as Lady GaGa began her life as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta on March 28, 1986 in New York City.  Of Italian heritage, she was the first child welcomed by Joseph and Cynthia Germanotta.  At the age of 11, having demonstrated a talent for music, her parents considered enrolling her in the [...]

Those of us who remember the joy of reading full-length books and the satisfaction of conducting research in the library, instead of pursuing bits and pieces of knowledge online, remember the adage about idols with feet of clay.  For those of us who don’t, the proverb relates to the situation that occurs when we place [...]

Engendering terror and pathos, earthiness and mysticism, the mythical vampire has long held the fascination of readers, TV viewers, and film buffs of all ages.  Our society so embraces the vampire that we continue to promote his evolution and the lore that surrounds him.   Inarguably, Bela Lugosi’s riveting portrayal in the 1931 film Dracula sparked [...]

The son of Italian immigrants, Alfred Cini was born October 7, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s working class South Side.  As the boy grew, he was steered into a stable and respectable line of work: the family’s masonry business.  Al bit the bullet for a while, laboring as a bricklayer alongside of his brother.  However, God [...]

Good music bypasses the intellect and goes straight to the heart.  Brilliant music remains there forever.  With energy off the Richter scale, Taylor Hicks’ performances of September 25 and 26, 2009 at Birmingham’s WorkPlay Theatre stand in that latter, rarified category.  Compared to those concerts, this review will be flimsy. Words cannot match the live [...]

Directed and choreographed by Australia’s Jason Gilkison, “dance theatre” is a milquetoast moniker for the two-hour inferno, Burn the Floor.  Slated for a limited 12-week run, the production blazed its way onto Broadway on August 2, 2009 and lightning-quick, broke box office records for the Longacre Theatre.  There, the conflagration will continue to blaze through [...]

Let’s face it: the truly great moments in life are all too rare and precious.  So when such a moment comes along, as it did via the surreal medium of reality TV, it is that much sweeter. September 15, 2009 saw the end of Luke’s search for the perfect wife on More to Love.  So [...]