Eddie Izzard seems to have added a Providence date before this new tour officially kicks off. What up with that? I will not question it — a gift from the cosmos just when you need it. I first noticed Mr. Izzard in the movie “Velvet Goldmine” which has already been discussed here — not an easy movie to get noticed in. He also appeared in “Ocean’s 12″ and “Ocean’s 13″ as Roman Nagel. Check out his earlier tours on the dvd’s ‘Glorious’ and ‘Dress to Kill’. He’s really smart and goofy. I’m guessing that the name of this tour refers to his recent shedding of the whole cross-dressing thing, which now makes him one of the few British men not wearing a dress. (Check out the recent New York Times’ interview.)

show time 8PM/Tuesday April 15/VMA Arts and Cultural Center/272-4862

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88l3H0QyoZI]

What’s more embarrasing than having your conservative keister called to testify in the DC Madam prostitution trial? Crashing your car as you try to flee the press corps. That’s what.

I can’t believe I missed this in the New York Times yesterday:

 ”Possible Nazi Theme of Grand Prix Boss’s Orgy Draws Calls to Quit”

 In a sublimely perverse, supremely hilarious article that at first glance seems like something ripped straight from the Onion, the Times reports on Max Mosley, president of a formula one governing body, who was recently revealed to have participated in “a depraved Nazi sadomasochistic orgy” with five prostitutes in London’s Chelsea district.

According to the Times:

The video showed Mr. Mosley counting in German — “Eins! Zwei! Drei! Vier! Funf!” — as he used a leather strap to lash one of the women.

“She needs more of ze punishment!” he cried in German-accented English. One woman appeared to search his hair for lice while another called off items on an inspection list.

 But, wait–it gets better:

Family history has added to the notoriety: Mr. Mosley, 67, is the younger son of Britain’s 1930s fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley, and the society beauty Diana Mitford, whose secret wedding in Berlin in October 1936 was held at the home of the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and included Hitler as a guest of honor.

Read the full story here.

New York Magazine has this delicious read, a screen treatment of the nightmare that could be a Dener Convention. They say, “we asked Lawrence O’Donnell Jr., former West Wing writer-producer, to play out a scenario in movie-treatment form. The premise is that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton arrive in Denver, neither having sufficient delegates to gain the nomination nor a decisive majority in the popular vote. And so it’s on…”

A gripping, ripped from the future example, from a scene of party leaders approaching Bill about getting Hillary to drop.

Rangel: Look, Bill—
Bill: Fuck you, Charlie. You think you can put a knife in my wife’s back and come in here and talk to me nicely?

Rangel’s 78-year-old Harlem street instincts have him moving toward Bill with a clenched fist. Biden jumps in to keep them apart.

Rangel: If your wife is elected president, I’m still gonna be chairman of Ways and Means and she’s gonna need me every fucking day. So how do you wanna leave it: Fuck you, Charlie, or I’m sorry, Mr. Chairman?

It’s ribald, and extremely well written. And while the intro notes that the odds of a brokered convention are still remote, it does make you wonder. An in-depth consideration, below the fold. more »

Tonight is the monthly variety show Empire Revue at AS220.  Music, burlesque, performance art, nouveau-vaudeville… and did I mention burlesque?

8:00PM/AS220/115 Empire Street/$8.

I have a warm spot in my heart for Martin Yan. When my niece was a toddler she used to sit transfixed (god bless tv) watching his cooking show from beginning to end. Martin Yan and Pee Wee Herman were her favorites. Mr. Yan is in town today as part of a two-day event sponsored by Johnson & Wales and Brown University — Eating Chinese: Global and Local Perspectives on Memory and Identity. Today is day two and things start at 1:00PM. For information call Sarah Cresta, Culinary Arts Museum, at 410-598-4849. (The Yan thing might be pretty popular.)

Martin Yan/4 - 5:30/Tyson Amphitheater/Harborside Amphitheater/Johnson & Wales University

As someone who was voted ‘most likely to twist her ankle’ in high school I can’t identify with this activity at all. I have been known to injure myself squeezing out a sponge. This morning’s ProJo has an article about the Co-ed Fight Club for Girls at the E&O Tap. (Unfortunately Monday is my Scrabble night and on Thursdays I have to sit on my couch.) The hard copy has a great photo of artist Josie Morway… maybe these are her feet… as well as other great pix inside. I just want to get this link up. Other dosers may want to elaborate but are not famous for getting up early on Sundays.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBHAonXZrVw]

From “The Verdict with Dan Abrams.” You may have seen some of these before. But where is that John McCain cartoon from South Park? And also, when/where is that mock debate with the new actors from? SNL?

So apparently I made the cut for Yankee Pot Roast’s Half-Decade retrospective. The weird thing is, they didn’t bother to tell me; I just stumbled upon it while browsing their site. They also apparently never received the writer bio I sent them, judging by the snarky one they created for me. Nonetheless, I’m awesome.

I am alternately horrified and enthralled by the impending downfall of Western Civilization, a process I occasionally like to prod along in some small, but I hope, ultimately meaningful, way.

In various print columns I have both decried the commercialization of Christmas, and urged the indiscriminate bombing of one or more Balkan nations by our next president; condemned the reckless egomania of athletes, and demanded my own fawning cult of personality; admonished our current president for his messianic ineptitude, and cited that same ineptitude as an inspiration to my career as a writer. So while I may find reality television and its corrosive effect on the American psyche alarming, I can appreciate its intrinsic value as a yardstick to measure just how close we’ve gotten to the absolute bottom of the barrel.

more »

… you sometimes miss wide. But when a ‘Kids in the Hall’ sketch worked, it was genius. Tickets are now on sale at PPAC for the upcoming KITH show ‘live as we’ll ever be‘, on May 1st. And it’s all five members! You would think at least one of ‘em would be living on an ashram or have a needle stuck in his arm by now. They made one under-appreciated movie, Brain Candy, following the TV show which aired from 1989 - 1995. Characters included Bauer, Tanya, the Chicken Lady, Rudy the asthmatic Armenian pimp and, seen here, Gavin.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJY4OLxHaO8]

Ian recaps the Follies over at N4N. Highlights: A shouting match between Clinton and Obama supporters, special guests Bill and Patrick Lynch, and extra-special guests Chelsea Clinton and John Kerry.

In contrast to memorable remarks associated with FDR and JFK, Kerry lamented he will be remembered for the phrase, “Don’t Tase me, bro.” He brightened, though, in outlining hopes for environmental Dems and death-penalty Republicans to come together — thanks to a solar-powered electric chair.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUarASqrVnY]

I could have sworn Ginsu knives were from Japan, but apparently they are a homegrown commodity: Indeed, it was Rhode Islanders who “slapped a faux-Japanese name onto a cheap serrated knife and used TV infomercials to turn it into a ubiquitous brand parodied by Saturday Night Live.”

State Rep. David Caprio is proposing we honor this forgotten chapter in our shared history by re-naming a quarter-mile stretch of road in a Warwick office park “Ginsu Way.” more »

I wish I had made this up, because it’s brilliant. But I didn’t. It’s real. Check out Barackula, the musical:

Barackula is a short political horror rock musical about young Barack Obama having to stave off a secret society of vampires at Harvard when he was inducted into presidency at the Harvard Law Review in 1990. Obama (Justin Sherman) finds that he must convince the vampire society that opposing political philosophies can coexist or else the society may transform Obama to the dark side. Reminiscent to Michael Jackson’s Thriller and a slight infusion of Jesus Christ Superstar, the film solely depicts Obama’s strengths, merits and genuineness while being quietly respectful towards the other presidential candidates.

This short musical is highly entertaining with dancing Harvard student vampires, fantastic choreography by Victor Tang and Sherman’s physical likeness to Obama is remarkable. Shot on the new RED ONE camera, the quality of the film itself is stunning. Produced by Justin Sherman, Gavin Leighton, Brooke Shirey and Mike Lawson, Barackula – The Musical is exceedingly unique amidst today’s vast online media created by the voting public. The intent of the film makers is to create something fun and memorable during this year’s election. Release date is expected by February 2008.

Listen to audio clips on Barackula’s MySpace page.

Have you heard of the New Bedford Standard Times?

I hadn’t, until I spent some of last week phonebanking and honk-for-hoping for Obama. Turns out they also do some “person on the street” Youtube video journalism, and with Gloria Steinem coming to UMass Dartmouth on Thursday, they asked: who is this Gloria Steinem? Hilarity/depression ensues as one wonders what part of the newspaper business compelled this Letterman-esque shtick.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvZYSM37mfY]

Can you tell if this is supposed to be funny? I can’t and that’s why it’s great. more »