- Honestly, issuing one unheeded warning after another is getting old. Having spent years warning the world about the growing menace to music and really, to society as a whole, that is American Karaoke, and watching those warnings go ignored has been frustrating to say the least. So why continue issuing them, trying to alert everyone of the very real danger posed to one and all if we don’t put a stop to this menace? Because now that menace is threatening to grow in international fashion and I cannot in good conscience allow that to happen. As you probably know, horrible actress and even worse “singer” Jennifer Lopez has continued contributing to the ruination of music this season as a judge on American Karaoke. It was really the perfect destination for a pop music hack with no actual vocal talent, judging aspiring karaoke-ers with a similar ability level. Unlike Steven Tyler, who used to rock and have musical credibility, Lopez didn’t have anything to lose by joining the AK judging panel. By all accounts, she has blended in perfectly on the show, so much so that she is now exploring the possibility of launching her own reality show that would essentially be a Latin American slant on AK. Lopez is partnering with Idol producer Simon Fuller and his XIX Entertainment to shop the new project to broadcast networks. The basic premise of the show would be Lopez and her husband Marc Antony touring Latin America and searching for the best undiscovered musical talent. In that respect, it would be much different than AK, which has never had anything to do with talent. The working title for the potential new show is Que Viva, but the project is still in early stages of development. Those who feel Lopez has injected life into the AK franchise (akin to injecting life into a rusted-out 1970 Datsun with no seats or engine), the possibility of her trying to launch her own reality karaoke show is cause for concern. After all, if she can be in charge of a crappy reality show with subpar musical talent, why would she want to be just a pretty face on another such show? Sure, Tyler is signed for more than one season and is expected to return to the show next season, but Lopez is only signed on through the end of this season. However, examples from the no-so-distant past would suggest that it is possible for an AK judge to handle both the taxing duties of offering worthless, pithy comments about bad karaoke performances on one show and captain another project at the same time. After all, fellow judge Randy Jackson has run his MTV reality dance show America’s Best Dance Crew and continued to do his AK “job” as well. The bigger concern, obviously, is infecting even more of the globe with the plague of reality karaoke shows…………
- Getting the Barry Bonds treatment isn't a euphemism one wants to be on the receiving end of. The San Francisco Giants scrubbed their entire ballpark of traces of Bonds the instant his career ended in disgrace, amidst steroid allegations, federal perjury charges and general disrepute. Finding any reference to Bonds inside AT&T Park is a nearly impossible even though he set numerous team and Major League Baseball records with the Giants and was the sport’s most recognizable player for more than half a decade. Yet as swiftly as the Giants moved to erase all mentions of Bonds from their stadium, the people of Egypt are moving even more swiftly to erase ousted President Hosni Mubarak from their country. Mubarak's 29 years in power ended with his resignation in February after weeks of mass anti-government protests and he is currently under arrest at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Back in Egypt, a national court has ruled that the names of Mubarak and his wife Suzanne be removed from all public places. The ruling includes hundreds of public squares, streets, libraries and schools across Egypt named after the couple. Aside from showing Mubarak’s narcissistic nature, the sheer number of places where his name must be erased means the effort will take months, if not years. It’s difficult to find fault with the court on this decision, as Mubarak is due to be questioned about allegations of corruption and alleged violence against protesters during the popular uprising whenever he stops faking illness, er, gets off bed rest and is able to travel. Reports say his health is "unstable,” which could be code for “not eager to return home and face justice.” Portraits of the disgraced leader have already been taken down at public institutions across the country, so the process of expunging him from the national conscience is already underway. In explaining the decision to erase the Mubarak name from public places, Judge Mohammed Hassan Omar said: "It has become clear that the size of the corruption that's being uncovered every day exceeds by far anyone's imagination." Following the ruling, Egypt’s transportation minister said the Mubarak name would be removed from all ministry facilities, including a major underground station in central Cairo. Some have suggested renaming streets with Mubarak’s name on them after the people who were killed in the recent anti-government protests. In total, at least 846 people were killed and 6,400 were injured during the 18 days of protests earlier this year, according to a government fact-finding panel. Those are crimes for which the ousted despot will eventually have to answer……….
- Having not won a World Series in more than a century, the Chicago Cubs and their fans have been at a loss to explain their run of ineptitude. Everything from disrespected goats to idiot fans interfering with games have been blamed, but maybe the cause of their failures is the Cubs themselves and a piece of team history that has just resurfaced. While the 1919 Chicago White Sox have long been known as the team that disgraced Chicago and the sport of baseball by (allegedly) throwing the World Series for gamblers, one participant in that intentional tank job claimed before his death that the White Sox - later dubbed the Black Sox for their disgraceful actions - were inspired by a similar scheme executed one year prior by the Cubs. Eddie Cicotte, one of the infamous Black Sox banned from baseball after their tainted World Series against Cincinnati, claimed in a 1920 court deposition that the Cubs were guilty of throwing the World Series one year prior to his own team’s actions. The Chicago History Museum recently put Cicotte’s deposition on its website and in it, Cicotte said "the boys on the club" spoke about how a Cub or a number of Cubs were offered $10,000 to throw the 1918 Series they lost 4-2 to the Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, Cicotte offers no specifics in the deposition and no details as to how the players might have done it or even if he believes the Cubs threw the Series. The juicy part of the story, of course, is the idea that Chicago was the center of the sports gambling universe in the early 20th century, so much so that Chicago that both teams could be involved in back-to-back years. Peter Alter, an archivist at the museum who examined the document and other artifacts that the museum paid $100,000 for at auction, believes that there may be some truth to Cicotte’s claims. The deposition also provides insights into what life was like for players during Cicotte’s era, when players were not well-paid and lived lifestyles much closer to that of the average fan as opposed to the lives of relative luxury they often live in modern times. According to Cicotte, gamblers were a frequent sight at games and players often talked about gambling rumors. "The ball players were talking about somebody trying to fix the National League ball players or something like that," Cicotte said of one long train ride to the East Coast. "Well anyway there was some talk about them offering $10,000 or something to throw the Cubs in the Boston Series. Somebody made a crack about getting money, if we got into the Series, to throw the Series." Unfortunately, Cicotte died in 1969, so his deposition is the only say he’ll have on the discussion. While the truth of his claims may never be verified, arguments over money between players and owners were common during the time. Before one 1918 World Series game in Boston, the two teams refused to come on the field until the owners paid them what they were promised. The players ultimately backed down. As for the series itself, no Cubs hitter forgot how to hit and Cubs pitchers were terrific, finishing the Series with an astonishing 1.04 ERA. There were some suspicious plays, most involving Cubs outfielder Max Flack. In the fourth game, Flack was picked off twice and in the series’ sixth and final game, he dropped a catchable fly ball for an error that allowed two runs to score in the Red Sox's 2-1 win. Still, the plays amount to nothing more than circumstantial evidence for a wild conspiracy theory espoused by a noted cheat. But wouldn’t it be amazing if the theory were true…………
- If checking books out of your local library, not returning them on time and ignoring the 75 cents in fines you accrued for your crime has gotten old, maybe it’s time to take that act electronic. With every major electronics manufacturer throwing its hat into the e-reader ring, electronic books represent a growing (albeit still small) portion of the literary world. Amazon was a frontrunner in the field with the Kindle and is now looking to add a new slant to its electronic book offerings with a new service called Kindle Library Lending. The name is self-explanatory, meaning users will be able to go to a local participating library and check out an eBook to read at home. Like that library book you keep forgetting to return as it rests forgotten under the passenger’s seat of your car, your library eBook will eventually expire. While you have it, you can read it as many times as you want even make digital notes on the margins. Those notes will remain in your digital “copy” of the book if you return to the library and check out the same title again weeks or months later. For those with extra cash to throw around, the notes will also remain attached to a copy of the book if you purchase one. “Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no,” Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. “Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them.” There is no official launch date for the new lending service, although Amazon has said it will start some time this year. The initial offering from Amazon will consist of 11,000 books to be available at libraries across the United States, although it’s not clear what sort of investment or technological support local libraries will need to offer the service………..
- Philadelphians, maybe it’s time to stop booing your sports teams and start experiencing a little culture every now and then. The Phillies may be World Series favorites in the National League, the 76ers may be in the NBA playoffs and the Flyers may be in the midst of a rugged NHL opening-round playoff series, but none of them are teetering on the brink of financial collapse the way your beloved Philadelphia Orchestra is. Instead of practicing or performing in the orchestra pit and delighting crowds, the orchestra spent its day Wednesday in court filing for bankruptcy. With the filing, the Philadelphia Orchestra became the first major U.S. orchestra to declare bankruptcy. Among the major issues facing the orchestra are contracts for current members and pension obligations for past members. Management lawyer Lawrence McMichael claimed the musicians’ pension is underfunded by as much as $40-50 million, while the lawyer representing the musicians, Bruce Simon, suggested it’s only $6-8 million. Simon suggested that the bankruptcy could have been avoided by accessing the orchestra’s $140 million endowment fund. “That money can be reached. It’s been reached by other institutions,” Simon said. Asked if it was allowable to use endowment money for operational expenses, Simon was adamant that it could be. “In our view, yes,” Simon replied. McMichael argued that the orchestra would have difficulty raising funds in the future if they were to “raid endowments” to pay operating expenses. “It’s restricted by a variety of instruments and trusts, all of which are fully valid and enforceable,” McMichael explained. For the time being, the two sides hope to come up with a bankruptcy-exit plan over the next several months and firming up charitable contributions from donors while also renewing the campaign for ticket and subscription sales. And that, culture-deprived Philadelphians, is where you come in………….
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