Minnesota

I'm off to the great state on Minnesota tomorrow morning with my family. It's my first visit to the homeland. OK technically the homeland would be Norway for this branch of my family, but isn't Minnesota just Norway west. Yes, thank you I thought so.
We'll be staying in the family's lake house on Games lake, and visiting Sunburg where my grandmother grew up. We'll be sprinkling a bit of my grandmother around her old stomping grounds. Very exciting for me. I'll keep you all up to date on the goings on.
All this family time will be followed by BlogHer, a big blogging conference in Chicago, where I will be solo. Well, not exactly, I'll be with who knows how many hundreds of blogger friends.
So stay tuned for all the excitement!!

Oedipus The King, Mama

I've been wanting to see one of the Troubadour Theatre Company's productions for ages, and now I'm going to. I don't know if you've heard about them. They're known for mixing popular music with plays. As you can see, this one is Oedipus the King set to Elvis songs. Nobody loves their Mama like Elvis. I'm sure it will be hysterical.
They're at The Falcon Theatre which is in the valley, so I must be excited about it, or there is no way I would travel, to what is for me the ends of the earth. I see they have another show in the winter Frosty the Snow Manilow, I think we can all see where that one is going.

Tickets for Oedipus the King, Mama! go on pre-sale this Wednesday, July 15th. Call the Falcon Theatre at 818-955-8101. I'm getting mine!!

Mad Men on AMC

YOOHOO!!! The wait is over my friends Mad Men is coming back Aug 16th. OK, the wait isn't actually over, but the end is in sight. Sadly I don't have a screener on this show so I'll just have to be patient. If you haven't seen this show yet, not to worry, Season 1 is on On Demand and the 2nd season will be available on On Demand July 20th. I really love this show, and am dying to find out what will happen next. I'll need to rewatch the last few episodes to refresh my memory too!
Here's the Promo. Trust me you'll LOVE it too.

Dark Blue on TNT

Just watched the premiere of Dark Blue which will premiere on TNT Wednesday, July 15th. It stars Dylan McDermott. The show is about a group of undercover cops. It's a little dark but the idea of how long can an undercover cop pretend to be a criminal before he starts to become one is intriguing. Also Dylan McDermott is great in this and as a side benefit smokin' hot and fun to look at. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of these and watching the characters develop. Here's a clip from the premiere.

Ray LaMontagne at The Hollywood Bowl

Ray LaMontagne with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra is playing Sunday night at The Hollywood Bowl. I really have only heard a couple of his songs but what I've heard I like. So I'm looking forward to hearing more of his music. If you could still go somewhere and buy a record (yeah yeah, I know their called CDs now, it's my generations version of calling the fridge an ice box) I would definitely pick one of his 3 up. I'm embarrassed to say that I have yet to get on itunes to do anything but download apps to my iphone. So I have only heard what I can find online. Here's a video of a song I thought was called "I Was Saved By a Women" but is titled "Trouble". I love it.

Because my mother gave me an article from the LA Times about blogging and ethics, I will state here that I was not given anything or paid to write this by anyone, though my friend Laura is taking me to the concert, but just cause she likes me.

For more info on Mr. LaMontagne go here



UPDATE: Great show last night, though I do think Mr. LaMontagne needs to cheer up, and I'm not alone, as people were yelling smile at him from the audience. The show was very somber but I enjoyed the music. I liked the open acts too.
First up was Blitzen Trapper and then Jenny Lewis both very good and in the same milieu as LaMontagne. It was kind of like being in a time warp to the 70's.

Here's Blitzen Trapper who has kind of a Dylan thing happening. Maybe it's just the harmonica. You tell me.


Here's Jenny Lewis we though she was kind of cow punk, reminded us of Natalie Merchant. Again you tell me

Joan Baez Tonight

Joan Baez is doing a free concert as part of the Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance series tonight starting at 7. I think of her as a 60's folk singer, but I must admit I'm not that familiar with her beyond that. Here's a video of her from last year, that pretty much confirms my idea of her. If you haven't been to the Twilight Dance series it is a lot of fun. Lots of people on the pier and lots of people on the the sand, dancing, picnicking and generally having a good time. I'm going to try and make this one but if I don't, there will be another one next Thursday and every other Thursday throughout the summer. Here the schedule

The Magnificent Seven on TCM

The Magnificent Seven starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson is going to be on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on Saturday their schedule says 4PM which I think is eastern time. Check your local listings. If you haven't seen it, you must and if you've seen it about a million times, you'll probably want to make it a million and one.