My Sweetie and I......................

.....................just got home from seeing mega-talented and audience-connecting Melissa Etheridge perform at the wondrous Midland Theatre.  She featured a number of songs first produced by Stax Records, including one by William Bell.  Wasn't this one though:

William Bell..........................................I Forgot To Be You Lover

Beautiful........................

My Sweetie and I ventured to the amazing Ohio Theatre to see the show Beautiful:  The Carole King Musical.  If you are ever presented the opportunity, do go to this show.  It was fabulous.  Of course, some of us are children of the '60s, and Carole King contributed greatly to the soundtrack of our lives.   Somehow I made it this far in life without every owning Tapestry.  Our friends at Amazon are now busy correcting that.

The Oak Ridge Boys.................

My Sweetie has fond memories of the night her father took her to see the Oak Ridge Boys at the Ohio State Fair, circa 1982.  The wondrous Midland Theatre hosted the Oak Ridge Boys last night.  We went.  Not sure which is more amazing:  the quality and professionalism of their show, or the fact that is is the same four Oak Ridge Boys that she saw perform some thirty-five years ago.  It was fabulous.  If you get a chance to see them, do.

Saturday night: Kansas at the Midland..................

The backdrop...............................................

For a bunch of old guys, they can still rock.   Playing to a sold-out house (+/-1,100), they delivered the goods.  Formed in 1973, only two of the six (the drummer and lead guitarist) were original members.  Still, they owned the auditorium Saturday night.

Please forgive my judgmentalism............

I don't know Eric Cantor.  He may be a very nice fellow.  Watching the TV from time to time one might have gotten the impression that he was a sound bite machine and that niceness was not an integral part of his gig.  I do know that he was a Republican congressman from Virginia, that he had a leadership role in the House, and that he was defeated in the most recent Republican primary election.  His wiki is here if you care for more.

The news that he was recently hired by a small investment bank did not come as a surprise.  Neither does the news that his paychecks for the next 18 months are supposed to total $3.4 million.

I am all in favor of free enterprise and actually root for individuals to thrive financially.   But, this is a bit much.  There is something unseemly about "public servants" (who are nicely paid and get significant pensions) mining their fame, contacts, and insider knowledge of the system for a big payday.

So, when I become King one of the first decrees will be to institute a 90% marginal tax rate for ex-Congressman, ex-congressional staffers, and ex-high ranking government officials on the first three years of their earnings in the private sector that are in excess of their former governmental paycheck.

Well, I feel better.

A way more insightful look at the Cantor/Moelis & Co. deal can be enjoyed here.

A victory dance....................................?

The genius of the Beatles............................

The Beatles..................................Tomorrow Never Knows

(psychedelia alert)




22 things any business can learn from the Beatles - here

Why he was (is) the greatest..............

Who else would have even thought of doing this, much less do it?  Successfully, I might add.

Weathervane...................................

My Sweetie and I attended the final night of the final show of the 2013 Summer Season at the wondrous Weathervane Playhouse in Newark Saturday night.   Monty Python's Spamalot ("a new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail") was on the bill.  Great show.  We laughed ourselves silly.  The cast was great, the voices and music in fine tune, the costumes perfect, and the set creatively put together.   A fun ending to a great season of shows.