Spector got Jokes!

From Alex Leo of the Huffington Post.

Many people don't know this, but Arlen Specter fancies himself a funny man. In 2007 he competed in the "Funniest Celebrity in Washington Contest." He finished second after Joseph Randazzo, assistant editor of the "The Onion," but ahead of Ana Marie Cox. [VIDEO BELOW] "Arlen has always loved stand up comics," says Joan Specter. "If he has the chance to go to a comedy show, that's his first choice."

Sometimes this jovial nature gets him in trouble, like when he cracked some Polish jokes at New York's Rainbow Room while speaking at the annual meeting of the Commonwealth Club. The "New York Post" reported that Specter began by asking if anyone in the room was Polish. At that, around 10 people raised their hands. He proceeded to tell a few jokes about Polish people until one guest interrupted him, saying, "Hey, careful. I'm Polish!" Specter responded, "That's OK, I'll tell it more slowly." This was met with grumblings of tastlessness, and Specter eventually apologized saying it was a mistake.

Here is some video of senatorial humor that went over better with the people around him. It's from the aforementioned competition in which he mocked Trent Lott saying:

"Trent Lott was really despondent after the Hurricane hit. He had a lot of property damage but the thing he was most concerned about was that it destroyed his entire library. Both books. And Trent wasn't even finished coloring one of them."

That's teeth cleaned. Damn touchscreen....

Testing the blog texting ability. Hopfully this works while I wait to get me teech cleaned.

Humbling Awe...

It is always very nice when people respond to something creative that I have the honor of taking part in. It can be with bands and musicians I play or have played with. In this case, the love was given to the group I play with on Spill. Now the League of Extremely Ordinary Gentlemen is not for the faint of heart. It is for hardcore comic readers and gamers. Here is an earlier blog post about Spill.

Why am I there, since I don't know jack about comics or video games? Beside being the Paul Shaffer of the show (I play guitar behind the musings), I get to hang out with very intelligent and funny fellows on at least a bi-weekly basis. To enter this League, you have to be quick, smart, strong and cunning. For me, it is really an honor and privilege to hang out. On the website, the League Lounge just past the 1000 member milestone this week. I believe it is the largest group on Spill. To celebrate this milestone a great artist, graphic designer from the Puerto Rico, Jagr created this piece to honor the achievement:



This is another piece he did earlier:




Thanks to Jagr for his great artwork. It's always cool to see oneself in animation.

And There Goes Maude...

The very funny and talented Bea Arthur passed away today of cancer at the age of 86. New York Times writer Bruce Webber wrote a nice retrospective here. When you think about revolutionary television roles, most actors would kill for one. She had two. I still watch the Golden Girls and I still laugh my ass off. Maude was a great show also. Remember the theme, song by the late great Donny Hathaway:



Maude TV Opening Theme - video powered by Metacafe

Clicking with Social Media

I love the moment in life that "it" clicks. For me it is how to maximize my social media usage. My social media imprint so far: Facebook, Myspace, Spill, AfroPunk, LinkedIn, Twitter and this blog. I didn't hyperlink the myspace because I'm still switching my regular myspace to a music myspace. There is a link to my Twitter to the left of the posting space here on my blog. I will add buttons for my other profiles in time. Plus I will update my link on the side to include all of the blogs and news sources in my Google reader. The one thing need to get a grip on is sending articles, videos or what have you through services like Digg, Yahoo Buzz, Stumbleupon, Delicious.

That's the key for me. I have to be able to put a social media app into my everyday flow. I have been using social media for years now, but I always felt it fragmented my persona. Friendster for this, Myspace for that. My mind streams in a more linear fashion. I don't see my musician self any different from my competitive media analyst self or my runner/athlete self. The drive and love of competition, for instance. I believe as the web converges, I am becoming more efficient in informing and being informed. For me, it is the learning process that ties it all together for me. The way I studied music going up is the way I studied for my MBA or tests in school. That process of learning and teaching others was the same to me. I just adapted for the stage or the job or the class room. That's why I like to my minimize the places I input and maximize the places I output. For instance this blog feeds into my notes on Facebook, my Spill and my Afropunk pages. I don't write anything here that I wouldn't say to my boss, my family or my friends. I like to reference a multitude of different things because as I have said before, I am fascinated with the human condition. One great website for social media is Mashable.
This is a great one-stop information resource about the constant mutation of social media.

1st Gig Down: Soul Track Mind

Yours truly with his triumphant return to gigging with Soul Track Mind. With Jonathon on guitar, a hiding Raymond on alto saxophone and a hiding Ryan on drums. Band members not pictured are Donovan, lead vocals and Joe on trumpet.



The gig tonight was great. December 2003 was the last time I played a live gig. I took a sabbatical from music to finish my BBA and MBA. I was a little nervous. There was a huge birthday party at TC's Lounge on the east side of Austin, so it was nice to come back to a full house. Over the last month, I have been practicing Mondays with the fellas. I learned 30 tunes for the gig. There were rough patches, missed keys, missed beats. Over all it felt good. I played with the regular drummer for the band tonight for the first time. We had a few miscues, but we got the people up and moving. We just found a new drummer we have been rehearsing with recently. The current drummer is going to be gone for the summer. I initially learned the tune with Donovan, the lead vocalist, on drums.

All the familiar senses came back: reading the crowd, my cross-legged trance stance when I'm in the groove, watching the hands of the Jonathan the guitarist as I followed his lead, following Donovan and picking up his cues, listening for the kick drum, the feel of my fingers caressing the strings, the weight of my bass with the 2Tek bridge, my amp being ok and my sound coming off as a little hollow, the excitement, the thrill of creating live art that moves people to dance.
And now my bed is calling, another sense from live gigging being the reason-tired workday afters from magic nights.

I love this stuff.
I'm back to my core calling in life.