RIP Wendy Richard

I'm a fan of the long running British sitcom "Are You Being Served?" so I'm sad to hear that Wendy Richard passed away. She played Miss Brahms during the whole run of the show from 1973-1985. She also played in the sequel called "Are you Being Served Again? (US Title) for two more years.

She was in the British soap opera "East Enders" for many years.

But I knew her as the Cockneyed Miss Brahms. She was the frequent victim of sexual harassment by Mr. Lucas and Captain Peacock when she was younger. Being that it was the 70's, it was considered okay. Her accent was the punchline and set up to many jokes.

She was only 65, which makes her younger than some of the cast of "Being Served" was when the show aired.

Karaoke with a Guest....

So it's Tuesday and I make my way to Mad Hatter's to do my normal karaoke routine. The place was not as crowded as I would have expected on Fat Tuesday.

That's right, "Fat Tuesday," I'm an American damn it!!

I get there and one of the regulars was there and I sat next to him. I had a hard time deciding whether or not I should sing "Wishing Well" by Terence Trent D'Arby. I saw a facebook buddy post the old video and thought I'd give it a try. It went pretty well and was looking forward to challenge myself further.

An alternate clip of the song.

Now, facebook is an addiction I have to admit to. I live by myself, it's cold so I spend a lot of time getting updates from people who I haven't seen in a very long time. One guy, Don I haven't seen or talked to for nearly 24 years!

He left messages wanting to hang out at Mad Hatter's and told me he would stop by one of these days. I thought that on a Tuesday night and living about an hour away I didn't expect to see him. I had my eye on the front entrance as I always do. I spotted Don when he walked in, it took me a second to put the updated picture on Facebook to the skinny kid I knew in art class back in the 80's.

I called him over and we got caught up on what has gone on in our lives the last two decades. Both of us are unmarried, no kids. Both of us were engaged twice, both of us moved long distances to be with one of them. This was funny to me that two guys who had not seen each other in 24 years would have that in common.

Anyway, I usually don't have stage fright doing karaoke. I do in one instance over any other. that's when I do it in front of people who I know through other means than karaoke. Like a girl I was trying to impress from my job at Ruth's Chris a few years ago. I talk about my silly interest to co-workers sometimes to the point of turn off.

Anyway after a little chit chat I proceeded to sing my second song. "Cruel to Be Kind" is my "go to" song. A safe choice that I sang flat, I didn't ask "How was it?" because I can't handle the truth sometimes. I'm too sensitive.

Here's a clip of the song.


I decided the next song I would do would be "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis. Not too hard of a song but it can suffer from being boring and sometimes I trip over the words. I did both. Flat and flabbergasted.

Here's the clip.


Catching up some more with our lives made my voice get scratchy. I went to a "show off" song. This is a song that is challenging that many people do to impress the crowd without being a perfect singer. A prime example would be "End Of the World" by REM, with its fast reading of nonsensical non-sequitors. One of the songs I do is "Hair" from the musical "Hair". I love the Cowsills version and have done it quite well in the past. I like to do it when I have the crazy hair and beard thing going. Anyway the version I chose was from the musical or at least the one from the movie which was different enough from the one I've done many a time to throw me off bad enough that I got gonged!

Yes, gonged! A first for me. Usually it's done to people who really suck, but sometimes only when the song is offensive to the person holding the hammer. I think it was a little of column A and a little of column B.


Anyway, here's the version I did from the movie "Hair"

and the preferred version from the Cowsills that is one of the freakiest clips I have ever seen.


So I continue to talk and talk and talk with Don and my voice is going. I went to another "go to" song, "Sour Girl" by Stone Temple Pilots. My voice was gone to the point where I couldn't hit the high notes.

clip.



I hung out at Mad Hatter's after the scene was over and most of the folks left. It was great to see Don and catch up. He went out of the way to be there and I appreciate it. Every week I get to see an old friend these days. I hope it continues.

One last thing. I have got to stop pretending I'm cool. I don't like to bundle up. I'm not outside long when it's cold. I don't like to put extra thought of what I'm gonna wear when I go out. I rationalize by saying to myself that I'm just gonna be outdoors briefly. So, when I'm talking to people outdoors and it's cold and I'm only wearing a three thin layers, I look like a moron.

The lesson I learned? I should live in San Diego.

New Pipe Dreams

New Cartoon

I'm sorry for the quality of the image. I continue to find even more obstacles in my pursuit to get my computer as normal as possible. I lost the use of Photoshop7 on my computer because I have the latest Mac OS Leopard computer. So I had to find a weaker alternative.

An Invasion....

So, it comes to the time to go out to my karaoke bar Tuesday night. Except that it was taken over by another group of people that I didn't know. Took over half the bar and half the playlist. Some of them were okay at singing, most of them not.

Anyway, this only gave me an opportunity to sing three times. That's actually what I feel the perfect amount of times to sing. you get to sing enough to establish a trend but you don't wear out your welcome "Oh, HIM again!" It was a good night for my singing but I kept thinking how fat I felt.

Don't ask.

So, like any karaoke junkie, I had a few slips with songs in my wallet. I do this so I don't waste time looking for the "perfect" song.

One slip had an obscure Steely Dan song I had never sung before and certainly never heard anyone else sing it. The song "Midnight Cruiser" is one of the few songs by Steely Dan not sung by Donald Fagen. It's not as jazzy as later Steely Dan, but it's a nice little number. I fumbled a little when the first verse blended into the chorus. Anyway, I have two versions of the song. The original using stills and a version they did in concert in the 90's with Walter Becker on vocals. He was not the singer on the original, which should be apparent. I did batter than this version. That ain't saying much though.

Sorry about the lame links. For some reason the picture doesn't want to go on my blog the way it used to. I though it was because I was in Firefox 2. I'm back in Firefox 3, same problem.

original



live 96

The second song I did is one I should do more often. I'm strong on Rolling Stones songs and one of the better one is "Miss You" from 1978. It's hard to believe it's been 30 plus years since this "late" period Stones song came out. I love the song, it's raunchy in that 70's New York City way. Great groove. The crowd was into the song and I did it well. The highlight of my evening. The video clip is one the Stones did in those days. Simple soundstage, the band milling about miming to the music but I believe Mick is singing live.


Here it is


The third and final song was a two fer. It doesn't mention Harlem like the other two, which would have giving me a theme. Instead it's about sugar, coffee, and mother nature with a makeover. I'm talking about the Guess Who's "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature". It's has a good build up to a mid tempo chorus. It shifts into a new song that makes the song seem epic but then combines the two at the end. I did it only once before and flubbed it, This time I did it quite well, but no one cared, except for the old guy. I guess I need to do some Jonas Brothers to get the girls.


Here's a video from the 80's.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8eaKEf3Xj

New Pipe Dreams Cartoon!!!!!

Top Ten Comedians Who Are Not Funny

1.Jay Mohr-How this guy continues to get jobs is beyond me. I want his agent.

2.Sarah Silverman-She didn't get any skits on SNL during the Adam Sandler/David Spade days, That says it all.

3.Adam Sandler-He was the go to guy during SNL's comedy nadir. That stench goes for nearly 2 hours in his movies.

4.Janine Garofalo- Snarky, without the humor. She almost makes me want to be a Republican. She was replaced on Air America by the funnier Ron Reagan, that's right, Ron Reagan.

5.Joe Rogan- The second weakest link on NewsRadio next to Khandi Alexander, who's not a comedian. His goal these days is to make people eat leeches, Call Dennis Leary a Bill Hicks rip off, and to pretend he's not losing his hair.

6.David Spade-Never funny, even before he helped SNL become the place to see music acts. They would perform THREE songs in those days.

7.David Steinberg-One of those guys from the late 60's and 70's that would explain how comedy works except he was unable to do it, Like Rush Limbaugh with politics.

8.Michael Ian Black-Snarky guy who thinks he's too cool to work on being funny. He helped create the VH1 "I Love The.." series, and kills the show's momentum when it's his turn to chime in. He killed any chance for me to enjoy the Show Ed.

9.Mo Rocca- He's barely 40 and is now doing "comedy" bits on CBS's Sunday Morning, a favorite of the 55+ crowd. Look for him to travel across America in a Winnebago to snark on America's quirkiness.

10.Kenan Thompsaon- He was "kid funny" on Kenan and Kel, but since he's been an adult, he's been a second rate Tracy Morgan, who's a third rate Chris Rock, who's a second rate Eddie Murphy.