Aimee Mann Andrew Bird Ani DiFranco Art Tatum Avett Brothers The Beatles Bettye Lavette Big Joe Turner Big Star Bill Evans Bill Hicks Bill Monroe Bill Withers Billy Bragg Biz Markie Bo Diddley Bob Dylan Bobby Timmons Booker T Jones, with or without MG's British Sea Power Bruce Springsteen Buck Owens Bud Powell The Carter Family Charles Mingus Charlie Parker Chet Atkins Chet Baker Chic Coleman Hawkins...
Many of comedy's most looming figures were black or Jewish -- Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen come to mind. This distinction is not coincidental, but rather born from circumstance -- so said the three panelists of "Blacks, Jews and the Comedy of Subversion" on Saturday at the Chicago Humanities Festival.
Fred Kaplan 's 1959: The Year That Changed Everything (John Wiley and Sons $27.95) chronicles an extraordinary year. On January 1st, Fidel Castro's revolutionaries took power in Cuba. On January 4th Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan visited the United States. Fidel would do the same on April 15th, followed by Khrushchev on September 15th. On April 9th, Lenny Bruce appeared on television. On March...
Halloween is past, Thanksgiving is three and a half weeks away, and the new cans of Coke in the bodega downstairs have pictures of Santa Claus on 'em. This time of year, I tend of get a little reflective. I remember somebody once linking to this site and writing that, while he liked it, he wasn't sure what "the purpose of this blog" is meant to be. I could sympathize, even as it occurred...
NOTE: As always, please see A Serious Man before proceeding. "As long as I learn I will make mistakes What do I want? What do I need? Why do I want it? What's in it for me? It's the imagery of technology Is what you get is what you see Don't worry your mind When you give it your best One two one two this is just a test" - Beastie Boys, "Just a Test" A barrage of questions, then:...
Rare Lenny Bruce memorabilia will be going up for auction October 28th at the Laugh Factory on The Sunset Strip.More than 25 items from the late, legendary comedian's estate will be sold by his daughter Kitty Bruce to benefit Lenny's House, a non-profit recovery house for women healing from drug and alcohol addictions, named in Bruce's memory. The items include Bruce family photos, personal
My Aunt Anna (pronounced "Antana" -- all one word) had a cat named Bubbeleh. She was my paternal grandmother's sister. They were Italian-American, born and raised in upper Manhattan, what's now Spanish Harlem. They also loved rugelach, which, growing up, I just assumed was an Italian pastry since it was always served at family gatherings. These things now make sense to me after stumbling...
Recommended What separates Jazz diehards from dilettantes, says jazz historian and journalist Will Friedwald, is whether you know the name Jackie Paris. It shouldn't be much of a challenge. In the 1950s, Jackie Paris was a fast-moving up-and-comer. Named best new male vocalist in 1953 by DownBeat 's Critics Poll, Paris toured with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, performed with Thelonious Monk,...
triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun: Fear or a phobia concerning the number 13. Triskaidekaphobia is from Greek treiskaideka, triskaideka , thirteen (treis, three + kai, and + deka, ten) + phobos, fear. Some famous triskaidekaphobes: Napoleon Herbert Hoover Mark Twain Richard Wagner Franklin Roosevelt Facebook crush A crush on a FB friend is characterized by the unexplainable urge...
Ten or so years ago, at the University of Washington, I taught a course titled “That’s Not Funny!” We looked at writers who elicit difficult laughs: Lorrie Moore, David Foster Wallace, Amy Hempel. And we studied (if that’s the right word) stand-up comics: Richard Pryor, Sandra Bernhard, Lenny Bruce. In what qualifies as one of [...]
LOS ANGELES -- If he'd had a Lenny's House to go to, Lenny Bruce's daughter says, her father might have lived to celebrate his 84th birthday on Tuesday.
Bits of Lenny Bruce, for a good cause Every Oct. 13, the date her famous father was born in 1925, Kitty Bruce sings "Happy Birthday" to him. Her dad, Lenny Bruce, has been dead since 1966.
Videos
