Dr. Barnabas T. Bynum's New School Musical Revue and Travelling Minstrel Show

Let me be the first to say that I'm not a big fan of reality shows or cooking. However Hell's Kitchen on Fox is something I'm drawn to like a moth to a flame. It is perhaps the best hour on television (I realize this is not saying much due to diminished expectations but still). It succeeds due to the sheer presence and volatile personality of Chef Gordon Ramsay. Think of him as a Morton Downy Jr. who can cook. This season 15 contestants vied for the opportunity to be executive chef at Ramsay's LA restaurant. It is now down to the final two. Ramsay often berates, humiliates, and physically moves would be chefs from place to place. And while it is up to the two teams to offer up one of their own for elimination, make no mistake about it - Ramsay is in charge. There are no text messaging or numbers to dial for your favorite chef. No, none of that bullshit. Ramsay has even decided to eliminate people not even offered up for elimination. And while he surely plays to the camera, he doesn't suffer fools and demands excellence. Now that's refreshing.

A Boy Named Shel (Lisa Rogak, St. Martins Press) is perhaps one of the first comprehensive bios ever written about the celebrated author of The Giving Tree, The Light In The Attic, and Where The Sidewalk Ends. But if you only know Shel from his award winning children's books, then you only know a fraction of the man's work. As Rogak so eloquently lays out in her book, Shel was also a multitalented Playboy cartoonist, songwriter, and playwright. As a songwriter, Shel penned Johnny Cash's monster hit A Boy Named Sue as well as numerous songs for the pop group Dr. Hook. He was thought so highly as a tunesmith that even Bob Dylan sought his advice. He also collaborated with David Mamet on screen and stage plays. While Shel had numerous friends and collaborators, he at times remained a bit of a hermit and rarely gave interviews. This reclusiveness makes the biographer's job difficult, but Rogak more than meets the challenge of explaining how this Playboy cartoonist became a writer of songs and books for kids. She treats her subject with plenty of respect but doesn't gloss over his human frailties. This results in a well rounded portrait of the larger than life presense called Shel Silverstein. Shel believed a day not creating was a day wasted. My sentiments exactly.

I was recently saddened to learn of the demise of Jim Santo's Demo Universe. Demo Universe was a place where undiscovered/underexposed bands or solo artists could send their recordings to be critiqued by the very able Mr. Santo. Let's face it , when one sends out demos to the various labels; there's a 99.99% chance it will end up in a large mechanical device that's called an industrial trash compactor. If your cousin's friend's brother works in the mail room and gets donuts and coffee for the a&r people, your chances are only slightly better. At least Jim Santo would provide the would be stars with some constructive feedback. If he liked your stuff, he said so. If he didn't, he said that too in very blunt and often humorous terms. Imagine Simon Cowell with a sense of humor. An accomplished musician himself, Santo was well versed in many genres of music. But over the years, he began to get further and further behind in reviewing the voluminous amount of tapes bands were sending him. In fact, at the rate he was reviewing it would have taken more than two and a half years to get to the last tape received. He can now spend time with more rewarding pursuits. You can check out his band at www.myspace.com/thesharpthings and please people stop sending him your tapes.

With demo universe out of the picture, who's left to fill the void? Well there's an outfit called TAXI which solicits music for various record labels and assorted music projects. They will critique your music and forward it, if it is deemed good enough. But be advised there is a membership fee and a submission fee for each song submitted.

Other than that, the would be music critics at www.demorama.com will review your stuff for free (it appears they have nothing to do anyway). They sort of remind me of people you see working in the mall - perhaps somewhere like Hot Topic. They probably stayed on the job 10 years too long and they no longer look good in goth/punk attire with pink/purple hair. Just about the time mom decided to kick them out of the house, they had the bright idea of reviewing music. Look at me mom! I'm a freaking music critic. Yep you and the rest of the world.

(Thunder's Mouth Press) is a highly entertaining and revealing behind the scenes look at the zany, eccentric cast of characters who have called the Chelsea their home. Ed Hamilton, a writer and resident of the hotel, provides many first hand accounts as well as anecdotal stories. And while he relates many stories concerning its most famous residents, Hamilton shines when he writes about the hotel's non-famous, little known, and often times unsavory miscreats/residents. Hamilton also exhibits a healthy dose of humor when writing about his own confrontations and friendships with the other tenants. Any writer, musician, painter, or performer should at one time in their life make a pilgrimage to this grand hotel. After all, at one time or another Dylan Thomas, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Bob Dylan, Brendan Behan, John Cale, Leonard Cohen, Willem De Kooning, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Sam Shepherd, Charles Bukowski, and Terry Southern decided to reside and create their art there. And this is just a brief list, there are many more. Thanks to Mr. Hamilton for being the Chelsea's resident historian and keeper of the flame. A web site devoted to all things Chelsea can be found at www.legends.typepad.com

Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has been likened to FDR by Newsweek, and heralded as the second coming of JFK, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King all rolled into one by Time. Pleez! Obama was elected to the senate in 2004 in a cakewalk (his opponent was perennial presidential candidate Alan Keyes) and started running for the presidency in 2007. He has not had to face the historical and personal trials and tribulations that the previous mentioned presidents as well as MLK had to face. His main selling points are that he can transcend race, economic division, and policy differences better than anyone else. According to Obama, experience is a bad thing; inspiring speeches filled with gobbledegook and nonsensical statements comprised of hope are evidently a good thing. But dear friends bad judgement is always a bad thing. The recent controversy surrounding his pastor of 20 years gives one cause to worry at least about one of his selling points. When all of these tapes started surfacing concerning sermons by the very wrong Rev. Wright, Senator Obama was in an unbelievable state of disbelief. What? You mean there was gambling in the casino? Yes, and also hateful, divisive, often crude speech spewing from the mouth of the man who performed Obama's wedding ceremony and baptised his two daughters. Obama would later denounce some of the more controversial statements of Rev. Wright, but the damage was already done. A man running for president under the banner of racial peace, equality, and harmony has a spiritual mentor who preaches the direct opposite of peace, equality, and harmony. It's a little hard to reconcile. Obama's recent speech on race in Philadelphia was supposed to be a breakthrough for him. But it seemed to be a pained, tortured defense of Rev, Wright. He refused to throw Wright under the bus, but was all too eager to throw his deceased grandma under the bus for past statements she had made about race. Poor grandma, she's not around to defend herself. And who's to say more damaging tapes won't surface. The tapes in question were sold by the church itself! We may have only hit the tip of the iceberg. The problem with Obama is that...he sounds like another prominent politician who claimed he was a "uniter, not a divider".

Recently I had the opportunity to watch the ESPN series, The Bronx Is Burning, which details the chaotic year of 1977 as it pertained to New York City. Blackouts, strikes, fires, looting, and the Son of Sam murders are chronicled in this fine drama. But the main focus of this production is the tumultuous but ultimately triumphant year that was for the New York Yankees. The friction between the three lead characters : manager Billy Martin (John Turturro), owner George Steinbrenner (Oliver Platt), and team superstar Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sunjata) provides enough sparks to keep the drama interesting and riveting. What can you say about Turturro? This guy appears in numerous productions and films every year but the quality of his performances never falls flat. Here he captures the mercurial Martin perfectly, creating a multi-dimensional character you can sympathize with. Sunjata provides a stellar performance as the brash, cocky, conflicted Reggie Jackson. The only weak link is the performance of an otherwise fine actor Oliver Platt. As Steinbrenner, he often comes across as a character portrayed on Seinfeld. What might be disconcerting to some viewers is the quick cutting between actual archival baseball footage and the drama at hand. For example Oliver Platt as Steinbrenner is interviewed by the real Howard Cosell. But all in all, another fine production from the Mike Tollin/Brian Robbins production team.

Producer/writer/director D. Edward Stanley is perhaps best known as David Stanley - stepbrother to the King of Rock N Roll. Of course Elvis fans everywhere know that Stanley dropped out of school at 16 to join Elvis on tour as a bodyguard and confidante. Protecting The King is his story. And a compelling story it is indeed. Stanley utilizes a great cast to dramatize the unforgettable highs and lows of his tenure as one of the Memphis Mafia. Peter Dobson does a great job of "being" Elvis not merely impersonating him. Matt Barr portrays the young Stanley to great effect. Veteran actor Tom Sizemore is in fine form as a close Elvis aide. This first hand account by Stanley carries great credibility and a must for all Elvis fans. The fact that the film is fairly predictable (after all we all know what contributed to Presley's downfall by now) doesn't make it any less compelling or interesting. One can sense that the making of this film was a cathartic experience for Mr. Stanley as well as a worthwhile viewing experience for the Elvis devotee. Hopefully other projects beyond Elvis await the talented D. Edward Stanley.

Congrats to Teddy Thompson. With his new cd, Upfront And Downlow, he has achieved something 95% of the hat acts in Nashville fail to produce - a country recording. And it took a bloody Brit to do it. Son of famed folk rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson, Teddy has emerged as a powerful singer songwriter himself. This cd however, consists mainly of classic country tunes such as Walking The Floor Over You (Ernest Tubb), My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers (Merle Haggard), and She Thinks I Still Care (George Jones) just to name a few. With his laid back engaging vocal style, Thompson makes the tunes his own without deconstructing the original versions. By jumping into this classic country pool of music, Thompson shows us that the water is fine. Few still dare to enter.

I realize this film came out in 2005, but hey, I'm running a little behind, ok? I mean I found the dvd copy underneath a stack of old magazines along with a can of half consumed beer and a very old and moldy peanut butter sandwich. But I'm sure a lot of folks missed this gem of a film when it first came out. It's a film that touches on a number of issues - loyalty, friendship, illegal immigration, justice, and in the end, forgiveness and mercy. Texas and Mexico served as breathtaking scenery for wonderful performances by Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, January Jones, Dwight Yoakum, and Levon Helm. Helm who teamed up with Jones in "The Coal Miner's Daughter" nearly steals the show with his somewhat comical but ultimately heartwrenching turn as an old blind rancher. Jones who also directed this film based on a story by Guillermo Arriga (21 Grams), takes us on a journey (el viaje) that is at times jarring but definitely worthwhile. A modern day Dante's Inferno. If only all filmmaker's could do that.

Unless you have been completely isolated and living in a cave somewhere in Bum*uck Arkansas, you're probably somewhat aware of the bad things happening in Myanmar (formerly Burma). You may have seen some frightening images of monks and pro-democracy demonstrators being beaten and killed (although the oppressive ruling military junta prefer you not see and are doing everything in their considerable power to prevent their despicable atrocities from reaching the outside world).

In the midst of these brutal crackdowns, Sly Stallone is taking time out to promote his forthcoming "Rambo" movie which was filmed in Thailand on the Myanmar border. The plot supposedly concerns itself with rescuing aid workers from Myanmar. How fortuitous for Stallone. But poor Sly says that he was scared and had reason to fear for his life during recent filming. It appears from the safety of his movie trailer in Thailand that the great Rambo himself was scared shitless. But the great humanitarian that he is, Stallone offered work to all those refugees that could make it over the border and onto the movie set. The clip I saw on one of those infotainment shows suggested that all of these refugees were being used as extras in a scene where they were being shot at. I realize it wasn't real but still it shows an appalling lack of sympathy for these poor souls on Stallone's part.

Perhaps the ruling generals will watch their pirated copies of "Rambo" in the comfort of their villas with their boot hills firmly planted across the throats of all those who represent change and freedom in Myanmar. All the while laughing hysterically. Do we really need more installments of the "Rambo" franchise? I'd prefer a little more outrage from the world community. It's a shame, isn't it?