Don’t Stop Believing

Not so much on the East Coast, but in Vegas and the Pacific Rim, the Filipino cover band is ubiquitous at hotel bars and other places where fine karaoke systems are installed. In a story that you can’t make up, the real power ballad band Journey was searching for a new lead singer. After an extensive search on YouTube (??), they found pinoy performer Arnel Pineda, and hired him. I think he sounds real good; P- thinks he’s not exactly Steve Perry, but see for yourself below:

Definitely the biggest break of his life – no more 3 hour sets at the local Hard Rock!

December Continues

Thanks to FC and P for the birthday gift!

The big 3-0 was spent very low-key. Birthday gift to myself – a few days away from the office.

Have I actually cleaned anything up, done real reading, or gotten much (fiction) writing done? Not really. Got some art stuff out of the way. Relaxed. Spent a few hours with a friend.

Daily News’ feature “Big Town, Big Dreams” – profiling NYC immigrants who make big contributions – profiles Tisa Chang, founder of the Pan Asian Repertory Theater. I had watched a performance they had done, and sorry to have missed their just finished production of “The Joy Luck Club.”

The passing of 1010 WINS’ former financial commentator, Larry Wachtel, most known for his closing line, “Gather those rosebuds,” and his thick Brooklyn accent. I remembered thinking, “Man, got to love that accent,” and never quite understanding the whole rosebuds thing – but that’s the beauty of NYC indeed.

Ex-Dodgers’ owner, Walter O’Malley, has been accepted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Now, I know by rights, as a Brooklynite, I’m supposed to despise the O’Malleys for taking the Dodgers out of Brooklyn, but then again, I really can’t waste my energy on that, can I? He did make baseball history, whether you call him villain or not; it was not illegal; he was famous; Hall of Fame, right? Unlike, say, Pete Rose or even those tainted by the steroids scandal, O’Malley was the smart businessman (and an attorney). Love him or hate him, he’ll be at Cooperstown.

Law.com posts a profile (from the Fulton County Daily Report) of Sean Carter, legal humorist (whose past columns on the ABA E-Journal were some items I had linked in the past).

Watched Grey’s Anatomy last night – an actually decent episode. Meredith seems to finally get some things figured out; Chief Weber was the one person to be proud of her and say he was impressed – something she couldn’t get from her real parents; Christina railed at Bailey for making her help her with a white supremacist (guess Christina didn’t like being picked on as the Asian/Jewish person; as much as I wouldn’t like it either, she picked a bad time to rail at Bailey, whose marriage is crumbling and it wasn’t like Bailey wanted to treat the white supremacist either); Alex’s love life is messed up as usual; George and Izzy finally realize that they shouldn’t be together; and Lexie … well, seems to me that of the Grey (half) sisters, Lexie may be a fine doctor, but is she really going to cut it as a surgeon? I haven’t watched much of the season, but I feel like I really haven’t missed much, although it felt like real Grey’s Anatomy finally.

As noted in past posts, I’ve been all excited about the Seurat exhibit at MoMA. Went to MoMA tonight – saw the Georges Seurat exhibit. So cool! The on-line exhibit is also amazing. Highly recommended (but I’m biased, as I am a Seurat fan).

The Met re-opened its European galleries, and it sounds terrific, going by the review of NY Times critic Holland Cotter.

It’s not looking too good for the writers’ strike ending; we need a holiday miracle now!