Rest in peace, Claudette Yamin
Melissa Ruggieri
March 31, 2008 11:18 PM
Claudette Yamin died a few hours ago. The family has asked for privacy, which we will respect.
She was a wonderful woman whom many in the T-D newsroom got to know during Elliott’s ascension. We will miss her spirit.
More details at: http://www.etrainstation.com
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Elliott’s good reason
Melissa Ruggieri
March 31, 2008 5:23 PM
For those wondering why Elliott Yamin was not at the Nationals home opener last night to sing “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch, sorry to report that the reason isn’t good news.
His mom, Claudette, is in critical care at an area hospital and reportedly not doing well. Elliott opted to stay with her last night rather than head to D.C. for the game.
For those who don’t know Claudette, she’s a firecracker of a little lady who garnered her own bit of celebrity during Elliott’s “American Idol” run in 2006. She also moved back to Richmond last month after a six month relocation to Los Angeles.
Our thoughts are with the Yamin family.
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When was the last time somebody read to you?
Cynthia McMullen
March 30, 2008 5:18 PM
For me, it was last night at the fabulous fifth annual Virginia Arts & Letters Live at the Empire Theatre downtown. It’s an event produced by James River Writers and Barksdale Theatre in support of the READ Center.
Before you start falling asleep ... trust me, it’s a kick to be read to when the stories are this fun and actors are adding a certain “je ne sais quoi.” This time around, local thespians Audra Honaker, Matt Polson and Matthew Costello did the honors, reading stories by Michael Parker, Ryan Effgen (who was in the audience) and J. David Stevens.
Honaker was hilarious and spot-on as a college freshman reading her own essay in the story “Hidden Meanings, Treatment of Time, Supreme Irony and Life Experiences in the Song, ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More No Big Fat Woman.’ “ Polson transitioned effortlessly from drunken party girl to beleaguered boyfriend in “The Pirate’s Life for Me” (bits of which took me back to Theatre IV’s production of “Beauty and the Beast,” in which Polson played the swashbuckling Gaston). And Costello delivered “The Death of the Short Story” with just the right amount of irony.
Mary Badham—who played Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird”—hosted. Now fiftysomething, she shared funny stories from her experience on the film, for which she garnered an Academy Award nomination. (Remind me to rent that movie and watch it—I know I read the book, and I can just see Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. But I have a bad feeling I never saw the whole movie, now a perennial classic.)
Richmond-based music group VocalBluR entertained before, after and sometimes during the readings. Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s strictly a cappella. VocalBluR is good. It’s really good. Jeff Gray started with a beatbox demo that would’ve made Blake Lewis grin and continued with about a dozen other singers, including founder and president Matt Bolling. VocalBluR sang and percussed all over the place. (For info, visit http://www.vocalblur.com.) Hard to believe the group’s less than a year old.
Kudos and congrats to Arts & Letters Live director Irene Ziegler and everyone else who produced this evening. Look for Ziegler, by the way, in October’s “Nights in Rodanthe,” a Nicholas Sparks story starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane. She’ll also be in “Lake City” with Sissy Spacek and Dave Matthews (yeah, THAT Dave Matthews!) in December.
Pink Floyd tribute band—wish you were there
Melissa Ruggieri
March 30, 2008 1:43 AM
Earlier this week, I received an email from reader Bill Harris in Goochland who suggested I check out The Machine, the Pink Floyd tribute band playing The National.
I’ve been hearing about these guys from a lot of my Floydian friends, so I took everyone’s advice and popped by The Nat Saturday after enduring the ho-hum second period of the Richmond Renegades/Fayetteville FireAntz game at the Richmond Coliseum.
(Side note: what an unusual – yet enjoyable – experience to have two events taking place within blocks of each other in downtown Richmond on a Saturday night.)
Anyway, I got to the venue in time to hear The Machine rolling through “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” before they broke for a well-deserved intermission. Disappointingly, no inflated pig drifted through the venue, but that’s about all that was missing from the band’s perfectly textured reads of the songs.
The New York-based Machine has existed for about two decades, and even though they mix up the set list every night, they always include David Gilmour and Roger Waters songs and often Floyd’s post-Waters “Learning to Fly” (which they also played in Richmond).
In some venues, the light show rivals the musicianship, but at The National, it was a tasteful combination of moody coloring (mostly green) and a circular video screen that projected film images (the massive “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” offered smiley people turning cartwheels).
This is a tribute band—Ryan Ball (bass), Scott Chasolen (keyboards), Todd Cohen (drums) and Joe Pascarell (guitar, vocals) – that does everything right.
Pascarell expertly imitated Gilmour’s clean, fluid guitar lines, vocals were spot-on without ever seeming overly cover band-ish and the general vibe these guys project immediately transports a listener back to the ‘70s – and gives the younger ones an inkling of what they missed.
Naturally, the majority of the crowd of about 800 was filled with middle-aged men getting as much of a Floyd fix as they’ll see anytime soon – unless they want to road trip to New York or Atlanta for this summer’s Roger Waters encore “Dark Side of the Moon” tour. But there was also a surprising number of older teens singing along with every word. Good to see they’ve already got their musical heads on straight.
As for The Machine, if you missed them, check out YouTube or http://www.themachinelive.com for clips. Also floating around is a concert DVD from a two-night 2005 stand at The Keswick Theatre in suburban Philly.
Thanks to those who prodded me to hear the band – definitely time well spent.
Come again?
Cynthia McMullen
March 28, 2008 9:24 PM
I am NOT making this up. Remembering all those 24-hour ads for American Family Fitness, I called the one in Short Pump to see if anyone there had a line on Ghostface Killah.
Here’s the phone message. No kidding:
“Thank you for calling American Family Fitness center in downtown Short Pump. We are now closed. Our hours are 24 hours a day ... .” (Yada, yada, yada.)
I’m stunned. How, exactly, does that work? Can you be closed and not closed simultaneously? Are buff, outraged townfolk beating on the doors right now, screaming, “You’re open 24 hours! You’re open 24 hours! But WE CAN’T GET IN!”
It’s a conundrum.
Ghostface at Short Pump
Cynthia McMullen
March 28, 2008 9:08 PM
So a fellow reporter called to say that Ghostface Killah had been spotted at American Family Fitness at Short Pump. Of course, inquiring minds want to know—immediately if not sooner—why he’d be in Richmond. Sure, Wu Tang Clan played at Toad’s Place Jan. 18—and it’s not on tour right now according to the Web site—but what gives?
Hey, maybe GK met someone interesting while the Clan was in town. Bottom line: You never know who might be treadmilling next to you.
Or actually, you might, because eyewitnesses say a bodyguard was also in da house. As one of them commented, “A bodyguard? At American Family Fitness? In SHORT PUMP?”
Uhhh ... maybe he’d heard about the killer traffic?
Posh and Becks sighted in D.C.?
Cynthia McMullen
March 28, 2008 8:50 PM
Not quite. But wax facsimiles of the Torrid Twosome are being unveiled in a one-time “Kissing Booth” at the Cherry Blossom Soccer Tournament 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday at JFK Hockey and Soccer Fields (next to the reflecting pools on the National Mall), 17th Street and Constitution Avenue in Washington.
Thanks to Mme. Tussauds London—from which the hothot soccer player and his scary bride’s figures are on loan for eight weeks—the dynamic duo can be seen (after Sunday) at Madame Tussauds Washington, F and 10th streets. That’s in walking distance of the National Mall. For details about the gallery, visit http://www.madametussaudsdc.com.
And tell the Beckhams hello for us.
Yes, Virginia, you’re rockin’ the reality shows.
Cynthia McMullen
March 28, 2008 1:10 PM
Virginians must be all about the competition because they keep showing up on reality TV. There are probably a few that we don’t know of, but the current tally includes:
* Holly Kiser of Coeburn: in the Top 4 on Bravo’s “Make Me a Supermodel.” (For more on Holly, see Monday’s Flair section in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.)
* Amir Sadollah of Richmond: competing on Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest.” (For more on Amir, see Tuesday’s Flair section in The Times-Dispatch.)
* Tracy Hughes-Wolf of Fredericksburg: last person to leave the island on “Survivor: Micronesia.”
* Jonny Fairplay of Danville: sent packing in February from “Survivor: Micronesia.”
* Colton Berry of Staunton: made the Top 24 (but not the Top 12) on this season’s “American Idol”
And then there’s Smithfield the Painting Pig, whose “mom,” Fran Martin of Chesterfield County, reports that her Vietnamese potbelly with the artistic bent is being courted by “America’s Got Talent.”
Take that, Piers Morgan!
Too much television WILL rot your brain.
Cynthia McMullen
March 28, 2008 12:29 PM
Re: “Eli Stone,” I have to say George Michael IS looking remarkably like Billy Joel and Simon Cowell’s love child these days.
Speaking of Brits with an attitude ... cheers to Piers Morgan on his win in last night’s season finale. Sometimes Morgan needs to put a sock in it—the man does NOT know when to keep quiet—but it’s hard to argue with the $376,000 he raised at auction for his favorite charity, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
I thought for just a second he might fall on hard times when Bossman Donald Trump questioned Morgan’s reasoning for making the food less conspicuous and the alcohol more obvious. But money trumped (ha!) heavy hors d’oeuvres, and Morgan was HIRED.
Just a word about No. 2, country star Trace Adkins, who raised a nice chunk ($64,000) for his charity, Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. The total might not have been as impressive—clearly Morgan’s speed-dial is chock-full of moneybags—but it’s true what everyone said. Adkins just might be the nicest guy in the biz. Any biz, really.
But he sure could use a new ‘do.
Even Ivanka (Ms. Trump Jr.) was impressed, bidding $50,000 or $60,000 to have dinner with Adkins. Of course, Simon Cowell bid $100,000 to go shopping with Ivanka. Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on THAT wall?!
Without all the unneccessary folderol that reality shows insist on foisting upon us, the show could have made a nice, compact half-hour finale instead of dragging on for two hours. Still, the ending was ... interesting ... and one can only hope we’re finally rid of Omarosa forever.
Knowing The Donald, however, she’ll show up again. How else is she gonna pay the rent?
Watching without prejudice
Melissa Ruggieri
March 28, 2008 12:51 AM
The only reason I was ever remotely interested in “Eli Stone” was because I was impressed with their clever integration of George Michael’s music in the storylines and episode titles.
Then after two episodes, I quickly tired of its quirky “Ally McBeal”-isms and Eli’s aneurysm suddenly became a really lame reason for him to keep hearing the hunky Brit’s music in his head.
But that apathy dissipated long enough Thursday night that I happily tuned in – three hours later, thank you TiVo – to watch a slightly puffy-looking Michael credibly spout a decent Bono joke, hire lawyer Eli to represent a girl who got expelled from school for playing his “I Want Your Sex” during an abstinence assembly, pleasantly pontificate from the witness stand and awkwardly play fake-TV bass. Bass? George Michael? As Seth Myers and Amy Poehler would say—really?
A cynic, of course, would look at this as convenient timing of the eye rolling sort, since Michael announced this week that this summer he will embark on his first U.S. tour in 17 years.
We’re still hanging on for ticket on-sale info for his July 29 date at the Verizon Center in D.C., but sorry, kids, Michael has already announced that he will no longer sing “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “I Want Your Sex” live.
So does that mean “Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)” is still a possibility?
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