What’s your favorite Kinks song? All Day and All of the Night? Lola? Come Dancing? Sunny Afternoon? I’m Not Like Everybody Else?

Chances are, Ray Davies will sing it for you Sunday November 6th when he plays the Barrymore Theatre.

I’ve never been lucky enough to see the Kinks, but I have had the opportunity to see Ray Davies live three times, and he does not disappoint. The guy can still sing and entertain..demonstrating that he’s still got what it takes to be a fantastic frontman.

The first time I saw him was probably more than a decade ago when he was on his Storyteller tour. That show was also at the Barrymore. The small but devoted audience got to hear all the great Kinks songs..and the stories that went with them. How did his brother Dave Davies get that signature tone on “You Really Got Me?” He stuck a knife in his amplifier. And all the stories were told with wit and passion.

I got to see Ray again  when he played the Barrymore to start off a 2006 U.S. tour, and then later in the tour at Summerfest. Mike and I sat right next to the soundboard at the Barrymore show, so we could see the setlist..and it was a great one! He included lots of hits, some chestnuts for hardcore fans, as well as songs from his new album…and those were great too!

He’s funny, he’s a talented songwriter and performer..and he has more charisma than the average Well Respected Man. If you’re a Kinks fan and have never seen him before..make sure you see this show. If you have seen him before, chances are you’ve already bought your tickets.

–Previewed by Kitty Dunn

So I’m back from vacation all rested and ready for this week’s caption contest. This week’s winner will receive some very cool CD’s which I will select just for you, as well as some of my usual random stuff!

Please give me your best caption to this photo. Your deadline is Friday at 4 PM.

Have fun, be creative and as always, play nice!

Earlier this week billionaire Richard Branson christened the world’s first commercial spaceport with astronaut Buzz Aldrin in southern New Mexico.

“The building is absolutely magnificent,” Branson said. “It is literally out of this world, and that’s what we were aiming at creating.”

The completion of the new hanger is just the next step toward space tourism. Almost 500 people have already purchased tickets to fly with Virgin Galactic. The two and a half hour suborbital flight will include a fly over, five minutes of weightlessness, and views of Earth that until now only astronauts have been able to experience. Passenger tickets cost $200,00 each.

Branson hopes the first commercial flight of WhiteKnightTwo into space will take off in early 2013. I’m struck by how short the flight into space will be. Does it include an inflight meal? How do I prevent myself from being stuck with an isle seat? And will the fasten seatbelt sign be turned off so I can move about the cabin when we’re weightless?

“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry‘.”–John Lennon

Chuck Berry turns 85 years old today..and he’s still gigging. I’m not sure he’s doing his signature duck walk anymore..but just standing upright and holding a guitar for any length of time would be an accomplishment for most people his age. I checked his tour schedule, and he’s playing BB King’s Club in New York City on New Year’s Eve!

I was lucky enough to see Chuck Berry several years ago as part of a double bill with Little Richard. While he was a little cranky (he thought video cameras being used to project the show on big screens were actually recording him and he got testy), and his guitar chops weren’t seamless, it was still incredible to be able to see such an icon up close and personal.

Funny concert memory: Mike and I were sitting next to Madison sandwich tycoon Big Mike (of Big Mike’s and Milio’s fame), who was really getting into the show. At one point, Chuck asked all the pretty ladies to come up on stage and dance with him. While I was too shy, Big Mike (who lives up to his name) ran up on stage and gave it his all! I ran into Big Mike this summer and mentioned that to him, and he asked me, “Can you blame me?”

No comment.

There are lots of great videos featuring Chuck Berry on youtube..and in many of them, he’s playing with rock and roll luminaries that he influenced.

This one is from the documentary “Hail Hail Rock and Roll,” and features a famous son of one of the biggest rock stars ever.

Dying is easy, comedy is hard — George Bernard Shaw’s last words.   Writing or saying something funny is really tough to do.  Every morning Kitty and I will find stories and sometimes we come up with something funny to say, but other times…not so much.  I used to get mad that I couldn’t think of something funny to say each and every time.

Not anymore.

This morning we chatted with Saturday Night Live’s head writer and Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers.  He’s coming to Madison tomorrow to perform stand-up at the Barrymore theatre.  I asked him how many people are writing jokes for the Weekend Update segment.  He told me he works with 3 other writers and they come up with about 500 jokes for the show and only about 15 of them are actually used.

I know he was exaggerating, but I’m sure it’s still a lot of jokes.  And let’s be honest, not even all the jokes that do make it on the show are funny.

Wow.  I guess this job is harder than I thought.  Somehow that makes me feel better.

Listen to the interview here:

T Bone Burnett Presents the Speaking Clock Revue is an album showcasing 11 performances from a benefit concert recorded last year at New York’s Beacon Theatre. Proceeds from the album and the live shows benefit Participant Media, an organization dedicated to supporting arts education.

The lineup includes Elton John, Elvis Costello, Leon Russell, John Mellencamp, Gregg Allman, Ralph Stanley, Jeff Bridges, Neko Case, Jim James, Punch Brothers, Karen Elson and The Secret Sisters. The Speaking Clock Revue features a house band put together by Burnett and led by music director and guitarist Marc Ribot.

“The privacy and the intimacy of the studio afford artists the freedom to create,” Burnett said, “but something thrilling happens in getting away from the machines and into the live communication of real-time storytelling in the larger community. The first tour I went on, my first job in show business, was on The Rolling Thunder Revue, and I’ve come back to that type of collaborative and extraordinarily rewarding experience from time to time.”

The record comes out tomorrow but you can listen to the full length here now.

I was reading the Sunday paper yesterday and being the frugal queen that I am, I was perusing the coupons. One that caught my eye was a coupon to save a dollar on Halloween Play-Doh. Play-Doh for trick or treat? All I can say to that is…BOOO!

While I have nothing against Play-Doh in general, I don’t think this is an appropriate surprise to drop in some one’s trick or treat bag. First of all, you’ll probably only get one (or maybe two), and the amount is so small you probably can’t make anything out of it. Ooh..here’s an awesome one-color Play-Doh snake!  Now where the heck are those Snickers bars?

I suppose there are are other things that are even worse as Halloween gifts. These include fruit, pennies, pencils..or from the completely ironic file..toothbrushes!

Unless of course the toothbrush played the tune to Monster Mash. That would be cool.

October 12th 1978 Nancy Spungen was found dead from knife wounds in her Chelsea Hotel just two days earlier.

Here’s what some have stated about her death since:

John Lydon: I was furious with Sid – but not so much when I found out he was up for murder inside Ryker’s Island. I still think he was incapable of such a thing.

Malcolm McLaren: Sid probably did it but you can’t tell. They were always messing around with knives and it was only a little wound. If they’d been healthy and not out to lunch, she’d have survived.

Bob Gruen: I still don’t believe he did it. He was a wimp. He wasn’t vicious – it may have been his name but it wasn’t his nature.

Chrissie Hynde: To tell you the truth at the time it wouldn’t have surprised me if he or anyone killed her, she was that obnoxious. When she started up with that incessant whining she was more than the human mind could bear.

Nick Kent: In December 1978, Vicious [while on bail] lewdly propositioned the girlfriend of Tod Smith, Patti Smith’s brother. Smith had reprimanded him only to have Vicious smash a broken bottle into his face. Smith pressed charges and Vicious was back in Ryker’s. He was released two months later on 2 February 1979. Arriving at a celebratory bash he injected some heroin his mother had brought for him. He immediately blacked out but he came to. Later the same evening, he found another packet of heroin.

Confession time.   No, I didn’t recently give birth when I was in the hospital, but I did watch a lot of bizarre television that I don’t usually watch. Among the shows: “Toddlers and Tiaras,” “Long Island Medium,” and my new favorite...”I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant.”

There is a show called “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant” ???  First of all..that happens enough that there’s a show about it? Se cond..this show has been on for several years. Wow.

In the episode I watched, a young woman gave birth in a campground restroom. She was in pain and didn’t know why..and the baby just fell out and hit the bathroom floor. The show didn’t have any actual footage of course, but did have actors re-enacting the scene. Surprisingly, they did not have a doll-double to use to represent the baby.

What I’m wondering is this..how do these kids feel when they find out about their interesting entrances to the world? Will they sit down with the families and re-watch the show every year after they blow out the candles on the birthday cake?”

“You dropped me on the floor!  In a grimy campground bathroom?” I imagine the kid asking. “Those better be some pretty awesome presents for me to even THINK about forgiving you.”

And when his friends ask “were dropped on your head as a baby, or what?” He’ll have to say..”as a matter of fact I was. Thanks, Mom.”

Want to know more about this bizarre show? (And why wouldn’t you?)  Click here.

I don’t want to brag, but the numbers won’t let me lie.

Dianne and I got a new television the other day. This is big for us as we generally wait for our friend Jeff to get the latest technology and then give us his hand me downs. This puts us somewhere between five years and a decade behind in technology but that deficiency is made up for by the freeness of the television set.

Not this time, though. The Brewers are marching all the way to the Series, I’m sure of it. The Packers are dismantling every opponent. I want to see the Badgers play for the national championship on the big screen. And I’m looking forward to not being able to watch the Milwaukee Bucks lose basketball games on this television if there season is cancelled (and if there is a God it will be).

So we took the plunge and actually purchased a new television set. We consulted experts first, which included the aforementioned Jeff who never got around to giving us an old flat screen of his (thanks a lot, Jeff) and Terry who works with Dianne and knows all things electronic as well as all the lines to all the Godfather movies. We were advised by these guys in the know that 60 hz just wouldn’t be enough and that we needed 120 hz to watch sports.

Well, that was obvious enough. Sixty just won’t do it for the fast moving action of golf, for example. A guy needs 120.

But I blew way passed them when I sprung for not 60, not 120 but a full, rockin’ 240 hz. Yeah, baby.

How fast is 240? I’m told you see things on your TV before they actually happen in real life. I swear to God, it’s true.

Not only is our new TV faster than Mitt Romney changing his mind on health care, but it also offers us a full sized picture! That’s right, we now have one of those slick flat-screen jobs that shows you stuff that’s happening on the bottom and at the ends of the screen.

This is good because we’ve been tired of watching just the tops of scores and other useful information as it scrolls just out of sight below our old screen.

“Dear, did that just say, “Tornado in Dane County, take cover now!?” or did Toronto beat the Diamond Backs?”

Also, we’ve been noticing that some of our favorite shows feature actors who are speaking but not actually on our screen thanks to their location to far stage right or stage left. Sometimes we got half their faces. Sometimes in documentaries for example you’d learn that that half face belonged to “…berg”, who was apparently with “…niversity” in “..sylvania”.

Now we’ll see it all and see it really fast.

Is this a great country or what?