6 posts tagged “big show”
Can you believe that The Twilight Zone is celebrating its 50th anniversary? I had a chance to talk to Stewart Stanyard, the world's foremost Twilight Zone expert about what made the show so great.
I talked to Stewart on the morning of Friday the 13th. As some of you know, the afternoon of the 13th turned out to be... interesting. But now, without further delay, here's my conversation with Stewart.
Be sure to check out the very cool TZ Archive.
Here's one of the super TZ collectibles you can pick up from Stewart's site. I've got to get me one of these. I think it would look smashing on my desk.
You can also pick up Stewart's behind-the-scenes look at the iconic sci-fi anthology here.
Yowza is the big non-acting project in Greg's life right now. Yowza is an iPhone app that zaps coupons straight to your mobile phone. You can check it out here.
The cause near and dear to his heart is epilepsy awareness. Please visit talkaboutit.org to find out more.
*Recorded on 10-29-09. Broadcast 11-02-09.
I had a fun interview with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson this morning. Dr. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium, author of numerous books and articles on the universe and host of NOVA ScienceNOW on PBS. He's sat on several presidential commissions and even has an asteroid named after him. He was voted the Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive
by People Magazine in 2000.
Not too shabby.
You may have seen him recently on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and He'll be a guest on "The Daily Show"with Jon Stewart on Wednesday, January 28. He talked to me this morning about his new book "The Pluto Files:The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet," getting an asteroid in your butt when you're not looking, life, the universe and everything else.
On our show this morning we talked to Michael Dyson, founder of the Blue Shoe Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the soul of American music, the blues. The brainchild of Michael and his father Jeff, the Blue Shoe Project aims to educate kids about this important part of their cultural and musical heritage by exposing them to the works of an ever dwindling cadre of living blues legends.
The importance of the blues can't be overstated. The blues is a uniquely American art form, born of the struggles against poverty, oppression and personal tragedy. Yet something about the blues touches us all, and it's influences permeate music from jazz to rock, to country and hip-hop. If it weren't for the blues there would be no R&B, no rock and roll, no Elvis, no Beatles, no Tupac.
Once back in '83 or '84 B.B. King played Brownwood Colosseum. That was quiet a score for this little burg. Of course, I couldn't miss the show. My brother got us tickets in the balcony. The view was good and the most soul-stirring music you ever heard wafted up to us, but I had to get a little closer. I made my way down to the floor where I ran across an old buddy of mine who happened to be a pretty good bass player. He also happened to be a rather husky young man who stood at least six-foot-two.
Now ol' Fred was a little inebriated and decided that what the show really needed was him riffing on bass. Realizing that Mr. King was unlikely to join us in the midst of the happily grooving crowd, and determined to have a jam session with the the blues great, Fred headed toward the stage. It seemed that if Mohamed wouldn't come to the mountain, the mountain would go to Mohamed. Fred began to part the crowd like Moses parting the Red Sea. I simply tagged along in his wake until at last we stood at the edge of the stage. B.B.'s hands caressed the guitar like it was a woman. From the sounds Lucille made she was a very satisfied woman, too. His soulful voice rang out, "Nobody loves me but my mama, and she could be jivin' too..."
Fred attempted to climb up onto the stage and laid his bare arm on top of a foot light. At about the same time security spotted him and two guys every bit as burly, but not half as jovial, rushed Fred and wrestled him off to the side and onto the floor. Even with the commotion and the smell of sizzling arm hair hanging in the air, B.B. never missed a beat. I stepped up into the hole left by Fred and stood, literally, at B.B. King's feet, not more than two feet away. That's when it happened-- B.B. King, the guitar great, the blues legend, leaned over the edge of the stage and sweated on me. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my life. That was my baptism into the blues.
Check out the Blue Shoe Project. Listen to the Grammy award winning album, "The Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas." It's burning up my ipod right now. Track 7, "All My Money's Gone" is my new anthem.
I blogged Kissthisguy.com along with a couple of other interesting musically themed sites over on Tie-dyed Brain Rays 1.0.
