Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Thanks Daddy!


Cesar Millan with Daddy and Daddy's protege, Junior.

Daddy, Cesar Millan's famous pit bull ambassador died on February 19th. Daddy was something really special. He was the epitome of the calm, assertive energy that is the hallmark of Cesar's dog physchology methods.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you will already know that I am a huge fan of Cesar Millan. I'm also a huge fan of Daddy. Every time he came on "The Dog Whisperer" to help an unstable dog I had the same reaction. I said out loud, "Daddy," in that voice you save for really special dogs. I'm not kidding. Every time I saw him on television I had the same reaction. This feeling of peace and joy came over me. This dog had, and still has, some serious mojo!

This morning I was reading some of the e-mail messages about Daddy on Cesar's website and had to stop. I became seriously choked up, which is a challenging state of being when you have a live radio show to present. Here is a link to some of the tributes to Daddy.

So long Daddy, and thanks to Cesar and his family for sharing you with the rest of us.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Mackers!



Here's a review of the Canadian television series Slings and Arrows.

Here's my favorite, the theme from Season 1 Chin Up Hamlet!

Cheer up Hamlet
Chin up Hamlet
Buck up you melancholy Dane
So your uncle is at hand
Murdered Dad and married Mum
That's really no excuse to be as glum as you've become
So wise up Hamlet
Rise up Hamlet
Buck up and sing the new refrain
Your incessant monologizing fills the castle with ennui
Your antique disposition is embarrassing to see
And by the way you sulky brat the answer is To Be
You're driving poor Ophelia insane
So shut up you rogue and peasant
Grow up it's most unpleasant
Cheer up you melancholy Dane.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Victoria Bond's Bridges


Native Californian composer Victoria Bond's latest cd is called Peculiar Plants and features unique instrumentational combinatons. In Bridges, featured on my morning classical music show today, you hear two clarinets in combination with two Chinese instruments, the erhu and the pipa.




Pipa




















Erhu

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Victory at Sea

Richard Rodgers wrote the score for this amazing documentary series that ran on NBC from October 26, 1952 until April 26, 1953. Henry Salomon oversaw the edition and compilation of nearly 60 million feet of actual newsreel. The footage came from 10 countries and 26 private and governmental agencies. In the early 1960's the series was also aired on Japanese television. Here's a clip from Episode 1.



Tom Hungate, KTNW and KWSU public television's Programming Manager said that he found the entire boxed set on sale for $5.00!