SPOILER ALERT: The following is about Mad Men Season Five and I give away some important character details.

In one hour we’ll be watching the season five finale of Mad Men with our neighbors on the first floor. We don’t have cable so we have to make a date of it if we’re going to watch the show at all.

Watching with friends is actually a fun and festive thing to do.

I actually bought downloads of the show from iTunes. I paid $32  for the season and am able to download each episode on Monday mornings. But I found I couldn’t wait. And the downloads really clog up my computer, and…

We watched the first episode of the season at B&O’s house on Berkeley Place. Since then we’ve been going downstairs. On Monday mornings, a Facebook friend has a morning wrap up on her Facebook page with loads of intelligent comments from her intelligent friends and that’s been really cool, too.

Sometimes I chime in with my reactions.

And what a season it has been. Sure, some said they were “jumping the shark” when Meghan sang Zou Bisou Bisou at Don’s 40th birthday party in episode one but the show has definitely transcended that slightly wobbly beginning.

Some of the episodes rate among the best produced. I still have some old favorites from other seasons like the Kodak carousel episode and the lawn mower one, the Kennedy asassination and there are others, too.

But this season. The fight between Laine and Peter, Joan’s decision, Peggy leaving Sterling Cooper, Laine’s suicide, Roger’s LSD trip, Don and Meghan’s trip to Howard Johnsons…

It’s been quite a season. Oops better get ready to go downstairs. The Mad Men season finale is set to begin in 45 minutes.

Ya gotta love Babeland, the woman’s sex toys shop with a really feminist and pro-woman vibe, because they are so gosh darned uninhibited about sex.

On Sunday June 10th at 7:30 pm (that’s my mother’s birthday) they are having a workshop called Beyond the Blowjob and the aim is to explore what else you can do with a man.

According to the blurb: “We’ll talk about all the ways you can make your man feel great while getting what you want. Learn advanced blow job techniques, sensation play, prostate stimulation, and positions you’ll both love.”

Are you up for it?

I also love Babeland because they sponsored Edgy Moms and they threw Edgy Moms a cocktail party with two Edgy Mom writers (Marian Fontana and Elizabeth Laura Nelson). It was a pop-up reading at Babeland and fun was had by all.

One of my favorite bloggers from the old days of blogging (2004 or so) is Corrie Roberts who used to have a blog called Callalillie. It was a blog that I found very inspiring and interesting.

I must ask her if the blog is still “live” somewhere.

There were so many high points of that blog. She once found some old photographs on the streets of Red Hook about a mysterious man and his family and she wrote beautifully about them.

She wrote about Admiral’s Row.

Her wedding was also beautifully documented on Callalillie.

We are Facebook friends and recently I saw that she resumed blogging. Her new blog is called Object of Memory. Today I saw this post called Strive and I was moved…

These days I can’t seem to run a race without tearing up at the finish line.  You’d think that I’m weepy for finishing something hard but I’m not – I well up every single time because I’m thinking of my little girl.  Some day I hope to be cheering her toward a finish line of one sort or another, and all the while knowing that bursting feeling that comes with grabbing your dreams.  Big or little, she will find them, and all I can do as a mother is show her that we all strive…and bring it home.

Her photographs and sense of design are wonderful, too. The photo is by Corrie Roberts on Object of Memory.

Jimmy Cliff will be in Brooklyn tonight. He opens Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park Bandshell rain or shine. Doors open at 6:30. Be there. Be there early. It will be crowded. It will be incredible. I hope he sings Many Rivers to Cross.

What song do you hope he sings tonight?

It was a hot summer night in 1976. I went with a friend to the Elgin Cinema which used to be on Eighth Avenue and 21st Street in Manhattan. They showed the best movies there (the popcorn was good and they had health food which is what we called it then) and on that night they were showing “The Harder They Come.”

I was transfixed. Truthfully, I remember little about the film But the music, the MUSIC. Soon after I purchased the album, my first entry into reggae,  and practically wore out the grooves of it on my Onkyo turntable, the turntable I took to college.

Remember when you took a turntable to college?

The music by Jimmy Cliff, The Maytals, The Slickers, The Melodians, and others got under my skin. Forever. Who can forget those fabulous songs? You Can Get It If You Really Want, Rivers of Babylon, Sweet and Dandy, The Harder They Come, Johnny Too Bad (performed by The Slickers), Sitting in Limbo, Pressure Drop…

I am helping a friend get the word out about a new novel with a great name on a topic that might be of interest to the OTBKB, Brooklyn Reading Works and Edgy Moms audience, as well as others. I am setting up a blog tour for this book if anyone wants to review and/or interview the author.

In Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden, novelist Laurel Dewey introduces a dynamic heroine—58-year-old Betty Craven, former beauty queen and recent widow, the epitome of elegance and propriety—who gets involved in the controversy over medical marijuana, in shocking, convention-defying, emotionally complicated, and life-transforming ways.

Driven by memorable, colorful characters and packed with intrigue, humor, romantic tension, and enlightening facts about the healing properties of cannabis, the novel gently raises awareness of a timely subject matter while drawing readers into the story of a woman who gradually comes to question her long-held beliefs and principles, let down her facade, and rediscover her true and amazing self.

I won’t say anymore but  Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden takes a sharp turn for the unexpected…

Interestingly, the author is best known for her gritty crime thriller series featuring Denver homicide detective Jane Perry (Protector, 2007; Redemption, 2009; and Revelations, 2011).

But hey, Park Slope Food Coop members, she’s written two books on plant medicine, along with ten booklets and hundreds of articles on alternative health. She lives with her husband in rural Colorado

Brooklyn Reading Works presents Funny Pages: An  Evening of Humor curated by Marian Fontana on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 8PM at The Old Stone House of Park Slope. A $5 donation includes wine and refreshments.

Author Marian Fontana knows funny and she is bringing together a great group of comic writers for this night of hilarity with Marian, Don Cummings, Ellen Ferguson, Gianna Messina, Billy Frolick, and Blair Fell.

DON CUMMINGS’ critically acclaimed plays have been produced on both coasts: His play, The Fat of the Land was a semifinalist for the Kaufman & Hart Award for new American comedy. A Good Smoke was a semifinalist for the Eugene O’Neill theater conference. It had a reading at The Public Theater in New York starring Meryl Streep and Debra Monk and has been optioned for Broadway. Piss Play is about Minorities so it’s Really Important was produced in the Summer Cringe Festival of 2009 where it received the Golden Pineapple award for best play. His latest play, Live Work Space, opens soon in Los Angeles. His collection of nonfiction essays are loosely held together in his yet-to-be-published memoir, Open Trench, named after his blog. He has acted in a lot of plays and been on a lot of sitcoms and writes movies and TV shows. Mr. Cummings is a graduate of Tufts University, The Neighborhood Playhouse and a member of The Dramatists Guild and the Ensemble Studio Theater Writer’s Unit. www.doncummings.net

ELLEN FERGUSON writes the “Diversity in the News” column for McSweeney’s, and her nonfiction has also been published in Diversity Prep, Publisher’s Weekly, and SPY.  Her McSweeney’s column has been widely reprinted online.  Her poetry can be found online on identitytheory and the Brooklyn Reading Works, and in print in Long Island Quarterly.  Before she started teaching English, Satire and Nonfiction in New Jersey and New Hampshire, she worked at The New Yorker Magazine and SPY.

Continue reading April 19: Funny Pages Curated by Marian Fontana at Brooklyn Reading Works →

It’s always exciting and a bit startling when friends make a big change in their lives. A new job, a new home, a new child, a new city, a new career…

Melissa Lopata and her husband Larry have done just that. They left Brooklyn and are living on a farm in Connecticut. Okay, I will admit, I was a bit shocked to hear that these city slickers (and longtime supporters of the Brooklyn Blogfest) have pulled up roots and are doing the Green Acres thing. But then I read the following written by Melissa and I am wholeheartedly intrigued.

Continue reading March 22: (Re)Discover Your Life Purpose with Momasphere →

Don’t miss:

In the Year of the Dragon”, a reading celebration of Asian and Asian-American writers presented by Brooklyn Reading Works at  the Old Stone House on Thursday, March 15th at 8PM.

Hear…

Novelists SUSAN CHOI, CATHERINE CHUNG, SABINA MURRAY, HOONG YEE LEE KRAKAUER, playwright LINDA FAIGAO-HALL and Brooklyn’s Poet Laureate, TINA CHANG.

Curated by...

Novelist Sophia Romero, author of “Always Hiding” (William Morrow) who also blogs as “The Shiksa From Manila”.

Brooklyn Reading Works is on its sixth year and is a monthly thematic reading series  in Brownstone Brooklyn. Last year, “Voices from the East: In the Year of the Rabbit”  featured poet Joanna Sit, playwright Diana Son, and novelists Bino Realuyo, Thad Rutkowski and Ronica Dhar.  There will be a Q&A and mingling with the artists at the end.  The Old Stone House is located at J.J. Byrne Park on 5th avenue between 3rd and 4th streets.

As I’ve been saying, the new OTBKB is not going to do as many shout-outs about local cultural events. That said, I am, on occasion, still moved to do shout-outs about local cultural events.

I saw this and I couldn’t resist because Allan Sherman is such a classic. And the Famous Accordian Orchestra is such a class act (and a fave of OTBKB). They’re doing a tribute to Allan Sherman of “My Son, the Folksinger” Fame. He’s the guy who wrote, “The Ballad of Harry Lewis”, “Beautiful Teamsters” and “Don’t Buy the Liverwurst”.  There was a time you couldn’t walk into a thrift shop and not see that album in the LP bin. I know my family had a copy of it at one time.

On Sunday, March 4 at 5PM, Bob Goldberg and Mark Nathanson of the Famous Accordion Orchestra are going to performa their favorite songs by the great Allan Sherman including, “Hello Muddah Hello Faddah”, “The Streets of Miami”, “The Ballad of Sir Greenbaum”, “Sarah Jackman” (rumored to be a fave of JFK), “If I Were a Tishman” and of course “Seltzer Boy”.

You gotta love it.

Best of all, it’s a benefit. Proceeds from this performance will support the Famous Accordion Orchestra’s 2012 World Tour of Brooklyn, an annual series of free concerts in community gardens and other public spaces.

Even better, Manischewitz, Seltzer, and noshes will be served.   Special guests may appear!

Last night’s Israel Nash Gripka show at The Rockwood Music Hall was a shot of pure rock ‘n’ roll adrenalin from the first song to the last note.  Israel’s band frequently featured three guitars, with one of the guitars swapped out for a Mandobird the rest of the time.  Although Israel plays his own material, he and the band ended the show with Neil Young’s Revolution Blues.  See a clip of Israel and the band playing it at a show earlier this year at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

It’s August and time for the new monthly music calendar.  Either there are a lot of musicians taking the month of August off, or there will be more shows posted in the coming days and weeks.  Still there’s a nice variety of things going on, just not at the frenetic pace of July.  Click here to see the calendar posted on Now I’ve Heard Everything.

Hayes Carll and his band played a fun set this past Saturday at Stuyvesant Town Oval which included this song.  It’s the title track from his recent album, and its narrator is a US soldier in Afghanistan.  KMAG YOYO is military speak for kiss my ass guys, you’re on your own.  Just click here to see it.

–Eliot Wagner

Banjo Jim’s is a bar located at Avenue C and 9th Street in the East Village which presents live music seven days a week.  As of Thursday night (July 28th) on several places on the Banjo Jim’s website, you can read the following: Banjo Jim’s is closing!  The last day of concerts is Tuesday, Aug. 2nd.  This affects Brooklyn, as many Brooklyn-based musicians play there.  Click here to read the details on what happened, which are posted at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

Amy Speace comes into Rockwood Music Hall tonight.  She’s touring behind her new record, Land Like a Bird, a mostly atmospheric Americana, sometimes straight acoustic album written after Amy left this area and resettled in Nashville.   Given that Amy is no longer based in these parts, take tonight’s opportunity to see her.  Details about the show are waiting for you at Now I’ve Heard Everything; just click here.

I know, posting Heat Wave given last week’s scorching weather is kind of obvious.  But why not take this opportunity to see two version of this song.  The first is by Martha and The Vandellas, who had the original hit with this way back in the early 60s.  The group is obviously lip synching, but that’s OK.  It still gives us the opportunity to see the Motown choreography.  Next up is Linda Ronstadt.  This live performance of her reinterpretation of the song from 1976 absolutely smokes as well.  Just click here to see both videos.

–Eliot Wagner

It’s just too hot to do much of anything.  But if you decide to venture out tonight, there are four good shows you can choose from.  Most importantly, all are indoors and air conditioned.  Choose between  Allison Weiss, The Basement Band, Li’l Mo and The Monicats and The Demolition String Band.  See the details at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

The last time I saw Willy Mason he was playing with Pete Townsend.  It was back in 2007 in Austin, at South By Southwest.  Pete and his girlfriend, Rachel Fuller had put together a two hour show with a bunch of new bands they liked and Willy Mason and his band were part of that show.  In the middle of Willy’s set, Pete came out and joined the band for a few songs.  When he left, Willy said “thanks, Pete,” and then added “I never thought I’d be saying that.”

Back then, Willy had a band and his lyrically strong songs could be described accurately as folk-rock.  Recently, Willy has been working on a new record over in England.  I’m not sure what format he’ll be playing in tonight or what his new material sounds like.  But this show at The Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 is a rare opportunity to see Willy and should not be passed up.  See the details about tonight show at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

A few years ago, The Living Room held a series of shows honoring the songwriting talents of The Band, Fleetwood Mac and David Bowie.  They were always fun, brought out a great cross section of local musicians (including a big name or two who showed up unannounced) and left you understanding what good songwriters the particular night’s honoree was.  The guide behind those shows was Tim Luntzel.  But then Tim got busy with other things (including touring with Rosanne Cash) and those shows ceased.

Well, tonight that series continues, again under the guiding hand of Tim.  This time we have a Tribute to Tom Waits, with over 20 local musicians announced as playing.  All the details are waiting for you at Now I’ve Heard Everything, just click here to see them.

–Eliot Wagner

I know that Tuesday was not a day to venture outdoors, but today is supposed to be a bit better and tonight you’ll find James Maddock playing a full band show at Carl Schurz Park on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.  James just released an excellent new album, Wake Up and Dream, three weeks ago (which I previously reviewed here).  I’d really recommend that you brave the residual heat and humidity to see  James and his band, as their shows are not only excellent musically, they are just plain fun.  Full details are posted at Now I’ve Heard Everything, see them by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

The single off of The Wild Joys of Living, the brand new record from the Emily Zuzik Band is You Want to Go Out Tonight?, a summertime song if ever I heard one.  I found a video of that song recorded last year over at The Rockwood Music Hall.  And if you still haven’t seen Emily live yet, you have a chance to do so this coming Thursday at Public Assembly.  Click here to see the video which is posted at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

My Pet Dragon have a new album, Mountains and Cities, coming out next month.  The video (which consists of  just the album cover) of the lead off track from that album, Majestic Lovers, is waiting for you when you click here.

–Eliot Wagner

Spanking Charlene usually just play The Lakeside Lounge on the third Saturday of the month, but tonight they are branching out and will be at The Bowery Electric.  Spanking Charlene combines rock and punk in a way reminiscent of The Ramones.  One commentator said “this band sounds almost exactly like X! Except with better vocals.” They are just plain fun, and tonight Eric Ambel will be joining the band as well.  For more information on tonight’s show, see Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

July is almost upon us and therefore the Now I’ve Heard Everything July Music Calendar is up and ready for you to view and use; just click here.

I’ve also posted five more 45 rpm record picture sleeves.  This time the collection consists of records from Bob Dylan, Ronnie Spector, The Pretenders, Graham Parker and Men Without Hats.  Just click here to see them.

–Eliot Wagner

As I mentioned previously, Friday night there was a twofer at The Living Room.  First up was Sydney Wayser.   And then it was Emily Zuzik‘s turn.  Pictures of those two shows which featured electrifying performances from Sydney and Emily are posted here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

Emily Zuzik and James Maddock have each released new albums.  Emily’s is titled The Wild Joys of Living and the new one from James is Wake Up and Dream.  Read the review of both new records at Now I’ve Heard Everything here.  Then see them live: James is playing a CD release show at The Rockwood Music Hall tonight, read the details here.  Emily has her record release show tomorrow night.  Check Now I’ve Heard Everything tomorrow for more information.

–Eliot Wagner

.For nearly 30 years starting in 1974, The Bottom Line at West 4th Street and Mercer Street was rock central in New York City.  There were other venues, sure, but it seemed that every act that was or was going to be important played there.  Bruce Springsteen‘s week of shows there in 1975 broke him out of the pack.  The place was an institution which came to an end in early 2004 as the result of a dispute with its landlord, New York University (the space occupied by The Bottom Line is now NYU classroom space).

But tonight’s show at Rockefeller Park, The Bottom Line Presents New York on My Mind is made up of a number of performers who graced The Bottom Line’s stage at one time or another and includes: GrooveBarbers, Rosanne Cash, Marshall Crenshaw, Garland Jeffreys, Willie Nile, NRBQ, Martin Rivas, Suzzy and Lucy Wainwright Roche, Vin Scelsa, Loudon Wainwright III, Dar Williams, Catherine Russell featuring music director John Leventhal with Mojo Mancini and hosted by Meg Griffin.   Additional musicians may perform as well.  In case of rain, this may be moved into Stuyvesant High School.  For more details, see Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

Update: I’ve now heard from two reliable sources that the rain site for this show is The World Financial Center Winter Garden.

Update: It’s official.  The show has been moved to The World Financial Center Winter Garden.

–Eliot Wagner

I heard that Clarence Clemons had died while at The Mercury Lounge Saturday night, right after the early show had finished.  Although it was a shock, it was not unexpected given what I had heard about his stroke earlier this week.  Clarence had been part of my musical world since Bruce Springsteen‘s Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ was released (which is close to 40 years ago now).

The New York Times has a pretty comprehensive obit here which will give you the facts of Clarence’s life.  But facts are one thing, the music is another.  So musically, when I think of Clarence, the first song I remember is the version of Kitty’s Back from The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle.  The sax solo at the end was amazingly long; it seemed that Clarence didn’t need to breathe.

So I’ll say goodbye to Clarence with a video of that song from a live performance in early 1974.  I’ve posted it at Now I’ve Heard Everything, click here to see it.

–Eliot Wagner

On my first listen to Kings and Queens, the new album from Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, the song Black Sheep, a duet with Serena Ryder, jumped out at me.  You can see the video of it produced by The Canadian Broadcasting Company over at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

There were many good shows on Tuesday night, but for my money, the place to be was The Living Room.  There Canada’s Blackie and The Rodeo Kings played a crisp, loud and commanding one hour set in celebration of the release of their newest record, Kings and Queens.  Blackie is made up of three singer/guitarists, Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson, plus bassist John Dymond and drummer Gary Craig.  See photos of that show at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

Writers from Nigeria, the Virgin Islands and Trinadad

Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House in Park Slope presents “Coming to America” on June 16 at 8PM. This exciting reading curated by novelist Martha Southgate brings together three new and acclaimed authors, Teju Cole, Tiphanie Yanique, and Victoria Brown, who came to America from Nigeria, the Virgin Islands and Trinidad respectively. There should be an interesting Q&A after the readings.

When: June 16 at 8PM

Where: The Old Stone House in Park Slope on 3rd Street between 5th and 4th Avenues. Note: due to construction in park enter from west side of the house. What else: $5 suggested donation includes wine and refreshments.

About Teju Cole:

“Open City is an indelible novel. Does precisely what literature should do: it brings together thoughts and beliefs, and blurs borders…A compassionate and masterly work.” —The New York Times

“Beautiful, subtle, and finally, original…What moves the prose forward is the prose—the desire to write, to defeat solitude by writing. Cole has made his novel as close to a diary as a novel can get, with room for reflection, autobiography, stasis, and repetition. This is extremely difficult, and many accomplished novelists would botch it, since a sure hand is needed to make the writer’s careful stitching look like a thread merely being followed for its own sake. Mysteriously, wonderfully, Cole does not botch it.” —James Wood, The New Yorker

About Tiphanie Yanique:

“The effects of colonialism throb in Yanique’s vivid debut collection. . . Yanique penetrates the perils and pleasures of lives lived outside resort walls.” —Publisher’s Weekly

About Victoria Brown:

‘Nanny lit’ may have turned heads years ago in the publishing world, but there’s a new voice – and a new book – getting people excited about the genre. Trinidadian immigrant Victoria Brown worked as a nanny on the Upper East Side, and she talks with us about her new book, Minding Ben, as well as her own path to motherhood. -The Takeaway

r in her employ.

Yesterday’s show by Carrie Rodriguez and her band at The Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 was the first with this band Carrie.  But you’d never know it as the half Brooklyn, half Austin ensemble (Luke Jacobs – electric, acoustic and pedal steel guitars, Sammy Baker – drums, and I think that it was Kyle Kegerreis on bass) spend nearly 90 minutes playing songs from Carrie’s several solo albums, plus a few new songs as well.  And the old songs all pretty much sported new arrangements.  I’ve posted six photos of the show at Now I’ve Heard Everything, just click here to see them.

–Eliot Wagner