Afternoon, kiddies...J B-S here with a blog offering the likes of which you have never seen!!!! Ok, that's a lie..I'm not technologically astute enough to push the blogging envelope any further than the occasional BOLD type or maybe an ITALICIZED item here or there. (Ok...me showing off my meager Word-based skills is almost as much of an overreaction as Eagle fans devoting hours discussing what we're going to do without Akers in this week's game...the guy's a kicker kids, let's focus).
focus...focus....where was I? Oh yeah...I wanted to try soething a little different, and thought it might be fun to engage you all in a bit of a KImmel Center blogging game. I will start a true story about something that happened once here at the Kimmel Center, and then I will leave it open-ended. At that point it will be up to all of you to continue the story one entry at a time. Try to finish your entries in an open way so that the next person can pick right up.
Here goes...now don't be lame and uncreative, because Johnny Broad-Street isn't afraid to throw down a wicked Blog whoopin'! Dig?
So the other day, I came into work early to check on some building preparation we had done the night before, for the big Kimmel Center Wicked on-sale date. As expected, all was well, and I proceeded to my office to check all 154 of the new emails in my inbox. As I'm perusing number 37, I heard a ridiculously loud laugh out on Commonwealth Plaza (more of a cackle really). I sprang form my chair and rushed to the office door (though to be honest, at 5'10" 230lbs, I don't spring or rush too effectively...but I'm workin' on it! Back off!). As I looked out my office door I was surprised to see...
(PS-I can underline too)
...a very tall man with a Sousaphone, who had this idea for a concert he wanted to program at the Kimmel Center. His laughter, well indeed it was more like a cackle and very devious in nature, said that he knew more than he was willing to let on. Standing behind him were 14 other brass players, all in lederhosen and sneakers...I knew this would be an unusal event for the Kimmel but something about their presence and demeanor simply said I just had to call the programming guys to get their take on this unusual program idea called...
"The Miracle of Birth: A Polkastravaganza."
...an inauspicious title indeed...but I chose to remain open minded, because as my grandmother always said, "An open mind is the pathway to...
...existential enlightened performance nirvana...but I digress...it was clear that what was going to make this work was when the programming guys showed up, they knew right away who this ensemble was. "We've been hoping to book the 'Traveling Whitbury's' into this venue for years but we just couldn't find their manager." Turns out, these guys' two albums, The Traveling Whitburys, Vol's 1 and 3, with George Hanson, Bill Dylan and Tom Perry were smash hits on the Bitboard charts.
Their performance combined a careful blend and balance of...
Bavarian drinking songs and Tuuvan throat singing ...
So of course I gave them Tom's number, saying "I'm sure we can give you a Free in the Plaza gig, opening up for Chick Corea.."
...however, as musicians, and by the way tell you guys can actually play those instruments, right? There's one thing musically you must do first, and that is...
...perform the theme song from "Perfect Strangers", using only an olde tymie rum jug and ONE Tuuvan throat singer...I mean, after all...a little throat singing never hurt anybody!" Just as he was saying that, however, ...