Looking Out My Back Door

Odds and Ends

First off, to update my last entry: I have since found out that Elvis Costello closed the show with "The Scarlet Tide," one of the songs he wrote for the movie "Cold Mountain." It was a beautiful ballad, and I'll be adding it to my growing EC collection.

I found out that had I hung out at The House of Blues a little longer after the concert, I would have had the chance to meet the man. My cousin's friends invited us to stay at the bar and have a drink, but we begged off, exhausted. Damn, damn, damn. He came out after we left, so they got to meet him and have a chat. He was really cool (as if there were any doubt about that!).

An old buddy of mine from high school, Ray Vega, will be performing in June at the Flushing Town Hall. His specialty is "Latin bop" and salsa, and he's just terrific. We played trumpet in several bands together while at Music & Art, and he continued on to have a great career as a musician. He was Tito Puente's lead trumpet player for many years, and tours the country both as a working musician and as a sought-after teacher of master classes for trumpeters. Ray's also released a number of CDs, and they're great. We hadn't been in touch for a few years, but after a pal of mine said he was getting tickets for Ray's concert, I e-mailed him to let him know I'd be there, and he immediately wrote back. We'll be going backstage to see him after the show, and I can't wait to see him and get one of his wonderful, enveloping hugs.

"Desparate Housewives" had a new episode last night! I think the last one was around Valentine's Day. I've missed my Wisteria Lane friends and was very happy to see them last night. Great show. Then ABC debuted a new medical drama, "Grey's Anatomy," and I liked it. It was a little quirky but nicely developed, with interesting characters and good acting. What's not to like? (Well, OK, I could have done without the millions of promos that the network's been running for it -- which it has done ad nauseum for other new programs, such as "Jake In Progress," "Blind Justice," and "The Bachelor." I've enjoyed John Stamos in "JIP," but haven't bothered with the other two.)

Up until last week, the only thing I'd watched on the FX network was Denis Leary's excellent "Rescue Me" series about NYC firefighters. (Season 2 starts in June.) Then I heard that Glenn Close was joining the cast of "The Shield," on FX Tuesday evenings, so I tuned it in to watch her debut. Well, Ms. Close could probably recite a repair manual and make it sound compelling, so having her on the show was good enough for me. I was pleasantly surprised by the rest of the cast, star Michael Chiklis and a solid roster of supporting players. Both acting and writing are good, so it's a pleasure to watch.

Incidentally, Michael Chiklis has had an interesting career. His first big break came when he was cast as John Belushi in a tv movie based on the biography "Wired." The bio was not exactly a love song to Belushi, more like "warts and all." Many sordid tales of his dug use were spun, and brother Jim Belushi and best bud Dan Aykroyd were most vocal in their dislike (to put it mildly) of the book and the planned movie. They claimed that many of the worst stories quoted by the author were from "people who weren't even there." From all accounts, Chiklis gave a good performance, however, it was years before he worked again. A lot of people didn't think that was coincidental, as a lot of powerful people did not like the material he had to work with in "Wired." His comeback was with a police drama called "The Commish," and after that eventually went off the air, he was cast in "The Shield," which garnered a lot of controversial press in its first year. I expect that calmed down after viewers/reviewers saw what a quality program it actually was, not unlike "NYPD Blue" at its inception. Chiklis has fought hard for his career, and it has paid off. More power to him. He and Close work well together, and I wish much success for them and for the show.

posted by Hopster @ 8:49 AM