I work with organizations that want to LAUGH through difficult cHAnge.
Here I am with fellow comedian Bob Golub www.bobgolub.com
at the first-ever Three Poles Walk into a Bar Comedy Tour. Bob’s vision is to bring laughter and legitimacy to Polish jokes everywhere!! Intro music was provided by grammy award nominated accordion player Kevin Solecki–Listen to him at www.kevinsolecki.com. He’s great!!
Look for the tour coming to YOUR city, next stop Pittsburgh PA in June!
Thanks to LaVerne Hotep at WAMO in Pittsburgh for a fun and interesting interview! Her radio program highlights community programs and fascinating people who are making an impact in the area of health & wellness. Look for her upcoming shows on podcast!
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice? No, you just take 376 East…I’m at Carnegie Mellon University, where Professor Randy Pausch gave his “last lecture” which has been viewed online by millions worldwide. You can view it at Parade.com and also on YouTube.
P.S. Thanks to the Tepper School of Business Public Speaking Club for a great lunch!
Here is a review of “The Man In Black”, appearing now at Theatre 145 in Erie. Ruth Sprague of Rat Race Comedy Tour (Formerly 3Comedians.com) wrote the script for this fantastic tribute to Johnny Cash. Read on!! Rock on, Ruth!!
Cash show is on the money
Theatre 145 show honors Johnny Cash with ‘warm, mellow ambiance’
BY FLOYD LAWRENCE
hal2001@adelphia.net [more details]
Over the course of his 50-year career, Johnny Cash wrote more than a thousand songs, released dozens of albums that sold more than 90 million copies.
The creators of “The Man in Black” tribute show now running at Theatre 145 (the former Roadhouse Theatre) must have faced a daunting task in selecting which of the songs to include in the 90-minute show. They’ve selected 18 good — and varied — Cash numbers. Best of all, they selected radio and TV personality Shannon Solo to perform them.
Without attempting outright imitation of Cash, Solo performs confidently in a manner that suggests Cash more than it seeks to duplicate him. Even Joaquin Phoenix, who portrayed Cash in the bio-pic “Walk the Line,” didn’t succeed in sounding exactly like Cash.
Solo performs the seven numbers that form the first act while seated in a tall wooden chair. Lighting designer Scott McClelland keeps the changes to a minimum, and the only lighting effect that bothered me was one that put Solo’s eyes in shadow.
Of the songs in this act, only the ominous ballad “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” rang with instant familiarity for me, and I found Solo’s rendition to be full of solemn emotion.
Though I didn’t recall “Country Boy” and “Delia’s Gone,” they both were filled with tender and intimate experience. “When the Man Comes Around” seems to reflect Cash’s religious faith.
“Sunday Morning Coming Down” (a Kris Kristofferson song) was introduced by Solo with an anecdote about Cash’s refusal to delete certain lyrics that TV network bigwigs found objectionable. But Cash retained the references to marijuana: “On a Sunday morning sidewalk / I’m wishin’, Lord, that I was stoned.”
Solo furnishes many interesting anecdotes between numbers, doing so in a low-key, conversational style. I presume that they were written by Ruth Sprague, who is given writing credit for the show.
Solo plays his own acoustic guitar, though with minimal work on the frets. Producer and musical director Steven Opsanic has wisely chosen to use recorded instrumental accompaniment that fills the spacious room.
That accompaniment becomes downright rousing in the second act, arranged as a Grand Ole Opry radio broadcast. It opens with “Folsom Prison Blues,” one of Cash’s signature tunes. The silhouette of a three-piece band (intended to suggest Cash’s “Tennessee Three” group) is visible on a backdrop throughout. Solo, clad in a long black coat, humorously acknowledges the two-dimensional “band” by saying, “They don’t eat too much and they don’t drink too much, and that’s fine.”
Other Cash standards in the second act include “I Walk the Line,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Man in Black,” “Ring of Fire,” and “Jackson.” “If I Were a Carpenter” features the mariachi horn arrangement that Cash wrote for the song.
For the last few numbers, Solo is joined by Kristen Schrum, who, like Solo, sports a mop of black hair. Adopting the persona of June Carter Cash, she belts out duets and a solo in an infectious, upbeat style. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of her on Erie stages.
Though relatively sedate throughout the first act, the audience frequently clapped along during the second act. Solo succeeds in creating a warm, mellow ambiance, which is a fitting tribute to Cash.
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