March 05, 2006 - 10:05 PM

Oscar, meet Jonny Stew!

Hey, I didn't realize that Bird York, the Academy Award nominated songwriter/singer for the song "In The Deep" from Crash, is Kathleen York, who played Andrea Wyatt...sorry, "Congresswoman" Andrea Wyatt, Toby Ziegler's ex-wife on The West Wing. I've been hearing that song on KCRW a lot over the past few months, and she was live in studio on Thursday, but it wasn't until I saw her performing at the Oscars that I went "hey...she looks familiar...like Toby's wife...but it can't be...can it?" So IMDB'd her, and yes indeed. Talented woman. Love the depths of her voice.

But what was with the set designs for the nominated songs? And the choreography? They didn't do choreography when Aimee Mann performed for Magniola, or Sarah McLachlan did for Toy Story 2 (can you imagine what THAT would have been like? Giant dancing costumed Toys..it would've looked like Disney's Ice Capades, without the ice, or the capades). So why have that craziness on stage during the performances? A flaming car? Poor Congresswoman Wyatt. First she has to deal with being married to Toby, then having twins with him out of wedlock WHILE holding office as a rep from Maryland, now she has to sing in front of millions with fake snow and REAL FIRE ONSTAGE and dancers being all artsy and interpretive.

I haven't watched an Oscar telecast in a couple years, but I was interested to see this, what with Jonny Stew hosting. It was still a stiff night, despite his efforts to be sassy (I wonder if they had all those superfluous montages just so he could make his montage joke). Nice to see and hear the Ste(ph)vens contribute. And by my count, there were 4 aussie presenters? Oh Australia, how sexy you are.

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I won't be accompanying Angela Correa tomorrow night at the Hotel Cafe, but I'll probably still be there to watch her. She has another gig coming up in L.A. in a few weeks that we're trying to coordinate practice time for. Stay tuned.

A hell of a lot of shows coming up at the Hotel that I'm experiencing various levels of excitement for: Jenny Owen Youngs is returning for a residency there, which should be interesting, perhaps delightful; also on the schedule are Catherine Feeny, Anne McCue, Maria McKee, Kate Earl, Tina Dico, and Kat Parsons. Other gigs around town include Holly Palmer, Rachael Sage, and a soldout show (unfortunately for me) with Snow Patrol and Gemma Hayes. What's really getting me pumped, though, are three straight dates of Carina Round, who I saw 2 years ago with Matt, opening for Snow Patrol. She's fierce, baby, and I can't wait for her to smack me around like the bitch I am with her music and her high-heel boots. Monday the 20th at the Viper Room, the 21st at Cinespace, and the 22nd at the Hotel Cafe. That last date is a conflict for me, since Victoria's gonna be in town to play at Genghis Cohen, and she asked me to play cello with her. We'll see if I tempt fate by trying to see Carina at 9 PM, then rushing over to play with Victoria at 10. Ha ha.

Now Listening To : NewsRadio Season 3! Yay!
Random Thought : I finally got my epic mount. For the three of you that know what that is and care. The rest of you, ignore.

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