About two months ago, Barb Heller asked me to do a gig in a variety show at the Edwards Opera House. The opera house is a beautifully restored 19th century building, a performer’s dream-come-true. It was my vision of heaven, except — best of all — to get there, I wouldn’t have to ...

There was a hit song in the ‘50s called “Mutual Admiration Society.” I can’t remember what year it was popular or who sang it. Matter of fact, the only thing I remember is its title, which is because it describes perfectly one of my favorite — and rarest — kind of ...

We all have inborn skills. They vary in degree and kind, but we’ve got them from the get-go. For example, there are those history-making, one-of-a kind, blazing geniuses like Einstein, Shakespeare, Marie Curie, Muhammad Ali, Jane Goodall, Mozart, Da Vinci and Michaelangelo. No one is in ...

In the Good Old Days you could go into any American bar and you’d find That Guy. He was as much a fixture of the gin mill as the revolving Schlitz sign, the smoke-choked air, and the jaded bartender who’d heard it all, seen it all, and was fed up with it all. So who was That Guy? ...

In last week’s column I wrote about the pedestrian safety situation in town. Or more specifically, about the lack of it. To illustrate, I said things are so bad that the only way to cross our streets safely was in a helicopter, which isn’t really true, since you could cross just as safely ...

Without doubt, the scariest and most bad-rapped netherworld figure is The Grim Reaper. But unjustly so, sez I. To most people — Death Metal and Dungeon Synth fans to the contrary — he’s an object of fear...shivering, bone-chilling, knee-shaking fear. But he shouldn’t be. After ...