The Healing is about to resume...

Monday night January 22nd in The Lounge at The Palms, 10 p.m., Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns will return, with a vengeance, no doubt. For those of you who didn't get to come to the The Jazz Society concert up in Summerlin, I can assure y'all that the new compositions by Nathan Tanouye and Dave Richardson are just fabulous.

BTW- anyone out there doin' the MySpace thing, let's hook up. I put up a page simply to hustle the band -- as well as our many friends.

Among these friends: coming up this week at NY/NY (4 p.m. - 9 p.m.) will be Joe Burriola's excellent band "Fahrenheit." Santa Fe's Johnny Johnson plays guitar and sings with them. And, the beautiful and talented Jessica Mangione is now on board. I'll be down, Joe.

Also, our homie Bobby Black is doin' his thang big-time with The Las Vegas Tenors:


Other random stuff...when I was in Boston in December for medical system training, I saw an episode of HBO's "The Wire" in my hotel room, which I'd heard much about but had never seen (I don't take HBO, etc, 'cuz I'm afraid of putting in too much couch potato time).

It blew me away.

I've since bought the DVD Seasons One and Three editions (Season Two was outa stock, but I'll have it and Four -- the current one -- soon).

This is about the baddest thing I've ever seen. The screenwriting and acting are the dramatic analog of Fat City Horns charts. I am not kidding. Then there's the sheer volume of work. The full four seasons comprise about 50 hours of final cut footage, the equivalent of at least 25 full length theatrical movies (I've watched about 17 hours thus far, in complete awe). Everything about this show; the unbelievably knowing writing, the acting (they use a lot of locals who are not professional actors -- you'd never know they were amateurs), the cinematography, the lighting, the sets, the editing, man! No stereotypes among the various characters, either. No simplistic bad guys vs. good guys.

I have long been an ardent student of film. It never ceases to amaze me that any film ever gets made (even the crappy ones), given the egos, huge expense, and complex logistics (e.g., see the great movie industry insider book "Final Cut," about the fall of United Artists' Studio in the wake of the "Heaven's Gate" production disaster) And, this kind of stuff -- "The Wire" -- is even more amazing, in light of the volume of high quality stuff they consistently churn out on the tightest of schedules.

A word of warning: "The Wire" is not for the squeamish. While it never indulges in gratuitous violence, it comprises a hyper-realistic, explicit, frequently depressing look into American urban life at its most raw, in settings where life is at its cheapest and people can be at their most duplicitous and vicious.

Highly, highly recommended.

BOOK REPORT

I have my usual 5-6 books in play ongoing (plus all of my periodicals). Couple of cool ones I'm reading, Wikinomics and Made to Stick. Great stuff. Always looking for new ideas, some great ones in these books.

Another good one new in hardcover is Alan Deutschman's "Change or Die," which stems from his FastCompany Magazine article of the same title.

OK, more later, I'm off to 24 Hour Fitness on Sahara & Buffalo to impersonate a basketball player. But, before I go, one more insane Bad Boy - Raul Midon (Jerry knows him). Wow-EEEE!



RANDOM OFF-TOPIC FUNNY STUFF

I used to joke (prior to the drought) about how -- this being Vegas, after all -- we could/should have snowmaking equipment built in to our sprinkler systems so we could simply dial up nice little blankets of snow in our yards during the Christmas holiday period ('...honey, would you go out to the garage and set the front yard to "flurries" before you come to bed...'). I mean, we are the kings of world-class fake stuff, right? Fake Venice, fake New York, fake Paris, fake Rome, etc.

Well, our OPEC friends have punked us. When you gas up you cars, here's what you are helping pay for: Ski Dubai! They've built a friggin' indoor ski resort in the heart of OPEC country.

'NUTHER UPDATE

Just got an email from my friend Kate Logan, who hosts Songwriter Night every Tuesday at 9 p.m. at the Sand Dollar Lounge at Polaris and Spring Mountain Road.

Kate apprises that this Tuesday Michael McDaniel will also perform at the Sand Dollar gig. Interesting bio, this cat:

Born in 1971 and becoming a saxophonist at a very young age Michael’s career has taken many diverse paths. Including composition of music for television shows (Almost Live, Talk of The Town) stage plays (Light Hauz, Seattle Lights) and performing in clubs, theatres, and arenas in 14 countries. The growing list of world-class artists he has shared the stage or studio with has only further expanded his musical diversity. Artists such as Luther Vandross, Branford Marsalis, B.B. King, Michael Powers, Kevin Sharp, Isaac Hayes, and Carl Weathersby just to name a few.

Shortly after winning his second award for Sax Player of the year (Music City Blues Awards 2004) he was bestowed with the N.J.R.C. award for the Best Independent Southern Jazz CD for his 2003 project “From The Heart”. Michael has also spent time working in conjunction with instrument manufacturers such as Yamaha Winds, E.M. Winston Instruments, and Keilwerth Saxophones in development of new horn designs for both sonic and aesthetic improvements.

Check him out. Audio samples here.