I had lunch with a friend today at the Taste Chicago restaurant in Burbank. That wouldn't mean much to most people, but it's probably the most low-key celebrity restaurant in the world -- co-owned by actor Joe Mantegna and his wife Arlene. It's a little joint that seats about 50 people and serves (as the name implies) Chicago food -- Italian beef sandwiches, Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and Chicago hot dogs, and more.
While there, Joe Mantegna showed up -- as he apparently does on Fridays, if he isn't filming. (As do other Chicago actors on occasion.) And since my friend had directed him in an episode of Criminal Minds, he stopped by for a chat. I kept quiet for the most part, but since I knew he was a huge Cubs fan (the place has a lot of Cubs memorabilia on the wall, and a big Cubs blue W on the side wall outside, along with other items from Chicago sports), I mentioned often hearing him on Cubs broadcasts when he shows up in the booth. He smiled and said that in fact he was going to be in the booth and lead the crowd in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" next Friday, when the Cubs play the Yankees. You have your scoop.
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This week's contestant is Sarah Painting from South Hadley, Massachusetts. I got the hidden song pretty quickly, which is a good thing because it gets pretty well-hidden further on. As for the composer style, I could make out a particular quote but just couldn't put the name to the music -- which is a shame because he was the first name I came up with and then veered away to someone else. Silly me.|
Even if you don't like sports, this is a nice two minutes. Bob Miller is the longtime, and popular Hall of Fame hockey announcer for the Los Angeles Kings. A month ago, he said that he would be retiring at the end of the season, after 44 years with the team, at the age of 78.. Last night was the Kings' final home game. Since the team didn't make the playoffs this year, that meant it was Bob Miller's last game before the home crowd. There's still one game left in the season (tonight), but being his final home game, the club had had celebrations planned to honor Miller. Little did anyone know that those celebrations included the game. Los Angeles was losing 2-1 with only a minute to go. But with just 50 seconds left, they tied up with the game. And then, only 30-seconds into overtime, the Kings scored -- which meant that Bob Miller got to go out calling a game-winning goal on his final play. Here's the video of those two calls. Making it all the nicer is that there was a camera positioned on the broadcast booth, so you can watch Miller and see his happy reaction to both goals. (By the way, for those who keep notebooks of deep, meticulous minutiae, the Kings won this final home game against the Chicago Blackhawks, and Bob Miller is from...Chicago. Just another informational service we provide for you.) Since hockey moves so fast, know that for the first goal, the Kings are going from right to left. In overtime, the teams switched sides, and Los Angeles is then going from left to right. Host Peter Sagal's guest contestant on this week's "Not My Job" segment of NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! game show is Sarah Koenig, creator of the podcast Serial.
Host Peter Sagal's contestant on the "Not My Job" segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! is country music legend Charley Pride. The interview is a bit perfunctory, but his story is pretty interesting (not only being in the country music Hall of Fame, but also a very good baseball player who came close to making the major leagues. However, once they get to the question part -- it goes wildly off the rails, and gets pretty amusing. By the way, Charley Pride is the point of my favorite line in the Statler Bros. wonderful song, "How to Be a Country Music Star." In the song, they give "tips," the joke which is that they all are merely unique iconic descriptions of some of country music's greatest singers. (For instance, for Willie Nelson, they sing, "Get a headband like Willie's.") When it comes to Charley Pride, their "tip" is that you should "Get a gimmick like Charley Pride got." Now, that line is meaningless if you don't know who Charley Pride is. If you do, though, his "gimmick" is that he is a profound rarity in country music for being black. Here's the song, which they premiered at an appreciative country music awards show -- Host Peter Sagal's guest contestant on this week's NPR quiz show, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! is Paul Shaffer, the former music director of The Late Show with David Letterman. What's little remembered is that he not only was in the original band on Saturday Night Live (which probably is remembered...), but was also an original cast member.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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