Media mix of July 29th

I was going to do the media mix for today but she hasn't posted it yet (and may not). So here's last week's:

[Listen] What is your most memorable concert experience?

I go to so few concerts, virtually all of them are memorable. But let's see what highlights I can recall.

1. Seeing Denis DiBlasio perform during a Maynard Ferguson concert. That guy is awesome. I was surprised last summer to see that he is a professor/instructor at Rowan University in New Jersey. It would be awesome to be a music student there just for that reason.

2. I've seen George Benson in concert three times. Being the hip cat I am, I saw him a couple times in high school. Took this girl Trude to one of them where she proceeded to flirt with the guy on the other side of her the whole time which neither myself or his date took kindly to (plus, I think the guy was in his 20's. I was almost sixteen and my parents drove us). Unpleasant memory. Plus, when Trude told her friends she was going to see George Benson, they all thought she was going to see Robert Guillaume. No joke.

3. Seen Michael Tolcher three times. Each one was awesome for different reasons. Discovered him at the House of Blues in Chicago where he was an opening act for Everclear. Saw him at the World Cafe in Philadelphia, a lovely venue with good food. Lastly at the Stone Balloon in Newark, Delaware where the crowd was maybe thirty people or so. Fantastic concerts.

4. Steve Winwood outdoors with my good buddy Transfixed Ingress. Nice outdoor concert.

5. Itzhak Perlman is always amazing. Seen him multiple times.

6. Loretta Lynn. My first concert experience. My parents took me but I enjoyed the opening act, Bandana, much more and bought their cassette tape when I found it for a buck at a used record store about a decade later.

7. And, of course, DeVotchKa at the El Rey in L.A. Great concert. Got to witness one of the best cello players ever in Pawel Waleroski as part of the opening act Rupa and the April Fishes. Spent time with my friends. Then the always pleasant memory of the return to work and getting fired.

[Watch] What is your most memorable experience in a movie theater?

I have even fewer memorable experiences at movie theaters. Never have been a movie guy. Hate movies as vehicles for dates. Three movie things I remember fondly. A high school friend, Kevin, was a big movie fan and would drag us to flicks or drag us to his house to watch them. I don't know how many movies I slept through at his house.

1. Took whippersnappers with us to see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Made all the gun battles seem like they were in surround sound or something. Speaking of whippersnappers, a guy pulled a gun on us later that summer when we went to a Baltimore Orioles game and we were throwing whippersnappers out the car window. That was fun.

2. Seeing Like Father, Like Son and yelling "Dudleyyyyyyyyy" whenever Dudley Moore showed up. It got boring after a while since he stars in the flick. This led to us always saying to one another "I hope Dudley Moore is good in this one" when we went to future movies, something I still do today (although I see about one movie every five years in the theatre)." Fun to do when there are people around you because they start thinking they're in the wrong theatre.

3. Seeing Mississippi Burning. There's a very dramatic scene where someone's property has been burned down and all the carnage is showing. The theatre was very quiet and tense and then there was a shot of a burnt cow. My friend Kevin says, "Holy Cow!" and made everyone crack up.

[Read] What is your most memorable experience in a library?

I spend too much time in libraries for any of them to be really memorable. It's not like libraries are special occasions like concerts or movies. Plus, I always enjoy myself at a library whether I'm working or visiting as a patron. I can't even say I have a favorite library. I liked working at the University of Pittsburgh Library and that led me to leaving the University of Pittsburgh so I guess that's memorable. There were a bunch of guys who worked in the library with me and played Strat-o-Matic baseball. They got me to join their leagues. We spent all our time playing Strat and not going to classes. Great guys. Poor students.