Jonathan Ramsey

U2 lovers will love the sounds of Elevation, a U2 tribute band. I’m a little curious how they pull off the whole concert experience in a place like the Leinster Room at The Dubliner. I would love to hear from anyone who can make it tomorrow night.

Saturday evening, The Dubliner will host The Reel Thing, performing traditional Irish music. I’ll have to do some more research on these guys, since Google lists more than one band of said name.

Friday, 27 April 10 PM - Elevation @ the Dubliner Pub, 1025 Washington Ave, Saint Louis, MO
Saturday, 28 April 10 PM - The Reel Thing @ the Dubliner Pub, 1025 Washington Ave, Saint Louis, MO

For more info, call (314) 421-4300.

Tags: irish+music live+music st+louis saint+louis dubliner+pub u2 tribute+band

The past few years, I’ve watched my own monthly diabetes-related expenses increase in orders of magnitude. Increasing insurance premiums, deductible increases, and all but two of my expense items (insulin and strips) now apply to my deductible, have definitely made a dent in my budget.

With those worries, imagining having to worry about those things for one of my children would be far worse. And, unfortunately, millions of parents do worry, and have difficulties dealing with these ever-increasing expenses to care for their children with diabetes.

There is help for parents who have difficulty with their children’s diabetes expenses, ipump.org. ipump.org offers help for children who need help meeting the costs of their diabetes care. This includes insulin, oral medications, durable goods, and physician visits.

Please visit ipump.org, and consider helping. Their motto is true. “Insulin may not be a cure but without it a child with diabetes will die.”

Tags: diabetes children medical+costs insurance+premiums ipump.org insulin fundraising

I know I sometimes rage against the machine’s idea that using “reality” television to build a schedule is good television. Truth be told, though, there are reality shows that I enjoy. One of those is Work Out.

I was sad to find out that Doug had died, following a prolonged series of illnesses. Doug seemed like a very caring guy, and so joins a fraternity of great people who left a positive mark in this world, then had to leave it too soon. He had genuine concern for his clients’ well being.

Doug, as some know, had lymphoma, and was undergoing chemotherapy. According to Peeler, he had contracted salmonella, leading to his kidneys’ shutting down. In the hospital, he developed a staph infection, precipitating the shutdown of his liver.

Read more on Brian Peeler’s blog.

Also, check out Douglas Blasdell Outreach Program for student scholarships, gay and lesbian awareness, HIV education and more.

Tags: doug+blasdell work+out reality+tv bravo+channel personal+trainer

After much comment-watching, I can’t determine what has affected my commentary, this past week or so. I’ve had two consecutive gaffs in my article mentioning Brad Delp’s unfortunate, and terribly sad suicide. First, a huge, and terrible one in the actual piece, then, a smaller, but still strange in the correction that I published, last week.

In a comment on my correction, I was accused of not doing research. Quite frankly, I wish I could say that I didn’t know the circumstances that I had misstated. On the contrary, there was no “research” to do. I read several news stories, in March, that all stated the simple facts that Mr. Delp had died of carbon monoxide poisoning, after burning charcoal in his bathroom. Why I grossly mistyped that he had died of anything else, I have no idea. I must need to get more sleep. Then, in the correction, I got the charcoal right, but the venue wrong. Stating “garage” instead of “bathroom” sounds like an assumption based on knowing about the CO-poisoning, since usually you associate CO-suicides with automobiles. But, I had known for a month that it was in the bathroom.

As I said in my comments to the article, I humbly surrender my non-existent press credentials.

Tags: brad+delp mistakes press bad+reporting journalistic+errors press+credentials

I have no idea what toxic chemical affected me, the other day. I grossly misrepresented Bradley Delp’s death, saying that he died of “an apparent heroine overdose.” (see Fallen Voices…) He did no such thing. Brad Delp died of carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by burning charcoal in the garage.

Fortunately, others were watching. I was bombarded by comments on my lapse. I’ve seen horrible blog entries full of misquotes, and other inaccuracies. Now, it was my turn. I suppose the downside of blogging may be its immediacy. You type. You proofread -or not! You publish. I’m lucky that knowledgeable people read and comment on my errors. Hopefully, I will be more careful on my late-night blogging binges.

Tags: brad+delp journalistic+error

This is a great story, even if a little sad. Gene Weingarten, of the Washington Post, performed an experiment. With the aid of Josh Bell, one of the world’s greatest living violinists, and Amanda Kearney of JBG, the property manager for L’Enfant Plaza.

Josh Bell performed during rush hour at the L’Enfant Plaza Arcade, at the very top of the Metro station escalator. For his effort, 27 people tossed a total of $32.17 into his case. That’s a rough morning for a busker. Check out this story at The Washington Post.

Something similar happened with Bruce Springsteen –video.

Tags:
josh+bell washington+dc busking
street+performer metro subway

We made it down to Natural Fact (www.naturalfact.com), this evening, to catch our first show there. This is a nice place. We arrived after 10PM, so the kitchen was closed, and the room had a nice, dark ambiance to it already. It was still family-friendly, and a great place for Webster University students to hang out.

We only caught Brian Muench -such is life with little ones, sometimes- but he had a great sound. At times, he reminded me of Badly Drawn Boy, so I highly recommend his live show. He also has tasty acoustic tracks at http://www.brianmuench.com.

If you haven’t had sweet potato chips, you must try them. You must try Natural Fact’s Sweet Potato Chips. They are awesome!

Check out the performers from tonight’s show at Natural Fact in Webster Groves, MO:

http://www.brianmuench.com
http://www.myspace.com/rachelbrandt
http://www.myspace.com/bradandian The Nancy Boys

Tags: webster+groves missouri natural+fact night+life webster+university st+louis saint+louis bands rachel+brandt nancy+boys brian+muench acoustic+music live+music

Throughout the 2006-2007 NBA season, Stephon Marbury, of the New York Knicks, has been wearing his own branded basketball shoes on court. If you hadn’t heard, last year, Starbury released a new line of shoes and clothing with Steve and Barry’s. The whole line of shoes sell for $14.98 a pair. No lie. These fine shoes, that compare with the $150 ones that kids are getting killed for, sell for FIFTEEN BUCKS! If you’re not a hightop wearer, he also has trainers.

This is the future, boys. A sports hero creating a quality footwear and clothing line that moms everywhere can reasonably afford. Marbury also pledged to give shoes to every New York City high school basketball player.

Check them out at http://www.steveandbarrys.com and at http://www.starbury.com.

Go Knicks!

Tags: new+york+knicks nba sports affordable+shoes quality+shoes basketball basketball+shoes stephon+marbury

The world has lost three great voices, in the last month.

9 March, Brad Delp, the original singer for Boston, died of an apparent heroine overdose, [carbon monoxide poisoning from burning charcoal in his garage] just months before a summer tour and a wedding with his long-time girlfriend. Many Americans probably didn’t know his name, but it would be hard to say you never heard his voice.

Tuesday, we lost Kurt Vonnegut, one of the 20th century’s great literary voices.

Wednesday, we lost Roscoe Lee Browne, known for his profound speaking voice, and broad acting experience -from Shakespeare to Soap to Babe. He was also prized for books on CD/tape, because of the tone and clarity of his voice.

Tags: deaths brad+delp boston rock+singer kurt+vonnegut roscoe+lee+browne author baritone speaker actor

Come down for an evening of music at the home of Kansas City’s best burger. (The chicken sandwiches are good, too!)