Jonathan Ramsey

Miley Cyrus double covers as Miley alterego Hannah Montana during super-secret, but not so devious switcheroo to speed wardrobe change.

With all the noise on teh internets, this past week, over the fan videos showing the real Miley Cyrus being cloaked by a dancer, then, whisked off-stage via door number 2, as a body double emerges from door number 1, I felt responsible for bringing some clarity and sanity to the situation, or lack thereof.

I have to say that I’m dismayed, annoyed, and, now suffer from great ennui as a result of writers’ pretensions that this is some sort of betrayal of all Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus fans.

I don’t see what the big deal is. A little creative make-believe is part and parcel to this type of show. Sure, on the surface, this is a music show. But that’s not why parents paid $50 to $2000 for tickets that, in the real world, should have cost more like $20-$30. There’s a lot of hype, and a lot of “magic” expected. It IS Disney, is it not?

Besides, many of her fans still go to bed early on Christmas Eve, and listen for the sounds of Santa’s reindeer upon the roof. Telling them that Miley/Hannah employs a double in the last 2 minutes of her Hannah set is like telling them, or their only-somewhat younger siblings, that the Teletubbies and Captain Feathersword are costumed characters.

Forget about Disney, and the make-believe. Shoot! Even I use a double at the end of Johnny Jump Up, to give me enough time to change my shirt and my pick for the next set! This is important to keep continuity during the Jonathan Ramsey/Jonathan Ramsey Show.

For all we know, this started when Ike Turner used a double at the end of every live performance of Rocket 88 (the first Rock and Roll song), so he could change his shirt and get another drink. Maybe.

Anyway, check out this video below, and decide for yourself, if it’s worth the bandwidth on YouTube and Yahoo Video…
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PDA. Teachers and administrators across the country are cracking down on that age-old problem. I remember being in high school, and frequently seeing a couple sucking face in the hallway to the extent they might have had to go the ER to have their uvulas (little punching bags to some) separated. Now, principals are giving kids in-school suspension if they get caught three times… HUGGING. Those damned kids and their… HUGGING. OMG! Heather. Look at those girls over there, crying, and hugging because one of them made cheer.

Not to pull a red herring, but shouldn’t they be worried about the kids who are beating each other up for their shoes, or something?

To you school administrators who are bent out of shape over kids hugging on school property: SOMEONE NEEDS A HUG!

The Washington Post has an interesting piece on what they call “The Moby Quotient”, or, alternatively, “The Moby Equation”. It attempts, albeit subjectively, to quantify, using a farcical math function, how much impact allowing a song to be used to promote a product or company will reduce an artist’s apparent integrity.

Check out Moby Quotient at The Washington Post.

Jonathan Coulton performed at PAX, last weekend. In his interview, he admits to having only recently tried the Wii for the first time. I have to admit, I’ve not had the chance to play on any of the new game stations, yet.

In a superficial continuation of a theme, in my life, my daughter exclaimed, last night, that she was playing on the Wii.

This morning, she asked if we could get a real Wii. I guess Reader Rabbit, the Leapster (an awesome children’s platform), Webkinz, and, now, the Total Gym are feeling too old skool for her.

kid dog wii total gym cheap wii inexpensive wii play video

It’s just like Reaganomics (”Voodoo Economics” George H. W. Bush, 1980), but different. So, follow me on this one. I realized the other day how my shows at KC Fringe displayed a trickling down to Jonathan Ramsey.

Missouri Valley Folklife Society sponsored a stage. For that stage, they’d arranged a band, an incarnation of Uncle Dirtytoes from Lawrence, KS. Maria, singer and fiddler for the band, was to have hand surgery, so they might have had to bow out. My friend Gordon’s band was put on standby. The crew each said that would work, and all was set. Sometime later, as the time to call up Gordon’s band came, one band mate realized he had a Belgium trip. Another had a conflict. So, they weren’t going to be able to do KC Fringe.

So, MVFS called Jonathan (uh… me). I was able to do it. I may be number three, but I’m certain MVFS may call on me again, if disaster ever strikes a couple other performers.

On with the show. I discovered that many of the fine folk who came to my Friday and Saturday evening shows in 412 Delaware Street were, in fact, there only after they had been turned away from the sold out Naughty Knickers burlesque show in 412-A Delaware Street. They got there too late for nudity and coarse social and political banter. So, they came into the next hottest venue they found, and lucked upon my coarse social and political banter. My absence of nudity must not have been too disappointing, since many signed up on my mailing list. Indeed, I must point out that these folks were not the bare skin show seekers of the River Quay run by the mafia days of the 70s and 80s. They were well dressed, literate folk who had, in fact, come for cerebral stimulation, not the other kind of stimulation found in the River Quay’s “all girl show” establishments. The area now called The River Market has, indeed, improved.

Tags: kc+fringe+2007 kansas+city+mo festival music theater dance

Wahhh! For the second year in a row, this They Might Be Giants fan of twenty-two years might have to miss the show. As an avid fan, and a musician who would love my daughters to appreciate intelligent music, that isn’t mere aural spoon-feeding, I make sure they hear artists that I appreciate. Both my daughters are big TMBG fans, not because of “Here Come the ABCs!” or “No!”. They knew the ABCs and that “No is always No!”, long before those recordings came out. They love them because of “Don’t Let’s Start”, and “Ana Ng”, “Dr. Worm”, and, of course, “Birdhouse in Your Soul”.

For over ten years, I’ve been able to take either, or both, of them to every They Might Be Giants show that presented locally. We’ve even happened into a couple that weren’t so local, thanks to circumstances in Chicago and Cleveland. They hate to miss them.

Last year, that ended. Last year, we were informed by the staff at The Pageant, in Saint Louis, that we could buy tickets, but that the band insisted that no one under 16 be permitted into the venue. I was rather outraged. I planned to letter-bomb TMBG’s management, Disney, and anyone else I thought might be involved in uninviting me and my family to the show. Buying a house, fixing a couple sinks, and the like, stole much of my thunder, though. I quietly let it pass. The pit in my stomach remains.

Now, I’m not ignorant. I know that, very likely, a few thousand adults purchased “Here Come the ABCs!” on CD and DVD. Then, they took their three-year-olds to the Egg, or First Avenue, thinking they were going to see something akin to The Wiggles or The Doodlebops. They wrote some letters. They demanded some money back for their tickets. They complained to The Johns, The Disney, and The Malcolm in the Middle. Someone overreacted to this parental overreaction, and banned children from the non-childrens shows.

I appreciate that they want to keep the unknowing from showing up with Tiffany and Bobby, and a bag of diapers and wipes. This, however, is unfair to those of us who’ve known for two decades what happens at a They Might Be Giants show. Sometimes, Flans lets a little saucy talk fly –just one word, once. It’s no worse than what the kids hear at Walmart or on the telly.

So, please, John and John, let us come to your show. We can’t hire a sitter and tell our daughter that we’re going to hear her favorite songs live without her. It goes against taste and principle for us.  Either that, or we’ll just have to wait for Rufus Wainwright to come, or for Leonard Cohen to come out of retirement for a show or two. I’m certain they will let us in.

I took my recycling to Willmore Park near my home in Saint Louis. While driving around the circle to the bins, I spotted an odd sight. A pair were picnicking at one of the shelters. Now, some prefer charcoal. Others prefer mesquite. Others love propane. Some, apparently, must have the microwave!

You’ll notice a white microwave, just above the center of the photograph. They’d set it atop a trash receptacle, and set up a few other implements about.

Tags: microwave picnic saint+louis+park st+louis+park willmore+park picnic+shelter

Listen up, all my fellow insulin pump users. This is the thing we’ve all been waiting for. Haven’t you always wanted to beautify your ugly infusion set? Stop wishing and start accessorizing, Babies!

No longer must you worry about wearing that crop top, going to the pool, or participating in the other thing. Everyone will be excited when they see your Groovy Patch!

Why do I want these kitties to say, in IMPACT typeface, “I’M IN YR ABZ KYOOTIFYING YR NPHYOOZHUN SETT”?

Tags: diabetes insulin+pump groovy+patch infusion+set freedom lolcats

Okay. First, let me say that I do not do these “Which [pop culture icon/movie character] are you?” quizzes. They remind me of the emails with horrible, cutesy MIDI background music, Precious Moments images, and daily affirmation verbiage. They’re like the slightly edgier version of those.

This one made me look, perhaps because it’s not a very well done one, or because it had a high likelihood of casting me as a Johnny Depp or Winona Ryder character.

If you want to find out who “I am”, you’ll have to read on…
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I frequent a few small venues, where my normal Public Address System (ahem, PA) is just a little bulky. I also take the train –Amtrak- to some of these gigs. As such a person, I would love to try the Mackie SRM150 out. It generates 100W, has three inputs, and a 5.25″ speaker, the thought of which I’m growing accustomed to. I would likely use my own mixer, but this thing would fit in my gig bag/suitcase, and weighs less than 8 pounds. That’s slightly over half a stone, and I could handle that.

Strangely, it is officially billed as “Mackie SRM150 5 Inch Compact Active PA System”. The Mackie site calls it “a powerful, great-sounding 3-channel PA system”. All of their example diagrams, however, show the thing used as a personal monitor connected to one of their larger front-of-house powered speakers.

Of course, no one will just rent or lend me one for a test drive, so, I may just have to buy one and hope it works.

Unless… Mackie! Give me a call!

Tags: mackie live+sound live+sound+reinforcement pa powered+speaker power+amp mixer