Archives - March, 2010



11 Mar 10

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tdmn SOUND OFF! ROOMS Rocks, RAINBOW is Resplenden

“The Diabolical” represents the point at which the central relationship begins to show signs of dissolution and the depravedness and decadence of the rock stars starts to show its effects on their romance. “Little Bit of Love” is conversational, but pulsating and painfully punishing, and ultimately a pretty perfect performance of a dramatic moment that is, pardon the pun, pregnant with the dramatic and emotional themes that have amassed by this point in the drama. The counterpoint and hushed conversation that the song ends with is ravishing. “Fear of Flying”, which is reminiscent of “Odeon” in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, is a propulsive patter song with particularly effective sound effects, though subtlety is certainly nowhere present here, whether in Kreeger‘s performance or the album’s production. Nor should it be. “Happiness” is heartbreaking and brings to mind the material meant for the mother character in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, as well as that show’s “Kindness” so memorably recorded by Sherie Rene Scott on the Sh-K-Boom concept album. “When I’m not with him I’m drowning,” perfectly illustrates the female side of this relationship and exhibits Goodman’s deftness with a common phrase meaning so much more in the context of the drama, particularly since the lyrics are so often focused on alcoholism and liquid allusions – and for good reason. “Clean” is my favorite track on the album and the jaunty riff upon which the melody is based is winning – “The rhythm of the alcohol, keeps kickin’,” indeed. Few composers have musicalized the demons of addiction more expertly or evocatively than Goodman both here and in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, which is largely concerned with cocaine addiction. The reprises of “Rooms” and “Steps” are very sad and somber, totally appropriate given the subject matter. “My Choice” could have been insufferably maudlin and sentimental, but due both to the performers and the production it is not, and, in the end, actually brings to mind the best of Sondheim in its style and tender yet tenacious turn-of-phrase. “My choice. Done./ We have a son.” is about as simply elegant as you can get in musical theatre. “Each minor chord, a major test” is another excellent lyric in this equally tear-filled and tender, and tough, song. “A New Song For Scotland” is as patriotic as we are led to expect given the title, and given what has just occurred in the drama leading up to it, is a breath of fresh, clean air. And so is this score, evident, of course, in the “Finale” – and everywhere else.

SCORE: 8/10

Things Are Great In Glocca Mora

While the Broadway revival of FINIAN’S RAINBOW may not have had the luck of a four-leaf clover, the masterfully produced and performed cast album is the true gold pot at the end of the titular rainbow. Forget Gene Kelly, Petula Clark, or any of their Broadway counterparts – this is the recording of FINIAN’S for the ages. It is rare that a show that produced quite so many standards as this one – I can count four off-hand – and it is to the credit of Burton Lane and E.Y. Harburg that this score shines so brightly more than fifty years following its Broadway premiere. While it may not be the most complex or innovative score of that decade, or even that year, one would be hard pressed to find a more lovely way to spend an hour in Ireland without leaving the comforts of home. Even the album art and production photos, beautifully showcased in the elegant album design, makes my heart flutter a bit. This is classic Broadway at its best.

Paul Scott Goodman, along with bookwriter Miriam Gordon, has created another rock score worthy of respect and reverence with his work for the semi-autobiographical ROOMS: A Rock Romance, this coming more than ten years after his last effort, the arresting and alarmingly inventive BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY which was based on the classic 80s second-person stream-of-conciousness novel by Jay McInerney. While ROOMS lacks the dramatic weight and engaging, esoteric storytelling style of BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, it makes up for it in the enthusiasm and energy exhibited by the excellent leads, Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger. The Scottish brogue explicitly evocative of the composer/lyricist himself (and his then girlfriend, upon whom the Kritzer role is based) is brought off with adept aplomb by the leads. Kreeger and Kritzer are both positively wonderful. Track-by-track, and hit-by-hit, the score traverses musical styles as varied and various as one would come to expect from Goodman, who always keeps one foot firmly planted in world of rock. Where the other foot may fall is anyone’s guess.

The album begins with two themes that are reprised repeatedly, each time with more layers of lust, love and lyricism, both on the part of the characters and the actual composer himself. “Rooms” and “Steps” are arresting recurring themes that bring to mind the elusive elegance and eeriness of “Coma Baby” from BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, starting off the memory play in a memorable manner. As the reprises pile on, one is immediately struck by the subtle strength of Goodman in making the seemingly innocuous, such as a simple set of stairs, so interesting and involving. “Bring the Future Faster” rocks hard and Kritzer navigates the high-belting with assuredness and the result is really quite riveting. “Friday Night Dress”, with its Biblical allusions, showcases the strength of the simultaneous storytelling in an entertaining and inventive fashion. By its title alone, “Scottish Jewish Princess” purports to be funnier than it turns out to actually be, but the beginning Bossa Nova beat, which creeps into a few numbers, compounded by the intricate vocal line and patter song sibilance ultimately proves successful. The rhyme of “Uncle Georgy” and “orgy” is certainly an unexpected and funny rhyme and, in the end, the song serves a similar function to “I Hate The French” in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY. “I Love You For All Time” at first brings to mind Sting & The Police and given the 80s time-setting of the piece, it is totally appropriate to the period. As the song builds, we become increasingly floored by the fierce and furious electricity ignited by Kritzer and Kreeger’s performances. It is at this point that I came to the conclusion that even if the material were weaker, the leads would raise it up a few levels through sheer will. “Let’s Go To London” contains some high-belting on the order of “A New Argentina” from EVITA and Kritzer’s favorable comparisons to Patti LuPone, having played LuPone herself in a tribute show off-Broadway a few seasons ago, are justly justified. “All I Want Is Everything” is Goodman’s expert musical evocation of everything 80s, and it is, in the words of Wayne & Garth from WAYNE’S WORLD, excellent, totally. “Let’s Leave London” left me a little bit cold and, given that it is the turning point of the story, one wishes for a bit more from the lyrics than “two punks in love”, but every song can’t be a knock-out, I suppose. “NYC Forever!” contains the weakest lyrics of all and it is at this point that the ground upon which this score stands starts getting shaky, but it soon gets back on track with the next half of the show. That being said, the theme for “Pour more booze” in “NYC Forever!” hasn’t left my head since I first heard the album, so, if nothing else, this track is catchy, though some re-writes are in definitely in order.


Starting with a sparkling “Overture,” and the hanky-panky of the harmonica beginning the first vocal track, this cast recording does just about everything just right. The syncopation and sibilance of every single syllable surround us as “This Time of the Year” gets going, and it is rare to hear a chorus this well-mixed and marvelous, whether on a cast album or in the theatre itself. Kate Baldwin is an instant-win with her establishing number, one of the most famous and well-worn songs in all of musical theatre, “How Are Things In Glocca Morra?” Following up that gem is the nearly equally famous and well-known “Look To The Rainbow” and the results are winsome and winning. We are treated to a complete recording of the dance break, as well, and the overall comprehensiveness of this recording is one of many myriad reasons why this album is so momentous and instantly memorable. Cheyenne Jackson, currently on NBC’S 30 ROCK but having established himself as one of the foremost male performers of the 21st century musical theatre, is immediately likeable with the most famous song in a score full of fabulous, famous standards, “Old Devil Moon”. The subtle phrasing and slight homage to a 1940s Broadway delivery were certainly not lost on this attentive listener. The chemistry between Jackson and Baldwin is tangible, even on record, and one hopes to see them pair-up again in the near future, hopefully on a duets album like Jackson’s current collaboration with standards master Michael Feinstein, THE POWER OF TWO. “Something Sort of Grandish” is one of the best examples of Harburg’s wicked and wonderful way with words, and the reprise is equally winning and even more riotously hilarious. In “If This Isn’t Love” Jackson pays homage to the vocal inflections of John Raitt and the results are resplendent, with the chorus members providing expert assistance, both comically and vocally. Even the kiss sound effect is perfect.

Time-Life also provide us with a fun, if frivolous, bonus track called “Click”, and it is quite clear why it was cut, but it is, indeed, just a little bit more of a very good thing. The recording is also so successful in large part due to the sterling work done by producer Rob Sher, whose contributions cannot be overestimated. Speaking of good, Goodman had the misfortune of premiering (and, at that point, performing in) BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY around the same time as Jonathan Larson’s RENT and was subsequently overshadowed by that work and its author. Similarly, ROOMS ended up off-Broadway in the same season as NEXT TO NORMAL. With the immeasurable loss of Larson, Goodman proves with BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY and, now, ROOMS, that he is the current master of the rock musical. Then again, I am one of those who feel BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY is just as good as RENT, and now if forced to compare would prefer ROOMS to NEXT TO NORMAL – BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY is certainly more inventive and more innovative in its style, structure and the substance of the characters than RENT, while comparisons between ROOMS and NEXT TO NORMAL are less useful. ROOMS rocks and Goodman is the rock n roll king of musical theatre – on Broadway or off as he proves with this score that certainly had me, to use a discarded phrase from NEXT TO NORMAL, feeling electric.

The “Entr’Acte”, much like the “Overture” before it, beginning with that spine-tingling and classic “Old Devil Moon” cue, makes excellent use of the full-bodied orchestra, the mere presence of the thirty plus musicians an anomaly due to the crippling economics on Broadway today which, more often than not, renders the classic scores of yore anemic and antiseptic sounding in the cripplingly reduced orchestrations that plague far too many productions these days. It is rare to hear so much care and attention paid to every single second of a cast recording and the work by Tommy Krasker and company at PS Classics cannot be applauded enough. “When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich” starts Act Two off endearingly, and the delicate orchestrations of the dance sections are carried off with utmost care and precision, making it a truly multi-layered and mellifluous moment for both the superb cast and sumptuous orchestra. “Dance of the Golden Crock” is notable if only for the enticing harmonica playing and audible hoofing comically included on the track. On a less comprehensive and considered recording, dance tracks like this would undoubtedly be left by the wayside. “The Begat”, the second act answer to “Necessity”, is a fun, if innocuous, blues number, though the second act does seem to contain a bit of filler – but, in comparison to the irreproachable first act song stack, that was bound to be the case. The reprises of both “Old Devil Moon” and “Look To The Rainbow” are appropriate and accentuated with slight nuances by Jackson and Baldwin not evident in the full versions of the songs that came previously. Again, they are positively perfect in these roles, both separately and together, and more of their performances are always a welcome addition on this recording. “When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love” is the last of the big, famous standards in this score and it is performed well by Broadway regular Christopher Fitzgerald. The “Finale Ultimo” is the perfect ending to a perfect recording of a nearly perfect score, and leaves the listener wanting to go right back to the base of the rainbow and replay the album again and again. The attention to detail – of each shade and hue of every single, solitary color, both dramatic and musical – is what makes this RAINBOW an absolute winner. A true pot o’ gold.

SCORE: 7.5/10

Character accents are one of the most treacherous treks actors must traverse, as previously alluded to above in the discussion of ROOMS, and it is to the credit of the cast of FINIAN’S RAINBOW that they pull off the Irish brogue so well, rarely over-doing it as is so commonplace in community theatre productions of the show. “Introduction To Necessity” is another fine example of the expert mixing and mastering of the choral work on this album, and though there is a slight echo here and elsewhere it seems as if that is entirely intentional and meant to bring to mind the classic Godard Lieberson-produced albums of the Golden Age. “Necessity” seems slightly old-fashioned and quaint when compared to blues songs and scatting in the scores of today, but given the time-frame in which the show was written it shows how boundary-pushing Lane was trying to be with this score. Lane, by way of this wonderful revival cast, ends the act on a rollicking and raucous note with “That Great ‘Come-and-Get-It’ Day”. But these marvelous moments are merely half the hues of this remarkable RAINBOW.



SOUND OFF! ROOMS Rocks, RAINBOW is Resplendent

This week we are taking a listen to the new Off-Broadway rock musical ROOMS: A Rock Romance and the revival cast recording of FINIAN’S RAINBOW. From Scotland to Ireland, and back to Broadway, we, quite joyfully, jaunt…

Sitting In My Room, Nothing Is Missing


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11 Mar 10

Written by admin,

zitd SOUND OFF! ROOMS Rocks, RAINBOW is Resplenden

Time-Life also provide us with a fun, if frivolous, bonus track called “Click”, and it is quite clear why it was cut, but it is, indeed, just a little bit more of a very good thing. The recording is also so successful in large part due to the sterling work done by producer Rob Sher, whose contributions cannot be overestimated. Speaking of good, Goodman had the misfortune of premiering (and, at that point, performing in) BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY around the same time as Jonathan Larson’s RENT and was subsequently overshadowed by that work and its author. Similarly, ROOMS ended up off-Broadway in the same season as NEXT TO NORMAL. With the immeasurable loss of Larson, Goodman proves with BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY and, now, ROOMS, that he is the current master of the rock musical. Then again, I am one of those who feel BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY is just as good as RENT, and now if forced to compare would prefer ROOMS to NEXT TO NORMAL – BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY is certainly more inventive and more innovative in its style, structure and the substance of the characters than RENT, while comparisons between ROOMS and NEXT TO NORMAL are less useful. ROOMS rocks and Goodman is the rock n roll king of musical theatre – on Broadway or off as he proves with this score that certainly had me, to use a discarded phrase from NEXT TO NORMAL, feeling electric.

Character accents are one of the most treacherous treks actors must traverse, as previously alluded to above in the discussion of ROOMS, and it is to the credit of the cast of FINIAN’S RAINBOW that they pull off the Irish brogue so well, rarely over-doing it as is so commonplace in community theatre productions of the show. “Introduction To Necessity” is another fine example of the expert mixing and mastering of the choral work on this album, and though there is a slight echo here and elsewhere it seems as if that is entirely intentional and meant to bring to mind the classic Godard Lieberson-produced albums of the Golden Age. “Necessity” seems slightly old-fashioned and quaint when compared to blues songs and scatting in the scores of today, but given the time-frame in which the show was written it shows how boundary-pushing Lane was trying to be with this score. Lane, by way of this wonderful revival cast, ends the act on a rollicking and raucous note with “That Great ‘Come-and-Get-It’ Day”. But these marvelous moments are merely half the hues of this remarkable RAINBOW.

Paul Scott Goodman, along with bookwriter Miriam Gordon, has created another rock score worthy of respect and reverence with his work for the semi-autobiographical ROOMS: A Rock Romance, this coming more than ten years after his last effort, the arresting and alarmingly inventive BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY which was based on the classic 80s second-person stream-of-conciousness novel by Jay McInerney. While ROOMS lacks the dramatic weight and engaging, esoteric storytelling style of BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, it makes up for it in the enthusiasm and energy exhibited by the excellent leads, Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger. The Scottish brogue explicitly evocative of the composer/lyricist himself (and his then girlfriend, upon whom the Kritzer role is based) is brought off with adept aplomb by the leads. Kreeger and Kritzer are both positively wonderful. Track-by-track, and hit-by-hit, the score traverses musical styles as varied and various as one would come to expect from Goodman, who always keeps one foot firmly planted in world of rock. Where the other foot may fall is anyone’s guess.

The album begins with two themes that are reprised repeatedly, each time with more layers of lust, love and lyricism, both on the part of the characters and the actual composer himself. “Rooms” and “Steps” are arresting recurring themes that bring to mind the elusive elegance and eeriness of “Coma Baby” from BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, starting off the memory play in a memorable manner. As the reprises pile on, one is immediately struck by the subtle strength of Goodman in making the seemingly innocuous, such as a simple set of stairs, so interesting and involving. “Bring the Future Faster” rocks hard and Kritzer navigates the high-belting with assuredness and the result is really quite riveting. “Friday Night Dress”, with its Biblical allusions, showcases the strength of the simultaneous storytelling in an entertaining and inventive fashion. By its title alone, “Scottish Jewish Princess” purports to be funnier than it turns out to actually be, but the beginning Bossa Nova beat, which creeps into a few numbers, compounded by the intricate vocal line and patter song sibilance ultimately proves successful. The rhyme of “Uncle Georgy” and “orgy” is certainly an unexpected and funny rhyme and, in the end, the song serves a similar function to “I Hate The French” in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY. “I Love You For All Time” at first brings to mind Sting & The Police and given the 80s time-setting of the piece, it is totally appropriate to the period. As the song builds, we become increasingly floored by the fierce and furious electricity ignited by Kritzer and Kreeger’s performances. It is at this point that I came to the conclusion that even if the material were weaker, the leads would raise it up a few levels through sheer will. “Let’s Go To London” contains some high-belting on the order of “A New Argentina” from EVITA and Kritzer’s favorable comparisons to Patti LuPone, having played LuPone herself in a tribute show off-Broadway a few seasons ago, are justly justified. “All I Want Is Everything” is Goodman’s expert musical evocation of everything 80s, and it is, in the words of Wayne & Garth from WAYNE’S WORLD, excellent, totally. “Let’s Leave London” left me a little bit cold and, given that it is the turning point of the story, one wishes for a bit more from the lyrics than “two punks in love”, but every song can’t be a knock-out, I suppose. “NYC Forever!” contains the weakest lyrics of all and it is at this point that the ground upon which this score stands starts getting shaky, but it soon gets back on track with the next half of the show. That being said, the theme for “Pour more booze” in “NYC Forever!” hasn’t left my head since I first heard the album, so, if nothing else, this track is catchy, though some re-writes are in definitely in order.

“The Diabolical” represents the point at which the central relationship begins to show signs of dissolution and the depravedness and decadence of the rock stars starts to show its effects on their romance. “Little Bit of Love” is conversational, but pulsating and painfully punishing, and ultimately a pretty perfect performance of a dramatic moment that is, pardon the pun, pregnant with the dramatic and emotional themes that have amassed by this point in the drama. The counterpoint and hushed conversation that the song ends with is ravishing. “Fear of Flying”, which is reminiscent of “Odeon” in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, is a propulsive patter song with particularly effective sound effects, though subtlety is certainly nowhere present here, whether in Kreeger‘s performance or the album’s production. Nor should it be. “Happiness” is heartbreaking and brings to mind the material meant for the mother character in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, as well as that show’s “Kindness” so memorably recorded by Sherie Rene Scott on the Sh-K-Boom concept album. “When I’m not with him I’m drowning,” perfectly illustrates the female side of this relationship and exhibits Goodman’s deftness with a common phrase meaning so much more in the context of the drama, particularly since the lyrics are so often focused on alcoholism and liquid allusions – and for good reason. “Clean” is my favorite track on the album and the jaunty riff upon which the melody is based is winning – “The rhythm of the alcohol, keeps kickin’,” indeed. Few composers have musicalized the demons of addiction more expertly or evocatively than Goodman both here and in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, which is largely concerned with cocaine addiction. The reprises of “Rooms” and “Steps” are very sad and somber, totally appropriate given the subject matter. “My Choice” could have been insufferably maudlin and sentimental, but due both to the performers and the production it is not, and, in the end, actually brings to mind the best of Sondheim in its style and tender yet tenacious turn-of-phrase. “My choice. Done./ We have a son.” is about as simply elegant as you can get in musical theatre. “Each minor chord, a major test” is another excellent lyric in this equally tear-filled and tender, and tough, song. “A New Song For Scotland” is as patriotic as we are led to expect given the title, and given what has just occurred in the drama leading up to it, is a breath of fresh, clean air. And so is this score, evident, of course, in the “Finale” – and everywhere else.

SCORE: 8/10

Things Are Great In Glocca Mora

While the Broadway revival of FINIAN’S RAINBOW may not have had the luck of a four-leaf clover, the masterfully produced and performed cast album is the true gold pot at the end of the titular rainbow. Forget Gene Kelly, Petula Clark, or any of their Broadway counterparts – this is the recording of FINIAN’S for the ages. It is rare that a show that produced quite so many standards as this one – I can count four off-hand – and it is to the credit of Burton Lane and E.Y. Harburg that this score shines so brightly more than fifty years following its Broadway premiere. While it may not be the most complex or innovative score of that decade, or even that year, one would be hard pressed to find a more lovely way to spend an hour in Ireland without leaving the comforts of home. Even the album art and production photos, beautifully showcased in the elegant album design, makes my heart flutter a bit. This is classic Broadway at its best.


Starting with a sparkling “Overture,” and the hanky-panky of the harmonica beginning the first vocal track, this cast recording does just about everything just right. The syncopation and sibilance of every single syllable surround us as “This Time of the Year” gets going, and it is rare to hear a chorus this well-mixed and marvelous, whether on a cast album or in the theatre itself. Kate Baldwin is an instant-win with her establishing number, one of the most famous and well-worn songs in all of musical theatre, “How Are Things In Glocca Morra?” Following up that gem is the nearly equally famous and well-known “Look To The Rainbow” and the results are winsome and winning. We are treated to a complete recording of the dance break, as well, and the overall comprehensiveness of this recording is one of many myriad reasons why this album is so momentous and instantly memorable. Cheyenne Jackson, currently on NBC’S 30 ROCK but having established himself as one of the foremost male performers of the 21st century musical theatre, is immediately likeable with the most famous song in a score full of fabulous, famous standards, “Old Devil Moon”. The subtle phrasing and slight homage to a 1940s Broadway delivery were certainly not lost on this attentive listener. The chemistry between Jackson and Baldwin is tangible, even on record, and one hopes to see them pair-up again in the near future, hopefully on a duets album like Jackson’s current collaboration with standards master Michael Feinstein, THE POWER OF TWO. “Something Sort of Grandish” is one of the best examples of Harburg’s wicked and wonderful way with words, and the reprise is equally winning and even more riotously hilarious. In “If This Isn’t Love” Jackson pays homage to the vocal inflections of John Raitt and the results are resplendent, with the chorus members providing expert assistance, both comically and vocally. Even the kiss sound effect is perfect.



SOUND OFF! ROOMS Rocks, RAINBOW is Resplendent

This week we are taking a listen to the new Off-Broadway rock musical ROOMS: A Rock Romance and the revival cast recording of FINIAN’S RAINBOW. From Scotland to Ireland, and back to Broadway, we, quite joyfully, jaunt…

Sitting In My Room, Nothing Is Missing

The “Entr’Acte”, much like the “Overture” before it, beginning with that spine-tingling and classic “Old Devil Moon” cue, makes excellent use of the full-bodied orchestra, the mere presence of the thirty plus musicians an anomaly due to the crippling economics on Broadway today which, more often than not, renders the classic scores of yore anemic and antiseptic sounding in the cripplingly reduced orchestrations that plague far too many productions these days. It is rare to hear so much care and attention paid to every single second of a cast recording and the work by Tommy Krasker and company at PS Classics cannot be applauded enough. “When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich” starts Act Two off endearingly, and the delicate orchestrations of the dance sections are carried off with utmost care and precision, making it a truly multi-layered and mellifluous moment for both the superb cast and sumptuous orchestra. “Dance of the Golden Crock” is notable if only for the enticing harmonica playing and audible hoofing comically included on the track. On a less comprehensive and considered recording, dance tracks like this would undoubtedly be left by the wayside. “The Begat”, the second act answer to “Necessity”, is a fun, if innocuous, blues number, though the second act does seem to contain a bit of filler – but, in comparison to the irreproachable first act song stack, that was bound to be the case. The reprises of both “Old Devil Moon” and “Look To The Rainbow” are appropriate and accentuated with slight nuances by Jackson and Baldwin not evident in the full versions of the songs that came previously. Again, they are positively perfect in these roles, both separately and together, and more of their performances are always a welcome addition on this recording. “When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love” is the last of the big, famous standards in this score and it is performed well by Broadway regular Christopher Fitzgerald. The “Finale Ultimo” is the perfect ending to a perfect recording of a nearly perfect score, and leaves the listener wanting to go right back to the base of the rainbow and replay the album again and again. The attention to detail – of each shade and hue of every single, solitary color, both dramatic and musical – is what makes this RAINBOW an absolute winner. A true pot o’ gold.

SCORE: 7.5/10


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11 Mar 10

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3jkp Sri Lanka on edge after vote_130

The winner of the island’s first election since last year’s defeat of a three-decade insurgency by ethnic Tamil rebels was set to be announced around midday (0630 GMT).

There were a number of violent incidents during voting, including bomb attacks in the northern Tamil stronghold of Jaffna, which monitors said had deterred some people from voting.

“Personally, the outcome is better than what I expected,” Yapa said.

The campaign’s vitriolic nature, the personal animosity between the two main candidates and tit-for-tat accusations of coup plots had all fuelled concerns that any result would be contested and foment new unrest.



The government argued that Fonseka was therefore ineligible for the presidency, despite a strong statement to the contrary from the independent election commissioner.

Tensions were acute in the capital Colombo, where up to 80 soldiers with machine guns ringed the de-luxe hotel where Fonseka was staying with several other opposition leaders.

“We know General Fonseka is inside, but our interest is in the deserters who could be armed,” he said.

Sri Lanka on edge after vote
AMAL JAYASINGHE January 27, 2010

Incumbent Mahinda Rajapakse took a strong lead in counting Wednesday from Sri Lanka’s bitterly fought presidential election, officials said, as armed troops surrounded the hotel of his main rival.

Election officials said Rajapakse, who is being challenged by his estranged former army chief Sarath Fonseka, had won 60 percent of the vote with about a fifth of the ballots counted.

Rajapakse as commander-in-chief and Fonseka, his army chief, defeated the Tamil Tigers in May last year, ending a separatist conflict that left 80,000-100,000 dead, according to UN figures.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the troops had been deployed following information that army deserters were among some 400 people inside.

“What the election commissioner has expressed is merely an opinion, but the courts have the ultimate authority to interpret the law,” Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told reporters late Tuesday.

Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said Rajapakse, who like Fonseka is a member of Sri Lanka’s dominant Sinhalese community, was “heading for a historic victory”.

In a further twist, the government said it would challenge the legitimacy of Fonseka’s candidacy in court after it emerged that he was unable to cast a ballot on Tuesday because his name did not figure on the electoral roll.

Partial official results showed Rajapakse with 1.31 million votes against 862,644 for Fonseka. An estimated 9.85 million people voted in all.

“We have sent a message asking them to surrender,” Nanayakkara said, insisting that Fonseka himself was not the target.


Tuesday’s election was the first since Rajapakse, 64, and Fonseka, 59, engineered the final defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who had been fighting for a Tamil homeland in the island’s northeast since the 1970s.

Four people were killed and more than 1,000 election-related incidents were reported to police in the run-up to Tuesday’s contest.

The government had earlier accused Fonseka of employing a private militia consisting of army deserters, a charge denied by the opposition.

The military campaign made both men national heroes in the eyes of the Sinhalese-majority electorate but has since been mired in allegations of war crimes. Some 300,000 Tamils were herded into internment camps.

An opposition spokesman complained that the military presence was intended to “intimidate us or arrest our leaders”.

Rajapakse has ruled Sri Lanka since 2005. His three brothers and other family members are in key government positions including the ministries of defence and ports.


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11 Mar 10

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8fxz Spam offers to let people use their PC to att



Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.


The e-mail message says: “If You dont like Obama come here, you can help to ddos his site with your installs.”

New spam is circulating that supposedly offers a way for people to use their computers to launch a denial-of-service attack on the Web site of President Obama, researchers said on Tuesday.

It’s not clear whether the software does turn the computer into a DoS attacking zombie, or what it does, if anything. But it would be crazy to expose your computer like that, regardless of your political leanings.

The e-mail then provides a link to a Web site where visitors are offered money for installing the supposed denial-of-service (DoS) software, according to a blog posting on the site of e-mail security provider Proofpoint. 

Spam offers to let people use their PC to attack Obama site

Spammers are hoping to rouse Obama critics to launch a cyber protest and to download malware onto their PCs in the process.

The spam site also tells visitors to come back and get updated versions of the purported denial of service software if their antivirus program is detecting it as malware and disabling it.


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11 Mar 10

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hzpm Spotlight turns to Apple’s ‘latest creation’_

“I can’t sneak a peak at it when my kids are in a play or at a baseball game… I’m a hardware guy and this isn’t going to be a game changer.”




An Apple tablet would likely synch with iTunes and the more than 100,000 applications at the App Store.

“In many ways, Apple is running away with the prize and Google is establishing itself as a strong second,” Levy said.

Tablets, on the other hand, are awkwardly large to be carried as mobile devices and too small to compete with desktop computers and screens, especially for tasks such as movie viewing.

A Retrevo report release last week concluded that an Apple tablet priced at more than 700 US dollars (US) would stop 70 percent of potential buyers from reaching for their wallets.

Online retail powerhouse Amazon.com beefed up its market-leading Kindle electronic reader devices just days ago in apparent preparation for an Apple onslaught.

A tablet would be Apple’s first major product release since it came out with its winning iPhone three years ago.

Spotlight turns to Apple's 'latest creation'
GLENN CHAPMAN January 24, 2010

The technology rumour mill is busy grinding speculation regarding an Apple event Wednesday at which the culture-changing firm will unveil its “latest creation.”

“What do I do, strap it to my dog’s back?” Baker said facetiously.

“Initially it will seem like a high price, but over time Ma and Pa will be able to buy it as well as rabid Apple fans,” Levy said.

While the spotlight at the Apple event may be on a tablet, the success of such a device depends more on the “ecosystem” of applications and services than it does on how “sexy” the hardware may be, according to the analyst.

“Amazon may have won the e-book reader battle, but the war is about far bigger things,” Levy said. “It is about a device that can do many things as you bring your digital content with you.”

Google could prove to be a formidable rival, with the Internet giant’s Android operating system built into a host of tablets shown off at a major Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this month.

“Apple can take years worth of iPhone momentum and drive it right into what is essentially an iPhone on steroids,” he continued.

An Android Market featuring more than 20,000 applications tailored for devices running on the operating system is a growing competitor to Apple’s market-leading App Store.

Amazon pumped up royalties it pays to authors or publishers who offer digitized books for sale to Kindle users and invited software savants to craft fun or functional programs for the e-readers.

“The real question is what will people do with an Apple tablet that they can’t do pretty well on some other device?” said NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker. “Anyone that has tried this has failed.”

Microsoft is also staking out territory in the tablet market, with chief executive Steve Ballmer using CES as a stage to tout a Hewlett-Packard Slate tablet built with the firm’s software.

“There really isn’t another compelling device out there,” Levy said. “As it did with the iPhone, Apple is competing in a category of one at this point.”

“The irony is that it is no longer about hardware, it is about services that connect to the hardware,” Levy said.

“The iPod was just a media player but what made it special was iTunes and the online App Store.”

Apple could launch a tablet at a steep price but quickly discount it through subsidy deals with carriers or digital content sellers.

The success of iPhones was “a no-brainer” because the innovative devices put telephone and rich Internet capabilities in people’s pockets, according to Baker.

Despite Apple’s wizardry with creations embraced by mainstream culture as well as technophiles, it could be tilting against windmills by releasing a tablet computer.

Apple’s tablet is believed to be a notepad-shaped device with a 10-inch colour screen that lets people browse the Web, listen to music, watch movies or television shows and also read electronic books and newspapers.

Expectation that the maker of iPhones and iPods is set to wow the world with a tablet computer is so rampant that the California company’s stock could suffer if it fails to deliver.

“This proposed Apple tablet will take the App Store and iPhone operating system and deliver it in a larger form factor instead of starting from scratch,” said Canada-based independent technology analyst Carmi Levy.


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11 Mar 10

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cysc SORDID LIVES Plays At Rising Action Theatre T

For tickets and more information visit http://www.risingactiontheatre.com.

Performances are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 pm and Sunday nights at 7 pm through February 21st.

A black comedy by Del Shores (Southern Baptist Sissies, Queer as Folk), SORDID LIVES is about small minds in small town Texas, complete with cross-dressing “Brother Boy” and his obsession with country singer Tammy Wynette. SORDID LIVES was nominated for over thirty awards (and won 14 Dramalogue Awards) during its long run in Los Angeles and went on to become a movie. SORDID LIVES has recently been translated to the small screen and become a hit TV series on Logo starring Rue McClanahan.

Says the L.A. Times of the piece: “[This play by] the master of Texas Comedy, Del Shores has colorful eccentrics teetering on a Bowie knife’s edge between the hilariously improbable and the achingly real.” L.A. Weekly named it”Pick of the Week.”



When Peggy, a good Christian woman, hits her head on the sink and bleeds to death after tripping over her lover’s wooden legs in a motel room, chaos erupts in Winters, Texas.

Subscriptions are available to see four shows in one year at the Rising Action Theatre (out of a choice of ten shows) for $100. Upcoming shows include REEFER MADNESS, SUM OF US, MOTHER/SON and AS BEES IN HONEY DROWN. Visithttp://www.risingactiontheatre.comfor details.

SORDID LIVES Plays At Rising Action Theatre Through 2/21

Fort Lauderdale’s Rising Action Theatre presents Del Shore’s black comedy about white trash, SORDID LIVES.



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8 Mar 10

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cbiu Open source, not $19 billion, may be best hea

VistA was developed by the U.S. Veterans Administration and the medical professionals involved in its extensive hospital network. Read: doctors developing software for other doctors.

Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.

There are other open-source answers to the U.S. health care problem,ghd iv salon styler, including the federal Connect project and Axial Exchange, which was set up by former Red Hat executives to commercialize these federal efforts. But none is more proven than VistA, which has successfully served U.S. veterans for many years.

It just needs to shake the MUMPS out.

This bottom-up development effort appears to be working: the VA hospital system consistently delivers superior care at less cost, as noted by ZDNet. As a volunteer at my local VA hospital, I get to see it firsthand.

Open source might prove to be the wrong answer to the health care mess. But given the VA’s success with VistA, President Obama should be spending pennies on the stimulus dollar with VistA before he looks elsewhere for solutions. It’s already written. By all accounts, it works well.

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay.


Better quality health care at a much lower price. What’s the punchline?

Scratch the surface, however, and you quickly run into a major problem with VistA: MUMPS (Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System). MUMPS is the archaic programming language in which VistA was written,ghd styler, and which perpetuates its inflexible architecture.

It’s already paid for.

At first glance, there is none. VistA works, and works well, particularly when packaged and delivered by companies like Medsphere, perhaps the most prominent advocate for the open-source health care ERP system.

One company, Software Revolution, claims that the MUMPS-based VistA code could be converted to Java at a cost of $125 million. If even remotely true, that could well prove to be a much smarter investment than $20 billion in stimulus money. Heck,ghd curls, given how easily billions are being spent in Washington today, $125 million is pocket change.

Though some suggest the specialized knowledge needed to program in MUMPS is a selling point, let’s put it this way: in the programming universe filled with PHP, Java, .Net, and other constellations of programmers, MUMPS is like a single Red Dwarf. It’s not going anywhere except into oblivion.

Open source, not $19 billion, may be best health care stimulus

The federal economic stimulus package provides $19 billion to upgrade the U.S. health care system to digital records. It’s a nice gesture, but the U.S. federal government has already developed a robust medical ERP system that could significantly improve U.S. health care. It’s called VistA. It’s open source.




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8 Mar 10

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erlf Obama allies cautiously vow to pursue health

“But we will move forward,” she said.

“First of all, we are not going to rush into anything,” Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid after Massachusetts voters elected a Republican to the chamber, ending the Democrats’ 60-vote supermajority.

The vote crippled Democratic plans to meld rival Senate and House versions of the historic overhaul, which aims to give health coverage to tens of millions of Americans who currently lack it, and pass a compromise bill.

But “in the coming year, we will ensure all Americans can access affordable health care, deny insurance companies the ability to deny health care to the sick, and slash our deficit in the process,” said the top Senate Democrat.

Senate Democrats emerged from their weekly policy luncheons saying they needed to take stock of their shrinking legislative options now that Republicans have the votes to block Obama’s proposal.

“To me, the option that is a non-starter from the get-go is the option of doing nothing about the status quo,The North Face Outlet,” said Democratic Senator Tom Carper.

Asked whether the Democratic health legislation was dead, McConnell replied: “I sure hope so.”

One option may be for the House of Representatives to swallow its massive objections and endorse the Senate version of the bill — but it is far from clear Democrats have the votes for that option.

“What we need to do right now is just take a deep breath,womens timberland boots, not rush to judgment, take a deep breath, consider the options that are before us,” he told reporters.

“Let’s take a breath and seriously consider a number of options. I think it does make some sense to take a few days to arrive at a decision. Now, we’re not taking about weeks. We’ve got days,” agreed Democratic Senator Bob Casey.

Democrats could try to modify that bill later using a parliamentary procedure that requires a simple majority.

Republicans said Massachusetts voters, by giving a Republican the seat once held by the late Democratic lion Ted Kennedy, had sent the unmistakeable message that the overhaul should die.

Democrats were considering a range of options to achieve what their closed-door talks now could not: Get a health care overhaul bill to Obama’s desk before the November mid-term elections

“I certainly didn’t take away from it, and I don’t think anybody in the caucus took away from it, that this is a reason to not go forward on health care,purple ghd,” he said.

“Heeding the particular concerns of the voters of Massachusetts last night, we heard the people and hopefully we will move forward with their considerations in mind,” said Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.



Reid said the Senate would not act until senator-elect Scott Brown, who rode to victory on a wave of voter anger in painful economic times, was sworn in, giving Republicans 41 Senate seats and the ability to stall legislation.


“The people of Massachusetts had an opportunity to speak yesterday and they spoke rather loudly that they’d like to see the Congress go in a different direction,” said Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Democratic Senator Paul Kirk, Kennedy’s temporary replacement, said the Massachusetts election reflected voter anger at the lack of progress towards creating jobs, but denied it was a referendum on health care.

Obama allies cautiously vow to pursue health overhaul
January 21, 2010

President Barack Obama’s top Democratic allies in the US Congress reeled Wednesday from a shock election defeat but vowed to pursue efforts to remake US health care, his top domestic priority.


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8 Mar 10

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tiga Open Social gadgets now available on iGoogle_

The company is expected to announce Wednesday that gadgets for iGoogle can now take advantage of the Open Social API to build social-networking features into the small little software programs that iGoogle users can use to customize their home pages, according to Marissa Mayer, vice president for search products and experience. For example, gadgets will now be available for Flickr,timberland custom boots, YouTube, and social games like Scrabble.

Open Social gadgets now available on iGoogle

Google is ready to open up its iGoogle home page to the social world.

That’s exactly what Facebook’s News Feed does for folks on that social network. Google downplayed attempts to compare this service directly to other sites like Facebook, but “we’d like people to see all of the ‘push’ content that they would like to see on this page,” Mayer said. She was referring to content that is regularly updated and delivered to the user, as opposed to search, where a user “pulls” information from Google.

Google opened up the Open Social API to iGoogle developers last year, but only in the “sandbox,timberland boots,” a protected area for experimentation. If developers like what they see, it could help turn iGoogle from a personalized home page for “tens of millions of users,” according to Mayer, into sort of a mini social network.

(Credit:Google) Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising,mbt sport shoes sale, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom.




For example, friends (who have to be iGoogle users) can share YouTube videos that will appear automatically on the iGoogle home screen if you choose to embed that gadget on your home page. You can also access a “stream” of updates and see all the different types of content your friends have shared recently.

iGoogle users in Australia have been using these social gadgets for about a week. Games and news dominate the first crop of Open Social gadgets on iGoogle, with chess, Scrabble, The New York Times, Huffington Post, and NPR represented among the initial 14 applications from third parties.

The new iGoogle Open Social gadgets let you keep track of what your friends are up to online.


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8 Mar 10

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Lley Online resources for the amateur astronomer_5

,timberland waterproof boots

World of Astronomy lists several constellations.

When you get to the site, it determines your location. From there, it will find all the objects you search for in the night sky on a specific day (you can search for any day of the year). The site explains each cosmic event and where to find it in the sky. When you click on one of those events, it delivers a page that provides even more information. If you’re serious about astronomy, this is the site for you.

The WorldWide Telescope is a great way to learn about the galaxy.

If you’re an amateur astronomer or someone looking to get started with the hobby, you might be surprised to know that there are online tools to help you tonight, when you want to see Perseids,mbt shoes chapa, and every other night you go in the back yard and set up your telescope.

(Credit:EarthSky)

WorldWide Telescope Although it works best on the desktop, Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope has a great Web client that gives you the same view of the sky as the desktop version.

EarthSky EarthSky is an informative site for amateur astronomers. The main focus of the site is podcasts, which run daily providing astronomers with news that could affect their star gazing. But EarthSky’s real value is its daily “SkyWatching” feature, which provides tonight’s sky conditions. Using that, you can find different visible constellations in the night sky. EarthSky is easily one of the most informative services in this roundup. Check it out.



2. Weather Underground: Since it’s unique to your location, you should find everything you want with Weather Underground.

Go star gazing

Weather Underground Weather Underground is a really useful site. Once you input your location, the service will show you a visual depiction of all the celestial objects visible from your location. When you click on one of the many objects displayed in the image,uggs on sale, you’ll be taken to a page detailing its important facts. So, if you’re looking for its exact location, distance from Earth, and the peak times to see it, you should be happy.

Weather Underground helps you find everything in the sky.

Find all the celestial objects in the sky tonight with CalSky.

(Credit:Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

1. CalSky: It’s, quite simply, an extremely useful service.

Google Sky Google Sky is a neat utility that helps you determine where celestial objects are before you run outside to check them out for yourself. The app lets you see constellations, planets, the solar system, an infrared view of the galaxy, and more. It works far better in the browser than Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope. And since it provides you with the exact location of stars in the sky, it should help you find what you’re looking for sooner. It’s a great app.

Online resources for the amateur astronomer

This week, astronomers will be up in the early morning hours to see Perseids, a meteor shower that has historically proven to put on quite a show. This happens every August when Earth passes through debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet.

3. EarthSky: It’s full-featured and informative. What else could you ask for?

World of Astronomy If you’re looking for an astronomy encyclopedia, the World of Astronomy is for you. Think of it as the Wikipedia of the astronomy world.

That said, Astronomy Network’s forums are a great place to hang out and communicate with some of the members. If you end up making friends with some users, you can instant message each other, send direct messages, upload videos, and add images to the site. It’s a full-featured social network designed specifically for amateur astronomers, but until more people join, it won’t live up to its potential.

(Credit:Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

With WorldWide Telescope, you can choose to look through different constellations. The resource also lets you check out planets. If you want, you can even enjoy a guided tour to see the important stars and celestial objects that you don’t want to miss. The online client works well, but beware that it’s much slower than the desktop app. If you can download the desktop client, go with that. In either case, WorldWide Telescope will help you learn before you head to the back yard to see those stars for yourself.

Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Google Sky shows all kinds of neat celestial objects.

(Credit:Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

(Credit:Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

EarthSky helps you find constellations each night.

When you search for topics in the World of Astronomy, you’ll find some short definitions to simple topics. But where the encyclopedia shows off is in its listing of major constellations that you can see with your telescope. It features their exact location in the sky, so you can quickly find the constellation you’re looking for. World of Astronomy is worth trying out.

Astronomy Network Astronomy Network is a social network for astronomers. It sounds like a neat idea, but after you sign up, you quickly realize that the site has such a small community, it’s tough to find value in it.

(Credit:Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)


(Credit:Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

CalSky CalSky is an invaluable astronomy tool. The site provides you with a search that you can modify to find exactly what you’re looking for tonight. Do you want to see the International Space Station? Are you looking for meteor streams? The site will help you find it all.

Astronomy Network would be even better with a larger community.

My top 3


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