@JimBessman

Rick Estrin & the Nightcats' "Contemporary" Award-winning Bay Area blues band Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, whose uproarious video for “(I Met Her On The) Blues Cruise” from their 2012 album One Wrong Turn was arguably too much fun for the blues, are at it again. The video for “Contemporary,” the titletrack of the band’s fifth album for Alligator Records (releasing Friday), offers another standout clip for any music genre. Opening with a black-and-white spoof of silent movies, the video, directed by ace Nightcats guitarist Kid Andersen, shows a disgruntled Estrin reading a mock Rolling Stone cover blaring “The Blues is Dead!” and realizing his career is dead with it--unless he can quickly com

dooloop's Elizabeth Herriman in action at TTPM Holiday Showcase If Elizabeth Herriman seemed somewhat harried Thursday at the pets area of TTPM’s Holiday Showcase of hot toy product at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Pavilion, well, the annual event staged by the leading video review site for toys, baby gear and pet gear was her first trade show as an exhibitor, and in promotion of a product--the dooloop--that’s only been available since January. “It’s a very sexy thing!” she said, no doubt referring to the odd shape (think, perhaps, of an egg-like bird head atop a long narrow neck) of her dooloop hanger. As the imaginative name suggests, the dooloop is used for hanging one or more knotted dog wast

Hatchimals' Penguala, left, and SuperThings' Enigma at TTPM Holiday Showcase TTPM, the leading video review site for toys, baby gear and pet gear, staged their annual Holiday Showcase event of hot toy product Thursday at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Pavilion. In addition to TTPM’s 2019 Holiday Most Wanted list, the service unveiled, with some overlap, its Top 40 toys list. “We launched our Top 40 list to feature the hottest toys, toys that are truly innovative, or meet a current trend,” said TTPM CEO/editor-in-chief Jim Silver. “Within this list we also feature toys from the Most Wanted List, but also wanted to honor toys that deserve recognition for their creativity or innovation.” Silver noted

Jason Trachtenburg and Emily Frembgen perform "Havin' a Real Good Time" from "Me and Lee--The Musical" Best known for his role as "The Dad" in the acclaimed long-running Off-Broadway and indie-rock act The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players--in which he, his wife Tina and daughter Rachel present wacky original songs telling imagined stories to projected slideshows assembled from vintage mid-20th century American photographic slide collections--Edinburgh Festival Fringe award-winner Jason Trachtenburg has now turned to the Kennedy assassination for his latest theatrical production. His Me and Lee--The Musical, which has had a five-show run at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn and a one-off at

James Mastro with Ian Hunter (Photo: Jini Sachse) Hoboken guitartist James Mastro, a member of Hoboken’s own 1980s power pop sensation The Bongos who’s gone on to play with legions and legends including the recently retired Garland Jeffreys, Patti Smith, John Cale, The Jayhawks, Robert Plant and Ian Hunter, has taken on a new musical role, thanks to Hunter’s current version of his classic late 1960s/early ‘70s rock band Mott the Hoople. Vocalist/guitarist Hunter last year reunited with fellow ‘70s bandmates Ariel Bender (guitar) and Morgan Fisher (keyboards), and brought along his regular Rant band members Steve Holley (drums), Mark Bosch (guitar), Paul Page (bass), Dennis Dibrizzi (keyboard

Gene Sculatti's appearance at "Unheard LA" Among the most insightful music journalists, Gene Sculatti has long had a different outlet of expression. In fact, the author of books including The Catalog of Cool and San Francisco Nights: The Psychedelic Music Trip and a former Billboard editor and contributor to numerous other publications including Rolling Stone and The Los Angeles Times has been working on what is informally known as "The Scultatti Scrolls"—a collection of immense hand-drawn “cityscapes,” one stretching out to 192-feet long and 16-inches wide— since he was a nine-year-old fourth grader in St. Helena, a small hamlet in the heart of Northern California’s Napa Valley. “Richly ren