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Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
Review: You've never seen 'Sound of Music' like this
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Hitchens leads Zips in second-half comeback
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
Headed For Disaster
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (68) Democrats Secure 60 Votes for Cloture
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
POSTED: 02:46 p.m. EDT, May 15, 2009
Should That Be a Kent-Ney? The season finale of 30 Rock found Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) trying to get a kidney for his father (Alan Alda) through an all-star musical performance. The music video, He Needs a Kidney, is now available on iTunes for 99 cents, with all proceeds going to the National Kidney Foundation.
Performers on the video included Sheryl Crow, Adam Levine, Mary J Blige, Elvis Costello, Clay Aiken, Norah Jones, Rhett Miller, Steve Earle, Rachael Yamagata, Moby, Michael McDonald, Wyclef Jean, Sara Bareilles, Cyndi Lauper, Robert Randolph, Ad-Rock, Mike D and Talib Kweli. (And if you recognize all those names, you are doing better than I am.) Crow, Blige and Costello also had funny bits in the show itself. And Aiken was outed — as a cousin of Kenneth Parcell, the 30 Rock page played by Jack McBrayer.
But for our purposes here, the big name is Jeff Richmond, who wrote He Needs a Kidney and whose music history goes back to his years as a student at Kent State University.
Richmond is also music supervisor for 30 Rock, as well as being the husband of star Tina Fey.
I have more about the telecast, including one really odd joke, in the HeldenFiles Online blog.
•
Shoot-Out at CSI: NY. Akron's own Melina Kanakaredes was among those dodging bullets on the season finale of CSI: NY on Thursday.
It's long been reported that the episode would have the death of a team member. That proved to be Detective Jessica Angell, a recurring character played by Emmanuelle Vaugier, killed off early in the season finale.
The remaining characters, including Kanakaredes' Stella Bonasera, were gathered in a bar when they were the target of a drive-by shooting at episode's end. While that's the sort of cliffhanger shows often indulge in these days, it left me cold. Such scenes always make me think of Moldavia.
But it was a big week for Kanakaredes, since she also wrote the Wednesday telecast of CSI:NY, titled Grounds For Deception.
•
Goodbye, MADtv. The long-running sketch-comedy series has its last telecast at 11 tonight on Fox. Northeast Ohio's own Fred Willard will host. And, says Fox, ''alumni Alex Borstein, Mo Collins, Will Sasso and Debra Wilson Skelton return to recreate their notable MADtv characters as the show takes a look back at the fan-favorite sketches.''
•
In Case You Missed It. ... Jay Leno's last Tonight Show as host on May 29 will have Conan O'Brien as his guest. O'Brien becomes host on June 1, and Leno will begin preparing a new five-night-a-week prime-time show for NBC.
Also set for Leno's last week as host: Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wanda Sykes and the first guest when Leno started hosting Tonight in May 1992, Billy Crystal.
•
We All Make Mistakes. And Regrettheerror.com included this one: ''A headline on page one of the Toronto Sun yesterday was both inaccurate and misleading. In fact, as the story reported, the mother of a boy involved in a high school fight in Keswick said her son 'said something stupid.' She did not say nor imply he was stupid.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com and now on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Should That Be a Kent-Ney? The season finale of 30 Rock found Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) trying to get a kidney for his father (Alan Alda) through an all-star musical performance. The music video, He Needs a Kidney, is now available on iTunes for 99 cents, with all proceeds going to the National Kidney Foundation.
Performers on the video included Sheryl Crow, Adam Levine, Mary J Blige, Elvis Costello, Clay Aiken, Norah Jones, Rhett Miller, Steve Earle, Rachael Yamagata, Moby, Michael McDonald, Wyclef Jean, Sara Bareilles, Cyndi Lauper, Robert Randolph, Ad-Rock, Mike D and Talib Kweli. (And if you recognize all those names, you are doing better than I am.) Crow, Blige and Costello also had funny bits in the show itself. And Aiken was outed — as a cousin of Kenneth Parcell, the 30 Rock page played by Jack McBrayer.
But for our purposes here, the big name is Jeff Richmond, who wrote He Needs a Kidney and whose music history goes back to his years as a student at Kent State University.
Richmond is also music supervisor for 30 Rock, as well as being the husband of star Tina Fey.
I have more about the telecast, including one really odd joke, in the HeldenFiles Online blog.
•
Shoot-Out at CSI: NY. Akron's own Melina Kanakaredes was among those dodging bullets on the season finale of CSI: NY on Thursday.
It's long been reported that the episode would have the death of a team member. That proved to be Detective Jessica Angell, a recurring character played by Emmanuelle Vaugier, killed off early in the season finale.
The remaining characters, including Kanakaredes' Stella Bonasera, were gathered in a bar when they were the target of a drive-by shooting at episode's end. While that's the sort of cliffhanger shows often indulge in these days, it left me cold. Such scenes always make me think of Moldavia.
But it was a big week for Kanakaredes, since she also wrote the Wednesday telecast of CSI:NY, titled Grounds For Deception.
•
Goodbye, MADtv. The long-running sketch-comedy series has its last telecast at 11 tonight on Fox. Northeast Ohio's own Fred Willard will host. And, says Fox, ''alumni Alex Borstein, Mo Collins, Will Sasso and Debra Wilson Skelton return to recreate their notable MADtv characters as the show takes a look back at the fan-favorite sketches.''
•
In Case You Missed It. ... Jay Leno's last Tonight Show as host on May 29 will have Conan O'Brien as his guest. O'Brien becomes host on June 1, and Leno will begin preparing a new five-night-a-week prime-time show for NBC.
Also set for Leno's last week as host: Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wanda Sykes and the first guest when Leno started hosting Tonight in May 1992, Billy Crystal.
•
We All Make Mistakes. And Regrettheerror.com included this one: ''A headline on page one of the Toronto Sun yesterday was both inaccurate and misleading. In fact, as the story reported, the mother of a boy involved in a high school fight in Keswick said her son 'said something stupid.' She did not say nor imply he was stupid.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com and now on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
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