I did a piece for WBUR's "Radio Boston" on Monday's show, on the Boston Music Awards Sunday night. Here's  link ...

http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/11/21/boston-music-awards

 Sat. Nov. 19 &  Sun. Nov. 20

From the Penthouse to the Pavement ... It's the name of an old album by Heaven 17 and we've always liked the implication: To be comfortable in either setting. To find the good things there. We've certainly spent time on the pavement (think of the Rat, 1979). This item is on the penthouse side of things: The 15th Annual Boston International Fine Art Show." up from Thursday Nov. 17 through Sunday Nov. 20.  We've gone for several years, and truth be told, the prices of most of the art would put a severe strain on our pocketbook (pension? 401(k)? IRA? Zero interest checking account?) But the yearly event at Cylorama is always fun. Looking is free. (Well, there is a $15 entrance fee and it's $100 a ticket for the opening night martinis-and-champagne party, Thursday Nov. 17 5:30-8:30. It's a benefit for the Greater Boston Food Bank.)
   Artists from galleries from Madrid and London will join artists from New York and Boston. There are several panel discussions. On Friday at 6:30, it's "Art Collecting: A Passion, An Investment, or Both?" Saturday at 3, another panel, "Shaping the Present: Realist Art Then and Now."
   This show also is announcing the launch of quarterly American Fine Art Magazine, from the publishers of American Art Collector. Hours: 1-9 p.m. Friday, Saturday 11-8 and Sunday 11 am - 5 pm.
In photo, Mayan Antiquity by Boston artist, Robert Preusser, 1953.
Portico New York will be presenting a special collection of works by Preusser at the show.

539 Tremont St., 617-363-0405 www.fineartsboston.com

Sat. Nov. 19

 So, there's a band out there called Slip Kid. "Hmmm," you think, "where have I heard that term before? Who put those words together?" That's right! The Who. "Slip Kid" is the kickoff song to "The Who By Numbers," and it's the name of a Who tribute band fronted by singer Gary Cherone (Extreme, ex-Van Halen) and his brother, Markus Cherone. They're playing the Regent Theatre in Arlington Saturday Nov. 19. Explains Markus: "When Gary and I started kicking around the idea of doing a tribute to The Who, I don't think we realized what we were getting into. It seemed to me like a chance to play with my brother and a nice challenge to learn all this material. It has been more than we bargained for in a good way. The reason we love The Who so much is because their music is not only powerful on the surface, but it is visceral and meaningful. Listening to The Who not only makes you pump your fist in the air, it awakens your spirit. Performing the songs has been just as enlightening. Because The Who were and still are such a great live band, the songs excel on stage. We use live versions as well as studio versions when we are deciding on which arrangement to use for the songs. As far as being in a cover band goes, we all love to perform our own songs, but Slipkid has been such an incredibly edifying experience, that I wouldn't trade it for anything. In fact, it has only raised the bar for me for when I do my original thing again."
Adds Gary (in photo): "This project is not a copy, but a tribute, a labor of love for me and my brother. The Who have been such an incredible influence on us and, it's one thing to hear it but, to actually perform it, it's a whole other level."

Sat. Nov. 19 

 Lisa Lampanelli bills herself as the new Queen of Mean, and when she’s on stage the 49-year-old, plus-sized comic takes no prisoners. Everyone is fair game for her X-rated strafing - no matter what your race, gender, sexual orientation, age, weight or handicap. A regular on Howard Stern’s show, she’s up there with similarly fearless Sarah Silverman, and a proud disciple of the Don Rickles school of insult comedy.
    On Saturday Nov. 19 at 9:45 Lampanelli returns to the Wilbur Theatre. We talked with Lampanelli from New York, where she was driving home from the dentist, this past spring. 
 
     JSInk: You came to fame through the Comedy Central Friars Roasts, right?
      Oh my God, yeah. No one knew who I was ‘til that first one with Chevy Chase in 2005. It was ka-boom! I was so lucky that the Friars pushed me onto that roast because Comedy Central had no idea who I was. It worked and has ever since then.
     A while ago, extremist Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church protested your act at the Performing Arts Center in Topeka, Kansas and you turned the tables. What happened?
     Someone tweeted some anti-WBC signs which were really funny and I re-tweeted them. All of a sudden this jerk starts targeting me saying they’re going to protest my show. From what I can figure out, they’re mad because I have a gay following, and they hate gay people along with everybody else they hate, including flood victims. So, the night before the show I thought, “They’re threatening to come out. Well, now they can help the people they hate the most because for every protester that shows up I’m going to donate a grand to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center in New York.” Either way it’s gonna work out. They’re gonna show up and I’m gonna donate big money or they’re not gonna show up. My driver counted 44 people. The WBC said 48. I said, “I’m not gonna quibble with you, we’ll make it an even 50.” The health center has their check, and in the memo line it says “donation made possible by the WBC.”
    You get some pretty vicious on-line comments.
     It’s OK, they’re allowed to say what they want. This is what’s good about America, free speech. I used to get offended and then I was like, “Wait, if somebody cares enough about me to make a comment, that’s a huge compliment. I matter and I’m on their radar.”