U2's Opening Acts

Opening acts for U2 on their 2005 Vertigo tour in Europe were a veritable who's who of our favorite current artists:

• Snow Patrol
  
• Doves
  
• Interpol
  
• The Killers
  
• Starsailor
  
• Keane
  
• Franz Ferdinand
  
• Kaiser Chiefs

So Megan and I were looking forward to finding out who would open for them when they returned to the U.S. and played the Oakland Arena (which is listed on the tour schedule as being located in San Francisco. Boy, even with an NFL franchise, Oakland gets no respect.)

Their opening acts surrounding the Oakland show were announced as being:

• Dashboard Confessional
  
• Keane
  
• Arcade Fire
  
• Patti Smith
  
• Kanye West (in Salt Lake City, no less!)

And then ...

U2 taps Kanye West, Arcade Fire, others to open fall shows

(Damian) Marley takes on the lion's share of shows; the son of reggae legend Bob Marley links up with U2 in Philadelphia on Oct. 16, and remains on board through Nov. 9.

Even though I set my expectations low, I did not consider reggae. Well, at least we got to see Kings of Leon open for them back in April.

The Radio

I recorded two radio promotions for "Over the River and Through the Woods" - one is a 60-second commercial with June Spencer, who plays my grandmother Emma. The other is a 30-second Public Service Announcement. Enjoy!

:60 Radio Spot 986KB
:30 PSA 445KB

Stockton Civic serves up fine family comedy

Lydia Maria Child's familiar poem "Over the River and Through the Wood" conjures up happy visions of holiday sleigh rides to Grandma and Grandpa's house. But Stockton Civic Theatre's family comedy "Over the River and Through the Woods" has less to do with Currier and Ives Christmas-card perfection and more to do with angst-peppered sitcom.

Accent on family

Joe DiPietro set out to tell a region-specific story in his play "Over the River and Through the Woods."

It's one close to his heart as well, as the New Jersey-raised, Italian-American playwright wrote a script about a New Jersey-raised, Italian-Amercan (sic) marketing director whose grandparents scheme to keep him from taking a job in Seattle.

I had a hard time finding a single paragraph of this story to include in this post, since I have serious issues with the author's assumptions and conclusions. I don't know that even those two sentences above are true. It reads as if he talked to the author, but I'm pretty sure he did not.

Oh, and including the time of the performances would've been nice, too.

But Wait, There's More...

There on your screen playing the title role of Lieutenant Colonial James Doolittle, is none other than San Joaquin Delta College faculty member John White.

John White was the the lighting and set designer for "Man of La Mancha" (and was nominated for two Elly Awards). He also starred in The Front Page as Walter Burns, although I didn't share a single scene with him.

The "Doolittle's Daring Raid" episode of Man, Moment, Machine will re-air Saturday, September 24 at 2:00 p.m. EST.