Cabaret Night

Going to a Jazz Club can be expensive. Sometimes there is a cover charge to get in and often they make you buy a minimum of two drinks...not cheap drinks either. Ping-Fang told me all about her trip to a club in Portland and said she was glad Gatto's was affordable.

Several of the conversation groupies chilled with pizza, soda, and FREE jazz last week to hear the small groups from the music department strut their stuff. I wanted to thank you guys for coming to hear me sing a solo song. My teacher noted the audience that filled my table and said, "I didn't know you were an internationally renowned singer." 'I'm famous," I told her.

Seemed like there were several people in the group that actually listen to jazz music. If you liked that event, there are tons of concerts that happen on campus each quarter. Friday, March 14th, for example, the choirs--both classical and jazz--have an evening performance at the Recital hall at 7:30. Again, this is a FREE event. Keep your eyes and your ears open and you can hear all kinds of music on campus! Also, check out KEWU--the campus radio station. They play a lot of jazz. Check out 89.5 FM http://www.ewu.edu/x5082.xml

What did you guys think of it? What do you know about jazz music? What other kinds of music do you like?

Who is Kermit the Frog?

Attention: First of all, if you haven't received the e-mail, the museum visit has been canceled. I did not get enough e-mails (only one e-mail reply) from people early on, so I wasn't sure what kind of numbers we were going to have. Sorry...maybe next quarter we will go.

Okay, now to Kermit the Frog. We played a game that was like Pictionary, but we kind of made up our own rules. One person would draw on a big pad, and the teammates of that person tried to guess the word represented by the doodles. If the team didn't guess in a minute, then the other team could guess. One successful guess would equal one point.

During the game, it seemed that nouns were easier to draw than verbs. But what about proper nouns? Proper nouns can prove to be very challenging.

If a person is unknown to another culture, then it is impossible to come up with a specific name. This problem came up when Dani tried to get her team to guess Kermit the Frog. Some of you know who (or what) this is, but for those of you who don't, he is a kind of puppet called a "Muppet." There are many Muppet characters, and Kermit is kind of a leader to the rest of the characters. There are two shows that feature the Muppets: Sesame Street (an educational show for children), and the Muppet Show (more entertainment than education). There are also several movies featuring the Muppets.

Another character, Miss Piggy, loves Kermit, but she makes him nervous, so he doesn't respond to all the attention she gives him. You also see how normal Kermit's personality is when he is talking with crazy characters like Gonzo, Fozzy the Bear, or Cookie Monster. Kermit has a couple of popular songs: "Rainbow Connection," and "It's Not Easy Being Green." You also might see his image on some products available for sale.

Although I am writing about Kermit as if he were real, he is actually made out of felt. Since many people grow up from childhood learning the alphabet from this fabric puppet, though, they feel as if he were a real television actor.

So...what are some famous characters from your television, movies, books, etc...? Are they real or imaginary? What do they do? Why are they popular?