Doin' the Stagnant Shuffle

I have about 600 songs in my RealPlayer library. So why, every time I put it on Shuffle Play mode to hear random tracks, does it play mostly Fine Young Cannibals [top] and Siouxsie & the Banshees? Their songs total maybe 12 of the 600. Any mathematicians out there who can tell me the probability of this?

The Mika Report

I'll call Mika intelligent and original. I'll call him explosive yet delicate. I'll call him a vocal craftsman with a huge range. But I will not give him Freddie's crown.

Don't Let the Sun Go Down

Happy 60th Birthday, Sir Elton John! (Reg, dahling, you are still fabulous.)

The Biggest Heart in Show Biz

Recently watched the film of Peter Gabriel live in Milan, from 2003. Despite pushing 60, he still has the respiratory capacity of an Olympian, and the aesthetics of the Blue Man Group. While singing, he rode a bicycle, walked upside-down in anti-gravity boots, and bounced and rolled around the stage in a giant plastic sphere called a Zorb Ball [lower pic]. This is just the sort of visual madness we expect from our favorite MTV pioneer.

Singin' of the Green

Happy St. Patricks's Day! Liam, Paddy, Tom, and Tommy are in my heart today.

Cuttin' in Peace

Congrats to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five for becoming the first hip hop artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And thanks to them for publicly reproaching the current hip hop generation's advocacy of violence.

McNally's Music

As usual, Terrence McNally gives music a major dramatic role in his new play, Some Men. Much of it this time, though, is performed live. Most striking is a tribute to Lorenz Hart (who is never named, but clearly described) by his lover, a singer in a Harlem nightclub, who tenderly recounts their pillow talk between verses of "Ten Cents a Dance."

But any good New Yorker will feel a special connection with another appearance of music in this play: the theme blared from Mister Softee ice cream trucks, used here to demonstrate the comfort of a long-term relationship (you can feel free to eat ice cream when you're not on the prowl).