s'Newz

...an occasional series of stories which recently caught my eye...

Jeremy Piven claims he was having a bit of fun with the interviewer the other week. Did you hear the story? He claimed he was developing breasts due to his intake of soy milk, and the interviewer swallowed the story. Piven's comment, "It was a very confusing time" seems to me to be the give-away that indeed, he was making a joke. But after all this guy went through in the past year, blaming his desertion of his Broadway show on all the sushi he had been eating, he ought to know better. Just shut up about your diet, dude. But I guess you can't fault the guy for wanting to blame some outside force for his current doughy appearance:
Elaine Stritch is coming back to the Cafe Carlyle with a new cabaret show in January. She's calling it Elaine Stritch Singin’ Sondheim…One Song at a Time. Not quite sure what the "one song at a time" signifies...how do you sing two songs at a time? Anyway, Stritch is one of my favorites, as I've written previously, and at the grand age of 84, she's tackling a new project. As she puts it, “I perform the best when I do something that scares the shit out of me. And what could be more scary than learning nine or ten Steve Sondheim songs? ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ almost put me in intensive care, for God’s sake.”
Stritch is not everyone's cup of tea (or more appropriately, snifter of brandy), and it's difficult to explain her appeal, particularly when she is singing. No one can claim she's a slave to the notes; she's more likely to slide off the melody than hold it for its entirety. But she's received acclaim for her musical performances in Sail Away, Company, Show Boat, and her Tony-winning one-woman show. The Emmy crowd loves her; she won for a guest shot in the early years of Law and Order and again recently, as Alec Baldwin's mother on 30 Rock. At her age, most legends would be avoiding the stress of performing onstage. If the show is successful, I wonder if we may be treated to another evening of our Elaine on Broadway...

I got a kick out of this picture that was making the rounds last week. Here is what lawmakers are concerned with during important debates in the Connecticut legislature: