Yes, that's right, there really is a “Handyman Song #12.” There were at least 11 previous versions, so I decided this would be the last one. How did that come about? It's a long story, a very long story. As a self-employed handyman for the past 16 years, I chose to promote myself in a variety of ways. As a self-published poet for the past 48 years, rhymes came easily to me. As a former graphic designer and manager and supervisor and illustrator and graduate engineer for 52 years and before that, making things in the corporate world was always a breeze for me. My parents were both very creative, as were my three younger brothers, and I had three uncles who were in the Seabees in WWII (carpenter, welder, and machinist). Creative stuff is in my blood. My dad had both arms amputated in WWII, so I grew up learning how to use my hands from a man who had none.
I grew up in Walnut Creek, graduated from Las Lomas High School in 1960, attended Diablo Valley College, and received an AA degree in general education in 1963. That same year I transferred to UC Berkeley as a junior in mechanical design. By 1966 I had both my bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical design. Sometime in the 1980s I earned a certificate in graphic design in UC extension courses in San Francisco and Berkeley. I have owned a Macintosh computer since 1994. Before that, my graphics group at Bechtel SF were wizards in the field of marketing communications using Macs until Bechtel decided to close its SF regional office at 50 Beale Street, one block from Market. The photos for the ad were either shot myself or pulled from the Internet. A good friend of mine found the lady with the smeared lipstick on the Internet. Who knew such a shot existed? Enjoy!

(Graphics by Peter Bray)

Peter Bray has lived, worked and written in Benicia since 1982 and has written this column since 2008.

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The actor’s offer is different IRL. A gesture makes the empty space ripple all around. An eyebrow contracts and loosens, and the air changes – muddy, darker, then clearer. Spoken lines, no longer captured by a tiny box on a screen, fly up and expand to fill an entire room.

After more than a year without in-person indoor theater, actors performing right in front of you experience a shock, physical impact on your body. At the San Francisco Playhouse, four skilled artisans – Monica Ho, Jeremy Kahn, Anne Darragh, and Reggie D. White – are currently attacking a script with precision, clarity, thoughtfulness, and grace. It’s art that makes a dent.

Joe (Reggie D. White, left) tries to understand why Robbie (Jeremy Kahn) would give up a sold out concert tour on “The Song of Summer”. Photo: Jessica Palopoli / San Francisco Playhouse

If the show “The Song of Summer” by San Francisco-born Lauren Yee gets ridiculous and gutted at times, it doesn’t really matter.

The unlikely pop star Robbie (Kahn) and his best high school friend Tina (Ho) have been hot for each other for more than a decade. As he escapes from his concert tour and his manager Joe (White) to return home and reconnect with something real that has nothing to do with fame, Yee has to put increasing obstacles in the couple’s path to avoid the inevitable to delay. He is clueless. She is proud.

At a pivotal moment in her youth, Robbie suddenly moved away from her hometown of Pottsville, Pennsylvania and the caring piano lessons from Tina’s mother, Mrs. C (Darragh), all the while believing that one final video recorded on a camcorder would somehow reach Tina and do everything right. Yee is also not averse to scooping with affirmations: “What happened in the end? I have you! So how is that even a mistake? “

Joe (Reggie D. White, left) and Robbie (Jeremy Kahn) discuss what to do next on The Song of Summer. Photo: Jessica Palopoli / San Francisco Playhouse

Much more often, however, Yee is both rigorous and playful with her dialogues. She lets her characters’ thoughts wander to strange, revealing places as if she were improvising with them: “I always wait for something to come of it,” says Tina of a tattoo that she shouldn’t have had.

But Yee is also a great carver and cropper who cuts away everything insubstantial and ruthlessly asks each line how it changes the relationship between two characters or the deployment of a scene.

Kahn as Robbie and White as Joe both have wonderful ways of picking up a new idea. They create space for their character’s forgetfulness or frustration, then even more space for a fresh thought that wriggles behind their eyes or slackens their facial muscles. Art stands for everyone from head to toe. Kahn’s Robbie is so stupid that his whole body hangs like a Basset Hound’s cheek. White’s Joe is curled up so tightly and ready to jump that in a moment he’ll have to hang himself over his cabin seat in a waffle house to make his point. Under the clever direction of Bill English, the two play off each other, each stimulating the other’s tendencies and progressing the scenes to well-defined emotional and narrative climaxes.

Mrs. C. (Anne Darragh, left) and Robbie (Jeremy Kahn) remember their memories in “The Song of Summer”. Photo: Jessica Palopoli / San Francisco Playhouse

Darragh can reveal a whole life with just one line, one turn of his head. “I always ask myself what if,” she remembers once when she came second in a youth piano competition. A look away and a pause conjure up a different path that anything could have taken and the much less glamorous path that anything could have taken. Darragh’s Mrs. C. is curious but doesn’t regret it, not really, not most of the time.

Ho’s Tina is a revelation, but not of the flashy kind. Her Tina always operates on several levels – she distracts, searches, barbs anyone who is around (usually Robbie, the easiest target in the world) – but she also tries desperately to reveal something naked and longing in herself.

Tina (Monica Ho, left) and Robbie (Jeremy Kahn) meet again in “The Song of Summer”. Photo: Jessica Palopoli / San Francisco Playhouse

She can take a break that seems to open a wormhole not only in the world of the play, but also in the theater space between the actor and the audience. Tina seeks a way to describe how deprived Pottsville is, and Ho doesn’t shy away from plunging her character into the vulnerable and depressing, but extends a welcoming hand to her audience and invites us to join her in the unknown.

m“The Song of Summer”: Written by Lauren Yee. Directed by Bill English. Until August 14th. One hour, 35 minutes. $ 30- $ 100 for personal tickets. $ 15- $ 100 for on-demand video tickets. San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., SF 415-677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org

• Lily Janiak
  Lily Janiak is the theater critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LilyJaniak

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Super-Cambridge-Fire-Department-Dancing-is-simply-hopeless! Firefighters sing a terrifying song by Mary Poppins for a video about chimney safety

• Cambridge’s Black Watch crew showed chic footwork for safety Video
• Six firefighters carried out own execution by Step In Time from Mary Poppins’ film
• The video is meant to instruct people to have chimneys swept before the winter months

By Jake Polden for Mailonline

Released: 10:11 EDT, Nov 12, 2015 | Updated: 10:23 AM EDT, Nov. 12, 2015

Firefighters are more known for fighting dangerous fires head-on than dancing and singing together like the cast of Mary Poppins.

But Cambridge’s Black Watch crew decided to show off their edgy footwork and record themselves on a Disney classic – all in the name of safety, of course.

The six men created the winter advice video to instruct people to have their chimneys swept to prevent fires and lining deterioration before the winter months.

Cambridge’s Black Watch crew show off their edgy footwork and perform a Disney classic

They performed their own flamboyant version of Step In Time – the chimney sweep’s song and dance routine from the 1964 film – while each holding a paintbrush.

The scene was made famous by Dick Van Dyke and the firefighters replicated his iconic dance by similarly performing their version on a rooftop.

In the clip, a firefighter disguised as a chimney sweep calls five other men – in their own recognizable uniforms – to join him on stage.

The six men then set about jumping around and swirling their brushes before following the song’s directions.

The six firefighters created the winter guide video to instruct people to have their chimneys swept to prevent fires

The firefighters performed their own flamboyant version of Step In Time while everyone held on to a paintbrush

The video ends with the important message asking people to have their chimneys swept.

The video posted on the Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service Facebook page has been viewed more than 40,000 times and a number of people have applauded the achievement.

One viewer wrote: “Brilliant – how all firefighters are” while another agreed and added: “Brilliant way of getting the message across, well done!”

A fire department spokeswoman said the team wanted to involve residents in a fun way to get a more serious message across and hopefully prevent chimney fires.

Step In Time is the chimney sweep’s singing and dancing routine made famous by Dick Van Dyke

Mary Poppins was released in 1964 and the dance sequence was performed over the rooftops of London

She said, “The Watch came up with the idea and then teamed up with Cambridge’s BodyWork Company Dance Studios to choreograph the routine before it was filmed and edited itself.

“The purpose of the video is to convey the message that chimneys should be swept regularly – more often when wood is being burned – and that the masonry should be inspected at least once a year.

“It also encourages residents not to overload the grates, make sure the embers are burned off before bed, and most importantly, install working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.”

The six men jump around and twirl their brushes before following the instructions in the song

A chimney is essentially a household exhaust that removes soot, smoke, gases, hot ashes and sparks.

Sweeping should be an essential part of house maintenance to ensure your smoke vent is protected from bird nests, soot buildup, and other debris that may have fallen from the chimney.

Just as a roof tile can come off, a chimney lining can also deteriorate, and mortar joints and masonry can corrode and ultimately collapse. The older the house, the greater the risk.

A spokeswoman for the fire brigade said the team wanted to involve residents in a playful way

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When “Mary Poppins” returns to the big screen on Christmas Day 2018, so will Dick Van Dyke.

While he won’t play the beloved chimney sweep Bert, who knocked off generations of viewers in the original 1964 film starring Julie Andrews, the 91-year-old actor will show off his dance moves.

“I’m going to London in the spring to play my part and I’m going to play a little song and a dance number,” Van Dyke told ET. “I have to be part of it.”

Also read: Cast Emily Mortimer in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns

The actor, comedian, singer, dancer, writer and producer also played the elderly, bearded bank manager Mr. Dawes in the original film, which has since become a vacation classic.

For the restart, however, he will take on a much simpler role as the banker’s son.

“This time there are less than four hours in the makeup chair, I grew into the role,” said Van Dyke. “I don’t have to wear makeup at all!”

Also read: Meryl Streep in talks for Disney’s “Mary Poppins” sequel

Mary Poppins Returns stars Emily Blunt, Ben Whishaw, Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Lin Manuel-Miranda and is directed by Rob Marshall.

Van Dyke has won Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards over the course of his long career and has also starred in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, “The Comic”, “Dick Tracy”, “Curious George”, “Night at the Museum” and “Night at.”. the museum: secret of the grave. “

“Mary Poppins Returns” will be in cinemas on December 25th, 2018.

12 kids cartoons from the 90s that are worth restarting, like ‘Powerpuff Girls’

• TheWrap goes back in time – at least a couple of decades – to remember some of our favorite kids ‘cartoons from the’ 90s.

  
  

• 
  

  “Aaahh !!! Real Monsters”
  “Aaahh !!! Real Monsters” ran from 1994 to 1997 and followed three teenage monsters who went to school to learn how to scare people.

  Nickelodeon
  

• 
  

  “Rocko’s Modern Life”
  Joe Murray’s “Rocko’s Modern Life” ran for four seasons on Nickelodeon from 1993 and followed an Australian wallaby who moved to the United States.

  Nickelodeon
  

• 
  

  “Gargoyle”
  Produced by The Walt Disney Company and Buena Vista Pictures, Gargoyles ran from 1994-1997. The series featured a crew of New York gargoyles waking up at night to fight the crime.

  ABC
  

• 
  

  “Darkwing Duck”
  Disney’s “DuckTales” superhero spin-off, “Darkwing Duck,” ran from 1991-1992.

  ABC
  

• 
  

  “Doug”
  Inspired by the childhood of creator Jim Jinkins, “Doug” followed its original run on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1994, with a reboot on ABC in 1996.

  Nickelodeon
  

• 
  

  “Animanian”
  “Animaniacs” was created by Tom Ruegger and directed by Steven Spielberg as executive producer.

  Warner bros.
  

• 
  

  “Captain Planet and the Planeteers”
  LeVar Burton, Whoopi Goldberg and Margot Kidder were among the actors who portrayed heroes in the 1990-1996 children’s cartoon series “Captain Planet” of the environmentalists.

  TBS
  

• 
  

  “Pinky and the Brain”
  The title characters of “Pinky and the Brain”, a pair of power-hungry laboratory mice, were first seen in “Animaniacs” but later starred in their own spin-off from 1995 to 1998.

  Warner bros.
  

• 
  

  “Bobby’s World”
  “Bobby’s World” was created and voiced by Howie Mandel and ran from 1990 to 1998 and followed the daily life of Bobby Generic, a five year old with an overactive imagination.

  Fox children
  

• 
  

  “Story twist”
  “TaleSpin” ran from 1990 to 1991 and featured a number of characters who first appeared on “The Jungle Book,” this time as employees of an air delivery service.

  Disney channel
  

• 
  

  “Rugrats”
  The multiple Emmy-winning series “Rugrats” ran for nine seasons between 1991 and 2004 on Nickelodeon. The series followed a crew of toddlers whose everyday experiences were enriched by their childlike imaginations.

  Nickelodeon
  

• 
  

  “Dexter’s Laboratory”
  “Dexter’s Laboratory”, created by Genndy Tartakovsky, ran from 1996 to 2003 and followed a young genius whose work is constantly interrupted by his sister.

  Cartoon Network
  

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“Animaniacs”, “Rocko’s Modern Life” and “Gargoyles” are among the other animated children’s classics that deserve an update for the 21st century

TheWrap goes back in time – at least a couple of decades – to remember some of our favorite kids ‘cartoons from the’ 90s.

The post Dick Van Dyke to ‘Do a Little Music and Dance’ in ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Fans of rising country star Raleigh Keegan will be listening to his brand new track “Handyman” early, while the official lyric video premieres today exclusively on Taste of Country. Check it out below. “Handyman” is produced by Grammy Award winner Ryan Gore (Jon Pardi, Old Dominion) and will be available on all streaming platforms from tomorrow. The song follows the previously released tracks “Long Line of Lovers”, “Another Good Day” and “Way Back”. More songs will be released in the coming months.

“For me, a song always starts with honesty,” says Raleigh, who co-wrote it with Marshall Altman. “‘Craftsman’ is an honest attitude about how I function in some parts of my life. It’s about how often I feel like I am helping others better than dealing with my own problems. It’s about being there and being good at being a fixer for loved ones, even if you feel a little helpless with your own struggles. “

That honesty is at the core of all of Raleigh’s music as he co-wrote every track on his upcoming project that stems from his unconventional upbringing. Raleigh was born at Columbus State Penitentiary, where his biological mother was incarcerated for substance abuse. He was adopted and raised in Cincinnati by a loving family who nurtured his passion for music.

In honor of the single’s release, Raleigh will lend a hand himself by helping on a construction with Habitat for Humanity in the greater Nashville area on March 14th. Five lucky winners of the local competition will volunteer to join him on the project as they help complete a new home for a 3 year old single mother. The competition will run until 5 p.m. CT on Wednesday, March 10, and fans can find more information on how to enter HERE. Habitat for Humanity follows CDC and local guidelines for COVID precautions on site.

Raleigh has collected over 7 million streams in its catalog to date and opened them to artists such as Eric Church, the Osborne Brothers, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Drake White and Mitchell Tenpenny.

For the latest updates on Raleigh, visit www.raleighkeegan.com or on Facebook / Instagram / Twitter.

Listen:

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Vallejo artist HER won the Grammys song of the year for “I Can’t Breathe”.

The song, with its Black Lives Matter themes, won the Songwriter Award on Sunday night for songs by superstars such as Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Billie Eillish.

HER shared the award with co-authors Dernst Emile II and Tiare Thomas.

When she accepted, she said, “I’ve never been so proud to be an artist. We wrote this song through FaceTime, and I didn’t imagine that my fear and pain would impact and possibly change. “

She noticed that she wrote the song at her mother’s house during the pandemic.

Trevor Noah opened the pandemic-altered 63rd annual Grammy Awards on an outdoor stage in front of a sparse crowd in front of the Los Angeles Convention Center, with the Grammy’s usual home, the Staples Center, as a backdrop.

“We made the decision to socially distance ourselves from the Staples Center,” said the host. “This is not a zoom background.”

Noah entered the convention center during his presentation, from where the performances of the show, many of which were taped, were being broadcast.

© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report

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