Come on, what's a little snow storm.

For my plethora of Boston area readers: come out and spend New Year's with me at the Beehive as Clams Casino joins Pinchbottom to ring in 2009. And with shows in DC and Columbus, Ohio already, this makes shows in 4 states for Clams this month! A new record.

Some mid-holiday season thoughts

I spent the past week at my in-laws in Columbus, Ohio and had time to dwell on some year-end thoughts, but wasn't really up to thumb-typing all of them on the iPhone. So, some catching up...

Somehow, it seemed strangely appropriate that Bettie Page and W. Mark "Deep Throat" Felt passed away within a week of each other this month; that was the passing of two monumentally important figures in 20th Century American culture: social, popular and political. Both played pivotal, supporting roles in much larger stories, stories of transition; the massive shift in how the American people viewed female sexuality, defined morality and moved toward sexual revolution, and the massive shift to essential, well-placed distrust in our political leaders and the system, shifts defining our culture certainly to this day. The Notorious Bettie Page and All The President's Men would make a damn decent DVD double feature, incidentally.

If you don't have plans for New Year's Eve yet, see if there are still tickets available for the final evening of Arias With A Twist, the extraordinary show at HERE Cultural Arts Center in Tribeca starring drag chanteuse superstar Joey Arias with the dazzling, unique puppet creations of Basil Twist. It is truly a unique, dazzling, intimate theatrical experience, immensely entertaining and inspiring for any performer. We finally saw it as it nears the end of its twice-extended run earlier this month; meeting with one of our co-producers the next day, we talked about the show and about the amazing performers we are lucky enough to work with who are just as inspiring--in fact, earlier that week Clams had shared the Slipper Room stage with Basil himself, performing a puppet and dance piece with Julie Atlas Muz. These are artists who, having reached the pinnacle of what they do, continue to push boundaries--something that the biggest stars in any art form should aspire to! We're going to keep reaching for those heights in 2009, and continue to be inspired by the amazing artists we collaborate with.

We'll do it live!

Last day in the office before Christmas vacation? Looking to kill some time? Here you go. The Urlie Awards for the best internet crap of 2008. Click on the winners to see all the nominees. Afternoon solved! You're welcome.

It even makes forget me how irritated I was that our Duane Reade had their decorations up in October.

It's snowing in New York City, and tonight we watched the Charlie Brown Christmas Special on ABC while we ate dinner...and all of a sudden, bang, it's Christmas time. It's time for that unique emotion that really can't be adequately described, part happy, part sad, all nostalgic, it's just...you know, the Christmas feeling.

Yes, of course part of me wishes he'd taken a shoe right in the face.

But I have to admit, for such a terrible, terrible President he has some cat-like reflexes.

That is some old-school, Chicago-style corruption.

Illinois, making all Midwesterners proud.

Less plugging, more blogging, right after this post.

My scores of Washington DC-area readers should plan to head out to the Palace of Wonders this Friday, when Clams Casino will be headlining L'il Dutch's Dutch Oven show. And it's the holiday special! The Palace, certainly the only Museum of Sideshow and Oddities/variety stage venue in DC or, well, anywhere, survived an awful fire on its block last night completely unscathed, so I'm sure their regular fans will be out to celebrate its continuing existence!