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Trumpeter Cuong Vu is playing at the Bop Shop tonight (27 Feb 06) at 8 p.m. Joining him will be bassist Stomu Takeshi and drummer (and Rochester native) Ted Poor. If you caught the trio at last year’s Rochester International Jazz Festival, you saw something really special. If you missed them in ‘05, make sure you see them tonight!

I just downloaded the trio’s new record, It’s Mostly Residual, from cuongvu.com. This is Cuong’s Artist Share site, which is a cool new way of going behind the scenes with your favorite musicians. You can download a copy of the record, complete with cover art, charts, journal entries on the “making of,” and a whole lot more, for $9.95. For higher memebership levels, you get even more behind-the-scenes info. In any case, head over to the site and support this music by buying the record. And I’ll see you tonight at the Bop Shop, 174 N. Goodman St. in Village Gate.

As I’ve mentioned before, I publish the newsletter for the Flanders branch of my family. The newest issue is available now at flandersfamily.org, and you may find it interesting even if you and I aren’t related.

In this issue, we delve into the story of Francis D. Flanders and his brother Joseph R. Flanders. They published a newspaper in Franklin County, New York. They ran for and won elective offices.

And they were jailed by Abraham Lincoln.

That fascinating story, plus:

• Bunny McLeod Graduates From College … at 65!
• Flanders: The Ontario County Connection
• The Mystery In Mt. Hope Cemetery
• Flanders In Politics
• Flanders In The News
• …and more!

Please visit flandersfamily.org to download the newsletter.

My good friend Otto Bruno has a review of the new DVD set The Dick Cavett Show: Comic Legends over at his site, ottobruno.com.

Here’s a nice video that combines a Monty Python tribute with a protest against the new budget proposed by G.W. Bush.

My good friends in the Respect Sextet have had their CD reviewed on popmatters.com. Coincidentally, the reviewer is also a good friend of mine, Jeff Vrabel. You can read more by Jeff at his Web site, and you can learn more about the Respect Sextet by visiting respectsextet.com.

Bernie and I went out for sushi tonight at Shiki on Clinton Avenue in Rochester, and we had a wonderful time. He was in a great mood, and we really enjoyed every minute of the evening. To see him eat, you’d think he hadn’t been fed in about a week. He had four pieces of tamago sushi (egg sushi), four pieces of tatsuta age (a sort of Japanese fried chicken dish), two pieces of tekka maki (tuna sushi roll), and some miso shiru (miso soup.) Here are a few shots of the boy in action:

Shiki is Rochester’s best Japanese restaurant. There is no competition. Seriously. There are other Japanese restaurants, but none of them can hold even a tiny candle to Tanaka-san’s little masterpiece of an eatery. It’s probably the best Japanese food I’ve had outside of Japan, and believe me when I tell you that I’ve eaten sushi in big cities and small from coast to coast. Yesterday was Shiki’s second anniversary, so go over there and stuff yourself with some of the best food around.

One of the sites I read every day is Mark Evanier’s News From Me, a blog about TV, movies, animation, comics and more. The other day, Mark linked to Supernatural Law, a comic strip about lawyers who represent the undead, monsters, and other unsavory characters. It’s hilarious, and it’s free, and you should be reading it right now!

Every day, in American and Canadian hotels, hundreds of thousands of men and women make the beds, cook the food, take out the trash, do the laundry, and clean the rooms. Most of these people make a non-living wage. Now, the union I work for, UNITE HERE, has launched Hotel Workers Rising, a campaign to raise the standard of living for all hotel workers, and to give more of those workers the benefits of a union. I urge you to visit the Web site and add your voice to those calling for fair treatment for hotel workers. Thanks.

It’s been a while since I’ve put any pictures of my son Bernie up on the site. Here he is preparing to make a daring leap on the sofa:

And here he is playing his favorite drum: