Lewis Black. He's mad ... a funny kind of mad. John Mellencamp. You liked him in Terre Haute, you'll love him here. Spirit & Place Festival. The S&P 500 could refer to the number of events included in this annual event. "Mamma Mia!" ... here it goes again. "A Christmas Carol." Oh, the weather outside is ... okay, fairly mild. But inside the IRT, the weather calls for lots of (fake) snow. This Week's Contest: This week, you and a friend (and two other sets of winners) can join me at the Dane Cook performance at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Lewis Black Murat Theatre, Nov. 3 I've gotten a kick out of "Daily Show" ranter Lewis Black in the past, but I developed new respect—even awe—for him during his tirade at the 2007 Emmy Awards. There, in front of, oh, the entire industry, he lambasted television executives for, a) splashing their shows with graphics about what's premiering in two weeks, b) cluttering up the screen at the end of shows so we can't see who made the program we just watched, and c) running unnecessary crawls under the news.
Doesn't sound funny? The pleasure of Black at his best is that he can combine legit commentary with his unique comic sensibility. See and hear the results when he comes to town for this concert. For more details, click here.
John Mellencamp Conseco Fieldhouse, Nov. 3 It's very likely that the hardcore Mellencamp fans among you road-tripped to Terre Haute last Friday for this tour's kickoff concert. If you were among them, you heard a show that launched with "Pink Houses" and "Paper in Fire." You saw a 60-foot long curved screen projecting video clips, artwork and road scenes. You witnessed a mix of electric and acoustic, old songs and not-yet-released. You listened intently while he told of the towns he passed on the ride from Bloomington and segued into "Ghost Towns on the Highway." And you tensed up a little when Mellencamp talked about a noose recently found on the Indiana State University campus (before singing "Jena").
You didn't hear "Hurts So Good" or "R.O.C.K in the U.S.A." but, come on, you can't have everything. And you probably screamed out the call-and-response section of "The Authority Song."
And you'll probably be in the crowd Saturday, when Mellencamp plays here.
Los Lobos opens the show. For more details, click here.
Spirit & Place Various locations, Nov. 2-18 There's a lot going on at this year's Spirit & Place Festival. Here are a few things that might help you get your bearing. For full preview, click here.
"Mamma Mia!" Murat Theatre, Nov. 6-11 "Mamma Mia!" is often scorned as the show that launched a spate of "jukebox" musicals—shows that take an existing performer or band's songbook and string them together, sometimes with plot, sometimes without. For full preview, click here.
"A Christmas Carol" Nov. 3-Dec. 24, Indiana Repertory Theatre Why are we telling you about "A Christmas Carol" when we've just crossed the threshold into November? For full preview, click here.
This Week's Contest: Dane Cook I'm going to see comedian Dane Cook on Nov. 9 at Conseco Fieldhouse. (For more on the concert, click here.)
Want to join me? All you have to do is fill out the entry blank here and you'll be entered to win. We'll pull three sets of winners on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Dane Cook, by the way, is getting good reviews for his supporting performance in the movie "Dan in Real Life." Not all comics do so well on the big screen. So the question we're asking our contest enterers this week is: What's the worst performance you've ever seen by a stand-up comic in a movie?
While your answer won't in any way influence your chance of winning, we will link our favorite responses to next week's e-mail. Speaking of which, last week we asked for an imaginary Indy event with a title similar to the very real Spirit & Place Festival. Our favorite responses can be found here.
And congratulations to last week's winner, Venetta Keefe, who picked up a pair of tickets to the Carrie Newcomer/Phil Gulley performance at the Spirit & Place Festival as well as a pair to the closing night event.
Thursday, November 1, 2007 
Lewis Black. He's mad ... a funny kind of mad.
I've gotten a kick out of "Daily Show" ranter Lewis Black in the past, but I developed new respect—even awe—for him during his tirade at the 2007 Emmy Awards. There, in front of, oh, the entire industry, he lambasted television executives for, a) splashing their shows with graphics about what's premiering in two weeks, b) cluttering up the screen at the end of shows so we can't see who made the program we just watched, and c) running unnecessary crawls under the news. 
"Mamma Mia!"
Want to join me? All you have to do is fill out the entry blank 
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