A Spring-full of a Tune

With the crisp night of the spring, it was at Illinois Central College that brought a performance that was quite spring-full.

On April 27th, the ICC Music Program of the Arts and Communication Department presented the ICC Concert Choir at the Lecture/Recital Hall. The show was directed by Julie Clemens.

The night started off like one of those sing-off style performances when the pianist Ryan Klaus played a couple of tunes and then the choir comes out walking from both sides of the entrance and onto the stage, singing “It’s a Grand Night for Singing” from the Broadway show “State Fair” by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Besides Broadway songs, the Choir also performed to other tunes from Folk songs to even Jazz.

They performed a set of American Folk Songs, one them “Stop Your Foot” by Aaron Copland. It had not one pianist but two playing this piece.

One performance that got every applauding even when it was during the performance was the song of “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Aint’s Got That Swing)” by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills. There were two solo performances by Mariah Russell and Haley Jones that had everyone amazed.

The final performance was a medley from one of Broadway’s greatest shows, “West Side Story.” Song from “Tonight” and “I Feel Pretty” to “Maria” and “One Hand, One Heart.”

But it was when they performed “Somewhere” where the choir comes out of their choir bench and spread out and got closer to the audience.

The choir did a fabulous performance.. It was such a great show and that I sung “Maria” all the way home and all night.

"We're The Lucky Ones": Chicago Fire "You Know Where to Find Me"

It's hard to say goodbye to a character you've known for a long time, and when it's time for a change, it's time for a change. This week's episode of Chicago Fire sparks onto one man, Peter Mills.

Mills decides to leave Firehouse 51 after he just got back into Squad. His family wants to take the restaurant left by his grandfather in North Carolina.

Many things happen in this episode, like Severide and April spending time together. I'm thinking she'll be back after her trip.

Herrmann has become that coach who puts his kid first before the team because he thinks that his son is good. Otis and Cruz tell him he must bench his son for the Peewee hockey Championship. Herrmann didn't like it at first, but he did it.

Since Mills was back in Squad, Dawson had to same the House and Britt from Mills' replacement. Dawson is back on 61, YES! It felt great seeing her back working as a paramedic.

And, of course, Casey and Dawson, who may see to let their one-night thing go, but I'm not so sure that it's going to end like that. Something is going to happen.

There was a call from a man who was stuck on a lamppost and tried to commit suicide. He kept saying banana, but we found out he was telling his wife's name, who died in another country due to a civil war there.

For this being Mill's last shift, it sure wasn't wasted at all. When a car accident call comes, Severide checks the driver and says he's not breathing and is dead because he wasn't wearing his seat belt. But Mills found out that the driver had an issue with his arm and took it off, which got Mills to get him out and do CPR and finally got him to breathe again.

That was one hell of a save.

So we come to where Casey is at the strip club, where he's doing a little work for the owner and meeting with some business folks. Something may be fishy with that guy.

And, of course, the going away party. You can feel the emotion in the air or, in this case, by watching. Everyone gave great speeches, including Mills. In this case, we're feeling what Cruz and Britt are feeling. We don't want him to go, but we respect his decision to leave to be with his family.

He'll always be part of 51. I loved that one big group hug.

I thought that this episode was terrific. It had everything from humor, drama, and an emotional goodbye. I hate saying goodbye like that; I get misty eyes at times.

I do understand what the producers are doing. Suppose you want the show to keep going; changes must happen for the stories to get good. I know I wouldn't say I like goodbyes, and I didn't think that Shay's death was tremendous, but it did tell one hell of a story arc for our characters.

This episode was one of the most emotional episodes.

And, of co, this coming week is the start of #CrossoverWeek. Fire, PD, and SVU reunite for the television event that no one should miss. This case will be anything like the one in November. So hang on and sit tight for that one.

I will probably write Fire, PD, and SVU all in one, and with Fire rearing Wednesday night, I might do that.

Who's excited for #CrossoverWeek?

You can catch Chicago Fire on Tuesday nights at 10/9c on NBC.

Here We Go: The Blacklist "Leonard Caul"

With what turned out to be one of the most shocking moments of this season, Red gets shot. And we were left of two weeks to think that over. Now The Blacklist returns with answers and yes more questions.

Red get shot, point blank we all know. Liz give Red the fulcrum and Red tries to tell her about that he hired Tom to be part of her life.

Liz and Dembe protect Red from the shooter who keeps shooting from a building just behind the cars. Soon they put Red in the car and off they went to get help and save Reddington.

It was like 15 minutes of intense scenes that I had to hold my breathe til the commercial break.

Dembe had Liz talk to Mr. Kaplan, and was given an address to go. While Kaplan was messaging doctors and nurses from hospitals to come at once and they brought everything.

The doctors worked on Red and found that the bullet was still there. They get a visitors who were acting like agents. Kaplan shot them and gave them an extra couple of minutes to get things ready to move out. Red wasn't stable but they had no choice and moved him to where....Tom's place.

And we're back with Liz and Tom. Tom is only helping Liz not Red.

Red is recovering, but soon a hit on him is still on. Meanwhile before Red put out for surgery he told Liz to look for a man named Leonard Caul.

Liz ask Cooper and the gang to search for him. That wasn't hard because Caul is searching for Liz. They soon meet up at an apartment, where Liz found the suitcase, which he took and used the fulcrum.

Caul's the guy who's been talking to Red on the phone the previous episodes.  

When Caul and Liz was on their way to see Red, they spot a swat about to come in. It's not FBI and so Dembe, Tom and Kaplan get ready for the attack.

Liz on the other hand go to the source who ordered the attack. He's the guy who let Braxton escape to find the fulcrum.

Liz gave him an offer he can't say no to, and called off the killing of Reddington.

As Reddington is recovered he talk to Liz and told her only half the truth and not the whole truth. So as Liz walks away, she goes to Tom and ask him for help on finding out about Red.


This episode set a new tone as we get close to the end of the season. We're only three episodes away til the season finale and I have a feeling that every episode is going to be big and ever so surprising.

You can catch "The Blacklist" Thursday nights at 9/8c on NBC.

The Madness in March: The Mysteries of Laura: "The Mystery of the Dodgy Draft"

This week's case on "Laura" goes on the court as a future professional basketball player is the suspect of a murder of his ex-girlfriend.

I have to say that this episode might be a bit late, since this episode takes place at the time of March Madness and Jake tells Laura that he has Duke in the Final Four. Nice, should have kept that bet.

Anyway, this episode started off at a natural museum, when a teacher was found dead with no struggle or marks, expect a teaser burn on the neck. Laura, Meredith and Frankie ask the students and others about what they saw. One of the teacher says that the victim was dating a student. A student said that she saw a giant with a dragon.

Laura believed the student story and headed off there. In the meantime, since last episode, Laura hasn't been herself lately. She might be pregnant, which just flows through her head like one of those long pause moments that you don't want or hope it doesn't happen.

The gang interviews the college student who is a popular basketball player. When the player goes to the station and talks, he tells Laura that he has a new girlfriend but he does keep in touch with his ex.  Laura believes him but still puts him in lock up until they find the suspect.

There next suspect was a Russian basketball player from another team that student's team was playing against. It just so happens that Laura and Billy went to the game and had Billy tell a player to tell the Russian player that his mom slept with the entire people in Russia. That upset him and started a brawl between teams.

The Russian player was out of the suspect pool and so was his coach who took the teaser away from him but lost it. That's when Laura looked into the girlfriend, a cheerleader for the team and when Laura talked to her, she kind of confessed.

But that was until she was talking about her mother and how she needs to look pretty and that her boyfriend should never talk to his ex's. That gave Laura the idea of the cheerleader's mother, who's a bit of a tiger mom.

It was the cheerleader's mother who took the teaser and hidden it inside the hot dog cart.

I thought that this episode was simply hilarious and remarkable. I love it that it had that March Madness theme and that Kenny "The Jet" Smith had a guest star.

I can't get enough of Meredith and Frankie's buddy partnership. They are truly the odd couple of detectives. And not to mention that Laura who finds out that she is not pregnant but it was some herb that she's been using that sent out a false positive.

You can catch The Mysteries of Laura Wednesday nights at 8/7c on NBC.

The Bucky and The Wecked: Tuesday Night Comedies

Undateable: "A Priest Walks Into a Bar"

This week's episode deals with two things: getting a job and wanting more than a booty call.

It starts with Danny, who has been tweeting out stuff that suck and not suck on twitter, is set up a job interview by the help of his sister, Leslie. But Danny doesn't want to do it because he's a bit scared. Justin challenges him to do it. And soon Danny takes that challenge.

It's not until after Leslie sets up everything that Justin apologizes to Danny for what he had said of challenging him of getting the job. That led Danny to not go and upset Leslie who gave a choke hold on Justin for her thanks.

But Justin gets Danny a second interview and brings the guy to the bar where he talks to Danny. Danny soon realized that it's a job interview and get's upset but after listening to Justin's story of how he wanted to be Mr. Von Trapp in Sound of Music but got the part of the younger girl. That set Danny to go for the interview and soon got the job.

Meanwhile, probably one of the funniest B-storyline in the show so far is when Shelly has been seeing this lady name Vanessa. It's not a relationship but a one night stand, a booty call. Candice doesn't like it and talks to Shelly about it that he should pursue Vanessa into a relationship.

After Shelly tricked Candice with a fake booty call, mixing with Love Actually and Hugh Grantt that got Candice all soft and distracted. Soon Shelly left to go for that booty call. Then Candice stopped Shelly and soon got him to ask Vanessa to come to the bar and ask for more than a booty call. Vanessa refused but then text for him to came at midnight. Shelly declined.

Even though, Shelly didn't like it, it was for the best and with Candice trying to make things better by telling him a story of her and mother being homeless and having a friend to see that was her own reflection.


This episode was hilarious. A lot of funny Matrix references all over and at the end Danny dresses up as Neo and Shelly comes in dress as Morpheus. I couldn't stop laughing after that.


You can catch Undatebale Tuesday nights at 9/8c on NBC.

One Big Happy: "A Tale of Two Hubbies"

In one of the wackiest and funniest episodes so far. This week's episode of One Big Happy deals with the fact that Luke and Prudence weren't actually married when they were in Vegas.

The gang went to Vegas for the weekend and when they stopped at the place where Luke and Prudence got married it turned out to be a fake place for the mod. Which means that they aren't married and Prudence will soon be deported if she isn't married.

So that gives Lizzy an idea to through a prefect wedding and had an idea to bring Prudence's dad over too. That turned out to be a bad idea. It turns out that Martin isn't Prudence's father but her husband. Yeah, Prudence married him. The only reason was for his last name because her actual last name is a name that I couldn't even spell or pronounce.

So Lizzy, Luke and Prudence try to get Martin to sign the papers. Luke failed as Martin is such a fast British talker. Things too a turn when they brought Martin back home and drunk as hell. Lizzy tries to get him to sign the papers and the next morning, he turns out to love Lizzy than Prudence.

Luke than ask Lizzy to take one for the team but she not for that team. So Lizzy pretends like him very much and got him to sign the papers. But she tells him that he signed divorce papers for a lesbian and then that got Martin excited and called his buddies.

Meanwhile, as that heated up another heats up in the kitchen when Luke heard that Prudence and Martin got married after being together for three days. That got Luke thinking that maybe Prudence doesn't love him at all and she's doing it just to stay in the states. Soon Luke leaves in what was a dramatic fashion that I haven't seen on the show and it was one of the best.

Than we come to Lizzy and Marin, as he told her that he doesn't do any work and there shouldn't be no kids. That got Lizzy to tell him that she might be pregnant and pulls out a pregnancy test but he leaves as fast as he could.

That leaves to Prudence come to Lizzy, fully upset and hugging that Luke is gone. Lizzy than tries to bring some tension down with a couple of humor, which worked in my opinion.

I enjoyed this episode very much. There were so many one liners that I couldn't pick. I really enjoyed that we got some emotional scene with Luke being upset. That was really good. Lizzy once again brings the humor along with Prudence and their friends.

I assume that we'll find out this Tuesday of what will happen.

You can catch One Big Happy Tuesday nights at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

All About that Beat and Bass

During the week of April 20th, Illinois Central College celebration to the arts known as Arts Week and I decided to see performance by the Hard Bop Jazz Band on April 21st at ICC lecture/recital hall. I chose to go to this concert because I like jazz and I’ve also seen this group perform over the years and thought that it would just be fun, relaxing and entertaining to watch. I wasn’t wrong at all about it.

The show had a bit of a warm up with a guest band called The Lincoln College Jazz Combo which featured a former Hard Bop player, Jeff Arbisi, who played the woodwinds while the other two played piano and drums. As I said before they were warming up the crowd before the show started.

Then the Bop band came out and started off playing “Whirly Bird” by Neal Hefti. It started off a bit loud but then moved towards of an andante and viace I want to say. It had that walking pace with a mix of lively feel to it.

There’s one performance that kind of stole the show, probably completely. The performance tune was “Bean’s Bag” by Ethan Freier. It started off loud and then moved to allegretto style that was moderately fast and then moved up to presto very fast as I want to say. But it was the solos of both the drummer (Nick Fairley or Zach Crall) and the bass player (Regan Berkshier) that kind of stole the show with their rhythmic beat. The beat of those drums and the base playing really stole the show and had the audience applauding loud and clear, even while the band was still performing that song.

Another was “Struttin’ With Some Barbeque” by Lillian Hardin Armstrong. This performance was just

moderato rhythmic feel of just being moderate and soon it was picking up into an allegro pace.

This was a really good size band in number of instruments that were used in this performance. From brass from trumpet to trombones and even some saxophone too. Not to mention keyboard instrument like the piano was used, only once when the director Larry Harms was playing a tune. But it was mostly used during the warm up and intermission from the Lincoln College Jazz Combo.

And I can’t forget the electronic instruments like the electric guitar and the bass. There were pretty amazing to watch.

The band wore black outfits to common date the feel of it being jazz. I feel the experience of sitting up a couple of rows back was perfect to listen to a group like this. I felt the rhythms that they were playing and that includes the beat that had me moving. It kind gave me that life feeling that just made me want to dance too.

I really enjoyed and had a blasted watching this performance. I enjoy jazz and I’ll say this that I haven’t been to a jazz performance in a year or so and coming back and seeing this group perform was just amazing. 

I don’t think that there was anything wrong with the performance. If the music has me moving and my leg is bouncing up and down, side to side than it’s a hit. 

I’ve decided to go see this concert because I’ve seen this group before in the past and thought that it might be fun just watching them again. Yeah there are new members and there are some that stayed. I did write reviews of their concerts in the past for the ICC Harbinger so I guess I kind of know what to expect just a bit.

Reasons To Tune In & Watch The Mysteries of Laura

One of the best new series this season is The Mysteries of Laura, the hit new NBC Police Procedure comedy-drama (or as we know it to be dramedy). It's part of Woman Crush Wednesday on NBC in the lineup of Law & Order: SVU and Chicago PD.

If you haven't seen it, it follows the life of Laura Diamond, an NYPD homicide detective, who has to balance her life between work and being a divorced mother to twin boys. The show stars Debra Messing (Will & Grace and Smash) as the brilliant detective Diamond. 

She works with her partner Detective Billy Soto (Laz Alonso) along with Detective Meredith Bose (Janna Gavankar), Max Carnegie (Max Jenkins), Captain Jake Brodrick (Josh Lucas), Laura's former husband, and not to mention Detective Frankie Pulaski (Meg Steddle). Each episode has that crime of the week and the classic feel of the "Ripped From The Headlines" story format. 

 Here are some reasons to tune in to the show:

1. Great Ensemble Cast

This is such a great ensemble cast. The chemistry is unbelievable with this group of actors. I am watching from Alonso and Messing to Alonso and Gavankar, from Jenkins and Gavankar to Messing and Lucas. And I don't want to forget that Steddle's character came in after episode 15; with her addition to the show, there's a good chemistry between her character, Frankie, and Gavankar's character, Meredith. I love this group of actors and their characters. There's just so much fun and laughter in this dramedy.

2. It's Such a Relaxing Show

When I say relaxing, I don't mean taking a nap during the show. No, it's a lovely, laid-back series that you can follow along, try to figure out who did it, get the humor, and at the end feel so good. That's what I think when I watch the show. It's like that movie mystery of the week type of thing that used to be on Sundays or any day during the 80's and 90's. 

3. The Diamond in the Rough

Debra Messing, playing Laura Diamond, is probably one of her best characters since playing Grace on Will & Grace. She's got the combination of intelligence and attitude of Columbo meets Jordan Cavanaugh meets Det. Benson. Please don't mess with Diamond, or she'll contact you. 

4. The Working Mom

The series is an excellent appeal to working moms. There's an author, Lina Gardiner, who talks about how they show some appreciation and appeal to working moms and romance lovers. You can check the page out from USA Today. It betrays what a working mom has to juggle: working outside of work and raising twin boys. I see how my mother is with working at a nursing home and trying to take care of my brothers and me.

5. Great Guest Stars

The one thing that's good about this show is the great guest stars that come on the show. From Peter Jackson to Brenda Song, Kelly Rutherford to Anastasia Griffith, and not to mention Eric McCormack as Laura's ex-fiance and the fabulous Robert Klein as Laura's father, Leo. Later on, Melissa Joan Hart is the guest star, so she might not want to miss that.



You see, The Mysteries of Laura isn't like the rest of the other cop dramas that are on today. It's a show that appeals to a typical viewer. It may not be like SVU or Blue Bloods, but it's an excellent show to watch with the family. There's humor, there's drama, there's romance, there's mysteries, a great ensemble cast, great guest stars, it has everything that you would want in a show.

This week's episode of Laura deals with the court, but it's not the court you would think it is. Laura and the gang investigate on the basketball court.

You can catch The Mysteries of Laura available on Amazon Prime.