by Klaus Kinski

John Kellogg Hodgman is a 41 year old author, actor, auctioneer, and humorist with one of the most fertile brains and diverse CVs in the biz. To the masses, Hodgman is probably best known as a Daily Show correspondent and as the personification of the "PC" in those numerous, insufferable and divisive Mac v. PC advertisements broadcast by the Macintosh Department of Propaganda. But those two facets of his career are small potatoes when you consider he's also written three books and, well... JESUS! Just look at his Wikipedia page!

His most recent tome, That Is All, came out in paperpack back in October and is the third and final installment in his trilogy of Complete World Knowledge. In addition to offering readers tips on the impending demise of the world as we know it on Friday (12/21/12), the book covers other topics including sports and wine and also features a list of seven hundred ancient and unspeakable gods. This man is a meticulous list-smith.

I found Hodgman to be an truly wonderful auctioneer at the Tom Scharpling/Ted Leo Sandy Benefit at the Bell House a couple weeks ago (Friday, December 7 to be specific). His banter was absolutely hilarious, but when the bids started flying he immediately assumed the role of veteran auctioneer and was able to keep drunken non-bidders quiet while keeping the actual bidding in perfect control. And as you will see from the list below, John Hodgman really likes the Bell House. As a matter of fact, be sure to check him out at the Bell House Friday December 21 where he will be doing two special THAT IS ALL live shows in one special evening. Sadly the 10:00pm late show is sold out, but the 7:00pm early show still has some vacancies. Get early show tix now before they are gone!!

UPDATE! John will be previewing That is All tonight (12/17) at Long Island City club The Creek and Cave . 8 PM and it's FREE.

And now, I present to you, The TEN BEST THINGS OF 2012 by John Hodgman:

Continue reading "John Hodgman lists his "Ten Best Things of 2012," welcoming the apocalypse at The Bell House (& tonight in LIC)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Aimee Mann is going on tour this July across the Northeast US. Those dates include three nights at NYC's City Winery, on July 13th, 14th, and 15th. The venue has announced that tickets for those shows will go on sale today (Friday, April 3rd) at 10am (whether that's a member presale or general sale is unclear).

She's also playing the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill, NY, a town that's a little over an hour outside NYC. There is an Aimee Mann fanclub presale for those tickets that also starts today (Friday, April 3rd) at 10am. Tickets go on sale to the general public Tuesday, April 14th at noon.

Aimee recently taped a set for PBS's "Live from the Artist Den" series, to broadcast sometime in April. She also helped out at WMFU's pledge drive in March, both answering phones and performing (videos below). In December, she played her annual holiday show at Nokia Theatre in Times Square.

All tour dates and videos below...

Continue reading "Aimee Mann tour dates (City Winery), presale, WFMU videos"