If you like comedy, PR or the occasional inside scoop on the entertainment world,
then drop by for a daily dose written by me, Kambri Crews, producer and publicist to comedians and more!
Too busy to type much about it but people were lined up on the stairs trying to get in to see it. I videotaped both episodes and hope to have some good clips to share.
Meanwhile, check out this terrific video of an interview with Ballyhoo client Andres du Bouchet for Time Out NY airing on cable on Time Out NY on Demand.
--Kambri Link - 4:22 PM -
Monday, February 27, 2006
My pal Francesco ("Ces") Marciuliano of Drink at Work wrote a hilarious and surreal piece about his dad. His semi-insane, loveable dad who used to make porn and tits tee shirts and other wild stuff. Ces is such a great story teller and his dad is such great subject matter, they're a match made in heaven.
Reminder: tonight is The Big Podcast of 2006 at Lolita Bar featuring the awesome folk duo "A Brief View of the Hudson" and four time Emmy winning writer Chris Regan (Daily Show w/Jon Stewart) and Todd Hanson of The Onion. It's FREE, too!
--Kambri Link - 11:19 AM -
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Press Stuff
I got an email from NY Post television reporter Michael Starr tonight. Turns out he's pals with FRESH YARN essayist featured with me in their latest issue, Charles Freericks. My boyfriend/client Christian also happens to be good friends with Jen Kirkman, yet another FRESH YARN contributor. Crazy small world.
Andres' show has gotten plugged in a few of the usual places like Time Out NY and a few not so usual places like on Time Warner Cable and a plug (with a picture!) on AOL. It's going to be packed with industry, so come out! Really, this is the time. Now or never, people. There's even a booze / food stop directly across the street.
ONE NIGHT ONLY! Wednesday, March 1st The Kraine Theater 85 East 4th Street (btwn 2nd & 3rd Aves.) 8:00 PM - $5.00
--Kambri Link - 11:38 PM -
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Oh My Achin' Head!
It's windier than a bag full of buttholes tonight! Every car alarm on the block is going off every five seconds reminding me of Christian's joke that starts out, "This is not a rhetorical question. Seriously ask yourself when is the last time you were lying in bed, heard a car alarm go off and thought to yourself, 'Oh my god, a car is being stolen'?" And then ends with Christian threatening to stab the car owner in the di*khole.
I'm hungover from my Tex in the City birthday bash last night, dammit. I need some peace and quiet. But I worked all day from my couch creating press releases and updating calendars and the latest Ballyhoo.
--Kambri Thank God for sound machines.
Link - 11:30 PM -
Friday, February 24, 2006
Lots Going On
I created a logo for the new show I'm co-producing with my pal Liam and have created a temporary page for it. Not bad for someone who's not a graphics designer, right? But, oh, how I wish I had a School of Visual Arts student as an intern. All my requests to SVA have gone unanswered.
I have a free ticket offer for a new musical. Click here for details and contact me to RSVP tix.
So, here's my crazy calendar (note my new addition left and there's always my Calendar page): Tonight is a birthday party with a bunch of Texans in the City Monday the 27th is The Big Podcast of 2006! Wednesday the 1st is Presenting Andres du Bouchet (Plug in Time Out NY and lots of industry expected!) Thursday the 2nd is a free night of Sidd Sunday the 5th is an Oscar party (details TBD)
--Kambri Link - 12:56 AM -
Thursday, February 23, 2006
I Guess I AM a Writer
For my FRESH YARN bio I made sure to start with "Kambri Crews is not a writer," because I'm not. Not really. Oh sure, I pound out words on this silly thing but I consider myself a producer, publicist, heck maybe even an actress from back in the day much more than a writer. But I suppose that's changed now since I've been tapped to write a regular column for a woman's magazine. Not one that you would read, but still... pretty cool!
--Kambri Bringing home the bacon, one little slice at a time.
Link - 12:13 PM -
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Another Cindy Adams Moment?
I treated my pal Liam to a 1:30 screening of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit at the AMMI. As a member of the museum screenings for me and a guest are free, so we joined the throngs of school kids and settled in for 85 minutes of really fascinating claymation and a funny story to boot.
Afterwards, we went to Sunswick for a pint and early dinner to chat about his weekly show and, particularly, the one coming up this Monday. More on that in a minute.
We were there for maybe five minutes when about five kind of burly loud guys walk in and plop down at the bar. One of them says, I swear to God, "Hey, you know that comedian Christian Finnegan?" And they go on to talk about who Christian is and what shows he's been in and how the last time they were at Sunswick, "he was sitting right over there!"
Anyway, we are taping this week's edition of Liam's hit weekly show "Tell Your Friends" for a new live-comedy podcast. The show itself will be taped by NYC Channel 25 for their culture show, New York 360. The line up is pretty terrific as it includes Todd Hanson (head writer of The Onion) and our friend Chris Regan who is like a million time Emmy winner for all the years he's written for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Who else? Oh, yeah, the terrific band Brief View of the Hudson and Mr. McEneaney himself along with some other talented folks. Join us, won't you? Here are the details: FEBRUARY 27th - 8:00 PM THE PODCAST/TV TAPING Tell Your Friends! Presents: "The Big Podcast of 2006" at The Lolita Bar 266 Broome St., off of Allen St. Take the F train to Delancey St.
It's free and I'll be there. What more could you want?
Comedy Central Goes Mobile With Love God
This just hit the wires today:
Comedy Central has created Samurai Love God, its first original animated series for cellphones. The show will launch first quarter across various mobile providers with eight 2 1/2 minute episodes.
The show, about an erotic land full of sex-crazed inhabitants, will star Daily Show correspondent Ed Helms, porn actress Jenna Jameson and comedians Lisa Lampanelli and Christian Finnegan. The animated shorts were created by Eric Mahoney.
--Kambri Link - 5:08 PM -
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Think of the Outfits!
Ice dancing should be the subject of the next Christopher Guest movie. Seriously hilarious dramatics and blow by blow commentary that dissected every breath of the bitter Italian pair. After a disappointing fall the night before which cost them their first place rank, apparently the two weren't speaking, arrived and warmed up for the free style program separately and wouldn't even make eye contact. All while they wore these silly, frilly, shiny costumes.
"Italian ice!" The commentator proclaimed after a chilly reception. Emotions were high, the tension palpable and yet they took to the ice and skated their hearts out despite the probability of not medaling. Their melodramatic end left them visibly moved and exhausted. They emotionally embraced and kissed each other over and over.
It was rivoting.
They're totally gonna do it and by "it", I mean ice dance.
--Kambri They came in sixth.
Link - 4:19 PM -
Monday, February 20, 2006
It's an Honor to be Nominated
So FRESH YARN hasn't even sent out their promotional email and I've already been invited to read my essay or something from Love, Daddy - Letters and Stories from My Jailed Deaf Dad. Even if that doesn't happen, I'm flattered and thrilled to be asked.
--Kambri Link - 10:22 PM -
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Omigod, y'all! Fresh Yarn published a piece I wrote about my Jailed Deaf Dad. Read it here. It's very "to the point" in that I had originally written it for a contest with a 3,000 word limit to get the whole tidy nutshell out there but it sums things up quite well. Growing up in a shed, my deaf parents, why Dad is in jail...
These days, I feel I'm a much better story teller via the written word but I wrote this nearly two years ago. Be kind.
I am ever grateful to Hillary Carlip and Fresh Yarn for giving it airtime and Rachel Kramer Busselfor encouraging me to submit it in the first place.
--Kambri Link - 9:40 AM -
Friday, February 17, 2006
Rufus the Winning Dog
CNN ran an AP photo of Rufus, the winning pooch from the Westminster Dog Show and if you look carefully, you'll see Christian Finnegan on the left. Click here.
--Kambri Link - 10:51 AM -
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Trust Me. Watch this. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.
--Kambri Well?
Link - 1:38 PM -
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Off the Wire
Just got off the phone with Christian who is zooming from talk show set to talk show set to talk show set. He just interviewed Martha Stewart and John Legend (who actually recognized Christian from the tee vee) & John O' Hurley. Surreal.
ABCNews gave a shout out about the Westminster winner Rufus getting interviewed by "Best Week Ever".
The latest at Love, Daddy
"MUDDAH FUH!" Dad would yell in his high pitched voice if I came anywhere near the television during a boxing match or football game. I guess when you are a deaf mute, making your best effort to scream "Mother Fucker" at your daughter sure will get the point across.
--Kambri Link - 12:01 AM -
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
V-Day 2006
Enjoyed a movie (Good Night & Good Luck) and a tasty lunch with tastier margaritas at Baby Bo's with my Valentine. Now I'm bloated and tired so might have to skip the traditional chocolate covered strawberries.
Received a letter from my Jailed Deaf Dad yesterday. He was rooting for Seattle in the Super Bowl...so I'm guessing he's flat broke again. Read more about his love for football and gambling in prison on Love, Daddy.
Christian will be filming all day tomorrow for VH1's Best Week Ever with the winner of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. This includes the special lunch at Sardi's where the winner eats food off a china plate or some such. Anyway, the winning dog will be crowned tonight and the footage will probably air on VH1 Friday night at 11:00 then replayed all weekend. If not, I'm sure they'll show something online. Will keep you posted.
Hey, remember Tex in the City? I've got an event coming down the pike so stay tuned. Meanwhile, if you know any southern transplants or visitors in or around New York, be sure to send them my way.
--Kambri Okay, off to finish a writing package with my pants undone.
Link - 6:10 PM -
Monday, February 13, 2006
Dublin in a Nutshell
We arrived at 5:00 the morning of the 8th and by 8:30 AM we were napping at the beautiful Westin located right in the heart of all the Dublin action. After lunch near the River Liffey, we met the film crew and director and headed over to the Guinness Storehouse for a walk through of the film schedule. With a big day ahead of us, we took it easy that night by eating and drinking from 7:30 till midnight with the crew.
Day Two was spent filming which went so smoothly we actually finished early. That's gotta be a first. Highlights were Christian crawling through a pit of barley before dropping and making a barley angel, Christian bantering with the Guiness Brewmaster Fergal Murray (no joke) and learning how to pour a proper pint of Guiness and lots of free food and drinks with the Comedy Central folks.
Day Three we grabbed breakfast and walked over to O'Connelly Station where me met up with our tour guide Brendan, an older Irish fellow wearing a tam-o-shanter and smoking a pipe. Brilliant. We hopped in our private car on the train headed to the Wicklow Mountains where we were treated to some breathtaking sites and quintissential Irish photo opportunities: Half deteriorated stony buildings situated on a lush green cliff overlooking the ocean...cows, sheep, mossy stuff. Highlights included the monastic ruins in Glendalough founded in the 6TH Century by St. Kevin and watching weavers weave on dusty old fashioned weaving "machines" for Avoca in a tiny, old little building located in Ballykissangel. It was me, Christian and four workers just working away without a care in the world that we were staring intently, filming and wandering around. So fascinating and intricate we bought two sweaters and a scarf.
We got back in time for a quick nap before meeting up with the musicians of the Musical Pub Crawl. They treated us to two hours of traditional Irish music: jigs, reels, ballads and taught us the difference between them, the types of sets we could find around town and the various instruments used. Assuming I get my movie together, I'll use tunes from their CD as the background music.
Day Four we bought a ticket to one of those "hop on, hop off" double decker bus tours. We had a few destinations in mind for the day so the bus ends up being cheaper than cab fare, plus you get the tour to boot. (I've always thought that, although they seem a little cheesy, these bus tours are the best way to get a good understanding of the lay of the land, a brief history of the city and a cheap ride.) We toured around the city seeing various sites of interest such as the homes of Oscar Wilde and Arthur Guinness, his wife & 21 (!) children, Phoenix Park, Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral and so much more.
We hopped off at the stop for the Kilmainham Gaol where we paid 5 euro each to get a guided tour. It is a sad history of mostly political prisoners but also of severe punishment for small crimes. Women and children were housed in the same facilities as men and overcrowding and illness were a constant problem. The names of the prisoners are still etched above the doorways with some attempts at humor such as "O'Brien Hotel" and "No Vacancy". Incidentally, Kilmainham was used in the filming of the Daniel Day Lewis movie In the Name of the Father.
A quick hop on then off again this time to drink a pint at Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland dating back to 1198. There we watched Ireland make an amazing attempt at a comeback against France in a brutal match of rugby. Quite possibly my favorite three hours of the whole trip.
Day Five was only 1/2 long as our car was scheduled to pick us up at 1:00. So we did some early morning filming for my movie idea which entailed me standing in front of various pubs doing intros. We then packed and napped till it was time to walk across the street to Trinity College where we paid 8 euro each to see the oldest book in existence the Book of Kells and the most amazing library I have ever seen. It literally took my breath away. It is called the Long Room and made seemingly entirely of oak with a barrel-vaulted ceiling at least four or more stories high. We were thisclose to a Bible from 1632 that is just sitting there on a shelf collecting dust along with a gamillion other books.
Afterwards, we walked back across the street to see our driver David waiting for us. We loaded up the car and headed home to JFK where we seemingly garnered all the luck of the Irish as a record setting blizzard hit New York yet our flight left on time, arrived safely and about ten minutes early.
Oh Lucy, I'm Home
We had so much travel luck that even a record breaking blizzard couldn't dampen our spirits or stop of us from getting back to home sweet home.
We're back from Dublin for less than two hours and I miss it already. I can't wipe the sh*t eating grin off my face plastered there since learning to stomp my boot properly to a traditional Irish jig, hootin' & hollerin' for the Irish to defeat the French in a brutal rugby match, trekking through the tranquil monastic ruins of Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains and countless other adventures I hope to get around to documenting.
Much of the dancing, boozing and singing shenanigans is identitical to a Texas hoedown, the latter no doubt started by a bunch of Scotch - Irish immigrants. I was taken back to the days when I square- and round-danced and rode my horse in trail rides and sang out loud without a care of whether I was in tune or not. It took all of five minutes for me to bang my boot the hardest, sing the loudest and drink the most.
--Kambri Okay, not more than the person who hurled stinky vomit but I had to get up early today to do scholarly learnin' at Trinity College before our driver came to fetch us.
Link - 8:47 PM -
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Off to Ireland! For free!
I'll be taping behind the scenes and "reporting" from Dublin. I had great fun brainstorming ideas for my shoot yesterday with my dear friend Scott and am now so damned excited to get there. The worst case scenario is that I'll have lots of fun footage for our memories, my Ballyhoo Newsletter, Christian's newsletter and my "reel". The best case scenario is that I develop a really great "movie" that can be sold or used elsewhere in some capacity. We shall see.
Either way, look for Christian on Comedy Central the night of St. Patrick's Day for the end product of our trip.
--Kambri More than a wee bit psyched.
Link - 1:26 PM -
We Won! AGAIN!
Woo hoo! The court agreed that the Tex in the City vote to expel Meredith was valid! She is no longer allowed to represent herself as an employee or officer of TITC. Even better, she desperately tried to retain the trademark and intellectual property of TITC but was DENIED and "will not use the trademark or any other intellectual property of TITC..." (see pic). Also, her inflated loan to shareholder claim in the amount of $5,000 was settled for only $3,000. A little high, in my opinion, since she co-mingled funds and couldn't produce any accounting for a fundraiser that would have offset that loan (even though she was the bookkeeper for crying out loud). Also, we caught her in an out and out lie about the costs of that fundraiser. She said she had to pay for the venue and booze, but the owner said that was not true and even put it in writing for us. So, yeah, her loan amount was trumped up bull. But we figured $3,000 was fair enough when you consider the work contributed over the years and the relief to have her OUT of our company.
Back when we expelled her, we officially dissolved the old LLC and put all our TITC intellectual property into a new LLC, Workshop Creations, that has never been tainted with her UGLY chapter. We don't have plans on using the TITC name and image for anything other than parties but it's nice to have the option and to control the use of its image and intellectual property and such.
Speaking of parties, Kevin -- who originally came up with the TITC name with Scott and Robin Houston and produced the very first TITC cabaret long before Meredith was ever in the picture -- will help produce the annual Oscar viewing party.
Capote Didn't Come Clean
I've gotten some really nice feedback from unexpected sources regarding the newly launched Love, Daddy. I haven't even written much for the site and already it's getting linked to by other blogs as far as Europe and Canada. Weird and exciting and scary all at once. Scary because this is unchartered emotional territory I'm entering here. My dad has never acknowledged that:
(a) He tried to kill my mom in front of me, (b) I had to stop it and "read" him his rights (in sign language), (c) He ruined* my life, and (d) Never even apologized to me, let alone my mom.
Yet, it will still come as a shock to him that I don't believe his story that: (a) He never assaulted my mom all those years ago, he "just punched holes in the wall. Only five," and (b) He wasn't trying to kill his last wife, he was trying to stop her from killing herself.
Wracked with guilt after seeing the movie (see my detailed entry), I did what Capote could not do: come clean. I sent my dad a letter clearly spelling out that:
(a) I was going to tell the story from my point of view, (b) He might not agree with it, (c) He should feel free to participate a lot or not at all or anywhere in between, and (d) I love him no matter what. I haven't disowned him thus far, why the hell would I now?
--Kambri *My life is obviously not ruined. I quite like what I've done with it, in fact. But, tell that to my 16 year old self who then could no longer imagine going to college despite summa cum laude honors, went into hiding and slept in fear.
Link - 1:06 AM -
Monday, February 06, 2006
Stuff Magazine Hit List Ballyhoo Promotions client and my awesome boyfriend Christian Finnegan is in the March issue of "Stuff" for his HI-larious "birds and the bees" joke. (Link fixed, check it out.)
Link - 11:11 AM -
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Dad received his autographed cover of the Pet of the Year issue of Penthouse. Read about it here.
Christian was ALL over the CBS Super Bowl commercial special yesterday. Congratulations to him for scoring a special on a major network at 8:00 PM! With Chevy Chase!
--Kambri Link - 7:11 AM -
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Don't let the promo fool you, it's very ribald, adult humor.
OH YEAH, and tonight at 8:00 EST is Superbowl's Greatest Commercials on CBS which will hopefully feature an appearance by my boyfriend/client Christian Finnegan.
--Kambri My vote is for Mean Jo Green's Coke commercial.
Link - 4:36 PM -
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Knock Knock! Who's there?
It's Andres du Bouchet and the gang from "Giant Tuesday Night," dedicating an entire show to exploring the "Haiku of comedy," the knock-knock joke. Orange you glad we didn't say Carrot Top?
February 6th MO PITKIN'S HOUSE OF SATISFACTION 8:30pm (doors at 8:15pm) 34 Avenue A, between 2nd and 3rd Streets 212-777-5660
Ticket Price: $6 / Tickets are available at www.ticketweb.com or at the door.
--Kambri That's where I'll be Monday night laughing loudly, I'm sure.
Link - 8:50 PM -
J & R
I ordered this online at 1:25 PM and requested the cheapest delivery (UPS Ground). It arrived this morning at 10:25. How this is even possible is beyond me but I do know I'll be ordering from JR.com again and not just because of the crazy fast delivery. The bag cost me about half what it would had I bought it from the manufacturer at Casauri.com.
--Kambri Makes no sense.
Link - 10:54 AM -
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
I Need a Clone
I just got invited to attend Penthouse Magazine's Super Bowl party in Detroit. Too bad I already have a date with a 6' hero in Hoboken. I'm told there will be "12 Penthouse Pets, open bar, and Snoop Dog providing music."
Ballyhoo Promotions
