Phoebe Snow (1952-2011)

Sadly, singer Phoebe Snow passed away on April 26th, 2011 at the age of 58. Her soulful voice enveloped classic songs from the 1970s and 1980s, such as Poetry Man and If I Can Just Get Through The Night.

But did you know Phoebe Snow was actually born Phoebe Ann Laub, and she took her stage name from an Erie Lackawanna passenger train called the Phoebe Snow?

My colleague Martina S. discovered this when reading Phoebe's obituary on People.com

For more on the Phoebe Snow passenger train, click here. For information on the fictional character Phoebe Snow, click here.

In the meantime, enjoy two of Phoebe Snow's greatest tunes below.

Kill the Irishman (2011), Produced By Scranton Native Eugene Musso, Opens at Cinemark; On DVD and Blu Ray June 14th

Monday's Times-Tribune (April 25, 2011, page C1) featured an article written by Josh McAuliffe titled "Scranton Native's New Film 'Kill the Irishman; Opens Friday at Cinemark". The article features an interview with Scranton native and part-time Lake Wallenpaupack resident Eugene Musso, who served as one of the producers of the film.

Based on the book To Kill an Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia by Rick Porrello, Kill the Irishman tells the story of Danny Greene's (Ray Stevenson) battle to break the Italian stranglehold on organized crime in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1970s. The film co-stars Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Paul Sorvino.

Eugene Musso's previous production credits include the 2000 comedy Drowning Mona (with Bette Midler) and the 2006 critically-acclaimed horror film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.

To read the full article, click here.

Kill the Irishman is now playing at Cinemark in Moosic; click here for showtimes. The film will also be released on DVD and Blu-Ray June 14th.

To place a hold on the book To Kill an Irishman by Rick Porrello, click here.

UPDATE: Aug. 10, 2011 The DVD of Kill The Irishman is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold, click here.

www.killtheirishman.com

Wilkes-Barre Native Douglas Carter Beane Contributes Writing to Broadway's Sister Act

Douglas Carter Beane, two-time Tony nominated playwright (Xanadu, The Little Dog Laughed) and native of Wilkes-Barre, PA, is listed in the credits of the new Broadway hit musical Sister Act (based on the 1992 hit film starring Whoopi Goldberg) as "Additional Text By." The musical recently transferred from London's West End and officially opened at the Broadway Theatre in NYC on April 20th, 2011.

For a previous blog entry on Douglas Carter Beane, click here.

www.sisteractthemusical.com

Atlas Shrugged Now Playing at Great Escape IMAX in Dickson City

Though it remains in limited release, the film version of Atlas Shrugged Part 1 is now playing locally (starting today, April 22nd), only at the Great Escape Theatres in Dickson City.

The film is based on the world renowned novel by Ayn Rand, which features a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to Scranton.

For showtimes, click here.

www.AtlasShruggedPart1.com

Bossypants by Tina Fey (2011)

On page 219 of Tina Fey's hilarious new memoir Bossypants, the comedienne discusses her Emmy-winning impersonations of Sarah Palin during the 2008 election on Saturday Night Live; and Fey mentions the mock Vice-Presidential Debate of Sarah Palin (Fey) and Joe Biden (Jason Sudeikis), with Queen Latifah as moderator, as her favorite of all the sketches she did:

Three, I thought the speeches that Jim Downey wrote for Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden was brilliant. Especially the stuff where Biden is trying to prove he's not some Washington elite by talking about how he's from Scranton, Pennsylvania, "the most godforsaken place on earth." I thought that was ingenious , because not only was the ad hominem attack on Scranton a hilarious comedy left turn, it also exemplified what the election had become. Instead of talking about issues, everyone was trying to prove how "down-home" they were. "I'm just like you" was the subtext of every speech.

In addition, Fey also includes a reference to Hazleton (page 250) when describing her many adventures traveling over the Christmas holidays:

...It got even more magical and glamorous when the baby became a toddler. One year, I believe, she screamed all the way from Hazleton to the Moshannon State Forest.

Bossypants by Tina Fey is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System; to place a hold, click here.

To watch the original SNL sketch that aired October 4, 2008, click here or view the video below.