Lewis Black at Bridges Tomorrow

Photo originally uploaded
to Flickr by J. Snow
Comedian Lewis Black appears tomorrow night at Bridges Auditorium on the Pomona College campus. The show starts at 8pm. Tickets are $40 and were still available through Ticketmaster as of yesterday evening. You can also get tickets directly through the Bridges box office. There were some discounted student tickets for $15, but those are all sold out.

Tomorrow will be Black's second appearance at Bridges. He was last here in February, 2007. Amanda Brawner (CMC '07) wrote a review of that show for the March, 2007, edition of Inside CMC. Here's a short bit of what Brawner had to say:

Following the neurotic humor stylings of his opening act, John Bowman, Black took the stage to the tune of his typical anthem, AC/DC's Back in Black. After a few potshots at religion, he delved into the political commentary most Claremont students came to hear. As expected, he showed contempt for Congressional priorities: "You don't want people burning the flag, then pass a law making them flame-retardant!" Continuing his disdain for the political process, he then gave a prediction on the 2008 presidential race: "I can guarantee that by the time we elect whoever it is, we're going to hate their guts."

Bridges is located at 4th St. and College Way. Here's a clip of Black appearing last week on CBS' Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson:

Ludacris Reviewed

Wes Woods II had a write up of last Friday's Ludacris performance at Bridges Auditorium. Woods article appeared in the Daily Bulletin and was reprinted in the Bulletin's sister paper, The Contra Costa Times:

Ludacris, whose real name is Christopher Bridges, featured a long horn intro and thundering bass drops of "Last of A Dying Breed" off his latest album "Theater of the Mind" on his opening song.

One of his lines on the song spoke well to the audience "... hip-hop couldn't die I never offer my condolence/but I offer ya'll a day of atonement ..." while the audience roared in approval.

Ludacris, who sprinkled his uncensored lyrical set with references to Claremont in lyrics and shoutouts, walked the stage back and forth constantly and slapped hands with some of the audience members.

While the stage backdrop was a simple black background, the stage itself was lit in different colors like pink, blue and purple from the overhead lights during the performance.

Besides the actual performance, Woods had some observations from the crowd on the heavy police and security presence at the concert and also about the heat. It was literally a hot concert, said Woods.

Woods also blogged about the event with some additional notes on his Claremont Now blog.

Ludacris at Bridges Jan. 23rd

Hope you all had a very merry Luda-Christmas. We wanted to remind you that, courtesy of the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College, the hip-hop artist Ludacris will perform at Bridges Auditorium on Friday, January 23rd at Bridges Auditorium on the Pomona College campus.

The Ludacris concert was originally scheduled for November 22nd, but was postponed due to a scheduling conflict. Bridges seats 2,450, so the event is likely to be sold out. The concert ticket market being what it is, you can always find a ticket somewhere if you really want it. Ticketmaster was still showing tickets available as of 8:30am today.

Wes Woods at the Daily Bulletin had all the concert info:

Hip-hop artist Ludacris, who has a new album titled "Theater Of The Mind," will perform at 8 p.m. Jan. 23 at Bridges Auditorium.

The auditorium is located at 450 N. College Way.

General admission tickets for the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College are $45 and you can go through the auditorium directly or go here (which is the direct link to the ticketmaster.com site for tickets but there is a service charge).

Information: (909) 621-8032

ASCMC put together a video for the original November concert date:

Pomona Library News

We're going to need a special blog roll just for Pomona. Ms. Lois, a library specialist over at the Pomona Public Library Children's Room, reminded us that the PPL has a great blog of its own, full of photos, PPL news and other library-related tidbits, including a story of pumpkin pie. It bills itself as the children's library blog, but there are plenty of things written by and for grown ups.

The PPL blog's header gives us some institutional history:

Ms. Clara Webber was the first children's librarian of Pomona Public Library. A long time correspondent with Mrs. Laura Ingalls Wilder, she was instrumental in having the Children's Room named in honor of Mrs. Wilder on May 25, 1950. Today, we house the original hand written manuscript for the novel Little Town on the Prairie. Every February, we host the Laura Ingalls Wilder Sociable in honor of Mrs. Wilder's February 7th birthday.

Lois' pumpkin pie travails reminded me of a throwaway line from Garrison Keillor a couple weeks ago about how the best pumpkin pie you ever tasted isn't much different from the worst.

Keillor, by the way, performed his show live at Bridges Auditorium on the Pomona College campus 23 years ago, before he started doing his Prairie Home Companion road performances in larger venues like the Greek Theatre. Willie Nelson was a special guest performer that long-ago night at Bridges.

We saw PHC live at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium about 8-1/2 years ago. The then-red-hot newgrass band Nickel Creek, headed up by three young people who grew up together in San Diego, performed and sang, among other things, the old timey song "The Fox."

The band's no longer together, but mandolinist Chris Thile struck it really big and pops up on all sorts of records now.

Nickel Creek - The Fox