Saturday morning Fun - Mambo Italiano with puppets

We were having technical difficulties last night, of the kind that make me wish I'd bought a Mac. After waiting an interminable time just to get the darn thing to boot up I'd launch the web and within a few minutes the mouse would quit responding and my laptop would go to the Arctic Circle (freeze). After about a dozen attempts to remedy the situation I gave up and went to bed early. I'm happy to report so far this morning it's been fine.

So Friday night Fun has been transformed into Saturday morning fun! I decided to go Old School and plum the fertile depths of the American songbook. We are kicking it off this morning with a funny little video I found of some older but still sexy dude singing 'Mambo Italiano' with puppets. Don't know what it's from but it beat out posting vids by Rosemary Clooney and Dean Martin. I dig the puppets!

Saturday morning Fun - Moon River - Breakfast at Tiffany's

SMF continues with a number from one of Trixie's all-time favorite movies, Breakfast at Tiffany's. This is one of those movies that means so much to me I NEVER want to hear the word 'remake.' Would never be the same without Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Music is by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Saturday morning Fun - Ella Fitzgerald - Too Darn Hot

We're finishing it off this morning with Ella Fitzgerald singing the Cole Porter classic 'Too Darn Hot.'

The TV season thus far

My two favorites so far:

'Glee' - Fox. This is a great show! A glee club at a high school in Ohio wants to show everyone they have what it takes to win competitions. And they do have what it takes: a great but hen-pecked teacher and mentor, an ultra-driven member, a high school athlete-turned-glee club singer, a closeted gay kid, a diva, a disabled student and a kinda goth chick. But there are always roadblocks, in this case Jane Lynch playing a maniacal cheerleading coach hell-bent on taking down the glee club by any means necessary so her girls can get all the glory and all the budget. She takes aggression to a whole new level and is easily the funniest person on TV today. The show has incredibly snappy dialogue and you have to listen closely to make sure you don't miss any of it. Not to mention musical production numbers!

'The Good Wife' - CBS. The show premiered Tuesday night to great reviews and is getting a rave from Naperville City Desk, too. The show stars Julianna Margulies, playing the wife of a philandering Chicago state's attorney who has possibly been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and is sitting in jail and who has definitely been caught diddling hookers on the side. The show may seem a little ripped-from-the-headlines but really focuses less on the scandal and more on the wife trying to pick up the pieces of her life while facing betrayal and a mountain of legal debt. She returns to the work force after a 13-year absence and gets work in a law firm as a junior associate. Her first trip back into the court room is a fiasco as she struggles to feel her way and find one line of questioning that won't prompt a barrage of objections. On the homefront she has to mind her two kids who watch her husband suck the toes of a hooker on Youtube. Margulies plays the character with class and humor and isn't afraid to show the failures as well as the triumphs. I am looking forward to some juicy plotlines to come.

Friday night Fun - Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

We're changing it up a little bit tonight and featuring my favorite number from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Bernadette, Mitzi and Felicia perform 'Finally' and don some amazing costumes and makeup.

Friday night Fun - Jewel & Steve Poltz

Jewel & Steve Poltz singing 'Silver Lining.'

New music night

NPR introduced me to a great new song from Brendan Benson, best known for his work with one of the Jack White side projects, The Raconteurs. Benson steps out on his own with a delicious pop confection called 'Don't Wanna Talk.' Love the 'la la la' that sounds suspiciously like 'lie lie lie...'

Friday night Fun - Patty Griffin with surprise guest - Mary

Johnny really started something over on Jersey City Desk - he played one of our favorite Patty Griffin songs so we're following suit here. Here's a treasure I found: Patty singing 'Mary' with surprise guest Natalie Maines. Natalie sounds just as amazing singing harmony as she does singing lead with the Dixie Chicks and this is a particularly lovely version of the song. Anyone who knows the Chicks knows they've been a fan of Patty's from the git-go, covering her songs on three of their studio albums. Convinced me that the Chicks were no flash-in-the-pan chick act - there was substance to them and you could tell that just from song selection.

Friday night Fun - Patty Griffin - Long Ride Home

Johnny played a great Patty Griffin song on Jersey City Desk today so, yes, we're copying. This is Patty live and even without Emmylou, it sounds great.

Admirable effort to drive sales

A pizza place in a shopping center with declining sales due to ongoing road construction keeping diners away decided to promote sales by taking advantage of those motorists stuck in the delays. RoSal's, a pizzeria and hot dog restaurant in Plainfield just south of 135th Street, has seen sales slip since road construction began. The state's resurfacing project started about a week and a half ago. The construction crew still has about a week's worth of patching to finish, followed by another four or five days of work to put down the finished surface, according to village public works staff.

Rather than take the sales decline lying down the staff at RoSal's passed out free pizza samples and coupons to motorists sitting in the delays last Thursday and hopes to see a boost in business after the construction is completed. It's this kind of ingenuity and smart-thinking that this country needs and Naperville City Desk applauds RoSal's for leading the self-promotion charge. Next time the NCD staff takes a field trip we are definitely stopping by.

For all of you hanging around here over the long weekend

You'll be able to get where you're going a bit faster because the Illinois Tollway is suspending all lane closures from noon Friday through 9 am Tuesday September 8. You'll also be happy to know Trixie will not be around taking up lane space as I'm bugging out to northern Michigan and may be posting on location. Everyone remember that even though there won't be lane closures the speed limit through work zones is still 45 mph, even on a holiday.

This is also a very interesting traffic tidbit: Work systemwide will be completed by the end of the year as part of the Tollway's $6.3 billion Congestion-Relief Program.

No more backups from Yackley to Midwest Road eastbound in the am! Woo hoo!!!!