Soup of the Week & The Riches: Pilot

This is a great soup when you need a meal in a hurry.

Chicken Corn Chowder

1 can cream of chicken

1 1/2 cups milk

1 teaspoon dried minced onion

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

2 cups cubed cooked chicken (I use the precooked Tyson grilled chicken)

1 can corn, drained

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large saucepan, combine the soup, milk, onion, and rosemary. Stir in chicken and corn; heat through. Add the cheese; stir until melted.

The Riches: Pilot

If there's anything close to a certainty in this wacky world of 3,000 channels, it's this: When a new show premieres on FX, chances are it's going to be pretty good. Even the less-than-stellar shows are more daring, creative, and entertaining than most of what I might see on a broadcast or basic cable network. And The Riches is no exception; in fact, it is one of the most well-done new shows of the year. The Riches knows where it's going. And it looks like it's going to be a pretty fun ride.

Eddie Izzard plays Wayne Malloy, the patriarch of a family of Irish Travelers, who roam from town to town assuming identities and ripping of innocent people, or "Buffers," in their terms. We find that out right away when Wayne and two of his three kids -- Dehliah and Sam -- invade a high school reunion; the kids steal everyone's wallets while Wayne distracts them by becoming the life of the party. The oldest Malloy child, Cael, awaits to spirit them away in the family home / getaway RV.

After some difficulty, they swing by the penitentiary to pick up Dahlia, played by Minnie Driver. Dahlia missed her kids and husband during her two years in the joint, and we find out later that she got snagged for a crime for which Wayne should have taken the fall. Anyway, after Dahlia reunites with her Traveler clan, a dustup occurs between Wayne and his cousin-in-law Dale, who has taken control of the clan's affairs. Wayne steals the family's money and takes the Malloys on a trip to parts unknown, essentially breaking from Dahlia's family in one fell swoop.

On the road, they get involved in an accident that kills the occupants of a BMW. Wayne decides to take the family's ID and the keys to their new house in a wealthy Baton Rouge subdivision, where no one has ever met the dead couple. Once they move in, Wayne realizes that assuming the role of the dead couple -- the Riches -- not only helps them hide from Dale, who wants Wayne's hide, but will also allow his family to get off the road and finally live the American Dream, in their own perverse way. After initially objecting, Dahlia agrees to stay. And so begins the Malloys' life as the Riches.

Izzard and Driver are what make this show work .I don't know much about the kids just yet, outside of the fact that Cael seems to be the one most in control, Dehliah knows more about the family's skeletons than she lets on, and Sam likes to wear girls' clothes. But I'm sure I'll learn more as the weeks go on.

The pilot actually showed less humor than I initially expected, but there were flashes. The scene at the reunion showed Wayne at his schmoozy finest, and the scene where he goes golfing with his neighbor Jim and hustles obnoxious executive Hugh Panetta, shows Wayne's sly side.

Questions abound: will the Malloys be outed? How does a bumpkin like Wayne know how to play golf so well? Will Jim's wife Nina be the one to find out the ruse, or will she be too doped up to care? When will Dale catch up to them?

Like most FX shows, there's an overabundance of bad language, some violence, and flashes of nudity. But it didn't distract me from concentrating on the Malloy's adventure.

Concert Review: Angelique Kidjo

Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) was alive and kicking on Saturday evening for the Angelique Kidjo concert. Kidjo brought her soaring voice and group of five musicians who specialize in the rhythmic sounds of Afropop.

In the middle of enthusiastically speaking about the uniting power of music, Angelique Kidjo stopped herself to ask: "Can you imagine this world without music? Can you? People would be jumping off roofs every day?"

In addition to music from her native West Africa, she offers modern pop-American R&B, and South American and Caribbean styles.

No one sat still through her show. She was certainly dancing. "I'm in paradise when I'm on stage."

Kidjo was born in the West African country of Benin in 1960 and moved in the '80s to Paris, where she became a popular performer. In the '90s , she had a series of Afropop dance hits and earned Grammy nominations.

Her latest CD, "Djin Djin" (due out May 1, but she had copies for sale which I quickly bought one) has Kidjo singing with guest starts Joss Stone, Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel and Carlos Santana. It's also a return of the more traditional sounds of Benin and of Africa in general.

Kidjo demonstrated the expansive range and depth of her vocal power. Her voice is guttural and she reaches deep within herself for a rich and, at times, masculine tone. She sings with great emotion and is definitely enjoying herself.

I was fortunate to see her Saturday evening and was deeply impressed by her commanding stage presence. I really had no idea any about her music when I bought her ticket. Standing barely five feet tall, Kidjo dances with incredible energy and grace; she also knows how to get people on the dance floor.

This was one of the best concerts I have seen in ages and would go again in a heartbeat.

The Dresden Files: Walls

This episode of The Dresden Files was another doozie. Walls was the story of a gang of students using an evil magical artifact to pull off sensational robberies, with Harry being drawn in after the girlfriend of one is killed outside his office in what appears to be a hit'n'run.

Anyway, definitely creepy, these kids running around with the severed hand of a dead thief and using it to walk through walls. Extra creep points for the hand being covered in wax and used as a candle, and the bits where the ghost of said thief materializes while riding around in the body of one of said hapless kids.

"Oh no I have an Evil Hand" is totally what I kept thinking all throughout this episode. That one line from Angel is forever emblazoned into my memory, I swear.

I liked the remarks about how technology doesn't work for him, and the bit where he and Bob were flabbergasted that his answering machine actually picked up a message for once was great. I especially liked how Bob wished him luck turning it on.

And this played nicely into Harry revealing how a tech-impaired wizard does his spying: with bees in a jar. Yeep! Very clever use of sympathetic magic there, not to mention a way to get the audience cringing as he puts that jar up by his ear and his eye!

And speaking of things that were pretty cool: Harry throwing fire around at the end! FINALLY! It's about time we see him pull a fireball on something!

Another creep-inducing moment where the boys are coming out of the bank and one of 'em gets chopped in half coming out through the wall.

Touching on the side effects of Harry's powers again, and of magic in general, the main "in universe" thrust of this tale is to highlight the dangerous consequences of using black magic, prompting a show-stealing, understated performance from Conrad Coates as Morgan, the High Council Warden, and the appearance of a gruesome waxy monster. Terrance Mann also delivers on the Bob front, as always, meaning that even though this might not be quite as strong as the last couple of episodes, the powerful performances bring it so close as to still merit an A- Grade!

Walls also drops another hint about Harry's shady past as well as further insight into Bob's character, which goes a long way to creating the world building illusion that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Good writing is what will ultimately make or break this show and its recent track record suggests that - as long as they continue with this calibre of material - the show could have a long and healthy life. Battlestar Galactica has just been renewed for a fourth season, so, with bigger viewing figures (if not the critical acclaim), I would guess that the short term future, at least, is secure for The Dresden Files

The Simpsons: Rome-Old & Juli-Eh

Seriously, what is it with Grandpa Simpson falling for Marge's family members? In one show he almost marries her mother, and this time he puts the moves on Selma. Talk about a lot of weird Thanksgivings.

This episode had some good laughs, but overall I wasn't too impressed. The secondary story involving Bart and Lisa building a gigantic castle out of cardboard boxes from ASS --which stood for "American Shipping Services," and is not, as one truck indicates, affiliated with the human ass-- and fighting an apocalyptic battle with the men in brown was more entertaining than the main story, in my opinion.

"Those boxes are for shipping, not for creating a world of pure imagination!"

Not to say there weren't some good laughs to be found throughout the half-hour. Homer "Flintstone-ing" his car to save on gas was an immediately classic moment. During Grampa and Selma's courtship, the camera panned past a few cars at lover's lane, stopping at their car that was rocking up and down. Cutting inside, we saw that Selma was giving Grampa CPR.

Patty, disguised as Selma through the perfect placement of a bobby pin, and Homer, disguised as Esteban de la Sexface, also offered some laughs, including Patty envisioning Homer as Mrs. Krabappel and Homer exclaiming to the camera after Selma showed up, "Dos Selmas? Ay-yi-yi!"

The best part of the episode, though? Grandpa telling Selma's daughter a grim tale of his time in the war, but "censoring" it for her young ears and using terms like "machine hugs" and "fun throwers."

Lost: Enter 77

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. After the feel-good episode with Hurley learning that he can make his own luck/hope, this episode delivered some action, answers and... still more questions. Let's reflect:

In Sayid's flashbacks, his was Najeev and he was working as a chef in Paris where he met Sami, a fellow Iraqi whose wife, Amira, claims Sayid brutally tortured her. All they want is for Sayid to admit it. Slight problem: Sayid is certain he never tortured her and "cannot admit to something I did not do." Don't they all say that, Sayid?

Amira strokes a cat that she saved from a torturous death, and she says the cat sometimes bites or scratches because he forgets that he is safe. The cat is similar to the cat at The Flame. In the end, Sayid admits to having tortured Amira, who sets him free because she doesn't want to be a ruthless torturer like Sayid.

In Island news, Locke, Kate, and Sayid are following a compass bearing of 305 North, which is a little something Locke has derived from Eko's stick. Sayid is frustrated by Locke's faith-based excursion but soon he comes upon a cow. Then a farm. Then the eye-patch guy, or "Patchy," who promptly shoots Sayid in the arm. When Locke and Kate come busting in, Patchy realizes it's all a big misunderstanding and gets to work removing the bullet from Sayid's arm. He also reveals a string of information of questionable truthiness (if I may):

• The station is called The Flame and is the center for communication with the outside world.
• Patchy's name is Mikhail Bakunin, and he claims to be the last surviving member of the Dharma Initiative.
• He was in the Soviet military, stationed in Afghanistan, before he responded to a newspaper ad for Dharma which asked, "Would you like to save the world?"
• In what he calls "The Purge," the rest of the Dharma people were destroyed when they waged a war against the "hostiles" (indigenous people of the Island?). After the war, a few hostiles told Mikhail that he could stay at the Flame if he stayed within a certain area.
• The Flame communicates via underwater beacons that emit sonar pings into the ocean, guiding submarines. The giant satellite dish on top of the farmhouse apparently doesn't work.

Other stuff that happens at the Flame: Locke comes upon a computerized chess game, which brings him to a menu screen where we see our old buddy Marvin Candle. This time, Candle presents a few options, the last of which is to "enter 77" if the station has been taken by hostiles.

In the C4-wired basement, Sayid and Kate encounter Ms. Klugh, the creepy Other lady who said Walt was special. In a loud showdown, Kate and Sayid hold Ms. Klugh at gunpoint while Mikhail holds Locke at gunpoint, none of them willing to give up their captives. Ms. Klugh and Mikhail scream at each other in Russian. So Klugh asked Mikhail to kill her!

Then Sayid takes Mikhail prisoner. Sayid also finds a map on which he locates the "Barracks" and assumes that is where the Others have their village. Meanwhile, Locke has entered 77 and the whole Flame station blows up, conveniently after everyone's outside.

Less importantly, Sawyer loses a ping-pong game to Hurley and now can't make up any nicknames for people for a week. I have to say, I laughed out loud when he called Sun and Jin "Crouching Tiger" and "Hidden Dragon."

Dinner & A Concert: Lorie Line An Intimiate Piano

Stir up this tender chicken and pasta entree in a hurry. It features spinach fettuccine for a colorful change of pace.

Fettuccine with Chicken

8 oz spinach fettuccine
Chicken breasts, cubed (I used the precooked Tyson)
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
3/4 up Parmesan cheese
Garlic powder
Pepper

Cook fettuccine according to package directions. To save time, I use the precooked Tyson chicken. Drain fettuccine; add chicken, milk and butter. Stir in cheese topping, garlic powder and pepper; heat through.

Lorie Line - Intimate Piano Evening Series

Last night the State Theater in Kalamazoo was the setting for a small intimate setting for Lorie Line's lush piano music - similar stylistically to George Winston and Jim Brickman. Mary and I are fans of Lorie's since we are both pianists and so were about 125 other folks who attended this event.

Photo: Mary, Lorie Line, and Me

Lorie played with a small group of her favorite musicians for a more "unplugged" acoustic setting. It was high interaction on the stage. She made you feel like you were listening to her and her fellow musicians in her living room with all the story telling and relaxing atmosphere.

She played favorites from over the years, and showcased her original compositions and favorite standards, and shared the personal stories that go behind the music. She has recorded 26 albums to date, her music drawing on influences such as baroque, blues, jazz and soul.

Even though I have been playing the piano going on nearly 38 years, I was in awe at her talent and ease in which she played. She is truly a gifted artist. Plus, she was extremely warm and friendly when I spoke to her while getting her authograph and picture taken.

Prison Break: Sweet Caroline

Man, this might just be the best episode of the season! We finally got to hear what was on that tape.

President Reynolds had sex with her brother! Incest! The ultimate twist!

Holy smokes, I didn’t see that one coming. It wasn’t a surprise – it was a shocker. It was even more effective because it was part of a great scene with Michael, Mr. Kim and the President. It’s not often these three intermingle, and their back and forth made the reveal that much more intense. When Kim swooped in at the last second and told Caroline that he too knew her secrets, it sent the series off in a completely different direction.

On a side note, I was wondering why Lincoln’s buddy brought him a six pack. But when Reynolds resigned, and Linc screamed and threw the bottle against the wall, I had my answer.

As I suspected, C-Note survived his suicide attempt, which really isn’t that surprising considering he tried to hang himself in the middle of the day with the guards milling about. His storyline has shifted now that the other agent is trying to nail Mahone.

Speaking of Mahone – he is truly brilliant. I love the whole I’m-so-strung-out-on-tranquilizers act, which led to Sarah’s fake escape. I thought it was pretty silly that she didn’t mention the Mahone encounter to Michael when the two spoke on the phone, but she did just learn about the pardons, so maybe her mind was elsewhere.

Did T-Bag leave his brain in Alabama? Instead of just hiding out and waiting for Bellick to grab his bag and leave, T-Bag infiltrates the baggage area and gets into a fistfight with an airport employee. Seriously, all he had to do was go to the bathroom, wait a few minutes, and he’d be able to pick up his five million with no problem. However, from a plot perspective, it’s understandable. The money had to be put back into play, but I just hate it when smart characters do dumb things. The writers came up with that awesome incest twist, but couldn’t figure out a better way for T-Bag to lose his bag?

Anyway, Sucre and Bellick are going to go after the money, but they don’t know what name T-Bag was flying under or what the bag looks like, so they’ll run into a problem at the airport. Of course, Sucre can’t be seen there, so Bellick will be flying solo, so to speak.

Finally, I have no idea why Scary Corporate Guy would have a file folder labeled “SONA”? What the does that mean?