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2009 Valentine Theatre Gala

Friday, Oct. 2 | 7:00 p.m.

Celebrate and Support the Valentine

Reception, Dinner, Dancing & Performance: $175

Reception, Dinner, Dancing, Performance & Four Beverage Tickets: $225

A portion of the ticket price is tax deductible.

Presenting SponsorFor tickets call the Valentine box office or order online:

419-242-2787 or www.valentinetheatre.com Media Sponsor

THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO t SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2009 SECTION G, PAGE 3

WHAT TOLEDO WATCHESHere, broken down by categories, are the television shows that viewers in the Toledo area enjoy themost, based on program averages from the Nielsen Co.’s May 2009 ratings period.

THE BLADE

SOURCE: The Nielsen Co., based on program averages of Toledo-area TV viewers 2 and older during the May 2009 ratings period

Top Prime-time Animated Shows on Fox:1. Family Guy2. The Simpsons3. King of the Hill4. American Dad5. Sit Down, Shut Up

Top “Judge” Shows:1. Judge Judy2. The People’s Court3. Judge Joe Brown4. Judge Alex5. Divorce Court

Top Non-Prime-time Game Shows:1. Jeopardy! 2. Wheel of Fortune3. The Price is Right4. Who Wants to be a Millionaire5. Deal or No Deal

Top Syndicated Entertainment Programs:1. Entertainment Tonight2. The Insider3. TMZ on TV

Top Sitcoms:1. Two and a Half Men, CBS2. The Big Bang Theory, CBS3. Rules of Engagement, CBS4. Surviving Suburbia, ABC 5. How I Met Your Mother, CBS 6. Ugly Betty, ABC 7. The Office, NBC 8. Gary Unmarried, CBS 9. According to Jim, ABC 10. The New Adventures of Old Christine, CBS

Top Daytime Talk Shows:1. Live with Regis and Kelly 2. The Oprah Winfrey Show 3. The View4. Dr. Phil5. Ellen 6. Rachel Ray7. Maury8. The Tyra Banks Show9. Martha (tie)9. The Bonnie Hunt Show (tie)

Top Daytime Soap Operas:1. The Young and the Restless, CBS2. The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS3. As the World Turns, CBS4. The Guiding Light, CBS5. One Life to Live, ABC (tie)5. General Hospital, ABC (tie)5. Days of Our Lives, NBC (tie)8. All My Children, ABC9. Doctors, NBC

Top Late-Night Network Programming:1. Late Show with David Letterman, CBS2. ABC News Nightline, ABC3. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC 4. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, CBS5. Jimmy Kimmel Live! ABC

Top Network Evening News Shows:1. ABC World News Now with Charles Gibson2. CBS Evening News with Katie Couric3. NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams4. NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (PBS)

Top Network Morning Shows:1. Good Morning America, ABC2. The Early Show, CBS3. Today, NBC

Demi Lovato targets kids with upbeat, peppy sound

HERE WE GO AGAINDemi Lovato (Hollywood)

She’s only 16, but Lovato already has scored signifi -cant success on TV (Disney’s Sonny With A

Chance), movies (Camp Rock), and music (her fi rst disc, “Don’t Forget” has sold more than 400,000 copies).

It’s easy, based upon her sec-ond release, to hear why she’s sold so many records. She co-writes many of the songs (with others, including Nick Jonas and John Mayer) that are tirelessly upbeat (in tone if not always in lyric), peppy, poppy, and perfect for the teen/tween market.

There are hummable melodies and arrangements that add a spikier rock edge to some tracks, and the whole package is totally professional.

The fi rst single, the title track, encapsulates the disc’s tone: A lyric about a bad boy she can’t let go, punchy rhythm, crunchy guitar, and a sing-along-in-the-car chorus.

But the disc isn’t entirely one-dimensional. There’s a pun-kier sound to “Quiet,” and Lo-vato takes on a whole new vocal timbre — jazzier, raspier — on “Every Time You Lie” (if this is a new direction for her, it’s worth taking further).

So what’s the deal with Demi? Her music is competent and energetic. The songs are OK. So are her vocals. Kids will probably love it. And their parents prob-ably won’t hate it.

— RICHARD PATON

CAN’T TAME A WILDCAT Dallas Moore (SOL Records)

This is outlaw country at its in-your-face best. The gruff-voiced band namesake sounds a lot like early Hank Williams, Jr., with a

hefty serving of Memphis blues on the side. The nine tunes, six of which were written by

Moore, are all hard-rocking with equally hard lyrics that get straight to the point.

The six musicians that make up the band exude southern rock and a sassy sort of country

that seems best suited for rowdy roadhouses. It’s the sort of image created by outlaw pioneer Way-lon Jennings and kept alive on the fringes of mainstream coun-try for fi ve decades or so.

What makes this group worth a listen is the quality of the mu-sic, which is far better than most artists who are selling a similar outlaw image.

The lead vocals sound appro-priately rough and tough, while the backup instrumental work is impeccable and often exciting. There’s not a weak track on the disc, and at a tad under 35 min-utes it leaves you wanting more.

— KEN ROSENBAUM

POLLOCKJurgen Friedrich (Pirouet Records)

He doesn’t have the intensity or technique of Keith Jarrett, not

that more than one or two oth-er jazz pianists on the planet do to begin with.

But German Jurgen Fried-

rich, a professor of composition and arrangement at the College of Music in Manheim, Germany, has put out a disc worthy of its metaphor; the title is a tribute to Jackson Pollock, the American painter who became famous for abstract paintings that evolved as paint dripped or was tossed about from his brush.

Friedrich’s trio, which includes Americans John Hebert on bass and Tony Moreno on drums, has put an abstract sound on a mu-sical canvas, one with the kind of improvisation that rekindles memories of great things Jarrett has done with his trio.

Friedrich’s trio does that while also remaining loosely within the structure of mostly original compositions. The one cover they tackle and quite admirably at that is “Round Midnight,” a standard by one of the most avant garde pia-nists and improv jazz masters of all time, the late Thelonious Monk.

“Pollock” isn’t a brilliant al-bum. But it’s a mind-bender worth exploring, especially for its lovely, unpredictable nuances.

— TOM HENRY

081609_RP5_SUN__G3 1 8/14/2009, 21:57:34 PM