Christian Busath absolutely knew it for certain when he saw "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" for the first time.

"I told myself I had to be in this show, and I have to be William Barfee," he told me in a phone interview. (He grew up in the Elk Grove area, where he was spending a two-week break.) Busath finally got his big theatrical break when he was cast in the national touring production of the musical.

I write about "Spelling Bee" -- and my stint as a guest "celebrity speller" at the Wednesday evening performance at the Saroyan Theatre -- in my column in Sunday's Spotlight section. Here's some more of my interview with Busath:

Question: What connection do you feel with your character?

Answer: When I was his age, I was definitely the short, overweight awkward kid trying to fit in. For William, spelling is the way he fits in. For me, the way I fit in was theater. I used comedy to gain acceptance.

In Sunday's Spotlight section I snagged a question-and-answer interview with tenor great Marcello Giordani, who is singing for Fresno Grand Opera in a concert tribute to Luciano Pavarotti. (We ended up doing an email exchange between Fresno and Sicily, something that doesn't happen every day for me.) The concert is Saturday, June 6, at the Saroyan Theatre.

For those who can't wait, Fresno Grand Opera general director Ron Eichman passed along the evening's concert program.

Susan update: In the lightning-quick world of celebrity-slash-Internet fame in which we live, stories move quickly. That's certainly the case with Susan Boyle of "Britain's Got Talent" fame, who in the space of a few short weeks has gone from valiant underdog to overcovered media sensation to cursing diva to beleaguered basket case. (Well, at least that's what the British tabloids would have us believe. One has dubbed her "Ramboyle." I suspect that she's just a very nice lady under a lot of pressure.) Now People magazine is reporting that Boyle has gone into hiding in advance of her Saturday night appearance on the show. Judge Piers Morgan is suggesting that she might drop out, but others say she'll come through.

Bye-bye Gottschalks: Can you ever have too many Macys stores? Probably not, but Fresno will soon have another, this one at River Park. Nordstrom fans are sad.

Big storm: Mac, the dog who lives next door to me, howled at the thunder and lightning last night. I didn't like it, either. Maybe I'm part dog. Fresnobee.com is collecting reader pics of the storm. You can upload your pics here.

We all know the Fresno Metropolitan Museum is undergoing tough times. In fact, there's a pivotal deadline approaching. On June 1, the Met faces a bank deadline on which it has to repay the $15 million loan guaranteed by the city or possibly have its building and land foreclosed upon by the taxpayers. That's right, in less than 96 hours, Fresno could have a CITY-owned museum. And at this point, no one is sure what that museum will look like -- or what its vision will be. It's safe to say that the Met's senior executives are madly working at this very minute to form a business plan that is acceptable to the city. They say they haven't yet been able to share that vision because it's still being formulated.

Lots of turmoil, right? What I'm curious about as these frenzied hours tick down is what people in the community think. I know there are some who have never agreed with the museum's broad mission. They thought the focus on art, science and history hopelessly vague. Other folks I've talked to are mightily annoyed by how much money had to be spent fixing up a problematic old building that still does not feel like a comprehensive museum space.

So, as we at The Bee follow the bizarre event of a city suddenly finding itself the likely owner of a museum, I'd like to hear from regular folks. What do you think the Fresno Metropolitan Museum should be? What kinds of exhibitions should it feature? Should it drop any of the focus areas in its name -- art, science or history? Should the current museum administration and board retain its decision-making powers, or should the city bring in someone else?

Be sure to comment with a valid email address if you want your views represented in any resulting stories.

In Friday's 7 section I have a condensed interview with Dede Nibler, music director of the senior show "New Wrinkles," which opens Friday at Fresno City College. Here's the entire interview:

Question: As music director and vocal coach, what have these past weeks been like for you?

Answer: I am available to the cast for special vocal sessions which, I hope, give them confidence and polish. I also work with the large and small choruses at the start of every rehearsal. Beyond that, I am part of the New Wrinkles Band - I play the bass part on many of the songs.

How many years have you been involved in "New Wrinkles"?

Director Fred Bologna and I started together in 2004 - this is our 6th season.

How does the show come together? Do people submit acts or routines? When did that process start?

The show began with the theme announcement, which is done at the show evaluation and cast party in June, the day after our last performance. By the end of August, individuals had responded to a query for acts, songs, dance routines, etc. Fred and I met more than several times to study the submitted acts and place them in a tentative order. We organized the show to fit the submissions. Participants received a letter telling them of their act in the show in October. Chorus music and learning CDs were handed out at a chorus rehearsal the end of October.

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Pictured: Dede Nibler, left, Geno Ventura and Cynthia Dallas appear in "New Wrinkles." (Bee photo by Craig Kohlruss)

On Friday night I'll be at the opening of "New Wrinkles." Some Beehive readers might wonder why I spend so much time writing about this annual senior variety show. I'll give you a good reason: It's a genuine phenomenon in the Fresno area. We're talking about 17 shows -- starting Friday night and continuing through June 14 -- at the Fresno City College theater. And I'm betting that many of those performances will be sold out.

Until I saw "New Wrinkles" in person, in fact, I was pretty skeptical. How much fun could it be watching a bunch of 55-plus performers doing their thing on stage? But when I finally caught a performance, I understood. We're talking about striking a vein of pure performing-arts joy. Sure, there will always be some in the 75-member cast who might not be ready for Broadway. A strong voice might have faltered just slightly over the years; a toned leg might not leap quite as high as it once could. But there's such commitment, such enthusiasm, such exaltation in living that it's positively infectious. I wouldn't miss it.

This year's theme is "Love and Marriage: For Better, For Worse," and for the first-act finale the women in the cast gather for a massive wedding party.

I love reading New York Times trend pieces -- those authoritative, often slightly smug stories, usually set in hipper parts of the country, that practically shout "we knew about this before you did!" -- but I'm never sure just how accurate they are. The Times came out with a big trend piece yesterday about how hugging has become the high-school rage. Not hugging in a romantic sense, but in just saying hello or goodbye. Sarah Kershaw writes:

Girls embracing girls, girls embracing boys, boys embracing each other -- the hug has become the favorite social greeting when teenagers meet or part these days. Teachers joke about "one hour" and "six hour" hugs, saying that students hug one another all day as if they were separated for the entire summer.

One sociologist says the teenage embrace is more a reflection of the overall evolution of the American greeting, which has become less formal since the 1970s.

Interesting stuff, although as a non-teenager, I have no idea whether it's really happening in real life or if the Times just stumbled across a few affectionate schools. What say you, younger Beehive readers? Are you going hug crazy? What's next, everyone running around like the French kissing each other on the cheek?

Photo credit: New York Times

Last week I had a cultural arts/tourism conference to speak at in Oakhurst, and on the way back I did one of my favorite things while in the area: stop at Timberline Gallery. This cooperative gallery is conveniently located on Highway 41 and boasts a strong lineup of mountain artists, including many of the big names that you'll find on the popular annual Sierra Art Trails open-house tour.

I bumped into local watercolorist Ronna Adler doing her gallery-sitting chores for Timberline, and she told me about the cooperative's newest idea: themed shows. The current show's theme is "Being Green," and a small room at the back of the gallery has been dedicated to whatever the member artists wanted to come up with.

I really liked this show, which runs through May 31. It feels fresh, spontaneous and fun. Some of the artists took the theme literally in terms of color. Others opted for views of nature. Though most of the individual pieces aren't purposely light-hearted, there's certainly a sense of whimsy at work here. I think it's a great idea to have a loose theme for a group show. The concept sparks creativity on the part of the artists and cohesion for the viewer. Upcoming theme shows are "Faces" (June/July) and "Birds of a Feather" (August/September).

There's no more "American Idol" to obsess over (or kick around) this week, but you can always try to substitute the drama of the Susan Boyle phenomenon. The New York Times has a fascinating piece on how difficult it's been for the promoters involved with Boyle's meteoric pop-culture rise to actually make that potential stardom pay off. They're working hard on it, but Brian Stelter writes that "the complexities of TV production are curbing the Web possibilities." It's one thing to get jillions of YouTube hits, it seems, but another to actually make money off becoming an overnight Web sensation:

She has already won a popularity contest on YouTube, where videos of her performances in April have been viewed an astounding 220 million times. But until now, her runaway Web success has made little money for the program's producers or distributors.

This made me stop and think: Would I actually buy a Susan Boyle album? I'm not sure. Her singing made for a highly emotional YouTube moment, but I can't decide if it's iPod worthy.

By the way: Here's the YouTube video of Boyle's semi-final performance singing "Memory" on "Britain's Got Talent."

In terms of a box-office matchup, I don't think the outcome was ever in doubt: "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Museum" soundly beat "Terminator Salvation" (here's Rick's review) over the Memorial Day weekend with estimated tallies of $70 million vs. $54 million. I went out of town and didn't get to see either movie. Did I miss anything?

I like "The Wiz." I don't think it's the most polished show of the past year from Good Company because of some weaknesses in vocals and choreography, but this nicely directed production has a heart big enough to be divided amongst an army of appreciative Tin Men. The show has a warm, goofy sensibility that meshes nicely with the 1970s-tripped-out setting of this "Wizard of Oz" adaptation. I've seen shows set in the '70s that felt more like museum pieces than anything else -- look at those weird clothes people used to wear! -- but this "Wiz" doesn't gawk. It gently celebrates the flash and sparkle of an era.

When the original musical opened in the 1970s, it was one of the first shows on Broadway to feature an all-black cast. More folks today are probably familiar with the 1978 movie, in which an obviously too-old Diana Ross snagged the leading role of Dorothy, than the stage musical.

In terms of ethnicity, director Dan Pessano has opted for a more widely diverse approach to casting, and the impact is wonderful. Many of the leading roles are played by black actors, as it should be, but the overall impact is decidedly rainbow. It's a nice, bright, inclusive feeling.

News reports including the L.A. Times say that the California Supreme Court will issue its long-awaited decision on the validity of the state's same-sex marriage ban on Tuesday. That means that the long-planned "Meet in the Middle 4 Equality," the statewide gay rights rally scheduled to be held at Fresno City Hall on the Saturday following the Supreme Court ruling, will be coming May 30. The Meet in the Middle Web site has all the details.

Logistically speaking, I'm sure it's been a challenge to plan a statewide rally without knowing its exact date. I'm guessing that event organizers are relieved that it didn't end up on Memorial Day weekend. (Just think of the competition for hotels with Fresno State's commencement ceremonies.) This gives organizers a little more time to nail down the details on what they're hoping is a mammoth turnout.

(Thanks for the Beehive tip this morning, Stephen.)

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around business reporter Bethany Clough's report in today's Bee that women's clothing retailer Forever 21 has its eye on a bunch of dying Gottschalks stores, including Fashion Fair and River Park. Isn't that like, say, a store the size of Radio Shack expanding into Circuit City? Are we really going to get stuck with THREE floors of bright-and-boppy mall-girl fashions targeted at "Twilight" fans? (Actually, Forever 21 says it'll add men's clothes as well.)

OK, I'll admit I've never been in Forever 21 except to take a shortcut through to the parking lot, but what I saw certainly didn't seem to fit the general-interest department-store bill to me. Three floors, two big Fresno stores? Something tells me that all those loyal little old lady-Gottschalks costumers who have been shopping there since 1684 or whenever the venerable chain was founded aren't going to find much to buy in its replacement.

Update 1 p.m.: Here's Bethany's news blog post on the subject.

Update 4 p.m.: Wow, stuff happens fast in the retail world. Bethany reports online that Forever 21 already has dropped its River Park plans. (Did you get to take a lunch break today, Bethany? What do you think will break by the end of the day -- that Sak's Fifth Avenue is moving to Fresno?)

A friend sent me a text message during the final five minutes of Fox TV's sneak peek last week of "Glee," an upcoming series about high school show choirs: "It's like they tailored a show just for you. Could only be a better match if they were in band."

My friend was right. I warmed to "Glee" right away, and not just because I use Tivo to record "Family Guy" so I can watch the production numbers more than one time. Cute, charming and amusingly adept at replicating what the requisite Iron Lady cheerleading-squad adviser on the show calls the "high school caste system," the first episode sparkled with silly promise.

It's great to see Matthew Morrison, who plays the idealistic glee-club adviser, make an endearing transition from Broadway to TV. (He played the original Link in "Hairspray" and Fabricio in "The Light in the Piazza." And it was fun to watch Clovis East High School grad Chris Colfer, a former member of the Good Company Players Junior Company, do his thing. I'm sure that his character will get more screen time and a better story arc in upcoming episodes.

My prediction: Enrollment in show choirs across the country will explode. Now if we can only get a good TV series set amongst the steamy intrigue and heart-pounding drama of high-school marching band.

Did anyone else watch "Glee"? Any thoughts?

Over at The Bee's opinion blog, my colleagues aren't getting much more than a gurgle of interest about the statewide election. (And that's from a target demographic supposedly obsessed with the issue.) Fresnobee.com reports that turnout so far is "very low." Here on the Beehive, we're much more interested in the news that Kirk Vartanian is the newest investor in Granite Park and that Kim Kardashian will be making a $100 a ticket appearance there. (Sure, our state government's budget is in such grim shape that we'll soon be paying police officers in apples, but at least Fresno will have 175 different kinds of vodka!)

I'm certainly not excited about this election, but I believe it's my duty to vote, so I will. A word of warning: It seems that some polling places have changed from their usual locations. I didn't realize this until I used fresnobee.com's handy polling place finder and learned that I'm going to have to hop in the car to get to Clinton & Fruit rather than do my traditional Tower District walk-and-vote thing. So check ahead.

Multiple choice: What is being depicted in the following photo?

A) a peculiar torture found in the Greek underworld, along the lines of Sisyphus perpetually rolling a stone uphill, this one involving three men with the world's most egregious body odor being strapped for an eternity to vats of industrial-strength deodorant but never getting to use it.

B) a footwear style soon to be favored by Kathy Mahan, our resident shoe addict, whose dream is to own the highest heel she can possibly find.

C) what the "Harry Potter" cast, wands in hand, will look like by the time the final movie comes out. (Hermione hasn't been aging well.)

D) a promo shot for the national touring company of "Stomp," which comes Tuesday to the Saroyan Theatre for a two-night run.

If you picked "Stomp," you're right, of course. This show, which uses trashcans, tea chests, plastic bags, plungers, boots, and hubcaps to fill the stage with compelling and infectious rhythms, just keeps going. After recently celebrating its 12th anniversary, "Stomp" continues with two productions overseas (a permanent London company and a European tour), a permanent New York gig and a national tour.

I can recall seeing "Stomp" in Fresno twice, which is my limit, I think. Yes, the show is clever, and the performers are adept and crowd-savvy, but it's hard for me to keep going back to a production that doesn't have a storyline. But "Stomp" obviously keeps drawing in fans. (And more power to them.) For any "Stomp" experts who go to one of the Fresno shows, let me know if the production has changed at all in 12 years. Have any routines been added or replaced?

Details: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday / Saroyan Theatre, 700 M St. / 559-485-TIXS, www.ticketmaster.com / $25-$42.50

In my May 17 Sunday Spotlight column I write about Barbara Van Arnam's new exhibit at Gallery 25. "Sacred Wisdom: African Myths and Folk Tales," which runs through May 31, features 20 paintings by Van Arnam that she prepared for a show for a gallery in Ghana. That exhibit fell through, unfortunately, but she was able to regroup the show for Gallery 25.

An interesting (and unavoidable) fact about the show is that Van Arnam, an accomplished artist, is of Nordic descent, which means that she's a white artist painting African themes. (In fact, one of the stories that she depicts, a creation myth titled "Bumba Creates the World," shown above, includes one white figure spewed out by the creator along with eight blacks. I thought it made an apt metaphor for the show.) I wasn't sure what to make of the artist's race. In my column I write:

I'll be honest here. I walked into the show slightly leery of the artist's relationship to the material. Do we really need, I wondered, a show devoted to African art painted by a non-African? Doesn't that suggest an outsider, missionary-zeal, colonizing mentality? All sorts of gentle multicultural alarm bells started ringing inside my head. But as I immersed myself in Van Arnam's vision, I found myself rapidly appreciating her commitment and connection to the material.

Looking back, I admit that I struggled a little with this show. Was my initial reaction of being wary in the interest of diversity too narrow-minded? Or did my ensuing positive reaction mean that I fell too easily for the quality of the art and not the context? Or, did I let the issue of race overwhelm a discussion that should have been colorblind in the first place? In answer to all these questions: I'm still not sure. I do know that I haven't heard from anyone offended. Two things are for sure: 1) I like art that makes me think, and this certainly fits the bill; and 2) I wanted to share some more works from the show in color.

One thing you've gotta love about Catholics is the seriousness with which they dish out ritual. All that pomp and ceremony, all the majesty of Vatican City, all that gorgeous art and those golden treasures -- it's a visual and dramatic feast. Movie directors especially love the Catholic theme. Can you imagine if Ron Howard had been forced to set his "Angels & Demons" at the national headquarters of the Assemblies of God, say, or in the world's biggest Presbyterian social hall? Just think of Tom Hanks running from one bland building to another doused in fluorescent lights, trotting past 3rd grade bulletin-board depictions of burning bushes, bumping into storage racks filled with folding metal chairs, pausing every now and then in slightly musty linoleum-lined hallways adorned with fliers begging people to join the choir. Instead of the Illuminati, the shadowy evil group in the narrative would have to be the 7 p.m. Wednesday meeting of Weight Watchers.

Still, as much as I thrill to some good, old-fashioned Catholic-ritual storyboarding, I reached my limit about half an hour into the silly "Angels & Demons." (You can read my less-than-appreciative Bee review here.) Even all those gorgeous shots of the big group of blood-red-robed cardinals, set against the murky Vatican backdrops like exotic game birds, got tiring after a while. Yes, Catholic iconography often adds a powerful punch to a movie -- from the crisp, retro repression of a "Doubt" to the head-spinning fright of an "Exorcist" -- but in "Angels" it just sort of floods over you until you're gasping for air.

Anyway, "Angels & Demons" managed to confess to $48 million at the box office to land the No. 1 spot. (It was not as good as the $77.1 million opening weekend for its parent film, "The Da Vinci Code," however.) Did you see the movie? What do Catholic -- AND non-Catholic -- viewers think?

Mike Oz gave you some great options, and I fall to my knees on a towel and praise the heavens that none of his picks involve 1) parolees; 2) hats; or 3) transmission of the H1N1 virus. Here are a few more weekend suggestions from the arts/culture side of the aisle:

LISTEN TO OPERA IN A MAGNIFICENT CHURCH: The Fresno Grand Opera's annual "Opera on Van Ness" concert features "opera's biggest hits along with the greatest of classical melodies sung by the Fresno Grand Opera Chorus and Soloists." 5 p.m. Sunday, First Congregational Church, 2131 N. Van Ness Blvd. There's a pre-performance Silent auction and reception at 4 p.m. presented in association with the church.

Anyone want to go to Denny's?

It's already Thursday, which means I'm WAY behind on writing this post. Beehiver Blake on Monday attached a nice comment to my unrelated tidbit about Joan Rivers winning "Celebrity Apprentice." (Yep, definitely the most culturally sophisticated thing I wrote all week.) Blake wrote:

I sure thought that article on the Texas town in Sunday's Spotlight section was super cool. (sorry, off-subject, but folks should really dig it out, if they still have yesterday's paper around.)

Thanks, Blake. That would be my Sunday Spotlight column on the peculiar little town of Marfa, Texas, population 2,000, which I visited on my recent vacation. It's a vibrant, bustling arts community that reminded me that you don't have to live in a big city to find an artsy feel.

Anyway, I wanted to share my photo in color of the art installation "Prada, Marfa," above, which ran in a black and white version in the print edition of the paper, plus a few other shots of mine that I took in Marfa. You can find those additional photos after the break.

For all that the success of Hollywood favorite "Slumdog Millionaire" was supposed to do for increased public awareness of poverty in India, it seems that at least one young star of the film is still struggling. The New York Times ArtsBeat blog reports that Mumbai municipal workers on Thursday demolished the home of Azharuddin Mohammed Ismai, shown bottom left in this New York Times photo, one of the young children who starred in the rags-to-riches tale. From the Times:

[Local authorities] said they were following orders to clear illegally built shanties ahead of the monsoon season. Such demolitions are common in Mumbai, which has a chronic housing shortage and where ramshackle dwellings can spring up virtually overnight on sidewalks and other empty scraps of land.

The child star was asleep when a police officer woke him up and told him to leave his family's home, he told The Associated Press in an interview.

What about the idea of these young actors sharing in the wealth after being an integral part of a best-picture winner? The movie's makers have set up trust funds for the young actors that they will have access at age 18. Here's hoping they'll have a place to sleep till then.

And just think about all the money that the studio spent transporting them to the Oscars.

With the anemic comedy "Laughing Stock," Fresno State's theater department does not end its season on a strong note. (The show continues 8 p.m. today-Saturday.) You know you're in trouble when the actors seem to be having more fun than the audience.

I think of it this way: The bar has been set pretty high for hilarious backstage farces. With the top-notch "Noises Offs" and "Moons over Buffalo" of the theater world setting the standard, it's hard to try to break through in the genre with something as middling as "Laughing Stock." Playwright Charles Morey might manage to spark up a few laughs in his portrayal of a struggling New Hampshire summer theater company, but those laughs are pretty much smothered by a lengthy, clunky, overly sentimental script and too much insider humor.

Director Kathleen McKinley does what she can with the material, and her hard-working cast tries to ratchet up the comic intensity. But McKinley's direction seems listless at times, and she can't overcome the sluggishness of the story, in which Morey rather audaciously tries to cram an entire summer-stock-season into the proceedings.

Here's a mid-week treat for theater lovers: a nationally touring version of the well-known show "Greater Tuna" stops in Fresno at the Tower Theatre Wednesday for one night only. One thing that sets this production apart is that it's directed by Ed Howard, one of the original writers of "Tuna," which has played in community theaters across the country and spawned its own set of sequels. Here's an extended version of an interview with actor Jef Holbrook that appears in Tuesday's Life section.

Question: How long have you been touring "Greater Tuna"?

Answer: We've been touring "Greater Tuna" since March of this year. Oddly enough, we actually toured the sequel, "A Tuna Christmas," first. "Christmas" toured from October through December of 2008. Doing the sequel first gave an interesting insight into the characters as they exist in the original. While both shows have a similar structure, we simply know more about each character by the time Christmas happens. Topher [Payne, his fellow cast member in the two-person show] and I both took what we learned about the characters in the second play to inform our work in Greater Tuna. So, I think doing the sequel first gave us a real advantage towards fleshing out the original play.

For those who haven't had an Audra McDonald fix in a while:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Singer Audra McDonald performs at Lincoln Center's 50th anniversary ceremony at Alice Tully Hall in New York on Monday, May 11.

(For those who aren't familiar with Fresno's most famous Broadway/TV star, check out her recording label Web site and her Facebook fan page.)

Whew. I'm still recovering:

Friday: I caught the next to the last performance of Theatre Ventoux's ambitious "Anastasia Trials" at the Severance Theatre. This fascinating and complex play about a radical feminist theater company was well cast by director Lisa Taber and featured some strong performances, including Jessica Rose Knotts, Cindy Freeland, Alissa Cummings and Suzanne Grazyna. There was a lot I liked about the evening, from the play's gentle parody of feminist orthodoxy to its rousing and emotional declaration of sisterhood. But there was clunkiness as well as this backstage drama segued into a sometimes rambling "play within a play" that never quite sharpened its dramatic focus or lived up to its comic potential. I don't think that the play's impact matched playwright Carolyn Gage's ambition, but then again, I'm a man, right? And my name, as local critic, was actually part of the show, as in joking that I wouldn't get it anyway. How's that for inviting the male gaze?

Saturday morning: I helped lead a tour of downtown murals -- based on a Fresno Bee 7 section cover story from last year -- as part of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust "Parties for the Parkway" program. Beloved Beehive alum Felicia Matlosz joined me along with Creative Fresno rep Donovan Byrn and local muralist Ramiro Martinez. (See photo above.) Great fun! Check out a bunch more mural pics after the break. And check out the Parkway's list of upcoming parties. They can be a blast.

Saturday evening: Time for a big, walloping dose of Bruckner, as the Fresno Philharmonic for the first time unleashed the composer's Symphony No. 6 on a local audience. I loved the power of the music, and particularly enjoyed watching the brass strut their stuff. Pianist Orion Weiss was a highlight, too, with his Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor.

Sunday afternoon: I caught the matinee of Fresno State's "Laughing Stock," directed by Kathleen McKinley. The comedy continues 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at the John Wright Theatre. I'll post my review tomorrow. (A preview: It's not favorable, alas.)

Anyone else have a notable weekend?

OK, fess up: How many of us were strung along for a marathon three hours last night waiting to see if Joan Rivers would be the new Celebrity Apprentice?

(Slowly and sheepishly, I raise my hand, all the while insisting that I had my laptop computer busy all night answering emails and organizing photos and reading the latest New York Times stories about the faltering Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. But, hey, let's face it, I'll never get that prime-time chunk of minutes back. I could have driven to San Francisco in the time that NBC took dribbling out the result.)

Rivers beat out poker player Annie Duke, who provided one of the show's moments of high drama when she wished death on her extravagantly preserved opponent. (Rivers' face these days reminds me of a completely renovated boutique hotel.) But the poker player couldn't compete with the tartness of Rivers, whose famous rant about Duke's Las Vegas roots ("I've met your people in Vegas for 40 years and none of them have last names") has already achieved insult immortality.

I'm one of those johnny-come-latelys to this "Celebrity Apprentice" feud -- exactly the kind of viewer that NBC was hoping to snag with its puffed-up, padded-out three-hour event -- so I can't really speak to which of these two women "deserved" to win. What do people think? Should Joan have gotten the prize?

DONALD WRITES:
Kathy, you and I are both big "Star Trek" fans, and I know that both of us found a lot to like about the new movie. But there are two major things that I really hate about this version of "Star Trek." And I'm ready to tangle with you about them. Both involve aspects of the plot that I don't want to give away to people who haven't yet made it out to see the movie (but, come on, what kind of "fan" could you be if it's Friday afternoon and you still haven't caught a screening), so consider this a spoiler alert, readers. (REPEAT: SPOILER ALERT.) We'll discuss the specifics after the break. How does that sound, Kathy?

KATHY WRITES:
Donald, you may be geekier than me, since you told me you once owned a phaser (snicker, snicker), and maybe that is why you are being so nit-picky about the plot. What's not to like, J.J. Abrams and the writers created a clean slate with this action-packed, exhilarating drama?

The Fresno Metropolitan Museum on Thursday awarded "mini grants" ranging from $500-$1,000 to nine Fresno County science teachers. Cheers to the folks who are on the front lines every day educating our kids. Here's the smiling bunch:

Back Row (left to right): Stephen Bock, Co-Director Fresno County Office of Education; Mary Funk, Burrel Elementary School; Reed Schneider, Sierra Outdoor School; David Greenmeyer, Computech Middle School; Steven Harness, Kingsburg High School; Paul Gottlieb, President of the Board of Trustees, Fresno Metropolitan Museum. Front Row (left to right): Betsy Reeves, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Fresno Metropolitan Museum; Stephanie Chavez, Washington Union High School; Paul Magill, Fowler High School; Kimberly Calderon, John Sutter Middle School; Julie Hamilton, Buchanan High School; Katrina Williams, Harvest Elementary School.

After the break: Descriptions of the winning grants. Plus: a film at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence, an obit of artist Dennis Gallagher, an Ansel Adams display at Fresno State's new library, and is there a chance for a direct Amtrak train from Fresno to San Francisco?

In Friday's 7 section I have an interview with Fresno Philharmonic conductor Theodore Kuchar about this weekend's concert with pianist Orion Weiss, the final Saroyan performance of the season. (There's also a Pops concert coming up in June at Woodward Park.) There's no doubt it's been a challenging economic season for the Fresno Philharmonic -- and for all orchestras in the U.S. I talked to Phil executive director Don Reinhold for both a financial and artistic recap.

How would you assess this past season?

Artistically, it's been a home run. One great concert after another. It's hard to pick out any one highlight, but certainly Sarah Chang's performance is memorable, and the performance of Elgar's Violin Concerto that Ted and Corey Cerovsek teamed up on last month was a brilliant performance of a work that's not as well known by the public. Same goes for the Walton Symphony we heard in November.

One would wish that more people would recognize and support this artistic gem in Fresno. Therein lies the rub of the financial condition. In Fresno, like elsewhere, the cultural non-profits tend to live on the edge, beloved and supported by a relatively small group of people. There are still two months left in our fiscal year, so the verdict is still out; but we're not across home plate yet, so to speak.

It's come to this: Fresno Bee readers have been reduced to dueling cat allegories on the Letters to the Editor page. On one side: a "totally clueless" and lazy black cat named Obama. On the other: a cat named Dubya that "disregards the expert advice on what's happening in the next block" and listens to his friends the "neocats." (I am not making this up.)

I often rely on local blog Gustav's Groupie to point out some of the more inane letters published in the pages of The Bee, and the highly readable Adam alerted me to the weirdness of the first letter, which I'll print in its entirety after the break. Was the writer going for a strained racial metaphor here? When he muses that the only way to stop a cat is to shoot it, which isn't permissible within city limits, is he slyly lamenting that killing our political leaders is illegal? Or are we just reading too much into tortured prose?

Then, in Thursday's paper, Rodney Austin responded with his "Dubya" set-up, which I'll also reprint after the break. His literary feline creation, whose color is not specified, is stubborn, thick-headed, mean and likes to torture mice.

I guess politics really is a catfight.

Photo credit: Piccat.com

UPDATE 2 p.m. Friday: We have our winners: Elizabeth Wettstead and Leann Hobbs.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: I'm still mopping up the free ticket giveaway for the Fresno Philharmonic's last concert series of the season this weekend. (A reminder: You can't enter one of these giveaways more than one time using the same I.P. address. I had to disqualify some entries.) Now it's time for another quick giveaway: I have two pairs of tickets to give to Friday night's performance of Clovis North's production of "Wonderful Town." I'll give one pair of tickets to the FIRST commenter to this post and one pair to the SECOND commenter to this post. So hop on it.

No multiple entries are allowed. We won't publish comments until we have the winners. Tickets will be available at Will Call. And remember that you aren't eligible if you've won something on the Beehive in the last 30 days. Rules are on the jump.

UPDATE 3 p.m. Thursday: OK, we have our two winners sorted out: Margo Serrano and Stephanie Hower. Note that there were a couple of emails I received that were lost in the blogging software, so the winners don't correspond with the published comments.

UPDATE 2 p.m. Wednesday: We are SO close to having an eighth commenter in this giveaway. Just wanted you all to know.

Let's celebrate the Fresno Philharmonic's last weekend of concerts for the season (featuring pianist Orion Weiss) by giving away FIVE free tickets to Beehive readers. These "anytime" tickets are good for best available seats at either the 8 p.m. Saturday or 2:30 p.m. Sunday performances. (You can redeem them an hour before showtime at the Saroyan Theatre box office.) Along with Weiss as guest artist, you'll get the chance to hear the orchestra play the monumental Bruckner Sixth Symphony.

I'll give TWO of the tickets to the SECOND commenter to this post, and I'll give THREE tickets to the EIGHTH commenter. No multiple entries are allowed. We won't publish comments until we have the winners. You'll need to come down and pick up the tickets at The Bee. And remember that you aren't eligible if you've won something on the Beehive in the last 30 days. Rules are on the jump.

Multiple-choice quiz time: How did Donald spend two weeks of vacation?

A) He fell into the Beehive's million-word post about swine flu and spent nine days struggling to get out. And he didn't even have a face mask.

B) He joined an international ammunition smuggling ring and brought back 200,000 rounds to Fresno so that bullet-deprived residents can feel safer with Barack Obama in the White House.

C) He relaxed on his private island in French Polynesia, where he invited some of the great thinkers of the time (Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Joel McHale) for nightly salons discussing issues of the day.

D) He flew to Texas and drove 2,000 miles visiting family and friends, eating barbecue and Whataburgers, photographing wildflowers, ogling inflatable jeans atop El Paso buildings and hanging out with a donkey named Jake.

Did you vote for the Lone Star State option? Good.

Anyway, I'm back, and I'll first put my theater-geek hat on and direct you to this morning's Tony Award nominations, in which "Billy Elliot" leads with a whopping 15. (For those of you who already have seen "Billy" in London or on Broadway, I'm very, very jealous.) As far as I can tell, there are no Fresno-connected names on the list -- I'd been hoping that Heidi Blickenstaff might have been a long-shot for featured actress in a musical -- but if anyone knows of one, let me know. Heidi's show, "[title of show]" did get one nod: for best book of a musical.