BTB Advertiser and good friends of the Blog the Tin Theater will be holding its first-ever Comedy and Magic show on Saturday, June 18th starting at 10:00 p.m.

Tickets are $15 per person, and can be purchased at the Tin Room Bar or Tin Theater in advance from bartenders, as well as on the night of the show.

The Tin Theater is located at 923 SW 152nd Street in Olde Burien, just west of the Tin Room Bar. Phone: (206) 242-8040.

Here’s the lineup for this night of humor and magic:

• Matt Baker – seen on Last Comic Standing and Americas Got Talent: www.mattbakercomedy.com
• Duane Goad – Voted Best Comedian in Washington 2010: www.best5.com/duane-goad/biz/495893
• Louie Foxx – Voted Best Close-up Magician in Minnesota, took 2nd place in Seattle Cabaret Contest: www.louiefoxx.com
• Mary-Lou Gamba – ‘Friend’ her on Facebook here.

Here are some videos of the stars of this show:

Matt Baker:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Duane Goad:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Louie Foxx:

Click here to view the embedded video.

by Rachel M. Lusby

Fraught with sadness and anger, Keasha Beard plummeted into a deep depression for over two years.

Now in her early 20s, Beard is back on her feet with a smile on her face. She has created her own destiny by way of “The K. Beard Experience,” a spoken word poetry show of enormous subject variety which incorporates story-telling, poetry and hip hop rhythm.

Starting at the beginning, Beard grew up, as she describes, “basically poor.” She lived with her father, who was rarely home, and most often had to take care of herself; sometimes even having to solicit the neighbors for cash to go get something to eat from the 7-11.

One thing Beard did have that was all her own, was basketball, and she was extraordinary at it.

“I grew up alone,” says Beard, “and I knew that basketball was the only way out of Seattle, so I put my all into the game.”

Beard used basketball as a means of escape from the trials of her young life.

By the time she reached high school, she was considered one of the best point guards in the state of Washington. She secured an athletic scholarship to New Mexico State University, was written about in High School Sports Magazine, and had a role in the acclaimed documentary “The Heart of the Game.”

Beard injured herself in high school, severely damaging her leg. She had surgery to fix the problem, however it did not work and her leg ended up healing at a 45 degree angle. She attempted to play basketball for New Mexico State, but as she says she “ended up being on the injured reserve list” for the entire season.

The pain from all the pressure on her leg was unbearable, and she had to give it up. Doctors were telling her if she did not stop playing basketball, by the time she was 40 she would be unable to walk.

This is where she slipped into the dark hole of depression. She says she felt sad and angry and had no way to deal with it. Growing up, when she was dealing with difficult issues she would just go play basketball and not have to think about it. Now, she had to face things head on; her outlet no longer available to her.

After leaving college she returned home to live with her grandparents. She humorously describes in her show the rules laid out before her by her grandmother. “My grandmother told me I either had to go to school or get a job,” says Beard.
In the meantime, life was getting harder. “I wanted to die,” states Beard plain and simply.

And she tried to do just that.

“I was so far gone that I tried to commit suicide and the only reason why I’m alive today is because of my grandmother, who found me and rushed me to the hospital.”

Beard had gone into the bathroom and swallowed half a bottle of Aleve.

In her piece entitled “Priceless” Beard describes this event. She begins by talking about family.

“I don’t think people appreciate their families enough,” she says.

In great detail, Beard discusses how although dysfunction ran rapid through her family, they are still the most important aspect of her life. She has a brother she claims has “been to juvy more than anyone she knows,” and an uncle who has been in and out of prison. Her mother always lived far away, and her father was rarely around.

Despite all this, however, Beard says she loves her family simply because no matter what she may do, they will always be right there for her.

“You’ll eventually have to go home,” she says.

One of her uncle, says Beard, has the “greatest quote.” He says “you can love your family, but you don’t gotta like ‘em.” Beard laughs as she says this, and attests to its truth.

Beard was put into therapy after her suicide attempt. She saw several different therapists who put her on several different types of antidepressants; none, she says, worked at all.

“One of those drugs had me seeing things!” Beard exclaimed.

It was not until she saw the “old man” therapist that she began to come up. He had her keep a journal of her daily activities or simply what she was thinking; whether she wrote in prose or poetry did not matter.

“I just snapped awake,” says Beard.

This is where the change began. Like many others, Beard had lost her job and was having a nightmare of a time finding a new one.

“The idea for the show kind of came out of no where,” she says.

Two things she knew, though, were she liked to write and she liked to entertain people.

“So I combined my spoken word, my knack for making people laugh, and my unique way of storytelling,” says Beard. “It took me eight months to put everything together, but ever since my first show, it has been taking off fast. Faster than I ever thought it would.”

The K. Beard Experience implements a very simple stage, with no props or backdrops, just her presence.

The show touches on several subjects. Beard gets personal in describing her rise in basketball, her fall into depression, and her climb back out of the hole. She also talks about world issues, such as the current economic recession and even has a bit regarding the child prostitution problem seen in so many parts of the world.

The K. Beard Experience sends audience members free falling through an atmosphere of emotions; they laugh, they cry, they ponder. Beard says she likes to start the show off on a light note, get more serious but leave the audience feeling good again at the end.

Beard’s family is also involved with her show. Her uncle, Chad Miller, and his wife Correna Miller worked the door at her show on July 18th.

“I am so proud of her,” says Chad. “She’s come a long way. She grew up in the not-best parts of town and has made the best out of a difficult situation.”

Correna has great affection for the show.

“I think it is phenomenal,” she says. “It is entertaining but inspirational and touching.”

Beard believes her best bit in the show is “War of the Worlds.” This piece is about many of the skewed ideals we see world wide, such as the “love of money.”

“Why does money have to be our main religion?” raps Beard.

She describes how selfish people can be; how the value of a necklace seems to be in the forefront of a person’s mind, rather than how the value of that necklace could be used to feed children who are starving to death.

Beard talks about all the warring between nations and the obsession with looking young; all the creams and make ups, and Botox injections. “This ain’t Neverland,” she says. “That ain’t fairy dust and MAC ain’t Tinkerbell.”

Beard says there is a war in the world, and it is reality. “…And Tom Cruise can’t save us.”

Beard is now taking her show nationwide, with her next gig to be in Portland, OR.

For a full calendar, go to www.kbexp.com. You can also follow her on Twitter, Facebook and other networking sites; all can be found on her website.

Here’s a video interview of her:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Famous comedic TV personality “Red Green” (performed by Steve Smith) is coming to Burien’s Highline Performing Arts Center on Sunday, May 23rd at 7pm.

“The Wit and Wisdom Tour” is a “stand-up comedy show featuring the hilarious Canadian television character, Red Green.”

Interestingly, since this is a fundraiser for KBTC Public TV, which is located in Tacoma, the listing on the Red Green website calls this location “Tacoma (Seattle).” I guess Burien doesn’t quite rank with Red, eh?

Here are the details:

WHAT: Steve Smith as “Red Green” in “The Wit and Wisdom Tour” stand-up comedy show.

WHEN: Sunday, May 23rd at 7pm.

WHERE: Highline Performing Arts Center, located at 401 South 152nd Street (next to Highline High School).

INFO: From Red’s website:

He’s back. And this time it’s professional.

Steve Smith’s “The Wit and Wisdom Tour” is a stand-up comedy show featuring the hilarious Canadian television character, Red Green.

Red Green arrives in Western Washington, Sunday, May 23 at 7pm.

“The Red Green Show” is a unique half-hour comedy series targeted at family audiences that airs on KBTC Public TV. Its purpose is to entertain and to provide an escape from the pressures of urban living.

Set way up north at the infamous Possum Lodge, The Red Green Show is a hilarious insight into men, their dreams, and their obsessions. It’s a show for anyone who thinks God created man to give the rest of the world something to laugh at!

Steve Smith was born on December 24th 1945 in Toronto Canada and met his wife Morag in high school. They both left their teaching jobs to pursue careers in the entertainment business, doing TV shows together for twelve years, at which point Morag left the business and Steve created The Red Green Show which began in their adopted hometown of Hamilton, and ran for 15 seasons, generating 300 episodes, several Specials, a weekly syndicated newspaper column, three books, and a feature film.

Seen on over 80 PBS stations, The Red Green Show is the longest running Canadian television series in America of all time, and is the second longest running television comedy series ever. The Red Green Show was taken to the MIR Space Station and was a question on Jeopardy. In America they have the Emmy Awards. In Canada they’re called the Gemini Awards. Steve has won three of them, including the Earle Grey Lifetime Achievement Award, and has received an amazing 27 Gemini nominations.

In March of 2006, Steve became a Member of the Order of Canada, which is the highest civilian honour the Canadian government can bestow. Steve’s latest book is a biography called We’re All In This Together. It was released in Canada last November and is already a Canadian best seller as it goes into its second printing. Steve is currently writing his next book “How To Do Everything (from the man who should know)” which will be released by Random House Publishing in the Fall of 2010.

Steve is an avid promoter of Hamilton as a place to live. He and his wife have lived in their historic Hamilton home for the last twenty years. They spend most days in the summer on their houseboat at the West Marina and are both members at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

General Seating Price is $48.00 + $1.99 Brown Paper ticket fee (select your seats and obtain general tickets online here.

This is a fund-raising event for KBTC Public Television, who adds “We thank Steve Smith and his management team for donating their time and talents in support of KBTC.”

Here are some videos in case you don’t know who “Red” is or you just want to enjoy a few laughs:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hey Cookie-Lou…it’s Hal “Chickie” Spear here with a travel tip so hot that it could brand the butt of a bitchy B-Town bull!

This is definitely something that only the Co$t Con$ciou$ Comic could find, since all he does lately is travel doing cruise ships and Vegas:

After my next cruise ship gig the muckymucks are flying me into Seattle but instead of  taking the second half of the itinerary - back home to Joisey – I’ve been pricing tickets on Expedia – for a trip from Seattle to Vegas on that day.

So Jet Blue is offering this most ridiculous flight plan – 11:39 pm Seattle into – get this – JFK NY! – then connect in JFK for a second plane to Vegas.  The entire trip from Seattle to Vegas  is 14 hours and 49 minutes!

But here’s the punchline Cookie:

The ticket is only $109 dolllars – that right – $109 smackarooneys (before taxes):

[EDITOR'S NOTE: We actually found the same ticket for just $99, but your mileage may vary...]

So technically you can buy this $109 ticket and use only the first part of the itinerary – just to NY – but make sure your Readers don’t check their luggage in all the way through Vegas (it’s called Carry On for a reason); the tag should read NY JFK - and bang, you’ll have a one way trip from Seattle to NY JFK for a measley $109 dollars!

If you try to buy a ticket direct to JFK, it’s usually around $159, and of course it’ll also cost your dignity since Homeland Security will be givin’ ya a full-on feely-meely friskie fest at SeaTac, seeing that one-way tix users are considered “terror risks.” But that’s yer problem Cookie-Lou, not mine – remember, I’m just the Co$t Con$ciou$ Comic.

Now that’s comedy my friend.

That’s comedy.

[Hal "Chickie" Spear is an old co-writer and friend of Scott Schaefer, Publisher/Editor of this here Blog. Chickie and Scottso wrote together for many years on Fox's "The Late Show" and Paramount's "The Arsenio Hall Show."]