The Artist Formerly Known as
 Eric Kirkland's Newsletter
www.thequestionmarkguy.com

March 2006
Winter is starting to piss me off! Go away damnit!

Most of the information here will also be available on my website. 

There will also be selected entries from my Blog, and updated show schedules.

How do you know when it's time for bed at Michael Jackson's house?

When the big hand touches the little hand...

Left of Center by Eric Kirkland  (Click on picture to view it full size)

 

View previous issues of Left of Center

Upcoming March Shows
(schedule subject to change, visit my website)

Recent Comics I've worked with:

The M.C. (I'm having a brain fart and can't remember his name right now ) Carol Pennington and her cleavage, and me in Meadville, PA.	Tony Boswell, Paris Hilton, and Eric Kirkland in Bluefield, WV. (She runs the bar in Bluefield, WV)
Also worked recently with my buddy Dobie Maxwell in Tuscarawas, Ohio Didn't get to take a picture as Dobie had to leave right after the show to get back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin the next day to be a judge in a "Hairy Back Contest".  No I don't think it was a contest for Italian women. From Tuscarawas, Ohio to Milwaukee to judge hairy backs....  Who says us comics don't lead exciting lives!	Sparkmann who I haven't seen any ages worked that awesome gig with me that had the 8 people per show. One of the good things about this business is you run into old friends that you haven't seen in ages.
Special Unsolicited Shout Outs! Anyone that has seen my show knows that all I wear on stage is hockey jerseys.  Several of these I have received from folks.  If you want to send me one e-mail me and I'll let you know where the send it. Special Thanks: Eric Kirkland (the other one) for the now classic Coloroda Climax Jersey Marc Anthony- The Buffalo Sabres Jersey. Sucked up to the crowds in the B-flo (Buffalo for you squares) when I was there and wore the Sabres Jersey Dobie Maxwell-The Milwaukee Admirals Jersey.  Hope to wear it when I hit Wisconsin in May if I can fit my fat ass into it.  If you peeps want to hook me up I dig XXL jerseys, XL is fine also.

The Pink Panther

This was one of the movies that you can really enjoy if you go to see 'this' movie and aren't just going to compare it to the original Pink Panther movies with Peter Sellers.  For one, you'll never here politically incorrect lines like Inspector Clouseau referring to his Asian sidekick Cato as "My little yellow friend."   (Watch the originals if you don't know what I'm talking about)

So, once you get over that this was a very enjoyable laugh out loud movie that my wife, son and I went to see.  There is nothing in this movie that you couldn't take the young ones to see.  The closest things are a few jokes that parents  laugh at and your kids may ask you, "What's so funny?"   At that point you just ignore them and say "Nothing."

Steve Martin was perfect in the role as the bumbling, but lucky, idiot Inspector Clouseau.  The comedy in this movie isn't the intelligent kind of humor.  It's basically Three Stooges type slapstick, but I'm one of those people that also think the Three Stooges rock!

The movie technically takes place before the other Pink Panther movies and we learn how Inspector Clouseau actually got the job as Inspector and formed the animosity with Chief Dreyfuss.  My only beef is I really did miss the character of Cato.  I know the character would have been considered offensive in this day and age but if they do another hopefully they will find some way to fit him in.  He doesn't have to be stereotypical, but in the originals Cato's surprise attacks were some classic scenes.

This is definitely a movie I would recommend for the whole family. I'm looking forward to this one coming out on video and hoping that Steve Martin will make this a recurring role.

On the Serious Tip:

Sometimes I need to do this more than just during black history month. I will go online and find a place that has recordings of the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King.   I think we should all listen to those speeches, no matter what our color.

The philosophy of Dr. King was never one of black dominance, but of black equality.  If you listen close there is never any hatred in his speeches.  They have always been about equality for everyone. 

Whenever I listen to the Birmingham Jail or I Have a Dream Speech I get goose bumps running up and down my arms. To put in perspective the beliefs of Dr. King, I don't think there are many of us today who would believe so much in a cause that you have to know you are going to create enemies.  Enemies that want you dead.

To believe so much in a just cause with the knowledge that it could leave your wife and kids without a father is a sacrifice that the average person could not understand.   As time passes and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King becomes more and more of a memory let us hope that what he sacrificed for is never taken for granted.  Teach your kids about what Dr. Martin Luther King stood for and what he died for.  Listen to some of the speeches and you learn more than you were taught in a history book for black history month.

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