Whatever....

The waiting is the hardest part....

2008-07-02T16:03:00.006-04:00

I'm still waiting to get this powerbook!! Hopefully it will be this weekend. In the meantime, last night I went to see a documentary called "Trumbo", it's all about the screenwriter/author Dalton Trumbo who was blacklisted in the 1950's for having supposed ties to the Communist party. Trumbo, wrote the 1939 anti- war novel "Johnny Got His Gun" (Metallica used clips from the film version of "Johnny Got His Gun" which was made in the 1970's and directed by Trumbo himself in their video for "One"), he wrote the screenplays for "Thirty Seconds Over Toyko", "I Married a Witch" and "We Are Who Are Young" prior to being blacklisted.

Trumbo along with Ring Lardner Jr. (who wrote "MASH") was part of a group called "The Hollywood Ten", they were ten actors, directors and writers who were blacklisted and ostracized because they refused to rat out their friends. And so therefore their careers in Hollywood were pretty much over in the late 1940's and for pretty much most of the 1950's. Trumbo continued to write screenplays during this time under assumed names, the screen plays that he wrote at that time when he was blacklisted include "Roman Holiday" and "The Brave One" for which he won the Oscar and didn't collect that Oscar until 1975. Dalton Trumbo, began writing again under his own name in 1960 when he wrote the screenplay for "Spartacus".

"Trumbo" is a really fascinating look into the rebellious, stubborn and funny mind of Dalton Trumbo. The film is also a really interesting look at his life especially during the period that he was blacklisted and the effect that had on his family. Among those people that are interviewed are his son and youngest daughter, the widow of fellow "Hollywood Ten" writer Hugo Butler and Kirk Douglas. Actors such as Joan Allen, Michael Douglas, Liam Neeson, Donald Southerland and Paul Giamatti read the letters Trumbo wrote throughout the years to various people everyone from directors to the telephone company.

If "Trumbo" is playing at a theater near you I would suggest going to see it. I would also suggest picking up a copy of "Johnny Got His Gun". You'll find that Trumbo's work mirrors what is going on today.

Okay onto to the music for today.

Elvis Perkins In Dearland "All The Night Without Love" it's just so good and pretty.

And here is the Metallica video for "One", this is actually one of my favorite Metallica songs. And I think the video is really well done.

Opitimism....pass it on

2008-06-30T15:58:00.002-04:00

Going on a bit of a dork rant here... but I really do mean this! Sometimes it's very hard to be optimistic and to really believe in ourselves and not believe our most negative of reviews and not loose sight of what we want in life. I saw this PSA when I was watching TV last night and rarely do I get moved by the message of a PSA on TV. But I thought the concept of this PSA was cute and the message was a really great one! Pay it forward my friends!!

A Musical Weekend in NYC.....

2008-06-27T13:35:00.007-04:00

As of next tuesday July 1st I will be the proud owner of a MAC power book albeit a used one but none the less I have a MAC! There will be interviews with Jeremiah from the Ramblers, five questions with the boys from Modfied by Volume and pictures from the last Everlea and Maslow show posted with my new computer next week!!

Well it looks as if this weekend will be a busy musical weekend. It kicks off tonight 6/27 at with the free Cold War Kids/Elvis Perkins in Dearland/Sam Champion show at the Prospect Park band shell in Brooklyn. I'm kinda meh on the Cold War Kids but I really do love Elvis Perkins and those Dearland boys..."Ash Wednesday" is such a beautiful and classic album. I was lucky enough to see Elvis and those Dearland boys at last year's Siren fest and they are well worth seeing live, plus they are a really nice bunch of guys! Linked below are directions on how to get out to the Prospect Park band shell. The show starts at 7pm.

Also tonight at the Bowery Poetry Club the Postelles (whose yet to be titled debut album was produced by the Strokes Albert Hammond Jr., who also played the 'Roo this year and got a nice little write up on Spin.com) will be playing this GNYC sponsored night at the BPC along with Hello Tokyo and Code Anchor among others. The show starts at 7:30pm, it's an all ages show and it's ten dollars to get in. The Bowery Poetry Club is located 308 Bowery off of first ave between Houston and Bleecker Streets across from the old CBGB's now the John Varvatos store.

Tomorrow night 6/28 is another GNYC show at Arlene's Grocery. Included on that bill are MEANY Fest 2007 finalists the ultra cool Future in Plastics, Two Saints, Spelling and Grammar and Diet Kong who are using this gig to debut songs off their new CD. Justina Carubia starts things off at 8pm. It's ten dollars to get in and this show is 18 and older! Arlene's Grocery is located at 95 Stanton Street b/w Ludlow and Orchard right in the middle of the Lower East Side.

New York's very own The Dig play the Mercury Lounge tomorrow night 6/28. They have a nice Brit pop alt glam type of sound and are an awesome live band. They go on at 10:30pm. The Mercury Lounge is located on Houston Street off of Essex Street in the good old LES!

You'll never be tired with all this really great live music!

Oh and links...

Directions to the Prospect Park Bandshell

http://www.briconline.org

That nice little write up on the Postelles.

http://spin.com/articles/catch-buzz-postelles

And the Dig:

http://www.myspace.com/thedigisup

RIP George Carlin, movie reviews and other things....

2008-06-23T18:22:00.006-04:00

Be on the look out...pictures from last Thursday's Everlea and Maslow show will be posted sometime later this week as well as an interview with the Ramblers front man Jeremiah. So keep reading!!

I woke up this morning and heard the news that legendary comedian George Carlin had died. I had two parents who were children of the 60's and so I grew up listening to his comedy albums. At that time being that young I really didn't get George Carlin's sense of humor; to me he was just some guy who made both my parents laugh and whose monologues about politics and religion were forced upon my sisters and I along with the music of Elton John and Joni Mitchell on the way up to Cape Cod every summer. I really didn't appreciate Carlin till I was in my 20's and he was on shows like Bill Maher's show and in films such as "Dogma" and I started to watch his HBO specials and re listen to the cassette tapes my dad had made of his albums. He really had a very brilliant way of just sticking it too the status quo and pointing out the hypocrisy in everything from religion and politics and to society in general. He was a genius and very funny!! And in a sense he was a really rebellious rock star..he was the Bob Dylan of the comedy world!! RIP George Carlin.

Onto the next topic, today after having a traumatic experience of spending a vacation day and waiting over an hour on line and not having the correct paper work at the DMV to renew my license, I decided to try and lighten my mood by going to see the new Mike Myers film "The Love Guru". BIG MISTAKE!!

I'm a Mike Myers fan, I loved him on "Saturday Night Live" and I loved all those stupid "Wayne's World" and "Austin Powers" films. And being a HUGE Who fan I was really psyched to learn he was going to play Keith Moon in a bio-pic on Keith Moon.

But with "The Love Guru"...Mike Myers is really trying to do a Peter Sellers type of character and it just isn't working! Myers character the main character "The Love Guru" is just highly obnoxious and annoying after a while. As beautiful as she is Jessica Alba couldn't act her way out of a paper bag and should really stick to those big budget action films, were she has limited dialogue and does stunts . Her and Mike Myers together make one awkward couple. The only two characters that were remotely funny were Verne Troyer's character of a hot headed hockey coach and Justin Timberlake's character of a well endowed tacky French Canadian hockey player.

The story was just plan stupid and the jokes were really stupid as well. Not worth the $11.00 and not worth watching when it comes on HBO!

Attention all you NYC music fans....

2008-06-17T15:52:00.003-04:00

If your searching for something to do to kick off your summer weekend, come check out the GNYC sponsored night at Arlene's Grocery this thursday 6/19. Among those on the bill this Thursday night are Glassnote recording artists and a bunch of really awesome boys from up north; Everlea, the always fun Uncle Pumpkin and the ultra cool band that took second place at MEANY Fest 2007 hard rockin' Maslow. The fun starts at 7:15pm and it's ten dollars to get in and it's 21 and over. Arlene's Grocery is located at 95 Stanton Street between Ludlow and Stanton in New York City.

http://www.myspace.com/everlea

http://www.myspace.com/maslowband

http://www.myspace.com/unclepumpkinrocks

Movie Review "The Strangers"

2008-06-16T09:37:00.011-04:00

This weekend I saw the horror film "The Strangers". I really don't like horror films that have constant gore i.e. all "The Hostel" films, I like the ones that mess with your head i.e. "Rosemary's Baby" etc. "The Strangers" falls into the later category of messing with your head rather then being gory.

With out giving too much of the plot away, the story of "The Strangers" is about a young couple James and Kristin (played by Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler) who after attending a friend's wedding retire to James' family's remote vacation cabin for a romantic weekend. Their plans change when a group of really creepy masked maniacs show up at the cabin.

The story is a classic 1960's horror story done right and in a very strange kinda ironic way the story is a little bit reminiscent of the accounts of the Charles Manson murders.

One of the greatest things about this film was it's music. The music was scary enough to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire film including the non scary parts. And Joanna Newsome and Merle Haggard songs are used in some pivotal scenes.

The performances by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman were really incredible as was the performances by the three people who played the creepy masked maniacs. You really felt the fear of the two main characters and the three masked maniacs were scary enough were you find yourself yelling out "DON'T GO IN THERE" to the two main characters or you just basically jumped from fear when ever they appeared on the screen.

"The Strangers" is scary in a very classic kinda of a way...well worth the eleven dollars! And you won't want to stay in any remote vacation cabins after seeing this film.

Dr. Dog freakin' rules!

2008-06-10T14:33:00.002-04:00

Dr. Dog is this mega awesome band out of Philly. Their sound can best be discribed as a cross between, The Beach Boys circa "Pet Sounds" meet David Bowie circa "Ziggy Stardust" meet the Beatles meet Frank Zappa and the Mothers with some George Clinton and Pfunk thrown in for good measure.

Enjoy the video for their song "My Old Ways" and a live version of "Ain't it Strange". And check out their myspace page!

http://www.myspace.com/drdog

Walking to fight breast cancer....

2008-06-09T12:52:00.010-04:00

This weekend I participated in something amazing. My sisters and my mom and I participated in the Long Island 2 Day Walk to Fight Breast Cancer. It's a 35 mile walk and you basically walk from the north shore to the south shore all in the span of two days. You walk 20 miles the first day and 15 the next day. All I had in me was 15 miles on saturday. The first ten miles I was feeling really great and enthusiastic. By mile 15 I started to get a nasty heat headache, a bum knee and feet full of gross and painful blisters, so I called it a day. I was really proud of myself for doing 15 miles especially in 90 degree sweltering heat, I was also really proud of my mom and my sisters for their efforts as well. My mom and older sister did the full 20 miles on the first day and my younger sister did 17 miles before blisters did her in. The next day my knee was really bothering me so I took a bus to the final rest stop and had the medics take a look at it, my older sister got to mile 9 and had to be taken to the final rest stop to have her knee looked at as well, my mom and younger sister did 13 miles before they were taken in.

The walk itself was a great challenge mentally and physically but over all it was really inspiring to see survivors of breast cancer (my mom included) and people who have been effected by this dreaded disease out there walking, Long Island has the highest rate of breast cancer in the US, so just about everyone on Long Island seems to be effected by breast cancer in one way or another. The show of support from the sidelines and people coming out of their houses was really moving, it's what keeps you going! At one point on the second day a woman came out of her house and began walking with my mom and sisters, she told them she was 30 days in remission from radiation treatments for breast cancer and she wanted to walk but her doctors advised her against it, so she walked with my mom and sisters for half a mile. There were times while I was walking were I was really moved by people's support, one woman who was a survivor provided water for the walkers as they past her house. Another family who lost their aunt to breast cancer gave out dried fruit and water to walkers as they past by. People would honk there horns, wave and hoot and holler from their cars as a show of support as we walked along a major highway. As mentioned everyone on Long Island seems to have been affected by breast cancer in one way or another.

It was a great experience to participate in something that is too big for words to describe and to get out of the often selfish and immature world of indie rock for a weekend was really fantastic and awe inspiring! I was glad that I was able to raise money and show my support by walking and I would do it again next year.

RIP Bo Diddley

2008-06-02T14:31:00.009-04:00

I was very sad to learn that rock pioneer Bo Diddley passed away today. He was 79 years old. For all you kids not in the know Bo Diddley was a pioneering guitarist whose guitar playing and bomp bomp rhythm in his songs made him a rock legend. Some people say that Bo Diddley's distinctive guitar playing and unique rhythms laid the ground work for funk music. And you can definitely hear Bo Diddley's influence in everyone from Buddy Holly to the Rolling Stones to the White Stripes. The most well known song of his was "Bo Diddley" and some of you may remember him from the commercial that he did with Bo Jackson years ago for Nike or from the John Lennon concert film "Live Peace in Toronto". RIP Bo Diddley!

Here is his obit from today's yahoo news:

By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79.

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.

The legendary singer and performer, known for his homemade square guitar, dark glasses and black hat, was an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and received a lifetime achievement award in 1999 at the Grammy Awards. In recent years he also played for the elder President Bush and President Clinton.

read the rest here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080602/ap_en_mu/obit_diddley

You gotta dig this clip it's from a London show in 1972, check out the shots of the 1970's British Teddy Boys dancing in the aisles:

And Bo in his prime from 1966:

Take me out to the ballgame!

2008-05-31T11:43:00.006-04:00

About two weeks ago I was given tickets to a Yankees game. It's been about ten years since I've been to a game, I used to go all the time when I was a kid. It was really sentimental going to the old Yankee stadium for the last time!! I took my parents and a friend of mine and we had a great time!! I took lots of pictures of the new stadium which is right there, ARod and his sweet ass which looks you could crack walnuts and open beer bottles with that thing, the bleacher creatures, Derek Jeter, the ground crew doing the YMCA dance and the game itself. Enjoy!

I got carried away and other things

2008-05-30T21:15:00.002-04:00

Like every female in New York I was so looking forward to seeing the "Sex and the City" film. And tonight I got my chance to see the "Sex and the City" film! What I loved about the show and the film is it isn't a typical chick flick romantic film or typical chick flick tv show. The show and the film are smartly written and the situations are very real. Gals its well worth the eleven dollars and all the hype!! I would say see it with a group of your girlfriends.

I was really sad to learn that Harvey Korman, who was on "The Carol Burnett Show" in the 70's and played Ed on "Mama's Family" in the 80's passed away this week. Both "The Carol Burnett Show" and "Mama's Family" were big parts of my childhood. I've posted one of the funniest "Carol Burnett Show" sketches ever, it's the "Gone With The Wind" parody, Harvey Korman plays Rhett Buttler in this sketch and Carol Burnett plays Scarlet O'Hara in this sketch. The scene were Carol Burnett comes out wearing the curtains as a dress is totally priceless! RIP Harvey Korman and Enjoy!!

Shine a Light

2008-05-24T15:21:00.004-04:00

I finally went and saw the Stones/Marty Scorsese concert film "Shine a Light" last night.

The concert was filmed at the Beacon theater here in New York City in October of 2006 as part of former President Bill Clinton's 60th birthday celebration.

The start of the film shows Scorsese and the Stones planning the logistics of the concert. The movie goer also gets a glimpse into a Stones rehearsal for the show and Scorsese and his crew setting up lights and cameras in the Beacon theater. We also see the Stones being introduced to Hillary Clinton's mother Dorothy Rodham and Bill and Hillary's ten year old nephew, plus the thirty VIP's that the Clinton's brought to the show.

Out of those scenes, I really liked seeing the planning and the setting up for this show cause it reminded me of on a whole other level of course, of the planning and setting up of the MEANY Fest special guest shows. The scenes were the band is being introduced to Hillary's mother and nephew and the thirty VIP's felt a little pretentious to me. As did the crowd shots during the performance scenes, there seemed to be some very young beautiful people in the audience that night who looked as if they didn't know who the Stones were and were playing it up for the cameras and it made me wonder if they were actual fans or actors!

The performance scenes sans the crowd shots of the beautiful people are really fantastic, watching the Mick and the boys, makes you realize what a kick ass band the Stones still are after some forty five years and many personnel changes! Jack White of the White Stripes, Christina Aguileria and blues man Buddy Guy are the three special guests that come out and join the Stones for a song. My only other complaint about this film was they gave Christina Aguileria the wrong song to sing! She sings "Live With Me" from "Let It Bleed" and while I like Miss Xtina, I think her voice would have been better suited for "Gimme Shelter". When she sings her bits on "Live With Me" she does that annoying vocal vibrato acrobatics thing were she sings a word and has to sing every note with in that word, it kinda ruins that song and I totally hate that!! Plus she was trying to make her voice sound gritty and rock like and it just wasn't working! I will say Miss Xtina and Mick together on stage was pretty sexy! Buddy Guy, was really great, he sang "Champagne and Reefer" and Jack White did a bang up job on "The Loving Cup". Even though he looks like the undead... Jack White is so freakin' hot!!

One of the things I really loved about watching the performance footage was watching both Keith Richards and Charlie Watts on stage. They both are really great characters of rock and roll and just two of the greatest sidemen ever. The energy, musicianship and stage presence for all the Stones is just amazing to watch!!

"Shine A Light" is further proof that the Rolling Stones are the greatest rock and roll band and Keith Richards is the coolest guy ever! And the performance footage is worth seeing this film on a big screen!! Worth the $11.00 for sure don't wait for it to come on HBO!!

Arlene's show this weekend....

2008-05-21T12:27:00.002-04:00

To all the souls who won't be heading off to the beach or the mountains this memorial day weekend and are staying in New York...come on out to Arlene's Grocery this Saturday night 5/24! It's a GNYC night on Saturday at Arlene's. The warm up to summer fun starts at 7:15pm.

On the bill are:

Dr. Mary
Mornings
Afterdawn
Bludik Von Kremdip
Westgate
Underwhelmed
The Cliffs

Arlene's Grocery is located at 95 Stanton Street between Ludlow and Orchard. The show is 21 and over and it's a ten dollar cover charge.

Go Ask Amy.....

2008-05-19T09:44:00.004-04:00

Usually when I get bored at work what I will do is look something up on Wikipedia and click on all the links associated with that article. I just saw a film with Richard Gere called "The Hoax" which is a true story about Clifford Irving an author who claimed he was writing a biography on movie mogul Howard Hughes with Hughes full cooperation. Irving, got a one million dollar advance on the book and there was a lot of hype surrounding the publishing of this book, because at the time Howard Hughes was very reclusive and known to not give any interviews to anyone. As it turns out the whole story was a hoax and Clifford Irving faked the Howard Hughes interviews and was arrested for fraud and embezzlement.

Anyhow last week I was bored at work and I looked up Clifford Irving and clicked on all the links associated with his article on wikipedia. One of which was literary hoaxes. One of the articles linked under literary hoaxes was an article about a book that came out in the early 70's called "Go Ask Alice". The book is supposedly the diary of a teenage girl from a nice upper middle class family who got mixed up in the world of sex, drugs (namely weed and LSD) and rock and roll and died from a drug overdose. The book for many years was a pretty controversial book for kids (12 to 17 year olds were its target audience) to read and many schools across the US banned the book because of it's frank description of sex and drug use. And as it turns out the woman who "edited" the book was a devout Mormon and she is thought to have been the real author of the book.

Well the article about this book had me intrigued. And so this weekend as I was making my rounds I stoped off at the McNally bookstore on Prince Street and picked myself up a copy, when I asked the girl who worked behind the counter in what section of the store I could find a copy of the book; she looked at me with a straight face and said "you didn't read this book in secret when you were in the fifth grade...every kid did"!! And I looked at her with straight face and said no I just read the article about this book on wikipedia last week. Once I got home I dug right in and the book made me seriously laugh it read like a really bad after school special. You can tell a lot of urban legends about weed and LSD grew out of this book.

I just had a vision in my head as I read it of this story getting the John Waters treatment on film. I could see Britney Spears as "Alice", Patty Hearst and Tab Hunter playing the parents and Lindsay Lohan as the best friend "Chris". I'm surprised John Waters hasn't turned this book into a film already with Divine as "Alice" and Mink Stole as "Chris".

Very campy this book!!

Two GNYC shows at the Mean Fiddler and Arlene's this weekend. Details later this week.

I leave you with a clip of the Jefferson Airplane preforming "White Rabbit" at "Woodstock"...the lyric "Go Ask Alice" in "White Rabbit" is were the book gets its title from.

Friday Reading.....

2008-05-16T10:45:00.003-04:00

Interesting article from the current issue of Rolling Stone; the article is all about how licensing music to films, TV shows and advertisers is what is making musicians money over CD sales and downloads in this current shitty economy.

Rock's New Economy: Making Money When CDs Don't Sell

For Austin rockers Spoon, 2007 was a breakthrough year — but not because they sold a lot of records. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, their album on the indie label Merge, garnered more radio play than any disc in their 15-year history and earned them an appearance on Saturday Night Live. So far the disc has moved just over 250,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan — about half of what Spoon's manager, Ben Dickey, believes it would have sold even five years ago. "But as far as the band is concerned, the record is a hit," says Dickey.
The reason? CD sales are no longer the yardstick the band uses. While hip-hop and pop artists ranging from Jay-Z to Britney Spears have long used recordings to sell every- thing from perfume to liquor, rockers are only just starting to think of album sales as a component — rather than the sum of — the commercial equation. Spoon have been actively licensing their music for use in films, television shows and a Jaguar commercial, making money, gaining exposure and moving up from clubs to 3,000-seat venues.

Album sales are down 25 percent since 2000, leading to widespread predictions of the record business' demise. But smart artists and managers are finding new ways to reach fans and make money. "For some bands we represent, there's more licensing income than record sales," says Carol Sue Baker, whose Ocean Park Music Group has been connecting independent artists with music supervisors for movies, TV and advertising agencies since the early 1990s.

The rest of the story is linked here:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/20830491/rocks_new_economy_making_money_when_cds_dont_sell

Curvy Girls Rule!!!

2008-05-15T09:33:00.003-04:00

A non music post for the day.

One of the reality shows that I will cop to watching is "America's Next Top Model", the addiction started when my friend and her yoga studio were featured on the second cycle of ANTM. Ever since then everyone knows were to find me on Wednesday nights at 8pm, I even watch the marathons on VH-1. And I always take Tyra, Miss Jay and Mr. Jay's advice about posing with your eyes in pictures, walking and just being fierce in general!! Yes I'm a geek I know!!

Anyway being a curvy gal I always routed for the plus sized gals on the show and in the past seasons the curvy gals on the show have always been meh, they have been pretty with blah personalities (Diana from season eight) or have been straight up annoying (Robin from the first season). Tocarra was the only really memorable plus sized gal from ANTM that is until Whitney from this season!

I liked Whitney from the get go! She is classically beautiful with the blond hair and has a great body and she has confidence.

***SPOILER***

I was so happy that she was named the winner last night....bout time us curvy gals got some love!!

Now I know the gals that win ANTM really don't go on to become supermodels, but I was just so happy that Tyra and the gang chose a plus sized girl this year!!

OH GOOD LORD..... NO PLEASE...JUST GO AWAY!!!!!!!

2008-05-13T17:05:00.010-04:00

I just read in the Gothamist blog that the MTV series "The Real World" will be shooting it's 21st season in Brooklyn this summer! The speculation is that MTV will be filming in Williamsburg. I stopped watching that show after I graduated high school and realized it's got to be one of the dumbest, phoniest shows on the face of the planet, that was after the San Fransisco season! And most of the people that "star" on "the Real World" especially the people on some of the more recent seasons are some of the most obnoxious, vapid morons known to man!!

So to my fellow New Yorkers get ready for seven twats hand picked by MTV casting to be invading The McCarren Pool parties, shows at Pete's Candy Store, Union Hall, Southpaw and The Williamsburg Music Hall and bars all across Williamsburg and other parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan!! And I wonder if the "job" the gang gets is doing booking for the Williamsburg Music Hall or if it's a city related "job" like working with kids at a city run day camp.

I can totally predict how these episodes are gonna go; the token innocent suburban rich spoiled girl from the mid-west is gonna get drunk at the Black Keys McCarren Park show and make out with the token bisexual wild child girl. The next episode the gang will be at Pete's Candy Store for a show and the token bisexual wild child girl will hook up with some dude in a really shitty band, that MTV paid Pete's Candy Store to put on their stage, then the token bisexual wild child girl and the guy in a shitty band will go back to the apartment and get event drunker and have sex on camera; all in front of the token innocent rich spoiled suburban girl who will act all traumatized by the experience but not really; cause the token rich innocent suburban spoiled girl really wanted the dude in the shitty band all to herself and so now she's pissed at the token wild child bisexual girl and they get into a fight . Throw the token angry bitchy girl into that mix and a fight starts on camera between all three girls and the token really nice guy will break up the fight. In the following episode the token douche bag conservative republican jock from Texas will get into a fight with one of the locals at Union Pool, the token gay guy will get into fights with the token douche bag conservative republican jock guy over his sexuality, then in the next shot we see the token gay guy at a bar in Chelsea complaining to his friends about the token douche bag conservative republican jock; the token bitchy girl will call her boyfriend to talk about how much she hates her roommates. And then; the token really nice guy and the token douche bag conservative republican jock will find some skanks from the south shore of Long Island hanging out at The Alligator Lounge (those girls went there just to get on the show) get drunk with them and bring them back to the apartment and the douche bag jock will hook up with one, the token nice guy just talks to the other, he meets the real love of his life while riding his bike on the Williamsburg Waterfront. And it's reveled in that episode that the token bitchy girl has an eating disorder.

See there!! I can write episodes of "The Real World" and make it look real!! That's how predictable this show has gotten!!

Anyway I urge hipsters and non hipsters of Billysburg and elsewhere to unite! Let MTV know we don't want their trite and contrived shitty show shooting in Brooklyn or anywhere in New York for that matter! Time for MTV to end this mess of a show and not make anymore of these douche bags household names!!

http://gothamist.com/2008/05/13/real_world_broo.php

Video Tuesday....

2008-05-13T13:53:00.011-04:00

My Morning Jacket freakin' rules!! Check them out from this past weekend's SNL episode doing their new song "Evil Urges" from their new up and coming album of the same name. My Morning Jacket is so amazing in every little way!! My Morning Jacket is just a really good straight up rock and roll band!!

The next video is for Scarlett Johansson's debut single "Falling Down" from her album of all Tom Waits covers called "Anywhere I Lay My Head". I really like Scarlett Johansson, she's a great actress and she's beautiful, but I honestly don't know what to make of her singing. It's interesting in a sort of good way, the music of the song is really cool and I sorta like her vocal on this song and it's far better then the Five O'clock Heroes/Agnyes Dean song. But still.... I'm not blown away, Miss Scarlett should stick with her day job!!

And the last video for the day! Even if his political views were liberal just like mine, I would still hate Bill O'Reilly! The man is an arrogant,tightly wound, windbag, jackass! This clip just proves that!! My theory why old Billy freaks out in this clip, is cause none of his associate producers would massage his body down with a loofah in the shower! We all know how much he likes his associate producers to massage him with loofah in the shower!!

I'm the DJ

2008-05-07T19:11:00.002-04:00

This friday 5/9 my dear friend Diane and I make our debut as DJ's! We're DJing a shopping party event at the Dream Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. I'm really excited!! I'll have pictures of us behind the turn tables posted next week.

On another note, even though I haven't watched "American Idol" since the season of Sanjaya, I saw a clip of one of the finalists from this season David Cook singing one of my very favorite songs of all time..."Baba O'Reily" by the Who. Just the sheer fact that a Who song was sung on "American Idol" is seriously cringe worthy but David Cook's version is just awful...he made the song so soulless. I'll spare you all by not posting the clip!

And cause I'm a geek like that.....

2008-05-06T15:27:00.002-04:00

Going off the music topic for a quick second and mentioning historical books and films.
A few months back I had mentioned that I had read the book "Manhunt-the 12 Day search for Lincoln's killer" by James L. Swanson. The book is about the search for John Wilkes Booth the man who assassinated Abe Lincoln and the conspiracy around the assassination of President Lincoln, JWB and his co co conspirators planned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward all on the same night. The person who was to kill Andrew Johnson, George Atzerodt got drunk and lost his nerve, the person who was to kill Secretary of State William Seward, Louis Powell attacked Seward and his son injuring them both severely. "Manhunt-the 12 Day search for Lincoln's Killer" is one of the most riveting, fascinating and scariest books that I have ever read!! That book got me so interested in John Wilkes Booth's story, the manhunt and the Lincoln conspiracy, that I read another book on the subject called "American Brutus" by Michael Kaufman. "American Brutus" is more of a biography on John Wilkes Booth and delves more into the conspiracy then the manhunt.

Anyway I was really excited to read that HBO is planning on making a mini series based on the book "Manhunt-the 12 Day Search for Lincoln's killer" and so far Harrison Ford has been cast as Everton Conger who was one of the main DC police detectives who lead the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth. I'm kinda meh on that bit of casting news cause in my mind Harrison Ford doesn't have enough intensity for that role, but who knows he's a good enough actor where he maybe able to pull off the role. I would have cast Harrison Ford as Lafayette Baker who was the head of the DC police force at the time and I would have cast Edward Norton in the Everton Conger role.

I totally think Johnny Depp should play Booth! Even though Depp is about twenty years older then Booth was at the time of the assassination I totally think he can pull it off. He's got the right look and the right intensity for the role!! I also think that Orlando Bloom could play a really good Booth. Even Jude Law can pull off Booth well.

Here's how I would cast the rest of the film "Manhunt":

Brad Pitt or George Clooney: Edward Doherty(the leader of 71st NY Volunteers sent to capture Booth)
Jessica Lang: Mary Suratt (one of Booth's conspirators)
Casey Afleck: David Herold (one of Booth's conspirators who was on the run with Booth)
Sam Rockwell or Mike Myers: George Atzerodt (one of Booth's conspirators)
Tom Hanks, Liam Neison or David Statharin: Abe Lincoln
James Broadbent: Edwin Stanton (the Secretary of War)
James Cromwell: William Seward
Joaquin Phoenix or the kid from "ET" Henry Thomas: Lewis Powell

Those are my pics...wishful thinking is that the casting director for the film "Manhunt" is an indie music fan and reads this blog!! Or maybe hopefully the casting director and I think a like!!

Something to take you back...

2008-05-06T13:56:00.002-04:00

Only in the late 70's and early 80's could their be a variety show staring a Scottish bubble gum band, co staring a midget actor, freaky puppets and a woman in a scary witch outfit. With Borscht belt comedians, Cousin Oliver from the "Brady Bunch" and Chaci from "Happy Days" as special guests. And there you have the genius of Sid and Marty Kroft!! Below is the Bay City Rollers doing their version of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Wanna Be With You" from their TV show which was one of my favorites as a small child. Hearing the Bay City Rollers music again makes me have a whole new appreciation for it, they had some really good well crafted pop songs.

Can someone please explain something to me???

2008-05-05T14:43:00.008-04:00

Every couple of years the fashion industry will elevate a new model to "it girl" status. In the 80's it was Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista in the 90's it was Kate Moss, Shalom Harlow and Amber Valetta. Now it seems the latest fashion "it girl" is a model from the UK who is New York based by the name of Agyness Deyn. Agyness, is a tall skinny androgynous looking girl who supposedly has lots of edgy rock and roll style. She does lots of "edgy" fashion shoots and ads, the most mainstream ads she does is for Burberry and Armani.

I personally don't get it. To me she looks like a combo of Bob Geldof's (creator of the of Live Aid concerts for all you kids not in the know) late wife Paula Yates and a little ten year old boy. I just feel like what's she's trying to do with her look and her persona has been done before and it's a little bit on the boring side.

Anyway now Agyness is trying her hand at singing, she's released a single with the New York based band Five O'Clock Heroes called "Who". Below is the video clip. Vocally Agyness isn't that bad but she's not great nor unique, she's meh vocally, the song is not groundbreaking at all and the video is a bit on the boring side. Now that I've given my opinion, I'm curious to know what you guys think of this clip and song??

Also linked below is Paula Yates' wikipedia entry complete with picture so you can see my point.

Who

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agyness_Deyn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Yates

Tonight and tomorrow night in New York City....

2008-05-01T15:10:00.006-04:00

For all you New York City music fans or music fans in general in New York City for the weekend, who are searching for something to do this evening 5/1 and tomorrow evening 5/2, look no further!

Tonight 5/1/08; there is a GNYC show with an amazing line up at Arlene's Grocery on the bill are:

7:15pm: CELIA ROSE
8pm: BRETT AARONS
8:45pm: DAVID ANDREW SMITH
9:30pm: ZACH HILLYARD BAND
10:15pm: RED SKY MORNING
11:00pm: EARSHOT
11:45pm: SHOTGUN STEREO

The fun starts at 7:15pm and it's ten dollars to get in. Arlene's Grocery is located at 95 Stanton Street between Orchard and Ludlow Streets in the heart of the good old Lower East Side in New York City!!

Then tomorrow night 5/2/08, it is beloved GNYC/MEANY Fest producer/stage manager Dave Tanner's birthday party at the Mean Fiddler in midtown Manhattan. Included on that bill is New Jersey's finest Killer Brown who graces the stage at 9:30pm, Bludik Von Kremedip, which is the side project of Justin the guitarist from Dr. Mary, BVK takes the stage at 11pm. And that brilliant and very sexy Dallas Texas native Mr. Johnny Lloyd Rollins and his band
the All-Nighters go on at 11:45pm. Hussy starts off the fun when they take the stage at 7:15pm, Steve Kirkman and Xoch take the Mean Fiddler stage at 8pm and 8:45pm. It's a fantastic line up and it's gonna be a fun night come on down and hear some great music and wish Dave Tanner a happy birthday! The Mean Fiddler is located at 47th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and it's ten dollars to get in.

Johnny Lloyd Rollins...

2008-04-30T09:40:00.009-04:00

Johnny Lloyd Rollins played an awesome acoustic set at the Mercury Lounge last evening. Here are some pictures from the show. Next up for Johnny is a gig tonight at the North Star Bar in Philly tonight 4/30 and a show tomorrow night 5/1 at Great Scott in Boston. For all you Philly and Boston readers or if you are in those towns tonight or tomorrow night, Johnny Lloyd Rollins is so worth checking out!!

http://www.myspace.com/johnnylloydrollins

Why!?

2008-04-29T13:54:00.011-04:00

Why are the bims from "The Hills" on the cover of Rolling Stone!? I have now officially really lost all respect for Rolling Stone magazine!!

My sister tried to turn me on to this show and I just found it so unwatchable...it wasn't even "America's Next Top Model" guilty pleasure good! I found the people on this show are so loathsome, dumb and narcissistic and the show just seemed so fake! This show really makes me hate people in their 20's from LA and it makes me hate the entire city of LA on the whole!! And as anti-war as I'am watching this show really made wish that Bush would bring back the draft and only send these dumb assholes on this show to Iraq!

As mentioned in the past, from work I usually get the trashy mags such as US Weekly and In Touch. I usually put the In Touches and the US Weeklies that I get from work in my bathroom usually that's were my roommate and I read them, sorry if that's TMI. And one couple that I see plastered all over these rags is Spencer and Heidi who are the supposed "villains" on "The Hills". And every picture of these two jackasses is so staged!! One of the more recent issues of US Weekly that was in my bathroom had Heidi on the cover in a supposed paparazzi shot crying over the negative press she had received for her music video.

I don't know what's more embarrassing the fact that I have issues of Us Weekly in my bathroom, that I know who Spencer and Heidi are or that I know Heidi is trying to start a singing career!

Now here is an intro for a show that REALLY was a TV show!! "The Land of the Lost"! Dig the special effects!! Sid and Marty Kroft were genius I tells ya!! GENIUSES!!