More Coverage

Here's another story about "We Need Girlfriends," the Web TV show that stars my old college roommate Pat Cohen. I've also added the series premiere here.

Scout Time

Because I saw Scout Niblett at Cafe Nine last night and she was damn great, I thought I'd post a little video on this here blog. This was recorded last year in Minneapolis. This is her doing a cover of "Just What I Needed."

Ticket News

I decided to start posting this info early every week. Every Friday in Weekend, I run a little "ticket news" box that gives music information about what concerts are going on sale this week. Many times seats become available that very morning, so there's not much notice. So anyway, here's the box appearing Friday:

Country fans should get excited: Brooks & Dunn is coming to the Dodge Music Center June 21, and the duo is bringing openers Rodney Atkins and James Otto. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday and will cost $34.25 for lawn, $59 for reserved seats.

A whole host are hard rock/metal bands invade the Dodge Music Center Aug. 16 when the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival starring Slipknot, Disturbed, Dragonforce, Mastodon, Five Finger Death Punch, Airbourne, 36 Crazy Fists, Underoath, Machine Head, Walls Of Jericho, Black Tide, Suicide Silence and The Red Chord comes to town. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday and will cost $55.75 for general admission pit, $55.75 and $45.75 for reserved, and $31.25 for lawn.

For tickets to any Dodge Music Center show, visit any Ticketmaster outlet, call (203) 624-0033 or log on to www.livenation.com.

Rap favorites Lil Wayne, Birdman, Rickross, Brisco and other special guests will perform at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport June 7. Tickets are $50.25-$75.25. Seats go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday and you can get them by calling Ticketmaster at (203) 624-0033, by visiting any Ticketmaster location or by logging on to www.ticketmaster.com.

It’ll be quite the night for fans of ’80s rock when Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick come to Mohegan Sun Arena Aug. 17. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday and will cost $55, $70 and $85.

Donna Summer will work hard for her money when she plays Mohegan Sun Arena July 9. Tickets cost $40, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Comedian Lewis Black returns to Mohegan Sun Arena July 19. Tickets are $45 and can be had at 10 a.m. Friday.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons will sing all the hits come July 12 when the group comes to Mohegan Sun Arena. Tickets are $27.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday.

For tickets to all concerts at Mohegan Sun, call Ticketmaster at (203) 624-0033, visit any Ticketmaster outlet or log on to www.ticketmaster.com. If seats still remain the day after the on-sale date, you pick them up at Mohegan’s box office.

Terrible Tuesdays

I could first talk about all the fun I've been having for the past 20 minutes or so with this big Iron Man action figure I was sent in the mail. I love it when studios send fun things like this to promote their movies.

It makes my day more enjoyable, which is important today because I could also first talk about how Doc Rivers (that's the moron above) is almost single-handedly ruining the Celtics' season.

It's like he totally forgot all the stuff that got the team to this point. My friend Harris and I were talking after the game last night, and I truly believe, and I mean this, that we could have coached a better game than Doc last night. How often can you say that about a sport you stopped playing in high school? I really would have done a better job.

Anyway, enough about this stuff that's truly bothering me in the world of sports, which also includes the Red Sox losing streak that looks to keep going with the team facing Roy Halladay tonight.

Let's talk about other disturbing things instead, yes? How about Vivid Entertainment releasing a Jimi Hendrix sex tape? Seriously, who will pay to watch this? I mean, I don't have the figures next to me, but I think mostly dudes watch porn, so why would one buy a movie based on the promise that they'll get to see a guitar god naked? This makes no sense to me. Some dead female musician, maybe. Jimi Hendrix ... not so much.

All this late-night talk is getting interesting. But here's my issue with it all: Conan has gotten kind of tiring, Leno is just OK, Letterman's monologue is always the worst, Jimmy Fallon makes me vomit in my mouth. So that leaves Jimmy Kimmel, the dude most unaffected by all of this. And, you know what? Jimmy is far and away the best late-night host on television today. Far and away.

Don't tell anyone, but I have a new souvenir. It's all mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.

Little Nicholas sent me this story about Karl Malone. If this doesn't prove that this man is just awful, I don't know what does. At least Roger sent Mindy FedEx packages of cash, right?

And that's it on this end. Enjoy the rest of this beautiful day and make sure to make it over to Cafe Nine tonight to see Scout Niblett. It'll be worth your time.

No Daffodils Were Harmed ...

Yes, I sat in the daffodils at the Daffodil Festival over the weekend. No, I did not hurt any of them while friend Shiloh Kinne snapped the photo. I wanted to roll around in them, but I was assured that this was not socially acceptable. Boo.

In other news, my least favorite baseball player seems to have had an affair with Mindy McCready since she was about 15-years-old. Who really cares about this kind of stuff, though? Just like Roger was far from the only player putting a needle into his butt, he's also far from the only player who cheated on his wife. All this coverage makes you feel bad for him, even though good ol' Rog is such a hateable dude.

Hannah Montana doesn't like Vanity Fair photos. Oh, poor Miley. She saw the photos, called them nice and now disagrees. I'm sad for her.

I don't think I've ever regretted not going to Coachella, but this would have been awesome.

That's it from this end. At this time next week, I will shaking with happiness over Opening Day. I can't wait!

Sunday Somethings

Man, oh man, I've been horrible updating this here blog the last two weeks. I really don't have a reason, except that I've been real busy. What are you going to do? I'll tell you what I'm going to do: I hereby make a resolution to update this every day this week. We'll see how that goes.

One thing I forgot to mention last week was my visit to the new Prime 16, a burger joint and tap house on Temple Street in downtown New Haven. I love places with lots of beer, and Prime 16 does not disappoint. I went with friends Brandon and Shiloh Kinne, and we all thought the place was good. And we're picky. You have to love the ol' Dogfish 90 Minute IPA. I sure do.

Speaking of beer, Sam Adams' Summer Ale is out and about now. I absolutely love that beer. It's my favorite ale, except for Cisco's Whale's Tale Pale Ale. And, for some reason, Summer Ale always tastes better in Boston, and last Tuesday when I went to the Red Sox game, let's just say I loved my few pints.

Last night, during a fun conversation at Jack's Bar and Grille, a couple friends and I were talking about one of my all-time favorite movies, "Student Bodies." After years of not being available on VHS or DVD, it looks the like comedy finally, miraculously, comes out on DVD in June. I plan to find the director/writer and do a piece on this monumental release. I can't wait. That's a pic of the DVD above.

What a weekend for music this was. I was at Cafe Nine Friday for the "It Happened ... But Nobody Noticed" party, and it was better than expected. The bands really sounded good. As always, The Furors were great, but other groups including The Plan, The Excerpts and The Poodle Boys also made me happy.

On Saturday, I was at Daffodil in Meriden. Good stuff. One of my favorite days of every year is when I get to see Mark Mulcahy perform. Well, the former Miracle Legion frontman did not disappoint. Mighty Purple also put on a very good set, despite the fact that Steve and Jonny hadn't played with the rhythm section before.

So I guess that's it from this end. I'm going to continue writing some album reviews and watching basketball.

By the way, some of you have asked about posting comments. Yes, I changed the settings so that I have to approve comments before they're posted because I was getting dumb comments about the JRC a couple weeks back. This isn't a corporate blog. It's for my own personal fun, and there's nothing fun about stock. Nothing.

OK, have a good night. We'll talk tomorrow.

Oh Canada

Now, you might be thinking that I'm praising our neighbor to the north in my headline because they have universal healthcare, or maybe I'm just mentioning the country because tonight features the Bruins looking to complete a historical upset of the Canadians. Well, those would both be good guesses. But I'm really screaming — in print — "Oh Canada!" because of "These Girls," my new favorite movie of all time.

I was at Jack's Bar and Grill last night with friends Jay Kubeck and Brandon Kinne when the Celtics game ended. Then the Mets game ended, and we were left with no sporting events to watch on the big screen. So we flipped the channel over and watched about 15 minutes of an infomercial about the Tobi, the most revolutionary product I've ever fathomed in my life. But that got boring, thank god, and we hit the jackpot.

Keep in mind we were watching the television with only captions, as bad pop music was blaring from the jukebox even at midnight. But on ABC, a little Canadian movie starring David Boreanaz was on. We weren't sure whether "These Girls" was supposed to be funny or not, but basically it's about three young girls (that's them above) who want to have sex, so they blackmail the "hunky" dude (Boreanaz) who lives in their "village" because he's married and has a kid and has already had sex with one of them, and, of course, he grows pot in the backyard. It's about the most perfect plot ever.

The three girls always dress like little kids and ride around on bikes with baskets. They say the funniest lines. Boreanaz attacks his role like Brando would have, and was clearly snubbed an award a couple years back. He's amazing. It makes me want to watch "Bones." And now I know how Caroline Dhavernas earned her role in that odd show where she talked to Jesus through menagerie toys.

Look, you need to go buy this movie. Just do it. I can't vouch for it being as good as I make it sound if you actually watch it with the sound on, but I can tell you that the three of us were literally crying with laughter, and when the bartender shut it off with 20 minutes to go at 1:15 a.m., we ran — literally ran — next door to Jay's house to finish it.

That's it on this end ... for now! I am attending a press luncheon for Arts & Ideas this afternoon, so I'll get back to you guys in a few hours with my first impressions of the lineup. Talk then. But until then, enjoy this:

Monday Madness

Little Ashlee is all grown up. If reports are true, it looks like the younger, more plastically enhanced Simpson is all pregnant and stuff. She's going to have a little fall out boy (or girl). I'm sorry. I just couldn't not make that joke.

In other news, both Joe and I came up with some pretty good videos this week. You can take a look at mine here, and Joe's here. I'd like to thank Craig Gilbert, er, Lou Diamond Phillips for helping me out this week.

I'm looking forward to "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Here's a profile on Jason Segal, the film's star and writer.

When I went to my mailbox Friday, the new Entertainment Weekly featured Tina Fey on the cover. I'm sorry, but I just don't get what all the fuss is about Fey. First of all, folks think she's hot, which amazes me. She's good looking, I guess, but hot? Nope. And then what has she done that's worth all this hype? She wrote "Mean Girls"!. My god, that movie is incredibly mediocre. Oh, and "30 Rock"? Would we even consider this show funny if it weren't for the sad state of sitcoms these days? It's a decent show. That's it, OK. And "SNL," well, she was a writer during one of the series' worst periods. So what gives?

Just got an advanced copy of East Haven's own Mates of State's new record in the mail. I'm really liking it so far. It has a boatload more instrumentation, but still focuses on the what the husband-and-wife duo do best. Look for the band at Toad's Place May 16. I'm also sure you'll be seeing a cover story in Weekend on that day. Yep.

Howard Stern lost a staffer last week. Does anyone really care about this? I sure don't.

I don't know what to say about this except, I guess, ew. I would have hoped that Natalie Portman had better taste in music. I guess not.

And with that, I'll leave you guys with the funniest article I've read in ages. Read on.

More Later, But ...

I honestly can't believe this exists. Counselors?

Cafe Nine Tonight

Over the next two weeks, there are going to be plenty of really great shows over at Cafe Nine, but I think I might be looking forward to Kelley Stoltz more than anything. The singer/songwriter performs at the State Street venue tonight, so make sure to head over.

Stoltz is a Sub Pop artist, which you know is a good thing. He makes garagey rock that's full of poppy surprises. I like him a lot. OK?

In other news, it's Tuesday, which means we are one day closer to Lou Diamond Phillips calling New Haven home for a few days. Let's all camp out at the Omni, where he's probably staying, until we catch a glimpse. I want to catch a glimpse!

If This Guy's Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right

From my little brother, Little Nicholas, who found this on an NBC affliate site:

An Ohio man is charged with four counts of public indecency after he admitted to having sex with his patio picnic table.

Authorities in Huron County, Ohio say 40-year-old Art Price Junior confessed to repeatedly having sex with the table between January and March of this year.

Police in Bellevue, Ohio were tipped off, after someone anonymously taped one of the incidents then gave the recording to police. According to police, Price admitted that he had sex with the picnic table both inside and outside his home.

He is free on a $20,000 bond.

Free Coffee!

FROM THE WIRE:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a bid to reinvigorate lackluster U.S. traffic, Starbucks Corp will introduce a new, everyday brew called Pike Place Roast on Tuesday and for 30 minutes will hand out free 8-ounce (240 ml) samples.

Free cups of the new coffee, which the company said has a smoother flavor and finish, will be available starting at 9 a.m. on the West Coast and noon on the East Coast at all its roughly 7,100 company-operated U.S. stores.

"It is the best coffee that we have created, maybe, in our history," Chief Executive Howard Schultz said on a call with reporters on Monday.

Happy Monday

And to celebrate the first day of the work week, I give you this present, from my heart to yours. Enjoy, friends.

Sunday's Somethings

With the Red Sox locked in a scoreless game, I felt the need to hop on the ol' blog here and agree with all those critics who panned "21." Please, fine readers, do not go see this flick. Normally, when a movie gets such mediocre-to-bad reviews, I just avoid it, but I really enjoyed "Bringing Down The House," the book "21" is based on. Well, the film felt like it was three hours long, and had more montages than an Oscars ceremony. It was awful.

And you know what else bothered me? One of the facts that the movie needs you to accept is that Kate Bosworth is good-looking. This is just not the case. Even with the help of personal assistants, make-up artists, fashion designers and all those other folks working on a movie, she still isn't even really attractive, much less hot. This is the kind of thing that bothers me when you're watching a crappy movie. I just couldn't get past it. That's her and co-star Jim Sturgess above.

So, again, avoid this movie and just buy the book. It's a good read.

Since I'm complaining, let me touch on something else. If you've been watching Red Sox or Yankees games this week, you've definitely seen the damn "magic rings" tire commercial that runs for what seems like 47 minutes. It's awful. Please stop it. Does anyone actually see tire commercials and then actually buy those tires? I mean, don't we as people either buy the tires that the manufacturer puts on our ride, or purchase the cheapest ones possible? Isn't that how things go?

Last night, I enjoyed a Lucky Kat IPA that the fine folks over at Magic Hat had sent me. I was really pleasantly surprised. It was a nice, smooth and hoppy beer. That's what I dig.

Why is Katie Holmes' newest haircut news? Who gives a proverbial poop? I mean, she's another one that's lost way too much weight, found L. Ron, went nuts and is no longer attractive. Look at the photo, she looks 50, and she's like only a year older than me. Poor Katie. I just hope she's free of evil Thetans and well-versed in Xenu.

So Charlton Heston died late last night. As a younger person, I obviously don't remember most of the man's work, and really only have vivid memories of him as president of the NRA. It's kind of sad, kind of like it was sad seeing him have no idea what was going on when Michael Moore visited him.

Beyonce and Jay-Z are now married, I guess. Good for them. I hope they keep making good music.

Oh my god! There's a heir to the "Footloose" crown. I am so very excited. After sitting in Pooh corner for so long, it's finally happening.

And with that, I'm done. I'll be heading out to Wallingford to see Jackson Browne tonight, then over to BAR to catch Wolf Eyes. Maybe I'll see you.

Video Battle Continues

Joe Amarante's video.

My video.

You be the judge.

Thursday Tidbits

Well hello fine folks out there in cyberspace. This is your blogging reporter, Pat. I'm sitting in the Register newsroom, and I just finished sending Weekend up to the presses about an hour ago. I also just finished making my weekly video preview of Weekend. It'll be on the site tonight. Good times.

So I'm sorry I haven't blogged much this week. Between using all my brain power to come up with a great video, and recovering from my birthday, I've been a bit busy. Anyway, I'm here now, so let's talk about a couple things.

Tonight over at The Space, the very good De Novo Dahl, on the left there, will open for Jesse Malin. I'm a Malin fan, but I'm a huge De Novo Dahl backer. I'm really looking forward to seeing the group tonight. I've never seen them live. I hope to see you all there. Seriously, this should be a really good gig. We'll sip green tea and dance together. OK?

What else? I got a great press release yesterday. Here's an excerpt:

A new Pulitzer-nominated book,titled "Womb Child" is the fascinating story of a fetus named Israel and his nine-month journey "on the inside."The entire story is narrated by Israel-the fetus as he hears and reacts to everything "on the outside." Just intime for Mother's Day, this is a great story for anyone who has wondered what a fetus is really thinking. The book explores what would happen if an individual was never born and the great impact it would have on the entire world.

If you want to purchase this sure-to-be best-seller, go here. Oh, and just so you know, anything can be Pulitzer-nominated if you pay the entry fee. So, no, this self-published book will not be good. But, hey, the press release is too good not to write about. I think it's a prequel to "Look Who's Talking."

Naomi Campbell is in trouble again. Big surprise. This woman needs to lay off whatever drugs she's on. Seriously, if me or you got into this many skirmishes, we'd be in jail. Yep, in the slammer, or the pokey.

The Red Sox have started pretty well this season. It's made me happy. I'm smiling right now. If you could see me, you'd see my grin. I have a big grin. Did I mention I'm smiling?

The New 40-Year-Olds On The Block are reuniting. Oops, did I get that name right? I truly wonder if folks will care. We'll see.

If you were John Cusack, would you want this woman stalking you? Look, if you're going to stalk a celebrity, you should probably be good looking. Of course, you might not stalk then.

My friend, co-worker and video nemesis Joe Amarante (plus my buddy Jay) must be really happy: "Friday Night Lights" is coming back for a third season. And you know what, Joe's also really giddy about this.

I guess that's all I got today. Let's talk tomorrow, after we sip green tea and dance together.