Blog Like an Egyptian

An Unassuming Return To Blogging

2010-07-12T16:26:00.001-04:00

A Roky Tuesday

2010-05-25T13:24:00.003-04:00

Since I'm heading to the Big City after I leave work today to see Roky Erickson with Okkervil River, I'm going to talk a bit about the show. There are still tickets available, you know ...

Anyway, the Roky Erickson story is told well by NPR in this story. Sure, you can find his whole tale in longer form, but NPR does a great job summing it all up succinctly. The record, "True Love Cast Out All Evil," is seriously good. If you don't believe me, check out this review by a seriously smart dude.

I know I'm a little biased about this album and show because they involve Okkervil River, which I've really made no secret about being my favorite band of the moment. Anything Will Sheff does, well, I just think it's great. With that said, I obviously knew who Roky was long before I ever heard Okkervil back in the early part of this century. And I've always known "You're Gonna Miss Me" as one of the most influential rock songs ever written. I've also heard a lot of the crap Roky's put out over the last couple decades. I didn't expect too much out of "True Love." Boy was I wrong.

The 12-song disc is truly great, and getting a chance to see this tour, with Roky backed by Okkervil, might be a one-time-only chance. The mini tour ends tonight, and I can only assume that after the summer, Sheff and Okkervil will concentrate on their next record. So, that means you might want to buy some tickets now ... An absolute legend backed by a truly great band? No brainer.

Here's "Goodbye Sweet Dreams," which will surely be played tonight:

Monday Missives

2010-05-24T14:52:00.003-04:00

There was a point last night, while I was flipping back and forth between the Yankees-Mets game and the Lakers-Suns contest, I was also texting a friend and theorized that we were the only two people around our age, in the United States, not watching the "Lost" finale.

I just have never been able to bring myself to watch that show. I caught the pilot six years ago or whatever, just because I read so many good things about the plane crash. But I really don't like sci-fi, and I have no faith in J.J. Abrams to write something that ends well.

For some reason, people like this guy's shows, yet he always changes the plot on a whim, decides bulks of episodes don't mean anything and, in my opinion, generally doesn't give a crap about his viewers. He's done this with all his television programs. It's why I could never watch "Lost," despite how many friends that have told me it's amazing.

Did anyone on here watch the show? Thoughts on the finale? There's a lot of debate right now ...

Sean Hayes is going to host the Tony Awards. I'm not sure if this will be believable, since he's gay and all.

All of this brings me to the "Celebrity Apprentice," which Bret Michaels won last night. Now, I, like everyone else in America, watched the first "Apprentice" back in 2004 or whenever that happened. I haven't really seen the show since. But when I woke up this morning, and I was reading the news, I saw that Michaels won. It all kind of got me thinking.

Not too get too far out there, but it really made me feel old. I mean, this is quite embarrassing, but Poison was one of my first favorite bands. Mock as you will. I was young and dumb and my dad liked arena rock. It was a foregone conclusion.

Anyway, I always listened to music, but it wasn't until like third or fourth grade when I started forming my own — however misguided they were — opinions about things. I remember when my parents first got cable installed in my bedroom, in what must have been like fourth grade, I got home from school, turned on MTV and just sat on the floor waiting, for hours, until "Fallen Angel" came on.

It was my favorite song at the time. And, besides Belinda Carlisle, the woman in the video was one of the first times I remember independently finding a woman attractive. I was like 10 at the time. The woman in the video was no Belinda, but, hey ...

So, yeah, this morning all got me thinking about how a guy who made bad hair metal while dressed like a chick could, 20 years later, win a game show based on business acumen and watched by a demographic that would have never looked at what the cat dragged in back in 1989. I've seen Bret Michaels' whole career arc. Wow.

I've got to mentally prepare myself for a softball game now. Thanks to all the people who asked about Little Nicholas. He's doing well.

Since it would obvious of me to leave you with the "Fallen Angel" video, I'm not going to do that. Instead, here's Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven is a Place on Earth." Please check out the camera shots from above to know what got my attention as a wee fourth-grader.

Josh Ritter Review

2010-05-24T14:19:00.004-04:00

BOSTON, Mass. — There are numerous examples of great musicians who just aren’t that good live. But there are even more examples of great songs that just don’t work on a stage, in front of people looking for entertainment.

On Friday at the Orpheum Theater, singer/songwriter Josh Ritter experienced some of the latter. An accomplished and celebrated live performer, Ritter’s recent record, "So Runs The World Away," easily the best work of his critically acclaimed career, is a subtle and nuanced masterwork, the kind of album best appreciated through headphones and over the course of repeated listens.

So with the bulk of the first half of Ritter’s two-hour set coming from this disc, he dulled the energy level of a crowd that just couldn’t wait to rise to its collective feet at this almost-homecoming show.

With a little more care put into the setlist, Ritter could have given the audience a performance that would have been impossible to forget. Instead, the thousands in attendance, folks singing along to virtually every word, had to settle for a very good, not great gig.

Opening with "Change of Time," the first song off of "So Runs The World Away," the singer/songwriter began a 10-song opening heavy on new music that featured predominantly slow tunes. New songs "Southern Pacific" and "Folk Bloodbath" didn’t receive nearly the same applause as "Monster Ballads" and "Good Man," two older tracks that while slow, got the crowd involved a bit.

After performing the Bruce Springsteen classic "The River" as a solo piece, without his five-man band, Ritter launched into "In The Dark," after imploring the venue to shut all the lights off. The tactic got the house a bit excited, and Ritter then followed with the crowd favorite "Kathleen," which found his band joining in the middle. This began a spirited run of songs that finally got the audience to stand up, dance and shout along.

"Right Movies" and "Girl in the War" kept the momentum, and then, after a dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem "Annabelle Lee," the group captured beautifully the controlled chaos of "Another New World," the climactic centerpiece of "So Runs The World Away." Ritter then closed with three bona-fide favorites, the folk rocker "Harrisburg," the newbie "Lantern" and the Dylanesque stomper "To The Dogs Or Whoever."

An encore that featured openers The Punch Brothers let the bluegrass band put its impressive plucking skills to work on "The Next to the Last Romantic," a tune that's always begged for fiddles and banjos and mandolins. An appreciative Ritter closed the show with "Wait For Love" alone on his acoustic guitar, with the members of his band and The Punch Brothers providing backup vocals. It ended a two-hour gig that closed well, leaving the audience wanting more, but wishing the beginning was a wee bit more livelier.

Setlist:

"Change Of Time"
"Southern Pacific"
"Rumors"
"Folk Bloodbath"
"Monster Ballads"
"Good Man"
"Rattling Locks"
"The Curse"
"Lark"
"The River" (Bruce Springsteen cover)
"In The Dark"
"Kathleen"
"Right Moves"
"Girl in the War"
"Another New World"
"Harrisburg" (played Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" in the middle)
"Lantern"
"To The Dogs or Whoever"

Encore:

"Snow Is Gone"
"The Next to the Last True Romantic"
"Wait For Love"

Now, I'm a crappy videographer, and I was trying to drink a beer at the same time, but here's Ritter doing "Right Moves." The video was shot from a bit far off, but the sound is pretty good. Enjoy:

Me On The 'Project'

2010-05-20T13:58:00.003-04:00

If you've been living your life yearning to hear my sweet, sweet voice on the radio, well, you're in luck. I'll be my friend Vinnie Penn's guest on his radio show, "The Vinnie Penn Project," tomorrow morning at around 8:35 a.m.

Vinnie's show runs from 6-9 a.m. on WELI NewsTalk 960 AM. I have no idea what we're going to talk about, maybe a mixture of Neil Young, the Red Sox and whatever else. It should be fun, so why not listen?

What else? Well, with "MacGruber" opening tomorrow, you're going to hear a lot about other "SNL" movies. Here's a cool little feature on them.

MTV is actually green-lighting a show based on the old "Teen Wolf" movies. Can you believe this? Next thing you know, someone will remake "The Karate Kid." The only thing I'm left wondering, since the story doesn't provide the answer, is who's going to play the title character, Michael J. Fox or Jason Bateman?

I just don't understand this "Scott Pilgrim" flick. Maybe I'm getting old, but the trailer made me vomit in my mouth. Yep. It did.

By the way, if you haven't noticed, I've been back to doing Weekend preview videos the last few weeks. They don't have anywhere near the same production value as they used to, and they're only about 40 seconds each, but you can check them out at the Register website, with my column or in our video rail come Friday.

Since I'm going to see Josh Ritter tomorrow, I leave you with a video of him performing a song off his new, amazing record.

That Was Still On The Air?

2010-05-19T11:45:00.007-04:00

As I write this lil' ol' blog entry, my brother, Little Nicholas, is, last time I heard, having a lil' bit of surgery on his intestine. Let's wish him well because, you know, being well is good.

One thing I do know is that Little Nicholas would agree with me about something: These fall-television announcements are full of surprises. Who the heck knew that "Numb3rs" was still on the air? I mean, really?

I think that dumb thing's been on since like 2002 or something. Who the heck is watching at 10 p.m. Friday? Anybody with a life is out. Anybody with kids is busy and anybody old, the folks who usually watch procedural dramas, are in bed, right?

Oh, and "Gary Unmarried"? Did anybody ever watch that douche Jay Mohr (that's him in the photo)? No way.

CBS axed a total of seven shows, most of which I didn't even know existed. I mean, I know Julia Louis-Dreyfus has had like 12 sitcoms since "Seinfeld" ended, and I'm not sure which one "The New Adventures of Old Christine" is, but, you know, now it's too late. Thankfully.

On the other hand, ABC got rid of less shows, but they did ditch "Scrubs," which started when I was in high school or something, and has sucked for at least the last five years. But, heck, I'm not sure the CW won't pick it up now. Isn't that what happens with "Scrubs"?

In other TV news, James Franco will return to "General Hospital" soon. I kind of find it funny that a film actor likes being on a soap opera, but, you know, why not?

How about we talk about something going on around here now? Well, local filmmaker Gorman Bechard will present a double feature of his work at Anna Liffey's tomorrow evening.

Yep, Gorman will show the excellent "You Are Alone" (2005) and his camp classic "Psychos in Love" (1987). "Alone" will start at 8, while "Psychos" begins at 10. Admission is $5 for one flick, $8 for both. The event is part of the run-up to Ideat Village, everyone's favorite local fest. This is a killer double feature. Gorman will be on hand to talk about the movies, too.

I guess that's it for today. Now that classes are all finished, you're going to see a whole lot of posts on this here blog. Promise. And, like I said before, think about Little Nicholas when you eat food or whatever today since he's losing some intestine. I will leave you with the trailers for Gorman's films:

"You Are Alone"

"Psychos in Love"

Free Porn!

2010-05-04T16:44:00.002-04:00

I got you excited, didn't I? It's OK to admit it.

Really, I just wanted to pass on this new video from The New Pornographers, which releases its fifth studio record, "Together," today. It's a killer disc, and you can read the full review in Friday's Weekend.

Really?

2010-05-03T13:30:00.002-04:00

I just got an e-mail from a public relations firm. The first line of said message? Here it is:

"Considered one of the biggest rock bands of all time, Limp Bizkit, announced today they will blaze a trail across the U.S. this summer in their first major concert tour in more than nine years."

Um, by who? Really, the only people that would ever consider Limp Bizkit one of the biggest rock bands of all time are the mentally deficient and folks with horrible, horrible bad taste, the kind of bad taste that would preclude me from being friends with you.

Limp Bizkit, really?

Oh, by the way, the tour comes to Hartford, the Comcast Theatre, on July 30. If this gig sells out the old Meadows, my faith in humanity will be severely shattered. And I'd also realize that frat boys with too much testosterone in the late '90s didn't grow up to be productive members of society.

Great News

2010-04-20T18:52:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting here in my office at SCSU, getting ready to impart oodles of wisdom on the children, and I thought it was also best to pass on this piece of great news: "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will return for an eighth season sometime next year.

Simply put, there is no funnier show on television, try as hard as "Modern Family" does.

Anyway, that's it. Woo hoo for good news.

Tuesday Tidbits

2010-04-20T13:05:00.002-04:00

Let's have a moment of silence to remember last year, the time when very few major records or even good ones hit stores. OK, done?

Well, that was really important to do because 2010 is slowly turning into of the best years for new music in recent memory. We just finished a little lull, but, starting today, the next few Tuesdays are chock-full of killer releases.

If you're smart today, you'll head to your favorite retailer to purchase Roky Erickson and Okkervil River's "True Love Cast Out All Evil." Yes, the legendary psych rocker joined forces with my one of my favorite bands to make a truly great record. You can read all about it come Friday in the wonderful Weekend section.

Speaking of records, or, I guess, record labels, it seems Rascal Flatts' home closed up shop without telling the horrifically awful country band. If I owned a record label with them on it, I'd have a closed and not told them too. If this decision to close delays a new Rascal Flatts album by even a day, Disney, the owners of the label, deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. Who's with me?

In the other bit of news that interested me today, it seems that the Emmy Awards are no longer going to give out an award for best theme song. This saddens me more you can imagine. I don't even remember certain shows from my childhood, just the theme songs. I know most programs don't have them anymore — for some dumb reason — but I love them. And I'm mad about this. I'll get over it, but not until I've finished crying for a few days. To help me mourn, here's the "Mr. Belvedere" theme, one I loved as a wee Patrick.

Will You Double Down?

2010-04-19T22:53:00.003-04:00

So there I was, last Friday, helping to judge the first installment of the semifinals over at The Space's Battle of the Bands. One of the folks judging with me was Joe Heafy of the local pop-rock band Shut Up and Deal.

Well, over the course of the evening, we got to discussing something way more important than the bands performing: The Double Down.

If you don't know what the infamous Double Down is, you've been living under a rock or in a corner or on Pandora for the last week and a half. The sandwich is an invention of amazing proportions, something that will be written about for centuries to come as one of the most important inventions of our time. When the history of the 21st century is written, things that we think of as history will be passed over in favor of a bunless sandwich that contains more sodium than humanly imaginable.

Joe and I couldn't stop talking about the Double Down. In fact, we soon had another judge partaking in the conversation. I mean, what genius decided a sandwich needn't have a bun, but would be better off just using two pieces of fried chicken as the bread substitute? This man deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. I want to meet this man. I want to hug this man. I want to know this man. And, oh yeah, I know it was a man. More importantly, I know it was a genius.

In all seriousness, I've yet to experience the Double Down, but I will. I promise. Something like this needs to be consumed. Joe said it changed his life, that it was amazing. Now, I'll have to run like seven miles to feel like I deserve the thing, but, oh, I'll have one soon.

One of my favorite baseball writers, Nate Silver, now writes about politics. Anyway, even though Silver's been one of the most influential baseball writers of all time, and a biggie in the political world lately, he published his most important and essential piece of journalism today. Silver has statistically analyzed the Double Down. Enjoy it folks.

Why People Hate The Media

2010-04-19T14:43:00.003-04:00

As I do every day, I was just going through some entertainment news. You know, I check all the normal places, then I hit up the mass aggregators, the sites that just compile stuff from various newspapers and wire services. Well, here's my new favorite headline of the day, from Yahoo:

"Mel Gibson's ex-girlfriend to help Chernobyl kids"

Now, I know this woman is probably doing a good thing, helping people who were hurt from a disaster. But, with that said, first it says "Mel Gibson's ex-girlfriend," which is just hysterical. Who gives a poop about what this woman does? Only sad, sad folks who care about prurient things. Those folks are sad. Did I mention that?

And, also, victims of the Chernobly disasters are not kids anymore. Heck, people who were born the year of the disaster have been able to drink legally in the United States for three years now. That ain't a kid. And I don't care about Mel Gibson's ex.

Why is The Associated Press wasting time writing a story like this? Where's the news judgement? I actually would like an answer ...

Old Favorite, Sort Of

2010-04-19T14:17:00.003-04:00

As I was sitting here at my desk at work, for the first time in more than a week, I went through my mail. Yep, that happens. Well, one of the discs forming the intimidating pile comes from Justin Currie.

It's been a long while since I last thought about Mr. Currie. Back in high school and college, I used to really love the non-ballad tunes from Del Amitri, a Scottish band featuring the songs of one Justin Currie. It seems, the songwriter will release "The Great War" on May 4, which is also the day a whole boatload of cool discs hits stores.

Anyway, I haven't listened to the album yet, but it made me think of Del Amitri, which made me go get this video:

No Excuses, But ...

2010-04-14T21:46:00.003-04:00

Man, once again I'm here to apologize. It's a pathetic excuse, but, just like last year, this part of the spring is a killer. Teaching two classes is like a second full-time job, and by the time Tax Day comes around, I feel like I don't even have time to sleep, much less blog.

It's not a good reason, and I'm a pathetic excuse for a human being ... or, er, a blogger ... but I'm going to give it the ol' college try from here on out to mid-May, when things will get better.

Anyway, I'm on vacation right now. Does that mean I'm in some sunny location, sipping alcoholic beverages with umbrellas in them and eating jerk chicken or something?

Nope. I'm on my couch. It's comfortable. No foam is filling up the room, though. But this vacation isn't exactly a vacation. What do I mean? Well, I have to get up at 6 a.m. tomorrow to teach the children. Then I have to teach a different set of America's Future at 7:30 p.m. Poop.

That's OK, though. We're in the homestretch and school will be over soon enough. What will that mean? Well, I'll have more time to blog. And of course the children will be so much smarter. Oh, and I'll also have more time to watch baseball. I like baseball.

Speaking of my favorite sport, I'll be heading to my second Red Sox game of the season on Saturday. I caught John Lackey's first Sox start last week, but that didn't go so well. Nope. Here's hoping the Laptop Warrior will fare better.

Over the last few weeks, I've had so much I wanted to mention on this here blog, but now I can't think of anything. Nope. Not a thing.

But I do want to talk about something. I'd like to discuss the Rychalsky family of Seymour. This group of four, who I'm sure are all nice folks, have been sending me countless e-mails over the last few weeks. You see, as a family, this group calls and votes for Katie Stevens on "American Idol" thousands of time.

This isn't just because she's from Connecticut, though. These people choose someone each year to call in about. We wrote a story about them around four years ago. So far, we've been refusing to do the story again. Clearly, other media outlets are not like us.

Anyway, the dad, Konnie, sends out a message each week, with a PDF attached, detailing the group's calling patterns and how often their calls connect. Or something like that. I refuse to read it that closely.

So basically, this guy, his wife and their two 20something daughters spend a night (or two, I don't know anything about the "Idol" voting process) frantically calling Fox. I kind of find this odd.

Well, actually, let me be more specific: I enjoy some weird things. I'm not making fun of them because they get together as a family, watch a show they love and call in and vote. Whatever. I like to drink beer and argue about fantasy basketball or something.

Who am I to judge?

Of course, I don't chart my arguments, make a PDF file and then basically beg for press about my fantasy basketball arguments. That's the part I'm mocking here.

Why are these folks so hellbent on publicity? Every year? And, more importantly, at what point is this not a story? I feel like some of our local media is pretty lazy to do this story over and over again. Go click on that link above and see the Google search. And that's just from this year.

I'm going to make a sweeping generalization right now, but this is another example of how reality television is killing us. Heck, lord knows I like some of these shows, but it's helping bring about this culture of how we all think we should be famous for nothing. If you like to do a family activity, then do it. Awesome. Families all around the world should spend more time together. But don't beg for publicity.

As the editor of the New Haven Register's entertainment coverage, I don't care that you're voting a gazillion times for someone on "American Idol." I especially don't care because we wrote about you before. I also especially don't care because you're begging for this publicity from each and every media outlet possible. That's not news. It's your odd hobby.

When the final basketball game ends tonight, I will have won my fantasy basketball league, and my friends Harris, Jay, Rob, Eric and I won't have anything to argue about. I'm not going to have the newspaper write a story about this. Who gives a poop?

The New 'Avatar' Trailer

2010-03-22T16:02:00.001-04:00

I didn't realize there was a new trailer for the blockbuster. Apparently, though, there is, and my friend Cracker Barrows found it for me. Enjoy:

Drive-By Rudy's Tonight

2010-03-15T17:24:00.002-04:00

Before I moved to this area, my former colleague Jeff Petrin, who loves Counting Crows, booked Drive-By Truckers to play Rudy's in New Haven. Of course, Jeff was way ahead of the curve, because that was before tons of big-time places were calling the group the best American band and stuff.

Boy, I would have liked to see that show. Well, tonight DBT returns to Rudy's, sort of. You see, a local woman, Sarah Henderson, won a contest to host a listening party to celebrate the release of the band's "The Big To-Do," which comes out tomorrow.

I've had an advance of the disc for a little while now, and let me just say that I think it's the band's best record in a while, since 2003. I won't say too much because you need to read Weekend Friday, of course.

Anyway, so this party goes down from 8-11 tonight. I assume they'll just play the record through three times, since it's about 54 minutes long. And you'll get to drink all the good beer that Rudy's always serves. Fun stuff. From what I gather, you won't be able to buy "The Big To-Do" at the bar, but you can get excited for buying it tomorrow. Woo hoo.

If you want to hear "Birthday Boy" from the disc— and that is one of my absolute favorite tunes on it — well, you're in luck:

$10 Million? Really?

2010-03-11T21:14:00.002-05:00

This is what's wrong with America:

From The Associated Press
NEW YORK – A former model says she's appalled that her nearly decade-old bikini photo became a randy prop in the film "Couple's Retreat."

Irina Krupnik filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit Thursday in a New York City court against NBC Universal. It distributed the 2009 Vince Vaughn comedy.

Krupnik acknowledges she gave rights to the 2001 picture to a stock agency, which apparently sold it to the filmmakers. The lawsuit says a character in the movie uses her photo as a sexual aid.

Krupnik's lawsuit says she never would have allowed the picture to be transformed from "a commonplace swimwear ad to softcore pornography." The 30-year-old makeup artist says it's hurting her reputation.

NBC Universal says it had the rights to use the photo.

OK, so let's start with the obvious. If anyone wants to buy a photo of me in my swimsuit and then use it in a movie, let's start the bidding at $2. And if you miss out on winning, don't worry because I can always take more pictures. So everyone wins!

But, more to the point, in the last few days, I've seen more wire stories about frivolous lawsuits than I care to think about. How you can claim that Vince Vaughn or whoever pretending to masturbate to a photo of you in a bikini is worth $10 million? I just don't get it. If that was the case, I'd be sneaking Vince Vaughn photos of myself in a bikini. I might even not wear the top. Wow. Don't get too excited out there.

Seriously, who wakes up and thinks this? My favorite part is the woman admits she sold the photo. Then what the hell do you have to complain about? People ... I went to the World Wide Web to try and find a photo of this woman .... Sorry, I failed.

Not The Same Without Haim

2010-03-10T11:36:00.003-05:00

Corey Haim never won an Oscar. Corey Feldman never won an Oscar.

Corey Haim hasn't been in a movie that didn't go direct to video since I was about 12. Corey Feldman hasn't been in a movie that didn't go direct to video since I was about 13.

Corey Haim's done a lot of drugs. Corey Feldman's done a lot of drugs.

Corey Haim liked drugs. Corey Feldman liked drugs.

Corey Haim was never as popular as Corey Feldman. Corey Haim wasn't in "The Goonies." Corey Feldman was in "The Goonies."

Pat Ferrucci really likes "The Goonies."

Corey Hain is dead. Corey Feldman is not.

I have no idea what I'm going on about, really. I just thought it was important to mention Corey Haim dying. I think I was probably about two years too young to really grasp the popularity of the two Coreys when I was a wee child, but that doesn't mean I don't have distinct memories of watching "License to Drive," "The Lost Boys" and, especially, "Lucas" when I was like 8 or something.

There was definitely a period when "Lucas" was my favorite movie. And I still have nightmares about "License to Drive" because Little Nicholas used to watch the damn flick over and over and over. I can still remember very specific scenes and lines, even though I haven't seen it since 1991 or something. "Lucas" is also responsible for the film debut of Winona Ryder, who, in 1994 or thereabouts, was the best-looking woman to ever walk on this planet.

So anyway, here's the "Lucas" trailer, in memory of Corey Haim who, while not having made a good movie since the NES was popular, was a whole lot of young people's favorite actor in the late '80s. Him and Feldman were kind of like the casts of all those crappy vampire and goobly-goblin flicks now. Sort of.

Yeah, um, here's "Lucas":

And since this entry is about mourning someone, I'm going to pass on the link that Little Nicholas sent me this morning. It's a touching and soulful song from Macho Man Randy Savage about the pain he'll always feel when he thinks about the late, great, Mr. Perfect.

I Have To Charge And Wear What?

2010-03-09T13:40:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, a couple major electronics companies will begin selling 3-D televisions to consumers. If you read this story, buried in the middle of the piece, you'll find this nugget:

"The 3-D effect requires viewers to wear relatively bulky glasses that need to be recharged occasionally. They're not like the cheap throwaways that have been used in theaters since the 1950s. When you're wearing these 3-D TV glasses, room lights and computer screens may look like they're flickering, making it difficult to combine 3-D viewing with other household activities."

Um, really? Does this sound exciting to anyone?

I know "Avatar" made mountains of cash, but does this mean I want to watch Charlie Sheen in 3-D or something? I don't want to watch Charlie Sheen and his crappy TV show in 1-D. Maybe I'm missing the point, but this all seems like a sure-fire failure. Who's going to buy this but the same people who ran out and got LaserDisc machines?

I like to do other things when I watch TV. You will rarely ever find just propped on the couch staring at the television. I'm reading, eating, surfing the Web, contemplating alcohol ... I'm doing something else. I feel like I'm in the majority. I won't be able to do any of these things with bulky glasses.

I'm sorry. I don't understand.

Well, actually, are they going to make porn in 3-D? I feel like that might work ... some of those shops will have to open more rooms in the back.

New Of The 'World'

2010-03-09T11:36:00.002-05:00

I'm more excited than you can imagine for that wonderful day when I walk into the office, sit down at my desk and find that the fine people at Pytheas Recordings have sent me a review copy of Josh Ritter's upcoming "So Runs the World Away." As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Ritter, and picked his last record, the impeccable "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter," as the best album of 2007. The last few months have just been an absolute onslaught of great music. There's honestly so many amazing CDs hitting my desk that I feel like I'm neglecting some. It's kind of sad. But, anyway, here's a preview of the Ritter record:

Oscar's Finest Moment

2010-03-08T22:45:00.003-05:00

I don't think there's any doubt that the funniest moment during last night's Oscar ceremony came when some woman dressed as Barney stormed the stage and Kanye-ed an acceptance speech.

I mean, I liked Charlize Theron's dress and all, but Barney crashing the party was clearly the best part of the evening. You can read all my thoughts on the show in Friday's Weekend, but here's Barney running on stage. After you watch the video, read the story about why it happened.

In Like A Lamb, Out Like A Lion

2010-03-07T18:04:00.002-05:00

The headline for this entry is my motto for this blog, this month. We shall see if I'm able to follow through. As you all know, this is the semester when I teach two classes, which makes me feel like I have two full-time jobs. Come to think of it, I do have two full-time jobs.

Oh, I'm making excuses again. Stupid me. Anyway, the Oscars are tonight. Woo hoo. I'm very excited to write a running diary of the 13-hour show. Here's hoping there are some funny moments. If there aren't, I'm sure my friends and I will mock enough people that it'll be funny either way. Here are my predictions.

This week's Weekend was really tight, and I don't mean that in a mid-'90s hip-hop kind of way. Well, I guess it was still tight in that way, but I would never call it tight like that because, you know, that's not how I roll or something. When I say tight, I mean that there wasn't much room, which meant I didn't run my album reviews. I just want you all to know that I think Peter Gabriel's "Scratch My Back" is just wonderful. Honestly, it's the best covers record I've heard. Gabriel makes all the tunes his own, and the results are startlingly beautiful. Seriously.

That's about all I got for today. But, I absolutely promise I'll be updating every day this week. You ready for it? What I'll leave you with is this two-part review of "Avatar." It pretty much sums up what I think about the gloriously mediocre film. My friend Matt told me to check this review out, and he's a smart boy. Also, keep in mind, there's some bad language in this, so kiddies, don't you click on it. Here it is:

Fat Tuesday Tale

2010-02-16T21:13:00.005-05:00

Honestly, it's kind of sad that I'm getting too old to remember certain things. It seems like only yesterday that I turned 21. But, actually, that was almost a decade ago. And today I'm not sure if it was seven or eight years ago that I experienced the poopshow that is Mardi Gras. The more I think about it, the more it had to be 2002, my first year in grad school. I wouldn't bet any money on that, though.

I didn't think about Mardi Gras today because of it being Fat Tuesday or anything, though; I started to think about my time in New Orleans when a King Cake (that's one above) appeared in the newsroom today, seemingly out of midair.

I can still remember being in the Big Easy, visiting one of my college friends - who at the time was at Tulane Medical - and him giving a bunch of us pieces of King Cake and talking about how there was a baby inside. I mean, I know I was drunk as crap at the time, but I thought this was the most random thing in the world, and certainly did not believe him.

But, gosh darn it, Dan Arnold was not lying, and, I think, my friend Jacqui ended up being the one who got the baby. Yep, I can remember who got the baby, but not what year this all happened.

I get the whole Christmas connection, but doesn't it seem odd as anything that we eat cakes with plastic babies in them to celebrate the beginning of Lent? And isn't it even more odd that these are popular during Mardi Gras, when the people eating them are bombed and really can't concentrate on whether they're about to choke on a plastic baby that happened to be inside their piece of delicious cake? This all makes sense. Totally. Why wouldn't a plastic baby be inside cake? I'm totally stupid for even asking the question.

I don't really remember much about my time at Mardi Gras. I know I drank a ton. I know I ate more oysters in one sitting than I have at any other time in my life, and I eat a lot of oysters. I know I enjoyed many a shrimp po' boy. I know I visited Cafe du Monde for beignets a couple times. Did I mention that I drank a lot? I also searched in vain for the Ignatius J. Reilly statue; I desperately wanted my picture taken next to the statue of my favorite literary character. I even collected beads at the ridiculous amounts of parades. And saw boobs at them. I remember feeling like the days were one long parade. I don't like parades. They make me bored. It takes me longer to get bored when boobs are involved, but I still got bored.

My friends Brandon and Shiloh Kinne are actually heading to New Orleans later this week, just in time to experience the remnants of Mardi Gras, which means loads of litter and streets with rivers of vomit, pee, poo and discarded hurricanes. I could only think of a few recommendations for them. The biggest one was to eat tons of oysters. Brandon and Shiloh won't have any problem doing that.

Anyway, that's all I really got for now about Mardi Gras. I don't think I'll ever go again. Oh, sure, I'd enjoy a trip back to the Big Easy, but Mardi Gras is something to do once. It's a drunken, disgusting and altogether forgettable experience. It's something everyone should do once, but not twice, unless you enjoy a week-long hangover and vague recollections of forcing cab drivers to pull over so you can pee and vomit on ATMs. Or unless you want to eat cakes with babies in them.

Even though New Orleans has a well-deserved reputation for wonderful music, sadly the first thing I always think about when the subject comes up is how Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner relocated to the Big Easy to record his only solo album, as of now, with local musicians. Here's a performance of a song from that record, which came out around the time I went to Mardi Gras (depending on what year I attended). I wish I could remember such things.

Miles!

2010-02-16T16:20:00.002-05:00

Here's the first video from Miles Kurosky's simply great record "The Desert of Shallow Effects":

Valentine's Day Ditties

2010-02-14T22:44:00.003-05:00

As I sit here on my couch, watching the second half of this riveting NBA All-Star Game, I can't help but think about what somebody posted in the comments section of this ol' blog.

I cannot believe we live in a world where "Valentine's Day" makes more than $50 million in a weekend. I'm sorry if you watched it this weekend, I just can't get past the fact that enough people thought this sugary crapfest was worth shelling out some cash to see.

I mean, I know that critical opinion isn't everything, but the flick earned a whopping 16 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Sixteen percent! Seriously. That's horrid.

That site counts all those crappy Internet critics who give anything good reviews, and the movie still only earned 16 percent good reviews. That's pathetic. Awful. I bet I could have written that movie in a few hours. Yep. With that said, the Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke "Training Day" sequel looks even worse. Why? Because it's sole point isn't to just make 16- to 60-year-old women turn to cliche mush.

What else is going on? Well, here's a cool article that talks about '90s female rock. It caught my eye because it mentions Riot Grrrls and Liz Phair early on. When I was a kid, I tiny crush on Liz Phair. That's not true. I don't lie. It was a big crush.

We'll call it a night on a sad note. No, I'm not just going to mention that tomorrow's Monday. I like work. And, hey, I worked today.

No, the sad thing is that Knack singer Doug Fieger died today. People think of the band as a one-hit wonder with "My Sharona," and that's kind of off-base. I mean, I hear that tune and only think about Winona Ryder in "Reality Bites." That's quite possibly the finest performance ever put on film. But, seriously, the entirety of The Knack's debut, "Get the Knack," is a fantastic piece of music, a true power-pop treasure. And I hope that point isn't lost with Feiger's death in the news.

And, hey, that's it. I hope you had a good Hallmark Holiday.

Winter Wonderland Wednesday

2010-02-10T18:21:00.002-05:00

I guess you could say this snowstorm has been a little bit of a letdown so far. I mean, listening to the newscasts, I thought we'd all be stuck in our homes for weeks on end. I even went to the grocery store yesterday and bought thousands of containers of water and canned goods. I'm prepared to be stuck in my apartment for the next three weeks.

Oh, I'm kidding. I just always find it funny how everyone over-reacts when snow's coming. And, you know, it's not like we're living in San Diego, a place people aren't used to the snow. We're coming off a year - winter 2008-2009 - that featured a big snowstorm every week or so, it seemed.

Besides the snow, though, we do have a big piece of news. Former Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson died. I can't really speak to the man's political career since I was a tiny little Patrick when he had his biggest impact, but I can speak to the underrated greatness of "Charlie Wilson's War," the 2007 comedy starring Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman (that's him above). I thought Hoffman deserved the best supporting actor Oscar that year over Javier Bardem, but, hey, what do I know? If Mr. Wilson's death does anything good, it's that people should go out and find this movie that too many folks overlooked around the 2007 holiday season.

Anything else going on? Well, yeah, actually. One of my favorite television shows, "Friday Night Lights," has announced that it will end after its fifth season, which will air at some point next year. NBC hasn't even begun to air the fourth season yet, but let me just say you will not find a better-acted or better-written show on television. Not one.

That's about it. I leave you with a video. I've been listening to some Refreshments lately. Here's "Down Together," a tune from, like, an eon ago.

Tuesday Tidbits

2010-02-09T18:46:00.003-05:00

As I sit here on campus at Southern, waiting for the perfect time to leave my desk and visit my classroom, I feel like there are some things we can talk about. I mean, it'd be kind of odd for me to just sit here in an otherwise empty room and talk to myself. What if someone walks by? They might not let me believe the children are our future or teach them well so they can lead the way anymore.

Anyway, there are few things I don't want to talk about. I have no interest in rehashing anything about Brittany Murphy. The way idiots fall for the whole "she wasn't on drugs" thing is ridiculous. I've seen very few people who looked worse than her. She was barely older than me and could have passed for 50, or a diseased 12-year-old. I also don't want to talk about "Avatar" anymore. It makes my heart bleed to think about it.

What else? I could give a poop about "American Idol." Sorry. Ellen seems like a wonderful lady, but I'd be more likely to watch her talk show. Does she still have a talk show?

There are some things to talk about though. I mean, Lil Wayne! Come on, the dude doesn't have to go to jail because he's got a chipped tooth or something. So Plaxico Burress shoots himself and goes to jail for a long-ass time, while Lil Wayne is running around with a semi-automatic in the same city, but only gets eight months. And he can delay it for dental surgery. Heck, the guy belongs in jail simply for forcing me to listen to "Rebirth." Every critic in America was the victim of a felony assault by the guy for that piece of poop. I think a class-action lawsuit is in order. Who's with me?

What else? Shouldn't we be giving anybody who punches Perez Hilton a medal, not suing them and making them settle a civil lawsuit? I mean, I don't condone violence or anything, but ...

Speaking of courts, can't we just say the heck with Charlie Sheen at this point? The guy can't act for the life of him. That TV show he does is only funny if you were born before 1950, and he's never made a good movie ... unless you count the "Major League" series, but I give him no credit for that. But, seriously, the guy is a walking danger to women, but people still love him. I don't get it.

You want some great news? Jeff Probst has signed on for two more years of "Survivor" and - yes, and! - the new season of all-stars starts Thursday. As most of you know, I just love "Survivor." I don't watch much TV, but, for some reason, the show is like crack to me. Now, I've never actually had crack, but I assume, from public-service announcements and "Intervention," that it leaves you naked, sweaty and shaking, always needing more. That's me after a season of "Survivor" ends.

Want the Bonnaroo lineup?

I hope to one day marry Joanna Newsom. Here's her new record's tracklist and purchasing information. That's her in the photo above.

That's all I've got for now. It's time to prepare to show the children all the beauty they possess inside.

And, It's February

2010-02-03T15:37:00.002-05:00

So I woke up last Monday, and I just felt horrible. I was sick. I felt like poo. Heck, I felt like ass. It was no fun.

Honestly, I still feel kind of crappy, but I'm doing better. I'm not working at peak capacity, but close to it. I bet that makes you all feel happy. Also, keep in mind, I did not break my no-sick-time streak. I have never called in sick for work in my time as an adult.

Oh, I've dragged myself into work feeling awful and I've worked from home before, but never have I taken a sick day. I feel like this is like a conversation from "Seinfeld." Like when Jerry goes on and on about his no-vomiting streak. That's what I feel like right now. And I'll be just as depressed if I ever break my run.

In other news, this story on Gov. Mark Sanford makes me laugh. Look, no BS, I always feel bad for people who have been cheated on, especially in marriage. I would honestly never cheat on someone. Now, with that said, I no longer feel even a little bad for Sanford's wife. In fact, I think it's kind of great she got cheated on. I mean, he wants fidelity removed as a vow? To quote my colleague Jim Shelton, "That's not just a red flag, that's like having your other girlfriend wave the red flag."

This photo of Katy Perry is wonderful.

Now we know why Jay Reatard died. If you're surprised, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

I've got nothing else right now. I just wanted to give quick hello and tell you all I'm getting better. You can look for a diary on the Grammys Friday in Weekend. Oh, and I hate "Avatar." That's it. Let's talk for real tomorrow.

We've Been Rocked Like A Hurricane For The Last Time, Sort Of

2010-01-24T12:36:00.004-05:00

What's that old adage about a tree falling in the forest? Or, better yet, what exactly is news?

That second question, it's something I try to answer two days a week teaching a First Amendment course over at Southern Connecticut State University. Why am I talking about all of this today? Well, this story says that '80s German metal group The Scorpions is disbanding. It's a shocking development; shocking, I tell you.

To be honest, I interviewed guitarist Rudolf Schenker about two years ago and he went on and on, in a thick accent that I didn't completely understand, about how the band could keep going forever. But was anybody listening anymore? Don't get me wrong, I know there are people out there who worship at the alter of The Scorpions, who think that "Wind of Change" singlehandedly brought down the Berlin Wall, and who wake up every morning singing "Rock You Like A Hurricane" as a way to get ready for the day. I know that dude exists, and his name is probably Klaus or Adolf. I understand. But do enough folks care for the AP to do a story on this, and for various online news outlets to pick it up?

And, more importantly, The Scorpions think they are Cher. Go re-read the story I linked to above. It says the band is calling it a day. But then it says a new record will come out in March. Then it says the band will tour for the next "few" years.

Um, so The Scorpions are breaking up, possibly in 2014 or something, and that's news? Heck, telling me Coldplay's breaking up in a few years is something I'd hardly consider news. So much can happen before then.

In the case of The Scorpions, the members are in their 60s. Yes, their 60s. So telling me they are going to break up in the next few years just makes me say, "No sh*t." I mean, really, this is news? Some 60-year-old dudes who haven't had a hit in two decades are breaking up? Oh, golly gee, someone get me a chair to sit in; I'm so damn shocked.

Anyway, here's the reason the Berlin Wall crumbled:

Dawn And Justin, Justin And Dawn

2010-01-22T12:15:00.003-05:00

If people needed a reason to see more live music, Thursday night at Fairfield Theatre Company's StageOne should have provided an ample one for the 100 or so folks in attendance. With Dawn Landes opening and Justin Townes Earle headlining, it was a heck of a show.

As many of you know, I've been a big Landes fan for a couple years now. Ever since I first popped "Fireproof" into my CD player, I can't stop listening to her. The singer/songwriter's new disc, "Sweet Heart Rodeo" is even better, says my review. Well Landes certainly didn't disappoint last night. It may have been the best 25-minute set I've ever seen. Seriously.

Flanked by her backing band, The Hounds, Landes delivered a sometimes stark and poignant and sometimes loud and immediate performance. She gave the crowd eight songs, three ("Young Girl," "Money In the Bank" and "Sweetheart of the Rodeo") from "Sweet Heart Rodeo."

I hadn't seen her perform in more than a year, and what I found most striking was the way she commanded the audience's attention. The two previous times I caught her, Landes was a more timid live player. That's no longer the case. She seemed far more comfortable, and results showed that.

The highlight of the set came at the right time, when she closed the show with "Kids In A Play." Always leave the audience wanting more, right?

Justin Townes Earle headlined, performing two sets. He played solo, but what's always so amazing about seeing Earle - the son of famed country icon Steve Earle - live is how adept his guitar playing is. Throughout one of his performances, it always seems like there are two guitar players, but it's just him.

Earle's best moment came on the poignant and immediately grabbing "Mama's Eyes," which is off his thoroughly excellent "Midnight at the Movies."

Lucky for you guys, I used this show to try my hand at adult filmmaking. Um, that doesn't sound right. Let's try again: Lucky for you guys, I used this show as an opportunity to try out my new mini camcorder (it even made that photo above!). Here are two Dawn Landes videos, and one from Justin Townes Earle. I think they came out so good, I'm going to start doing this at most gigs. Enjoy.

Oh, Conan, You Poor Guy

2010-01-22T10:53:00.004-05:00

With today being the last evening we'll ever be able to see "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," it's vitally important to the world for me to have my say. Vitally important, like the world-won't-continue-to-spin-and-orbit-the-sun important.

Exaggeration? Nope.

Let me start off this possibly incoherent and positively unnecessary ramble by saying I'm a big Conan fan. I like his show more than Jay Leno's. I like his show more David Letterman's. (I do, however, dig Jimmy Kimmel's more, but that's besides the point.)

Two of my favorite days in the last 10 or so years involve going into New York to see Conan's old show get taped.

OK, so I've made that clear. I like Conan. I like his show much more than Jay's.

With all that said, I can't stand all the columns being written about how unfair this whole situation is, about how Conan is a victim. Screw that.

If Conan's a victim, please sign me up to be a victim. Heck, you can let me host "The Tonight Show" for a few months, give me $40 or so million and even kick my ass and I'll take it.

Look, NBC messed this situation up royally. There's a reason nobody watches NBC anymore. The network's management is stupid. It acts as if it doesn't understand what the country watches. And, hell, with the move of Leno to 10 p.m., it basically took a huge dump on its audience. They wouldn't want to see adult dramas, right? Heck no.

But Conan's ratings have been pathetic. I know part of that is NBC's fault for making Jay the lead-in to the news. Let's be realistic, though: Conan's jokes aren't necessarily made for 11:30 p.m., when the audience is much older than it is at 12:30 a.m. A masturbating bear? Hilarious, but maybe not for everyone.

No matter the reason, though, NBC is getting its ass kicked up and down the late-night ratings highway by David Letterman. If it wants to give Jay Leno his show back, because Leno regularly won the ratings war against Letterman, it can do that. Firing Conan is fair. If his ratings aren't good, well, then, that's NBC's choice.

When the network decided to stupidly cancel something like "Southland," do you think they gave all actors millions of dollars and paid for their moving expenses, etc.? Um, nope.

So Conan got fired. He still gets more rich. His profile is much larger now, so when he inevitably shows up at 11:30 p.m. on Fox or ABC in September, more people will watch him than they did over the last few months. And NBC gets Jay back, puts all those "Law & Orders" back on at 10 p.m. and looks incredibly stupid in the process. Everyone wins. Sort of.

Conan is not a victim. Conan is a big winner in all this. His show sucked in the ratings, he got fired and he stills gets a bajillion dollars.

That seems like a sweet deal to me. And making NBC look incredibly foolish? That's just gravy.

Icky Kris

2010-01-22T10:19:00.004-05:00

You know, I've been meaning to make this post for a long time. And, I know I can be prone to a little hyperbole, but it's time to make a grand statement:

I haven't heard a song as bad as Kris Allen's "Live Like We're Dying" in a good five or so years.

Yes, we live in a world where Nickelback and Hinder and crappy metal bands and, of course, hundreds of "American Idol" crapsters exist, but this song just hits all of the low points in music. It's trying oh so hard to please everyone. There's some Jason Mraz in there. There's some Jack Johnson in there. There's some of the least edgy rap I've ever heard in there. In short, it's positively god awful.

I was at the gym yesterday and was forced to endure the song, and that's what drove me over the edge, what drove me to this post. I just can't believe someone would put that tune on a record, even if Kris Allen is an "American Idol," a star born of a show that's determined to ruin music's reputation. But, seriously, this dude is 24. He's supposed to know what's good and what's just embarrassing.

As many of you know, I've killed David Archuleta a lot in this space and in print, but give him credit for one thing: His music is aimed at middle-aged women and it's not trying for anything else. It's over-the-top pap meant to make the ladies gush and wish he was their kid. I get that. Kris Allen should go that way or make bad folk-rock like Mraz or something. Don't try to be everything. Don't try to make me want to put pencils in my ears Please.

You don't believe me? Here's the video:

Golden Crap

2010-01-18T11:15:00.002-05:00

You'll get to read a whole lot of my thoughts on last night's Golden Globe Awards come Friday in Weekend. For the most part, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association did its typical horrendous job of picking winners, but, of course, I took the time to complain and make bad jokes. Be on the lookout for that.

The only thing I will say about it is that for James Cameron's "Avatar" to be such a big winner is one of the biggest jokes in the history of the awards show. Coming on the heels of nominating "Nine" for some many trophies, the HFPA just looks like a bunch of star-struck idiots this morning. Idiots. And, now, I'm done with that.

Dinosaur Jr.'s show at Daniel Street on Friday was really good. It wasn't the best I've seen them over the last few years, but it was pretty damn good.

And, lastly, in case you missed it, I wrote a feature story on Dawn Landes for today's paper. Check it out here. Here she is performing the new tune "Romeo" a couple months ago:

'Avatar,' Really?

2010-01-13T15:09:00.003-05:00

Most science-fiction is polarizing. There are some people that worship at the alter of George Lucas. He could animate a piece of poo, give it a sword and make it fight goobly-goblins and there'd be a legion of fans who loved, loved, loved the movie. (I might actually like that film.)

I understand this. But I still can't believe the legion of people who simply loved James Cameron's "Avatar."

I will never get those three hours of my life back. I could have slept. I could have watched TV. I could have run. I could have listened to music. I could have drank beer. I could have hung out with friends. I could have done a whole lot. But I didn't.

Two Saturdays ago, I watched "Avatar" and was completely disappointed.

Clearly, I'm not a sci-fi fan, and that obviously contributes to my disdain for the film. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good movie when I see it. Cameron's own "Aliens" and "The Abyss"? Those are great sci-fi films. "Avatar" is an overly long piece of crap that looks really cool, but has a storyline that only the dumbest humans would find meaningful.

It's practically a fable for morons. I've never seen a movie that attempts to beat its audience over the head — repeatedly — with its "message." We get it. The dialogue is so laugh-out-loud worthy, I actually did howl in the theater a couple times.

Yet when you try to have a rational discussion with a fan of the movie, they find it simply amazing that that you don't like it. Now, I admit that some of the people I know who liked it simply have absolutely no taste in the arts. That makes sense. If you like Staind or something, you and I are never going to be on the same page artistically. That's OK.

But what about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association? I know that if I threw a huge party and boozed up the foreign film critics, my old Weekend videos could have received a Golden Globe, but, seriously, "Avatar" as a best-picture candidate? Even in a down year for film, this is simply unconscionable. I guess those buffoons did nominate "Nine" for five awards and then had the audacity to claim all American critics are dumb and that the film would be seen as a "classic" in a few years, so ...

Why am I going on about "Avatar" today? Well, besides yesterday's story about the Vatican's reaction to the movie, or the one that says the frivolous flick might be racist, I got sent this story.

You want to see my favorite couple graphs? Here you go:

On the fan forum site "Avatar Forums," a topic thread entitled "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible," has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

"I wasn't depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy ," Baghdassarian said. "But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed."

Um, really? Those couple hundred words make me fear for the human race. I saw "Avatar." I paid attention. I don't want to live on Pandora. I mean, for God's sake, if anything, it's a world that condones bestiality. I don't about you, but I don't want to have sex with flying dragons and then also jump in the sack with those blue cat people, too. Sorry dude.

Seriously, though, can we all admit that the movie was cool to look at and bad as a film? Please, please, please?

And can we all admit that while, yes, Cameron was trying to deliver a message about the environment and peace, he did it in a way that a friggin' squirrel could have figured out?

Nothing subtle. Nothing intelligent.

I'm still sore from the hammer beating me over the head with the stupid point.

Where's my animated poo?

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight

2010-01-10T16:55:00.003-05:00

For those of you who may like to hear the sweet and amazing sound of my voice, I will be the guest on tonight's "Local Bands Show" at 10 p.m. on WPLR. You can listen at 99.1, or online. James, Rick and I will discuss the best local music of the year. We play about seven of my favorite tracks. Good times. Good music. Listen.

Too Awesome

2010-01-07T21:17:00.002-05:00

I can't get enough of this song and dream about the day next week when the record arrives on my desk.

Um, Really?

2010-01-06T16:58:00.002-05:00

The director of PR for the XL Center in Hartford e-mailed me a press release today. The title of it is "XL Center Hub For Top Tours."

Am I missing something? The first paragraph then says that the venue secured four of the top 14 touring acts in 2009. Four out of 14? Is that a hub? These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night.

Happy New Year

2010-01-06T13:35:00.003-05:00

How's it going, everyone? I hope we're all doing well. Now that the holidays are in the rearview mirror, I have to admit I'm a bit happier.

Oh, sure, I love Christmas and everything, but I'm a creature of habit. I'm oddly anal about my schedule. And when things are forced to change, I don't really like it.

For the last couple weeks, I've had odd deadlines, long drives, days off (but with the same amount of work), crazy hours, etc. This week? Well, everything's back to normal, in its right place, and I couldn't be happier.

I hope you all feel the same way. Oh, and last weekend, I saw three movies: "Sherlock Holmes," "Avatar" and "Up in the Air." "Sherlock" was better than I thought, but nothing special. Of course, I'm a Guy Ritchie hater, so take my opinion for what it's worth.

I wanted to die throughout "Avatar." Did it look cool? Yep. But I didn't need to waste three hours of my life, either.

Now, "Up in the Air" might be my favorite movie of the year. In a couple weeks, I'll publish my 10 best movie story right here on this here blog. The Register's official list will be in Weekend Friday. I didn't write it because there are far too many movies not here in New Haven yet, and publishing said list in the newspaper, in February, would look dumb. Yep. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

What else? Well, good ol' Santa Claus brought me some mini camcorder thingie. Once I figure out how to use it properly (this weekend), you can expect plenty of video stuff on this blog, both of me talking and bands performing, etc. It should be fun. My New Year's resolution is, of course, to break posting records on this here blog. Wish me luck.

The most exciting part of the new year is all the upcoming CDs that I'm super excited about. Some I already have, some should be in the mail. We're talking Vampire Weekend, Peter Gabriel, Miles Kurosky, Midlake, Dawn Landes ... the list goes on and on.

If we want to look back, though, you can read my selections for the best records of 2009 here. It took me a while to figure them out, but I'm very happy with the list.

By the time this post gets published, a new batch of Hall of Famers will be nominated. Let's go Tim Raines, Alan Trammell, Robbie Alomar, Mark McGwire and, um, I'm not sure.

What else? Not much. You may also have heard that Wilco and Trey Anastasio have both confirmed Connecticut dates.

Oh, and I'll be watching the People's Choice Awards tonight, so expect a diary in Weekend Friday.

That's it. I leave you with a video for Vampire Weekend's lead single off their new record:

Quickie ...

2009-12-28T09:05:00.002-05:00

You know I don't usually go political on this here blog, and I promise a real entry later today, but I just had to post this. Someone sent me this link, and the idea of it makes me laugh.

This is a YouTube video without any actual, um, video. It's professional wrestling manager Jim Cornette going off about health care. Now, some of it contains a few bad words, so any kiddies out there shouldn't listen. But if you're over 18, push play.

As the person who forwarded this to me said, the funniest part about the rant is that Cornette -- a dude who makes a living accompanying steroid-laden entertainers to the ring and then hitting folks with steel chairs -- makes more sense about health care and expresses everything better than anyone I've heard yet, including our president.

Turning To Baseball ...

2009-12-17T12:24:00.005-05:00

OK, so we're going to not talk about pop culture for a second. Don't hate me. I've been meaning to write about baseball for the last couple days.

It's been a pretty busy week for hot-stove fans. But I don't want to talk about how the Red Sox got better or how I feel about trading a handful of prospects for Adrian Gonzalez. What I want to discuss is a piece penned by Jerry Crasnick (who I usually enjoy reading even if he does think Dayton Moore is a good general manager) about the best pitcher of the decade.

I've been thinking a lot about the last decade lately. For an upcoming edition of Weekend, I'll be putting together a list of the best albums and, probably, films of the '00s. Crasnick's story made me think about the best pitcher. He chose Mariano Rivera. Of course, I'm a big Red Sox fan, so it's hard for me to be objective, but I just don't understand how we can choose, basically, a one-inning guy for this title.

He threw 713 innings from 2000-2009. To put that in perspective, Randy Johnson topped that number before 2002 was over.

Look, I realize Mariano is the greatest closer of all time, and I pray each night to Baseball Jesus that the Sox can find someone as consistently great as him. But, we have to remember that the closer as we know it is a modern-day invention. Even 20 years ago, relievers were not used like Rivera. And do we honestly think that if some idiot made Randy Johnson a closer 20 years ago he wouldn't have had peak years as good as Mariano? There's a reason Rivera and every good closer is a closer: They failed as a starter.

I'm not sure if Randy Johnson is the pitcher of the '00s, but, keep in mind, in those three years that I noted, the big lefty did win three Cy Youngs, three more than Rivera has in his presumably filled trophy case. I think you can make a good case for Doc Halladay and Johan Santana and, even, Roy Oswalt for the title of pitcher of the '00s. I'm going with Johnson, I guess, but my real point, obviously, is to argue against a closer. Can't we all agree on this?

BAR Shows No More

2009-12-15T13:27:00.002-05:00

I will have more on this in Weekend, but effective the minute Sunday's show ends, there will no longer be Sunday evening shows at BAR. The venue and booker Rick Omonte (Shaki Presents) have parted ways. All of the shows scheduled for after Sunday have been canceled.

The venue may choose to do something in the future, but, as of now, New Haven's lost one of its most vital spaces for live music.

Not The One In Cooperstown

2009-12-15T11:54:00.003-05:00

When I logged onto my computer this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to read something that's been a long, long time coming: Genesis has finally been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. About damn time.

But that's not even the main reason for the excitement. Oh, sure, the band getting recognized is great, but what does that do for me? This is all about me, you know?

Everyone who reads this here blog enough knows that I have a thing for Genesis. I love the band. I particularly care for the Peter Gabriel-led version of the group; but, hey, I don't discriminate. I'm a firm believer that the Phil Collins years are critically underrated. There's some good stuff on those records.

Anyway, what gets me most excited about this is the possibility of a Peter Gabriel/Genesis reunion for the concert that always happens during the induction ceremonies. I would be way too happy. I would take the day off from work, order too much food, buy a case of Whale's Tale and get way too anxious. It'd be the best day of my life. And then maybe it would spawn a full-blown reunion tour, which I would never go to because I would died of a heart attack when the tour was announced. Woo hoo.

I'm just so excited about the possibilities. I mean, I feel like the reunion at the induction is almost a given. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

What else am I excited about? Oh, yeah, a Miss Carrie Underwood is coming to Bridgeport in March. I am going to buy an engagement ring and offer my apartment as a hotel substitute. I have a winning personality, you know ...

And It's December

2009-12-13T21:42:00.003-05:00

I bet you expect me to make some dumb excuse about Thanksgiving, teaching or having lots of work for not posting in what seems like forever. Well, you're wrong.

You see, I was driving my little Fit down the road and hit a tree. Right after this happened, everybody in the world found out that I was having sex with 3,234 different women each night. With that in mind, you should realize that I can only text things like, "CU l8er for OMG good stuff. Can I be ur boyfriend? I will wear you out soon" to so many people in one day and still have time to post here.

I hope you guys understand. I mean, it's kind of understandable, right? We only so many hours in a day. Some things have to take precedence, and that includes my many mistresses.

In case you didn't figure it out, I'm actually lying about everything I just wrote. I was trying to make a joke about Tiger Woods. If you haven't heard, he's a professional golfer that likes to have sex with skanky women.

He's famous and married a hot Swedish nanny and the world is currently in the process of acting surprised that a famous dude who married a hot Swedish nanny may like to have sex with women, that he may be superficial. Who would have thunk it?

Seriously, the only thing I find even remotely interesting about this whole story is the idea that none of this would have happened if Tiger could just back out of his driveway without incident. Then nobody would have found out about anything. I mean, that's kind of odd, right?

Oh, and I must admit, I did really enjoy reading the text messages in the Post last week. The whole situation proves he's an ass, but the texts just made him look incredibly stupid. So I'll say it right here: Tiger Woods, you can play golf but you have a brain the size of my big toe. And my big toe is not abnormally large. It's really quite average looking.

Honestly, though, I don't have a great excuse for not posting lately. The holiday made me incredibly busy, so the week before and after were ridiculous. After that, though, I was just in a groove of not posting. Sorry. I promise it won't happen again. Believe me.

I'm sure there have been plenty of fun things I could have posted about over the last month, and now that opportunity is gone. That's what saddens me the most. I saw three great shows over the last week. I find it absolutely amazing how well "The Blind Side" is doing at the box office. I thought I was in the majority whenever I said, "Sandra Bullock can't act." Who knew? I could have talked about all of this at length. Lots of paragraphs.

What else? Well, I'll admit something somewhat embarrassing here. I've always sort of enjoyed fantasy football. I've done it for a few years with my little brother's friends and that's been it. I spend very little time doing it and don't watch that many games. But I've become addicted to fantasy basketball. My friends Harris, Jay and I constantly talk about it; that's really all we talk about at the bar. Anyway, I wanted to get that off my chest.

So, yeah, since I can't go back in time and recommend things, just be ready for Thursday. That's when Eric Bachmann plays Cafe Nine. That's going to be an awesome and huge gig. I'm an excited boy. I'll leave you with a video of his:

Get Ready

2009-11-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

Hello friends,

I would like to formally announce my candidacy to take over the position currently held by Oprah Winfrey. I will go on yo-yo diets, choose books, give away crap and interview people without faces. I will carry the banner. I will be the greatest talk show host to ever live. I will be an icon to middle-aged women everywhere. If I tell them to jump, they will jump. If I tell them to stand on their heads for 25 minutes, it's a done deal.

Once I get the show rolling along, I will start my own production company called Tap. I will become the publisher of my own lifestyle magazine, P. I will go on vacations with my "friends." I will star in movies directed by famous dudes. I will rename my one-bedroom apartment "The Promised Land." I will befriend Maria Shriver and date Roger Ebert.

I will be everything Oprah is and more. Please, please, please: I beg for your support. You know I will do a wonderful job. I will even let Tom Cruise jump on my couch, even if I secretly wish it was Katie Holmes. The first book that I will choose for book club will be "Everyone Poops."

Thank you for your time and patience. Send all campaign donations to Pat Ferrucci, New Haven Register. I will spend them on beer.

I love you all and, of course, God Bless.

-Patrick Richard Ferrucci

Metal Mania

2009-11-17T16:04:00.000-05:00

Here's some ticketing info:

On sale at 10 a.m. Friday
American Carnage Tour with Slayer & Megadeth with Testament
Tuesday, February 9th
Oakdale Theatre
$59.50 General Admission Pit, $39.50 Reserved
Tickets available online at LiveNation.com

Tuesday Morning Video

2009-11-17T08:02:00.000-05:00

As I sit waiting for the day to begin, I deciding to add a little treat here. So, my gift to you is this Antlers video for the tune "Two." Enjoy it. I do.

Well This Stinks

2009-11-16T23:18:00.000-05:00

When I was a young little Patrick, my favorite television program, no joke, was "Remote Control." I can still remember getting home from elementary school on winter days and watching the game show. I swear it's a primary reason why I'm so good at pop culture trivia today.

Well, it turns out, sadly, that "Remote Control" host Ken Ober died over the weekend. He was 52. While many people just three or four years younger than me probably don't remember the MTV game show — which was one of the first original programs on the then-fledgling network — for people my age and a little older, it was a fun show that introduced such future stars as Adam Sandler, Colin Quinn and, of course, most memorably, Kari Wuhrer, my first real crush as a child. (Well, besides Belinda Carlisle.)

So it’s a very sad day. There’s really not much more to say. “Remote Control” has been off the air for 19 years, and most folks probably don’t remember it. But don’t think it was just a silly little show that nobody watched. Heck, there was even a Nintendo game based on it. I actually downloaded the game no more than a year ago. I still kick ass at that show.

It’s too bad about Ken Ober. Fifty-two is damn young. Maybe to honor him MTV will bring the show back for a bit. It’ll be the first time I watch the network in ages. I just hope Ober's death was natural, and not something more awful. Anyway ...

Here’s an old ad for the show:

You Call That Super?

2009-11-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

Here’s hoping everyone had a nice weekend. I’m going to write this post while consoling myself with the knowledge that Bill Belichick did, in fact, make the statistically correct call last night. That makes me feel a bit better.

Unlike Coach Bill, though, one person who did not make the right call this weekend was Bruce Springsteen, who lived a Southwest commercial. Too funny. Poor Bruce, he’s getting a bit old, you know. He forgets. It’ll be OK.

Speaking of the Boss and football, I’d like to talk Super Bowl music now. You see, it’s been announced that The Who (that's them pictured) will perform this year. I just don’t get it.

Did music stop being made after 1975? Why can’t a modern act ever play the big game? Radiohead, Coldplay ... heck, I’d take John Mayer just for the actual point. He stinks, too. What about The Flaming Lips? Would anything be more fun? There are so many options. Wilco? But, no, we get half of The Who, one of the most overrated bands I can think of, and an act that can’t even sell out concerts now. If you’re going to stick to older acts, just bring on Buffett or, gulp, The Eagles or something.

Look, I know some people love The Who, and I know the band has three huge songs that it’ll play on that iconic Sunday. But, really, nobody’s cared about The Who in forever. Doesn’t it make sense to get someone relevant? And if you want to reach the most people, wouldn’t Coldplay work even better? I say this as someone who doesn’t even really like Coldplay. Producers are running out of old bands. Next year we’re going to get a double shot of Kansas and America, teaming up to perform the new mashups “Dust in the Golden Hair” and “Carry On My Wayward Highway.” And, yeah, I know those were lame jokes, but not as lame as The Who during halftime of The Patriots’ fourth Super Bowl victory.

I’ve never seen or read “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” but for those of you who have, well, now you know who actually wrote the thing. A British scientist decided to become a prostitute while working on her Ph.D. If I ever go back to school, I think I may turn to the sex trade and write a blog. It’d probably be kind of boring though. Poop.

Am I the only one who could give a crap whether Sarah Palin knew if Bristol was having sex? Am I the only who just wishes this utterly unqualified woman would just go away? I’m not a Republican, but I sure hope the party can find better candidates for future elections. If one wins, I don’t want it to be somebody as ... You fill in the blank.

Woo hoo, another “Scream” movie is coming to the big screen. Wait, before we celebrate that, let me see if I can remember how awful films two and three were. Oh, yeah, do we need this?

And with that, I'm going to do some work on this wonderful Monday afternoon. We'll talk soon. Yep.

Not A Bear, But A 'Pear'

2009-11-10T14:34:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while. Here's a video for the song "Gold Pear" from New Haven's own Titles. It's a cool video, but it's also an example of the (sort of) new direction of the band.

Some Swine Fever

2009-11-10T12:38:00.001-05:00

New Haven rock legend and Saturday Night Live Band lead singer Christine Ohlman will locally release her new record, "The Deep End," at a concert Saturday at Cafe Nine. You can read a big article about all that come Friday in Weekend. But I wanted to share this clip of Christine that aired on "SNL" last weekend. This is a fake commercial. Ohlman, of course, is the woman in the band.

Okkervil ... Woo Hoo

2009-11-10T08:09:00.000-05:00

Here's an Okkervil River performance of "Unless It Kicks" from last week's episode of "Austin City Limits," something you should really, really watch in its entirety. Have I made myself clear?

Say It Ain't So, Sammy

2009-11-09T17:20:00.001-05:00

Apparently, former baseball slugger Sammy Sosa dreams of being of being the Dominican Michael Jackson ... minus all those pesky pedophile rumors. You see, over the last few days, a photo of Sosa looking awfully white has spread across the Internet, thanks to the technology that the great Al Gore invented at his kitchen table some three decades ago.

Seriously, supposedly Sosa’s going through some “rejuvenation process for his skin.” It’s all the rage amongst women, apparently. Of course, Sammy ain’t a woman. And if this “process” made all women look a cross between Herman Munster and a dude who ate Robert Pattinson, I highly doubt they would, um, continue the process.

So what else is in the news? Apparently Randy Quaid is a wanted man now. The actor supposedly skipped out on a large hotel bill, and now the police are looking to lock up the star of the criminally underrated “Quick Change,” which should have taken home dozens of Oscars. I guess Quaid owes about $10K for the room, which means he must have opened the cashews in the mini-bar.

Speaking of actors that are now criminals, “Friday After Next” actor Katt Williams was arrested for burglary. I would have arrested him after participating in the crime on society that was “Norbit.” Nuff said.

Taylor Swift will be the center of attention come Wednesday, when the Country Music Awards go down. Everyone should be OK with this because I, your trusted columnist, will be doing a diary about the show for the second time ever. Woo hoo.

I can’t find any corroboration for this, but according to my friend Eric Danton’s blog and the Boston Globe, Steven Tyler has quit Aerosmith to focus on ‘brand Tyler.’ I guess both sources got this info from reading Joe Perry’s Twitter updates. I’m not exactly sure what “brand Tyler” is, but I can assure you of one thing: It will include crappy music that nobody cares about. Look, Aerosmith has sucked for years, but they get paid by going out on the road and playing old songs. If Tyler thinks anyone cares about his wrinkled, Botox-ed ass outside of the band setting, he’s going to be really saddened. Him and his scarves and bad singing are in for a rude awakening.

And with that said, I’m in for a rude awakening when I wake up tomorrow and teach after a long game of racquetball. I’m doing that in a second, so goodbye friends.

And The Winner Is ...

2009-11-08T19:46:00.000-05:00

So let's talk Elm City Cocktail Competition, OK? Register food columnist Stephen Fries invited me to judge this a couple months ago, and that's a good thing because I came to a major, major conclusion: I can consume some mixed drinks without making funny faces. I'm serious. It's possible.

I'm a beer guy. You pour me a good ale, and you'll have my heart forever. Sadly, none of the nine bars that competed in this first annual event gave me a Dale's Pale Ale in a martini glass or anything. I had to drink (some of) nine cocktails. I haven't had nine real cocktails in my life. Well, maybe I have, but it's really, really close.

Out of all the entrees, the one that scared me the most beforehand was coming from Leon's, a little concoction that included cucumber, my mortal nemesis. I did not like that drink. It turns out, Bespoke won the event. I have to say, that drink tasted like a Sour Patch Kid to me. It wasn't that great. Way too sweet. Way too sweet.

Personally, I was a big fan of the drinks poured by the very nice people over at BAR, Bar 19 and 116 Crown. I guess I like things with "bar" and numbers in the name. Who knew?

The big surprise, to me, was that I tended to like the manly drinks. I had a feeling I'd like the girl-friendly stuff because, you know, I don't do mixed drinks and fondly remember $1 mixed drink nights freshman year Providence College. I personally consumed many, many screwdrivers and Midori sours. Girly. I grew out of that crap quickly though. At this event, I liked the stuff with whiskey and bourbon best. That's amazing to me.

That’s what you all missed today. You might regret that, but you certainly shouldn’t regret the heartburn that I got. Too many acidic drinks left me with some burn. But it’s good burn because, you know, now I'm officially an adult. I can drink a cocktail without making a funny face. Woo hoo.

Technical Difficulties

2009-11-07T17:48:00.000-05:00

OK, a couple things.

Mark over Manic Productions just texted me so that I would remind everyone that the very funny Neil Hamburger is over at Cafe Nine tonight. What I would add to this is JP Incorporated is opening. I've written about him before. Hysterical.

On to the difficulties, I'm trying to make this blog wider, but can't figure out how to make this border wider, so there's a line in the middle of the posts. Does anyone know how to fix this? Later, aligators.

Tonight, On 'The Needle Drop'

2009-11-07T17:01:00.000-05:00

If you're looking for something to do tonight, I highly recommend buying some beer, building a fire and listening to Eric Danton and I guest on "The Needle Drop," the music show hosted by Anthony Fantano on WNPR. The show airs at 10 p.m. tonight on 90.5 FM out of Hartford. We had fun recording our segment yesterday.

What else? Well, I'm back in Boston for a cousin's engagement party. Woo hoo. Just a reminder, if you're interested in giving to charity and drinking some booze, I'll be a "celebrity" judge at tomorrow's first annual Elm City Cocktail Competition. The event kicks off Restaurant Week. I like food. I like alcohol. It's truly a no brainer.

But, yeah, the event's for charity and only costs $30. You'll get to drink and eat. You can't go wrong. Oh, and you can also corner me and make me answer questions. That should make the cost no big deal, too. See you there, OK?

The Bare Facts

2009-11-06T11:34:00.000-05:00

So let me try to put this into words:

I would rather walk barefoot over hot coals than see Barefoot Truth again.

I would rather walk barefoot through a whole lot of goat poop than see Barefoot Truth again.

I would rather eat a bucket of mayo while barefoot than see Barefoot Truth again.

I would rather have my head chopped off while barefoot than see Barefoot Truth again.

You get the point, right?

For a variety of reasons, I saw Barefoot Truth in the Lily Pad at Toad's Place last night. For a variety of reasons, I didn't enjoy this particular experience. Not one bit. The only thing that made it even the tiniest bit tolerable was the particularly crazy woman who was standing in front of me.

Before we get to her, though, let's talk about my personal nightmare. Most people reading this have probably learned over the past six or so years how much I hate jam bands. Now, wait, let me say there are exceptions, but not many.

So you probably think that's my least favorite type of music. You'd be wrong. I really, really hate white-boy reggae. More than anything. Frat boys who grew up listening to Bob Marley trying to play a bastardization of Marley and Mayer ... well, that's my personal hell. Maybe I'm going there someday (I doubt it; I'm a nice person), but I should not have to visit now.

Barefoot Truth manages to synthesize all three: Marley, Mayer and the Allmans. But all three of those acts have some decent characteristics. This band, which formed in Connecticut a few years back, neuters them all. There’s nothing dangerous here, just some bland music and more lyrical cliches than you can count.

Watching the guys play - and I'm sure they're all nice people - I couldn't help but feel the only people, by and large, that could like this music is college girls and older people who think it might be cool. I know that sounds harsh, and it is to a point, but I sure had that feeling numerous times last night.

Now, there are some good things to talk about. These guys are all good musicians. The singer has a good voice, even if he hasn't found anything close to a unique way to deliver it.

Why try so hard to sound like other people? Why try to make your pretty-boy folk have a reggae tinge? Why? Why? Why? Why have band members switch instruments when it only lessens the level of play in both cases? Why do a cover medley of old R&B songs mixed with Sir Mix-a-Lot? It's a lazy way to get laughs and, more importantly, it's borderline insulting. Why did HBO just begin playing "Sweet November"? Why? Why? Why?

Look, I know I’m just crapping on a band here, but, of course, if you play music in public you should know some a-hole critic might be watching. I just don’t understand why bands are so happy to be completely ordinary. Do you really want to sound like DMB without any kind of testosterone? Do you really want to sing like you’re Bob Marley and constantly mock Beenie Man (who was playing the main room downstairs) during your set? When you can only hope that someday your crappy take on reggae can even be in a conversation with Beenie Man?

Every one of the band members has talent. They should use it to find their own voice. Or, just keep on going doing this thing, playing to a rotating group of college girls who, while you get older, they stay the same age.

Wait, maybe I have the wrong idea here? Maybe Barefoot Truth is a lot smarter than me.

The End?

2009-11-05T10:25:00.000-05:00

Well, last night was probably Pedro Martinez's last professional game. That's not an absolute, but, sadly, it is more than likely.

He's my favorite athlete of all time; and it makes me sad to think that was it. So, because of the end, here's Jonah Keri's piece about the greatest pitcher to ever play.

More later, but this needed to be put up now. Woo hoo.

Tweet Tweet

2009-10-27T23:22:00.000-04:00

OK, so I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about this in the morning. I may wake up and do the proverbial walk of shame in my head. I may wake up and want to vomit. I may wake up and not want to look at myself in the mirror. There are a whole lot of things that I may want to do, but I have decided to become a Twitterer.

I will tweet, or whatever. I feel dumb just saying that, but it's come to the point where I feel like I'm missing out on something. Whenever that happens, my natural intellectual curiosity gets the better of me.

With that said, I feel I should warn you: There won't be anything very "intellectual" going on in my tweets. This is going to be purely for my own enjoyment. Fun, little dumb jokes.

Anyway, you can follow me @patferrucci. Let's get me some followers. Deal? I'm watching basketball right now, so ...

What I Saw

2009-10-26T16:02:00.001-04:00

What I really want to talk about today is "The Joe Schmo Show: Season 2." Yep, we're going back to dark days of 2004 for this post.

I was recently told to check out this show. Correction: I was recently told that I needed to see this show. I was told it would change my life.

Five years ago, I didn't know it existed. I remember the first season of "Joe Schmo." It was OK. I laughed a bit. I had no idea a sequel was made. Now I believe that the sequel might be the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. That might be a bit hyperbolic, but I'm dead serious.

The DVDs came out over the summer, but I was told only last week about them. I put the series in my Netflix queue and the first disc of the set arrived at my apartment Saturday. Life has not been the same since. I don't want this to end. I want to savor each and every episode. I watched one at 8 a.m. this morning, and I bet I woke up the neighbors laughing. Loudly. Howling, really. Tears. Lots of them.

So, basically, in case you don't know, the premise of "Joe Schmo 2" is that two regular people are invited to be part of a dating reality show very much like "The Bachelor." The only thing is that everyone else is an actor. Everyone. The bachelor. The bachelorette. The other contestants. The host. All of it. It's very "Truman Show" like. The cast does hilarious things to get a rise out of the two people who believe everything to be true.

I can't even explain the crap that goes down. Basically, every stereotype is amped up. Every thing ridiculous that's a little subtle on a show on ABC is the furthest thing from subtle on this program, which originally aired on Spike. Seriously, I can quite make it clear how amazingly awesome each and every moment is, how much I laugh and laugh.

Here's a clip. Just watch:

On another note, over the last few days, I've seen three movies: "Zombieland," "Paranormal Activity" and "A Serious Man." Let me just say that I wholeheartedly recommend "Zombieland," which is a truly comedic romp of energy. I'm not a big zombie guy, but this one won over my heart. I was laughing throughout.

"Paranormal" is something to see this week, what with Halloween being all the rage and everything. Yet I can't really tell people to check out "A Serious Man," the newest Coen brothers flick. It was weird. And with repeated viewings it might turn out to be good, but I'm not so sure. The jury's out.

I guess that's basically it for today. Mount Eerie and Tara Jane O'Neil are The Space tonight. That's a show you don't want to miss. Seriously.

A Happy Return To The Living

2009-10-22T19:09:00.000-04:00

"Let's just talk about what I can do for you."

Those were the magic words whispered to me last week. No, I was not visiting a prostitute. I was actually on the phone with a lovely person with a Southern accent. She's an employee of Comcast. You see, last Friday I got my cable bill and it had gone up by almost double. This wasn't acceptable. I called Comcast.

I guess some promotion that I was enjoying (for the last three years?) ended. Before I phoned the cable company, I took a brief look at the DirecTV Web site to see prices. Before the lady said those words above into my ear, I said, "I don't understand why it's not in my best interest to just get satellite."

That's when she started to debate the merits of satellite vs. cable. After I rebutted one of her claims, she said, "I don't want to have this debate with you. Let's just talk about what I can do for you." Woo hoo.

What this meant was a major reduction in price for me, plus a long period of time with every single movie channel. I am having a hard time leaving my couch. I'm pissed off right now, wondering who Kevin Costner (that's him above!) voted for at the end of "Swing Vote." Why didn't they tell me? Damn them. I just saw a preview for "Paul Blart." On Sunday, I watched "Curb Your Enthusiasm" when it was actually on! I don't think I've done that since 2002 or something. Amazing.

Why am I sharing this little story? Well, someone once told me about doing this, which is why I called last Friday. With all the competition out there now, cable is not a monopoly. You have choices. You can haggle over prices. You can quote competitors' prices. It's OK. Go for it. There are now too many movies on-demand, at my fingertips. It's scary. I may call in sick next week.

I'm not going to bother catching you all up on why I've been MIA the last couple weeks. Let's just say I was a very busy boy. Lots of work, lots of school work, I'm playing in a fall softball league, tons of shows, good music in the mail ... Oh, wow, did I just catch you guys up? Look at that. Oh, I forgot that I've been in mourning over the Red Sox, too. Plus, baseball playoffs are my favorite time of the year, Sox or not.

By the way, did any of you see this story from our paper last week? Is there a funnier vision than a guy dressed as a ninja claiming he wants to beat up Senator Lieberman? I don't believe so. No, I don't. The guy took my Halloween costume. I've always wanted to be a robot ninja programmed to end Joe Lieberman. Damn dude ruined everything.

That's all I got for now, but speaking of Halloween, let me leave you with a scene from my favorite horror movie of all time, 1981's "Student Bodies." We'll talk tomorrow. I promise with all my heart.

Guns And Stuff

2009-10-09T11:43:00.004-04:00

I'm not much of a proponent of gun laws. I'm the kind of guy who believes in an evolving Constitution, one that realizes that maybe, just maybe, the laws and ideas of the Founding Fathers back in the 18th century may not work in the 21st.

My stance on right to bear arms varies by the day. I can admit that. I don't know the answer.

I know I love coffee. I don't know whether guns should be illegal or whether making them illegal would change anything. I know if coffee was made illegal, it would change me. I'd be an unhappy guy that constantly sobbed in the streets. That's true.

Anyway, I do know that world was a far different place when the Second Amendment was written. We've changed the Constitution a whole lot since the 18th century, but haven't changed this. Now, semi-automatic weapons are legal. One thing I know is that shouldn't be the case.

Why am I going on about guns? Because I read this story today. For some reason, I missed the stories last year, the ones that told of Meleanie Hain bringing her gun to her kids' soccer practice. Well, now she's been killed by her husband in a murder/suicide.

I just think it'd be really hard for folks to commit these crimes if they had no gun.

Just look at the photo of Hain above. I mean, that's just batpoop nuts. I could make a lot more jokes if the woman wasn't killed yesterday, but I feel like if you're packing heat everywhere you go, you have a much better chance of being shot than I do, a guy who packs nothing. No heat here.

Guns to soccer games though? Huh? I mean, did she expect one of the kiddies to bite her leg? I just think this is all something to think about. I have no answers.

I do know this answer: Did the Red Sox win last night? No they did not. I cried like a baby. I'm very excited about tonight's contest. We'll see.

Playoffs? Playoffs!

2009-10-07T13:30:00.003-04:00

Well, hello all my friends out in the cyber world. How's it going? Sorry it's been so long. As you probably could have guessed, the week after I get off vacation is always hellish. I've been catching up and doing a whole lot of schoolwork ... so the children don't suffer, of course.

Anyway, I'm good now. Promise. It took a little more than a week, but I'm caught up on work, school, sleep and whatever else people catch up on. And it's no coincidence that happened today. I've been planning my grand return, getting tons of things done in order to be able to say this: I can concentrate on the baseball playoffs now. Woo hoo. I love baseball. I love the playoffs. I'm a happy, happy boy.

I'm even skipping a chance to head to Toad's tonight to see Dinosaur Jr., one of my all-time favorite bands. Of course, if you're not a baseball junkie, you better be on York Street tonight. You better, you better, you bet. Or whatever.

So what else is new? Not much really. I had a great vacation, going from New Haven to Boston to Kansas City to Columbia to Kansas City to Dallas to Boston to New Haven. That's a lot of traveling for one week. I didn't do one bit of work while I was gone. I think that's the first time I've ever gone on vacation and not done anything. Of course, this meant plenty of catching up.

So that's all I got for right now. I'm going to type playoff predictions in a second. Oh, and by the way, the best part about the last couple weeks? My Pavement tickets came in the mail. Yep, I bought tickets. Couldn't chance it. Here's a Pavement video. Woo hoo.

Just A Bit Weird

2009-09-21T14:51:00.002-04:00

I just saw the oddest shirt ever. It said, "I wish I was Kenyan." Um, OK? For marathon purposes?

At The Ol' Airport

2009-09-20T05:05:00.002-04:00

I've never posted using my phone, so forgive me if this is messed up. I'm currently at the gate and just finished eating. UFood is good.

Nine Hours Till Takeoff

2009-09-19T20:40:00.004-04:00

As I sit here in the Bay State, silently petrified about the fact that my flight to Kansas City leaves at 6 a.m. from Logan, I can't help but want to talk about the news. So let's do that. But let's not take too long since I need some sleep or I won't be able to walk on to the plane. Someone will have to roll me.

Anyway, if you looked at the front page of today's Register, you saw this story about a Hamden porn store. Now, look, I'm going to be honest with all you folks on the World Wide Web Of Wide Wonders: I'm a 30-year-old heterosexual male who's never really been into porn.

I could count on one hand the amount of "films" I've seen, and I've only gone to one of these stores once: When I was freshman in college I bought someone a, um, "blow-up sheep" for a Secret Santa gift. That's it. That's my experience. And, yeah, I have a sick sense of humor.

With that said, I'm a very liberal guy. If you want to watch porn, have some fun. If you want to build or own a porn store, that's totally cool.

I think it's ridiculous we see so many of these stories about area towns trying to shut down a VIP or whatever. Are people really this lame and hypocritical?

"Oh, all those people who watch porn are sinners." Get a grip, people. If you don't like porn, don't watch it and don't go in the store. I honestly hate folks who want to tell others how to live. I wish I could ban those people from my town. Maybe Attorney General Blumenthal would speak out on my side; he certainly can't let anything go without commenting on it, after all.

As you can see, I could care less about adult stores. Open one up right next to my apartment; I don't care. Yet, I just don't understand these "preview booths." You really need to preview a porn movie? You don't know what's going to be on it?

Let's be clear: These booths are for folks to jack off in. I know that's crude, but why beat around the bush? I'm not a reporter right now; there's no need to be objective. Let's call these things jack-off booths for the rest of this entry. OK?

So while I'm totally cool with adult stores being everywhere, can't we make sure people masturbate in the comfort of their own homes? Is there any reason to have these jack-off booths in a store? It sounds so utterly disgusting. If you paid me to go in one of these places, I would cover myself in Purell or something equivalent.

I've seen "The Squid and the Whale." It wasn't OK for that little kid to whack off in school. You can't go in to Urban Outfitters and whack off. So why is it OK to have these jack-off booths? Or, better yet, why is it OK for this store to have four but not nine or whatever? Are there going to be lines now? Lines to jerk off?

These are the questions we need to ask ourselves. I just don't understand it all. Why is this OK?

And again, I'm the most liberal guy in the world. Yet can someone explain this to me? On the store's Web site, it quotes the First Amendment. I teach a class in the First Amendment, and I've never told the young ones that the Founding Fathers said it was OK to jack off wherever they want. And don't let Adult Video Liquidators fool you: If they didn't know these "preview booths" were really jack-off booths, the Web site wouldn't advertise that these booths were "clean."

Look, let's leave it at this: It's totally cool to masturbate. I'm sure the Founding Fathers did it. Just don't do it in public, OK? And let's not make it OK for others to sit in the back of a store with their pants around their ankles. Deal?

Two Biggies Returning

2009-09-17T18:40:00.004-04:00

Well, it's been reported in a billion places and I still can't really believe it, but one of my favorite bands in the whole wide world, Pavement, is reuniting. I just can't figure it out, though.

I've interviewed singer Stephen Malkmus numerous times, and he's just never given off the impression that this was very possible, especially under these circumstances. He's always said they could do it as a one off thing, just for fun. But according to all press releases and interviews, Pavement will reunite next September for a world tour. And that's it. No more shows. No records. No nothing. Just a world tour. The only way to interpret that is the band is trying to make some cash. I mean, a show happening more than a year from now and tickets go on sale tomorrow? Really?

Look, I'm OK with buying tickets tomorrow. I don't even know if I have to, being press and all, but I feel like if I get comped next year, I could easily get rid of these seats, but ... It's just weird.

With all that said, I'm pretty damn excited. Pavement is a top-five band for me. I've seen them live about three times, and I've seen Malkmus solo five or six times too. I've never been disappointed. This is good news.

What's also good news is that in about a month, The Flaming Lips will return. The band releases its new record soon, and I can't wait for that one to magically show up on my desk. Can't wait. I love the Lips. Love them. Although, the last album disappointed me a bit. Poop. The good news is that the guys played on "The Colbert Report" last night, here's the tune.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Flaming Lips - Convinced of the Hex

http://www.colbertnation.com/

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Protests

That's two pieces of really great news. Don't you think? Two of my most favorite bands in the whole wide world returning to prominence? I'm such a happy little boy. What else could go right for me? Well, how about "Survivor" premiering tonight? You all should know it's the only television show that I actively enjoy watching when it's, you know, actually on and not in reruns. Fun fun. I guess that's all I got today. But I'll leave you with my new favorite comment the dolts on our comments pages left. These people scare me. I hope they don't have children. Anyway, here's my favorite:

"its obvious some project annie was working on and her treatment of those poor animals led him to this heinous act..if someone tortured abused your children, you can't tell me you wouldnt lash out at the person inflicting the pain suffereing up on your own children. the mice / rodents were like his kids...seeing them mutated with radiation and having their eyes plucked out would take its toll on anyone"

I love people. And I love you all. Let's do this again tomorrow.

And The Beat Goes On

2009-09-16T17:27:00.003-04:00

Oh, man, what hasn't happened in the last two weeks since I went missing? The Red Sox have gone on a tear, I got donuts in the mail, Labor Day has come and gone, a little show called "Melrose Place" premiered, Jay Leno began hosting NBC's Death Blow and, oh, something happened at Yale.

I mean, there are plenty of things to write about, but to be honest, there's a few reasons why I haven't blogged in a bit.

Oh, sure, I've been busy as usual, but school also started, and that takes up a whole lot of my time. Plus, I've been trying to get ready for my vacation next week. Usually when I go on vacation, I'm around and pop in to the office every so often. I don't have to get everything done beforehand when I do it that way.

But beginning Sunday, I'll be in Kansas City and Dallas, so there won't be any popping in to the office next week. I've been trying to get everything done so I don't have to think about work. I will blog though. Don't worry. Most importantly, I just need more sleep. My Mid-September Resolution is to sleep more.

But let's talk about the biggest story in the land. Or, sort of talk about it. We all know what's going on with the Yale murder. It's being covered everywhere. What I want to discuss though is another thing that's really troubling about the whole ordeal. Reading the comments on the bottom of our stories really scares me. I'm being very serious.

The amount of amateur sleuths living among us is frightening. Don't people have more to do than peppering a comments board with silly conspiracy theories right out of the Junior CSI handbook? Let's look at a couple of my favorite posts:

I don't know what some post by "Doug" said because our Webmaster probably killed it, thankfully, but here's a response:

"The thing about Doug Nannally is that right now he's probably in front of his computer with his pants at his ankles enjoying his only way to feel powerful in life in any way. he loves our hate because it validates his Enjoy yourself Doug, but you do realize you are a racist Psychopath."

Um, OK? How about this? From someone, I assume, that idolizes Columbo:

"If Annie was strangled I would rule out the GF I have heard ( through other cases ) that strangulation is not and easy task. It takes time and strength .
I wonder if this PIO had scratches on his hand also? You would think that the victim would have been tearing at what ever was around her neck ( hands , other device )."

How about this one, who's clearly a psychic:

"I don't think that Annie was having an affair. not in the slightest bit. i have cut Annie's hair along with one of my co-workers. she was a lovely girl and very sweet. Clark deserves to be in jail. if he has all those scratch marks and bruises then Annie tried to put up a hell of a fight. and i don't know how the Police Department can release him. they should have held him until the DNA report came back."

Why am I writing about this stuff? I just wonder what it means about our society, and, to be honest, journalism in general. I don't know the answer. I mean, almost every newspaper, Web site, etc., now allow comments, which give readers a chance to mention potentially useful info, actually comment on the article and, mostly, spout nonsense and unintelligently criticize the author or police or whatever.

Is that a good thing? Is it a bad thing? It's probably a mixture a both, although I wonder about people who have the time and drive to write the posts above. Why waste your time? I don't know.

I guess that's all I've got for now. I promise now that I'm basically caught up, I promise the blogging thing will be back to being a frequent thing. Deal? Fun. Yippee Skippy. I think I'm going to watch my DVD of "The Stepfather" that showed up on my desk today. I love that movie.

Silly Craigslist

2009-09-01T13:11:00.005-04:00

So have you guys seen this story? I mean, I'm sure this stuff goes on more times than you can shake a stick at, but it's still funny, especially because of the "Erector set" line. That's just the perfect amount of randomness for me.

The piece made me think of an e-mail forward I got a couple years ago. I wish I still had it to post here. But, alas, not so much. The gist of it was this guy in New York who wanted to rent the second bedroom of his apartment for basically nothing. The only catch was that he wanted the renter to be a hot female who would walk around in their underwear.

This all got me thinking: Don't you wish we could see every e-mail response to ridiculous Craigslist posts like these? I mean, in the Register story above, the prankster relays some the messages he got, but we don't actually see them. I decided to solve this problem myself.

Here we go: I decided to write my own dumb ad. I will publish the results right here.

This is the stupidity that I just gave to the World Wide Web:

In these hard times, money is tight. That's why I have a good idea that can help both of us. In my two bedroom apartment, I have a very large closet. You can fit an entire bed in it. You could also get a dresser in there. I will rent this out for $50 a month, utilities included. I will use the $50 to pay my gym membership, which helps me stay strong and fit for the ladies.

I have an open second bedroom, but that's where I keep my pet gerbils and parrots. They play together. It would be wrong to put someone else in there.

Anyway, you would have access to the entire apartment (kitchen, study, gerbil and parrot room, den) except the kitchen sink. That's private.

About me: I'm a 30-year-old professional male. I work about 55 hours a week, so I'm usually not home. I'm clean. I'd be a good roommate. We'd get along.

Shoot me and the gerbils and parrots an e-mail if you're interested.

Here's a link to the posting.

Let the fun begin.

End Of Summer

2009-08-31T18:49:00.003-04:00

Hello fine folks in the wide world of Cyberspace. Yep, for me anyway, summer's over. And, I have to say, I'm pretty excited about it.

That sounds awful, huh? But I'm a man of routine. I need to get back to doing my normal thing, which is working, going to shows, teaching the young children and smiling. These are the things I do.

When I'm on vacation for too long, or when I'm writing columns about a wonderful tennis tournament, I don't have time to do a lot of stuff. I know that sounds silly since, you know, I'm on vacation and should have tons of time, but it's not true. I had barely a minute to myself over my three-week vacation of sorts.

Whew. I'm happy to be teaching at the bum-crack of dawn tomorrow. What this means for you is plenty more blog entries. Yep. We'll be back to normal.

While I type this, I'm listening to "Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy," a tribute record honoring former Miracle Legion frontman Mulcahy. Of course, Mark is a former New Havener, and Miracle Legion is one of the finest acts to ever come from these parts. When I moved here, it was the only band from the Elm City that I already owned records of ... or at least that's what I thought.

A little more than a year ago, Mark's wife died, leaving him to care for young children. This 21-song disc aims to raise funds for the family. Shout Factory is putting it out, and what a lineup. It's mind-blowing.

Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe, Dinosaur Jr., Mercury Rev, Elvis Perkins, Frank Black and The National are just some, um, national names. Plus, locals like The Butterflies of Love appear. It's a seriously great record. Look for a full story on it from me in the Arts section on Sunday Sept. 27.

Tennis Time

2009-08-24T14:56:00.002-04:00

Well, I just had my first Pilot Pen lobster roll, and I have to say I'm disappointed. I'll write more about this in an upcoming column, but sadness is overtaking me right now. I have no idea what to write, how to feel or how to move on with my life.

What's a boy supposed to do when his favorite thing in the whole wide world has been shrunk considerably, and changed in a meaningful way? I haven't been this traumatized since the fine folks at Sam Adams discontinued its Spring Ale. Pardon me while I cry some more.

Keep in mind, that starting tomorrow, I will be writing a column a day for the regular newspaper. I'm here at the Pilot Pen, covering everything that has nothing to do with real tennis. For tomorrow, be on the lookout for a piece on the largest tennis court ever constructed, or something like that.

I'll be updating this blog regularly from the tourney, so pay close attention. OK, now I've got to get a free razor or 30 to cheer myself up.

Another Reason To Hate The Yankees

2009-08-20T20:19:00.003-04:00

Lord knows there are plenty of reasons to hate the New York Yankees. The big, huge financial advantage they have on every team, the ridiculous and inflated offensive stats some players are putting up because they play in a little league park, the dumb push for dumb-face Tex to win MVP when Joe Mauer is having a historic season ... There are too many to list.

But maybe none of these matter to you. Well, if you have any taste whatsoever, this will: Many Yanks, led by Johnny "I Have Crappy Road Stats And Am Babe Ruth At Home This Year" Damon, are in Hartford tonight to see Scott Stapp and Creed. Seriously.

Do I need to write anything else? The Yankees and Creed, now that's a match made in Corporate Crap Heaven.

Some Random Springsteen Thoughts

2009-08-20T17:39:00.004-04:00

So if you weren't at Bruce Springsteen's show at the Comcast Theatre last night, you missed a hell of a concert. Besides it being too hot to live, it was the best I've seen The Boss: the best setlist, the best venue, the best sound, the best crowd ... the best everything. Here's my review of the night.

Because of deadline purposes, I had to file the review by 10:30, which meant there was another hour. The man played for just about three hours. In that kind of heat, at his age, it's honestly amazing. The set ended with plenty of classics including "Dancing in the Dark," "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road." At the bottom of this entry is the full setlist.

Anyway, any time I go to a concert, I write down little funny notes about things I see. Here are some random thoughts about last night. I'm just trying to be funny, and there was plenty to laugh at last night.

Springsteen ended with a cover of "Twist and Shout." Between cover bands, wedding acts and the tons of bands that have just played a version, I've seen this song live a gazillion times. The Boss' take was the best, and it included a bit of "La Bamba." Now here's my problem: The great LDP, Lou Diamond Phillips, isn't doing anything. And Ritchie Valens is up somewhere in that big plane in the sky. Nobody should ever sing that song except Valens or LDP. Why not hire LDP as part of the E Street Band just for this song? Seriously, there's like 4,321 members already. What's one more?

I heard a woman, sitting right beside me, ask, "Where is the lawn?" Really, lady? The lawn?

When I got there, my friend Eric was already sitting in his seat. There was a guy behind him that looked like a little older and odder version of Philip Seymour Hoffman. I guess when Eric sat down, the guy turned to the person next to him and said, "Oh, great, we're sitting behind a tall geek." Now, here's the thing: This guy was about 50 and was the person he was talking to? His mother! And he clenched his tickets throughout the entire show, like someone was going to steal them.

I know one of the things that appeals to people about Bruce is the everyman appeal, but Springsteen fans take it to a new level. One of the people behind me was just going on and on about how "amazing" the between song instrumental breaks were. Basically, when the band was tuning up, this guy was saying, "This is what the show's all about, not the songs. These moments." Of course, his lady friend just kept screaming "Thunder Road." Stop please. The songs are good. I don't know what was worse: saying just stupid things or screaming "Thunder Road" over and over again.

Springsteen fans are quite dedicated, but how come they've never been told you're not supposed to wear the T-shirt of the band that you're seeing to a show? I mean, seriously, it's a rule. You can't do it, yet about 40 percent of the crowd did it. Do they not know the rule? Should I have told them they looked dumb? And The Boss' shirts are pretty horrid, too. I love the music, but if you ever catch me wearing a T-shirt with Bruce's head on it, just shoot me.

Speaking of shirts, when did it become OK to wear Under Armour as regular fashion, outside of the gym? I must have missed that news bulletin.

You want to know how much the band members love each other? During the time between songs, at one point, Springsteen gave Max Weinberg a sponge bath of sorts. Yep.

I never noticed how much the beginning of "Rosalita" sounds like the "Radio Nowhere" intro. Was I the only sad he played "Rosie" and not "Radio"?

Lots of people were holding up signs. Unless I'm an idiot, I didn't understand one, yet it was also my favorite. It said, "Flew to Stockholm to see you. How's your ass?" Um ...
Oh, and yeah, my other favorite sign said "We're Jack & Diane." Um, wrong everyman songwriter?

When we were leaving, the fine people at Axe were giving out free samples. Of course, I didn't take one, but I wonder if those folks should just concentrate on men wearing Livestrong bracelets? Axe, really?

That's all I got. Have a good one guys. Here's the setlist:

SETLIST
1. Sherry Darling
2. Badlands
3. Out in the Street
4. Outlaw Pete
5. Spirit in the Night
6. Working on a Dream
7. Seeds
8. Johnny 99
9. Murder Incorporated
10. Something in the Night
11. Raise Your Hand
12. Mountain of Love
13. Sha La La
14. I'm on Fire
15. Be True
16. My Love Will Not Let You Down
17. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
18. The Promised Land
19. American Skin (41 Shots)
20. Lonesome Day
21. The Rising
22. Born to Run
23. Rosalita
24. Thunder Road
ENCORE
25. Hard Times Come Again No More
26. American Land
27. Dancing in the Dark
28. Twist and Shout/La Bamba

Back In The Wonderful New Haven

2009-08-17T18:58:00.004-04:00

Woo hoo. That's all I can say about the big news. What's that news? I got back home a day or so ago. That makes me happy. I like home. And, yes, New Haven is home, even though that feels weird to write. Whatever. Oh, and yeah, Bruce Springsteen plays Hartford Wednesday.

I've got to say, I've seen Springsteen like five times in the last couple years, but, for some reason, I'm really excited about this gig. I think it's just the outdoors thing. It's going to make an already-sure-to-great show better.

Anyway, One of the first things I did when I got back here was, oddly, go to the gym. And while there, I heard the worst song ever made. Of course I'm exaggerating a wee bit, and I usually just blast my iPod, but while I was changing, I had to listen to whatever satellite system they use at good ol' LA Fitness.

I've got to admit, at some point I've heard basically every Red Jumpsuit Apparatus record. I've reviewed one, too. But nothing ever struck me as good or bad. To me, until today, they were always another in a long line of faceless, mediocre post-hardcore pop-punk bands. But then today happened. I don't know how I missed it before, and maybe it was because today I heard an acoustic version today, but, man, "Face Down" is horrid.

I know this sounds mean to say about a tune that's supposedly about the singer's abused mother, but the songwriter needs to take a writing course or something. Show don't tell. Show don't tell. This song is so over-the-top, so melodramatic that it pained me. I feel like I needed to point that out. Thanks for letting me vent. It's a track Nickelback would be proud to pen.

What else? Well, I'm still on vacation. Woo hoo. I do, however, hate the kind of heat we're experiencing right now. I went outside for a while today, but it made me cry. Or maybe that was sweat. Or maybe it was something someone dropped on me. I don't know.

Today is also a sad day for me personally. I finally caved. I hate myself, but today I ordered a Blackberry. This makes me sad. It makes me want to vomit. It makes me feel like an adult or someone who thinks they're more important than they are ... I don't know. But it will make reviewing concerts so much easier, and with Springsteen coming up Wednesday, I felt like I had to bite the bullet ... after years of not. I did it. Wish me luck. Self hatred can destroy a person, or so after-school specials lead me to believe.

One of the greatest rock producers of all time has died. Read the obit and you'll understand why it's easy to give Jim Dickinson that compliment.

I have no problems admitting that I like some Kiss records. It's good classic rock. I feel like you're lying to yourself if you don't dig some Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons tunes. With that said, the band hasn't released anything relevant in a very long time. Successfully reuniting and touring doesn't mean the new music was any good. And this is why I just can't help but laugh about this story. Good luck Wal-Mart. I know you sell crappy, crappy music to people everywhere every day, but this will take extra work.

I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard people I trust tell me wonderful things about "District 9," the No. 1 movie in America.

I leave you with this: If you're a fan of really good Appalachian folk, then Cain & Annabelle at Cafe 9 tomorrow is something that should really interest you. I've got to admit that I've been listening to the duo incessantly for the last few days. It makes me happy. Oh, and local singer/songwriter Lys Guillorn is opening. And she's always great; every time I see her I'm reminded of this fact.

I got a bit sidetracked last week, so I never got around to writing about Wye Oak at the Middle East. Let's just say it was a great show. They're just a powerful live act. The records are very good, especially "If Children," but live it's just something else, something so much more visceral. I don't think I'll ever miss an opportunity to catch them.

With that said, the opener that night was JP Hasson. I'd never heard of him. Apparently, he has a record on Comedy Central's label or something. I only caught the end of the set, but this video was just about the funniest thing I've seen in weeks. Here it is (just keep in mind there are a couple bad words in this, so, kiddies, don't press play):

Crap Factory

Atom.com: Funny Videos Spoofs JP Hasson

Dispatch From The Bay State

2009-08-13T15:24:00.004-04:00

Well, hello, friends.

I'm typing this from the couch at my folks' house, watching the Red Sox look lifeless against Justin Verlander. Let's hope that changes. I mean, Clay Buchholz is pitching a hell of a game; they can't waste this. Although, literally while I was typing that sentence, someone just homered off him.

Anyway, so vacation hasn't exactly started out the way I would have planned, and that's why I haven't exactly updated this here blog. But that's OK. Since I'm here in Boston, I'm going to check out Wye Oak tonight at the Middle East. I love Wye Oak and I love the Middle East. Good times.

Wye Oak (that's the them above) has played New Haven three times over the last year or so. They're the only band I've seen get forced to do an encore at BAR. They opened for The Broken West at my favorite concert of 2008 (that was at Cafe Nine). And then they came back to Cafe Nine a couple months ago. I missed that show because of a previous engagement, so I'm really excited about tonight.

What else? If you rush over to Live Nation, tickets for Springsteen at the Comcast on Wednesday are available. It won't be for long, that's for sure.

My little brother sent me this link a little while ago, but I kept forgetting to put it up. If this isn't one of the funniest stories you've ever read, I don't know what to say. Well, I guess you could just think of it as ridiculous. I don't know. My favorite part is that she carries around bolts and it's implied that she gets off while on the ride. Too weird and funny.

As someone posted in a comment, if you head over to NPR, you can download every Newport Folk Festival artist's set from the concert. I went over to that there site last Monday for the Josh Ritter set, and it only gave me half the performance. That's been fixed, thankfully.

My friend Noah, who lives in Hipster Haven, was walking down the street earlier today and walked by Will Sheff. Why Noah didn't tackle and kidnap him, I have no idea. He's clearly dumb and regrets it now.

I'm not sure if this story about Daughtry is flattering or not. I have no idea. I do know the band's recent CD is bad. That's one thing in life I'm sure of. Yep.

If that new Jay Leno show still does those funny headlines segments, then this should definitely be on there. I mean, replace "20" with, um, "two" and it'd be accurate.

And with that, I'm about done. I'll post again very soon, like tomorrow with a review of Wye Oak. Don't you worry.

Battle Of The Sexes

2009-08-05T12:00:00.003-04:00

I used to give women the benefit of the doubt. I've always been under the impression that women were just naturally smarter than us men. I'm starting to reconsider.

No doubt you're wondering what brought on this sudden change of heart. Well, no doubt I'm going to tell you.

For the last few years, let's just say 2002-2008, about 97 percent of the people I saw wearing Bluetooths were men. Now, we all know that anyone who wears a Bluetooth or a Live Strong bracelet is an, um, what's that word I'm looking for that ends in bag? You know what I mean. This is just common knowledge.

Bluetooths are dumb. They look stupid. They make you look like a moron. I immediately know you and me just wouldn't get along. I mean, OK, there's an exception for using one in a car, but barely.

Come on. Cellphones are small. You can't hold it in your hand? You seriously need that other hand? You seriously feel the need to talk without a phone and make people think you're batcrap nuts? Is this something you feel deep inside you?

And this brings me to my new point: I always thought women were better than this. But over the last few weeks, and especially this weekend, I saw more women wearing Bluetooths than ever. Is this a sign of the apocalypse? Is this proof that maybe women aren't smarter than men?

I don't know the answers to all these most important questions. What I do know is that anyone who uses a Bluetooth might want to reconsider. We're all laughing at you. Everyone in the room sees you and basically thinks you're an ass right away. It's the truth. Sorry to break it to you.

I once had to explain this to an uncle of mine, but I just thought it was because he was a guy. I wish I didn't give women such a benefit the doubt. I feel had. Maybe hair was just always covering up that stupid little thing on their ear?

Newport Folk Festival 6 - Arlo, Deer Tick, Etc.

2009-08-02T16:19:00.003-04:00

Sometimes some of the best moments at festivals like these are when you're not even seeing music. After Neko Case, I had a couple hours before Deer Tick, and this meant some wandedring was going to happen. I was able to see some of Arlo Guthrie, some Del McCoury and some Tim Eriksen. All were pretty good, although I definitely liked Eriksen the least. Just walking around the harbor and looking at the boats and tents is pretty cool. It's somewhat relaxing. And, amazingly, we've gotten no rain here even though we're enjoying 98 percent humidity and complete overcast.

But when this festival is written up in the history books (who knows who writes them), there are going to be multiple paragraphs about the local acts. The Low Anthem put on a good set yesterday, and today, Providence's Deer Tick drew a more than capacity crowd to the Waterside Stage, clearing outdrawing Eriksen, who was playing to a half-empty space at the bigger Harbor Stage.

This was probably a good thing since this was, by far, the best I've seen Deer Tick. As many of you know, they've played the New Haven area about three times in the last year (and it should have been four, but the show a couple weeks ago was canceled). They just killed. This is a band that's slowly becoming a band. It all started as a solo act with just a name, but now it's a group, a strong quartet.

As you can imagine, the songs from 2007's "War Elephant" went over the best. Singer/songwriter John McCauley jokingly referred to set closers "Ashamed" and "Art Isn't Real (City of Sin)" as the band's "MySpace greatest hits," and it was clear the audience knew them the best, singing along loudly enough McCauley could just sit back and play guitar.

Before Deer Tick started, I was able to eat some Thai food. Mmm. Well, now I'm on to see some Joan Baez before Elvis Perkins in Dearland begins. We'll talk soon.

Newport Folk Festival 5 - Guy Clark/Joe Pugg/Neko Case

2009-08-02T14:22:00.002-04:00

There's a delicate balance that must be struck to have a successful set. Oh, sure, you need good music, but little things can really upset. A few years back, I caught an Okkervil River show in Northampton with a friend. Singer Will Sheff was clearly drunk and playing his guitar way too delicately. This bothered my friend so much, she couldn't enjoy the set at all; she just couldn't get past it.

Well, I'm a huge Neko Case fan. "Middle Cyclone" may be my favorite record of 2009, so far. With that said, I found her performance incredibly annoying. The songs were killer, so why did it annoy the poop out of me?

Well, the backup singer just wouldn't stop talking, or making noises. There's a value to silence, to hearing people tune their instruments. Well, this woman just couldn't let a second go by without making a noise. And we're not talking about stage banter either; she just kept saying random phrases or laughing or making odd noises. It was so, so annoying. I couldn't deal with it.

It was so bad, I'm currently in the press tent, typing this entry and only hearing "This Tornado Loves You," one of my favorite tunes in recent memory. Oh, man. If, by chance, anyone knows this singer - who has a great voice by the way - tell her she needs to stop. She doesn't have to be an emcee that doesn't stop. Say interesting things. I don't know. Please, just stop.

But, again, the music was great. I've seen Case before, and it wasn't ever like this.

Anyway, on to other artists. Guy Clark really killed. I only saw three-fourths of his set because I wanted to at least see Joe Pugg since others have told me he's good. I wish I didn't take those people's advice. Pugg is folk music for teenage girls, the kind of performer you can see at any open mic. Oh, he writes good songs, but it's nothing that goes above the norm.

And that's all I've got for now. I'm going enjoy the rest of my Narragansett beer and then head over to see Deer Tick and Elvis Perkins in Deerland. We'll talk soon.

EDIT: I've just learned Case's backup singer is none other than Kelly Hogan, a singer who's made some very good alt-country records. Heck, I've interviewed her about a show I saw at Cafe Nine a handful of years ago. She wasn't like that when she played solo. I don't get it. Maybe the thousands and thousands of people make her nervous?

Newport Folk Festival 4 - Josh Ritter

2009-08-02T12:17:00.003-04:00

After explaining that when he was young he sent a tape of his songs to Pete Seeger, Idaho-born singer/songwriter Josh Ritter then spoke about how his first nationwide tour was undertaken with Joan Baez.

He then launched into "Hello Starling (Snow is Gone)," the oldest tune he performed Sunday as the opening performer at the last day of the 50th Newport Folk Festival.

Ritter played "Starling" and "Girl in the War" mostly acoustic, but besides those two tracks, the bulk of his 11-song set was highlighted by an absolutely killer band. The energetic fivesome tore through popular tunes including "Wolves," "Right Moves" and, especially, the set closer "To The Dogs or Whoever."

But the highlight of the 50-minute set came from an extended take on the countrified folk of "Lillian, Egypt," a tune off of his critically lauded 2006 album "The Animal Years." The fiery version of the song included a portion of The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" that got the crowd aurally excited.

Numerous times Ritter spoke of what an honor it was to be playing the festival, noting that the only other time he performed at it was in the parking lot, trying to give away tapes. The 33-year-old musician never dropped the smile from his face, constantly jumped around and got the audience clapping along. It was a set full of emotion and power, a perfect 50 minutes to open the last day of the festival.

Now I'm on the Joe Pugg. We'll talk soon.

Setlist: Wildfires / Wolves / Rumors / Empty Hearts / Girl In The War / Right Moves / Real Long Distance / Another New World / Lillian, Egypt (Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da played in middle) / Hello Starling (Snow is Gone) / To the Dogs or Whoever

Newport Folk Festival 3 - Iron & Wine/Decemberists

2009-08-01T19:50:00.004-04:00

Sam Beam, the man who goes by the moniker Iron & Wine when he plays music, took to the Harbor Stage at the festival and immediately played his best-known song: the acoustic cover of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights." Of course, the tune's known because it's in that car commercial.

Anyway, I couldn't help but think about how when Beam plays solo, without a band, he sounds a ton like Madison singer/songwriter Chuck E. Costa. So if you like Iron & Wine, I strongly suggest checking out Costa, who write some great songs.

I only caught half of Beam's set because I wanted to make sure I saw all of The Decemberists. Man, am I so glad that I did that. I've seen Colin Meloy and company about five times, but this was actually the best they've been. It was a varied setlist, one that touched upon all parts of the band's career.

Decemberists setlist: The Crane Wife Pt. 3 / We Both Go Down Together / Yankee Bayonet / Down By The Water (new song) / Copper Mine Song (new song) / Isn't It A Lovely Night? / The Hazzards of Love / The Wanting Comes In Waves / The Chimbley Sweep / Dracula's Daughter / O Valencia! / A Cautionary Song / Sons & Daughters

During "A Cautionary Song," the band performed an original theatrical work, one that reenacted Dylan going electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. It was, um, something.

Newport Folk Festival 2 - Mavis/Fleet Foxes/Gillian

2009-08-01T14:49:00.007-04:00

What's wrong with me? So many people of my ilk just love the Fleet Foxes to death. I just can't do it. Oh, sure, I can appreciate their sound and skill and, especially, the harmonies, but the songs have no real hooks. Call me common and unable to understand all you want, but unless you're super special, your songs need a hook, something to bring people in and keep their interest.

I hear Fleet Foxes and sort of get into it, but then by mid-song, I'm dreaming of Chicken McNuggets or what's next ... in this case Iron & Wine. So, yeah, that's my thing with Fleet Foxes.

Mavis Staples, playing on a smaller stage at the same time as the Foxes (odd) performed a good amount of what you'd expect for her. A highlight was a spirited take on The Band's "The Weight," which was really cool.

As for Gillian Welch, well, you know what that was like. It was exactly what you'd think: professional, interesting, engaging and, honestly, really cool. David Rawlings is such a good guitar player. He makes me happy.

So that's it for now. I'm about to head over for Iron & Wine and then it's Decemberists time. Seeing that band play in front of this many people should be pretty cool. I just ran into Colin Meloy backstage. He talks just like he sings. Without historical references though ....

Newport Folk Festival 1 - Nightwatchman

2009-08-01T14:49:00.004-04:00

For a festival with plenty of legends and indie faves, it seems that each time Tom Morello, the former guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, plays here, he simply kills. The man can control a crowd as well as anyone I've ever seen. And this is coming from someone who never liked Rage even one bit. I guess I understood why people did dig them, but I think it was the singing style that turned me off.

But I was introduced to Morello's Nightwatchman project for the first time back in 2007, at this very festival. He was great then, but he was better today; his set ended about 10 minutes ago. No song embodies this fest more than Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and, of course, Morello knows this. He ended his set with the full version of the iconic tune, getting the crowd to sing along at a very loud clip. Simply put, it was a great set.

As for other things so far today, The Avett Brothers impressed me quite a bit. For some reason, I've never gotten into that band that much, but I'm going to revisit them when I get home. Folks I trust really like them, so I'm sure they deserve a second chance from me. They especially deserve another chance from me live. Yep. It's true.

What else? Not that much for now. I think I'm going to head out of this here press tent to see Gillian Welch and enjoy the weather. Talk to you soon. You can expect a couple more updates today, and then check out www.nhregister.com for a full review of the day tonight. OK, hope you're enjoying your Saturday.

Cha, Cha, Cha, Changes

2009-07-30T16:48:00.003-04:00

Well, hello everyone. If you're not a dolt, you probably notice that I made a few changes to this here blog. It was actually by mistake. And now I can't go back. I'm OK with that. I'm not sure if it's OK for me to get rid of the corporate stuff, but I'll be a rebel for now.

Anyway, so let me know what you think of the look. I guess I can change colors and all that stuff. And I'll be looking for a better photo to go behind the header, but, for now, this is what I'm sticking with ... barring some great suggestions from you.

I'll get going by saying I just started reading David Halberstam's "The Breaks of the Game" yesterday, and it might end up being the best sports book I've ever read. And I've consumed hundreds, literally. It's great. It's sad I didn't get to it sooner.

Anyway, in other news, I just saw my friends Brandon and Shiloh off. They are moving to Dallas, as Brandon is going to be teaching political science to the impressionable young minds that attend the University of Texas at Dallas. This stinks because they'll be gone, but it also smells bad for another reason: I won't be able to use them as characters in my stories anymore. Poo. Goodbye Brandon and Shiloh.

What else? Well, tomorrow I'll be making my annual trip out to the Newport Folk Festival, so be on the lookout all weekend for blog posts and stories online. I'll be updating and writing quite a bit. You can read my story about the fest in Weekend tomorrow. Right now, I'm not sure how it's all going to work, but you can bet on me writing more than necessary. Here's the AP's preview piece on the event, which I totally recommend attending. Right away.

Unlike every other year, though, my very long vacation won't start right after the fest. I'll be in next week; I'm going to Missouri in mid-September so I'll be working next week, off the next two, and then on Pilot Pen duty that next one. Then things will be back to normal, at least till the week of Sept. 20.

I'm being serious when I say it's impossible not to feel bad for what Erin Andrews is going through. Now, with that said, I'm used to getting taped through a peephole. Heck, it's happening right now. Look out for this on YouTube.

If Wal-Mart makes Foreigner relevant again, I'll begin to believe that America is even more stupid than I thought.

I guess that's all I've got for today. I'm going to take a nap or something. I leave you with a video of Elvis Perkins in Deerland performing at the 2007 Newport Folk Festival. At one point, I think you can see my head. Perkins and company are back this year, and I can't wait.

Pretty Funny

2009-07-29T14:17:00.003-04:00

Tiffani Thiessen is Busy from Tiffani Thiessen

Weirdo

2009-07-28T13:48:00.004-04:00

Maybe I'm a bit conservative. I mean, nobody's ever said that about me, but it's possible. I'm all for doing whatever makes you happy, but if this New York Times Magazine story is true, then the fine folks over in Japan need some help. Some serious help.

If you were to click on that link, you'd find the adorable story of Nisan and Nemutan (that's the them to the left, thanks to the NY Times), the tale of the love between a 37-year-old Japanese man and a, um, pillowcase.

Basically, this is the equivalent of me walking around with an Ultimate Warrior wrestling buddy and calling it my girlfriend. Of course, that'd be much cooler than this guy. You don't believe me? Here's the stories money quote:

"Nisan is part of a thriving subculture of men and women in Japan who indulge in real relationships with imaginary characters. These 2-D lovers, as they are called, are a subset of otaku culture— the obsessive fandom that has surrounded anime, manga and video games in Japan in the last decade. It’s impossible to say exactly what portion of otaku are 2-D lovers, because the distinction between the two can be blurry. Like most otaku, the majority of 2-D lovers go to work, pay rent, hang out with friends (some are even married). Unlike most otaku, though, they have real romantic feelings for their toys. The less extreme might have a hidden collection of figurines based on anime characters that they go on “dates” with during off hours. A more serious 2-D lover, like Nisan, actually believes that a lumpy pillow with a drawing of a prepubescent anime character on it is his girlfriend."

Really Nisan? That's what you believe? Register Arts Editor says Nisan is this way because "he eats too much sushi." Now, I love sushi, but I've never fallen in love a wrestling buddy or a can of Play-Doh.

Now, what I did fall in love with is "Orphan," which just so happens to be the greatest love story of our time. Please go see it. Maybe have a beer first. You will love this fine piece of American cinema. I promise.

Besides a few technical glitches, my live chat went OK earlier today. Thanks to everyone who participated. I'll be doing again next Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. We'll have a grand ol' time.

That's all I got for now. We'll talk again tomorrow. My next post will be the 500th entry for Blog Like an Egyptian. Woo hoo. Champagne will be uncorked.

Getting Chatty

2009-07-28T08:37:00.002-04:00

For anybody who may be interested in spending 30 or so minutes talking about random bits of nothingness, I'll be doing my first live chat here at 11:30 a.m. By then, I hope to have finished my coffee. I need coffee. We can talk about music or whatever else is on your mind. Orange juice? Where you should go get food for lunch? What kind of soap I use? Anything at all.

Anyway, that's it for now. Later I'll be back to talk about the sheer genius that is "Orphan."

Deer Tick Canceled

2009-07-23T12:25:00.002-04:00

It's a sad day to live in America. Or just New Haven. Or the New Haven Area. It's OK to cry. Let the tears flow. Sadness is expected.

What am I talking about? Well, tonight's Deer Tick show at The Space has been canceled. Or, I guess, postponed. Here's the note from Manic Production's Mark Nussbaum:

"Hey everyone. We just got word that the Deer Tick show scheduled for tonight at The Space has been postponed due to illness. We are as bummed as you are! The show has been rescheduled for November 5th. All 7/23 tickets will be honored. Ticket refunds are available from point of purchase up until 8/23. Thank you all for understanding. "

Bad Idea

2009-07-22T11:24:00.003-04:00

I like to think I know my audience. I mean, I don't know you in a literal sense. Most of us have never shared a beer or thumb wrestled together.

But I think I know what most of you like, which is why I think I can say, with a fair amount of confidence, that you probably dig The Pixies. You may not love the iconic and critically adored band, but you at least like them.

Well, as you would imagine, I'm a big fan of the Frank Black-led act, too. I own all the records, have caught the band live a few times, etc. But with all that said, this newest comment from Black suggesting that the Pixies may make a new album if it's done with a Hollywood director is just plain scary.

One of the hardest parts of seeing a band you love reunite after a long hiatus is the very real chance that it will make a new album, one that just doesn't live up to the old stuff. I've heard Black's solo discs. Let's not go there. I don't want a new Pixies record if it may sound like those.

But, see, the other issue is that you can't fault a band for wanting to make and play new songs, instead of just touring as, essentially, an oldies act. Of course, according to the story linked above, it seems like the Pixies don't have any issues being an oldies act.

I don't know.

One thing's for sure, though: Making your comeback record a score to some movie is not going to work. It's going to get a whole lot of buzz and, ultimately, be incredibly disappointing. It's an unwinnable prospect. What the members should do is spend tons of time crafting some great new songs and then make a disc. It's very possible for legendary Massachusetts bands to break up and then, after two decades, come back with the best records of their careers. There's a precedent. Just look at Dinosaur Jr. or Mission of Burma.

Anyway, that's my spiel. There are a couple more things I'd like to mention, though. First, Aeroplane 1929 is at Cafe Nine tonight. Do not miss it. Secondly, next Tuesday I'll be doing something new, taking part in an online chat. I think we're doing it at like 11:30 a.m. We'll see if it works. If you're around, please participate so I'm not bored.

I've been on a Mojave 3 kick lately. Because of that, I leave you with a video for "Breaking the Ice," a tune that I can't get out of my head.

Weekend Warbles

2009-07-20T09:08:00.003-04:00

I've had a busy last few days. How about you? Well, either way, it's time to write something here in this ol' blog's space. You see, I've got much to report, and it'd wrong not to share. I think if I didn't type of some nonsensical paragraphs and call them an entry, I'd be damned to hell. There's that much to say. Yep.

OK, where do we start? Well, normally I would have popped out at least one blog entry this weekend, but my computer pooped out. It just died. Like Walter Cronkite and Frank McCourt. Dead. I even tried CPR, but the ol' hard drive said, "F you, Pat. I'm dead." The thing's under warranty, which means a new hard drive is on the way to the Elm City, but, alas, it'll be a few days. I feel naked without a computer at home. I feel like it's 1996 or something, a time when I never wanted to go online; I just wanted to play outside. Of course, I occasionally do want to use a computer. I'm so lost and confused.

On Wednesday, I went and checked out Man Man, like I said I would. Boy am I glad. I've seen them play about four times before, but this was the best set yet. Daniel Street sounded great and the setlist was varied and alive. And as with any percussion-heavy act, the timing needs to be down cold to work, and this was. Woo hoo.

MT Bearington's opening set even came close to matching that local band's best performance ever, the one where it opened for Mates of State in like March of 2008, I think.

Here's the one question I came away with after Wednesday though: At what point does having fun just become ridiculous? Look, I don't really dance, unless I'm totally trashed and, usually, at a wedding. But I understand some people like to dance at shows. Well, at this gig, there were four 20something women dressed oddly (like Man Man) and dancing completely ridiculously. For a few minutes, it was really funny. For 75 minutes, it was pathetic. They even moved around the venue doing it, making it clear, to me at least, this was a cry for attention. Why do people like to be the center of attention? You're at a show. The band should be the center of attention. It's OK just to have fun and watch. Dance even. But, that? Really?

Yet the best show of the weekend went down Saturday in Northampton. My friend Jay and I took the 75-minute drive across the border into the greatest state in our union to see Magnolia Electric Co. (that's them above), and what a gig. The band sounded, for lack of a more mature word, awesome. They killed. And, of course, the Iron Horse always helps. Great venue. Great band. Great new album. How many times can I use the word "great" in paragraph? You don't want to know.

I also found the time — because it's impossible to put down — to take in Dave Eggers' "Zeitorn." You're going to want to read it. Yep. It's true. Honestly, it's a harrowing and, ultimately, uplifting take on Hurricane Katrina-torn New Orleans. It should be a must read for all, especially those who haven't seen the city since the disaster. And "Benjamin Button" doesn't count.

So let's recount: In the past two weeks, I've been on a very good stretch with books. Besides the Eggers work, I finally got around to reading Joe Torre's book, which was way more interesting than I expected. And then I got through "American-Made," which is really just the story of the New Deal and, more specifically, the WPA. It's been a good run for me. I hope to keep it going when I grab something from "to read" stack tonight.

So, as you can see, besides the Red Sox losing two out of three to the Blue Jays, it was a pretty good weekend. I even watched the wretchedly bad "The Haunting in Connecticut" because, you know, it seems like something I should see.

Oh, one more thing, we've got a good run of concerts coming up. I'll write more as the week progresses, but, come on, you have to be at Cafe Nine Wednesday and The Space Thursday. It'll just look bad if you're not there.

Since I just mentioned Thursday, here's Providence's Deer Tick performing "Art isn't Real" in a random kitchen in Providence. Enjoy it. You can see it live Thursday. Yep.

Man Oh Man Man

2009-07-15T15:14:00.003-04:00

Psst: There's a great show tonight. I didn't want you to forget that always-fun Man Man plays Daniel Street in Milford.

It's a Manic Productions gig, and local act MT Bearington from Safety Meeting Records is opening. To me, that's a pretty killer gig.

First, let's talk about Man Man. Lord knows I wasn't as fond of 2008's "Rabbit Habits" as I was the Philadelphia band's first two discs, but, still, it's a pretty good record. Live, you never know what you're going to get with the experimental act. I've seen them in these parts three times, and the performance has varied from OK to spectacular. Let's hope tonight leans toward the latter.

What else? Well, MT Bearington is the moniker Matt Thomas uses for his solo stuff, and let me say that I'm a huge fan of Matt. His music is, sort of, a kind of psychedelic folk, and I'm looking forward to his set just as much as Man Man. And those are big words, my friend.

Here are a couple videos to get you as excited as I am:

Lobster Or Liquor

2009-07-14T15:26:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, things just don't make sense to me. Maybe I'm an idiot. Maybe I'm naive. Maybe I don't watch enough television. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how ridiculous it is that Donte Stallworth can drunkenly drive a car while being about double the legal limit, kill someone and only get 30 days in jail. I mean, it seems to me, like he should have gotten at least 31 days.

But, seriously, think about. Thirty days in jail for killing someone. Now here's a story about a Jersey guy who stole 91 lobster tails. Well, he just got four years in jail! Think about that. Let it set in. Four years for stealing some lobster. I mean, really?

And the biggest crime of it all? The story says the lobster tails were destroyed. Nobody ate them. Give them to me! I'll eat each and every one. Please. I will. I can do it. My stomach can handle it.

So what else is new? Well, I'm not sure anyone wants to see it, but Sandra Bullock claims she will strip for money. With that in mind, I would like to announce on this here blog that I, Patrick Richard Ferrucci, will also strip for money. You want to give me a few quarters, the pants are coming off. Whether you like it or not.

Tonight over at Cafe Nine is Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women. This is a show you probably want to check out. It'll be a good one. I, though, will be at Branford's Cue and Brew, to play in a setback tournament with my boss. Wish us luck.

Oh, also, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" will be screened at Criterion at midnight tonight, if that's your thing. My friend Susannah recently said this to me, "Harry Potter fans, they like everything." Now, since I'm not a Harry Potter fan, I wouldn't know. But I trust Susannah, even though she's the biggest 98 Degrees in "the whole world."

I'll leave you with a live performance of a song (from an album) that I'll write more about tomorrow. I don't know why, but I've been listening Ken Stringfellow's 2001 record "Touched" a ton again. It just came up on my iPod and I haven't stopped in a couple days.

Fun For Friday

2009-07-10T13:57:00.004-04:00

So I've been away from this here blog because I've up to my neck in tissues. But now I'm feeling a bit better, have the day off and am ready to blog away again. I guess antibiotics really do work. Woo hoo.

So here's hoping your Friday's going well so far. Mine's been relatively uneventful. I woke up. I walked and got some coffee. Then I watched an advance copy of the first two "Entourage" episodes of the season. The HBO comedy's sixth season premieres Sunday on the pay channel.

I've been a fan of the show for a while, but let me just say it's gotten worse and worse with each season since the fourth, the one all about the production of "Medellin."

Anyway, I've got to say the beginning of this season is kind of sad. It's not funny at all. It's the same ol' stuff. And what's even more ridiculous is how dated it feels. Why have a scene on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno? Why talk about becoming an agent for "My Name Is Earl"? It just seems weird that a show about the entertainment industry couldn't have planned a little better. I mean, we've known Leno's been gone for a while and the cancellation of "Earl" was pretty predictable. Oh, and there's a whole conversation about "Knocked Up." Really?

So that's my mini review of the beginning of the season. Let's hope the show dies a quick death and doesn't ruin its own legacy. Oh, and we can still look forward to "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

A Full Post Later, But ...

2009-07-05T13:29:00.002-04:00

... that was easily the best tennis match I've ever seen.

My New Favorite Commercial

2009-07-03T17:00:00.002-04:00

You know, in print, I've called Kansas a guilty pleasure many times over. Now State Farm is stealing my thoughts. Actually, I think they may have filmed me in my car, and then recreated the moment, shot by shot, with some other, less attractive dude driving the car.

Quotable Quotes

2009-07-02T11:41:00.004-04:00

Thanks to a friend for passing this one on. Why do we thank her? Well, if you read something closely, you never know what kind of good humor you may find. This here quote is just great. Read on:

“Back in his Bachelor days, Ginuwine's thoughts ran mainly to giving ‘Pony’ rides to as many hotties as he could, on new album A Man's Thoughts, he's more subtle, and relationships now tend to last beyond last call at the club. Ginuwine has always been a smooth purveyor of steamy slow jams, but here the sex involves more emotional entanglement, and that can lead to complications.”

Wee For Wednesday

2009-07-02T00:32:00.003-04:00

So, if you're not from New Haven, this may not be as exciting, but there's some older woman who rides her bike around the city a lot. You can usually see her at concerts and stuff, and from very brief interaction with her, she seems really nice. But now I think she's Kevin Cronin.

You see, I got back from an REO Speedwagon show a little bit ago and it became obvious that the singer has been posing as a woman and riding a bike around the Elm City, checking out local bands. Maybe he's trying to sign a new act? Maybe he wants a new sidekick for those TimeLife music commercials he does? Maybe he's just messed up in the head? I don't know; there are plenty of reasons, but Kevin Cronin is definitely Older Woman Who Bikes And Goes To Shows In New Haven.

With that settled, I saw something fun at Mohegan Sun tonight ... besides the show. So Speedwagon takes the stage to "Take It On The Run" and this gets some 50ish woman in the crowd incredibly excited. She can barely breath. She's hyperventilating. Oh, wait, she has enough energy to pull her boobs out of her top every 10 seconds or so, though. Yep. She does. And then she does it again. And again. There's no way the band can see them. There's no way the band would want to see them. Yet she keeps putting them out there for the world to see. But then a lady -- no wait, let's call her a saint -- a couple rows back has had enough. She goes right up to Boobie Exposer and tells her to stop. A verbal brawl erupts. I couldn't hear and don't know who won, but since I didn't see boobies again, I can safely say that everyone was a winner.

What else? Well, 38 Special opened the gig. Styx closed the show, but, to be honest, we did not stay for Styx. Unless the band was only going to play "Renegade" over and over, I'd rather have some stick toothpicks in my eye than watch Styx. I'm exaggerating, by the way. But not a lot.

All in all, and it's probably wrong as a critic to say this in print, but it was a good show. Speedwagon didn't play enough of "Hi Infidelity," a splendid rock record, but, you can't have everything, can you? You, though, can have this video of "Keep On Loving You":

Tuesday Toodles

2009-06-30T13:26:00.005-04:00

Can you believe it's the last day of June? It seems like only yesterday I was shoveling snow. Actually, that's a lie. Since I live in an apartment, I don't shovel snow. I kind of like that. But, anyway, tomorrow's July, which means we're a little bit closer to my annual vacation that gets me out of the office for the bulk of August. I'm in need of a vacation.

Today is Wilco day. But more on that later.

Anyway, I haven't posted since Michael Jackson died. There's really not much to say that hasn't been relayed ad nauseam over the last few days. I mean, he's dead. Heart attack. Could be something more sinister. Probably not. He had issues. He may have liked children too much. He was, absolutely, a musical genius and inarguably one of the two biggest musical icons of my life. A significant portion of people my age, including myself, can call "Thriller" the first album they ever owned. That's something. One interesting thing you may want to check out, though? Lisa Marie Presley's blog entry about the whole shebang.

I always, naively, thought that the actors starring in Broadway shows had to be able to act. Not the case with this one, I guess.

I just got this in the mail last week, and let me say that I'm surely smitten. How could I have forgotten how awesome this show was? I mean, it's badly acted and everything, but, man, it makes me think of my childhood. Oh, OK, I admit it: I can't get through more than one episode at a time, but still ...

A movie about a "Real World" castmate? Who would have thunk it?

Here's a pretty good interview with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy (that's his pic above). Of course, "Wilco (The Album)" is out today. Look for my review in Friday's Weekend section.

This is an A-Z story about which TV shows are missing from DVD. I would like to add that, for some reason, "Ed" is missing. I loved that show.

And I guess that's all I got for today. In honor of the Wilco record, here's a performance of my favorite tune from the disc:

The Saddest Story Ever Told

2009-06-23T14:52:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting at my desk crying. This is awful. I wish I could have been there to save some. Oh, the humanity!

The Tires Roll ... And More

2009-06-23T14:10:00.003-04:00

Before I get into anything else, tonight at Cafe Nine will feature a surprise.

For the first time in about two years, alt-country locals The Tires will perform. The band, led by Calvin DeCutlass of The Nortons, basically broke up because most of its members moved away. With folks in town, a one-off gig had to happen.

The show is not posted on the Cafe Nine Web site, but The Tires go on around 7 p.m. You never know if you'll get a chance to see this again, so it's a good idea to make it out there.

What else? Well, I made it back from Montreal alive. I hadn't been there since college, but let me just say that it's a weird place. People really dress up there. Like Long Island or something. It's quite the scene.

I saw some sights. Went to some bars. Lost money at the casino and, generally, had a good ol' time. Just watch your stuff when you're there, otherwise you'll spend a long time at the police station trying to obtain a police report. I didn't lose anything, but ...

Who says TV rots the brains of the children? Well, not his kid's evidently.

I mean, anybody who writes a song called "You Light Up My Life" has to be a little creepy, right? This more than just a little, but ...

Guys and gals, if you're in the market for a not-so-attractive, unfaithful boyfriend or girlfriend who has eight kids, you might be in luck.

And here's some news about Marion Cottillard. I didn't actually read the story because I couldn't stop staring at the picture.

That's all I got, folks. Have a good day. I'll end with this: I can't stop listening to it, so ...

Um, Wow

2009-06-20T12:42:00.001-04:00

So, just on Canada's MTV or something was this amazing video. It was a live-changing experience for me. Enjoy it:

Oh, Canada

2009-06-20T04:10:00.003-04:00

So I'm in Montreal, just getting back to my hotel room. There's not much to say, except that within five minutes of being here, one of the five us had our stuff stolen from a bar. All gone. Happy Canada. Stuff gets stolen ...