Too Good Not To Post Here

Saturday Night Post

So here I am at the office on this wonderful Saturday evening, waiting to get out and play ping pong and drink beverages. But I get to work a Saturday once about every three months, so here I am.

I did, at least, go to the taco truck on Long Wharf before coming here. My friends and I simply love the taco truck. I seriously can't recommend hitting one up for lunch one sunny afternoon.

But now I'm here working, so why not make the most of this time by posting a blog entry? Right? I mean, doesn't that just make sense?

Here's my video preview of this week's Weekend. For some reason, we thought not looking directly at the camera might be a good idea, but, alas, it wasn't. So next week I'll look at the camera again. I smile more on this one; a common complaint on the last one was that I didn't smile enough. You happy? You know who you are.

Thursday night's Play birthday party was really great. All four bands delivered fine, fine performances. The only bad part is that when I left Toad's, my car was not there. Yep, I was towed. Why was I towed? For one outstanding parking ticket that I was formally protesting. I guess it doesn't matter that you formally protest a ticket the right way. The people in the office where you pay your ticket told me I shouldn't have been towed. Does that mean anything when you need your car back? Nope. So, needless to say, I'm not a big fan of the city's towing practices. In fact, I think it's a sham. The Advocate wrote a good story on the city's towing fun a while back. Read it here.

My old school canned its basketball coach today. I think this is a good move. Tim Welsh (that's him above) has had some good teams over the last 10 years, and yet can never win an important game. Ever. Even with Ryan Gomes.

It looks like Opening Day could work out after all. Woo-hoo.

My spies at SXWS told me that Dawn Landes' set late last week was simply incredible. Make sure to check her out. She's so good. Read my review of her new CD here.

Who doesn't love this dude?

If anyone's looking to join a fantasy baseball league with me, e-mail me. My friends and I are trying to make our annual league have more than just seven or so teams. It'll be fun. This will be my second or third year playing fantasy baseball, and I'm not sure if I like it yet. But I love baseball.

I'll end this by saying I'm so happy that the great Lou Diamond Phillips has begun to post on this here blog. I'm honored. Lou is the greatest American actor to ever play Ritchie Valens. The way he pretended to sing "La Bamba" in the great, great movie of the same name gives me chills. Thanks Lou!

Some Stories Are Too Perfect

All I can say is ... um? Take a gander at this.

Parades, Concerts, Movies, Etc.

So what you're looking at is a photo of me and my friends Helen and Shayne standing with Mr. Toad at the St. Patrick's Day Parade Sunday. I saw the little guy walking by, and I just couldn't let him go without capturing the moment. My friends had to get in the photo also.

Anyway, to quickly recap the parade: I'm just not so sure it's for me. I mean, I like to drink, but I don't need an excuse to do it. The whole thing felt like it was 17 hours long. And, in my opinion, it's really ridiculous to say that it celebrates Irish culture. I mean, yeah, it sort of it does. But walk the streets: It's really an excuse for people off all cultures to get drunk in public. That's it. Oh, it also lets folks in groups that wear uniforms get a chance to wear those snazzy outfits in public.

If you're like me and stay up late, catch R.E.M. perform from SXSW at around 1 a.m. tonight. The band's will surely play a bunch of its upcoming record. The show will be Web cast on NPR tonight. Check it out.

As many of you probably know, Billy Crystal is joining the Yankees. Sorry, I just don't think this separates the gap between the Yanks and the Red Sox. Go Red Sox.

If your iPod sparks, return it immediately. Do not pass Go. Do not collect your $200. Just get your damn contraption back to the store and away from kiddies. OK?

Mary Ann from "Gilligan's Island" likes to spark it up, apparently. She lives in Idaho. I mean, could she possibly cause anybody harm smoking pot in Idaho? I'm not sure. I'll have to ask my friend Brandon. He's from Idaho.

The biggest, bestest tour of the year is not coming our way, sadly. I'm thinking about taking a trip to Ithaca for it, though. Anyone want to carpool?

And lastly, it's finally time for "Funny Games." Now I'm not sure if the movie's great or not (reviews have been pretty good), but when I saw this trailer a few months ago, I thought it was such a cool preview. Anyway, the flick opens Friday. So, here's that trailer:

Video Fun

So we here at the Register are doing a lot of video work now. You can hit our Web site and check out all kinds of different video stories that augment the print paper and also preview the daily newspaper.

As of last week, I'm helping with this through a video preview of the week's Weekend section. You can check out my preview of the March 7 issue here.

Joe Amarante will also be doing these, previewing his Weekend column. You can see his last one here.

So, go watch and look for these every Thursday on the site. That's it. I'll write more soon.

Hope You Remembered To ...

Set your clocks ahead. It's daylight savings time! Now, I hate losing an hour, especially since I stayed up pretty late last night and saw the time change, but I love gaining an hour of sunlight.

With that said, I'm only in the office for a short time today because I'll be heading to the St. Patrick's Day Parade. It's named after me.

Los Lobos at the Shubert was a killer show last night. That's a tight band that knows its way around a stage. Here's a funny, funny story from the concert:

During the last song, the group let a lot of the women in the front rows get on the stage. There was a bit of a drum solo during the tune and it was coming from Los Lobos' touring drummer. Singer David Hidalgo wanted to call attention to the young drummer, who's name is something like Johnny Cougar. So with all of these mostly middle-aged women dancing on stage, Hidalgo yells something like, "And we got Cougar!" My friend Jay and I decided if we had beers to spit out, they would have been on the people in front of us. Too good.

Anyway, that's it on this end. I've been listening to a ton of Bob Mould lately, so I'll leave you with this Sugar video:

Well, It's Been A While

Man, jury duty can mess with a guy. I had to perform my civic duty earlier in the week and it totally killed my schedule. I was way too busy to update this here blog. But, the week's over so here I am. Not dead. Just tired.

Anyway, so jury duty is a waste of time that could be organized a lot better. I was in Derby (why Derby?) from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and did nothing, absolutely nothing. I just sat in a room waiting for them to call me ... and they never did. Then I was told I could go home. Oh, I did watch a video that repeated what I learned in fifth-grade social studies class about the three parts of government. Good stuff.

While sitting in the room, I read the Register like 15 times through. There was a column on the editorial page written by a filmmaker Raul daSilva. Please, please, please go find Tuesday's Register and read this column. I'm sure the 74-year-old local is a nice enough guy, but this piece is one of the worst things I've ever read, all built around an idea that is blatantly wrong: That less people are going to the movies these days. This an easily provable falsity. It got me mad. How can anyone be a filmmaker and call the Coen brothers "twits"? I could write 10,000 words on how bad this column is, but I'll let you guys find it and enjoy it. The guy is simply out of touch, which I'll probably be when I'm 74, too.

What else? Well, my good buddy Brandon Kinne told me I need to have some Dale's Pale Ale, so I bought some over at The Wine Thief, which is steps away from my apartment on Whitney. I'm very excited to try it.

I don't think I have much else today. My brain's fried. Enjoy the parade tomorrow. I've actually never been, so I'm going to remedy that tomorrow.

Connecticut 'Law & Order'

As I sit here about to leave to have a refreshing beverage, I'm watching a new episode of "Law & Order." I'm not sure, but I think this episode, "Tango," is based on a sort-of Connecticut case.

I can't remember the names of the people and don't have access to our old stories while I'm here at home, but I think this episode is based on that woman from Orange who was an addict and working as a prostitute and possibly helped someone kill a woman in New York or New Jersey. Again, the points of the story may be messed up, but I think this is the one. I'll update tomorrow when I figure out if I'm right.

Please Help

So I'm starting a fund-raising effort. Who wants to send me money so I can buy Neverland? You see, it seems Michael Jackson is probably going to have sell the heavenly place he uses to lure children, so why shouldn't I buy it? For a mere $50 million or so, someone can purchase the California property. If you guys send me enough money, everyone can come and play on the rides for free!

Sounds fair, right? We can all go on the bumper cars or something and then have a jolly fun sleepover, just like the King of Pop would want.

Anyway, I love this Black Crowes vs. Maxim story that won't go away. As a music critic, I understand that you should never, ever review a CD without hearing it in its entirety not just once, but at least twice. Clearly, Maxim doesn't get that. It's really a credibility ruining transgression. But I do think you can review a Black Crowes disc in your mind without even hearing it: You just know it's going to be a mediocre attempt to copy The Faces and The Rolling Stones.

I remember a few years back — and that could mean like a decade ago — someone published a coffee-table book of celebrity mugshots. I love those things. Here's another one. It seems the skinniest of all "The O.C." stars has gotten herself into legal problems. All she did was drink and drive and have a bunch of weed on her. Stupid people.

I mean, I liked "Juno." I liked it a lot. I didn't think it was a great film or anything, but I liked it. I'm just really sick of all the attention Diablo Cody is getting. It seems like she is, too, a bit. I just think this whole stripper-turned-Oscar-winner story is overblown. Who cares? And what really bothers me is how cliche she is. I mean, the whole "I'm a punk so look at my earring with a skull-and-crossbones on it" is kind of pathetic, don't you think? If we saw someone like her on a regular day, we'd just say she was someone desperate for attention.

Say you went to see Wilco Sunday night and just loved it. You probably can't get enough of the band. Well, NPR is webcasting Wilco's Washington DC show tonight. Make sure to tune in. And if you can't, NPR always archives the show the next day. If you're looking for something to listen to, the Okkervil River show from a while back is a good place to start.

People, including me, are still laughing about Jimmy Kimmel's song about Ben Affleck that aired after the Oscars.

I may have mentioned this before, but I really can't get enough of Daytrotter. Seriously, any indie music fan should make sure to get themselves to the site. It's a treasure chest of fun. I suggest checking this one out.

And with that, I'm out. Have a great rest of the day, OK?

Put On Those Headlights

If you're looking for something to do tonight, might I suggest heading over to The Space and checking out the very good Headlights (that's them grilling)? The band's recent release, "Some Racing, Some Stopping," which hit stores Feb. 19, is a pop celebration. It's the perfect summer disc, filled with buoyant tunes laced with bright organs, syrupy choruses and stellar acoustic guitars. It's a California album for an Illinois band.

There's no Open Mic at the venue tonight, just Headlights. The show is co-sponsored by the mighty good guys over at Manic Productions. Check it out.

So what else is going on? Well, this new show "quarterlife" premieres tonight. It started as an Internet phenomenon, so that's kind of cool. It also stars a woman from Glastonbury. I won't watch it, but this at least makes it interesting, right?

The guitar god that is Stephen Malkmus is streaming his very good and very proggy upcoming disc, "Real Emotional Trash," over at Myspace.com. Check it out. The record hits stores March 4.

Brad Renfro was left out of the Oscar's death montage, my old college roommate Ryan Dixon's favorite thing in the world. It was an interesting decision by producers, one I noticed right away. My Oscar observations will be in the paper Friday. Keep an eye out.

Speaking of my old college roommates. My good friend Pat Cohen (from Guilford) is in Rolling Stone this week because of his Internet TV show that is a phenomenon. Check it out.

That's about all I got for today. Make sure to take advantage of the free coffee today. Have a good one and we'll talk tomorrow. See you at The Space?