8/04/2006

F.U. FRIDAY

I'm leaving from the office today to go to the lake for the weekend. It's going to be a family weekend (except for my sister who wants to stay in Memphis to see her friends, whatever). Anywho, I'm leaving at 4:30. That's t-minus 7 hours and 55 minutes from when this pic was taken. So my F.U. this week is to time.F.U. TIME! AND SPEED UP, BI-OTCH!

Happy F.U. Friday to all you mother effers out there.

Come play with us
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8/03/2006

Rockstar:Supernova Recap - Elimination Show 8/2/06

Ok, I haven’t posted this yet for two reasons:
Number 1: It’s Half Nekkid Thursday (see previous post) and that’s always fun.
Number 2: I really can’t believe what the hell I watched last night.

I am honestly struggling with how to describe what I watched. The more I watch this dog and pony show, the more I realize a previous statement I made is turning out to be more and more accurate. I said I was afraid that this would be another one of Tommy Lee’s 15 minute projects. Here are my exact words from that post:

Last year, the INXS guys always invited the person booted off to come say goodbye to the band. Yeah I know a little nitpicky, but I just noticed it. It’s like they seem less genuine in finding a singer that they’ll have for years and more interested in finding a gimmick to sell a few albums before dissolving. I feel that Tommy Lee will be the first to leave the band. He just seems to have an ADD approach to his career path that will probably doom Supernova from the beginning. It's like he changes his mind all the time:
I’m with Motley Crue.
I’m doing a solo project.
I’m with Motley Crue.
I’m making porno flicks with my wife and my “third leg.”
I’m with Motley Crue.
I’m giving Pam Hepatitis.
I’m with Methods of Mayhem.
I’m with Motley Crue.
I’m going to Nebraska and shooting a reality show about it.
I’m with Motley Crue.
I’m with Supernova.
What’s the next step? I’ll let you look back and take one guess. Maybe it’s more schizophrenic than ADD.

So what’s my proof? They kept shrieking Jill Gioia. They haven’t kicked off the Latin alien Zayra Alvarez (even though she does have hot outfits and did a somewhat decent job ‘punking up’ Jenny/867-5309). But Jason Newstead actually admitted that they kept her because she keeps changing it up week after week. Can you say “a clown for entertainment's sake?” They kicked off Dana who was growing as a singer in front of our eyes. Am I the only person who seeks this as a gimmick? I honestly don’t think Supernova will be around for more than one album.

Anyway, Ryan Star got the encore with his performance of “Losing My Religion.” I saw it the previous night so I fast forwarded through it. Then they were going to announce the bottom three rockers. But Brooke forgot to say who the bottom three were the previous night (they were Toby, Jill, and Zayra). She just came out and started off with Jill. Then it was Patrice. Then Dana. Jill rocked Heart’s Alone. Did she pick it to show her lower voice (even though she still shrieked) or to kiss Gilby’s ass? I don’t know, but she saved herself. Then Patrice came out to do Jeff Buckley’s Eternal Life. Umm…what? I thought she was gone for sure. Then Dana was the final one. UMM…WHAT?!? Did the voters go retarded? She came out and did a great job with the Animals’ House of the Rising Sun. They told Jill (who only does well on elimination…well, except for the shrieking) she was safe. They then told Dana that although she had grown considerably over the last few weeks, they were afraid of how much more she had to grow. Guys, you’re not picking her as the finalist. Keep her! She did a much better job than Patrice. After Tommy Lee played Hatchet Man and sent her packing, she thanked them and yada yada. Then Jason got on the mike and told everyone to be more like Dana. She may be the youngest but she’s the most mature. THEN WHY DID YOU CUT HER? I’m serious, this episode just baffled me.
Anyway that’s the end of the recap. Have a good one and don’t get none on ya.

BTW I am convinced that Jill is a banshee.

Songs on the Playlist (album Two from The Vault):
The Grateful Dead – Good Morning Little School Girl
The Grateful Dead – Dark Star
The Grateful Dead - Saint Stephen

HNT

So here's my HNT post (which really should tie into the F.U. Friday post). It's what I've been doing non-stop since I walked in the door this morning: answering the damn phone. So if I don't immediately make it to comment on your HNT, forgive me. I'm swamped. Happy HNT Yall.

8/02/2006

Blogger Bash & Saba Fest

Ok, so there are two functions coming up in the next two weeks. The first is Saba Fest in honor of Bill Saba. Bill passed away a month or so ago. His friends decided to honor him by throwing a party and sending all proceeds to St. Jude in the form of a donation. It is a $10 cover with a cash bar BUT you get to see three bands and eat all the free appetizers you want. When we say appetizers, we're not talking about a veggie tray. The guys throwing it are bringing their setup from their Memphis in May barbecue teams. That means good food. So come by and hang out for a little while or stay all night. I know I'm taking a cab myself.
The next is the Memphis blogger bash. It's actually spread out over two nights (Thursday and Sunday). It's open to any bloggers from the Memphis area. It'll be at the Deli Thursday Aug 10 and Sunday Aug 13. This is a good chance to meet fellow bloggers and finally put faces with the names of other smartasses in the area. Although I promise to become very obnoxious and cynical if it turns into an all political discussion.

8/01/2006

Rockstar:Supernova Recap 8/1/06

Ok, I just finished watching Rockstar:Tommy Lee's Unit. Here's the recap you're all waiting for.
They started off showing stuff from between last week and this week. It was drama blah blah blah. The best part was when I showed Magni getting a video from his wife in Iceland of his child's first steps. That was actually great TV. Then they kicked off to the performances.

Patrice Pike started us off with the Red Hot Chili Peppers version of Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground. She was fortunate enough to have Tommy Lee on drums. She killed it. She was energetic...but I wondered the same thing the judges did: was she 'on' because Tommy was behind her? Hmm...

Josh Logan came out to do Sublime's Santeria. He mixed it up. Before one of the verses, he threw himself in as a human beatbox. That's cool once, but if he does that anymore, he'll be known as the douchebag beatbox. As far as stage presence, he kinda stayed in the same general area the whole time and I didn't like that. It was good but not great.

Dilana did Can't Get Enough. It's an old 70s/80s tune. She killed it. She ran out into the audience in front of the rockers. Then she ran through the crowd and jumped on the judges platform. She rocked out in front of them and THEN jumped on some dude's shoulders for a ride back to the stage. BADASS! I know she's safe until the final 3 for sure if she keeps this up. The song wasn't that great, BUT her stage presence will save her after that one.

Toby Rand, your Aussie rocker, covered Nirvana's Pennyroyal Tea. Too bland. If you're going to do the slower version, do it acoustic. Otherwise rock it! I think he has a shot after this performance to be in the bottom three this week. One thing he did that was very good was how he walked into the audience and sang/danced to one girl. That was cool, even though he came out right after Dilana.

Zayra Alvarez did Tommy Two-Tone's 867-5309/Jenny. A classic 80s pop song. She changed it up. Considerably. I have no idea what style she was going for. I'm sorry, although she looks incredible every time she is on stage, she keeps losing me in her performance. I actually lost my attention while she was up there. I'm sure she'll be in the bottom three this week.
Now we did get a little closure after her performance. The judges couldn't come up with anything, I mean ANYTHING, to say after her performance. So they sent us to commercial and then came back. They said that one of the reasons she survived last week and Phil didn't was because she keeps changing it up each week. Gilby said all that after commenting that her vocals were off. Tommy The Tripod Lee commented that he has a kiddie pool full of mud backstage and he wants her to wrestle. Always the gentleman, he never deals with sexual innuendo.

Magni sang Coldplay's Clocks. A great song. He turned up the rock on the keys. I felt the vocals were too high for his range. He did have a good stage presence. After the show, Tommy told him that Supernova was going to fly in his family because of his dedication to this show. That's really cool. I'm sure that'll give him the sympathy vote...not that he needs it. I think he did a great job regardless.

Jill Gioia, the Italian New Yorker who can't shut up or take constructive criticism (is that a stereotype?) sang the Simple Minds' Don't You Forget About Me. My initial thoughts are she looks hot, BUT she was screaming too damn much. And she really had a bad stage presence. She couldn't keep my attention. I think it was Gilby who said that there is always one song where an audience will go get another drink or go to the bathroom. That was that song.
I think she'll be in the bottom three.

Ryan Star came out next to do R.E.M.'s Losing My Religion. He sang it while playing a grand piano. It was beautiful. It showed depth to him that we haven't seen all week. It was really captivating. Here's what the guys said:
Dave: "phenomenal"
Jason: "best performance yet"
Tommy: "your voice is perfect for a song like that I wrote for Supernova. And by the way, that performance is so gonna get you laid!" Always the gentleman Tommy, always.

Lukas Rossi was next. He did Hole's Celebrity Skin. It was a decent performance. He 'marbled' a few words in my opinion. He never actually sang the song as much as he just gargled it. He needs to sing sometime. The roommate said he was "kinda sucking tonight." And he had his back to the audience too much (which Supernova called him on). I looked back at the end of the song and the band was together jamming and he was on an island by himself. He had no idea what they were doing. Dave said it was his least favorite performance.

Storm came out to do David Bowie's Changes. She rearranged it to show her softer side, her vulnerable side. She turned it into more of a ballad. It showed the great voice that she has. I'm sure she's going to make it to the top three.
Dave said it was his favorite performance of hers.
Gilby said she made a risky choice and did a great job with it.
Jason said it was a classy performance.

Dana Andrews did The Who's Baba O'Reilly (aka Teenage Wasteland). She brought great stage presence. I thought it wasn't the best version of that song because they had to cut so much to fit the TV time requirements. But I think she's really getting better as the weeks progress. Dave said she did a great job. She's really learning and adapting to what she's learned. They said that song was about rebellion and asked if she was going to really rebel. She said she's getting a tattoo tomorrow.

That was the last performance. After that Brook showed who the bottom three were after the initial voting:
Toby
Zayra
Jill

Here's who I think will be in the bottom three:
Zayra
Jill
Lukas or Josh

I don't think Toby will get voted into the bottom three.
Ok, I'm going to bed. Have a good one.

Cubanos

I guess Cuban cigar prices are about to go down. Hopefully they'll drop the embargo too. Of course with our luck, Castro will come back to power.

Next Door To What?

I actually forgot to tell yall yesterday…when I couldn’t sleep Sunday night I was flipping channels and landed on the beginning of the second season of one the best shows E has ever done (but that’s not really saying much is it):
The Girls Next Door
Great show. Brilliant writing. I love how they can make Kendra look like the stereotypical dumb blonde. What’s that? They aren’t acting?!? Are you sure? There’s no way she can be that dumb. She is? Oh well.
The season opened with preparations for Hef’s 80th Birthday party. For those of you who are stupid and are still waiting on the sexual revolution to arrive, wake up! It’s already happened! And Hef (Hugh Hefner) was one of the most important people for it (in my opinion). The show ended with the actual parties. They throw two parties. The first night is Casablanca night where all of Hef's friends come over. They show Casablanca and then have and evening of champagne, birthday cake, and caviar. The next night is the big bash for all the celebs who want to come. Of course they had to show Paris Hilton singing "Happy Birthday" to Hef. Seriously, why ruin a perfectly good show with that no talent ass clown? I don't need to see that! I wanted to see Bridget get out of the birthday cake for Hef. That was HOT! If you missed it, you need to catch a replay of it. Wow!
I have to say that my favorite girlfriend is Bridget. She just seems like a genuinely sweet person WITH brains (she already has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree while working towards another master's). Holly seems like a ditzy golddigger, and Kendra seems like a…well I covered her earlier. Of course that could just be the editing, but I doubt it.
Anyway, the new episodes premiere Sunday nights at 8, but that’s when Deadwood comes on, so I’ll catch the reruns.

Songs on the Playlist:
Jimmy Buffett – Banana Wind
Lionel Ritchie – All Night Long
The White Strips – The Hardest Button To Button
The Grateful Dead – I Know You Rider

Damn It's Hot

So I'm stuck on the phone on hold and I thought I'd tell you about my trip to get lunch. Many people have asked me if I take my digital camera everywhere. The answers no. Sometimes I do, but when I don't, I tend to see things worth taking pics of. For example I was driving down the street to the Subway when I passed a local neighborhood store in the ghetto. I was stopped at the light next to this store when I saw a girl get out of one man's car and climb into another man's car. Now she wasn't wearing anything red, but I'm certain she could have. Now I'm not saying she's a hooker, but only because I couldn't tell if one of the cars had a pimp in it.
Now I wish I had a pic of that to show you. But I didn't take the camera with me. Damn!

Other than that I've just been sitting in the A/C at my desk. Why? Because it's hot outside. I actually saw a car melt. Well maybe the heat is just effecting my vision. What's that you say? It's hot everywhere? Well, no shit Sherlock. So how do you beat the heat? Spend that hard earned money on electricity for your A/C. Drink cold water. Or be smart and go to a friend's house, use their A/C and drink their water. That'll help.

Now get back to work, ya bums.

Holy Crap It's Here Already!!!

Well today is August 1. That means that school starts in just a few weeks so we can finally get these little bastards off the streets. If that’s true, then we are just around the corner from Labor Day. Labor Day weekend is the start of college football, so really when you think about it we are at the college football season. Well my birthday is always in the first half of the college football season, so technically it’s almost my birthday. My birthday is right before Halloween, so I guess you better buy your costume. And Thanksgiving tends to sneak up right after Halloween. And what are you already in the middle of when Thanksgiving rolls around? The Christmas shopping season! Which means...

MERRY CHRISTMAS YALL!!!

7/31/2006

Saturday Night Panic Show Recap

Well after a badass Friday night, I went back Saturday. I caught a ride to the show with Too Tall Todd. He was going to leave at setbreak to head back to Newby's. I ended up sitting with Dr. JR and his cousin one row from the top. And that was nice because I really wanted to sweat out a hundred and fifty pounds of water weight. What am I talking about? IT WAS HOTTER THAN HELL UP THERE. But I had a good time.
The crowd was different Saturday night. While Friday night was full of folks who were into the show, there was an element to the crowd that weren’t the normal kinda folks. There were more angry people. During the second set I looked down in front of me to find two guys doing blow. Five minutes later they were screaming “WOOOOO” during a slow song. I’m surrounded by tons of hippies just swaying to the music and these two assholes are screaming like it’s a Kid Rock concert.
Before the concert I actually walked the lot. Not the area where all the locals park, but Shakedown Street where all the hippies park in a community and try to sell wares to get them from one show to the next. I just thought it would be kinda cool, but all I could smell were people who obviously haven’t showered in days. It was nasty. I watched them as they tried to sell things or even carry on conversations completely intoxicated. It was really pathetic.
“No, dude, wait, how much did I say it was?”
“No man, it would be killer if they played like ‘Song A’ not ‘Song B’.”
“Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! Grilled Cheese Sandwiches For Sale!!”
Although it all sounds rather clichéd, that’s actually what I heard. After walking shakedown street. I got inside and couldn’t find Zac and the rest of those guys. They said they were just above where we were the night before. So I headed to the top to look down. Sure enough that’s where I ran into Dr. JR so I sat with them. Here’s the setlist from Everyday Companion:

7/29/06 Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, TN
1: Space Wrangler > Rock, Mr. Soul, Old Neighborhood*, Crazy*, Holden Oversoul** > Sharon, Dyin' Man, From The Cradle, Give*
2: Second Skin > Protein Drink > Sewing Machine, Pigeons, Ribs And Whiskey*, Ride Me High > Drums > City of Dreams, Impossible***, Visiting Day***, Last Dance***
E: Expiration Day*, This Part Of Town*
* with John Keane on guitar** with John Keane on pedal steel*** with Sam Holt on guitar[Last 'Protein Drink' - 12/31/01, 285 shows; Last 'Sewing Machine' - 12/31/01, 285 shows]

Here are a few pics from the show:

This is the stage as the band is about to kick off the first set. That's zoomed in. I told you I had bad seats.This is a shot during the show where they were actually rocking hard. Unfortunately you still can't see jack.This is at setbreak. This is a non-zoomed shot of the stage. Remember I'm at the top of the stands.Here is a better shot of the crowd. Most everyone had already gone to the toilets or to get beer.After setbreak they started up the second set. I really dug Second Skin, Ribs and Whiskey, and Ride Me High. I lasted up in the sweltering heat until the end of City of Dreams. I told Dr. JR that if they didn't play something I knew/liked, I was going to leave the stands and head down below. They played Impossible. I don't really know that song. Yeah, it's on the Light Fuse/Get Away live album, but I never really listened to it. So I headed down the stairs. I hung out sitting on a concrete wall trying to cool off. I saw a few folks I knew and mostly watched the hippies dance. There was this one hippie chick who was barefoot and spinning around to the music with wings. I said "Hey Tinkerbell, can I get a pic?" She said "My name's not Tinkerbell" and posed with her friend:Yeah, I told you she had wings. I know her parents must be proud.

After that I went back to sit on the wall again. I tried to get more interesting characters but there were no more of the ones other than the dirty hippies. So I hung out and listened to the music. At one point these ladies came by pushing carts full of unsold merchandise. One had about 10 things of cotton candy. I said, " 'scuse me ma'am. How much for one of those?" She smiled and tossed me one. I wasn't that hungry but once I started eating it, it was pretty damn good. It was a blue one. After I finished my cotton candy, I wondered where the bus was. So I went walking. I found the bus outside and decided to hell with the end of the set and the encore. I'll get on this bus because SURELY THERE IS ANOTHER BUS AFTER THIS ONE. Wow, was I mistaken. I walked out of the coliseum and found out that this was in fact the last bus of the night. She was going to wait until everyone got outside. So I got to wait a while in a bus full of A/C. The bus driver was on the phone with 'one a herr gerfrends.' Her grammar was so horrendous that I actually used my camera to record it. Once I post it on youtube I'll link it here.

After she talked for a while, she went off the bus to find more folks who were supposed to ride the bus. That didn't work well. She just stood out there. I was looking out the window waiting on the crowd to come out when I noticed this guy and girl standing there. All of a sudden the girl took her water bottle and threw water all over the guy. Then she threw water in the opposite direction. She dropped her bottle and started shaking. She collapsed on the groud convulsing in a seizure. Thank God, there was an empty ambulance just in front of our bus with paramedics standing by. They came over, tended to her, hooked up an IV, and took her away. I hope she was ok. I still have no idea what she could have taken to cause that. Is there a drug that'll give you seizures? This is a pic of them about to take her to the hospital.After that the crowd finally came out and we headed to Newby's. I went in, had one beer, and decided to go home and go to bed. That was my Saturday at Widespread Panic. It was a pretty good time, but not as much fun as Friday night.

Ok, I'm going home. Have a good one and don't get none on ya.

Songs on the Playlist:
The Grateful Dead – Bertha
The North Mississippi Allstars – Skinny Woman
Pink Floyd – Time
Led Zeppelin – Rock and Roll
Robert Earl Keen – That Bucking Song
Bob Dylan – Buckets of Rain
Jimmy Buffett - Ragtop Day
Hank Williams Sr. - Your Cheatin' Heart
Van Halen - Ain't Talking bout Love
Bush - Everything Zen
Jane's Addiction - Superhero
Jimmy Buffett - Migration

 
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