Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
SXSMez
Yo so I just rolled back from SXSW...shit was off the rim. We drove down there since plane tix were $550 bucks (fuck that). Myself and Matt C, who does promotions at 99X, spent 2 days driving there and back, but it was well worth having the car. We spent a considerable amount of time enjoying the Sirius Satellite radio that came with the Chrystler Seabring. A very fine car I must say.
Sirius Faves:
Howard 100 (Stern is really good show...Bubba the Love Sponge isn't. "Liquid Ass...click")
Radio 1...BBC radio is fucked up, yet rather enjoyable.
Raw Dog comedy (Started crying and almost crashed the car when we heard Patton Oswalt's Robert Evans ESPN commercials)
Left of Center (although I'm about sick of goddamn Peter Bjorn and John)
various rap and alt stations that played the jams
So we were lucky and got to stay downtown at the Hampton Inn. It was right in the middle of the action. We went by the convention center and grabbed our 50 pound bag of bullshit.
Things worth keeping:
UGK CD sampler
copy of Blender
copy of Paste
and uhhhh...some first aid kit that actually ended up coming in handy when Matt cut his finger at the Stooges gig
All the rest quickly made it's way to the trash can.
We then made our way over to the Fader Fort, which was a pretty bad ass complex that Fader magazine built with the help from Levi's and that piece of shit Microsoft Zune media garbage. They had free beer, SoCo hunch punch and water, so that was dope. They were jamming the new Queens of the Stone Age CD (it kills, can't wait to get it) and we hung out for a bit then checked out the Pipettes
Then we bounced over to the Waterloo record store to catch Lily Allen's set. The place was fuckin' packed since Sparklehorse was in mid set, so we had to stand in a long ass line while some dude giving out ice cream was tossing scoops across the street to some Hot Topic lookin' Asian chicks with pink hair. One almost got hit by a car. The Lily in-store was bad ass, she did 3 of her own songs plus a Kooks and a Blondie cover. I picked up a copy of the Deerhunter CD for cheap too. Good buy.
We walked around the city some more...Austin is super rad, but our bags were weighin' heavy, so we went back to the hotel to drop 'em off.
This mailbox is dope
We rolled back into the fader spot and caught sets from the Fratellis (who killed) and the Whigs. Sam Gunn is playing bass in the Whigs now, so it was good to see some fellow WUOG alum doing well for themselves. Their set was on point and the crowd was waaay into it. They had the amps amped.
We caught up with our friend Jay and checked out a bunch of other shows and Matt spilled a giant Diet Coke at the Pizza spot like a re-re. Later on we saw that shitty band Foreign Islands (I have no patience for New York hipster douchiness). We also caught a really good band from Iowa called the Envy Corps. Wasn't expecting much, but they brought the thunder. Those guys will do very well for themselves. We bounced and went to catch the Amy Winehouse show, but her set had been pushed back to 1am. Had to sit through two garbage sets from Straylight Run (boring emo) and Fair to Midland (lame genric nu-metal doodoo) before she went on, but when she did it was on point. She played almost every song off the "Back to Black" album and had a full band behind her. The two back up singer dudes sounded like Sleepy Brown awesomeness. Good stuff.
Love the Amy
After that we crashed out after a long ass day one. We probably walked 6 miles that day. I don't exercise, so I was cashed. The next morning we hit a brunch and rubbed elbows with some record folks, then went over to the convention center for a panel.
Featuring:
Tom Morello
Matt Bales (aqualung)
some dude from the Hoodoo Gurus
Brit Daniel of Spoon
Corey Rusk (owner of Touch and Go Recs)
and.............Taylor Fuckin' MMM-Bop Hanson
Interesting chitchat about the music industry and afterwards I apologized to Brit Daniel for 99X booking them on a show with Switchfoot and Rehab. He said it was he only time he can ever remember people throwing shit at him onstage....yikes. Then I took this picture
Match made in heaven
After the panel I went to the bathroom and Tom Morello stepped to the urinal next to me, which was very weird. We left the bathroom and Morello proceeded to follow us down the escalator like a creepy stalker dude so I took a picture
Me, Matt C and Morello....Audioslave was a horrible band
We caught a quick Watson Twins set in the convention center snack lounge. Kinda odd, but I like those ladies. They are tall and have good voices. We met up with some folks from a promotions company that hooked us up with the badges and happened to walk out onto the patio to a Tilly and the Wall set. "I need more taps in the monitors" was the battle cry. Mason from Jet By Day was playing guitar with them. Not a bad gig. We dipped and went over to this other party and were talking to someone when Matt spotted someone who resembles Pete Townshend. I looked over and mutha fuckin' PETE TOWNSHEND was standing like 2 feet next to us. Mind Melter! That guy’s wrote some songs that are good. Mental trip out moment of the entire fest. Had to leave after that...it was too rad.
We drove across town to the Vice outdoor show and there a bagillion people there and since Turbonegro had just played all the beer had been consumed. We met up with my contact at Vice Records and she introduced me to the boys in the Black Lips. One of the dudes was kickin' rad gold fronts and they agreed to come up and do some stuff on Sunday School some time, so I was stoked. Also ran into a ton of Atlanta folks down there. A-town was reppin' hard at SXSW. Zoroaster, the Carbonas, Deerhunter, the Black Lips, etc. etc....glad to see folks diggin’ the local scene. Panthers played (kinda not good) then the Lips showed out.
No mouth pissing today :(
We left there and went to diner then caught back up with our friend from Vice and watched hoops for a couple hours at a sports bar. Nice to catch a break from all the crazy shit for a while. Afterward we went down to Stubbs to see Damon Albarn's new project the Good, the Bad and the Queen. Saw the Watson Twins and their entourage unable to get in…damn. We happened to roll in early enough to see a horrible set from Badly Drawn Boy. I haven't seen a band fuck 3 songs up in a set since the Delirium a few years back. I guess hat guy need to draw some sympathy from the crowd, so he broke out a Journey cover and that made it better for some, but for most, not quite. Albarn's band came on later and were decent, but honestly rather boring. The new album is really good, but it's pretty much a headphone record...even if Paul Siminon is in the band. Afterwards, bedtime.
The next morning we got up late as fuck and grabbed some food...walking around we saw Wayne Coyne doing some TV thing with a bunch of local weirdoes
Over the course of the week we saw these dudes at least 2 or 3 times (STOP SWEATIN" US!!!)
Wayne Coyne
Brit Daniel
Kieth Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks)
Tom Morello
Matt Pinfield
Bloc Party
Made our way back over to Stubbs for the Ghostface Killah show, but got there a bit early. Some dude from Los Angeles named Mickey Avalon was on stage and it was probably the worst show I've ever seen in my life. He's one of these hipster, Cobrasnake, latenightpaty.com fuckin' pieces of shit new school sleazy types. Doing his terrible raps, while all the sorority girls creamed their jeans for his lame shtick. If this was 1988 he would have been the singer in Britney Foxx or Faster Pussycat, except not as cool as those guys. As a point of reference, this is what he looks like
I really wanted Ghostface to come out and cut his throat with the eagle gauntlet...unfortunately that didn't happen, but when Ghostface did come out…HE SLAYED! He had a back up band and easily turned out one of the best shows of the whole festival. Jammin’ tracks from all eras, while his Theodore-Unit boys repped Staten Island hard. Ghost still gave out mad Wu-Tang chants throughout the set too, which was great
Bein' all Ghostface-ish
He also brought a ton of chicks up on stage for a dance party while they jammed some more songs. They closed the set with "Back Like That" and the place went nuts. One of the best rap show I've ever seen.
Still bein' all Ghostface-ish
We slipped on over to the Filter party and met up with out friend from Mute Records and caught the Swedish band Mando Diao, who killed as well. I wasn't expecting much as up-tempo, mod-style garage bands are a dime a dozen, but these guys are the real deal. Good stuff...looking forward to the new record. We met them afterward and they were fine lads too.
Jammin' hard
We quickly made our way back to the Fader Fort and got ready for a deluge of radness from Ladyhawk, Vietnam and Redman. We slammed some more of the magic SoCo hunch punch and let the excellence begin. Mez Eclipse faves Ladyhawk brought the Canadian hammer down on the crowd.
Me likey the rock n' roll
Vietnam was spot on as usual and then we got a dope ass set from Redman who smoked a j on stage, pounded some brews and told the crowd his album was coming out on March 27th like a thousand times, but it didn't matter, he was in the zone. He even busted the soundman’s balls telling him it sounded like the beats we "coming out of a walkman." People ate it up like a Willy's burrito. Mad delish.
Fuck tha Security!
We were pretty wasted by the end of the show, so we went back to the hotel to crash out for a minute....then woke up 2 hours later and realized it was 9:00 and were waaaay behind schedule. Matt and I jumped in our car and headed out into Texas Chainsaw country to grab some bar-b-q at the Saltlick, which is a Austin staple and every bit as good as people said. We didn't bring the bottles of Hennessey and the coolers of brew in like the rest of the clientele did, but totally should have. Why don't more places let you do that? Being behind schedule sucked a dick, so we missed the Kings of Leon and 90% of Spoon's set at Stubbs. We caught the last song and did some mental push-ups cause the Stooges were up next.
Iggy and Watt went OFF...those dudes can still put it down harder than 99% of your favorite bands. My mind was melted and as it got later we realized that it was time to dip as the clock hit 1:15.We had to get up the next morning at 7:00 to hit the road, so we called it a night. We had an invite to the Vice after party, which had Against Me, Fucked Up, the Black Lips and Les Savy Fav playing....no way we were making it with a 16 hour drive ahead. Turns out that Against Me played, but after 2 songs of the LSF set, the back porch fell off the place they were having the party. At 2am the cops rolled up and shut the shit down...oh well too bad we missed it.
We hit the road the next morning and made it back to Atlanta around midnight...it was an amazing trip and like J Dilla we were out
Sweatin' us from the grave
Sorry about the typos and apologies to the folks we weren't able to catch up with while we were out there (Crews, Specht, Shark, Dan and anyone else that we missed)
Til next time…SXSMex is done
Yo so I just rolled back from SXSW...shit was off the rim. We drove down there since plane tix were $550 bucks (fuck that). Myself and Matt C, who does promotions at 99X, spent 2 days driving there and back, but it was well worth having the car. We spent a considerable amount of time enjoying the Sirius Satellite radio that came with the Chrystler Seabring. A very fine car I must say.
Sirius Faves:
Howard 100 (Stern is really good show...Bubba the Love Sponge isn't. "Liquid Ass...click")
Radio 1...BBC radio is fucked up, yet rather enjoyable.
Raw Dog comedy (Started crying and almost crashed the car when we heard Patton Oswalt's Robert Evans ESPN commercials)
Left of Center (although I'm about sick of goddamn Peter Bjorn and John)
various rap and alt stations that played the jams
So we were lucky and got to stay downtown at the Hampton Inn. It was right in the middle of the action. We went by the convention center and grabbed our 50 pound bag of bullshit.
Things worth keeping:
UGK CD sampler
copy of Blender
copy of Paste
and uhhhh...some first aid kit that actually ended up coming in handy when Matt cut his finger at the Stooges gig
All the rest quickly made it's way to the trash can.
We then made our way over to the Fader Fort, which was a pretty bad ass complex that Fader magazine built with the help from Levi's and that piece of shit Microsoft Zune media garbage. They had free beer, SoCo hunch punch and water, so that was dope. They were jamming the new Queens of the Stone Age CD (it kills, can't wait to get it) and we hung out for a bit then checked out the Pipettes
Then we bounced over to the Waterloo record store to catch Lily Allen's set. The place was fuckin' packed since Sparklehorse was in mid set, so we had to stand in a long ass line while some dude giving out ice cream was tossing scoops across the street to some Hot Topic lookin' Asian chicks with pink hair. One almost got hit by a car. The Lily in-store was bad ass, she did 3 of her own songs plus a Kooks and a Blondie cover. I picked up a copy of the Deerhunter CD for cheap too. Good buy.
We walked around the city some more...Austin is super rad, but our bags were weighin' heavy, so we went back to the hotel to drop 'em off.
This mailbox is dope
We rolled back into the fader spot and caught sets from the Fratellis (who killed) and the Whigs. Sam Gunn is playing bass in the Whigs now, so it was good to see some fellow WUOG alum doing well for themselves. Their set was on point and the crowd was waaay into it. They had the amps amped.
We caught up with our friend Jay and checked out a bunch of other shows and Matt spilled a giant Diet Coke at the Pizza spot like a re-re. Later on we saw that shitty band Foreign Islands (I have no patience for New York hipster douchiness). We also caught a really good band from Iowa called the Envy Corps. Wasn't expecting much, but they brought the thunder. Those guys will do very well for themselves. We bounced and went to catch the Amy Winehouse show, but her set had been pushed back to 1am. Had to sit through two garbage sets from Straylight Run (boring emo) and Fair to Midland (lame genric nu-metal doodoo) before she went on, but when she did it was on point. She played almost every song off the "Back to Black" album and had a full band behind her. The two back up singer dudes sounded like Sleepy Brown awesomeness. Good stuff.
Love the Amy
After that we crashed out after a long ass day one. We probably walked 6 miles that day. I don't exercise, so I was cashed. The next morning we hit a brunch and rubbed elbows with some record folks, then went over to the convention center for a panel.
Featuring:
Tom Morello
Matt Bales (aqualung)
some dude from the Hoodoo Gurus
Brit Daniel of Spoon
Corey Rusk (owner of Touch and Go Recs)
and.............Taylor Fuckin' MMM-Bop Hanson
Interesting chitchat about the music industry and afterwards I apologized to Brit Daniel for 99X booking them on a show with Switchfoot and Rehab. He said it was he only time he can ever remember people throwing shit at him onstage....yikes. Then I took this picture
Match made in heaven
After the panel I went to the bathroom and Tom Morello stepped to the urinal next to me, which was very weird. We left the bathroom and Morello proceeded to follow us down the escalator like a creepy stalker dude so I took a picture
Me, Matt C and Morello....Audioslave was a horrible band
We caught a quick Watson Twins set in the convention center snack lounge. Kinda odd, but I like those ladies. They are tall and have good voices. We met up with some folks from a promotions company that hooked us up with the badges and happened to walk out onto the patio to a Tilly and the Wall set. "I need more taps in the monitors" was the battle cry. Mason from Jet By Day was playing guitar with them. Not a bad gig. We dipped and went over to this other party and were talking to someone when Matt spotted someone who resembles Pete Townshend. I looked over and mutha fuckin' PETE TOWNSHEND was standing like 2 feet next to us. Mind Melter! That guy’s wrote some songs that are good. Mental trip out moment of the entire fest. Had to leave after that...it was too rad.
We drove across town to the Vice outdoor show and there a bagillion people there and since Turbonegro had just played all the beer had been consumed. We met up with my contact at Vice Records and she introduced me to the boys in the Black Lips. One of the dudes was kickin' rad gold fronts and they agreed to come up and do some stuff on Sunday School some time, so I was stoked. Also ran into a ton of Atlanta folks down there. A-town was reppin' hard at SXSW. Zoroaster, the Carbonas, Deerhunter, the Black Lips, etc. etc....glad to see folks diggin’ the local scene. Panthers played (kinda not good) then the Lips showed out.
No mouth pissing today :(
We left there and went to diner then caught back up with our friend from Vice and watched hoops for a couple hours at a sports bar. Nice to catch a break from all the crazy shit for a while. Afterward we went down to Stubbs to see Damon Albarn's new project the Good, the Bad and the Queen. Saw the Watson Twins and their entourage unable to get in…damn. We happened to roll in early enough to see a horrible set from Badly Drawn Boy. I haven't seen a band fuck 3 songs up in a set since the Delirium a few years back. I guess hat guy need to draw some sympathy from the crowd, so he broke out a Journey cover and that made it better for some, but for most, not quite. Albarn's band came on later and were decent, but honestly rather boring. The new album is really good, but it's pretty much a headphone record...even if Paul Siminon is in the band. Afterwards, bedtime.
The next morning we got up late as fuck and grabbed some food...walking around we saw Wayne Coyne doing some TV thing with a bunch of local weirdoes
Over the course of the week we saw these dudes at least 2 or 3 times (STOP SWEATIN" US!!!)
Wayne Coyne
Brit Daniel
Kieth Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks)
Tom Morello
Matt Pinfield
Bloc Party
Made our way back over to Stubbs for the Ghostface Killah show, but got there a bit early. Some dude from Los Angeles named Mickey Avalon was on stage and it was probably the worst show I've ever seen in my life. He's one of these hipster, Cobrasnake, latenightpaty.com fuckin' pieces of shit new school sleazy types. Doing his terrible raps, while all the sorority girls creamed their jeans for his lame shtick. If this was 1988 he would have been the singer in Britney Foxx or Faster Pussycat, except not as cool as those guys. As a point of reference, this is what he looks like
I really wanted Ghostface to come out and cut his throat with the eagle gauntlet...unfortunately that didn't happen, but when Ghostface did come out…HE SLAYED! He had a back up band and easily turned out one of the best shows of the whole festival. Jammin’ tracks from all eras, while his Theodore-Unit boys repped Staten Island hard. Ghost still gave out mad Wu-Tang chants throughout the set too, which was great
Bein' all Ghostface-ish
He also brought a ton of chicks up on stage for a dance party while they jammed some more songs. They closed the set with "Back Like That" and the place went nuts. One of the best rap show I've ever seen.
Still bein' all Ghostface-ish
We slipped on over to the Filter party and met up with out friend from Mute Records and caught the Swedish band Mando Diao, who killed as well. I wasn't expecting much as up-tempo, mod-style garage bands are a dime a dozen, but these guys are the real deal. Good stuff...looking forward to the new record. We met them afterward and they were fine lads too.
Jammin' hard
We quickly made our way back to the Fader Fort and got ready for a deluge of radness from Ladyhawk, Vietnam and Redman. We slammed some more of the magic SoCo hunch punch and let the excellence begin. Mez Eclipse faves Ladyhawk brought the Canadian hammer down on the crowd.
Me likey the rock n' roll
Vietnam was spot on as usual and then we got a dope ass set from Redman who smoked a j on stage, pounded some brews and told the crowd his album was coming out on March 27th like a thousand times, but it didn't matter, he was in the zone. He even busted the soundman’s balls telling him it sounded like the beats we "coming out of a walkman." People ate it up like a Willy's burrito. Mad delish.
Fuck tha Security!
We were pretty wasted by the end of the show, so we went back to the hotel to crash out for a minute....then woke up 2 hours later and realized it was 9:00 and were waaaay behind schedule. Matt and I jumped in our car and headed out into Texas Chainsaw country to grab some bar-b-q at the Saltlick, which is a Austin staple and every bit as good as people said. We didn't bring the bottles of Hennessey and the coolers of brew in like the rest of the clientele did, but totally should have. Why don't more places let you do that? Being behind schedule sucked a dick, so we missed the Kings of Leon and 90% of Spoon's set at Stubbs. We caught the last song and did some mental push-ups cause the Stooges were up next.
Iggy and Watt went OFF...those dudes can still put it down harder than 99% of your favorite bands. My mind was melted and as it got later we realized that it was time to dip as the clock hit 1:15.We had to get up the next morning at 7:00 to hit the road, so we called it a night. We had an invite to the Vice after party, which had Against Me, Fucked Up, the Black Lips and Les Savy Fav playing....no way we were making it with a 16 hour drive ahead. Turns out that Against Me played, but after 2 songs of the LSF set, the back porch fell off the place they were having the party. At 2am the cops rolled up and shut the shit down...oh well too bad we missed it.
We hit the road the next morning and made it back to Atlanta around midnight...it was an amazing trip and like J Dilla we were out
Sweatin' us from the grave
Sorry about the typos and apologies to the folks we weren't able to catch up with while we were out there (Crews, Specht, Shark, Dan and anyone else that we missed)
Til next time…SXSMex is done
Friday, March 16, 2007
free time
Yes, it shall suck if Veronica Mars is officially cancelled, but at least that'll be an extra hour a week I can devote to my Urdu lessons.
Yes, it shall suck if Veronica Mars is officially cancelled, but at least that'll be an extra hour a week I can devote to my Urdu lessons.
Monday, March 12, 2007
last week's playlist
Mesmerization Eclipse 3/9/07
it's spring break for the kids, so I went with the sort of hits-heavy, rotation-light show I would've done on WUOG during spring break ten years ago
Jazz Butcher “President Reagan's Birthday Present”
Railroad Jerk “Rollerkoaster”
Times New Viking “New Times, New Hope”
Oneida “History's Great Navigators”
Warmer Milks “Rwanda”
Polvo “Rock Post Rock”
Only Ones “Another Girl Another Planet”
The Replacements “Color Me Impresed”
Of Montreal “Don't Ask Me To Explain”
Mice “Little Rage”
Tuxedomoon “Incubus (Blue Suit)”
Swan Lake “Pleasure Vessels”
Trans Am “Triangular Pyramid”
Je Suis France “The Love Of The France”
Circle “Gerde”
Reports “Sewn To Yr Mind”
Archers of Loaf “Web in Front”
Flying Canyon “In the Reflection”
Olivia Tremor Control “Shaving Spiders”
Bob “Ice Message Instanata”
Folklore “Enter The Ghost”
Superchunk “Her Royal Fisticuffs”
Pavement “AT&T”
Pere Ubu “Heart of Darkness”
Cum Engines “Dayton Ohio 19 Something and 5”
Bablicon “Francis Locrius”
New Order “Age of Consent”
Mesmerization Eclipse 3/9/07
it's spring break for the kids, so I went with the sort of hits-heavy, rotation-light show I would've done on WUOG during spring break ten years ago
Jazz Butcher “President Reagan's Birthday Present”
Railroad Jerk “Rollerkoaster”
Times New Viking “New Times, New Hope”
Oneida “History's Great Navigators”
Warmer Milks “Rwanda”
Polvo “Rock Post Rock”
Only Ones “Another Girl Another Planet”
The Replacements “Color Me Impresed”
Of Montreal “Don't Ask Me To Explain”
Mice “Little Rage”
Tuxedomoon “Incubus (Blue Suit)”
Swan Lake “Pleasure Vessels”
Trans Am “Triangular Pyramid”
Je Suis France “The Love Of The France”
Circle “Gerde”
Reports “Sewn To Yr Mind”
Archers of Loaf “Web in Front”
Flying Canyon “In the Reflection”
Olivia Tremor Control “Shaving Spiders”
Bob “Ice Message Instanata”
Folklore “Enter The Ghost”
Superchunk “Her Royal Fisticuffs”
Pavement “AT&T”
Pere Ubu “Heart of Darkness”
Cum Engines “Dayton Ohio 19 Something and 5”
Bablicon “Francis Locrius”
New Order “Age of Consent”
Friday, March 09, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
yup he daid
Captain America #25 is the finest comic built around the death of a major, iconic superhero ever written. Ed Brubaker took what easily could've been a quick grab at cash and mainstream press and turned it into a genuinely touching story that brought his last two years worth of table-setting to an enjoyable and plausible head. The timing still feels a little rushed; if you were a regular Captain America reader who skipped Civil War you might be surprised that the big death would happen at this point in the story. Still, Brubaker worked Cap's assassination into the larger story he's been telling since the first issue, making it far more satisfying than that time Hal Jordan went nuts and ate all the other Green Lanterns before turning into a bad Galactus rip-off, or whatever. Having read the issue, I completely back away from the LMD speculation. Steve Rogers is definitely dead, at the moment, and now the main question becomes, after dealing with the aftermath and all the grief over the next ten or so months, how is Brubaker gonna bring him back?
Captain America #25 is the finest comic built around the death of a major, iconic superhero ever written. Ed Brubaker took what easily could've been a quick grab at cash and mainstream press and turned it into a genuinely touching story that brought his last two years worth of table-setting to an enjoyable and plausible head. The timing still feels a little rushed; if you were a regular Captain America reader who skipped Civil War you might be surprised that the big death would happen at this point in the story. Still, Brubaker worked Cap's assassination into the larger story he's been telling since the first issue, making it far more satisfying than that time Hal Jordan went nuts and ate all the other Green Lanterns before turning into a bad Galactus rip-off, or whatever. Having read the issue, I completely back away from the LMD speculation. Steve Rogers is definitely dead, at the moment, and now the main question becomes, after dealing with the aftermath and all the grief over the next ten or so months, how is Brubaker gonna bring him back?
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
hopefully Allyn's brother bought it
At one point in the 20th century, thanks to the post-war boom and the town's strangle-hold on the global carpet industry, Dalton, Georgia, was home to more millionaires than any other town in America. They might have to make room for one more, as one of two known winning Mega Millions tickets was purchased at a Favorite in downtown Dalton. There was a story about this on Fox News during my lunch break; they had a correspondent at the store in question, and it was the first time I've ever heard anybody say the store's name without a thick Southern accent. Most people I knew up there called that chain "the Favo-right"; I have no idea if that's the correct pronunciation, but it's certainly far better and more distinctive than the normal old way of saying that word.
Anyway, if Steven Moore did buy that ticket, than he's officially the coolest millionaire in America.
At one point in the 20th century, thanks to the post-war boom and the town's strangle-hold on the global carpet industry, Dalton, Georgia, was home to more millionaires than any other town in America. They might have to make room for one more, as one of two known winning Mega Millions tickets was purchased at a Favorite in downtown Dalton. There was a story about this on Fox News during my lunch break; they had a correspondent at the store in question, and it was the first time I've ever heard anybody say the store's name without a thick Southern accent. Most people I knew up there called that chain "the Favo-right"; I have no idea if that's the correct pronunciation, but it's certainly far better and more distinctive than the normal old way of saying that word.
Anyway, if Steven Moore did buy that ticket, than he's officially the coolest millionaire in America.
way to spoil your own book, Marvel
I'd give a huge SPOILER warning here, but I don't think a single god-damned one of you cares even remotely for comics, much less Captain America.
So basically Cap gets blown away by a sniper after being arraigned for leading the resistance to the Super-Hero Registration Act. Not that big a surprise, as Marvel has been dropping not-so-subtle hints for a few months now. Still, letting the mainstream media blow the surprise for everybody on the day the book is released, before almost any comic book store in the country has opened for business, and thus before any fans can actually read the story in question, is kinda lame.
Anyway, I'm firmly in the "that ain't Steve Rogers, it's a life model decoy, and now the real Cap is going undercover alongside Nick Fury" camp. I'd be surprised if another popular theory, that being Bucky (aka the Winter Soldier) becoming the new Cap, comes true, though.
I'd give a huge SPOILER warning here, but I don't think a single god-damned one of you cares even remotely for comics, much less Captain America.
So basically Cap gets blown away by a sniper after being arraigned for leading the resistance to the Super-Hero Registration Act. Not that big a surprise, as Marvel has been dropping not-so-subtle hints for a few months now. Still, letting the mainstream media blow the surprise for everybody on the day the book is released, before almost any comic book store in the country has opened for business, and thus before any fans can actually read the story in question, is kinda lame.
Anyway, I'm firmly in the "that ain't Steve Rogers, it's a life model decoy, and now the real Cap is going undercover alongside Nick Fury" camp. I'd be surprised if another popular theory, that being Bucky (aka the Winter Soldier) becoming the new Cap, comes true, though.
Every Week A New One: More Wrestler Deaths
UPDATE: Forgot to mention this in the main post, but Mike Awesome also died about three weeks ago. He was found hanging in the office of the real estate agency he worked for down in Florida. I don't know if they've conclusively announced anything, but obviously everybody is assuming a suicide. He was 43 with a wife and two young daughters. Fucking depressing as hell.
Bam Bam Bigelow died a few weeks ago. I think I was in training at work, which prevented me from posting about it here. He was one of my absolute favorites when I was a kid, both because he was the rare big man who could wrestle a fast-paced, exciting match, and also because he was pretty obviously a legitimate bad-ass who could easily beat the shit out of anybody who crossed him. He never really got his due, as big pushes in both the NWA and WWF fizzled out throughout the '80's and '90's. He did become a headliner in ECW in the late '90's, and at an ECW event at the Cobb County Civic Center in '98 I was fortunate enough to see an amazing match between Bam Bam and Rob Van Dam. From there he segued into WCW, having a brief feud with a post-fingerpoke Goldberg and then forming the Jersey Triad with DDP and Kanyon. I think he was hurt or let go sometime during WCW's final year, and I never saw him again. Bam Bam made some headlines a few years ago after rescuing some kids from a burning building in Florida. In the end, though, he died the way too many wrestlers of his generation have, of a drug-induced heart attack. He wasn't even fifty yet.
I bring this up because yesterday another WWF wrestler from the late '80's passed away. Allen Coage, aka Bad News Allen, but known as Bad News Brown in the WWF, died of a heart attack yesterday morning. At least he was 63, which gives him a good fifteen years or so on most of the recent high-profile wrestler deaths. He was a huge heel up in Canada, in the Hart family's Stampede promotion, and eventually got imported into the WWF. Although his WWF run was relatively brief, it was highly memorable. He was a straight-up legit bad ass in a time of incessant cartoonishness; he had the anti-gimmick of just being a tough black dude in plain black trunks who'd completely kick your ass. Stone Cold basically lifted Allen's schtick a decade later, but switched the "bad mofo from Harlem" aspect with his own natural redneck persona. Brown might be best-known for his feud with Jake "the Snake" Roberts, which led to a pretty weird "snake vs. cage full of sewer rats" match at a Summer Slam or Royal Rumble, or something. My best memory of him comes from the opening battle royal at WrestleMania IV, though, when he and a pre-face-turn, Hart Foundation-era Bret Hart teamed up to eliminate everybody else. At the end, they raised each others hands in victory; Bad News then quickly hit Hart with the ghetto blaster (Figher Hayabusa's back-brain kick, also a standing enzuigiri) and tossed him over the ropes to win the trophy. At a time when the heel-face dynamic was still completely black-and-white, and heels mostly got along with each other simply because they were all bad guys, Bad News Brown was unusual in that he disliked absolutely everybody, and was thus disliked in return. Anyway, like I said, he was 63, which is a relatively decent length of time, and hopefully his end came more naturally than usual for a retired wrestler.
UPDATE: Forgot to mention this in the main post, but Mike Awesome also died about three weeks ago. He was found hanging in the office of the real estate agency he worked for down in Florida. I don't know if they've conclusively announced anything, but obviously everybody is assuming a suicide. He was 43 with a wife and two young daughters. Fucking depressing as hell.
Bam Bam Bigelow died a few weeks ago. I think I was in training at work, which prevented me from posting about it here. He was one of my absolute favorites when I was a kid, both because he was the rare big man who could wrestle a fast-paced, exciting match, and also because he was pretty obviously a legitimate bad-ass who could easily beat the shit out of anybody who crossed him. He never really got his due, as big pushes in both the NWA and WWF fizzled out throughout the '80's and '90's. He did become a headliner in ECW in the late '90's, and at an ECW event at the Cobb County Civic Center in '98 I was fortunate enough to see an amazing match between Bam Bam and Rob Van Dam. From there he segued into WCW, having a brief feud with a post-fingerpoke Goldberg and then forming the Jersey Triad with DDP and Kanyon. I think he was hurt or let go sometime during WCW's final year, and I never saw him again. Bam Bam made some headlines a few years ago after rescuing some kids from a burning building in Florida. In the end, though, he died the way too many wrestlers of his generation have, of a drug-induced heart attack. He wasn't even fifty yet.
I bring this up because yesterday another WWF wrestler from the late '80's passed away. Allen Coage, aka Bad News Allen, but known as Bad News Brown in the WWF, died of a heart attack yesterday morning. At least he was 63, which gives him a good fifteen years or so on most of the recent high-profile wrestler deaths. He was a huge heel up in Canada, in the Hart family's Stampede promotion, and eventually got imported into the WWF. Although his WWF run was relatively brief, it was highly memorable. He was a straight-up legit bad ass in a time of incessant cartoonishness; he had the anti-gimmick of just being a tough black dude in plain black trunks who'd completely kick your ass. Stone Cold basically lifted Allen's schtick a decade later, but switched the "bad mofo from Harlem" aspect with his own natural redneck persona. Brown might be best-known for his feud with Jake "the Snake" Roberts, which led to a pretty weird "snake vs. cage full of sewer rats" match at a Summer Slam or Royal Rumble, or something. My best memory of him comes from the opening battle royal at WrestleMania IV, though, when he and a pre-face-turn, Hart Foundation-era Bret Hart teamed up to eliminate everybody else. At the end, they raised each others hands in victory; Bad News then quickly hit Hart with the ghetto blaster (Figher Hayabusa's back-brain kick, also a standing enzuigiri) and tossed him over the ropes to win the trophy. At a time when the heel-face dynamic was still completely black-and-white, and heels mostly got along with each other simply because they were all bad guys, Bad News Brown was unusual in that he disliked absolutely everybody, and was thus disliked in return. Anyway, like I said, he was 63, which is a relatively decent length of time, and hopefully his end came more naturally than usual for a retired wrestler.
Monday, March 05, 2007
free new france thing
Darren Cloutier's put out another fine Recycling the Throwaways comp on his A Bunch of Beatniks Riding a Rocket mp3-label. There's a new Je Suis France mp3 up, along with good stuff from Folklore, Princeton Reverbs, Christmas Ape, and others. And of course it's all free. There's also another track from Ivan Allen VI's long-forgotten early '70's self-titled psych-folk masterpiece, a record I bought for a quarter at a garage sale in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, back in 2003. Anyway, go take a listen to all that stuff.
Darren Cloutier's put out another fine Recycling the Throwaways comp on his A Bunch of Beatniks Riding a Rocket mp3-label. There's a new Je Suis France mp3 up, along with good stuff from Folklore, Princeton Reverbs, Christmas Ape, and others. And of course it's all free. There's also another track from Ivan Allen VI's long-forgotten early '70's self-titled psych-folk masterpiece, a record I bought for a quarter at a garage sale in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, back in 2003. Anyway, go take a listen to all that stuff.
Friday, March 02, 2007
radio
Training's done, so I'm back on the radio. Listen to Mesmerization Eclipse, on WZBC 90.3 FM, RIGHT NOW 'til 5 pm.
Training's done, so I'm back on the radio. Listen to Mesmerization Eclipse, on WZBC 90.3 FM, RIGHT NOW 'til 5 pm.
Atlanta on TV
I often complain to my wife about how there's never been a tv show that takes place in the South that doesn't beat the viewer over the head with idiosyncratic Southernness. The stereotypical South is always a major character in every such show I can think of. That might change, though, as apparently ABC is developing a new sitcom that follows the lives of singles living in modern-day Atlanta. Instead of featuring your typical sexy young TV twentysomethings, though, it'll star the GEICO cavemen. This sounds like an Unrealized Script.
I often complain to my wife about how there's never been a tv show that takes place in the South that doesn't beat the viewer over the head with idiosyncratic Southernness. The stereotypical South is always a major character in every such show I can think of. That might change, though, as apparently ABC is developing a new sitcom that follows the lives of singles living in modern-day Atlanta. Instead of featuring your typical sexy young TV twentysomethings, though, it'll star the GEICO cavemen. This sounds like an Unrealized Script.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
fiddytwo boozin's
Last night I was boozin' it up at Boozie's, the best booze-bar intown Boozeton. Then I got home and walked that dog and read the latest issue of 52 (number 43, I think?). It hurt my heart. At the end, Sobek, the friendly and nervous talking crocodile (sometimes referred to as Tawky Crawky), tricked his teenaged buddy Osiris into saying Black Adam's name, thus reverting to his real crippled teenager self. Sobek then ate the shit out of him. That made me cry just a little bit, becaues all crippled Middle Eastern boys who get freed from slavery and become a superhero should have a talking animal pal they can trust to not eat them. Sobek was such a sweetheart but fuggin' it was a RUSE all along. You can tell when talking crocs are rusing you when their eyes start to glow, and when they try to trick you into saying your hero's name. So Ice if a talking crocodile ever tries to get you to talk about Neo and/or Reggie Bush then watch the fuck out.
Last night I was boozin' it up at Boozie's, the best booze-bar in
