Goddammit!!!

Missed it again.

The "it" I'm referring to is a sing-a-long to the musical episode ("Once More With Feeling") of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This is the second time in the past year that they have played it at our local artsy-fartsy theater and it is the second time that I found out about it on the night it played...AFTER IT PLAYED!

Now, honestly, I don't know if I would have actually sang along. It's a great episode, and it was really well done with a bunch of actors who, for the most part, can't sing. But singing along? I can say that I would have enjoyed watching everyone else. And Slyde was really looking forward to it as well. Don't pretend that you weren't!

Anyway, it looks like a fun night out. They have rounds of Buffy-oke (Buffy-themed karaoke), Buffy trivia and other games before the showing of the episode. During the episode, the crowd is asked to participate much in the same way they would during a Rocky Horror show.

I found the Buffy Sing-a-long website and you can check it out here, if you so desire. Now that I know what I'm looking for, I promise not to miss it next time it comes to town. Or I can just check out one of their monthly NYC shows at the IFC Center.

DO NOT MAKE FUN OF ME!!!

Syd on the crapper

Here is the elusive Syd on the downstairs terlit looking absolutely magnificent.

Feel free to ignore the plungers and cleaning products strewn about. We were having some septic tank issues and Syd felt like he needed to be part of the healing process.

Actually, this is part of Syd's daily routine. After Gia comes out of the shower, Syd likes to jump up on the toilet and licks her ass while she is drying herself off. Then Gia fills up a pint glass with ice-cold water and Syd sits on the shitter and laps it up.

Syd is a strange animal.

Rob Corddry has good taste

Rob Corddry (The Daily Show, The Winner) is one smart cookie.

In an interview in The New York Times Magazine today, he is asked to name his "desert island disks".

You've all played this game, right? It goes like this: What albums (usually 5 or so) would you want to have with you if you were stuck on a deserted island. That's assuming you have an unlimited power supply. And an iPod. Or a CD player. Or a turntable/stereo. You get the idea.

Anyway, you are supposed to list the five albums that you can't live without.

Mr. Corddry listed Boys and Girls in America by The Hold Steady as one of his choices.

If it's good enough for Rob and I, then it should be good enough for you. Give it a listen, OK folks?

PS - Actually not sure it would make my "desert island five" or not. I mean, it's pretty new and I'm still in the process of becoming a fan, but it's a lot of fun.

Baby, you can drive my car...

I love me some Fox shows!

Prison Break and 24 are some of my favorite wastes of time (wastes of times?) out there. They are some of the most adrenaline-fueled, high-action pieces of brain candy that are currently on network television.

Problem is, Prison Break is done for the year. Fox has this fucked-up schedule. It started sometime last August and ended just a few weeks ago. What, oh what, is going to waste my 8-9 PM hours on Monday nights now?

Drive is the name of the show, my friends...and it's really, really good.

It's a ridiculous premise, of course. A bunch of drivers, some voluntary...some not, are on an underground, illegal cross-country auto race for a prize of $32 million. Most are in teams of two, even if they didn't start out that way. There are daily elimination points and penalties incurred for finishing last at other stops. It's sort of The Amazing Race Gone Wild!

What I really love about the show is the cast. It's sure to satisfy us fans of the Whedon-verse (Buffy, Angel, Serenity, etc...), at least until his next project comes along.

First off is Nathan Fillion (Buffy, Firefly, Serenity) as Alex Tully. A landscaper whose wife is kidnapped by some secret intruder. He is told to join the race, and win it, if he ever wants to see his wife alive again. He's no ordinary landscaper, though. He's got a past. A past that lends itself to succeeding in this particular endeavor.

Fillion shows his star chops once again in this role. As great as he was in Serenity and Firefly, he has the chance to soar here again. Plus, Gia thinks I might be a little gay for him. Just a little.

Oh, and his wife is played by Amy Acker, she of Angel fame.

Next we have his partner in crime, Corinna Wiles, played by Kristen Lehman. OK, she has never acted in any of Joss Whedon's projects, but she did play the Invisigoth on an episode of the X-Files. That should count for something with us sci-fi geeks, right? Plus, she's a hottie.

Rounding out the Whedon trio of players is Richard Brooks (Firefly), who plays the police officer looking for both Alex Tully and his wife. Not a big part, but worth mentioning.

Anyway, it's a lot of fun and a complete waste of time.

Exactly how I like my television programs. Much better than watching the latest coverage of the massacre at Virginia Tech.

Much better.

Creepy guys

Seeing Grindhouse this past weekend with Slyde made me reminisce of the good ole days of renting bad films from a cheesy video store.

Slyde and I used to do this way too much around 15 years ago. In fact, I belonged to a schlocky video store that was near our local mall called "Rare and Unusual Videos". Many a night was spent getting some pizza and renting an awful B-movie from this store. They didn't categorize their films by the normal "Drama, Comedy, Adventure, etc..." bullshit. No way. This place had categories like "Women in Prison", "Undead" and "Sex Comedies".

Seriously, are there any other kinds of movies?

Some very funny/sad/weird things happened at this long-gone video store. The funniest is a story that I'll leave Slyde to tell (and he has never been able to tell this story the way it really happened...he chooses to blame me instead, the child that he is), but there are others.

This one time when we were on the hunt for the perfect piece of anime or something, this real sketchy dude walks in wearing a long trench coat. He had greasy hair, thick glasses and he was about 300 pounds. His whole persona screamed "Creep!!!" He immediately made his way for the curtain with the "Adults Only" sign over it (you all remember that room, right?), and we don't see him for about ten minutes.

So Slyde and I are at the checkout counter when this guy comes out of the room empty-handed. He goes right to the dude behind the counter and asks "Do you have films with kids in them?".

The counter dude looks at us, and responds "Well, we have a whole section of children's films over there by the window."

Creepy guy says "No, I mean adult films with kids in them."

At this point, Slyde and I are sick to our stomach. We want to take the pervert out in the back and beat the shit out of him. Just fucking destroy him.

The counter dude was a bit calmer and he said "Yeah, sorry pal...not in my store. Now get out!"

The creepy dude apologize and says "Well, the sign says RARE and UNUSUAL videos, so I thought...."

Counter dude comes back with "Within the law, asshole...within the law."

I still think we should have kicked that guy's ass! Hopefully he's never acted on his impulses. Blech!

On a lighter note, when the store announced they were closing with an "Everything Must Go" sign, this equally creepy dude came in and asked the counter dude how much he wanted for the clock on the wall.

The counter dude is a bit perplexed, and he says "The clock? Sorry, we are just selling all of our videos."

Equally creepy dude gets mad "Well the sign says EVERYTHING must go, so why not the clock?" They argue back and forth for a few minutes before equally creepy guy leaves.

Counter dude looks and us and says "I can't wait for this fucking store to close!"

Well said. But I still kinda miss it.

Brooooooooce!!!!

Hey kids! I was having a crazy good time last week, so I didn't get a chance to post. But I'm going to make it up to you with three, yes three consecutive posts this week. Can ya just taste the excitement?

Our first post this week is about one of the best concerts I have ever been lucky enough to attend. Last Thursday, Gia and I went to go see the latest in the Music for Youth concert series at Carnegie Hall. This time it was celebrating the music of Bruce Springsteen. Da Boss.

I've never been a huge fan, but Gia...well, let's just say she's a true fan. There are stories, believe me, stories from her past about Mr. Springsteen that are truly something. Let's just leave it at that. We had awesome tickets as well. Just about center in a private box with six other folks. Hi-back comfy, velvet seats. Aaargh! I don't think I can ever see a show in a regular seat again!

Great lineup of stars showed up to pay tribute with their rendering of a Springsteen classic. The lineup included the Bacon Brothers (with an uber-skinny Kevin Bacon. Dude, eat a sandwich!), Elysian Fields (who acted as the house band for many of the solo stars), Josh Ritter, Marah (Gia's favorite band...she and I were sooo excited), The Holmes Brothers w/ Young People's Chorus, Robin Holcomb, Jersey Guys featuring Bobby Valli, North Mississippi All-Stars, Uri Cane, Juliana Hatfield, Low Stars, Badly Drawn Boy, Joseph Arthur, Jesse Malin & Ronnie Spector, and M. Ward.

But the highlights of the show, for me and many, many others in attendance, were as follows:

• Steve Earle "Nebraska" - He walks solo onto the stage, looks around and says "Nice joint." Perfect! Great way to start the show. With my favorite song off of my favorite album of the same name.
• Patti Smith "Because the Night" - the first surprise guest of the night, and it gave me goosebumps. I've never seen this legend in concert before and she rocked the house. She even spit on the stage halfway through the song. A clear sign that this rebel still won't act like a lady, even though her deceased husband asked her to if she ever got voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Just amazing!
• Pete Yorn "Dancing in the Dark" - He came out talking about the first time he ever heard Bruce, back in the 80's. He was watching MTV and this dude in a white t-shirt and jeans was dancing around to the "feel-good" hit of the summer. Even pulled up a young Courtney Cox on stage. And he thought "What the hell is this?" Because when you listen to the lyrics, it's really a pretty dark song. And that's how he played it.
• Odetta "57 Channels and Nothing On" - I don't know much about this wonderful woman, but she was escorted onto the stage in a wheelchair and she did a funny, beautiful, spoken verse version of this song. It brought the house down.
• The Hold Steady "Atlantic City" - Another surprise guest, and no one was happier than Gia and I. We are huge fans! I really wanted to hear them do "Rosalita" (and we'll get to that later on), but I love this song as well. And they did a kick-ass version of it. Not at all like the Bruce version. Folks all around us were scrambling for their programs to find out just who they were. Too bad they weren't actually on the program, but we tried to inform as many people as possible. This, my friends, is one damn fine rock and roll band.

But let's get to the clear highlight of the show. Midway through the night, someone in the next box over poked me and said that he just spotted Bruce himself. He was in a private box around 10 doors down from us. We all just knew that he was going to play. I mean, he had to!

And he didn't disappoint. After The Hold Steady rocked the house, he came out and played two acoustic versions of his songs. "Promised Land" and "Rosalita". Towards the end of the latter, he stopped and started talking to the audience. He talked about everything that had happened to our hero from the song until the present day. He and Rosie got married, lived pretty much happily ever after (despite what the tabloids said), the hero became a big star with his band then he got happy and broke up the band, then he started singing happy songs...and nobody like that, so he got the band back together he wrote some sad songs...and everybody liked him again, he put on a few pounds, touched up his hair, and wound up in the greatest city on Earth at the greatest concert hall where all sorts of folks showed up to celebrate his music.

It was awesome!

Then he invited all the artists who performed already to join him on stage for a raucous version of "Rosalita" once again. He asked for volunteers to sing verses, and damn if Craig Finn from The Hold Steady didn't start things off. So I kinda got my wish. That dude is a maniac on stage! He was joined by Badly Drawn Boy, Jesse Malin and Steve Earle. It was a sprawling, crazy time...and a great way to end the show.

I have to say that I am now a fan of Bruce Springsteen. Thanks, Gia!

Back from The Back Room

Had another one of those crazy weekends, but that's neither here nor there. I'll do a full post about it on Tuesday (with pictures to boot!).

The hi-light of the craziness was the discovery of a new bar in old NYC on Friday night. We went to this "new" speakeasy down on the Lower East Side called The Back Room. It's co-owned by such big shots as Tim Robbins and Mark Messier, but there were no bigger shots there that night than my crew. Okay, I promise never to use the phrase "my crew" ever again.

We arrived just after 8PM, having had a few before we got there. Once we found our way down the non-marked alleyway, complete with a gate that I think they paid extra for to make it super-creaky, we headed into a beautiful 2-level lounge. There is also a secret door into a hidden back room, but it's not open to the public (have to be in-the-know, if you catch my drift). Must finagle my way in there one day. I'll get Gia on it!

The drinks are served in teacups to preserve the "prohibition era" feel of the joint. If you want a bottled beer, they wrap it in a paper bag for you. Neat.

We had some great drinks (duh) while we were there. One was a kind of margarita with brown sugar, cinnamon and cider in it. I chatted up the bartender, and he offered to make me one of his special cocktails (quiet, Slyde) that wasn't on the drink menu. It was a bit of Hendrick's Gin with some muddled mint, lemon and cucumber. It was awesome!

Anyway, headed to Opening Day at Yankee Stadium tomorrow. Can't wait! That and the finals of the NCAA basketball tourney in the evening should make for a pretty drunken Monday.

Then...rehab. It's about time...phew!

Here is a photo of the upper level of The Back Room. The arrow points towards the entrance to the "hidden back room". Of course, the arrow isn't really on the wall like that. It's just on the picture. Otherwise it wouldn't be very hidden. C'mon people, think!