The Rundown 8/21/12

Happy Birthday Honey - A few days ago my wonderful wife had a birthday. So I will dedicate this song to her, a song that has followed me around playing at a few places I went to last week.



And now let's run down the other things to happen in the last ten days -

How much do I tip? - Jiro Dreams Of Sushi is an excellent documentary about a man's lifelong commitment to making kick ass sushi. Mmmm sushi. There's other stuff too about tradition, work ethic, having standards, overfishing of the seas and so on but in the end it's about imbuing sushi on a tv screen with soul. And it works.

Factory Of Funk - Red Hot Chili Peppers I'm With You came out last year and I thought it was solid. The new guitarist doesn't have a big impact on the sound yet doesn't get in the way either. I've enjoyed playing this the past week, groovin on Flea's funky bass lines. Can't get the groove to "Factory Of Faith" out of my head.



Dana is going to talk fast and then SHOUT AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE!!! - Dana on the tv show Hell's Kitchen has found a interview promo pattern that guarantees her tv time. She starts talking fast, builds up speed and then SHOUTS EVERYTHING! And she does it all with a SLEEPY LOOK IN HER EYES!! It's addictively annoying because after a while you FIND YOU ARE DOING THE SAME DAMN THING SHE IS!!! AARGH!!



Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Mr Kotta! - When I was a kid I went through a phase where I pretty much wanted to be Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter (this I think was between times when I wanted to be The Fonz or Jimmy Walker). So sad the actor who played this great character Ron Palillo died recently. Also another sad passing is William Windom, the actor who played Commodore Matt Decker from Star Trek.

Premium Rush - enough with the commercials for this movie already. In an age where package delivery men can't even be bothered to deliver something without throwing it around like a shot put, we're supposed to believe a bike messenger will risk his life to protect...he doesn't even know what he's protecting. Not that it will stop him from putting everything on the line as people try to kill him for the package, that package must make it to it's scheduled destination! Where it will be signed for by some anonymous person scribbling an indecipherable signature on a clumsy lcd pad and the delivery guy says "What's your name?" and you say "Mike" and the delivery guy says "Thanks Mark" and leaves. And does it count as six degrees from Kevin Bacon for Quicksilver? And can Premium Rush beat bike dancing to cheesy music?

For Mr A...

My parent's neighbor passed away a few days ago. I'll refer to him in this post as Mr. A. Mr. A was a very nice man, a big guy who was gregarious and fun. I got to know him a little bit over the years, growing up I saw him when I would visit his son Mike to play sports or trade cassette tapes. I'd see him here or there around town in my adult life too, even as he aged he didn't lose that positive attitude. He was a great guy.

Mr A. had a love of sports and he really loved the local teams from San Francisco. Of my assorted memories of Mr. A., my strongest memory is a collection of moments where I didn't even see him. When baseball or football season came around, every warm Sunday you could hear Mr A. listening to a sports game on the radio as he relaxed on his back porch. I could hear him talking and the radio playing over the fence from my own back yard. There was something very pure about his passion for sports and listening to him luxuriate to a game had an infectious sort of contentment to it.

The best media tribute I can think of for the man is the moment that every 49ers fan in the 80s cherished. "The Catch". Goodbye Mr. A., you will be missed.

Catching Up With...Throwin' Under The Bus

There's a catchphrase out there, it's been lurking around for some time now. It's mysterious...ambiguous...it's natural...it's chemical...mediate, levitate, love your mate like pretty kate, hallucinate, regenerate....I'm callin' you out it's "Throwin' Under The Bus!" Look, I just threw "Throwin' under the bus" under the bus.

My wife likes this phrase so now we repeat it whenever we hear it, which was often while we were watching Celebrity Apprentice. Cyndi Lauper always sounds the best when saying it. Too bad the show didn't go on longer, we could have made a drinking game out of the ubiquitous phrase. Now on to throwing more people under the bus.

Crazy Kelly from Real Housewives Of New York

Kelly Bensimon or simeon or I don't know her last name, the middle aged ex-model who recently posed for Playboy. Anyway, on that tv show Real Housewives Of New York Kelly and her richie rich pals took an exotic fancy trip. Kelly wasn't on the best terms with her costars to start with but she went on the trip because everyone on the program knows, you don't show up for the group shots you get no screen time. This girl went on the attack against her nemesis Bethanny and kept losing to the point she had a paranoid nervous breakdown over dinner. Her face melted into a lumpy mess as she incessantly popped candy in her mouth while spewing nonsense about her costars being like vampires and murderers. People do seem to be taking a shine to Bethanny Frankel's reaction "Go To Sleep!" which is kinda funny. Compelling pathetic with cameras there to catch it all, reality tv at either it's finest or most invasive.

Crystal Bowersox wuz robbed!

For the second straight year, American Idol voters brought a distinct artistic presence to the final and then voted for the blander opponent. In this case the winner was amiable growling guy Lee De Whys? I don't hate DeWyse, he's a modestly talented guy that seems likeable. Bowersox was just more of the real deal, someone with an artistic vision and the ability to make it come to life. Nowhere was that more apparent that finale night, where Bowersox gave strong performances while DeWhyse seemed to shrink from the spotlight. That "Up The Mountain" song Bowersox did? Nice.

Farewell Gary Coleman...

I liked Diff'rent Strokes as much as anyone else did, though in reality he was more my brother's idol than mine. Which is interesting in itself since Coleman was actually more my age than my bros. Remember that tv movie where Coleman was some cub scout or something? My brother loved that one. Anyway, back in an age when cute kids ruled the airwaves Coleman was king. It's sad that his adult life became a never ending plight of misery, at least now he can rest.

Foreigner "in Pieces"

Been hearing this song at work every day which is kind of nice, it stood out on the recent Can't Slow Down album. I like it every time I hear it. Fits in nicely since I saw Foreigner live a few weeks ago.

Heaven And Hell - The Devil You Know (2009)

In the wake of Dio's death I bought his last album, Heaven & Hell aka Black Sabbath. I haven't played it all yet, what I've heard is very good though. While searching online for stuff on the man, I came across some interesting covers of what will be his signature song "Holy Diver". You can hear it from my favorite You Tube cover singer Trookieness, hear it from a drunk dude in a bar, get it well done from a karaoke master , rock it to a sock puppet or jam to the ukelale. You can hear Holy Diver! Sole Survivor!

The Big Comeback: Bret Michaels

He's cheated death more times than James Bond now, Poison's Bret Michaels perseverance has paid off both in the hospital and the board room. Michaels has survived...I can't remember all the things that have happened to him the last few weeks but a lot...and he won Celebrity Apprentice out of drive and creativity. Then he got an appearance on the last American Idol show. Amazing! I may not be a huge fan of his music, but I have more respect for him now. Dude is a survivor determined to stay here and rock our worlds.

Sudden Update - Dennis Hopper

...and now Dennis Hopper has passed away. Very sad news, I've often enjoyed Hopper's crazy man routine in movies like Speed. Easy Rider is of course the iconic film he'll be famous for. With Hopper another part of the 60s has passed on, his presence was the definition of wild eyed radicalism which he carried into many a role.

Experience The Rainbow

This KRQR double shot is a little more fitting for the radio station these posts pay tribute to, both of the following acts were hard rock regulars in the 80s.

The first is a to send more well wishes to the rocker Bret Michaels. Like him or hate him, I can't imagine anyone wishing the string of medical problems he's suffered the past month or so. Admittedly, I'm a bigger fan of Bret Michaels Reality Star more than Bret Michaels rock singer. On tv, Michaels comes across as an amiable sleaze with a strong work ethic and creative drive. And yes, a man whore. Whether he's asking a drunken slut to rock his world or pitching a flurry of ideas at a project manager, Michaels makes for great tv. The music of Poison is a little more hack and less inspired, but even that has its redeeming moments. And one of those redeeming moments is here, the early 90s power ballad "Something To Believe In"

The second shot in this twofer Thursday is a belated tribute to the recently deceased mighty Ronnie James Dio. RJD was one of the definining front men in Metal, a gnomish devil horn saluting growler. Dio first hit my radar with his arms raised to the sky - like a rainbow! A "Rainbow In The Dark" or as he enunciates it "A Reign-bow! In the Dahrrk!!" In recent years I've dug some of Dio's Sabbath stuff and who wouldn't love Rainbow's "Man On A Silver Mountain"? In final tribute to this icon of Heavy Metal, here's "Rainbow In The Dark".

Hopefully there won't be as much pain and misery in Metal's coming months (but isn't that what Metal's about?) until then it's like a REIGN-BOW!

Catching Up With...Sandra Bullock

OK, as Peter Griffin or the Bunny would say "You know what really grinds my gears?" the answer would be:

To Stop Saying Sandra Bullock Was "Blind Sided" - Normally I'm all for snark and not above kickin' someone when they're down if I don't like them, but I actually don't mind Sandra Bullock as an actress and feel bad for her (I'm not even a big fan of hers, when I first saw an advertisement for The Blind Side I thought "Is she portraying Kathie Lee Gifford?"). Not just for her obvious problems in her personal life, but that the media took her Oscar victory for The Blind Side and rubbed it all in her face. News story after news story had to make a play on the movie title for their report on Bullock's breakup with her husband. This sort of thing I could possibly enjoy as a lone snotty comment from a TMZ staffer, but every news service in the country? That's jacked.

Now for things that don't grind my gears...

Alex Chilton homages - Big Star will forever be considered one of the great neglected bands of rock history. And with that Alex Chilton is a talent that myself and maybe others only find out about when you read those "Greatest of all time" lists you find around in magazines and the internet, because except for That 70s Show I can't think of any major exposure of their music. But Big Star was sublimely melodic and his passing led to a nice cover by a fan of one of my favorite songs, "Thirteen".

The Black Crowes "Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love)" - On a recent long car ride this song was a highlight, I loved how it went from a Creedence Clearwater Revival style first half with dreamy guitar licks to a fierce rave up of skidding organ runs. Great stuff.

Hot Tub Time Machine commercials - Hey, is that John Cusack having a mid life crisis? Cusack was a master of the teen ruckus films in the 80s and seemed to mature to rom com king a long time ago. To see Cusack back in his old stomping grounds is, as Heidi Klum would say, "BeZahr". Who knows, maybe the guy who led One Crazy Summer and Better Off Dead can reclaim the magic. Not banking on it though. All I know is I want my two dollars...

Heidi Klum says "Bizarre"- Taken from the tv show Project: Runway, the supermodel says the word "Bizarre"...well, bizarrely. For some reason the image and sound of her enunciating strikes me weird, like she's morphing into that creature from Species or something. How Bizarre.

Zooey Deschanel Cotton Commercial - Long the avatar (Aha! Snuck that word in. Heh heh, Avatar!) for indie cool in a quirky cute package, actress/singer Zooey Deschanel has made a new song for her advertisement selling Cotton. I love it when a song is written for a commercial, I still like to think about What The Night Could Do from time to time. The full song is light airy fun, the ad itself features a trip to a used record store. Dammit, they know my demographic so well!

And now we're caught up. That's...Bizarre!

Catching Up With...Bitch Stewie!

Bitch Stewie rules! (pictured on the right)

Now for the latest round of catch up -

Bitch Stewie - A week ago I saw a Family Guy repeat that I missed on its original airing, an episode where Stewie made a clone of himself with fewer brain cells to perform menial tasks. The resulting clone, named "Bitch Stewie", saw everything through rose colored glasses speaking in an awestruck tone constantly. Easily the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Though the recent Family Guy episode with Stewie in drag saying to a mailman "Oh, you're emptying your sack on me!" while the mailman tosses fan mail on him from a bag is almost as good.

Death Of The 80s - So many entertainers from my formative years are dying off that I have to lump them in one place. On top of Boner and T Bone Wolk, in the past week football star / Little House On The Prairie guy Merlin Olsen, child star Corey Haim and Mission: Impossible leader/ Airplane! pilot Peter Graves have all died. Graves was the saddest loss of all to me, I liked Mission: Impossible and loved Airplane. Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?

Idolatry - As the ninth season of American Idol falls into an inexplicable limbo of mixed message judging and mind boggling vote results, Entertainment Weekly is there to mock it all with a weekly online critique called Idolatry. Watching Michael Slezak (who seems to be a walking encyclopedia of AI info) and crew ridicule AI has become more fun than watching the show itself. To check out some first class snark, just click on the link.

Ray Lamontagne "Trouble" - One positive thing of American Idol this season is the repeated usage of this song. In fact, it just got a contestant booted from the show this week after singing it. "Trouble" is a song I've heard here and there without knowing who made it, after hearing it twice on AI this year (first from some guy who actually knows trouble via jail time and then this week Alex Lambert) I decided to check out the original. Good tune! Thanks American Idol!!

Techno Sequels - Both Iron Man and Tron have sequels in the pipeline and trailers to entice with. The Iron Man 2 trailer reeks of sequelitis with its overkill (More digital special effects! Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johanssen!! An army of Iron Men!!!) but I know I'm gonna wanna see this puppy anyway. As for Tron: Legacy I'll have to wait and see, it's going to take a lot of inspired storytelling to revive this hard drive once you get past the flashy fx.

W.E.T. "One Love" - While researching long forgotten AOR bands I stumbled across this track from last year. It is high quality AOR in the Journey/Foreigner vein. I've bought the whole album to review, but for now this is the song that's stuck in me head. Dorky homemade video and all.

And that's this round of catch up. Seacrest...out!

RIP T Bone Wolk

Another passing of an entertainer who was a mainstay of my 80s entertainment life, bassist / producer T Bone Wolk died on Saturday from a heart attack. Wolk was a distinctive player and a key performer during Hall & Oates chart domination. His ability to keep a groove that moved while visually wobbling around made him an asset both in the H&O sound and the videos. Later, he and fellow H&O sideman G.E. Smith were the basis of the Saturday Night Live house band. Wolk wasn't a house hold name, but he definitely left his mark. Who could forget the bass line to "Maneater"?

RIP Andrew Koenig / Boner

This week the body of actor Andrew Koenig was found from an apparent suicide. A sad passing in my world of entertainment because I grew up a huge fan of the tv series Growing Pains, in which Koenig portrayed the dim witted loyal friend to Mike Seaver - Boner. In many ways, Boner was a more identifiable character for me than Mike because Boner was a misfit, an outsider. During my teen years I could certainly recognize that feeling. I'll never forget that episode where Boner decides to join the military and grow up, sending Mike into a fit. This of course has no bearing on Andrew Koenig the person as Boner was a character. It's sad that Koenig suffered from depression despite being accomplished and well liked from the reports I've seen. Hopefully the attention paid to depression in general will bring something positive from Koenig's death.

He Had The Knack

Today it was reported that Doug Fiegler passed away from cancer. The leader of The Knack, the late 70s band that practically defined the term "one hit wonder", Fiegler created a song that is as indelible in its memory to anyone living in America in 1979. Or 1993 when it made a come back. But mostly in 1979.

"My Sharona" was one of the songs I liked a lot even before I listened to a lot of music. It was catchy catchy catchy, with that jumpy beat and pogo stick chorus "My-yiy-yiy-yiy yiy woo!" Strong memories of grade school and junior high I associate with this song, part of the soundtrack to my personally mundane "Wonder Years". Am I lovin' "quotation marks" in this post or what? Anyway, it ranks up there with "Hot Blooded", "Celebration" and "Believe It Or Not It's Just Me" (the Greatest American Hero song) as the backbeat to my youth.

I was all too happy to see the song make a comeback in the early 90's thanks to the Winona Rider movie Reality Bites. My generation rediscovered the song and its sense of dirty fun even amid the sweatstained marks on the flannel of Grunge.

The most vivid memory of The Knack came about in the late 90's. I was about to buy The Knack's record from a used goods store for a few dollars on an impulse. This guy and his girl got all upset about it like it was the last The Knack record made by man. Since I knew this record was a $1 bin regular in just about every used record store I had been to, I gave it to him. I'll never forget that, this guy must have been the laziest Knack superfan there was.

The term "one hit wonder" is often used derisively ( though I admit to liking another The Knack song "Good Girls Don't" as being pretty good too) when the hit is the size of "My Sharona" it shouldn't be a bad thing. This song will always take me back to days of corderoy pants, hot days in the sun playing baseball and Atari 2600 games. So thank you for the music, Mr Fiegler.

Close The Door

R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass passed away from cancer. I can't claim to be a huge fan of Pendergrass and know a lot about him as much as I'm a fan of one song, "Love T.K.O." But I love that song and his performance in it. In reading of his passing I found out he sang the original "If You Don't Know Me By Now" as well, all I can say is wow. And turns out "Close the Door" is one of those songs I heard a lot and didn't know who the performer was until now. Maybe I should check out more of his music. He had an awesome voice and his passing is another great loss to music.

Midnight Madness - Donny And Marie Christmas

I was talking to my wife and reminiscing about the old Christmas specials that used to be on tv as a kid and one title that stood out in my mind was Donnie and Marie. The toothy twosome were on tv all the time and I used to watch weekly to discover that she was a little bit country and he was a little bit rock and roll. I don't remember a thing about this Christmas special, but here's a tribute to all the old Christmas shows gone by into the forgotten heap of ancient memory. Sometimes I miss the safe patter, canned laughter and earnest cheesiness of the 70's.

Rollin With The Homies - Sad passing of young actress Brittany Murphy, who I knew mainly from her role as the outsider being made over in the teen movie Clueless and the voice of Luanne in King Of The Hill. I wasn't a huge fan or anything, just appreciated that she had talent and a likable presence.

Last Christmas - I thought the overplayed Christmas song this year was "Santa Baby" but in the past few days cover versions of the Wham! classic "Last Christmas" have overtaken it. In the last 48 hours I've heard four different versions of this song including one with a rap. A rap!

Desperate Times - Amy Winehouse has been arrested for assault. I swear every punch with her is just another career move at this point.

Tried To Send Me Back To Rehab - Steven Tyler boldly goes where he has gone before, rehab for his addiction to painkillers. Does this mean no more Brand Tyler?

Fantastic...Amazing...Unbelievable... - Tried to watch Snooze Along With Gordon Ramsey, the famously irritable chef's attempt to appear happy and friendly on tv. The only fun to be found was watching visibly nervous Ramsey fill in dead air with these random words in between the scripted segments. Agh, it's stuck in my head! Fantastic...Amazing...Unbelievable...

I'm (sob) Sensitive! - This won't win me any macho points, but I was a sucker for Tori Amos debut album Little Earthquakes. There's a great track by track dissection of the album by Tori Amos on Rolling Stone magazine's web site. If you like the disc it's a fine read. Now I'm going to curl up in a ball on the couch with some fancy tea and watch Oprah.

Tik Tok - This song by Ke$ha (yes, the dollar sign is in her name) is the #1 song in the land. I remember this was a free download on Itunes one week, the video was about being a drunk slut in front of your family or something. Not that I'm a prude, part of this track's appeal is probably the coarseness that puts me off it. Unbelievable...Fantastic...Amazing...

Super Friends - Def Leppard is developing a cartoon about themselves. No, that's not a joke they really are doing this.

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By The Way - Guitarist John Frusciante has left the Red Hot Chili Peppers again though this time not abruptly. Judging from how they fared without him the last time, I don't think RHCP will be able to maintain the quality of their music now. And with drummer Chad Smith having another successful band to jump to if he wants I wonder about the future of the group. Because even mediocre RHCP is better than none.

Merry Christmas - I don't know if I'll post tomorrow, so Merry Christmas to all!

And now, because you didn't ask for it, the rap version of "Last Christmas"!

Midnight Madness - Steven Seagal Edition

Lama on the loose: Steven Seagal takes to the streets for real in A&E's reality tv series Steven Seagal: :Lawman

Today's my birthday, I have successfully survived another year. It wasn't a great year in the sense that I've been laid off, but I am still alive eatin food and have a roof over my head so that's still going for me :). A lot of sad news out there in the entertainment world which inspired this post. On the upside, one of my action movie faves is attempting a comeback.

The Last In Line - Ronnie James Dio has been diagnosed with stomach cancer, certainly sad news. He's an iconic singer and as a fan I wish him well.

Standing On Higher Ground - While reading the blog Holland's Comet I found out that Alan Parsons Project singer Eric Woolfson passed away due to cancer. The Parsons Project was a favorite of mine in high school, particularly the Vulture Culture album. His vocals on the songs "Games People Play" and "Time" (not from Vulture Culture) were extraordinary.

The Samoan Bulldozer - Former WWE wrestler Umaga died of a heart attack at age 36. He was an effective heel who had a good gimmick, a big guy who could move quickly. No more Samoan Spike :(

Taken To The Wood(s) Shed - It was not a good week to have that last name, as both the golfer Tiger and the Rolling Stone Ronnie ran into high profile domestic issues. Maybe they should swap lives on a reality tv show just to make things that much more overblown.

Overexposed Movie Of The Week - Speaking of overblown, can we go five minutes without a tv advertisement for Armored? Like Grand Theft Auto: The Movie, it looks like Matt Dillon and some other dudes steal an armored car and then kill each other for possession of it. All I get out of the repetitive commercials is steal the car, some guy locks himself inside, Matt Dillon gets mad threatens dude's family and then someone is running away from the armored car threatening to run him over. I've been playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the past week and have found this scenario much more exciting on my outdated PS2 than watching these commercials. Someone please turn these losers in for stealing too much tv time.

And The Grammy Goes To... - The list of nominees this year don't interest me too much, just for fun I'll pick my favorite of their top selection list:

• Record Of The Year - I'd go with Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" not that I like the song, it's just the most memorable to me. P-P-P-Poker face.


• Album Of The Year - The only one on this list I have heard is Dave Matthews Band, I liked that album so I'll vote for that.


• Song Of The Year - I realize there are different criteria for this versus Record Of The Year but honestly I never saw the point between the two.


• Best New Artist - I don't know most of these names. The Ting Tings would be my choice. Now shut up and let me go.

The Awards show usually has a good song performance or two so there's that to look forward to, otherwise this year's model seems kinda dull.

Shields Up! - This week I got to go to a Star Trek exhibit and sit in the Captain's chair on a replica of the Enterprise bridge. Oh what a feeling!

Out For Justice - I watched the first two episodes of Steven Seagal: Lawman on A&E. Seagal doesn't do a whole lot of actual law enforcement compared to his fellow deputies and the phony editing to make it seem like he has a sixth sense to spot crime which is ludicrous. What's more, Seagal starts every sentence with "In my years of martial arts training, I..." to the point of annoyance. Yet like everything else Seagal touches, the hubris is backed up with mad aikido / gun fire skills (even if it is only displayed in training) and I've got to give it up to a guy that does this as a side job. His commitment to law enforcement is commendable and comes across as sincere. Though nothing can top the liquor store fight at the start of Hard To Kill. "C'muh cut mah hart oute! Come uh kut my 'eart out!!!" (The scene, one of my Seagal favorites, is below)

Under The Milky Way

I meant to post a few days ago about the sad passing of producer / engineer Greg Ladanyi, who apparently fell to his death shortly before a concert he was set to work on September 29th. Ladanyi's name appeared on many albums that I purchased in the 80's, including Fleetwood Mac's Behind The Mask, Don Henley's first two solo albums and Jackson Browne. Not to mention his work with Toto including on the immortal Toto IV. Ladanyi's work was marked by a smooth, tasteful sensibility. While reading one of his obituaries I was surprised to learn he had worked with The Church on the album that included a really great song, "Under The Milky Way".

Most producer / engineers don't get as much recognition as the artists they work with, in Ladanyi's case I feel his input played a factor on some of my favorite tunes on either a technical or aesthetic level. He didn't appear to be an "in your face" producer like say David Foster or Nile Rodgers where you hear 30 seconds and immediately knew who worked on it. As I type this, Toto's "Africa" popped up on my IPOD a song Ladanyi mixed. The "behind the scenes" people can make or break a project, I personally love the layered sound to Toto IV including how some of the piano from the demo is inserted into "Africa". In any case, another sad passing in music, to pay some respect here's The Church's hit that Ladanyi worked on "Under The Milky Way".

He's Like The Wind

Today my wife informed me after work that actor Patrick Swayze had passed away. Because his health had been publicly declining for some time it wasn't shocking, but sad nonetheless. While I can't claim I was a huge fan of Swayze in the sense that I didn't intentionally follow his career, he has delivered so many strong performances in several movies over the years that I can say I've always enjoyed his work. I can't remember him being bad in anything.

Mainly known as the dance instructor all the ladies wanted a lesson from after his big hit film Dirty Dancing, in my prime movie going years he was a youth movie mainstay. I would see his performances often in those $1 movie theater flicks that would play in a now defunct old theater.

He was the guy who got jacked up being Rob Lowe's friend in the hockey driven Youngblood, one of the lead Wolverines fighting Russians on American soil in Red Dawn and one of the rough and tumble greasers in The Outsiders. All 80's teen movie classics where he was grouped with other up and comers like Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, Lea Thompson, Diane Lane and others. He had a commanding presence yet was able to portray sensitivity and some humor giving a broad range of characters he could handle. Convincing in both supporting and lead roles, his acting was always focused.

Swayze had his biggest successes as a romantic leading man in Dirty Dancing (where he revealed actual dancing talent) and Ghost. Those were good movies, yet what I appreciated was that he parlayed those successes into B level action movies like Point Break or Next of Kin. His action film jones led to a bonafide cable tv / drive in movie classic that had him running from Dirty Dancing to the Double Deuce.

Who would have thought after becoming a huge movie star thanks to showing Jennifer Grey the time of her life, Swayze's next move would be to star as a philosophy spouting, karate kicking, throat tearing, vertical wall banging machine (you saw the movie, you know what I mean) in Roadhouse. Successfully bridging the gap between ladies who wanted Swayze shirtless and guys who wanted to see a martial arts leaping kick to the face, Roadhouse appears regularly on television more than Dirty Dancing and Ghost combined. And I learned a valuable lesson from the movie: be nice...until it's time not to be nice.

Sad to see another 80's icon pass away. As I said, I've never went to a movie to see Patrick Swayze, he just happened to be in a lot of movies I watched. In those movies, he was consistently good. So to Patrick Swayze thanks for everything, thanks for the great entertainment all these years.

Don't You Forget About Him

The cast of Some Kind Of Wonderful (l-r) Lea Thompson, Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson

Today was a particularly sad day in the world of entertainment, film maker John Hughes died of a heart attack in New York. To anyone who grew up in the 80's, John Hughes was an unseen name brand on the best mainstream teen entertainment of that era. Before and after his watershed years as the unofficial spokesperson for middle American teenagers, the genre has been packed with pandering junk that either is condescending or childish in its approach to the audience. John Hughes carved a niche by writing and creating teenage characters that rang true with a sympathetic approach to their lives that blended hormone driven angst and humorous fantasy.

While he himself remained invisible to the public eye, Hughes created characters and situations that inspired a generation. Farmer Ted holding up Molly Ringwald's underpants in the Boys bathroom to an awed audience, "You mess with the bull you get the horns", the venomous James Spader in Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller twisting and shouting in a parade are included in a list of indelible movie moments that will live forever or for at least as long as TNT and TBS remain on air. A long line of actors received huge career pushes acting in Hughes films, the whole Brat Pack pretty much came to be because of these movies.

While the film that will probably be remembered as his peak is the detention as group therapy session classic The Breakfast Club (1985), my personal favorite is Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987). Hughes wrote but didn't direct on this one (Howard Deutch did the honors), I liked that the movie centered more on lower middle class characters particularly the friendship between the cute tomboy (Mary Stuart Masterson) and the quiet artist dude (Eric Stoltz). And of course having Lea Thompson in the mix didn't hurt either. The love triangle between the three and the artist dude's drive to prove himself I thought was well played. And that theme song "I Go Crazy" by Flesh For Lulu, I recently found it in a $3.00 bin a few months back and it totally made my day.

The Hughes era also generated a series of great pop music moments, such as the Thompson Twins "If You Were There" at the end of Sixteen Candles, the Oingo Boingo theme song to "Weird Science", Duckie lip syncing to Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" during Pretty in Pink or of course the Simple Mind's classic, "Don't You Forget About Me". The tying in of music and film wasn't just keeping with the MTV times but creating real emotion by bonding the two.

While Hughes would continue to make hit movies past his teenage film phase like Planes, Trains and Automobiles or Home Alone they didn't have as full a voice to me as those three years between 1984 and 1987. His movies gave humor and hope that the tragic and fantastic teen years of life were survivable and could be fun. So to quote one of his famous movies, I say "When Cameron was in Egypt land...let my Cameron go." And thank you for the memories Mr. Hughes.

Fly To The Angels

Today is a date that will doubtlessly show up as a trivia question in the years to come because today two pop culture icons passed away. Both performers reached heady peaks in show business that only a rare few know. Both performers had a strong effect on our culture, affecting the way millions danced, dressed, wore their hair or defined themselves in their image. Both performers exhibited unusual behavior in the later half of their careers that at the least left people scratching their heads wondering what their idols were thinking. Today Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, and Farrah Fawcett, the 70's California dream girl, passed away.

Michael Jackson's death has been all over the tv nonstop and it is really shocking news. My wife heard the news on the radio while she was driving home on the freeway. What she describes sounds like a M. Night Shayamalan movie, everything moved in slow motion and she could see the other drivers shock, stunned expressions with both hands to their face, people screaming, people crying. All of the cars slowed down as people let go of the wheel and gas pedal. My wife later called me and let me know of what happened.

For me, the death of Michael Jackson represents the passing of a childhood hero. As a boy I pretty much wanted to be Michael Jackson, to be able to sing and dance as the star of the Jackson 5. At family gatherings I would grab my plastic guitar and dance around (really more hyper flailing than anything else) and call it "Michael Jackson time". As I got older I lost interest in Jackson though I still liked his music generally. Even in that capacity his music was so ubiquitous that "Beat It", "Billie Jean", "Thriller", "Bad", "Man In The Mirror", "Remember The Time" and "Jam" became part of the soundtrack to my life. Though I was more cynical about the Gloved One in my adulthood, now really isn't the time to be critical. Because what may be the last musician of our time to unify not just people of different backgrounds nationally but world wide, is gone.

And Jackson's death has in the media overshadowed the passing of Farrah Fawcett. Fawcett was the image of all American beauty in the late 70's. She had the blue eyes, white teeth, toned body, high cheekbones and the famous feathered blond hair that guys loved and girls wanted . She became a star on the tv show Charlie's Angels and was the poster girl pin up on many guys bedroom walls. And while I was too young to really "get" her sex appeal at the time, I understood that Fawcett was pretty and revered for her beauty. I did like watching Charlie's Angels and would stay up late to watch (it was on after my bed time) when I could get away with it because I liked action shows. And I liked that she was in a sci fi movie called Saturn 3, though I was too young to see it. Plus she was married to the Six Million Dollar Man! Well, as a young boy that's about as exciting as a girl can get. In the 80's she became a serious actress and I was impressed with her performances in Extremities and The Burning Bed. To me, she was the girl who seemed accessible to everyone yet still had some mystery to her.

I Hear The Grasshopper

David Carradine, the actor who portrayed the iconic 70's tv character Kwai Chang Caine, was found dead today in a Bangkok hotel room. The news is shocking to me, probably because my image of Carradine is shaped by the show Kung Fu. He was Kwai Chang Caine, the gentle, soft spoken monk whose memories of Shaolin Temple training leads him to fight the good fight with some well placed slo mo kicks. The show influenced a generation of kids who wanted to be THAT guy, learning from Master Po, "Take the pebble from the hand", and introduced the nickname "Grasshopper" into popular culture. The character seemed immortal, not because of superhuman abilities but because Carradine's performance as the serene ex-monk seemed almost spiritual .

I saw the show in reruns but it was still well liked by most kids my age in the late 70's. It was rare to see an Asian character be portrayed as positively in television as Caine, which was nice (though Carradine is not Asian). In the 80's I didn't see him in much other than Lone Wolf McQuade (Kung Fu versus Chuck Norris!) and kind of wondered what happened to him until the Kill Bill film series. Carradine's performance as Bill was excellent, playing into that mysterious quality he had.

So it is with sadness that we say goodbye to David Carradine. Though I was surprised tonight to see an advertisement of a tv show called Mental flash Carradine's face all over the screen in what will be one of his last acting roles. That was bizarre, even if it is just bad timing. When you can walk the rice paper without tearing it, then your steps will not be heard.

Midnight Madness - Alison Iraheta Edition

Rock rock til you drop: 16 year old Alison Iraheta has shown potential on American Idol but will probably get kicked off the show soon.

It's been a few weeks since I've felt like a Midnight Madness, tonight I think I have enough to post about. This week's post goes to Alison Iraheta, American Idol is continuing it's tradition of raspy voiced rocker girls who have no shot of winning but are fun to watch. She's sort of like a coherent version of Amanda Overmeyer from last year. Iraheta's been in the bottom three twice already, so enjoy watching her while it lasts. On with the Madness!

American Idol Update - Country and Motown weeks went over well, the singers picked up their game and delivered solid to outstanding performances. Then this week the whole group suddenly sucked big time when they got the chance to select whatever song they wanted. Really not sure what happened, but here's what we've got so far: Adam Lambert is schooling the other contestants, particularly with his soft take on "Tracks Of My Tears". Meanwhile, my favorite Alison Iraheta has been underperforming except for a strong rendition of "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". Pixie soul belter Alexis Grace was surprisingly booted a few weeks back followed by roughneck Michael Sarver and bird cawing Megan Joy. Can the singer's rebound this week?

This Is Not A Test - A few weeks ago former WWE wrestler Test died. Pretty shocking because he was a young guy. Test was a featured player and occasionally got big pushes, having on screen relationships with the McMahons as well as the tag team T&A. Sad to see another grappler go.

...And Justice For All - Metallica officially was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cool! Run D.M.C. was inducted too. Why? For one half of a rock song?

Gone Gone Gone - Bad Company is reuniting for a few shows on the Eastern side of the U.S. so they can keep their band name. C'mon, no love for the West Coast? What's up with that?

You Are Gold - Spandau Ballet is reuniting for a tour. Their four remaining American fans get excited, busting out the hair gel and trenchcoats for all to see. You know this much is true.

Pumpkin Patch - Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain has quit the Smashing Pumpkins leaving Billy Corgan the sole Pumpkin left in the group. Now we'll have to see if Corgan's antics causes enough pressure to make himself quit. Then he'll probably bad mouth himself in the press and file lawsuits against himself too.

It's not Cameltoe, it's...- Chickenfoot, the supergroup featuring Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith are getting a lot of attention for their upcoming CD. Can it live up to the hype? Sounds promising so far.

Rorschach Test - Jackie Earle Haley will star as Freddy Kruger in a Nightmare On Elm Street reboot. You know, they really should try to get enough money together for a Johnny Depp cameo if they're gonna do this thing right. Or put him up against Jodie Foster for a Bad News Bears On Elm Street combo reboot.

Chicago's Last Hope - The long running TV series ER wrapped things up this week, I've recorded the finale so I'll get to see all those old faces return. For many years a quality program worth watching in reruns (that's how I saw the show anyway), we can finally declare ER the winner of the hospital show wars once and for all (when ER debuted it was up against Chicago Hope, another hospital show drama set in Chicago. Many wondered who would win out of two similar programs. That's how old this show is, I have to explain my bad jokes with trivia).

The Fast and the Superfluous - Does anyone care about the latest reunion movie sequel in the Fast & the Furious franchise? It's the #1 movie this weekend, so I guess the answer is yes. He's the beast from the east he's the best from the west he's the Vin man. Bonus points if anyone can name the 80's movie that's from.

Web Slinging Insanity - When reading a recent issue of Rolling Stone, I read that Bono and Edge of U2 have written music for a stage musical about Spider Man. Now I've read online that they're starting to have casting calls for this thing so I guess it's not a joke. I shouldn't judge it without hearing anything first, but it's so hard when you read about something this bad.

Natasha Richardson - I realize it happened a few weeks ago, still it was sad to see talented actress Natasha Richarson pass away. I remembered her best from the film The Handmaid's Tale way back when.

Mini Movie Reviews:

• The Visitor - A slow moving film about a closed off College prof who encounters and befriends illegal immigrants living in his New York Apartment. Well acted and relatively realistic. It tries to show the human side of the immigration experience post 9/11 but is only modestly affecting to me. It's not bad but skippable.


• Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Decent comedy about a TV music writer who gets dumped by his TV star girlfriend and ends up in Hawaii at the same time as her. Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother) wrote and stars as the dorky guy crushed by the rejection and is ably assisted by Mila Kunis (That 70's Show) and Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) as the women in his life. It's not non stop fun but it does create likeable characters and has a good sense of humor. I guess this is the film that made British comedian Russell Brand a name here, he's amusing but overrated in my opinion.


• Kung Fu Panda - Jack Black's animated animal martial arts comedy is zippy fun from start to finish. Panda pulls every cliched martial arts movie storytelling device in the book which should make it dull. Instead the Panda team use hyperkinetic direction, celebrity voices and Jack Black's ritalin resistant jokes to keep things moving. A great ride for all ages.

I couldn't embed the video so I got an audio version of the song that my wife and I have been stuck on since seeing it on VH1's One Hit Wonders of the 80's. Oran Juice Jones. The Rain!

Oran "Juice" Jones - The Rain

Midnight Madness - Super Bowl Edition

"The Catch" part 2: The Steeler's make a touchdown pass reminscent of the 49ers famous snag.

We Will We Will Rock You! Just warming up for the...oh, that was last week? Yeah it was, the first Super Bowl I've watched in about 20 years or so went pretty well. I don't really follow sports or watch it on tv much, I enjoyed playing the games more than observing them (a victim of my short attention span, I love highlight reels because you see the exciting parts without all the strategy and what not) and can't recall watching a Bowl game since that one with Da Bears. You know the one, the one where Jim McMahon tried to show off early on with a bootleg and got turned inside out on the tackle. Anywho, this Super Bowl was an exciting game where the Arizona Cardinals (still St Louis to me) was narrowly beaten by the...jeez, I can't remember who won. The Pittsburgh Steelers, that's who. Glad to see the Terrible Towels are still around. I forgot his name already, but I can't recall seeing a quarterback as big as a lineman before (the Steelers guy) who was mobile as hell. My wife and I had a friendly wager that resulted in me winning a "pamper day" (not the diaper) and yesterday we had a nice day of pizza and DVD watching :) Thank you Bunny! Now, on to the Madness!

Cranked Up? - The famed Super Bowl commercials didn't really impress me much this year, what stuck the most is the one with Jason Stratham going Grand Theft Auto through a series of decades. That wasn't bad, the "I'm Good" beer commercial I can see catching on too. My favorite was the hip hop astronauts getting their moon buggy's tires stripped while they were collecting moon rocks.

Save Jack - Which reminds me, the current series of ads that started at the Super Bowl of Jack from Jack in the Box being in a major accident is a major bummer. He's my favorite fast food pitchman, it's like they're blowing up the clown all over again.

It's Boss Time! - Bruce Springsteen pulled out the stops for his half time show, scampering around, sliding into cameras and slinging his guitar around with a big grin on his face. And the way Ticketmaster is selling his tour tickets, the Super Bowl coverage is probably the best seats anyone will score for seeing him live this year.

Devils & Dust- The Boss' business blues continued with regretting his Wal - Mart deal following a backlash from fans. At least his new CD Working On A Dream went to #1 on the charts.

Going Bat Sh*t - First, Batman gets no respect from the Oscars with hardly any major noms. Then a tape recording of Christian Bale going all Hollywood tantrum on a lighting guy from the set of Terminator: Salvation hits the media. The fit Bale threw was so extreme the actor could barely defend his own "I'm in character" excuse. Any other working person would be fired for the behavior Bale displayed. Ah the perks of being a movie star.

At Last - Etta James goes off on both Beyonce and President Obama following the Bootylicious One's performance of "At Last" during the Presidential Inauguration. She went as far as to say Beyonce was going to get her ass beat, which would be a threat if it wasn't for her age. Ah the perks of being unable to carry out threats.

Passings - Both keyboardist Billy Powell (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and drummer Dewey Martin (Buffalo Springfield) passed away over the last two weeks :(

Year of the Dragon - is the name of my favorite Mickey Rourke movie, a brutal cop film in which he plays a detective that's racist against Asians while working a case in Chinatown. It's one of those movies that's so awesomely bad it's good. Speaking of Rourke, he dropped out of Wrestlemania as quickly as he announced his participation in it. Someone must have tipped him off that Best Actor nominees don't win if their next career move is actual wrestling.

A plot to take over the world? - Pearl Jam, Van Halen and Spinal Tap - yes, THE Spinal Tap, are either working on or planning to work on new music. It could be the perfect storm of hard rock thunder.

Bikini Wax - The most notable contestant so far in this year's American Idol, Bikini Girl, ran her 10 seconds of fame right down to it's annoying end this week. Too soon to tell if anyone truly talented is in this year though there are flashes of promise.

Bridgestone Tires Ad

Tribute to an "Old Friend"

Of course, I never knew Ricardo Montalban. It seemed fitting to name this post that title because after seeing Star Trek II my best friend at the time and I used to refer to each other in the same way Kirk and Khan did. That sort of spiteful tone on a seemingly cheerful title, "Old Friend", was fun to mimic. Such was the impact the actor Ricardo Montalban had on my life, a suave commanding presence capable of portraying villains and heroes alike. A great actor who passed away today at age 88.

Montalban first became known to me through Fantasy Island, his Mr Rourke was a sort of benign omniscient character of relaxed elegance. His performance made the character interesting as I can't recall much background or personality traits about Rourke, just that he was a well heeled man of mystery. Although I hadn't realized it, I had seen Montalban before as Khan in the original Star Trek. I just didn't know it was him. But by the time his Wrath had been put out, I knew full well what he meant to Star Trek.

Montalban became William Shatner's best foil, a cool smooth intellect bent on vengeance versus an emotional firehouse. Their battle formed the core of one of my favorite movies of all time. Montalban took the Moby Dick heavy monologues he was given and infused them with the obsessive bitterness needed to make it truly memorable. That whole "I'll chase him round the outer nebula and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition's flames before I give him up!" part is still fresh in my memory 27 years later.

Even after Khan, Montalban proved he could do comedy as well. His appearance in The Naked Gun was fantastic. His career continued and was consistently good when I would see him appear in movies or tv here or there. He even made a voice appearance on Family Guy last year. While he has had a long and esteemed career, there's no doubt that his performances in the late 70's and 80's had the most impact on me-even if it was just entertainment. So with sadness I say thank you for years of great entertainment Ricardo Montalban.