Capsule Review

My son's synopsis of March Of The Penguins (which he hasn't actually seen):


"It's just a buncha penguins walkin' around."

Get This Song

Uncorrected Personality Traits by Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians

Do you think....

....that applicants for INXS Rock Star had to swear that they were not into autoerotic asphyxiation?

I'm....

I'm listening to: System Of A Down, Tony Bennett, Mott The Hoople, Dinosaur Jr., and (not by my choosing) songs from the soundtracks of both "Willie Wonka" movies

I'm watching: Family Guy, Pimp My Ride, Being Bobby Brown, and whatever the show is on Bravo that follows the hairdresser guy around (my wife loves that one). Not really watching a lot of tv this summer.

I'm reading: (All at once, strangely enough): the new Harry Potter (almost finished), The Secret Life of Bees(a "chick" book that I got for Carrie; she wasn't interested, but I started reading it and....), A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius, and a Stephen King short story compilation -- name escapes me, but the first story is about a guy who is bitten by a rare snake, the bite paralyzes him, he is mistaken for dead, and he is conscious but paralyzed during his autopsy! I also picked up a copy of a magazine called Blender and I really liked it; I'm going to subscribe.

I'm browsing: all the daily blog stops, Billboard, Arkansas Times, artistdirect music news (I know; proper protocol would be to link all these sites, but I'm lazy and I'm also on a work break).

I'm wondering: Why in the hell Whitney Houston's "people" would have given the green light to her appearance on a reality show. She looks HORRIBLE and completely out of it most of the time. I mean, I can understand some of these has-beens on other reality shows just wanting to get a little exposure on their once-great careers, but Whitney is (was?) one of the all-time divas! Why, why, why?

I'm thinking: that Canada is starting to look pretty good if the current political climate continues to prevail

I'm playing: with the band this weekend at a club in Monticello (each weekend we play there seems to conflict with some other event in Ashley County - this time, we are conflicting with the Rodeo / Battle of the Bands / Country Music Showdown / streetdance in Crossett). Probably won't be a stellar weekend for us.

I'm : bored.

???

If I am a huge music fan and I don't give a shit who sings lead for INXS, then does America in general really care? From what I've seen, they are taking it soooo seriously....I'm not even sure that I would want the gig.

And Dave Navarro - WTF are you doing???

Quote Of The Week (Thus Far)

(from Being Bobby Brown)

Whitney to Bobby (during camping trip): "Take me over behind that tree and work me good."

MY reasons for no recent postings:

1. In-laws went on European\Asian cruise, arriving in London the day before the bombings. This activity left in-laws' Hot Springs condo empty and we couldn't let that happen, so we invaded Hot Springs for a week.

2. Took laptop computers with us to keep up with e-mail, etc., and I intended to make the occasional blog post, BUT (a) could only use a dial-up connection which was HORRIBLY slow and (b) I decided that it was not such a good idea to advertise that my home was vacant for a week (even though it was protected by my vicious attack cats).

Had a good week -- went to Magic Springs / Crystal Falls several times; dined at several restaurants; had unlimited use of condo pool; went to see "Fantastic Four" and "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (excellent movie!)"; and used generous birthday gifts to buy new portable 300 gigabyte hard drive - this thing will literally hold thousands of CDs!

Log ride at Magic Springs has a feature where your picture is taken as you make the final plummet (and then you can buy the picture - for $8.50!!!). We started doing "theme" pictures - will try to scan and post our "terror" themed picture. Our "Brady Bunch" theme didn't work out so well.

In what my wife described as a mid-life crisis, I purchased a lemon-juice based substance that, if placed on one's hair and dried by the sun, is supposed to lighten one's hair. I have dark brown hair (with a lot of gray). The stuff worked, but my hair is kind of a burnt orange now. People look at me strangely.

Back at work today and catching up is NO FUN.

Finally: I would almost swear that I saw Blues Traveler's John Popper at Jade's in Hamburg last week.

Checking In

I did manage to go to the Bob Dylan / Willie Nelson / Greencards show last weekend at Ray Winder Field in LR and it was a GREAT show. I hadn't been to Ray Winder Field in 15 years or so; it is bigger than I remembered. It is a great place for a concert (unless you are a female and need to pee...) and I hope they schedule more shows there. Biggest gripe: having to pay $10.00 to park on property owned by the City of LR. I had never heard the Greencards, but they were very good - their music was in the Nickel Creek / Allison Krauss vein. Willie was Willie - if you've seen him before, you know what to expect -- lots and lots of hits, with Willie singing either before or after the beat, and lots of guitar notes from Willie that would be technically "wrong" if played by anyone else. That sounds negative, but I loved it. Bob Dylan was why I was there, and not because I'm a huge fan. He's an American legend, a poet laureate, and I've always regretted never having seen him. I had been checking out the setlists of the shows immediately prior to LR - the setlists were never the same from night to night and I knew very few of the songs!!! Sure enough, of the fourteen songs he played, I think I knew five of them. Amazingly, there were a lot of young people in the crowd that seemed to know all of the songs....i didn't realize he had a young following. He had an incredible band; all of them watched Bob intently; there seemed to be a lot of improvisation going on - but it was always very TIGHT. When you listen to Dylan records (at least the older ones), there is an emphasis on acoustic guitar and harmonica. In concert, it was far more blues-based and/or jam band oriented. One song had a Bob Wills western swing vibe. I would go see him again.

Magic Springs amusement park has a concert every weekend, and some of them look pretty good. We take the kids there at least once every summer. So who is going to be there in concert when we go? Freaking AIR SUPPLY! I don't think so.

I paid $50.00 at Target Sunday for a computer program that supposedly perfectly duplicates DVDs - menus, special features, and everything. It doesn't work. I ruined several blank DVDs trying to get it to work. I'm pissed.

My birthday is Saturday. I like to listen to KAGH on my birthday (sorry, r.c.) because I find it amusing during the birthday listings when they say, "and in Portland, Paul Selby is having a birthday." I haven't lived in Portland since 1974 (and Russ knows this). They still announce the birthdays of a lot of people who have been dead for years.

Speaking of birthdays, I will be 42 on Saturday. Elvis died when he was 42. Elvis's mother was named Gladys. My mother's name is Gladys. Elvis died while sitting on a toilet. For an entire year, I will be scared everytime I take a [scatalogical reference deleted].

More Quick 'Uns

• Very, very, very distressing to hear the news of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement.
• I'll probably sound like a homophobe or gay basher here, but I don't understand why MTV Viacom Inc. had to discontinue the VH1 Hits channel to make room for their new "gay" channel, Logos. This was my absolute favorite video channel and the only compelling reason not to switch back to satellite tv. Sure, MTV Hits remains, but they are too heavy on the hip hop and teeny pop for my tastes. Watched a little of LOGOS last night, but it doesn't look like a channel that I will have much interest in - it seemed a lot like the Style Channel, and I don't typically watch that, either!
• May go see Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan tomorrow, depending on the weather. I'm not a huge Dylan fan, but I like to go see musical legends just to say that I did. I've been looking up his set lists for his last few concerts - I don't even know most of those songs!
• This will make me seem like an old perv, I'm sure, but...I've never paid much attention to Jessica Simpson. I only saw an episode or two of her reality show on MTV and, as far as I know, she has never had a song that was worth a damn. All that being said, I caught her "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" video last night from the forthcoming "Dukes of Hazzard" movie and, at the end, she is washing the General Lee in a skimpy red bikini and all I can say is:

DAMN!