An alternative rock band from Alabama? Alabama? Like Roll Tide and Forrest Gump? Just like that. These dudes played Ten Dead Dogs on Letterman back in the summer and then released their first studio album We Have Cause To Be Uneasy shortly after in July. The song below is a mellow little jam that maybe a man and a woman could play during an intimate picnic moment, or perhaps upon a cliff encircled by doves (that’s how Rhett does it). Either way - killer track. Respect…
Before we get started, I’d like to say that I’m really excited that college basketball is back in action and I can’t wait to root for the Heels tonight against Kentucky. With that said, let’s get to the musings.
- So, my Mom, Dawn, and I saw “Religulous” on Friday night and I can honestly say that I walked away unimpressed. Yes, there are some funny moments, a few laugh out-loud interviews (the marijuana religious guy and the Catholic priest to name a few) but I found it hard to really get behind Bill Maher. I agree with most of his sentiments about religion, but as my Mom mentioned, he has his own agenda and he never for one second strays from it. You don’t ever get a sense that he learns anything while talking to these religious folks; he just sort of has them there so he can just talk about his opinions as well as saying how ridiculous their religion happens to be. It looks like he’s having a discussion with these people but really he’s on his soapbox most of the time. And while I don’t disagree with him, it did get a bit repetitive. I will say that I did enjoy what he had to say at the very end of the film…I won’t give it away but I thought he made a very nice point. Anyway, the movie was fine…not great, but certainly not bad, worth a rental.
- My favorite pop-culture writer, (not counting John and I of course) Chuck Klosterman, has just had the screen rights to his book, “Killing Yourself to Live” acquired by Half Shell Entertainment. It’s a non-fiction book about Klosterman’s experiences going to different places where famous music artists/groups have died. If you’ve never read a Klosterman book, I highly recommend this one and “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.”
- HBO is coming out with a film based on Bill Kinison’s book, “Brother Sam: The Short, Spectacular Life of Sam Kinison.” Dan Fogler (from Balls of Fury fame) will play the starring role. Also, did anyone see Balls of Fury? I’ve watched like ten minutes of it but I’ve never seen the whole thing. Let me know if it’s any good. I’m surprised it’s taken this long for someone to do a movie on Sam Kinison but there you go…I guess it’s gonna happen.
- “Twilight” – ahh yes, the tween romance vampire movie that is sweeping the nation and the hearts of young girls, including our dear friend Nealworld. Are young girls really going crazy about this movie or is it simply the case of the media telling us that they are going crazy for the movie? Either way, I think I’ll stick with my True Blood vampire show and skip this movie.
- Am I crazy or do the trailers for “Australia” look incredibly cheesy? I mean, I thought this was supposed to be some epic movie like “Atonement” or “The English Patient.” Instead this movie looks like a send-up of sorts, like “Maverick” with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster.
Happy Friday to all. I hope everyone has a great weekend and let’s keep it safe out there, ok? I also want to give a shout out to CC’s hair…that thing is amazing, it just keeps growing upwards towards the sky. He says he doesn’t use product, but I do not believe him.
- I have the Mom in town this weekend and I believe we are going to go see Bill Maher’s “Religulous” movie tonight. My old friend Whit (I wish I could say a friend of the show but I can’t) really liked Religulous, so we’ll see. I know a lot of people either can’t stand Bill Maher or really love him…I can honestly say that I don’t have much of an opinion of him. I don’t watch his show so I’m not really that familiar with him, so I’m going into this movie with an open mind. We’ll see how it goes.
- Showtime is developing an hour-long series from Stan Lee (comic book guru) that will follow the life of a gay superhero who “struggles to hide his secret identities.” I know I’ve said this before, but Showtime is really churning up some good and interesting shows.
- John mentioned this to me the other night and now Variety has a story about the demise of “Pushing Daisies.” Someone give Mr. Short a big long hug; he’s going to need it.
- Ricky Gervais’ stand-up special is airing on HBO on Saturday. I was a huge fan of his BBC “The Office” but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do stand-up. Could be a good one.
- Lots of buzz on this “Slumdog Millionaire” movie. You can check out the trailer here. Could be an Oscar contender.
- Did anyone check out “Summer Heights High” on HBO this past Sunday? I caught about 10 minutes of it and I was kind of intrigued…granted we started watching something else, but I might give it a real chance this Sunday because that’s the kind of guy that I am.
- Quantum of Solace is getting some shaky reviews and that’s really disappointing. I thought the last Bond movie was pretty good albeit the actual poker game was a bit boring but other than that, I thought Daniel Craig brought something entirely new to the character. Ebert gave the movie a C, LA Times gave it a C, and the NY Times gave it a C+. And why did they have to give this movie such an odd title? Why not something like, “Bond, Kicking Ass Again” or even just number the Bond movies…this could be like “Bond LVII.” That’s just some free advice for the Bond marketing campaign…you’re welcome.
Delta Sprit finds themselves here on PCC2C by way of San Diego, California. The Whale’s Vagina has spouted out previous Weekly Spotlight act Louis XIV, so it’s starting to make a name for itself as a music hotbed. Mark it down. Hotbed. Delta Spirit is going to give you some soul, some rock, a little blues and perhaps even some spirituality. It’ll be good for you. A musical cleansing if you will. These guys have tons of indie cred (G-$$$$) as they’ve toured with Coldwar Kids, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Dr. Dog, so you’ll still be cool on the hipster scene. Which is important. You’re nothing if the cats in tapered jeans and cardigan sweaters don’t respect you. Nothing…
Yes, it’s been awhile but I’m back baby. So let’s cut the chit-chat and get into it. By the way, I’ve missed you John, and I mean that.
- HBO is developing a series based on Anthony Kiedis’ childhood and it’s tentatively titled “Scar Tissue.” I guess his dad, Spider, sold drugs and partied it up in LA so I guess Anthony had a pretty crazy childhood. His dad was also rumored to be a drug dealer for Led Zeppelin and The Who. This one doesn’t really strike any chords with me…maybe because this is the lifestyle that I lived when I was a kid…except my old man didn’t deal drugs to Led Zep, he would just buy and sell some stock during the day and then come home and eat dinner with the family. Man my childhood was messed-up.
- Oh man, what is Adam Duritz up to these days? Oh, he’s producing some movie called “Freeloaders” with Broken Lizard. It’s about five guys and a girl who live the good life in a rock star’s mansion until the rock star wants to sell the home and you can figure it out from there….hilarity ensues. Adam Duritz…huh, I had no idea, well, good for him.
- A cool little office game that I found awhile back. Instead of writing musings, I’ve been helicoptering my way to a high score of 2699. BEAT IT.
- What the hell??? They are doing a new Karate Kid movie with Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s son. This is absolutely terrifying. The only way I will see this movie is if Elizabeth Shue plays Jaden’s love interest. And just for your own pleasure….a nice little clip.
- Dear 30 Rock, please don’t take this the wrong way but no more celeb guest stars…I mean that, I do not need this show becoming Will and Grace or Friends. And even if you take out the guest stars from the last two shows, I must say that I’ve been a bit disappointed in your effort. I feel like you’ve taken things too far from the basis of reality…especially with Jack having to work his way up the ladder and then dealing with the mentally challenged woman in charge (I forgot her name but that storyline isn’t funny at all).
- This one goes out to my friends at Fox and CBS. I live out in LA where we have no NFL team and you know what, it ain’t so bad not having a pro team out here. But what is bad is the fact that Fox only shows three teams in our area and to tell you the truth I’m really freakin’ tired of seeing the Cowboys, Packers, and Giants. And you CBS, you are just as bad with your Steelers and your damn Chargers. No more! Give me my Panthers once this year…that’s all I ask for, they are 7-2 for God’s sake, put them on out in the West Coast.
- Only two more episodes left for True Blood and Entourage…let’s hope they are good. With the exception of two episodes, Entourage has been pretty good this year and True Blood has certainly captured my best new show award this year (I give it out every year, just google it).
- I learned today that Tyler Hansbrough and Rashanda McCants are on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week which I’m really excited about, if only this SI cover jinx isn’t true. Anyway, a quick little note to the mailman or whomever likes to occasionally steal my SI from me - “I’m 30 years old. I don’t have a lot to look forward in my life…I’m practically dead. What little pleasure I have in life is tied to Tyler H. and the Tar Heels. Please don’t take that away from me. Let me receive my magazine this week and allow me to be happy for just an hour or so and then you can go back to stealing this magazine next week.”
Well PCC2C fans, it’s been a long and tiring last two weeks for your entertainment hosts. I’ve been busy touring the country - something of my own national campaigning initiative - and Rhett has been traveling a bit himself, but mostly engulfed by the busy demands of his Hollywood office. We are reconvening this weekend to discuss our next podcast, some new ideas and possibly a new show format. So, get ready for that. In the meantime, I thought I might regail you with an excerpt from my traveling escapades.
I won a contest here in beautiful C-town to fly out to San Francisco and see a fantastic British band, The Kooks, (check them out in our “British Invasion” piece from a few months back) perform at the historic music venue, The Warfield. The prize included two airline tickets, two nights at Hotel Abri and two tickets to the show. Word. Pretty sweet deal. So I went out there last weekend, along with a special friend of the show (not quite the East Coast Hostess yet), to check it out and provide this stunning review for your reading pleasure.
We arrived at The Warfield to find a long line extending down the street at least an hour before the opening act was supposed to even take the stage. The line was comprised mainly of high school and college kids, but that was to be expected, so no harm there. Went inside and kind of scoped out the interior and was pleased to find the walls adorned with memorabilia from shows past, which really accented the operahouse/Victorian-theatre style architecture. After checking out some posters, we grabbed some delicious Budweiser Lights and headed down to the floor. The Whigs, all the way from Athens GA, were the opening act and immediately set the tone for what would be a great night of straight ahead rock music. Frontman, and rhythm guitar player, Parker Gispert, conjured thoughts of Neal Young in his youth and the collective sound of the three-piece ensemble could sometimes even be compared to a richer sounding White Stripes. An interesting combination to be sure. When is comes right down to it, they’re just a great live band. Tracks like Ok, Alright and Right Hand on My Heart got the crowd moving - and it was interesting to see the crowd respond so favorably even thought it was clear they weren’t famililar with many Whigs songs. That’s the mark of any truly great band: the ability to win over a crowd that doesn’t know anything about you. Since they were the opening act, their drum kit was at the front of the stage, so we had a great view of drummer Julian Dorio and his frenetic percussion stylings. I love it when then happens. He’s truly thrilling to watch and you see just how much stamina it takes to provide back beat for a rock group. I was thoroughly impressed with their act, and quite frankly - they’re just a good band with good songs. I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job opening up for The Kooks.
As great as The Whigs were, once The Kooks took the stage - to the absolute delight of the youthfull, energized crowd - it was evident that it was clearly their night. Each band member was dressed in his own unique style, lead singer Luke Pritchard opted for a ragged white t-shirt and some alarmingly tight pants, while their guest drummer donned a full suit and tie. Their energy is undeniable, and as my special guest stated later on, “He was born to be in a band and entertain. It would be wrong for him to do anything else”. That may be a bit of a paraphrase rather than a direct quote, but she’s absolutely right. The man claims to have written countless songs yet to see the light of day, and after witnessing his showmanship and penchant for music, I have to say I believe him. They played just about every track off of their debut Inside In, Inside Out and as I listened to She Moves in Her Own Way (special guest’s favorite), Ooh La, Do You Want to See the World and Jackie Big Tits , you read that correctly, it made me realize: that album is unbelievably good. If you don’t have it, do yourself a favor and go buy it. Right Now. They played only a few off of their newer album Konk(also available as a double disc), which I thought was strange since normally bands tour in support of their newer stuff, but whatever. It was still great. They played a five song encore - leading off with Pritchard coming out by himself to do Seaside - which I totally remembered after the show. Even though it has been alleged I may not have. Overall, we both agreed the concert was outstanding, and allowed us to rock it out and sing along with some sweet jams to our hearts’ content. It ranked as the higlight of the trip, narrowly edging out observing crackheads and hookers in their natural environment over in the Tenderloin District. San Francisco is a beautiful city with lots to do and we managed to cap it off in perfect fashion: catching a world class band in the perfect venue. Good times…
(Editor’s note: I’ve been listening to Konk a lot the past week or so and have come to realize The Kooks played a lot of that album at the show in SF. Like, pretty much all of it. So, in my face. That is all.)
Surprise, surprise - a British band. You knew it was coming. The Pigeon Detectives, named by a random Australian guy in the crowd at Leeds Festival, is a pretty rad band that toured with Dirty Pretty Things and the Kaiser Chiefs. They even did a cover of Huey Lewis’ Power of Love . They rule. That’s it. Keeping it short and sweet tonight.
Check out my guest spot on the Smart Cookie food blog. Smartcookie is a friend of Pop Culture Coast-to-Coast and should be a regular stop on your internet surfing routine. I’m the October 23rd entry - check it out.
Straight outta Missouri (doesn’t have the same awesomeness as Compton) this six-piece ensemble met in college and then shipped out to NYC to gain musical stardom. Worked out pretty well. They were heralded after their stirring SXSW performance and have toured with Spoon and The Kaiser Chiefs. Apparently, they like to switch instruments mid-show and have a knack for personalizing cover tunes. They also do pretty well with their own songs - which is important, because you usually run into copyright infringement suits when releasing albums of other people’s songs. At least that what the lawyer’s said. I guess thier fancy law schools didn’t teach them about paying tribute to other bands by selling albums of their songs. It was a tribute. A tribute…
Let’s see here, Mr. Short and I will not be doing a podcast this week due to my hectic schedule, but, we will be doing TWO shows on Monday, so that’ll be pretty cool. I didn’t catch any movies this past weekend but, I did catch the latest episode of True Blood and I can honestly say I think it was the best episode of the year from them.
On to the Musings…
-“The Riches” starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver will not be picked up for a third season. I caught the first two episodes of the first season and the accents of both Eddie and Minnie were so unbearable that I stopped watching the show. And I’m a big fan of Eddie, but I just couldn’t do it. Hopefully, he’ll find a new project worthy of his talents.
-I know you’ve been waiting patiently for some time now, your patience has finally paid off…Showtime will be making a series based on The Booth boys! That’s right, our old pal, John Wilkes Booth who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, will finally have his story told…and get this, he’ll be played by none other than Kevin Bacon. Honestly, I’m kind of intrigued by this, I like Bacon and the series will center around him and his brothers who were all working actors during that era. I think this could be a good one so let’s cross our fingers.
-Finally caught “The Assassination of Jesse James” the other night. As you know, I like the Westerns so I was excited to see it and I will say this, if you like a lot of action in your Western, this movie is not for you. It’s a bit slow but it’s beautifully shot and the relationship b/t Casey Affleck’s character and Brad Pitt’s character is fantastic. All in all, I liked it, but it is a long movie so it’s a bit of a commitment. (Side note, my lady decided to “read” while I watched this movie which in theory was a good thing. However, she did that move where she would look up occasionally and then ask me a million questions about what was going on and then I would pause it and explain and then she would ask follow up questions from my explanation because she didn’t quite understand everything because she was too busy reading her book and not watching the movie. I thought about being an ass and asking her questions about what was happening in her book that she was reading but I think she would have enjoyed talking about it and then my plan would have completely backfired).
-I’ve made a point to record “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” this season. I saw parts of the first season when it came out but I couldn’t ever remember when it was on so I missed most of the episodes. But I made a promise to myself that I would start to record it this season and I must say, I’ve been very happy with that decision. I’m not going to get into details but I think it’s like “Seinfeld”, only with poorer and more socially depraved characters, which of course, equals big time laughs.
