Let the Boycott Begin!
ESPN today declined a $ 60 million option for the rights to NHL Hockey for the 2005/06 season. So it's official: Hockey rates behind poker, pool, tennis, college baseball, college softball, the WNBA, soccer, rodeo, CHEERLEADING, LUMBERJACK and WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN COMPETITIONS and probably ping-pong on their list of 'sports priorities.'
I know the network that started out with ONLY hockey of the four major sports is now a power broker on the national sports television scene now loaded up with NFL, MLB, NBA, college football, college B-Ball that now has no place for a 'regional sport' like the NHL. There's no room for a ratings poor sport like hockey. I knew we were getting the shaft when you quit running hockey on ESPN Classic.
Thanks to this wonderful programming decision I am now stuck with the option of local only regional coverage of a team I only watch because they are the only game in town. Yes, you have annoying habits like constantly running the Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche [the same way you run the Yankees-Red Sox into the ground... GIVE IT A REST!] but I'd at least have the NHL 2 Nite, if not preceded by rodeo, tennis, college basketball, etc for SOME IDEA of what the national slant on other teams are and some highlights. Good knowledgeable hockey guys like coach Melrose, John Bucciogross, Darren Pang, Steve Levy, Gary Thorne and Bill Clement can tell me why the Penguins are stuck in the basement again this year.
OR I can buy the NHL package of all the regional coverages [Yay! I can't wait to get home and see the Columbus Blue Jackets-Minnesota Wild game!] and still not have a good idea of around the nation take on the other teams. I guess I can take ESPN and The Duece off my favorites... but you don't care because I am only one of the .9 that the NHL drew for your network.
FUCK YOU ESPN.
While I am on TV: Can the nation get over this 'reality' TV thing? I flipped by something called Cheaters tonight watching some chick crying on her dog over some dude who can't keep his willie in his shorts when he's not around her. Bravo has this Show Dog Moms and Dads about... well you can guess. This from the same folks who brought you Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and who are now bringing you Sports Moms and Dads about people who are trying to realize their own ambitions by forcing their kids to do what they could not. We have Nanny 911 because we're afraid to be the bad guy in our kids eyes and give them discipline.
The other side of this is the 'fascinated by celebrity' series like Surreal Life on VH1, Anna Nicole, the Paris Hilton shit show and this Britney and Jason crap that is about to be launched on us. Don't even get me started on stupid shit like The Apprentice and Survivor and American Idol... I can't wait until this shit goes the vay of the 1 hour variety show like Sonny and Cher and Donnie and Marie.
I admit, I am strangely fascinated by What Not to Wear but let's be really real here for a second. Are we fascinated by this junk because it's interesting to watch other people crash and burn or because it reinforces how fucked up we all are behind closed doors? Or have we run out of ways to keep killing the population of New York City... with all the murders there, who's left to feed and pay taxes to keep the Law and Order? [heh, see how I worked that in there?]
Just think about it.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Bees in my Bonnet [even though it's not Easter]
1. What's with all the fucking movie remakes? Has Hollywood finally run out of ideas or is the industry hedging its bets by remaking and updating the hits of yesteryear?
Was the world really crying out for a remake of The Last Yard? Did we need a remake of Shaft? How about House of Wax, The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner... get the picture?
I know, a few years ago after Spider Man, they made a bunch of movies based on comic books [and the Keanu Reeves Constantine/Hellblazer has to suck because it changes the basic premise of the Hellblazer book: John Constantine is ENGLISH and based in LONDON. That's what gave Hellblazer its uniqueness!]. And the awful fascination with everything from TV: Charlie's Angels, Beverly Hillbillies, Starsky and Hutch... to quote: "The horror! The horror!"
2. The movie isn't even out yet and I am sick of Star Wars tie-ins. Sure, poor George Lucas needs a hit to rebuild his bank account after the mediocre first two movies of the Pre-quel Trilogy... releasing those fucked up originals that they 'enhanced' on DVD didn't quite restore them to a proper level, you see. No, George can't use direct product placement, i.e. no Coke being guzzled, no Domino's pizza boxes laying about a messy single Jedi's pad. But to sell the characters to so much commercialism is just turning me off. Burger King ads and coloring and sticker books and posters and a video game [!!!] flooding stores and all before the movie hits the streets.
Poor George. Like J.R.R. Tolkien before him, he will be hopelessly and forever tied to his epic. In Lucas' case, this might be bad. He also had a hand in Raiders of the Lost Ark and made American Graffiti after all. He raised [for good and for bad] the bar for special effects and computer animation. But anything he attempts now will be held up to Star Wars, and that's going to be a hard yoke to get out from, the same way Lucas' mentor Francis Coppola has never really escaped from The Godfather films.
Don't get me wrong, I will see the new film, but I am getting tired of crass commercialism in general.
3. Have you listened to KZPS in the last year or so? What's with this announcement "You're less than 4 minutes from more of your favorite classic rock."
First of all, that's true only if your favorite classic rock is Journey, Def Leppard, Jethro Tull, Styx or Boston. Second: You're playing 3.99 minutes of commercials and you expect me not to punch out? You want me to stay on yourt station through a whole song's worth of commercials. No, thanks!
Now I only have ZPS on my clock radio, but so I only get about 15 seconds of a song at a time, but they wrap up the news as I finally roll over and get up. And every morning at the 655 mark,m it's commercials up the ass time. Wouldn't it be better to just slip like two in after every third song, no announcement, just play the damn things and get them over with?
I am a mad bomber...
I went into work today [5/17] and plopped down in my cubicle to fiond my briefcase missing. Which is a bad thing because it has my head set in it. Without the headset I cannot answer the phone, which is what they pay me to do. And my supervisor is taking half a day, so I am thinking I am up shit creek. I check in at the front desk for lost & found and apparently they HAD the briefcase but now it's missing. So I go see one of the other supervisors and get a headset.
So my boss comes in about 1130. "Ah, Mr Galupi, here's your briefcase. Caused quite a stir here this weekend." Huh? "you wouldn't believe it if I told you." Tell me! "Someone saw the briefcase sitting there and thought it might be a BOMB."
Now I only leave the briefcase there because it takes up so much room in the truck and it's a pain in the ass to keep track of if I pick someone up. But I guess I'll be taking it home from now on...
1. What's with all the fucking movie remakes? Has Hollywood finally run out of ideas or is the industry hedging its bets by remaking and updating the hits of yesteryear?
Was the world really crying out for a remake of The Last Yard? Did we need a remake of Shaft? How about House of Wax, The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner... get the picture?
I know, a few years ago after Spider Man, they made a bunch of movies based on comic books [and the Keanu Reeves Constantine/Hellblazer has to suck because it changes the basic premise of the Hellblazer book: John Constantine is ENGLISH and based in LONDON. That's what gave Hellblazer its uniqueness!]. And the awful fascination with everything from TV: Charlie's Angels, Beverly Hillbillies, Starsky and Hutch... to quote: "The horror! The horror!"
2. The movie isn't even out yet and I am sick of Star Wars tie-ins. Sure, poor George Lucas needs a hit to rebuild his bank account after the mediocre first two movies of the Pre-quel Trilogy... releasing those fucked up originals that they 'enhanced' on DVD didn't quite restore them to a proper level, you see. No, George can't use direct product placement, i.e. no Coke being guzzled, no Domino's pizza boxes laying about a messy single Jedi's pad. But to sell the characters to so much commercialism is just turning me off. Burger King ads and coloring and sticker books and posters and a video game [!!!] flooding stores and all before the movie hits the streets.
Poor George. Like J.R.R. Tolkien before him, he will be hopelessly and forever tied to his epic. In Lucas' case, this might be bad. He also had a hand in Raiders of the Lost Ark and made American Graffiti after all. He raised [for good and for bad] the bar for special effects and computer animation. But anything he attempts now will be held up to Star Wars, and that's going to be a hard yoke to get out from, the same way Lucas' mentor Francis Coppola has never really escaped from The Godfather films.
Don't get me wrong, I will see the new film, but I am getting tired of crass commercialism in general.
3. Have you listened to KZPS in the last year or so? What's with this announcement "You're less than 4 minutes from more of your favorite classic rock."
First of all, that's true only if your favorite classic rock is Journey, Def Leppard, Jethro Tull, Styx or Boston. Second: You're playing 3.99 minutes of commercials and you expect me not to punch out? You want me to stay on yourt station through a whole song's worth of commercials. No, thanks!
Now I only have ZPS on my clock radio, but so I only get about 15 seconds of a song at a time, but they wrap up the news as I finally roll over and get up. And every morning at the 655 mark,m it's commercials up the ass time. Wouldn't it be better to just slip like two in after every third song, no announcement, just play the damn things and get them over with?
I am a mad bomber...
I went into work today [5/17] and plopped down in my cubicle to fiond my briefcase missing. Which is a bad thing because it has my head set in it. Without the headset I cannot answer the phone, which is what they pay me to do. And my supervisor is taking half a day, so I am thinking I am up shit creek. I check in at the front desk for lost & found and apparently they HAD the briefcase but now it's missing. So I go see one of the other supervisors and get a headset.
So my boss comes in about 1130. "Ah, Mr Galupi, here's your briefcase. Caused quite a stir here this weekend." Huh? "you wouldn't believe it if I told you." Tell me! "Someone saw the briefcase sitting there and thought it might be a BOMB."
Now I only leave the briefcase there because it takes up so much room in the truck and it's a pain in the ass to keep track of if I pick someone up. But I guess I'll be taking it home from now on...
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Recanting Myself
I was reviewing some old posts last week and I came across my 'No band ever made their best record after 10 years' post, and now I have to eat my words.
For the last week and a half or so I have been driving around with Superchunk's Here's to Shutting Up blasting thru my car [along with Tanya Donelly's also excellent Love Songs for Underdogs] and I realized that this album and the previous, 1999's Come Pick Me Up were both made for or after the bands tenth anniversary. Don't misunderstand, Superchunk made some excellent records before this, and I would hear arguments for Here's Where the Strings Come In as their best, though I think their best is probably Come Pick Me Up or Shutting Up.
I found this band after my friend Jim put their signature song, Slack Motherfucker, on a road tape. The next summer he bought Foolish [1994] and we spent the whole summer listening to side 1. Why we only listened to side 1 remains a mystery. Anyway, that was it for me, I've been a devoted fan boy ever since.
What makes this band one of my favorites? They're tight. They're crunchy. They're loud. The lyrics are nearly impossible to make out. Listen to the chainsaw chunking guitars on Train from Kansas City on the Tossing Seeds 89-91 collection [an almost perfect collection of singles and B-sides from the first two records]. Listen how the whole band meshes on the whole of Here's Where the Strings Come In, especially on Eastern Terminal; listen how Jim Wilber makes the simplest guitar phrases carry the song until you get to the chorus, when the whole band grabs you by the jugular! Listen to any of Jon Wurster's inventive drumming or Laura Ballance's not satisfied playing the root notes counterpoint bass lines.
So what makes Pick Me Up and Shutting Up their best works? Progress. Instead of being satisfied screaming vocals , Mac McCaughan learned the strength of going from talking voice to something whispered [almost] to the scream. Instead of walls of distorted guitars, they found loud does not have to equal distortion and that a clean loud guitar [ala Angus Young] can be just as or more powerful than a wall of noise. The band added keyboards and explored the music.
The best analogy I can come up with is the Beatles Rubber Soul; this is where they leave the three chord only rock and roll behind and explore the sounds and come up with better songs for it.
OH YEAH:
Let me say right here, right now: WAYNE GRETZKY DOES NOT NEED TO COACH IN THE NHL!!!
Wayne was a great player, he's a good manager, I guess, managing Team Canada to a gold in the Salt Lake Olympics and acquiring talent in Phoenix... but he does not need to spend one game behind a bench coaching. What makes him think he can run a practice, match lines, motivate players? I think he's still too close to the players and that will come back and bite him in the butt. I think he'll be a mediocre coach, not realizing not everyone can play the game the way he and Mario do. And when the team goews into a losing skid and he has to face and angry press and angry home crowds...
I just think it'll be a bad mistake and something Wayne will regret doing.
I was reviewing some old posts last week and I came across my 'No band ever made their best record after 10 years' post, and now I have to eat my words.
For the last week and a half or so I have been driving around with Superchunk's Here's to Shutting Up blasting thru my car [along with Tanya Donelly's also excellent Love Songs for Underdogs] and I realized that this album and the previous, 1999's Come Pick Me Up were both made for or after the bands tenth anniversary. Don't misunderstand, Superchunk made some excellent records before this, and I would hear arguments for Here's Where the Strings Come In as their best, though I think their best is probably Come Pick Me Up or Shutting Up.
I found this band after my friend Jim put their signature song, Slack Motherfucker, on a road tape. The next summer he bought Foolish [1994] and we spent the whole summer listening to side 1. Why we only listened to side 1 remains a mystery. Anyway, that was it for me, I've been a devoted fan boy ever since.
What makes this band one of my favorites? They're tight. They're crunchy. They're loud. The lyrics are nearly impossible to make out. Listen to the chainsaw chunking guitars on Train from Kansas City on the Tossing Seeds 89-91 collection [an almost perfect collection of singles and B-sides from the first two records]. Listen how the whole band meshes on the whole of Here's Where the Strings Come In, especially on Eastern Terminal; listen how Jim Wilber makes the simplest guitar phrases carry the song until you get to the chorus, when the whole band grabs you by the jugular! Listen to any of Jon Wurster's inventive drumming or Laura Ballance's not satisfied playing the root notes counterpoint bass lines.
So what makes Pick Me Up and Shutting Up their best works? Progress. Instead of being satisfied screaming vocals , Mac McCaughan learned the strength of going from talking voice to something whispered [almost] to the scream. Instead of walls of distorted guitars, they found loud does not have to equal distortion and that a clean loud guitar [ala Angus Young] can be just as or more powerful than a wall of noise. The band added keyboards and explored the music.
The best analogy I can come up with is the Beatles Rubber Soul; this is where they leave the three chord only rock and roll behind and explore the sounds and come up with better songs for it.
OH YEAH:
Let me say right here, right now: WAYNE GRETZKY DOES NOT NEED TO COACH IN THE NHL!!!
Wayne was a great player, he's a good manager, I guess, managing Team Canada to a gold in the Salt Lake Olympics and acquiring talent in Phoenix... but he does not need to spend one game behind a bench coaching. What makes him think he can run a practice, match lines, motivate players? I think he's still too close to the players and that will come back and bite him in the butt. I think he'll be a mediocre coach, not realizing not everyone can play the game the way he and Mario do. And when the team goews into a losing skid and he has to face and angry press and angry home crowds...
I just think it'll be a bad mistake and something Wayne will regret doing.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Catching Up on My Record Pile
Yeah, I said in January I wanted to do the $ 44.00 Experiment, but I keep getting side tracked and buying new stuff. And re-arranging furniture. And family junk. So here's a few words on recent acquisitions [as in the last 4 months]:
Graham Parker & the Rumour - The Best of [Vertigo, 1980]
I don't know why I had in my head I didn't like Graham Parker... oh, yes I do: The Real McCaw. I bought it because it was one of those 'Best of the Year'/critically acclaimed albums that I just found not to my liking... see also Lou Reed's The Blue Mask... maybe it just didn't jibe with what I was listening to at the time. Anyway, I was selling some things and I bought this on a whim. Good stuff, a cross between Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True [with the California band Clover backing him up, not the Attractions] and Southside Johnny. Maybe it's just this period represented here, 1976 - 1980. 3.5 Stars
Utopia - Trivia [Passport 1986]
Collection of 1980s work by Todd Rundgren's other band. Impossibly catchy pop that should have been huge. Great harmonies, good guitar work, tasteful synths... Listen to Cry Baby, Fix Your Gaze or Play This Game and tell me why this band wasn't as big as the Cars, Go-Gos or Huey Lewis and the News? Must locate more 80's Utopia records besides that great 3-sided Utopia [Warner Bros 1982]... 4.0 Stars
The Silos - Cuba [Record Collect 1987]
Another in my Indie Band Profiled In Musician Magazine grabs; Tennessee Fire kicks off sounding like brothers of the Long Ryders. Great violin/viola work by Mary Rowell, reminds of David Lindley playing bozouki on Jackson Browne's records. Locks in the beat and doesn't let it go. She Lives Up the Street sounds like Shoot Out the Lights era Richard Thompson. For Always reminds of Jackson Browne, except the middle eight. Memories again swings into Richard Thompson territory. Going Round is a great country tinged piece with guitar and string quartet that would have sounded good on Uncle Tupelo's March 16-20. It's Alright quotes R.E.M. Good but it never takes off or grabs you like the Bo Deans.. 3.0 Stars
I had to replace my CD player after only 10-12 years. I don't remember when I bought this one, it was my second CD player and I bought it at a pawn shop the same day I bought my ancient but honorable Pioneer receiver. They don't make single drawer CD players anymore, only the 5 CD carousels. If you want a CD player by itself you have to buy a DVD/CD player. I guess I am okay with that, except that I can't program this fucker [for recording onto tapes for my truck] without having a TV hooked up to see how I am programming it! Iprobably ought to go get a new tape deck while I can before they quit making them. I feel like a damn dinosaur!
Yeah, I said in January I wanted to do the $ 44.00 Experiment, but I keep getting side tracked and buying new stuff. And re-arranging furniture. And family junk. So here's a few words on recent acquisitions [as in the last 4 months]:
Graham Parker & the Rumour - The Best of [Vertigo, 1980]
I don't know why I had in my head I didn't like Graham Parker... oh, yes I do: The Real McCaw. I bought it because it was one of those 'Best of the Year'/critically acclaimed albums that I just found not to my liking... see also Lou Reed's The Blue Mask... maybe it just didn't jibe with what I was listening to at the time. Anyway, I was selling some things and I bought this on a whim. Good stuff, a cross between Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True [with the California band Clover backing him up, not the Attractions] and Southside Johnny. Maybe it's just this period represented here, 1976 - 1980. 3.5 Stars
Utopia - Trivia [Passport 1986]
Collection of 1980s work by Todd Rundgren's other band. Impossibly catchy pop that should have been huge. Great harmonies, good guitar work, tasteful synths... Listen to Cry Baby, Fix Your Gaze or Play This Game and tell me why this band wasn't as big as the Cars, Go-Gos or Huey Lewis and the News? Must locate more 80's Utopia records besides that great 3-sided Utopia [Warner Bros 1982]... 4.0 Stars
The Silos - Cuba [Record Collect 1987]
Another in my Indie Band Profiled In Musician Magazine grabs; Tennessee Fire kicks off sounding like brothers of the Long Ryders. Great violin/viola work by Mary Rowell, reminds of David Lindley playing bozouki on Jackson Browne's records. Locks in the beat and doesn't let it go. She Lives Up the Street sounds like Shoot Out the Lights era Richard Thompson. For Always reminds of Jackson Browne, except the middle eight. Memories again swings into Richard Thompson territory. Going Round is a great country tinged piece with guitar and string quartet that would have sounded good on Uncle Tupelo's March 16-20. It's Alright quotes R.E.M. Good but it never takes off or grabs you like the Bo Deans.. 3.0 Stars
I had to replace my CD player after only 10-12 years. I don't remember when I bought this one, it was my second CD player and I bought it at a pawn shop the same day I bought my ancient but honorable Pioneer receiver. They don't make single drawer CD players anymore, only the 5 CD carousels. If you want a CD player by itself you have to buy a DVD/CD player. I guess I am okay with that, except that I can't program this fucker [for recording onto tapes for my truck] without having a TV hooked up to see how I am programming it! Iprobably ought to go get a new tape deck while I can before they quit making them. I feel like a damn dinosaur!