This is Surreal

What a bunch of dicks...

MC Rove

Easy Winter - Revisited

Bobby Lightfoot has done a proper new version of one of my favorite songs. Here is what I said about the first version:

"Great tune, with jangly guitars, hooky melody and excellent lyrics. Another example of Bobby's fine talent. He knows how to make a record."

The new version is all that and more.

Go read and then listen.

Hey Seuss A Lou!

Damn...

Feeling old and nostalgic and a bit sad...

Looking For A New Gig

I really shouldn't complain, but I am.

My marriage is one in a million. I adore my wife and we have lots of fun together. Six kids between us - 3 hers and 3 mine. By anyone's reckoning, they are doing as well as any kids in similar circumstances could be expected to do.

Still, I'm miserable.

I hate my job. I should say, I hate the circumstances of my job. I'm on week 2 of a 4 week tour. Home on Friday night. Back to the airport on Sunday afternoon. I am a corporate trainer. I more-or-less enjoy the work, in spite of my company's best efforts to stop that from happening. I work roughly 8-4:30, on my feet, explaining technology where my understanding ranges from spotty to comprehensive, depending on the course and the chapter.

Then it is back to the hotel, where I have to study for a couple hours a night because they are constantly wanting me to teach "new" courses. Eat at a local restaurant, usually a chain. Go back to the hotel. Call The Viscountess - talk for a half hour. Surf the stations and usually end up on MSNBC or CNN.

Toss and turn, waking up on and off for the next 5 or 6 hours and then do it again.

It sucks.

Got my resume up on Monster and with 3 or 4 headhunters. They all want java. I don't have java, nor do I want to learn it. It is stupid way to develop systems, but that is a whole 'nother post that is never going to be written by me.

I have to find some other way to pay the rent, because I can't stand this.

As Cool Is it Gets

I love this video, and I love this song. John on lead vocals with Paul and George singing the backups. The Beatles changed styles and got more sophisticated on later songs, but this record is as good as any other they ever made.


From the film "Help," directed by Richard Lester (the man man who more or less invented the music video,) here are The Beatles with You're Gonna Lose That Girl.




The film drags here and there, but the music was great. I saw it when it was in the theaters (I was like 8 or 9) and I wanted to be just like them. I wanted to be in a band, skiing the Alps and jumping around with bikini-clad women on the beach.

Can you blame me?

Spiritual Safety Tip

Tribute To New Wave

Mid 70's. Rock music started to become stale. Kansas. Boston. Styx. Foreigner. Back in those days, the music business was powerful, but they were still looking for artists to exploit, as opposed to today, where they are looking for good looks and talent to exploit. Artists need not apply.

Punk was out there, but it wasn't being embraced by the masses. Then, a bunch of musicians either collectively or independently decided that it was time for rock and roll to mean something again.

Those were some good days.



Elvis. In retrospect, you can see that it was planned, but it was still very cool. The Attractions rocked the house down.

Radio Radio.



Rockpile. Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds had separate record deals, but were in the same band, and what a band it was.

Cover of the Elvis tune, featuring Dave Edmunds. Obviously a promo film, but I don't care.

Girls Talk.


Cruel to be Kind. Nick Lowe. Also a promo film. Damn.



XTC. The best band since The Beatles.

Statue of Liberty. Andy Partridge's lyrics were clever and spot-on from day one.



Respectable Street. The Beach Boys with balls and an attitude. (Spare me ok, I love The Beach Boys.)



Joe Jackson. Couldn't find anything I wanted from the first record, but here's I'm The Man from his second effort. Another rockin' band from that great era.



The Police. I'm sure everyone's choice would be Roxanne, but this my tribute, and I prefer Message in a Bottle.




Squeeze. I still like to pull out Argy Bargy and give that a spin, along with Cool For Cats, which is where this one comes from.

Up The Junction.



The Clash. Were they truly New Wave, or were they punk?

Who cares? They were "the only band that mattered."

Train in Vain.

Little Britain

[Cross posted over at New Critics.]

If you’ve had the pleasure of seeing the BBC sketch-comedy program “Little Britain,” you already know that it is the funniest show of that genre to come along since “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” “Little Britian” is the brain-child of Matt Lucas and David Williams, and it took a couple of episodes for me to realize that most of the main characters are being played by them. Matt Lucas in particular is a brilliant character actor, portraying women as well as any man that I have ever seen. No slouch himself, David Williams’ characters are hilarious, and together they form one of the funniest comedy teams in the craft today.

Disclaimer: If you think “South Park” is offensive and that it sometimes “goes too far,” then you probably will want to avoid the youtube links that follow. Indeed, we have these shows on DVD and sometimes skip some of the more, er, earthy skits. I wonder what the evangelicals think when they visit England and find out the true meaning of the words liberal media?

Fasten your seatbelts, as this may be some of the funniest television you’ve seen in a very long time.

First up is Matt Lucas as "Marjorie Dawes." She is the coach at the weekly “Fat Fighters” meeting. She is as mean as she is ineffectual at keeping her own weight off. The members of her club suffer her abuse, but return each week for more. In this sketch, Marjorie has brought along a special guest.





Next is everyone’s favorite, "Lou and Andy." Andy (Matt Lucas) is pretending to be handicapped, but he effectively hides it from his long suffering caretaker, Lou (David Williams.) The running joke is that Andy insists on having or doing something that Lou knows is not quite right, but ends up yielding to Andy’s persistence, only to be burned in the end. You know it is coming, but they are so good at it that you laugh at the expected outcome just the same. William’s characterization of Lou is very nuanced, and as the sketches progress, he starts to become slightly impatient with Andy, but still manages to keep his composure. In this sketch, Lou takes Andy to the Pet Shop to buy him a rabbit.



One of my favorites, is the "Prime Minister" sketch. In this outing, David plays the openly gay personal assistant to the Prime Minister. He is jealous, catty, and vindictive, and is deeply in love with the seemingly straight and oblivious (or is he?) PM.



Finally, there is "Daffyd Thomas," the “only gay in the village,” as portrayed to perfection by Matt Lucas. I couldn’t choose between these two sketches, so I’ve included both of them. In the first one, Daffyd is complaining to the barmaid of the trials of being the only gay in the village and having nothing to do. In the second, he is shocked and disappointed to find out that the local newsstand has sold his copy of The Gay Times to someone else.

What About This Guy?

This is entertaining on many levels. Stay with it.

John Phil Wayne.

The World's Most Dangerous Comic