25 January 2007

Live Band Karaoke

So it's Thursday. I'm planning on heading out to Quenchers tonight, around 10:30 (after I get off of work) for Live Band Karaoke. For those of you who are somehow unaware, Live Band Karaoke isn't really the same thing as karaoke (it gets capitalized, for one thing).

Here's the deal. There's a band. A full rock band. If you're lucky, it's the Hootenaners, led by brother and sister John and Laurie Miller. Guitar(s). Bass. Drums. Maybe even a keyboard if you're lucky. Laurie plays lead guitar, and she can hold her own on all of those wanky hair metal guitar solos. She was sick as a dog two weeks ago, and still managed to rule.

So you've got the band. They're turned up to 11. It's loud. You get the mic, on a mic stand, just as if they're your band. You ge the lyrics on a piece of paper. No TV here.

And then the rock.

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LBK has it's own cult following. Some of these people have nicknames, like Big Mike, who dresses like John Cusack in High Fidelity, is very tall, and excels at punk. There's a tall, skinny blonde guy with glasses, who sits by himself, doesn't really ever talk to anyone, but can actually pull off Journey or the Darnkess (and hitting all of those high notes is no mean feat). And there's that girl that always reminds me of Chrissy Hynde (sp) of the Pretenders, who always brings the house down.

I like to think that I'm not easily ignored myself. I've been going to LBK for a few years now, on and off, although I had two blocks of time that I went weekly. Yes, beer was consumed, sometimes in great quantities, but it wasn't the drinking that was the goal of the outings.

There's a community of sorts. I have a group of friends that go to Mothers on Thursdays, and you should see how good they are. Youll get a lot of yuppie scum down there, and then Christine would get on stage, and blow them away with her version of Get Your Hands off My Woman. Some douchebag in a backwards white baseball cap would ruin a perfectly good Scorpions song. At that point Emi would get on the stage and bustout with Killing in the Name, and show him what fucking rock and roll is all about.

We've even lost friends. The last song I performed at Mothers, back when I used to go there, was Round and Round, by Ratt. I didn't know the song that well, so Lewis volunteered to come up and sing it with me. I lost my job shortly after that, and wasn't able to make it back for LBK there, and I found out the he passed away unexpectedly not too long after that. I haven't been back since. Too many memories.

But I've started again at Quenchers. It's every Thursday night at 10:30, and while I can't say that I'll be there every week, I'm going to be there tonight. I've got an iTunes playlist of all the songs that I might want to do, and I'm going to go and practice in the shower now. I'm thinking about Maneater by Hall and Oates.

Hope to see you there.

23 January 2007

Oscars 2006/7

I have here before me the Oscar nominations for 2006...although this is 2007. That always leaves me a little bit confused. Which year's Oscars are these?

For those of you that know me, I never miss the Oscars. No, I don't think they represent the selection of the finest films and performances from around the world. I don't really care what people are wearing, and to be honest, who wins is largely unimportant.

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Even before I wanted to make movies, I always watched the Oscars. I can't rememeber a year that I haven't, including when I lived in England, and they came on live at 2am. The only time I had to work on Oscar night, I made the bar I worked in have an Oscar party so I could watch..

By the way, if you want to see the list of the nominees, the link to the printer friendly version is this:

http://www.oscars.com/nominees/?pn=printer

Any thoughts on the nominees?

Little Miss Cliche picked up a couple of nods,one for Alan Arkin, and one for the litle girl, who was probably the only actor in the movie that I don't bear a grudge against. Not that she has a chance in winning. Jennifer Hudson is nominated in this catagory for Dreamgirls, and since they were chattering about her getting this nomination months before the movie was even released, I think that she's got a pretty strong lead, dontcha?

They ought to just name an award the Meryl Streep award, and let her be the sole nominee in it every year. This makes 13 nominations for her. I mean, come on. No disrespect to Ms. Streep, who we all know is a great talent, but do they have to nominate her for every movie that she does? Even if she's always great? Let someone else have the slot.

Holy shit, I noticed that Little Miss Sunshine is up for best film (AND BEST SCREENPLAY?????). Are they serious? Coming next year, I'm just going to poop on some celluloid, but give it a great publicist, and we'll see what happens.

Mel Gibson's Apocolypto looks like it was nominated for Makeup and Sound Editing. That's what you get for being a dick, Mel.

Anyway, I'm either going to hold an Oscar party, or go to one. Anyone have any ideas?

22 January 2007

I Should be Working

I should be getting my show together. For those of you not in the know, I have a readio show...and a radio station. Chicago Radio 1. My show is called Esoteria, and some time back I decided that all of my shows would be theme shows. SO I can't just play music that I like, but it has to make sense in the context of the show. I should be working. But here I am, on this little blog, avoiding work. I didn't do laundry, either.

12 January 2007

2007: More Goals

1. Get the band actually started.

I forgot that one.

2007: Things I'd like to accomplish

In no particular order.

1. Have a great, attractive, funny, smart and wonderful girlfriend--DONE
2. Get my bedroom in order--Purchase an actual bed. Clean room.
3. Start doing yoga--probably next week(?)
4. Get the radio station in order--Station meeting tomorrow, get all our ducks in a row.
5. Continue eating healthy--ONGOING
6. Cook more, dine out less--ONGOING
7. Have health insurance--Waiting for infor from the insurance agent
8. Go to the dentist--Waiting on dental plan from work
9. Buy a truck
10. Buy a Macbook
11. Make more movies
12. Finish Atomic Man--Really. Maybe Monday?
13.Pay off debt--At least get on top of it

I'm going to get to work on it. Honest. Stay tuned.