Thirty Three

Uncle Duty officially ended as I turned 33 yet again in another country, this time in Montreal. I slept in (having driven up the night before), I worked on music literally all day, and then of course, I watched STAR WARS. It's a rare day when I can sit poolside listening to a working Ipod without interruption (other than a splashing nephew, which of course is no bother). Then it was a nice family dinner at La Prunelle, the shockingly excellent place G, Lurch, The Kidd and I dined at on our last night during our now-legendary Montreal trip in May. All in all, a damn fine way to spend a birthday. Thanks to all who remembered and called or texted or E-mailed or in some scarier cases, sang. Special thanks to significant other who served up birthday cinnamon rolls with candles.

We're now back in NYC in less crowded and much quieter house. What a month. Tiring, yet rewarding. The nephew is nothing but a joy and I hope his next August is spent with us. I miss him already. I have new respect for parents and a new realization that MOGworld homegrown kids are still a good long ways off. There are albums to finish and get out for fucks sake.

Special birthday greetings to my other male half or 25 years, Mr. Danny Hamill, who gets more handsome with age...Hopefully we will do the mutual birthday celebration this week at some point as we have done for many years and hopefully I will DJ for your listening pleasure.

I want to talk to you about how much I love ENTOURAGE, which I shouldn't and originally refused to watch, but am now addicted to. Whoever can create a show that makes me love Jeremy Piven and hate Mandy Moore should be paid lots of money. Great show. Watch it. I just caught up on the last three weeks of episodes I couldn't watch in front of a 7 year old and I'm still laughing. Awesome.

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Lurchology

See that photo? That's me and this guy Lurch, who I have known for about fifteen years. Though he is my friend, I would never admit that to him in person. He gets points for taking me to see 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and for being one of the biggest scumbags I know. I love the guy. I socialize with him often, though I think he soley comes over to read my comics so he can save a few bucks every week. Any man who deals with psychos all day and then comes over to watch wrestling at my place weekly is not all there. And while from this photo it seems I refuse worship at the cult of Lurch, there are some who embrace all that is Lurch. In fact, thanks to the Junk Blog, I have found that there is an entire Cult of Lurch out there. Observe the following sign of the Apocalypse:

http://boss.streamos.com/download/xc37dr2/okgo/amillionways/amillionways_v750.mov

It's quite obvious that between the snow, the puke, the poo and the madge on that fateful New Years Eve so many years ago in Anna's basement, someone videotaped Lurch's antics that night and leaked it to the masses. What was once probably a video (like the one used in THE RING) that was passed around at parties to poke fun at some tall dude who knew how to dance to N'Sync and Britney, an entire movement based on the gayness of Lurch was inadvertantly created (in a backyard no less!)

Tom Cruise, watch your ass...

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Back To The Old House

So I've been househunting for a place in LA and I discovered this nice home in Beverly Hills: http://www.sothebysrealty.com/property_4_property_details.asp?propertynumber=0023998&quicksearchyn=Y

Seems nice, right? Sweet location, pretty big, and of course way the hell out of my price range. And what about the owner? Who could own such a sweet movie star home in such a posh locale? Well, it's actually a rock star, not a movie star. He just had a big career revival in the last year or so, has been written about in this blog often, and is probably trading up thanks to people like Brandt and I who buy everything he releases. If you're still stumped, go to www.ashleysaunders.com cause she basically writes about him EVERY DAY. I'm sure she will stalk her way to his new address and keep us in the loop.

Maybe Peter Saintface will go half with me? SWEETEST SOUL did sell a few copies, you know...

Back to music.

F

P.S. As soon as I finished typing this, I checked out Junk's above mentioned blog and sure enough, this is her headline article. Insane. Great Minds, my friends, Great Minds.

Someone's At The Door

I was really excited to hear about this:

"Coming on 10/15 is American Gothic: The Complete Series (SRP $49.98) - something I know a few of you have been waiting a while for. The 3-disc set will include all 22 episodes of the series, including 4 that were never aired during the show's original run, as well as over 45 minutes of deleted scenes"

AMERICAN GOTHIC was an incredible and scary series created by former teen star Shaun Cassidy and produced by the genius known as Sam Raimi. It was a southern based horror series that starred the wonderful chracter actor Gary Cole as the devil himself in the form of a small town sheriff who terrorizes it's inhabitants, in the hopes of getting control of a young boy who may or may not be just be his son. The kid was played by an amazing young actor named Lucas Buck, and the chemistry between the two actors was off the charts. There were a lot of great actors on this show and there was even a cameo episode with Raimi-regulars Ted Raimi and Mr. Bruce Campbell. Sadly, the show only lasted one season, and I think they kinda knew it as the show spiralled out of control towards the end and stopped making sense, but now upon hearing there were 4 unaired episodes, I think theres more to this than what I originally knew. It's great to see that this show is going to get it's due at last. CBS really dropped the ball with this show...

Though I have to wait till October for it, I'm sure the UNDECLARED DVD set will keep me occupied till then.

F

The Test of Time...

This E-mail made my day...

"My name is **** and I was friends with a girl named ***** here in Chicago. We only met once, so don't feel too terribly bad if you don't remember! Anyway, my reason for writing....there was a song you had that I was crazy about back in the day and I lost my copy. I want to say that the song was titled "arena85" or something like that. How can I get a hold of this one? I wouldn't even know where to start! Can you help me out? Thanks, man....****"

I forwarded the letter to girl she was friends with in Chicago (now a mother of two here on the East Coast who remains a great friend to the MOGpac and even coordinates our musical gear purchases) and she responded "She likes the rage in the cage with the underage song! That's funny. "

Now Jeff Johnson (former aggression label boss) you understand why I changed the lyrics. Victory.

F

Out In The Moonlight (to your left)....

While it seems as though I am lost in the world of Uncle Duty (which I am enjoying immensely), I do find myself able to get out and about (though I'm slower to report in about such things). So here's where I've been...

Along with several MOGpackers and 3 of the ladies from Internationalpoontang.com I made the trek to Brooklyn to check out the below referenced return of The 4th Level this past Friday night. I couldn't miss it. Luckily, I missed the support acts, and upon arrival, The 4th Level were there and ready to throw down some beats...until (of course) technical problems forced them to break down their gear to allow another artist, referred to here and forever as "Beat Pen" to do his, "thing". He had a Beat Pen. Really. Anyway, moving forward (much later), Ash and Justin made it back to the stage of this small place, set up their gear and delivered a really solid set that consisted of their back catalog along with some newer stuff as well as Ash's recent Baye material, of which, as you know, I am very fond. It was a great set, it just wasn't the right venue for what they were playing. I don't think anyone should play at a venue where Brandt supposedly goes for brunch.

I think Ash thought people didn't like it, but it was late and Beat Pen wrote the life out of us. It didn't suck at all. In fact, not only were they really good, that kid who looks like the kid with the glasses on OLD SCHOOL who "rips ass at the mixers" was DJ'ing and he's really fucking good, so the evening was pretty much all about the good music. And the turnout consisted of the MOGpac higher ups like Dan Hamill and Club Superstar, so this is also a plus. Poor Chas though, he came to relax and hear some beats and instead gets drafted to save some tech ass yet again. In the end, Ash proves his ability to successfully go back to his roots, something I will never do unless I feel like playing bowling alleys with a drum machine and a father of 2. Don't see that happening...

Speaking of that same father of 2, the former aggressioner Dr Fury's recent addition, Avery Ehren Kruger arrived last week and is HUGE, thus giving me hope that a future pro wrestler has been born to the former Doink the Clown Impersonator and his wife. Time will tell and you know I'm gonna try...

Sunday saw a mini-family outing as the significant other, the coolest 7 year old I know, and I joined the missing member of poontang from the night before, that guy Lurch, and The King Of All Videogames went to the Central Park Summerstage to see MIA. I'm gonna skip over the openers. MIA is a fucking STAR. This girl comes onstage and she just has IT. Insanely beautiful despite what I feel to be some wardrobe miscalculations, she has the tunes, voice and energy to really get a crowd moving. While my nephew would rather have beat Lurch's ass or sit on his shoulders during the gig, I thought it was one of the best gigs I've seen this year. It's going to be interesting to see where MIA's career goes, cause I think she can really bring something fresh and new to music.

Speaking of gigs, Oasis/Kasabian here in October? Yes, please (See you there Charles!. A reunited Bauhaus here at the new Nokia Theatre? Fuck me, I must be dreaming of all this goodness.

I was lucky (thanks to Lurch) to see a film you will all want to see in a few weeks called THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. I am a big Judd Apatow mark, so this was a highly anticipated film. Happily it did not fail. Leave to to the genius of Apatow to give me a movie where I actually enjoy Paul Rudd. Steve Carrell goes house in this movie and rocks it. I am telling you this, the commercials give you nothing of the true brilliance of this film. When he gets waxed, forget it. And kudos to the awesomely hilarious Undeclared-alum (and co-producer) Seth Rogan, who is just awesome. Forever well we use the expression "you know how I know you're gay?" (you have to see to find out). Apatow is the man and delivers the laughs we crave. Lurch liked it better than Wedding Crashers, though I think it's just a bit short And Katherine Keener in her underwear! Score!

Having a 7 year old living with me for a month has created a lot of unforseen opportunities for me to do the things I secretly always want to do all the time: Watch cartoons, play videogames and talk Star Wars. I've even forgotten how to curse. Educating a small child on the rules of pro wrestling every Monday and Thursday is a dream come true. I even got to plan his birthday, which was yesterday and included a trip to Toys R Us, dinner at Benihana (YES), and a night of wrestling with "the guys" as he calls them. This is the LIFE.

F

Fashionistas

My posts are going to be few and far between while on uncle duty, so for the time being I will share with you the things I mark out for:

If this was any other band, it would be called a "sell out", yet Kasabian seem bulletproof in regards to this kinda stuff
From Dotmusic:

Kasabian are apparently going to be the new face of fashion empire Prada. The UK indie rockers, famed their rough chic, are said to have been approached by Prada to front-up their upcoming lines of designer clothes. Kasabian's rise to fame in the last 12 months has seen them photographed at high-profile showbiz parties and linked with a string of supermodels, including Kate Moss. Meanwhile, guitarist Serge Pizzorno has apparently also been offered a modelling contract with top agency Models 1. According to reports in a UK tabloid this morning, the band are unsure if they should sign the Prada deal. A 'friend' told The Sun; "There has been a lot of talk about an advertising deal with Prada, but the lads are considering their next move before committing to anything. "They do hang out with a lot of models and people from the fashion world - which is where the idea must have come from." Kasabian play the London Astoria on August 25, before appearing at the Carling Reading And Leeds Festival."

And from Contactmusic only adds to my respect:

British rockers KASABIAN knew they had made it in America when the discovered ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER and WILLIAM SHATNER were celebrity fans.

The band, who are well on the way to cracking the music scene stateside, were stunned to be confronted by Arnie's daughter at a gig, who informed them the muscle-bound California Governor listens to their debut album at the gym.

Guitarist SERGIO PIZZORNO says, "Arnold Schwarzenegger's daughter came to one of the gigs, and she said he works out to the Kasabian album.

"William Shatner like us too. We did JIMMY KIMMEL's show, and he was there - f**king CAPTAIN KIRK is dancing to CLUB FOOT."

Take this ride to a whole other Level...

I want to shamelessly plug a shit hot gig this Friday night, so bitch, get off your Ass and get on the Ash this Friday night:

"Hi All,
I wanted to let you know my partner Justin and I will be performing live as the 4th Level this Friday night at The Lucky Cat in Williamsburg.

For those who don’t know/don’t remember, Justin and I used to release techno 12”’s as the 4th Level on the prestigious U.K. label Auk Recordings a few years back. We both have been exploring other avenues but have decided to write some new material and combine it with tech tracks I recently did under the name baye (which I haven’t shopped around yet) and release them on a new label or even possibly on our own label (tentatively called Selective Attention Records). This will be our first live set previewing some of that material in addition to re-creating some of the Auk era tracks."

Ash's fourth level stuff is super. He tells me he might also be playing some of his Baye stuff, which I think is some of his best stuff ever. It's great seeing Ash going back to his roots...

Don't be a dick, check it out.

F