Tidbits

*While certain band members eat their scallops, I find myself jumping back and forth between musical adventures. However, at the moment none of my musical endeavors are of the creative nature, BUT, I'm putting things in motion to ensure a very exciting musical 2005. For example, in the world of Hypefactor, Michael Doyle, the gifted artistic mastermind behind Chemlab's OXIDIZER artwork has come onboard as the designer for EXIT STRATEGIES. To say I am excited about this would is a MASSIVE understatement. We're in good hands! Besides introducing me to some cool new music, Michael continues to blow my mind with creative goodness at his website www.Burnlab.net. GO. NOW. Big public thanks for that.

*As you know, I'm a big fan of Hong Kong Cinema and while the industry there is not what it once was, there is still some greatness shining from the East. The FRIGHTENINGLY prolific Johnnie To, he of THE MISSION and FULLTIME KILLER fame, is back with this NINTH film in the past two years. It's called THROWDOWN and it's quite simply one of the most uplifiting and beautiful films to come out of Hong Kong EVER. Centered around the world of Judo (a near extinct Japanese Martial Art) in Hong Kong, a washed up Judo fighter (Louis Koo, who I don't think I had ever seen before) finds hope in the friendship of a young lounge singer (the adorable Cherrie Ying) and a drifter/judo upstart (played by pop star Aaron Kwok). Imagine a less spiritual, more realistic film based around the same human themes of his other excellent film RUNNING ON KARMA (reviewed sometime back on this blog) and you will find yourself with tears in your eyes as you watch these characters evolve as the movie progresses. The actors are supurb and if you're not in love with Cherrie Ying after her first scene, you don't have a pulse. My favourite HK film review site www.lovehkfilm.com has an excellent review of the film that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the film. You can read here: http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/throwdown.htm

Johnnie To, without a doubt, is Hong Kong's best, most diverse director and just this year alone has delivered two excellent films with THROWDOWN and BREAKING NEWS. I really don't think there is any kind of movie this guy CAN'T direct. if you're an Akira Kurosawa fan, THROWDOWN will mean that much more to you. One of my favourite films of the year.

HK film has two potential classics on the way in my man JC's NEW POLICE STORY, which is getting awesome reviews for the action (and so so once for the drama) and KUNG FU HUSTLE which could make or break the legacy of Stephen Chow (based on the hilarious trailer alone, I'm leaning to the make part of that).

*U2 return with a new song, VERTIGO, which is kinda shocking to me. At first I didn't love it, but now I find myself going back to it quite a bit. It's a rockier u2 that seems somewhat referential to their much earlier stuff in terms of performance and arrangement. It's very simple and direct and everything a good pop single should be. I expected in a post 9/11 world that u2 would come back and be very heavy handed (and they still might with the full album) but to be in the business as long as they have and to come up with a rock song that sounds fresh is kinda impressive. Lyrically its as throwaway as their ZOOROPA era and musically it's as straight up as their ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND era. Lesson learned kids, less is more IS the way. I believe U2 are quite possibly the most successful band in the history of rock n roll based on the fact that they still continue to pump out fresh and new music on a consistant basis that is both artistically and commercially successful. Despite a more impressive and experimental body of work, the Beatles never made it this far and no one cared about new Stones albums when they were this far into their career. U2 remain relevant, interesting, and in demand. Can this be argued? I mean, really, are you going to see REM in Atlantic City next month? Come on.

*A quick mention about Sanctuary Records new line of anthologies from former Creation Records artists. The most underrated band on the label, HURRICANE #1, have released their two CD anthology, called STEP INTO MY WORLD and it just goes to show you how the world missed out on a great band. The timing was wrong as they were lost in the shadow of Oasis' huge success but let me say I am not shocked that Hurricane's leader, the brilliant Andy Bell (who was also in the groundbreaking band Ride), is a member of Oasis these days. He is a super musician and songwriter and this anthology proves that. It's a great introduction to the band and the second disc is a real treat for the die hards. Excellent Britpop that tried to take the standard guitar rock sound of the time and change iit up a bit with cool production and remixes (the Oakenfold remix of their classic STEP INTO MY WORLD appears here). Great band, wrong time.

And now, back to the PS2 and STAR WARS BATTLEFRONTS!

F

And On The 8th Day, God Created DVR

The Force.net reports: "...in Autumn 2006 there will be a complete live action Star Wars TV series made by Lucasfilm".

And somewhere, Irene sighs. My mom sighs. Matt Gentile sighs. Peter Saintface sighs. And in a first grade classroom somewhere, Eric Richard Sica cheers as wildly as his "much taller" 6 year old cousin Frank Jeffrey DeSanto.

Hopefully said new show will not run up against re-runs of MY SO CALLED LIFE so Matt can watch as well. Maybe he'll come over like he used to.

F

my so called...emptiness

so sue me for being 10years late with this blog, but did anyone else feel ill with the way the last episode of MSCL ended?!

i only recently got into this show, and MAN did i get into it. but i seriously felt heartbroken and betrayed by the last scene. it just didn't seem right! you could see in angela's eyes that she wanted brian krakow, not that mope jordan catalano! my only assumption is that she gets in the car with jordan catalano only tell him to fuck off, then she runs back to a crying brian krakow, riding his bike in circles in the street. i mean, this is so cyrano de bergerac (think "roxanne" with steve martin).

did the folks at abc know this was the last episode at the time of filming? rickie vasquez officially comes out, rayanne graff (who is the biggest loser ever) admits to being the biggest loser ever, graham chase gets the restaurant (and reverts, almost, to his old ways)...and krakow comes clean with his feelings for angela. it seems they were so rushed to pack all of this good stuff in one episode. it just doesn't feel natural.

i went scoping only to find out two tihngs: 1) the dvd series has out-performed the NYSE in ROI - it sells for minimum of about $125-150 on ebay...amazon has it for 200$. the book, my so-called life goes on is $60, and while many people say it pales compared ot the series (understandably), most will concede that it helps with the mscl fix.

by now it's too late though...and there will be this little hole in my heart for ever...

"Everyone is cool now, there's no distinction...it's an alcholoic themepark!"

Thanks to the efforts of Peter Saintface, last night marked official end of recording of EXIT STRATEGIES. To say I am relieved and excited would be an understatement. I arrived at the studio late because of a birthday dinner with my now 19 year old cousin (who is staying with Irene and I this weekend) and upon my arrival Brandt had already recorded Peter's verses for CLEAN UP. Talk about progress, and the vocals are massive! This was one of the smoothest recording sessions I have ever been a part of. Honestly, there's not much to report. He recorded, was dead on, gave us a ton to work with and then we took some photos and called it a day. Of course our usual post recording discussions ensued. Topics included Peter's run in with the Strokes the night before, movies (and his strong views on Star Wars), and life in New York City. Lots of laughs, especially when Peter gets worked up about things like song titles (he thinks his lyrics for CLEAN UP are better suited to the title EXIST and vice versa), Interpol, and his adventures on the lower east side (which the above quote comes from thanks to Peter).

Consider this my public thank you to Peter for really coming through for us and my formal request to him to sing at least half the next record....PLEASE! (he probably just changed his phone number).

In other news, E-mails and S-mails are being furiously exchanged around the world as my next band project gets off the ground. All will be revealed...eventually. It's not the aggression reunion in Boston or Commack for that matter. Also, I would like to publically apologize to Charles for not being able to make his party yesterday as the recording session and my houseguest cousin kept us from attending. No one wants to meet the mysterious Charles more than Peter Saintface, who has to keep hearing and hearing about his massive bassery nonstop. Been dying to say bassery...

F

"You're SO LA..."

Or so said Peter Saintface today during out first sessions to record his final vocals for EXIT STRATEGIES. He was referring to my laid pack producer approach which he has since learned is the "only speak when something sucks badly" approach. More often then not, I'm whispering in Brandt's ear when something's not working for me. That way, when I speak, the musicians actually listen. This only works in my own band of course...

Anyway, Peter came in, professional as always, and did a super job. We started the day taking him through the album's tracks to give him a feel of where we are at and discussed the future plans for the band. His comments on the album were very positive, which is very important to me. We briefly touched on the current status of Saintface, who are playing this week, and his plans for the forthcoming album (which is getting crazy play in my house). However, my gut was not to push him too much cause he's in post-album burn out mode (and man, do I know that feeling). After that we put him in the booth and put him to work.

We laid down all of the vocals for EXIST. Of course, he delivered big time again. We have a lot of great material to work with and recording his vocals is like watching a painter add layers of colour to a canvas. He's open to ideas and very collaborative, but honestly, (and this happned on the last record) we had very few suggestions as he really develops his ideas to perfection. Jesus, if I could do every song with this guy, i would. That's my subtle hint of the day...

We wrapped up EXIST and Brandt had to split due to an emergency (or so he says, it could have been a drug run for all I know), and Peter and I started CLEAN UP, which has a wider range than EXIST. Honestly, Peter put so much into EXIST that he was a tad beat up by the time we got to this song AND he has rehearsal tonight, so he asked if we could halt the proceedings and pick up this weekend. Who am I to complain? Waiting a few extra days for a fresh Peter can make a BIG difference for this album. So why not wait?

Oh I've got photographic evidence, which hopefully should be going up on the site eventually.

F