Friday, August 25, 2006

Boz Scaggs is Cooler Than You... Think


Well, it happened-- the night most of us at Topaz Partners were primed to see "Snakes on a Plane," my wife broke the news to me-- we were invited to see Boz Scaggs in concert, by a friend we could not refuse. Crushed, I let the Topazers know the news, and after the requisite questioning of my manhood, and my witty and whithering replies (that I will not relate here), I resigned myself to my fate.

Gritting my teeth and girding my ears, I prepared for the worst. After viewing a parade of people that would best be served by remaining sexy on the inside only (you can be 50 and sexy, but you could not tell by this crowd), the worst happened immediately. Boz opened with "Lowdown."

But before you could say "I'm sick and tired of m****f*****g Boz Scaggs on a m****f*****g stage," he said these words: "Here's a song by Allen Toussaint." He repeated those magic words twice, the second time introducing the song "Hercules," the Aaron Neville hit also covered well, but not as well, by, well, Paul Weller. (Yes Adam, I stole the title of this post from your Paul Weller review last fall)

That, coupled with a lengthy blues jam, made it a surprisingly tolerable evening. Not "Snakes on a Plane" enjoyable, but not bad in the least. Well, except for the inevitable "Lido Shuffle" and the wobbling flesh-fest of the dancing middle-aged masses that its opening bars signaled.

Yes, I'm old. Shut up. I'm seeing the Flaming Lips September 10.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Do you Wu?


A brief recap of Wednesday's Wu Tang Clan show at Lupo's in Providence with my soul (and real) brother Nate and his friend Derek.

Arrived late which is just about early for a hip hop show. On arrival, witness the obligatory objectification (self-imposed) of women from the crowd putting their backfield's in motion. Endless presentation gave me opportunity to meet Ghostface Killah (Mr. Killah?) at the merch table - I think we "chilled" and I bought 2 of his shirts.

Again, way too much hyping up of the crowd by some friends of the group or local hangers on. Should be a very simple pre-show system - keep the piped in music playing until the band of gypsies are ready to play.
One at a time entry - the amazing Method Man was first to mention ODB, a 40 and really demonstrate the most energy. Ghost clearly understood that a break for the group should focus on his ability to orgainze private dances from da ladies. At least he worked for it by rapping and moving on stage. ODB tribute provided opportunity for me to "put your BlackBerries in the air." Wait, in memory of Station night club tragedy shouldn't lighters be banned in RI?

Followed by Method Man crowd-walking with impeccable balance. Last cut we stayed for (it was after 1 a.m. on a work night) was the amazing
Triumph!!!

Surround sound rap lyrics throughout the night (and ID for the different guys on stage) thankfully provided by my bro - kosherhiphop.com.

Remember y'all, Wu Tang Clan ain't nothing to fuck with

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Aquaman gets the greenlight? KB & LK, Maybe CNBC was correct



I just hope loyal Lloyd gets credit for the deal


Well if Ronald Reagan can become President, Arnoldnator as Governor and Keanu Reeves have a career then I guess we should be thankful for the miracle that is Hollywood ...

Wahlberg says Aquaman idea may hold water
By Herald wire services
Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Call it life imitating art imitating life, because Mark Wahlberg plans to make rumors of an “Aquaman” feature film come true - except for one minor detail.

The Dorchester homey - whose semi-autobiographical HBO series “Entourage” has his alter-ego, Vinnie Chase, (played by Adrien Grenier) suiting up for the role - says the chances of seeing him in the orange leotard are slim to none. But he wouldn’t mind seeing Grenier take the role.

During a sit-down with IESB to promote his latest film, “Invincible” Wahlberg confirmed that while nothing is set in stone, there’s been some buzz in La-La land about making the fictional comic-strip flick a reality. The executive producer of the HBO series added that he hopes to produce it.

In one of the strangest twists, the talent agent at the center of the “Aquaman” talks is Ari Emanuel, the brash Endeavor agent who is the model for Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold on “Entourage,” according to the Los Angeles Times.