Bring It On, Bang Camaro

Greetings faithful readers and welcome back to the new and improved Because I Should've Picked A Shorter Name For This Blog Didn't Want To Go To Grad School blog. Tonight, I'd like to announce a very special feature, and hopefully welcome a whole new batch of readers.

Last week, while moonlighting with my MyMusicBoston cohorts, I did something I've wanted to do for weeks. You see, a few weeks ago, Bang Camaro came onto our morning show to play Push Push (Lady Lightning), which you can watch right here .
As they rocked our entire studio I thought, 'Hey, I know this song from somewhere.' Turns out it's a hidden track on Guitar Hero 2. Ever since then I've cursed myself and the MMB team for not doing something crazy. How awesome would it be if I challenged Bang Camaro to their own song on Guitar Hero all as cameras rolled? To the best of my knowledge, it's never been done before. Oh well, we lost our shot, right? Wrong.



At last week's WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll, the opportunity presented itself and fueled by bravado and Budweiser I went through with it. You can see the live challenge halfway through this video.

As you can tell I was nervous. So nervous that I botched the challenge. It's Guitar Hero 2, not Guitar Hero 1. Whoops.

I'm nervous for a reason. Push Push (Lady Lightning) is hard on 'Hard' mode. Really fucking hard. This will be interesting, kids.

To Bang Camaro's credit, they accepted on their Myspace page.

Remember to check back here for constant updates on my Push Push progress, training reports, hopefully thoughts from the band and others and much much more.

Much Like Michael Scott, I'm Back

You've heard read it before, but this time I mean it.

The blog's coming back, in a big way. And by big, I mean, I have like 3 or 4 planned posts.

Check back tonight for the biggest announcment I've ever made. Ever.

Here's what we in the news business call a tease:

Bo Knows Exactly Where He's Going



This is pretty amazing. And I thought my patented long bomb to Tim Brown was good.

Arcade Fire Review! 5/10 Boston

Check it!

Hey, I Like Music and Kind Of Like Myspace. Do You Like Music and Kind Of Like Myspace, Too?

I just wanted to alert everyone to my latest project. For this one I'm working with my venerable friends Kevin, Josh and Rupert Murdoch. It's called MyMusicBoston and we're writing Album and concert reviews from the hottest artists and showing video of all the best musicians to roll around Boston and put on a private show for us.

Check it out here.

On there you'll find my latest review of the Arctic Monkeys new album which came out on Tuesday and much, much more.

So, friend us. Read us. Love us.

THANKS!

Uh....

Make It Rain On Dem Tributes

Boston is, sadly, known as a racist city. I don't particularly agree with this sentiment but then again, I'm just a Jew, what do I know?

This, however, won't be good for Boston's reputation, though there's nothing they could do about it. A Nor'Easter has blanketed the, duh, Northeast, cancelling at least 6 baseball games so far. The big deal? Today is the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier and teams are paying tribute, with some players wearing the now retired (and Answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life, the Universe and Everything) #42.

Uh, not in Boston.... (from the Boston Globe)

On Jackie Robinson Day, Coco Crisp, who was supposed to wear No. 42, was not in Boston's starting lineup. Wily Mo Pena was slated to bat eighth and play center field.

Though, there's still tomorrow:

The Red Sox were awaiting word on whether they were paying tribute to Jackie Robinson tomorrow after festivities were cancelled.

Hippitus Hoppitus: Holy Week Really Ends Monday

Holy Week is a good week for learning.

I learned, from my roomates, that Fish is not considered meat because of a Papal decree to help out local fishermen.

I learned, from my girlfriend, everything I needed to know about Vatican 2 (and more!)

I learned, from my co-workers, that no matter how hard I try, I will always need to explain what I can and cannot eat for Passover.

I learned, from South Park, about the true nature of the Easter Bunny and the valiant work done by the Hare Club For Men.

Now it's time for you to learn, from me, that Holy Week is actually 9 days long. Traditionally, Holy Week looks like this:
1)Palm Sunday
2)Holy Monday
3)Two-fer Holy Tuesday
4)Holy Wednesday
5)Maundy (Holy) Thursday
6)Good Friday
7)Holy Saturday
8)Easter

BUT, there's a day of equal importance, that doesn't seem to get as much love as it deserves. Of course I'm talking about:
9)Marshmallow Markdown Monday

Starting at Midnight, Peeps, the glorious treat of Easter will be marked down to prices even Pontius Pilate could love. Sure, many of you may be lured by the promise of a creamy Cadbury Egg, but me? I crave nothing of the like. To me, nothing is more glorious then those marshmallow clones, coated in sugar and wrapped in cellophane.

The color? Not important. The shape? Even less so. I've eaten ducks, chicks, bunnies. Hell, if they made human shaped peeps colored in plaid sugar, I'd eat the whole fucking box.

"After Easter Sale" means nothing to be since I don't need to worry about "Pre" or even "During Easter" prices so once those 19 cent boxes of Peeps come knocking I come a calling. You can bet your bottom dollar, I'll be first in line praying at the church of CVS, and you should, too.

So Sunday, we can admire and honor the feat of Jesus rising, but don't forget the next day, as prices fall.

My New Favorite Three People Ever

Three is a magical number. In fact, as Shannon Hoon once said, "It's love's magic number. Yah it is."(Then he bought an 8-ball and died [if it were an 3-ball, we'd all be contemplating Blind Melon's reunion concert.])

Think about it; The Holy Trinity, the Roman Triumverate, Lambda Lambda Lambda, The Mighty Ducks 1 2 & 3 the list is endless, but now I've discovered the only addition that matters.

Dice, Blaze and Fury (OR: Turbo, Sonic and Fury). As one, they may sound like Sega Genesis castoffs, and look like Hiliters in tube socks, but together, they form like a Wade Robson-esque Voltron and become 1, 2, 3 Party!



They're taking the streets (and prison cells) of Boston by storm, dancing like someone who will not put up with Baby being put in a corner and just trying to put a smile on the face of us snobby Bostonians. Check it out.





Consider this my public plea to join.

1,2,3,4 Party doesnt sound half bad, right?

Massachusetts' True War Zone

The Bay State has garnered national attention for all of the wrong reasons of late. The Guardian Angels have been called in to patrol the tough streets of Dorchester as violence there is spiraling out of control. I feel, however, that it is my duty to bring you another severe problem.

Confusion, chaos, and mob rule reign in one small portion of my city. The affect is already being felt. What was once the safest city in America, has now spiraled down to the 3rd safest city in America. It's a slippery slope. I think there was already a murder this year. At this rate, we may whittle down to 4th, or hell, even 5th safest. Think it doesn't matter? Think again.

While Dorchester has Bowdoin Street and Blue Hill Avenue, Newton has its own rising epicenter of doom. Its location, the corner of Crafts and Washington Streets, more specifically, the Whole Foods Market parking lot.

Sure, Whole Foods may be a nice, albeit pricy, establishment catering to people who only like their eggs from chickens who are cooped up in 5 star hotels and milk from cows who are fellated by the highest call-cow money can buy. But walking around that parking lot is like being walking through a minefield. At any moment you could be blown to bits only in this case it's not a mine planted by an insurgent you need to worry about, it's an out-of-control VW Touareg driven by a Yuppie soccer Mom backing into your face.

Whole Foods parking lots are war zones, folks. I've noticed that the Yuppie seems to travel in a larger than necessary car, using very little hand to wheel ratio and paying even less attention. To wit, the parking lot of Marty's Liquors next door is a depiction of picture-perfect driving when juxtaposed with the Whole Foods lot.

We need the Guardian Parking Angels in Newton, stat.

I don't do this to mock those Yuppies, those of their Wednesday afternoon shopping journeys in search of the perfect head of organic lettuce. I do it as a public service to you, the citizen.... and also to mock those Yuppies.

Natch.

The Real Way The Sox Should Be Looking For A Closer

The hot topic around the hot stove concerns who should be the Closer for our beloved Boston Red Sox. Sure, today they say it's Papelbon, but how long until they change their minds? Sabermetricians trot out stats like ERA, WHIP, VORP and BAC (Tony Larussa only), but I think the only way we can appropriately make this decision is to do it is song- style. What potential Closer would have the best entrance song? Don't think it's important? Tell that to Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner when "Enter Sandman" rocks the Big Apple.

The perfect Closer entrance song needs 3 things.

1)Intimidation Factor

2)Appropriateness

3)Crowd Response (Fenway's a weird place to gage this. Where else would you get to hear a Neil Diamond sing-along, 2 Phish songs and Brass Bonanza a.k.a the Hartford Whalers' goal song in the same place? )

With that, let's take a look at the prospective Closers.

The Frontrunners:

Jonathan Papelbon - "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins: The choice for Closer that makes the most sense gets a song that makes a whole lot of sense. Pap is young enough to still look cherubic, and face it, the dude rocks. More importantly, the man's been a Fenway legend since early last April and needs a song to reflect it. A double drum roll into a soft buildup then full-tilt rocking. Sounds about right.


Julian Tavarez - "Nightmare" by 123: I love this guy. Not only did he pitch great when all hope was lost last year, not only did he give up an important home run to Mark Bellhorn in Game 1 of the 2004 World Series, not only did he punch a phone and break his hand when he got upset, not only does he act as Manny Ramirez's personal spokesman BUT he bears an UNCANNY resemblance to Freddy Krueger. The theme song to A Nightmare on Elm Street is just too perfect.

Mike Timlin - "With A Bullet" by Sam Roberts Band: A lot of pitchers like to go with song's they remember from their childhood, unfortunately, I don't think Fenway's soundsystem could handle Beethoven's Fifth (Zing!). I went with a Canadian band so Timlin could channel his heyday as a Blue Jay. Also, there's the fact that he's wearing those weird camo undershirts offering up the 97% probability that he does have live ammunition in his pockets while pitching. Sadly, Mike will start the year on the DL, so we may never know.

Joel Piniero - "Nothing Man" by Pearl Jam: Entrance songs are supposed to strike fear in the heart's of men. Unfortunately, in Piniero's case, most of those men are Red Sox fans. "Nothing Man" would work if he ends up being terrible, and it could end up being intimidating if he's any good. It's always good to note that Theo Epstein is a huge Pearl Jam fan, and hearing this song every few days could be the difference between staying in Boston and being traded for a case of Skoal.

Brendan Donnelly - "El Scorcho" by Weezer: Remember when Weezer made two absolutely amazing albums, then made three kinda crappy/just OK albums? Well Donnelly had two absolutely amazing seasons (ERA under 2) and followed it up with three kinda crappy/just OK seasons (ERA around 3.5). Also, he wears glasses, I'm sure Rivers Cuomo will be thrilled.

Maybe Yes, Maybe No:

Craig Hansen - "You're So Last Summer" by Taking Back Sunday: Wasn't it last summer when we were all stoked about the Craig Hansen era, then it turned out he only threw fast balls and really struggled throwing any breaking stuff (like the pitching version of Pedro Serrano feat. Jobu)? Either he learned how to pitch this off-season, or he'll be doing it in Pawtucket.

Manny Delcarmen - "Can't You Hear Me Knockin?" by The Rolling Stones: Out of all the young guys, I think he is ready to take the next step. The fact that I'm so enamored with him may or may not be indirectly related to him choosing to live in my hometown. If his career is anything like the Stones, he'll be epic for a decade or two, then do nothing relevant for a longer portion of time than he was actually epic.

Hideki Okajima - "From The Ritz To The Rubble" by Arctic Monkeys: Okajima was a well-known player in Japan, now he's known as the Japanese guy on the Red Sox who isn't Daisuke Matsuzaka. Good times.

J.C. Romero - "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)" by The White Stripes: J.C.'s ERA is hovering around a touchdown. Don't call us, we'll call you.

The Longshots:

Curt Schilling - "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd: Depending on what version you play, Freebird lasts anywhere from 9 to 10 minutes. This should give him ample time to talk to the media, blog, finish a mission or two on Everquest, stump for a presidential candidate, and consider running for public office on his way from the bullpen to the mound.

Rich "El Guapo" Garces - "Rico Suave" by Gerardo: Natch.

Matt Clement - "Foreplay/Longtime" by Boston: "It's been such a long time, think I should be going. Time doesn't wait for me, it keeps on rolling." See ya Matt. For the record, I think you were rushed back from injury and never pitched fully healthy, but I'm in the minority. Good luck dominating us in the future.

Roger Clemens - "I'll Believe In Anything" by Wolf Parade: Self explanatory

For The Record:

Me - "Take On Me" by A-Ha: My entrance would be of multimedia legend. As the best 80's song ever played, the JumboTron would show highlights of me, half in sketch, half in video, striking people out. It would be worth the price of admission alone.

And, I think making Papelbon Closer is a good move for the Sox this year, and, for once, it's the right move.

A Good Announcement

I've been sitting on this for awhile, but myself and my two homies Josh and Kevin are going to start writing music reviews for our Fox web page.

We're in the preliminary status right now, and once the plan fully evolves it should be a sick interactive site with tons of cool shit on it.

Right now our musings are buried in the bottom of the Blog Page under the Music section.

Here's my first post.

And here's Josh's review of the Shins last night

Let's Get Jess Rao Outta Here

I haven't been blogging lately, but fear not, friends. I'm about to come back at full force. So, those of you bored at work, school, life, you can stop IM'ing me. I've got your back.

But first, some business.

If you're like me, and I think you might, perhaps, possibly, be, you can't go anywhere without hearing something about Jess Rao. Jess Rao this, Jess Rao that. Man, get off our backs, ya know?

But what if I told you we could solve this little Jess Rao problem out?

Here's how, and it's easy.

All you have to do is head to this website, click the pink "vote" button on the bottom left corner of the screen, then vote for Jess.

So remember web denizens, vote early and often (you're allowed!)and let's get her on her way.

(In all seriousness, Jess is one of my good ole Hofstra buddies and this seems like a kickass opportunity that I wish I had. So instead of being jealous, vote for Jess and we'll get to hear all her stories secondhand)

Jesus Christ, a YouTube Clip!

Cause For Celebration

Yes, the blog has seriously been lacking. I apologize. But I do have some happy news for you. Rolling Stone is continuing their shitty/good/shitty/good cover story, and this next issue should be epic.

Panic!At The Disco->Mayer/Trucks/Frusciante->Fall Out Boy->:

Excited Red Sox Fans Eagerly Await Debut Of Matsuzaka's 'Ultimate Galactic Dragon Gyroball Pitch Power Explosion'

BOSTON—Now that Manny Ramirez has reported to camp and the spring-training opener against Minnesota is in the books, Red Sox fans are turning their attention to the awesome power rumored to dwell within much-touted off-season pitching...