It couldn't have been a nicer day on the waterfront today. And to top it all off, I got a copy of Loverboy's Greatest Hits CD at Tunes for fifty cents. That's Mike Reno-licious.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Hoboken Beach, The Last Sunday Afternoon In July.
It couldn't have been a nicer day on the waterfront today. And to top it all off, I got a copy of Loverboy's Greatest Hits CD at Tunes for fifty cents. That's Mike Reno-licious.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Roller Girls, Baseball, Weiners & Music...
I'm totally in love with the new album by Clor. I don't know much about them other than they are from London and their album is out over there this week, but I haven't heard if they have a US record deal or not. NME has a couple videos by them here, and the whole album streaming here. Photo montage courtesy of Ian Davies/ID Photo.Central Village was at Lollapalooza in Chicago and verifies that the Dandy Warhols and Anton & Matt from Brian Jonestown Massacre actually shared a stage for the first time in 8 years...hopefully Ondi was there filming for "Dig 2, Electric Boogaloo".
Spinach Dip helps expose Chicagoans' misinterpretation of the phrase "best hot dog".
Brooklyn Vegan has hipped me to BlocParty.net, which features all kinds of MP3's, videos, tabs, and more.
Unkle Munki tells me that the Gotham Girls Roller Derby is awesome, and the girls are way hot. They have matches once a month up in the Boogie Down, and I think I have to be there for the next one on August 19.
Before you go see the Gotham Girls, you may want to visit One Louder and grab the MP3 he's offering of tips from the 1975 album, "Picking Up Women Made Easy".
And finally, here was my view from what is easily the nicest ballpark I've ever been in, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, where we watched the Phillies beat the Padres this past Saturday. Flying Fish EPA on tap, too! Coupled with two slices from Lorenzo's before the game, and that was one enjoyable afternoon in the sun.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Swooshing Through Central Park, Doin' It For Randy Jackson
I ran the Nike Run Hit Wonder in Central Park last night with Kimberly & my pal Chuck. Like last year, it was a ball.
The event started an hour before racetime with a concert by The Donnas. I haven't seen them live in about six years, when they played The Continental and sounded like a girly Ramones. They've really come a long way, and sounded great on the big outdoor stage. It seems they learned a thing or two about hooks from Butch Walker, who produced their most recent album.
It was about 88F when the race started, which was not so bad considering the previous couple of evenings' temperatures.
The race was so packed, it took us a good two minutes just to get past the starting line. One of the race's "hosts" Randy Jackson (best known for sitting next to Paula Abdul on American Idol, but I like to think of him as the bass player in latter day Journey) reached out of the review stand, high-fived Kimberly as we ran past, and commanded her to "Do It, Dawg!".
She & I totally slow-cruised the course, while Chuck smoked us, as he's working himself toward the NYC Marathon that he qualified for and will be running later this year.
The bands that played along the course were kind of iffy this year, compared to last years beautiful new wave cheesefest.
We passed Chingy, whom I wouldn't know from any of the guys with gold fronts and sideways Yankees caps who stand in front of the liquor store in Plainfield on my way home from work. He sounded good, though, and looked like he was enjoying watching the runners go by.
Shortly after, we coasted past Nina Sky, whom I'd never heard of before. They didn't hurt my feelings or anything, and were easily the cutest band of the race. About a mile later, we came upon Fountains Of Wayne, who looked like they were literally melting in the heat. We heard the end of "Mexican Wine" and the intro to "Radiation Vibe", both of which sounded like they were being played under duress.
The last "act" on the race was DJ Z-Trip, whose new album is one of my favorites of the year. However, while we passed his area, he was merely playing James Brown's "Sex Machine" on one turntable...now, don't get me wrong, James Brown is always cool, but jeez...I could have probably turned on Jack radio and heard the same thing.
Post race, we were all awarded medals (everyone's a winner in NikeWorld!), and were treated to a concert by Joan Jett, who is still foxy-cool after all these years. Thankfully she's grown her hair back out and she looks like Tegan & Sara's hip older sister.
All-in-all, despite the bands along the course not really making much of a difference in the whole experience, the race was lots of fun. Kimba and I are gonna run it again in Los Angeles in September, where it finishes on the field inside Memorial Coliseum.
Tien Mao has more photos, including the Joan Jett concert here.
The Armchair Athlete was all about the schwag.
The event started an hour before racetime with a concert by The Donnas. I haven't seen them live in about six years, when they played The Continental and sounded like a girly Ramones. They've really come a long way, and sounded great on the big outdoor stage. It seems they learned a thing or two about hooks from Butch Walker, who produced their most recent album.
It was about 88F when the race started, which was not so bad considering the previous couple of evenings' temperatures.
The race was so packed, it took us a good two minutes just to get past the starting line. One of the race's "hosts" Randy Jackson (best known for sitting next to Paula Abdul on American Idol, but I like to think of him as the bass player in latter day Journey) reached out of the review stand, high-fived Kimberly as we ran past, and commanded her to "Do It, Dawg!".
She & I totally slow-cruised the course, while Chuck smoked us, as he's working himself toward the NYC Marathon that he qualified for and will be running later this year.
The bands that played along the course were kind of iffy this year, compared to last years beautiful new wave cheesefest.
We passed Chingy, whom I wouldn't know from any of the guys with gold fronts and sideways Yankees caps who stand in front of the liquor store in Plainfield on my way home from work. He sounded good, though, and looked like he was enjoying watching the runners go by.
Shortly after, we coasted past Nina Sky, whom I'd never heard of before. They didn't hurt my feelings or anything, and were easily the cutest band of the race. About a mile later, we came upon Fountains Of Wayne, who looked like they were literally melting in the heat. We heard the end of "Mexican Wine" and the intro to "Radiation Vibe", both of which sounded like they were being played under duress.
The last "act" on the race was DJ Z-Trip, whose new album is one of my favorites of the year. However, while we passed his area, he was merely playing James Brown's "Sex Machine" on one turntable...now, don't get me wrong, James Brown is always cool, but jeez...I could have probably turned on Jack radio and heard the same thing.
Post race, we were all awarded medals (everyone's a winner in NikeWorld!), and were treated to a concert by Joan Jett, who is still foxy-cool after all these years. Thankfully she's grown her hair back out and she looks like Tegan & Sara's hip older sister.
All-in-all, despite the bands along the course not really making much of a difference in the whole experience, the race was lots of fun. Kimba and I are gonna run it again in Los Angeles in September, where it finishes on the field inside Memorial Coliseum.
Tien Mao has more photos, including the Joan Jett concert here.
The Armchair Athlete was all about the schwag.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Maybe If You Are Lucky, Booker Will Be There To Sign Your Nickleback Baseball Cap...
The Bloc Party fanclub presale is over tonight (Tuesday), but the more expensive K-Rock (the station that doesn't and has never played Bloc Party) presale for Roseland starts Wednesday @ 9am. The Kills are on the bill for that show, too.
Password is "banquet", Ticketmaster link here.
Password is "banquet", Ticketmaster link here.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Banquet At Roseland
Bloc Party has just put a bunch of tickets to their short September U.S. tour on sale through their fan club:
Sep 8 Avalon (Boston, MA) $22.00
Sep 9 Roseland Ballroom (New York, NY) $25.00
Sep 10 Electric Factory (Philadelphia, PA) $22.50
Sep 12 Docks Concert Theatre (Toronto, ON) $18.50
Sep 14 Congress Theatre (Chicago, IL) $24.00
Sep 16 Fillmore Auditorium (Denver, CO) $20.00
Sep 20 Palladium (Los Angeles, CA) $25.00
Sep 26 Tabernacle (Atlanta, GA) $20.00
You have to buy a membership to get in on the pre-sale, but the money you'll save on TicketBastard fees will more than pay the £2.00 GBP (approx. US$3.60) membership cost.
Bloc Party on a Friday night? Like Riunite on ice...that's nice!
Sep 8 Avalon (Boston, MA) $22.00
Sep 9 Roseland Ballroom (New York, NY) $25.00
Sep 10 Electric Factory (Philadelphia, PA) $22.50
Sep 12 Docks Concert Theatre (Toronto, ON) $18.50
Sep 14 Congress Theatre (Chicago, IL) $24.00
Sep 16 Fillmore Auditorium (Denver, CO) $20.00
Sep 20 Palladium (Los Angeles, CA) $25.00
Sep 26 Tabernacle (Atlanta, GA) $20.00
You have to buy a membership to get in on the pre-sale, but the money you'll save on TicketBastard fees will more than pay the £2.00 GBP (approx. US$3.60) membership cost.
Bloc Party on a Friday night? Like Riunite on ice...that's nice!
Sunday, July 17, 2005
The Greatest Free Listing In Craigslist History
Regular extrawack! readers know I love combing Craigslist for interesting ads...this one takes the cake:
Get your free monkey here.
Get your free monkey here.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Siren Festival vs Mookie & The Cyclones
Kimberly & I took the train out to Coney Island for a bit of the Siren Festival and to go to the Brooklyn Cyclones/Auburn Doubledays baseball game.
We got there in time to see Diamond Nights, who sounded great. From there we walked over to the other stage to catch a little Dungen before the baseball game. By the time we got to the stadium for the game, we were disappointed that we were too late for the giveaway of Mookie Wilson bobblehead dolls, which were given to the first 2500 people through the gate. By the looks of the adults walking around with 2 or 3 of the dolls, I think there were more than a few people who bought cheap tickets to be able to go through the gates a few times...so I'm guessing there'll be a few of these for sale at bananas prices on eBay.
The game itself was boring as hell, and the crowd was even worse. Crikey, I've been to rowdier church services, and I'm Methodist. It was so quiet that VHS Or Beta's set was louder at some points than the stadium jock jams, which was very cool. So cool in fact, that we decided to book out of the game early to enjoy the rest of VoB's set on our way back to the train station. As we strolled past the festival, the streets were way fuller than before with people getting ready for Spoon's set. My agoraphobia set in and we split to the safety of the N train back to Manhattan. All in all, a pretty cool afternoon, despite ending up Mookieless.
Here's how Diamond Nights looked from my vantage point near a sausage & peppers stand:
This guy at the Cyclones game had the worst shirt of the day:
Based on this dude's hair, I'm guessing that when he's not hanging in the cheap seats at Keyspan Park, he's rockin' that mullet on stage in his Journey cover band (which is probably named after a Journey album title...like "Infinity" or "Evolution" or something like that):
This shot of the field at Keyspan, where The White Stripes/Shins shows will be in a few weeks, shows how the weird fog started rolling in only a few innings into the game. Note the green Brooklyn Lager signboard on the left side of the photo, with verbage that could only make sense in NYC:
As you'd expect for a Brooklyn music fest, the best scoop and photos are at Brooklyn Vegan.
We got there in time to see Diamond Nights, who sounded great. From there we walked over to the other stage to catch a little Dungen before the baseball game. By the time we got to the stadium for the game, we were disappointed that we were too late for the giveaway of Mookie Wilson bobblehead dolls, which were given to the first 2500 people through the gate. By the looks of the adults walking around with 2 or 3 of the dolls, I think there were more than a few people who bought cheap tickets to be able to go through the gates a few times...so I'm guessing there'll be a few of these for sale at bananas prices on eBay.
The game itself was boring as hell, and the crowd was even worse. Crikey, I've been to rowdier church services, and I'm Methodist. It was so quiet that VHS Or Beta's set was louder at some points than the stadium jock jams, which was very cool. So cool in fact, that we decided to book out of the game early to enjoy the rest of VoB's set on our way back to the train station. As we strolled past the festival, the streets were way fuller than before with people getting ready for Spoon's set. My agoraphobia set in and we split to the safety of the N train back to Manhattan. All in all, a pretty cool afternoon, despite ending up Mookieless.
Here's how Diamond Nights looked from my vantage point near a sausage & peppers stand:
This guy at the Cyclones game had the worst shirt of the day:
Based on this dude's hair, I'm guessing that when he's not hanging in the cheap seats at Keyspan Park, he's rockin' that mullet on stage in his Journey cover band (which is probably named after a Journey album title...like "Infinity" or "Evolution" or something like that):
This shot of the field at Keyspan, where The White Stripes/Shins shows will be in a few weeks, shows how the weird fog started rolling in only a few innings into the game. Note the green Brooklyn Lager signboard on the left side of the photo, with verbage that could only make sense in NYC:
As you'd expect for a Brooklyn music fest, the best scoop and photos are at Brooklyn Vegan.
What's worse than being bit twice by a pygmy rattlesnake?
...being bit seconds later again by a copperhead in the groin.
Read about the unluckiest guy in Oklahoma here.
Read about the unluckiest guy in Oklahoma here.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
She Left His Amplifier...
The dB's have reformed and are playing out!
Naturally, they are playing two shows at Maxwell's when I'm in L.A., (and with my luck two more at the Troubadour as soon as I'm back here...). Damn, I wish I was gonna be around for those shows. Maybe I can pray to the reunion gods for a dB's/Bongos double bill down the road.
Mister Snitch is spearheading a campaign to pitch using the Jersey City Medical Building to the makers of the next Batman movie...and why not?
I'm in the middle of reading Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself To Live
, his travelogue of a road trip to various spots around the country where important people in rock have died. Like his previous books and his column in Spin, it's funny and interesting. Productshop NYC says his readings/book-signings are worth showing up to, and has his book tour dates here.
Naturally, they are playing two shows at Maxwell's when I'm in L.A., (and with my luck two more at the Troubadour as soon as I'm back here...). Damn, I wish I was gonna be around for those shows. Maybe I can pray to the reunion gods for a dB's/Bongos double bill down the road.
Mister Snitch is spearheading a campaign to pitch using the Jersey City Medical Building to the makers of the next Batman movie...and why not?
I'm in the middle of reading Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself To Live
, his travelogue of a road trip to various spots around the country where important people in rock have died. Like his previous books and his column in Spin, it's funny and interesting. Productshop NYC says his readings/book-signings are worth showing up to, and has his book tour dates here.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Whatnot.
My Colorado music scout Chet has hipped me to a Denver band called Born In The Flood. They sound like a cool cross between Coldplay and The Ocean Blue...which is right up my alley.
Fluxblog has a download of the mad catchy new Ladytron single, "Destroy Everything You Touch".
Everytime I go to Shea for a Mets game, I get fired up when they play Ace Frehley's "New York Groove". What other stadium has a single from any of the Kiss solo albums in their playlist? None. That's why Shea rules. Download the song here, charge yourself $3.75 for a hotdog, put the game on the tube, and live the Shea experience at home.
If you are going to Siren out at Coney Island this Saturday, you can find the set times and running order here. If you do go, look for me and say hi. I'll the guy nodding my head to the music and wearing black Chucks.
I watched the first episode of Rock Star:INXS tonight, and kinda dug it...I'll stay with it a bit longer. I've seen them a few times back in the day, and this show reminded me how great a band they were...bandwise. Yeah, Hutchence was a great frontman, but that band was always tight. And who woulda though the guitarist from Jane's Addiction would be the new Ryan Seacrest?
Navarro, Out!
Fluxblog has a download of the mad catchy new Ladytron single, "Destroy Everything You Touch".
Everytime I go to Shea for a Mets game, I get fired up when they play Ace Frehley's "New York Groove". What other stadium has a single from any of the Kiss solo albums in their playlist? None. That's why Shea rules. Download the song here, charge yourself $3.75 for a hotdog, put the game on the tube, and live the Shea experience at home.
If you are going to Siren out at Coney Island this Saturday, you can find the set times and running order here. If you do go, look for me and say hi. I'll the guy nodding my head to the music and wearing black Chucks.
I watched the first episode of Rock Star:INXS tonight, and kinda dug it...I'll stay with it a bit longer. I've seen them a few times back in the day, and this show reminded me how great a band they were...bandwise. Yeah, Hutchence was a great frontman, but that band was always tight. And who woulda though the guitarist from Jane's Addiction would be the new Ryan Seacrest?
Navarro, Out!
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Almost As Cool As An OBE From The Queen
The new extrawack! buttons have arrived.
Designed by Sergio, The Nacho King, these buttons will let you tell the world, "Hey! I waste time on the Internet reading junk!".
Drop me a line with your postal address at extrawack@gmail.com, and a uniformed government employee will hand deliver one to your front door.
Designed by Sergio, The Nacho King, these buttons will let you tell the world, "Hey! I waste time on the Internet reading junk!".
Drop me a line with your postal address at extrawack@gmail.com, and a uniformed government employee will hand deliver one to your front door.
Saturday, July 09, 2005
The Coolest Tribute Band Since Dread Zeppelin
The Red Stripes!
Mini-Biography from their MySpace page:
The Red Stripes be from Detroit Town, Jamaica - where crime runs through life and the rhythms of the sound systems fill the streets.
Drummer Reggae Zellweger and vocalist/guitarist Black White first met at a family reunion. They married not long after that, but once they discovered that they were actually brother and sister, it was the end of the marriage. (Incest is a big no-no in Detroit Town's strict Caribbean church community!)
While Black & Reggae were enjoying life's pleasures by the rivers of Babylon on a lazy Jamaican afternoon, the clouds parted and Jah spoke to them saying, "You must spread a message of peace and love through the music of The White Stripes...but make it reggae mon!"
Red Stripes videos and an MP3 of their "megamix" can be found here. Irie!
Mini-Biography from their MySpace page:
The Red Stripes be from Detroit Town, Jamaica - where crime runs through life and the rhythms of the sound systems fill the streets.
Drummer Reggae Zellweger and vocalist/guitarist Black White first met at a family reunion. They married not long after that, but once they discovered that they were actually brother and sister, it was the end of the marriage. (Incest is a big no-no in Detroit Town's strict Caribbean church community!)
While Black & Reggae were enjoying life's pleasures by the rivers of Babylon on a lazy Jamaican afternoon, the clouds parted and Jah spoke to them saying, "You must spread a message of peace and love through the music of The White Stripes...but make it reggae mon!"
Red Stripes videos and an MP3 of their "megamix" can be found here. Irie!
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Friday, July 01, 2005
Snitchin' On Tris
A hearty (and 5 years too late to be funny) "WHAZZZZUUUUP!" to readers of Mister Snitch who have found their way here from his blog this weekend, rather than spending valuable holiday time with family or risking digit loss with a pack of Canal Street Black Cats.
Señor Snitch, as he's known South of Matamoros (and on certain blocks of Bergenline Avenue) chronicles the goofy sociology & politics of Hoboken and its surroundings...inna blog stylee.
Take a peek this weekend inbetween bites of your macaroni salad that may or may not have been left in the sun too long, and check his site.
And take his advice and go see Tris McCall, the verbose but always dead-on music critic for nj.com, perform his songs backed by Cropduster at Maxwells Saturday night.
Señor Snitch, as he's known South of Matamoros (and on certain blocks of Bergenline Avenue) chronicles the goofy sociology & politics of Hoboken and its surroundings...inna blog stylee.
Take a peek this weekend inbetween bites of your macaroni salad that may or may not have been left in the sun too long, and check his site.
And take his advice and go see Tris McCall, the verbose but always dead-on music critic for nj.com, perform his songs backed by Cropduster at Maxwells Saturday night.
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