Real World Ain't Real. Yo!

Farewell, TGUK

This was it, the end of the road for The Get Up Kids. Three shows left and I was lucky enough to see them before they are no more. Maybe 10 years is a good time for bands to break up, maybe it's a limit to how much creativity they can pump out for their fans. None of the band members seemed upset that the band was breaking up, but damn it, I am. The show rocked, the crowd rocked. The last decade rocked. From buying their first album off the defunct cdnow, to listening to their cd alone in the college cafeteria, it seems like The Get Up Kids have always provided the soundtrack, or at least the theme music to a good part of my life.

So for us fans it ended here tonight, in the bowels of Webster Hall. In a sweaty corpus of emotion we said farewell. Farewell to the lions of our youth which may never roar as they once did. But we'll always have the albums, and for the lucky few we'll always have that balmy June night in New York City.

Batman Begins

Saw Batman on Sunday night, and I must say it was better than I expected. It certainly was "darker" than the other movies, and there is something about Christian Bale. I always think of how phony he always seems, but every movie I see him in I walk away saying "he was awesome he really pulled it off." This movie, like it's title suggests, begins to show the origins (albeit for the big screen) of Batman, and what I like most is that it shows us his training, and how he gets his equipment and forms alliances. Personally I think it's important, because I think people often forget that Batman has no super power. He is human, and all facets of this are shown from his fear, to his weaknesses, to his compassion.

On a side note, saw this at the pavilion, which I now dub the Mos Eisley of movie theaters. Don't be fooled by its outer appearance, inside are nonsensical creatures that don't shut up, encourage crying babies, and allow their cell phones to ring their entire songs before shutting them off. Not to mention geniuses that block every doorway and staircase by sitting in front of them.

Off The Back Wall #3

Stories Of Our Lives By Dear John Letters
Quirky Rockers Craft Minor Masterpiece

This collection of sing song lyrics driven by stream of consciousness recollections and poetry from ex girlfriends is an album wrought with desperation that speaks for those that have ever asked "please show me a sign." Ranging from easily absorbed pianos to forays into crunchy riff rock (with songs like Hitting Below the Belt and Kings and Queens) the album weaves a masterpiece for those in the know. Bipolar displays McCartney-esque harmonies while capturing the essence of a Zoloft romance, and Creation Myth is just that, expressed in gushing streams of consciousness augmented by dreamy guitar licks. The album features a nice blend of "plugged" and "unplugged" songs, all seeming to move towards the ultimate conclusion that relationships are fucked up, we're hardest on ourselves, and hindsight is 20/20. Drowning, a depressing song keeping with the albums motif is cleverly masked as a pop song, but careful examination of the hook "Don't fight the drowning/The struggle only makes it worse" quickly reminds us what this is all about. Finally the album concludes with the track For the Sake of Love which may be the perfect song for sitting in a hotel room with a bottle of Whisky and a shotgun.

Released in 2003, Stories of Our Lives standout tracks include : You Always Win, Drowning, Disappointed, and Creation Myth.

Vinny Got Game #2 (Sangria Pt. I)

So here's the story thus far for the uninitiated. Last year Vinny started selling Sangria on the beach. Now, when I say Sangria I mean his own special blend of moonshine. Well this year it's back and Dumbass LTD. (Vinny's parent Company) has a sales plan. First off he spent $140 on supplies, mostly liquor and fruit that he fermented in a cooler. Then, using recycled Aquafina bottles (who knows where they came from) he's charging $8 a pop and selling them. Now, I caught a whiff of the Sangria and right off the bat it burnt my Olfactory pathways and damaged my Limbic System, not to mention it took the paint right off of a lawn chair I've been restoring for the folks. As of last night Vinny has made $100 of his $140 dollars. He plans on going to Coney Island to sell his bitch's Brew, however, I eagerly await for him to try to sell his Sangria on the army base, hopefully invoking the wrath of Uncle Sam and ending Vinny's bootlegging business. When I confront him about his lack of a liquor license, vending license, and the possibility that his Sangria may blind and/or kill, he fills up his Coors Light Insulated bookbag with his Aquafina Sangria and hits the street ensuring me his Sangria is the finest in the land.

Keep checking back to hear about the foibles of the bootlegging business, because one can only guess how this will all pan out...

Day of Days

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill inbattle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

SIGNED: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Vinny Got Game #1

A new series about the man that needs no introduction...

Bay Ridge. 5th Avenue Festival. 2005. Vinny gets sloshed, comes home dressed up in American flags like he's a vet in some parade. The bandana around his head has bled it's life giving dye onto his forehead. He doesn't realize this, nor does he care. Then it starts. "Yooooo I got at least 30 numbers tonight (of course this number would fluctuate as his story went on)." Vinny goes off to the corner to "call one of these bitches right now," that's when we mute the TV. Baby Talk. That's the game he spits. I've seen it before but now I've really had it. Here is a 31 year old man, trying to use baby talk to get a grown woman to come back to his place. We laugh as he baby talks over the phone. He goes from bumbling Casanova to deflated divorcee. It reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons when Bart points out the exact moment at which Lisa breaks Ralph Wiggums heart. Vinny's baby talking ends, and he sounds like a defeated, sorry adult.

Finally, hours later we ask as a collective "Vinny, what the hell is what the baby talk?" He proceeds to try to convince us that he's used it in the past and it works. We laugh, then fall silent as I query "Name one girl it's ever worked on."

Silence.

Vinny got game, Nahhh Vinny got Baby Talk.