Jimmy's Juke Joint

Superbowl XL

Superbowl XL. That's 40 for the Roman Numeral impaired. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks. I have never worked on a Superbowl Sunday ever. That I can remember. I did this time. So, I recorded the pre-game,game, post game and The Dating Game. Just to be sure.

Pre-game show. Stevie Wonder, John Legend, India Arie, Joss Stone and others. Stevie rocked the house! At one point, he stood up and did the whole brushing the "dirt off your shoulder" move ala Jay-Z. And Joss Stone. That makes 2 people named Joss that I dig.

Joss Whedon. Creator of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL, FIREFLY and SERENITY. Current writer on ASTONISHING X-MEN. All around brilliant writer/director. Take it easy. He's not my man crush. Or a gay crush. He's my writing/directing idol, bitches! Don't hate!

Joss Stone. I think she's legal now. So that makes it okay to say she's hot. And if she's not legal, then it's okay to say she's hot if I live in Alabama. Or France. But, mama's got some pipes. She can sang her ass off! And, she looks great while doing it. Using those pipes that is. And looking hot. Uh...piping hot...I guess.

Then we had one of the weirdest moments. Harrison Ford leading a bunch of former NFL players in a rendition of "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss. Complete with cartoon background and rhyme scheme! Oh, the places you have gone, Mr. Ford. This led to the National Anthem as sung by Aaron Neville and Aretha "Big Mama's House" Franklin. Aaron whispered into the mic and Aretha screamed her way through. I think they would have been happier sharing a giant sub sandwich.

Then, the big game. Steelers win 21-10 over the Seahawks. What? You expected a play by play? Watch Sportscenter, ya punks!

Halftime was The Rolling Stones. The old folks home show. Boring. Hey, I love the Stones too, but they were not the saviors of the halftime show. Ever since Janet let her nipple out, the fuckers at the FCC have been in an uproar. Now we get this. The octogenarian hour. Next year, let MTV run it again. You have your 5 second delay, ya wankers!

And, finally, what most people watch the Superbowl for. The commercials. Last year's big winner was probably the Go Daddy.com girl almost losing her top. This year had some good ones. Apparently, all of the ones Go Daddy.com submitted were denied, except a very tame one. To see some of the denied submissions, click it. Other notables: The Hidden Bud Light in the Office Hunt, Burger King one with the girls dressed as food and piling on top of one another to make a burger, Diet Pepsi remix "Brown & Bubbly" with Diddy, Sprint "theft protection" phone where the guy throws his phone at his friend, Michelob Amber where the guy roughly tackles a girl during a football game and then she gets revenge at the bar, "Addicted to LOST" parody using Robert Plant's song, Budweiser one with baby Clydesdale trying to pull cart and adult horses pushing from the back and another Budweiser one with a Clydesdale football game and then a bald sheep comes running out as a streaker. Not sure which I thought was the best. There was that Jessica Simpson Pizza Hut one, but she didn't show enough skin to make it interesting. It's between the streaking sheep the Diet Pepsi remix, I suppose. Though Go Daddy.com's was not as in your face, it was still provocative. Mostly due to the model/actress in them, Candice Michelle.

Let's just marinate on that for awhile. And by marinate, I mean...uh...

Ah, fuck it. Go Daddy wins again!

2nd Show Results, AMA's, & Seattle Bound!

Loyal readers will know that the 2nd of our 4 show run was last night.  For new readers, and aren't there thousands a day?, I'm talking about the sketch comedy group that I write and perform with known as HomeGroan Sketch Comedy.  Our current show is HomeGroan and the Goblet of Fire. After the first show stumbles, we had a couple of rehearsals and got our stuff together. There were still a few glitches here and there, but we freakin' rocked the house last night!  Another small house of about 30 people, but they were very responsive and really into it.  The theater holds 99 people, so not a bad size.  At least that's what I tell my dates.  Oh wait, we were talking about the theater.  Right.  Hey, we performed at the famous Caroline's on Broadway back in May to a packed house of about 200!  So there!  Back to the show.  Yep.  We kicked ass.  Had a nice flow going and the laughs abounded! Next week will be genius and I'm sure the final show will be perfect.  Just like me.  Like you didn't see that one coming.

Got home after hanging with my sis and friends for a quick beer or 3.  I recorded The American Music Awards that had aired earlier.   

Mariah opened the show with a barely there dress and lungs forever.  Her voice wasn't bad either. No, that wasn't the dress, but you get the idea. Bless her for loving to show off her stuff. And please stop thanking your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Buddha, God, or whatever higher deity you believe in!  The only ones that it made sense for were the ones in the Gospel category.  Mariah, I love your boobs, uh voice, but to thank God for your award?  Come on.  "If you pray hard enough and truly believe, God will give you everything."  Oh really?  Tell that to the victims of the hurricane and earthquake.  I bet their praying for food and water and money and a house, etc.  Maybe if they prayed for an American Music Award, they'd get one!  Hey, poor people and victims world-wide!  Start praying for awards and you'll get them!  You just have to believe.  Ask Mariah!  She knows best. Anyway, a lot of performers, but some high and low-lights.  Lindsay Lohan sang her new "hit" bitching about her delinquent father and then went into a rendition of Stevie Nicks "Edge of Seventeen."  I swear I saw them cut to Stevie in the audience being held down by security as she pulled a gun out.  I wasn't sure if she was going to shoot Lindsay or herself over the atrocious raping her song received.  And to continue rivalry rumors, Hillary Duff performed shortly after.  I fast forwarded.  There was a cool duet with Cyndi Lauper and Sarah McLaughlin doing Cyndi's "Time After Time".  For some reason, they showed it in black and white.  Ooohhh....all art house-y.  Santana needs to stop playing.  He's only popular because he gets even more popular people to perform with him and write the hits.  Eurythmics got up and did a couple of old hits.  They still got it and we still don't know if Annie Lennox likes the peaNUT butter or the jelly.  R. Kelly won some award, but was a no show.  Probably at a Girl Scouts meeting or was going to the bathroom.  Or both.  I can't believe people still like this guy.  His latest hit, the Million part epic "Trapped in the Closet".  Puh leaze.  Crap. Crap. Crap.  The show ended with a live performance from The Rolling Stones.  Guys.  Seriously.  Retire. You're 80.  It's great that you're still rockin', but let it go. Overall, another lame awards show. 

Finally, I am heading to Seattle for about 5 days with my friend, Christina.  I have never been and can not wait.  My flight is in 3 hours so I have to get out of the door pretty soon.  And, no I haven't gone to bed yet.  I am sure I will have some limited computer access, but probably not a lot.  So, wont be able to post every day.  Calm down.  Just read some of the old ones. Laugh at the good old days! However, I might be able to post, so keep checking in!  You may get lucky and read about my adventures as they happen. Oh to be so lucky. Cross your fingers.  It could happen.

F@#& Sony Music!

Orwell was a visionary.  His classic book, 1984, told of a futuristic society where "Big Brother" sees all.  Guess what folks?  We're there.  Look all around you.  Cameras everywhere.  Google maps can zoom in to just about any place. Computers can be accessed by anyone.  Which leads to the title about Sony Music.  This is a few weeks old, but is still big in the news.  Sony Music BMG started putting root kits in their CD's.  What's a root kit you ask? Perhaps what a tree surgeon carries with him when working on foliage? A "How-to" manual on making homemade root beer? A cheerleaders instruction booklet?  BRING IT! No, no.  None of the above.  Let's let the fine people at CNET explain it:  "A simple definition of root kit is a collection of tools used by any criminal intruder to gain access to the root of a remote system, to get control of that computer, and to hide their presence. For example, if you were to search for running processes on your computer, a malicious tool might mask its presence by not allowing itself to appear. You would have no way of knowing whether you were infected."

Frickin SONY is invading our computers!  Check out this article on CNET titled DRM This, Sony! for more on the story.  Sony is now backtracking and has released a patch for it.  Still, if you purchased any music from Sony recently and even just played it on your computer, then you have the Sony root kit in your system.  More absurd is some of the fine print.  If you file for bankruptcy, you lose the rights to your music that you already bought.  If your music is stolen or lost, you can not obtain digital rights to the music.  If you look at the CD funny, laser beams will shoot out and kill you.  If you start humming the music you bought, then a Sony representative will show up out of nowhere and tackle you, tie you up and gag you for a period of 30 days.  If your dog bites someone listening to some Sony music on their mp3 player, then your dog will be taken to doggy heaven.  Yeah, the last few were jokes, but the first ones are real.  Unfreakinbelievable!

Bottom line, research this if you have bought a Sony CD.  And, if there is a way to get that music another way...THEN DO IT! For the record, most of the Sony artists were unaware of this and don't support it.   I am not a big music downloader.  I love buying CD's and checking out the booklet and stuff, downloading it into my computer and iPod and enjoying it.  Bullshit like this from the corporate assholes will make me think twice.  I have dabbled in video piracy and perhaps it's time I truly jump full force and do music as well.  I'll be a pirate!  Aarrrrggghhh!!!  Yo, ho,ho, it's a pirate's life for me!  Just call me NO BEARD!  Scourge of the Internet! 

Check yourself before you wreck yourself, Sony.  Or else there will be some world wide jacking of your products going on.  You're hatin' the playa, not the game!  So, step off and get yourself right, fool!

GODSPELL '96

I ran across some old pictures the other day. It was from the production of the musical, GODSPELL, that I did back in '96.  I played the big JC, the water walker, the #1 son.  You know, the guy who is always popular at parties because he can turn water into wine.  That's Jesus, you ignoramus! Or as he goes by his legal name, Jesus Henry Christ on a Popsicle Stick.  (Formerly "on Ski's.")  If you are familiar with GODSPELL, then you know that it is based directly from the Book of Matthew in the Bible.  The Bible?  Familar?  No?  It's been on the New York Times Bestsellers list since, oh.....the beginning of the written language.  And those Times critics were harsh back then.  "Thine booketh doth come from the odor that is crap."  Still, it endured. 

This was my first big lead in a musical ever.  It was pretty daunting.  I had loads of monologues and quite a few songs.  The monologues were not a problem.  I had always considered myself an actor who sings.  I can carry a tune, but I felt my acting was the strongest.  And, as I said, it was basically directly from the Bible, so I was spouting out holy words each show!  Preaching away!  I loved my entrance.  Another character would sing, "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord".  And I would enter.  Talk about big shoes.  I guess it went to my head.  I gotta say...in those few months that I did the show.  I felt serene.  Calm.  Nothing riled me.  Seriously.  People would argue and I'd offer them the sage like wisdom of turning the other cheek.  It was kinda cool.  And, I had my own worship going on.  What with the fans.  Oh the fans.  My legions.  "Jesus Jimmy! I'll be your Mary Magdalene!"  Those were the days.  I heard many a "confession".  Good times.  I swear that one time I grabbed a bottle of water and it turned into a fine '94 Bryant Family Cabernet, but that could have just been all of the holy weed I was smoking. 

And check out my costume.  Overalls.  Get it?  Jesus was the son of a carpenter!  Wow.  Our costume designer was genius.  Not really sure what was going on with everyone else's outfits.  Kinda like someone threw up bags of skittles on the cast. 

I had a blast doing the show.  I was told that I played the big guy with fire and humanity.  Not all docile and sweet.  I laughed, cried, got angry, etc.  That's how I saw him.  As just a dude.  Not being blasphemous, but it just made it easier to relate.  He was a man.  Although, by my make up job, you might think I was playing him in an alternative lifestyle.  I'm sure that would be a completely different story. 

When Did We Stop Listening to Modern Music?

As a kid, I always loved my mom's record collection.  She had a ton of Elvis and Motown records.  Now, this was before the time of the CD, kids!  We actually had a stereo.  (Look it up on wikipedia, if you don't know what a stereo is!) I have been an avid music fan since I was an embryo.  However, I always wondered why she never had any music after the '60's.  No Rolling Stones, no Beatles, hell...not even any Beach Boys.  Moms just turned the radio off some time around 1964 and never turned it back on.  (Shortly after, she started having kids.....hmmmm...maybe WE killed her taste for music.  Sorry Mom!)

So, as I came into the world, with headphones on, I had the radio on constantly.  (No! Don't cut that!  It's my headphones! Oh, no, just my umbilical cord.)  Once again kiddies, this is pre-MTV days.  Hard to fathom, I know.  Breathe.  I was an American Top 40 whore.  I was Casey Kasem's little bitch.  I wrote so many "long distant dedications" to the girl down the block and never understood why he wouldn't read them.  Or maybe it's because they read like so:

Dear Casey

I am 10 yrs. old. I love Kathy V.   She lives a block away.  Please play "All Out of Love" by Air Supply because I love her and want to marry her. Oh yeah. And have sex with her.  If I knew what that was and how to do it.  I just hear that it's cool.  So, please play it so we can have sex.  Thanks.

Your loving fan (unless you don't play it then I will kill you)- Jimmy

Sweet, huh?  Still don't get why he wouldn't read them.  It's like Shakespeare. (And on a side not, I never put together why Casey Kasem sounded just like "Robin" in THE SUPERFRIENDS cartoon and "Shaggy" in SCOOBY-DOO.)

I was very into Pop, R&B and Rock.  Then, I heard "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugar Hill Gang and was introduced to the world of rap.  I decided that I was black.  I figured, hey, I'm Filipino and Irish, ....I'm brown and I've heard of the black Irish.  So, why not?   I still listened to all the other stuff too and soon had a big cassette tape collection.  (Cassette tapes were the cool way to listen to music back then.  Yes, I'm old.)  As MTV came into play, I got exposed to even more types of music.  You see, back in MTV's infancy, they actually played music videos.  Another difficult concept to understand, I know.  CD's followed shortly after. My collection just kept on growing.  And now with mp3's, the possibilities are endless.  Pretty soon, I'll just be able to have music play in my head by touching my nose.  Tug my right ear, volume control. Left ear, song selection.  I just can't sneeze or the feedback is a bitch!

Now, here's the thing. I have never turned off the radio.  Or the music channels.  I still buy or download new music at least once a week. Whenever I hang with some young 'uns, I usually know what they are talking about or have more knowledge of their "favorite artist" than they do.  I still have an eclectic taste.  I mostly listen to rap/hip hop and R&B, but still buy alot of the new rock and alternative and yes, pop stuff.  (Don't hate the playa, hate the game!) There's some great shit out there!  And, there's some shit out there.  Like any industry, the music market is flooded with the good and the sucky. 

And, not hating on moms in the earlier paragraph.  I just never got it.  I have friends that grew up as I did, and have turned off the radio/TV.  Some of them only like listening to 80's music.  Yeah, it's fun to reminisce, but I don't want to be reminded of the crappy high school life through music all the time.  Plus, some of the generation before me only likes classic 70's rock. And, some of the generation after me is feeling the big 90's grunge scene.  Pretty soon, people will be saying, "remember the 10's?"  I guess that's what we would call this decade?  The early 2000's? No?  Then what the hell do you call it, smarty britches?

For being such a music freak, I got into the mp3 scene a bit late.  My sis, Marsha, bought me a little mp3 player a couple of years ago.  With an expansion card, it could hold about 30-40 songs.  I figured, hey, I buy a CD a week, I'll just listen to it over and over again until the next one.  But, I finally bought an iPod a few months back and can't frickin believe it took me this long!  I have almost my entire music collection on it.  I start at 2pac and end at Zamfir.  Yes, Zamfir.  He of "the magic pan flute."  Hey, it was on the KILL BILL soundtrack.  So, shut it! 

I love old music.  Even Gregorian chants.  But, I don't think I will ever stop listening to new music.  So, all you closed minded old fogies out there.  Open up a bit and try something new.  You just might dig it.  I'm gonna be one of those old people that the kids think is trying to be hip.  Yet, I actually will be.