Concert Review: Gov't Mule & Back Door Slam - House of Blues, Anaheim, CA - 11/20/08
Two blues bands pass through Anaheim. I had heard the name Gov’t Mule and of its leader, guitarist Warren Haynes, bandied about in jam-band circles, but didn’t know their music. At one point, I downloaded a bootleg a portion of their 2007 Halloween show where they covered Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy in its entirety. They sounded very good, but I knew there had...
I have always been fascinated with the teen movie. I watch them now, even though I look somewhat ridiculous doing so at my age. "Who's the old broad?" I hear them whisper. Why can't people make their rude comments more quietly? Anyway, adolescence is such an interesting time period. The afflicted is undergoing chemical changes, odd and frightening hair styles, growth spurts, and more. I will never forget the awesomeness or the hilarity of Sixteen Candles (1984) or Revenge of the Nerds (1984). My mother and sister held hands in front of the television set after having watched this one. It was a very tender moment in living room nerd comedy. In spite of a couple of decades' worth of teen movies, I decided to focus on some of the elements common to teen flicks of the last ten years. And while we're at it, I've never noticed the similarities between
But tonight I got to thinking, who really is the best modern day rock band out there? Coldplay? White Stripes? Kings of Leon?
I mean let's face it, we really haven't got that many really great candidates waiting in the wings to assume the throne right now. There certainly isn't any Beatles, Stones, or Who standing in waiting and ready to step up to the plate -- to say nothing of a future Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd.
As far as songwriters go, I likewise can't see the next Dylan, Springsteen, Brian Wilson, or Neil Young anywhere out there on the horizon -- as much as I would really like to. I mean, I like Conor Oberst as much as the next guy, but honestly speaking I just don't see him filling the shoes of Bob or Bruce.
These are different times than the sixties or the seventies were, and I understand that. Believe me, I do.
Years before the Blues Brothers, this group brought Chicago-style blues to a wide audience.
The rise of what came to be known in the 1960s as 'blue-eyed soul' included contributions from a lot of different musicians. One band that should receive more recognition as an important influence in the evolution of the music is the Butterfield Blues Band, the Chicago-based band led by harmonica wiz and vocalist Paul Butterfield. Of...
Well, the 2010 edition of Big Muddy Blues Festival is over — and it was amazing! All roads led
The fifth season of House, M.D concludes with Dr. Gregory House (the always extraordinary Hugh Laurie in a heartbreaking performance) watching his world come crashing down around him -- his sense of reality shattered, unable to distinguish fantasy from reality. It was a somber way to end the season, the camera pulling back to reveal the lone figure of Wilson, watching sadly from afar as House enters the doors of Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital. House co-executive producer and the finale’s writer Doris Egan explained the significance of the final sequence during a one-on-one interview the day after the finale aired. We also discussed the episode’s themes and the series’ relationships. Egan has written for House for several seasons, penning some of the best and most beloved episodes of the entire series, including season three’s “Son of Coma
Around 1964, Gene Roddenberry came up with the now legendary “transporter” effect for Star Trek, mostly out of necessity. I don’t think he believed that teleportation technology would actually exist within 300 years or so, but as a writer’s device, the transporter solved a myriad of production problems for Roddenberry’s planned TV series. Compared with having to build complex miniatures to show the USS Enterprise landing on a new planet each week, “beaming” actors off the set was a much simpler effect to insert each week.
“Land a ship fourteen stories tall on a planet surface every week?” Roddenberry exclaimed to writer Stephen E. Whitfield in his classic 1968 book, The Making of Star Trek. “Not only would it have blown our entire weekly budget, but just suggesting it would have probably ruined my reputation in the
There are several difficulties in trying to figure out a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ride. The biggest of them is the fact that so many people love the book, the radio show, the movie, the television show, or one of the forms of it so much that they might have problems with any new interruption. The other challenge is that of creating a fun “ride” that has the audience sit stationary watching everything unfold on a screen. It’s a different type of medium than I used last time out with The Sword in the Stone ride, but, it’s still fascinating. Sunday, May 17: 8:00 - 9:00PM Nature - “Victoria Falls.” I don’t know about you, but I just don’t think it’s right that Nature is doing an entire episode on a poor woman falling down. Sure, she didn’t have that little pendant
Dancing the night away with the cougars of Westlake to the very excellent voice and rocking Christmas tunes of the great Raul Malo.
When I go to a concert these days it's as much a cultural experience as it is a musical experience, because as I get older I get more and more interested in observing the crowd at a concert as well as listening to the music. I like music, but I'm also fascinated by who else likes and listens to that music. So when I write a review it's often as...
