06) – .moe, Yonder Mountain String Band, Elton John, The Cranberries & Motley Crue

“She Sends Me” – moe.
From No Doy

It was at a Furthur Festival that I had first heard of moe. There were all these neo-hippies with bumper stickers plastered over all sorts of things with the band name. It was always like that too, all lower cases with the period in the back. It’s a goofy little thing, but definitely stands out and makes you wonder what they are all about. I don’t really remember their performance that day. I remember I liked it, but out of the half-dozen bands I saw it’s hard to recall much about this one when I didn’t know any of their songs

Eventually, I bought an album, No Doy, and it has become an album I really enjoy, but rarely listen to. “She Sends Me” is pretty typical fare for the band, or at least the album. It has a little funky, warbly bass line that moves the song along, at least until the final rave-up when the guitar takes over into a quickly-paced free-for-all. The lyrics are completely goofy and fun.

There are a good little band, one that I love for their ability to continue putting out fine music and creating a profitable scene while remaining almost completely obscured from mainstream media. A band that plays for the music, man, and not MTV credibility.

“Must’ve Had Your Reasons” – Yonder Mountain String Band
From Town by Town

A few summers back I saw the Yonder Mountain String Band in Indianapolis during a festival dubbed “Jamgrass” which was supposed to be this crazy fusion of jam bands and bluegrass players. It was a great, long day filled with the likes of Sam Bush, Tony Rice with Peter Rowan, David Grisman, Dark Star Orchestra, and the aforementioned String Band. That’s a big collection of tried and true pickers to compete with but Yonder Mountain held their own. They did so by making bluegrass fun again. They have combined traditional bluegrass styles with popular music. It is similar to what Sam Bush did ten years ago when creating New Grass, except where Bush now carries a drummer, Yonder Mountain still keeps it with traditional instruments. They did a great version of “Suspicious Minds” for Elvis’ birthday, and if you haven’t heard Elvis done bluegrass style well, you just haven’t lived. At least not anywhere near Kentucky.

Unfortunately, most of the albums I’ve bought since that fateful performance have not lived up to the sheer joy of that evening. I don’t know what it is – the original songs, the lack of energy that only comes from a live performance, or something else – but the studio recordings have never done much for me.

Town by Town seems to be a lot more of what I remember from that evening, and this song is just about perfect. It feels lighter, and more energetic than the others I’ve listened to. You know how often studio tracks are performed with each musician playing their tracks separately, in a box, and you can hear that? Well, this one feels like the band is back on the road, playing live and in the spirit. I’m glad to hear them pull it off on the album, and keep checking my local listings to see them coming back to my town.

“Tiny Dancer” – Elton John
From Madman Across the Water

I can’t not hear this song and think of that scene in Almost Famous where the band finds common ground in it while lip-synching along It’s a great movie moment, and a nearly perfect song. My relationship with Elton is a sordid one. My first memory of the man is not of his music but of a radio news announcer discussing that Elton was auctioning off much of his stage props and costumes. There was much ballyhoo over Elton’s elaborate stage get-ups and many a comparison to the late Liberace. An odd memory I know, but yet there it is.

Certainly, I loved songs like “Candle in the Wind” when I was young and have great fond memories of hearing Elton sing during the 800-mile drive from college in Alabama to home in Oklahoma. My friend had a mix tape full of Elton John and I would borrow it for the long journey.

We had a bit of a falling out, me and Elton, during his Lion King years full of schmaltzy dreck, but I have recently rediscovered (for the first time) his output from the 1970s that brought him success in the first place. Albums like Madman, Honky Chateau, and Tumbleweed Connection are full of marvelous songcraft. “Tiny Dancer” always takes me there, too, and I remember what a great thing a song can be.

“Linger” – the Cranberries
From Unplugged

The early 1990s were when I first truly discovered music. I was a teenager and had begun to feel things in the only way teenagers can – fully and as if it was the only thing that mattered. So I have a great deal of nostalgia for the music that came out during this era. It’s funny because there is so much nostalgia these days over all things 1980’s and while I’ve rode that boat and loved it, a great deal of that decade I don’t really remember. So say on songs like “Hungry Like the Wolf” I can’t really remember loving the song when it first came out, but I know the song, and realize it is from my childhood and so I create a sort of nostalgia for it and celebrate what a great freaking song it is, as if it was my own.

But the 90s created a real nostalgia for me, from true memories, and not ones I pretend I remember for the sake of nostalgia. The Cranberries are right there in the thick of things, and this song always places me in a specific time. This particular version is from MTV’s Unplugged series, a series that likewise lives in my nostalgic memory case. It’s a lovely little thing with Dolores O’Riordan’s voice as haunting as ever.

“Dr. Feelgood” – Mötley Crüe
From Dr. Feelgood

Alright so after that admission I have to disclose my absolute secret love for all things hair metal. I know it is musically tepid and I know that half the bands had hits off of sentimental, sappy power ballads, but I love them just the same. You could probably argue that I can’t claim to not remember the 80s and hold fond memories of hair bands, but time is kind of a sliding scale, isn’t it?

I mean take this album, it feels like totally 80’s and technically it is, but with a release date of September 1989, it could really go either way. And I guess that’s what I really mean. I turned 14 in 1990 so my real musical awareness began in the late 80’s and blossomed in the early 90s and while I do have a dear fondness for many of the songs that came out say in 1987 the real heart of 80s nostalgia goes a lot further back. But enough about that, we’ve got to talk about the Crüe.

I guess you could call it a small teenage rebellion that I listened to hair metal. I was from a small town in Oklahoma and there weren’t cool folks to turn me onto real metal bands or punk rock, so I took the generic stuff with enough loud guitars and satanic emblems to tick off my parents. It was safe enough not to get me into real trouble, and dangerous enough to kick my young hormones into action. And that was enough for the time.

Tea Leaf Green – Rock ‘N Roll Band (2006)

tea leaf green rock and roll band

From the ashes of the Grateful Dead rose a veritable scene of improvisational players of rock – or jam bands – all vying for the top spot now vacated by the defunct Dead. Yet no one band could be crowned king. Phish came closest, but for all the fans they gained there was a collective chorus of You’re not the Dead – instead an army of the jam coalesced and proceeded to noodle and space into improvisational bliss.

For archival purposes, one could divide the remaining jam bands into two categories – those involved in serious musicology, and those ready to party. The split actually often occurred during the height of popularity for the Dead. Heads often speak of the scene changing after the Dead fanbase grew proportionally when they scored a top-ten hit in the late 80s. Suddenly legions of folks were showing up to concerts, not for inspiration at the muse of music, but to get high, get laid, and get down.

With no more Dead, these fans ran to other concerts, and bands who were more than poised to be the soundtrack to the next party.

Tea Leaf Green fall flat into this category. There’s a party going on and these boys are the mix-tape.

By saying this, don’t for a minute think that I an implying they lack musicianship. For all four members seem accomplished at their chosen instruments. This is not a frat party band playing for kegs. These are serious musicians who create songs that aren’t meant to be taken seriously.

With Rock ’N’ Roll Band, Tea Leaf Green has created a memorable rock film in the vein of The Last Waltz and the Grateful Dead Movie.

Director Justin Kreutzmann (son of legendary Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann) has created more than just a recording of a live performance, but a snapshot of a band on the move.

Featuring most of the band’s concert on May 19, 2006, in Boulder, Colorado the film intertwines band interviews and a few impromptu jam sessions. Making great use of split screen Kreutzmann creates an excellent portrait of the band and the music they create.

Honestly, Tea Leaf Green is a name I knew from bootleg trading circles, but I had never actually heard their music until I plugged in this DVD. At first listen, I gotta say I counted them as another flakey band riding the jam band wave, but after a few more spins there’s another level to their songs that pushes them forward. The bottom line still seems to be about having a good time, but there is craftsmanship to the music that makes it more than just party music.

Take the lead song, “These Two Chairs,” for example. It doesn’t have a chorus to speak of but there is a repeated line that just kills

“They just don’t understand
But they got a rock and roll…”
Then pause and wait for it
Crash boom…”ba-a-and.”

It is a great moment that gets the whole audience jazzed. It might not be studied by graduate students in years to come, but it sure is a lot of fun.

And what else do you want from a rock and roll band anyway?

The DVD doesn’t come with any extras to speak of, but it sounds good and looks fantastic. Justin Kreutzmann obviously knows his way around a rockumentary and creates a video that is more than just another rock concert caught on tape, but is cinema, and an important portrait of a band.

The soundtrack album to the movie comprises thirteen of the songs played, including “All of Your Cigarettes” from the sound check. It’s a nice disc, and a good companion to the movie.

Lost: Season Three, Episode Two – “The Glass Ballerina”

lost the glass ballerina

In lieu of giving a scene-by-scene run down of this week’s episode, I am going to point you to Wikipedia’s episode guide, which gives the plot details in full. Instead, I’ll give some brief feedback on what I thought about the episode.

What a difference a week makes. For last week’s season premiere, I was waiting with bated breath. All summer I couldn’t wait until the new season premiered. This week I hardly gave it a thought, and nearly forgot about it entirely.

I have to say that I am finally starting to tire of the entire program. This has nothing to do with this week’s episode, for it was a good one, but rather I am being worn down by the perpetual non-reveal. Every time they give us a hint at what it might all be about, they add in another half dozen mysteries. I can’t really blame the show for this, for if they gave us the hard facts the show would be over. It’s just beginning to feel like the perpetual state of blue ball that was life before love and I’m finding myself ready for some celibacy.

This may pass, as it has been a rough week personally and my general malcontent may have soured the show for me for the moment. I’ll continue to watch and we may find that next week I’m right back into the fold.

The two big reveals tonight were some background information on “Henry Gale” who is now known by his real name, Benjamin Linus. He tells Jack that he has lived on the island his entire life, posing a lot more questions about who the Others really are, and what their purpose on the island actually is. The other reveals also involved Ben as he informs Jack that if he cooperates he will be set free and sent home. To make Jack believe he shows him a television set and plays a piece of last year’s World Series with the Red Sox winning the pennant.

Big reveals for sure, but again it only reveals enough so that we ask even more questions about what’s going on. I have always felt that Lost can only conclude in ridiculousness. I cannot fathom how they will manage to end the series in a manner that will satisfy everyone and not be cheesy. I tend to hope they end it sooner rather than later as it will only become more impossible as the series continues.

I very much enjoyed the Sun backstory with her cheating on Jin with Jae Lee. Sun has been one of the few characters without a miserable back story and we begin to see her past is none too sunny.

It’s also interesting to see Sawyer be sweet to Kate without any of his obnoxiousness dirtying it up. It is as if seeing Kate in a situation she can’t get out of, polishes his feelings for her.

The one scene that bothered me was when Sawyer gets the gun off of the one guy, but puts it back down when Juliet threatens Kate. It is the second time Kate’s helplessness has turned the upper hand on the castaways, and in this case, it felt almost false. If Sawyer had really had the rifle it seems more like him to have started shooting and sorting it out afterwards. But maybe that’s just me and my callousness.

Again it was a good episode and I enjoyed it immensely. I hope that my feelings are fleeting and that once my personal life is sorted out a little more, I’ll continue to love the show. I do wish they’d give us something solid that we could lean upon instead of this continual barrage of whispers in the dark.

The Office: Season Three, Episode Four – “Grief Counseling”

the office grief counseling

Originally posted on October 13, 2006.

My all-time favorite show is Cheers. One of the things I loved about the show was its pre-title gag. It often had nothing to do with the plot of the episode but was a hilarious way to start things off. One of my favorites had someone tapping their pencil which was followed by a few more tappings which morphed into the whole bar singing “We Will Rock You.” Silly – yes. Hilarious – absolutely.

This week’s Office episode started with a similar bit of nonsense having Michael do the old walking down the stairs, while really just squatting behind some boxes bit. The real gag was Jan asking him to get her some coffee in the “warehouse” and watching Michael crawl to the break room to get it. Dumb – yes. Perfect comedy – absolutely. Especially when Michael says he’s like “Bette Midler in For the Boys.”

We’re back to two offices in unrelated events, but they managed to keep both stories cohesive and funny. Stamford keeps getting the smaller, more gag-y stories, while Scranton gets actual plot lines, but this makes sense since we know Scranton better.

Stamford evolved around the flirtations of Karen and Jim. It starts with Jim being asked to essentially babysit Karen to ensure she finishes a task. Karen obviously miffed, rails on Jim about some potato chips when the vending machine is out of her preferred kind. Jim turns it into a flirty mission by spending the rest of the day making calls to find the chips.

In Scranton, Michael’s old boss, Ed Truck, has passed away through a drunken decapitation and he spends his day disrupting work to deal with his own grief.

In one particularly fine moment, Michael laments that they take a day off to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and “he didn’t even work here.” Instead of a day off, Michael and Dwight begin discussing a full-sized statuary tribute that turns into a raging robot which Dwight designs a six-foot extension cord for, so that it can’t attack.

Later Michael brings the staff into the conference room so that they can discuss their grief. Michael starts by saying that it “feels like my heart has been dropped into a bucket of boiling tears and someone else is hitting my soul in the crotch with a frozen sledgehammer and a third guy is punching me in the griefbone, but no one hears me because I’m terribly, terribly alone.”

Dwight recollects that he was actually a twin as a fetus, but he absorbed the other person and feels stronger for it.

They then pass around a ball to talk about any moment in their past when they were grieved but this quickly turns into a mockery as the staff recounts moments from such films as Million Dollar Baby, the Lion King, and, Weekend at Bernie’s.

In order to restore order, Toby tells Michael that death is part of life and recalls a bird that crashed into the door that morning. Michael runs to rescue the bird, going as far as to give it water in the break room before finally admitting it is dead.

Everybody then has a funeral for the bird in the parking lot before burning it in its final resting Kleenex box. Pam manages to say some very touching words obviously meant to comfort Michael. Similar to how Jim spoke kindly to him at the convention Pam now shows her own kind soul as the episode ends.

My Name is Earl: Season 2, Episode 4 – “Larceny of a Kitty Cat”

my name is earl larceny of a kitty cat Originally posted on October 13, 2006.

I think I am enjoying the new method of starting out with something on the list, but shuffling over to something only sort of related. The show has always had a way of moving in directions you’d never find on a map, so the disjointed way of crossing off a listed item is kind of fun.

This week’s episode involved finding a poor cat that Earl stole back when he was married to Joy. See Joy had entered a cat into a contest and was afraid that another cat, Sebastian, would win and so she sent Earl to go “Tonya Harding” on it. Earl steals the cat, but can’t break its little kitty legs and instead takes it to the “sleepy cat ladies” house.

This becomes #56 on the list and Earl heads over to the owner’s house to clear things up.

But first, I forgot to mention how Earl came to think of #56. Randy and Earl were walking when a black cat crossed their path, they turned to go the other way and the cat crossed across that way. So Earl and Randy had to sit on the sidewalk for three hours for the black cat curse to go away. As soon as the time was up the cat again crossed their path and thus reminded Earl of the list.

Sebastian’s owner Judy still holds a torch for the cat (and even has a shirt with Sebastian’s picture on it and the words “Have you seen me?”.) They trudge over to the “sleepy cat ladies” house and find Sebastian, a little bit older, and a lot fatter.

Meanwhile, Randy takes a shine to Judy and to woo her, pretends to love cats – though he is quite allergic in reality.

In the funniest segment of the night, we see a sequence of Randy’s past girlfriends and how he often pretends to be something he is not. There is the goth art chick, the Hasidic Jew, and the black power girl. They all like Randy until he acts more like himself and lets out something very un-kosher like “Did Martin Luther King’s dreams have aliens in them?”

Upon breakup, Randy goes through a long period of doing nothing but lip-synching along to Cyndy Lauper’s “Time After Time.”

Eventually Randy does tell Judy he doesn’t like cats and she agrees to give Sebastian away to be with him. Sebastian goes to Earl who decides the cat is list-worthy due to having to give up contests over what Earl did. So, Earl spends his time getting the cat in shape, while Randy continues to woo Judy.

The cat does get in shape, but only places second. Judy falls hard for Randy, but he begins to realize she treats him just like a cat. So Earl gives back the cat and Judy gives Randy back to Earl. And all is right with the world.

The Untold Story (1993)

the untold story poster

Originally written and posted in October 2006.

Someday I really will get into the reasons I tend to watch really depraved, sick, twisted, and awfully gory flickery. For now, I’ll continue to review the nasties I watch. I’m not really all that sure how I even know about some of these films anymore. I think I heard about this one by hearing about some other film and then following various links of similar films to this one. Or maybe I looked up one film on IMDB.com and followed a thread about similar films. Either way I did hear of it, and heard it was one of the most violent, sickest films out there so of course, this demented gore-head had to watch.

I hesitate to call myself a demented gore-head because my mom might read this and then where would I be? In truth, I watch lots of other films, regular like without violence and gore, but there is something raw and carnal about twisted films that make me watch. There I go again trying to explain they why when I said that would have to wait until later.

Ultimately this film wasn’t quite as sick as everyone said. Sure there is plenty of gore and buckets of blood in this tale of a crazed serial killer who slaughters people with his butcher knife and sometimes serves them up as pork pies, but none of it is particularly realistic and therefore not as sick as it could be. The blood, the guts, the nastiness always looks fake, so you never get sucked into the gore too much. The reputation comes, me thinks, from a particularly brutal scene involving the slaughter of several small children. Movies tend to shy away from mass murder involving little ones and so this film seems particularly nasty, even though what is seen on camera isn’t that vicious.

Gore aside, what really lowers the level of this film is the portrayal of cops. All of the police trying to solve the crime are completely incompetent, inept, and stupid. In one of the opening scenes where we see some severed limbs wash ashore, the cops bicker, joke, and argue over who will investigate the appendages. In numerous scenes, the one detective with half a brain brings in a scantily clad hooker as his date while the other male cops oogle and ogle all over her. In the interrogation scenes, all of the cops are all too eager to brutally beat a confession out of the killer.

Anthony Wong does an excellent job playing the psychopath and he even manages to render a few moments of sympathy from the audience.

This is totally a low-grade movie made for gore heads looking for a little fake blood. Even there it never rises above its cult standing as the epitome of crazy exploitation.

You have been warned.

Random Shuffle (10/09/06) – The Chicks, Louis Armstrong, Trout Fishing in America, Robinella, Jim Lauderdale & Ralph Stanley

“Ready to Run” – The Chicks
From Fly

Risking the almighty wrath of Al Barger, I gotta say I kind of dig The Chicks. No, they are not the first thing I’m going to go for if my home catches fire, but there is something nice about a popular country act that writes some of their own songs and plays their own instruments. It is a bit heartwarming to see artists that still gravitate away from the synthetic sounds of your weekly Top 40 and towards something older, something earthy, something real.

“Ready to Run” is a bouncy, lovely little thing despite the Julia Roberts-themed video. It’s even got a pennywhistle giving it a bit of an Irish feel. The lyrics, about a woman running away from a serious commitment to simply have fun, epitomizes the typical outlooks the Chicks have demonstrated (at least in their music) throughout much of their careers.

Of course, in recent years the Chicks have been noticed more for their political views than for their musicianship. The complaints don’t seem to be about their actual views, but that they manage to actually have views at all (because hot girls who sing country tunes simply can not have political ideologies, and certainly not non-Republican ones.) It’s a shame too, because these Chicks can sing, play, and write a mean tune, and there ought to at least be someone paying attention to that.

“Tin Roof Blues” – Louis Armstrong
From 05/04/54

Whenever asked if I’m a jazz fan, I always answer in the negative. Not because I dislike the genre – for I have stacks of jazz records ranging from Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald to Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman – but because I know that anyone who asks that question is going to be serious about their jazz, and I just won’t be able to keep up.

Every jazz fan I’ve ever known is obsessed with the music. Remember the nerdy babysitter in Jerry Maguire? The one who gave Tom Cruise the jazz tape for his love session with Renée Zellweger. Well, I know guys who make him look like jazz lite. So, yeah, I like jazz, but I won’t say that I’m a fan.

Louis Armstrong is probably the most famous jazz musician, the one your average guy on the street can name, and rightfully so for he is also one of the most influential players the genre ever created. “Tin Roof Blues” is off of a bootleg that I have which is just perfect for those setting the mood nights when I’m feeling romantic and make a candlelight dinner for just me and the wife.

It is far away from the psychedelic free jazz and bop movements of David and Coleman, but hasn’t quite gotten into the schmaltzy fare Armstrong is famous for in songs like “Hello Dolly” and “What a Wonderful World.” This song has a nice bluesy swing going on that makes it perfect for looking deep into each other’s eyes over a roasted chicken and some nice wine.

“Lost In Her Lips” – Trout Fishing in America
From Truth is Stranger than Fishin’

Back in the freewheelin’ 90’s I, along with everybody else, got a copy of Napster (when it was free) and began downloading every song I could get my hands on (which wasn’t all that many because I was still on dial-up which put it at about 40 minutes per three-minute song.) Eventually, I got bored with searching for particular songs and began to search for more generic terms like “acoustic” or “live” or “awesome.” By doing this I found all kinds of songs I’d never heard of, and some that were rather good.

During this same period (maybe it was the early 2000s but who can remember?) I also began making mix-tapes for the woman who would become my wife. For what better way than to tell the girl I dug, that I dug her than with 90 minutes of excellent tunes? The problem was that after two or three of these tapes, I was running out of songs. Once again Napster and a few Google searches were providing me with new material to say I Love You without being overly sappy.

I found Trout Fishing in America and this song via one of those searches. The band is generally a goofy, kid kind of band, and while this song isn’t exactly not fitting with that description it manages a nice sentiment without falling into sap. Musically it is a pretty basic little number, but it’s got a nice string of lyrics that are both sweet and funny at the same time.

With lines like

“Lost in her lips, I’m getting lost in her lips,
And losing track of conversation.
If Lewis and Clark had just discovered these lips,
The expedition would have ended up in Mexico”

How can you not love this song?

All I’ve Given” – Robinella
From Solace for the Lonely

There is something quite magic about an unheard-of band and then watching them grow into success. I moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee back in 2000 and discovered Robinella and the CC String band through a friend. Robinella has a beautiful voice that is a mix of Ella Fitzgerald and Loretta Lynn. The string band played like a cross of Texas swing, and old-style country with a dash of something contemporary. Together they were like nothing you could hear on the radio.

I was thrilled when they signed with Sony to release their self-titled major label debut. It gave a professional mix to their wonderful sound. Unfortunately with their next record, Solace for the Lonely, they seemed to be leaving behind their old country charm for something more utterly contemporary. The string band is downplayed for electronic beats and a synthesized sound. Robinella’s voice sounds as lovely as ever, but it often gets lost in the mix.

“All I’ve Given” is driven by a funky bass line punctuated by vibrant electronic keys. Were it by another band I’d probably kind of dig it, but as is I only miss the band as I once knew them.

“She’s Looking at Me” – Jim Lauderdale and Ralph Stanley
From Lost in the Lonesome Pines

I picked this disk up from the library out of curiosity. Lauderdale I know solely through his work with Donna the Buffalo and Ralph Stanley is…well he’s freaking Ralph Stanley. So I figured this would have to be a good disk.

It is.

This is a classic style bluegrass song with lots of call and response and a chorus that layers the voice parts similar to the way The Band did it on “The Weight.” It’s great music, plain and simple with great country vocals backed by excellent pickin’. Lauderdale and Stanley are obviously having lots of fun, and it shows throughout the disk.

Bootleg Country: Otis Redding – 1967

Originally written on October 9, 2006.

Let’s put a few facts on the table. I am a middle-aged, middle-class, white male from the Midwestern United States. I’ve got no soul, I can’t jump, I can’t dance and I can’t get the blues. I don’t know the difference between hip-hop and rap, the blues from complaining, or soul music from Shinola.

What I do know is I love Otis Redding, and if it is soul that he sings, then I’ll spend my life wishing I had some.

Otis had a voice like silk pie. He could make a blind man see, the dead rise again, and a middle-class, middle-aged white guy shake it like he’s got a pair.

This particular bootleg is actually a mix of at least three separate venues all from 1967. As such the quality of each performance varies from simply super to less than stellar. It also contains a few songs played more than once. The result feels less than complete, a little like listening to rehearsal tapes for an album, but Otis displays enough overt energy in every song to make it well worth listening to.

It helps that his band is crackerjack. They swing, jump, and pop all over the place. With Otis keeping up every step of the way it is nothing short of a celebration of life, soul, and music.

Four songs into the disk he covers the Beatle’s classic “A Hard Days Night.” At first, it feels out of place, the music feels too heavy and dense. But in less than a minute, as by sheer force of will, Otis converts me to his side of things. He’s like a fire and brimstone preacher shouting to his minions that there is a better way, and it involves plenty of horns.

Even on slower songs like the tender “Pain in My Heart” the band cooks and lights a fire under the sentiment. It is not as soul-wrenching as what you’ll hear on studio albums, but it is impossible to complain as the beat moves you out of your seat and onto the dance floor.

In pieces, you can hear that’s just where the audience is – moving and grooving and shouting like the apocalypse has just announced the end of times, but first, there’s a party to attend. During “FA-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)” Otis turns the audience into part of the chorus and they blow him out of the park in terms of sheer volume. They are there to have a good time, and there ain’t nothing gonna stop them now.

The differing levels from venue to venue coupled with the pair of songs played twice mars the overall effect of this bootleg, but Otis Redding turns it all loose and more than makes up for the problems with performances that are out of this world.

With only a handful of available bootlegs out there for Otis Redding, this is definitely worth seeking out for collectors and fans of Otis and soul music itself.

The Office: Season 3, Episode 3 – “The Coup”

the office the coup

“Movie Monday” is an apparent office staple where the office watches thirty minutes of a movie each week. It started with some official training videos, morphed into random medical videos, and has now moved into such Hollywood fare as Varsity Blues.

Of course, Angela doesn’t approve, but everyone else seems to enjoy the half hour of non-work.

Jan comes in during the middle and breaks up the party, yelling at Michael for doing something so obviously non-productive. Angela takes this moment to decide Michael will run the office into the unemployment lines (possibly fueled by last week’s rumors that Stamford may be taking over the Straton branch. She corners Dwight in the break room and tells him that he deserves to run the office, not Michael.

Meanwhile, at the Stamford branch, the office plays Call of Duty religiously (ie while at work) and Jim sucks at it. This brings up some contention between the other members of the staff as they play on teams. Although it does bring a little flirtation from Karen.

Dwight secretly calls Jan and they meet at a restaurant. Dwight throws down on Michael, positions himself for a take-over, and seems to know way too much about Jan’s choice of clothes.

Jan calls Michael to inform him of the potential hostilities, and Michael uses this to pretend he has been demoted and that Dwight is now running the office. Dwight begins talking like a crazed dictator stating that only a few will remain in the office and makes a poorly conceived speech to the office prompting Jan to throw out this comment,

“I have this old vacuum that doesn’t work. Maybe if Dwight doesn’t work out we could make that the manager.”

Some new clothes are delivered to Pam that she ordered online and she gives a quick fashion show at lunch, but quickly puts back on her old sweater when Creed refuses to leave after obviously staring at her cleavage.

Eventually, Dwight insults Michaels’s car which causes him to blow the gag and let Dwight know he is still in charge. Dwight grovels and begs for his old job back and Michael agrees only after they “hug it out bitch.” Well and then Michael forces Dwight to wear a sign lettered “liar” and stand on a table.

My Name is Earl: Season 2, Episode 3 – “Sticks and Stones”

my name is earl sticks and stones

Originally posted on October 07, 2006.

I know, I know, I’m late on this. I was exhausted Thursday night and I forgot about it Friday. So I’ll use my notes and my lagging memory to give this week’s run down.

While holding down a lady at the motel for her face waxing Earl decides to cross off number ninety-one to the list, “made fun of Maggie Lester for having a mustache.” In the requisite flashback, we see Maggie introduced to the class for the first time and Earl makes your basic Tom Selleck, joke with “Maggie PI.”

Earl and Randy drive out to Shady Grove which is something of a freak town, housing many folks from a traveling sideshow – there’s the super tall guy, the fat lady, the super short guy, the guy with hands like lobsters, and of course the bearded lady who happens to be Maggie Lester.

Earl has a nice afternoon with Maggie who happens to be a very nice lady and she forgives him for making fun of her. Randy has a good time feeling her beard Yet as he is leaving they poke fun at the rest of the freaks and Earl realizes he can’t take Maggie off the list until he learns not to make fun of people for their differences.

So, the freaks have a barbeque and Earl learns that they are all good people.

In the funniest joke of the night, Randy asks the guy with a giant horn on his head if he’s able to take his head on a plane. Horn head guy replies no, not since 9-11, but that they are all doing what they can.

In celebration of his new friends, Earl tries to take them all out for ice cream, but they refuse for they would be made fun of outside their comfort zone. Earl thinks that’s silly, but then remembers a time he was made fun of for being different – when he was young he couldn’t jump off the high dive because of his freakishly hairy nipples.

Earl confronts the coach who made him take off his shirt only to be told (and held to the ground by an ear pinch) that the coach did it to him so that he’d learn to appreciate his differences.

Earl gains confidence and decides to jump off the diving board, and invites all his freak friends to watch. They are at first hesitant, but eventually show up and everybody decides to jump in. Earl’s story concludes by showing all the freaks took on real jobs and are happy.

The Joy side plot revolves around her meeting her deaf lawyer and not being willing to accept her as a lawyer. There were some good gags over Joy being so politically incorrect to an obviously intelligent lawyer (played with usual aplomb by Marlee Martin). When Joy finally sucks it up and apologizes to the lawyer, she winds up laughing in her face over the way she talks.

Overall a good episode, but nothing spectacular. I am beginning to think that I would probably not watch the show that often it changed schedules and no longer be the lead into The Office.