Now THAT'S a dramatic ending

On tonight's Yankees/Mets game:

Of course I'm Batman

"This is for Jersey"

"This is for Jersey," he yelled, prompting a cheer from the sellout crowd, as the goosebump-inducing violin intro to "Jungleland" began. I had my fingers crossed, but I didn't actually think I'd get to hear it. Damn, was it amazing.

Thanks Bruce and ESB for putting on one hell of a show last night. Amazing. Here are a pair of blurry camera phone pix - The Big Man soloing during Jungleland and Bruce just doing his thing on the side of the stage.

Word to your mother

Johnny Damon and Nick Swisher celebrate Damon's HR during yesterday's Mother's Day game.

If these two don't crack you up, then you're clearly taking the Yankees' disappointing sucky typical April start too seriously. Also, check out http://voteswisher.com to get the awesomeness that is Nick Swisher into the All-Star Game.

Not my father's Star Trek indeed

I have a half written really well-thought out review of Star Trek in the wings but really, it's much better just summed up by this portion of an AIM chat:

Yeah.

Swishing through the city center

Nick Swisher is quickly becoming one of my favorite new Yankees, mainly because every time a reporter speaks to him, it's comedy gold. His latest bon mot? In an ESPN feature about Daniel Murphy of the Mets and our own Brett Gardner, Swisher says that Gardner is "the fastest white dude [he'd] ever seen."

Also, I really want him to use "The Swish" as his at-bat music because, seriously, how perfect would that be?

Score one for the good guys

I know I don't have any readership so to speak, but nevertheless, I just want to put it out there that Vagrant Records has some awesome customer service. After finding out that there were a bunch of defective copies of The Hold Steady's live album "A Positive Rage" floating around out there, they reached out to the fans directly on the band's message board and offered to replace the CDs, no hassle.

Good on ya, Vagrant.

Happiness and Sadness in Screencaps

Happy:

The Hold Steady are playing 4 sold out shows in NYC/Brooklyn and I have tickets to one of 'em.

Sad:
People are searching for something that doesn't exist but in a fair and just world, WOULD still exist. There is no season 4 of Veronica Mars because network executives are mean, cruel people who want to destroy everything I love. See also Arrested Development.

Good Ol' Crazy Carl

Right now, Carl Pavano's ERA is 81.00. That is not a typo, but rather, what happens when you give up 9 runs and can't even get out of the 2nd inning in your very first start of the season. Schadenfreude at its finest.

Please be untrue

http://www.buzznet.com/musicnews/blink-182-taking-weezer-summer-j3953391/

I do not, do not want Weezer to tour with Blink 182. Whoever thought this up is quite mistaken in the belief that there is a large overlap between the bands' fanbases.

Here's an idea. How about Weezer goes on tour with No Doubt and Blink 182 can have Paramore? That would make my concert-going summer infinitely more entertaining...

Happy Baseball!

For at least a few more hours, everyone's undefeated. No one's in a slump. And it's all about hope for the coming season.

Happy Opening Day, all.

How a resurrection really feels

Well, kind of sore. Hoarse of voice and with a bit of ringing in my ears. But good. Soooooo good. I hate to be redundant but, man, The Hold Steady are nothing if not the disciples of The Boss when it comes to the redemptive powers of good ol' fashioned rock and roll. And Craig Finn and I wear the same shoes. Because we're both so damn awesome.

Also awesome? When Craig shouted "We'll see you in June" before he walked offstage. Because The Hold Steady is coming back to NYC on June 8th. Oh hell yes.

Oh, and I'm totally getting this tattooed somewhere on my body.

Being poor is lame

Fuck you, new Yankee Stadium ticket prices. Since I wasn't lucky enough to win a spot in the presale lottery and happened to be working during the general public on-sale, all that appears to be left are $900 tickets and seats obstructed by the foul poles. If I want to see the Yankees this season, it looks like I'll be doing it from the couch. Or Citi Field. They do have a Shake Shack there...

Sigh. For less than the cost of one of those tickets, I could take a nice weekend trip up to Toronto and see the Yanks play the Blue Jays. Or go to Baltimore.

And I promise you I will treat you well my sweet angel...

I was browsing the Stone Pony's website for some info on the recently added Gaslight Anthem show when I found out that Toadies are apparently still together and touring - and appearing at said venue on May 24. If they aren't a blast from the one-hit-wonder past, I don't know who is.

All these years later, and I still don't think anyone knows what "Possum Kingdom" is about...

Music makes the scene

I came away from Watchmen with 2 things:

1. I want to dress up as Silk Spectre I for Halloween.
2. The music supervisor referred to a list of "10 Overused Movie Tunes" instead of actually, I don't know, finding interesting and/or appropriate songs to use.

Those thoughts - expanded - and more to come.

Ricky Bobby, you taste of America

The hand that types these letters high-fived the one and only Stephen Colbert yesterday. It felt, as you might imagine, like freedom.

On my train ride home from the city, I alternately dozed off and listened to The Hold Steady's cover of the Bob Dylan tune "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" I love when bands find songs to cover that fit their personality and sound so well, and this song fit the bill 100%.

Tragically Un-Hip

From a post by Tyler Kepner on the New York Times' Bats Blog:

Other infielders had hip issues that were addressed this winter, including Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell and Phillies second baseman Chase Utley.

Sorry, A-Rod. You can injure yourself in a manner similar to that of Chase Utley, but it doesn't mean I'm going to have a crush on you.

Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side

This picture from an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair frightens me a little bit. Don't get me wrong, it's incredibly hot, but I can't help but worry that someone is actually tapped into my brain, stealing my fantasies. I have secrets in there! Very damning stuff! Is there a firewall I can get to prevent unwanted intrusions into my brain? Ack!

Beating the scalpers at their own game?

I'm making good on my concert-going promise, and adding No Doubt to my roster of shows in the coming months. To be honest, the original intention of the resolution was to see more inexpensive shows in the city and check out some new bands, but I can't resist the nostalgic allure of Gwen Stefani and company. 

I am intrigued by their ticket-selling model (and a little surprised by their $80 top ticket price). Instead of offering a standard mailing list pre-sale replete with password easily stolen by scalpers, ND's pre-sale is a bit more complex. Here's a direct quote from their website:

You can now validate your email address to be eligible to join the No Doubt Tour Club to get the best seats in the house for the upcoming 2009 Summer Tour featuring special guest Paramore. For a $15 per show membership fee (charged at the time of purchase), Tour Club members will receive the following...

• GUARANTEED access to purchase up to 4 prime tickets (limited number of memberships per city!)
• Tickets printed on custom designed commemorative No Doubt Tour Club ticket stock with club member name printed on each ticket
• Exclusive No Doubt Logo Sticker
• Exclusive No Doubt Tour Club Magnet
• Exclusive No Doubt Tour Club Iron-On
• Access to No Doubt Tour Club web page with exclusive photos and tour updates

The final scalper-beating measure requires that all Tour Club purchases be picked up at Will Call. In an article from the LA Times, No Doubt's tour manager admitted that he hatched the idea from hearing about how Bruce Springsteen held tickets for the first 10 rows at Will Call only - theoretically circumventing scalpers ability to keep the best tickets away from the biggest fans. Of course, Will Call or not, scalpers are still going to get their hands on these tickets, and such a model won't work for the entirety of a large venue (reportedly it's about 1,500 tickets per venue).  

It's an interesting idea, and any initiative to put the best tickets in the hands of the people who really want them is something I wholeheartedly support. If you're not interested in paying top dollar for what's sure to be a fun summer concert, there looks to be $10 lawn seats for sale at many venues as well, so it looks like everyone should end up happy. Except for the scalpers, of course. And that's exactly the goal.

A lunch well spent

Some days, you just need to spend your lunch hour taking a trip to H&M and buying $12 worth of metal bangles.

Today was one of those days.

But why are the tickets so BIG?

So these

arrived the other day, which, yay. But can we take a minute to address the fact that they seem to be unnecessarily oversized? Here's a standard demon spawn Ticketmaster ticket for comparison:

That's a pretty big size difference. Maybe they're just trying to justify the service charge that amounts to 40% of the ticket price (Live Nation - now with more ticket for your money!), but how am I supposed to fit that in a pocket or teeny little clutch? I mean, there's just no room for a purse when you're rocking out at a GA show, and I like to keep my ticket stubs in good condition for my box of keepsake awesomeness. Oh well. Doesn't make me any less excited for the show!

Oh oh, look what you've done

So far, 2009 has been better than 2008. The fact that I'm watching something on Def Leppard on VH1 Classic that might be the highlight of my week - and it hasn't been a bad week - should give you an indication of just how bad 2008 was.

And for good measure, let's throw this in:

Oh yeah.

Spring Training: Part IV

The soft focus only serves to further enhance the idea that CC is intended to have a divine influence on the rotation...

[Photo Day, same old sources...]

Spring Training: Part III

TINO!!

[Photos from Yahoo! Sp... oh, you know the drill]

I made it happen!

About two and a half weeks ago, my Facebook status was this:

Lo and behold, The Hold Steady are playing a show to celebrate the first anniversary of radio station 101.9 RXP on March 30 at Irving Plaza. I'm not saying it was my doing or anything but HOLY CRAP AM I EXCITED. Now I just hope I can get tickets...

Spring Training: Part II

Man oh man, is Spring Training ever here. 

[Yahoo! Sports has the photo galleries that makes me happy]

It's here!

Happy Spring Training!

[photo from the AP via Yahoo! Sports]

I made all of the ladies in the area pregnant

As noted on many corners of the internet yesterday, Bruce Springsteen pretty much broke Ticketmaster (not until after I got a few GA floor seats for the Meadowlands, though!). He broke it so thoroughly, in fact, that I was concerned I wouldn't be able to get tickets to Flight of the Conchords. It seems my fears were misplaced, however, as I managed to snare a pair of pretty good seats. The description said "ORCH," so I just assumed they were decent lower level seats, paid for them and proceeded to get sick (unrelated to the ticket-buying process).

When I was finally able to go back and pull up a real seating chart, I couldn't find my seats. It wasn't until after I did a bit of digging that I discovered that the tickets were actually in the ORCHESTRA PIT. Holy close seats, Batman!

And oddly enough, my position in relation to the stage is almost identical to when I saw the Conchords last May - 3rd row left center. So excited!

Hee!

It's the look on his face afterwards, the "heh heh, holy crap.... whoops!" that really sells it.

When Scooter and the Big Man bust the city in half

I want this on a shirt or a canvas or poster or sticker or something. That, my friends, is the heart of the E Street Band. Love it.

And that was one hell of a halftime show.

Only 30 days late!

It's about a month late, but I've decided on a New Year's Resolution: More live music. If I have to drag friends - with whom I share little to no musical interests - kicking and screaming to shows, so be it. They will be rocked.

I think I'm in love

Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem covers "Backstreets"

It's Business Time!

My life is so much better with new episodes of Flight of the Conchords in it. 

Yeah, I'll admit it.

Sure, I'm excited about Teixeira. But dammit, I'm gonna miss him:

May your mustache grow to incredible lengths (figuratively, of course) in Oakland, Jason.

I got a lotta old friends that are getting back in touch...

I think 2009 is going to rock. I have no concrete proof of this. Just a hunch. But it's a good hunch, ya know?