Tuesday, March 24, 2015

WrestleMania Week

If you are a wrestling fan, this week is the best week of the year. WrestleMania week. This year's WrestleMania features the debut of the one and only Sting, the return of The Undertaker, and Roman Reigns challenging the beast incarnate known as Brock Lesnar.

Below are my predictions:



Roman Reigns defeats Brock Lesnar and becomes the WWE World Heavyweight Champion

Sting defeats Triple H

John Cena defeats Rusev and becomes the United States Champion

Daniel Bryan wins the 7 man Ladder Match and becomes the Intercontinental Champion

The Undertaker defeats Bray Wyatt

Seth Rollins defeats Randy Orton

Damien Sandown wins the Andre the Giant Battle Royal

AJ Lee and Paige defeat The Bella Twins

Cesaro and Tyson Kidd win the four corners tag team match and the WWE tag team championship

Plus how great is it the the Bushwackers are going into the Hall of Fall. 


Sunday, March 22, 2015

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

I am a child of the 1990s, and because of this I am a HUGE fan of Nirvana. In fact I feel that Nirvana and The Beatles are the most important musical acts of all time. When you look back at Nirvana's discography, they technically only released three albums. (Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero. Their album Incesticide is nothing but B-sides and Unplugged is a live album.) Yet their impact on music is undeniable.

With Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, a public yearning to learn everything there is to know about him has evolved. He has become a mythical rock figure much like John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, or Elvis Presley.  Montage of Heck aims to change all of that. Produced by Cobain's daughter Francis Bean, Montage of Heck will show the very human side of this alternative icon.

The trailer for this new documentary was released last week, and after viewing it I was utterly speechless. Actually, I was very close to tears at its end. And this was just the trailer. It looks like Montage of Heck achieves its goal of showing the person that is Kurt Cobain. And I for one cannot wait to see it.


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Look to the Cookie

This past weekend, March 6th - 9th, was the one year anniversary of my visit to New York City. To celebrate the occasion, I baked the cookie immortalized by Seinfeld. The black and white cookie. I always try to be humble when I cook. I don't want to come across as arrogant with my cooking. But I must this is one of those rare occasion that I will pat myself on the back. I hit a home run with these cookies. I put them right up there with my cinnamon rolls. Look to the cookie Eileen. Look to the cookie.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

The Punch Brothers and Season 6 of Community

The Riviera's Marquee for the Punch Brothers
Whoa!! That's the first word that comes to my mind after seeing the Punch Brothers live this past Saturday night at the Riviera Theater. For an hour and a half, the Punch Brothers delivered an energizing, toe tapping, hit featured set. Just a few observations from the show:

1) They sounded impeccable. Step One, buy one of their CDs. Step two, put CD into CD player. Step three, listen. (I'm old fashion. You can also create a Spotify playlist.) The way they sound on their albums is the way they sound live. I was simply blown away by how great they sounded. The levels between the microphones and the instruments were perfect. You heard every word spoken or sung, yet you also heard all of their instruments. It was amazing. Plus I was able to leave a show without any ringing in my ears. Always a plus.

2) Great stage presence. The hour and half set flew by. The band interacted very well with the audience. They talked, they joked, they danced, they did it all. You could really tell that the band was having a great time. And seeing that, only added to the fun that I had.

3) Great set. They played a lot from the new album, The Phosphorescent Blues, they did a cover of Radiohead's Kid A, and a nice set of classics. I felt like they covered a vast array of great music from their catalog.

I cannot recommend enough that you go and see the Punch Brothers live. They have now joined the club of Paul McCartney, Muse, William Elliott Whitmore, and St. Vincent. Which is every time they come to Chicago, I must see them perform.

Below is their set-list from Saturday night, if anyone wants to make a Spotify playlist, I highly encourage it.

Punch Brothers Set-list 2.28.15 at the Rivera Theater:
My Oh My
Boll Weevil
Watch 'at Breakdown
This Girl
Familiarity
Movement and Location
Passepied (Claude Debussy cover)
Another New World (Josh Ritter cover)
Through the Bottom of the Glass (The Seldom Scene)
I Blew it Off
Flippen (The Flip) (Vasen cover)
Rye Whiskey
The Auld Triangle (Brendan Behan cover)
Julep
Kid A (Radiohead cover)
Wayside/Back in Time (Gillian Welch cover)
Magnet

Encore:
New York City
Little Lights

Also earlier today, Yahoo released the trailer for Season 6 of Community. It is entitled:
Community: Age of Yahoo. It is magnificent.