entertainment ave!

By: The Dude on the Right

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There is nothing like a corn dog from a carnival, festival, or a fair, and as a photo of Michele Bachmann eating a corn dog over the weekend seems to be stealing any corn dog talk I may have, during this episode of our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, I tell Stu about my and The BFF’s quest for a good corn dog, as well as some funnel cake, and fresh-squeezed lemonade. Stu’s weekend, although sans corn dog, was filled with corn difficulties, but with beer goodness, though not necessarily in that order. He relates to me the good times of hanging out with The Mystery Dude and also finding a new, nearly-favorite beer called Dark Horse, where, thanks to Mama Gotz going to some jewelry party, or some crap like that, he got to hang out at Tribes Ale House, partaking knowing he wouldn’t be driving home.

Stu finds out that kids eat for free sometimes at IKEA, I’m not excited about the Chicago Bears yet, Stu saw “The A-Team” movie on TV, most people, in reference to Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs, are saying “Goodbye to bad rubbish!”, I debate busting out of concert review retirement to see GWAR, and both Stu and I lament the end of the summer movie season.

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this podcast! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

By: The Dude on the Right

Download and Listen

I wonder what Stu Gotz thinks about Osama Bin Laden being dead, but just as, if not more important during this Weekend Wrap-Up! podcast, I question Stu on a topic he will know nothing about, namely how in the hell the Cleveland Indians have the best record in baseball right now. Stu’s weekend was a little tame, mostly just hanging with the kids and watching “Jackass 3,” while I was all over the place. The world’s greatest nephew took me to see Coheed and Cambria in concert at the House of Blues in Chicago, and I liked it even though I didn’t know any songs, and we also had a chance to catch the greatest movie ever, in the likes of “Fast Five,” the fifthwel in the series bringing The Rock into “The Fast and The Furious” franchise. But what would a short tourist trip for the W.G.N. be without being a little bit of a tourist, so myself, The BFF, and the W.G.N. played tourist on Sunday hitting “The Ledge” at The Sears, I mean Willis Tower, checking out The Bean at Millenium Park, and taking in the “Hand Painted Posters from Ghana” exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center.

And, oh yea, in case you are wondering, Hope Dworaczyk was fired on “Celebrity Apprentice,” and Osama Bin Laden is still dead.

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this podcast! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

The
Dude on the Right got to see a lot of spiders at Charter One Pavilion in
Chicago, but they weren’t nearly as exciting as the band that the Scorpions was for this concert review. 
Sure, the Scorpions’ dudes, some of whom have been around for over forty years,
and had their first concert in Chicago 29 years ago, might be a little older,
and some people might question the legitimacy of their new CD, but for The Dude,
who has never seen them before, he just felt that they rock.  If you want
to see a band that rocks, and remember the song "Rock You Like a Hurricane," you
will probably like seeing the Scorpions, well, rock.

It took The Dude on the Right about a week to get his concert review of “The Swell Season,” you know the duo from the movie “Once,” those duo being Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, posted, and as much as he would like to blame computer issues, he probably just needs to get back into the swing of things about writing concert reviews. He loved the movie “Once,” and even though, at times, Glen didn’t actually relate a story in a way anyone could understand, The Dude, well, he loved the concert.

The Dude on the Right could really use a nap before this podcast about, mainly, going to see “The Swell Season,” especially since getting back home was past his normal bedtime, but that’s not important because this podcast isn’t a full review of the show, just a quick blip at his still liking the folks from the movie “Once.” The Dude also talks about some BFF family stuff, he’s still watching “The Bachelorette,” and is bummed he missed the premier of “America’s Got Talent” where some dude did a great version of “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini’s Turandot, complete with Jerry Springer interrupting it, because, well, it’s on TV.

The Dude on the Right is flying solo for this weekend wrap-up podcast, and as it turns out, the podcast isn’t about his weekend at all. Nope, this podcast is about music and Oprah.
On the music side The Dude comments about the passing of Jeff Healey, a fantastic guitarist who also happened to be blind. You might remember his hit "Angel Eyes," but if you love guitar, he is so much more. Continuing on the music side The Dude talks about Van Halen maybe not canceling their tour, just re-arranging a few dates, and laments that he probably won’t be seeing Jimmy Buffett at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL, because, well, he’s an idiot.
And what would a podcast be without him commenting on Oprah’s latest conquest, namely "Oprah’s Big Give" winning the ratings for Sunday night Primetime TV.

The Dude on the Right is hoping during this podcast that a lot of baseball dudes get together and sue some of the major networks and radio shows for spouting that they did steroids even before the Mitchell Report came out, which then didn’t list them. He was also hoping Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus would be adding some new shows near his niece so he could try to get her tickets as the perfect Christmas present.
The Dude was also disappointed that the Golden Globe nominations didn’t include “Knocked Up” nor “Superbad” this year, and also wonders if Dewey Cox can out-funny McLovin? He also wants to lose weight next year, but what year doesn’t The Dude on the Right not want to lose weight?

By:

The Dude on the Right
As I waited at the Dude-Pad for the ice storm that the weather folks kept
predicting I kept looking out the window for the storm, then went to the
hardware store because I needed a new humidifier as my trusty Radio Shack
thermometer/hydrometer said I was breathing 27% humidity air, and began trying
to get into the Christmas spirit by getting my Christmas tree up. But even with
my little winter wonderland in my living room (thought not finished yet), and
even with snow on the ground, I’m finding it hard to get into the Christmas
spirit this year because right now that spirit is coming in spurts, like it did
in my last blog.  That’s okay, I suppose, because I’ve always been a
Christmas procrastinator, waiting until the last minute to buy presents,
although today I also got my Sunday newspaper with a pre-printed "Holiday" note
wishing me the best in the holiday season, complete with a self-addressed, but
not stamped, envelope, and wondering if this will finally be the year I tip my
newspaper driver girl, and if so, how much?

And with holiday tipping being a
perplexing quandary, whether it be the newspaper delivery person, the mail
person, the garbage people (and since we’ve got recycling and garbage pick-up do
I have to tip the both of them?), I at least did see a movie over the weekend
that I didn’t like, that being

"The Golden Compass," I did get some new
movie
previews done for the website, I’m halfway through the second DVD of special
features for "Superbad" so that DVD review should be posted this week, I have
some hopes that I’ll be able to cover Jonathon Brandmeier and his Leisure Suits
this week, as well as the teaming up of Rob Zombie and Ozzy Osbourne, and I’ll
also finish my Christmas display to finally give me something to keep me in the
spirit every time I walk by it, at least until after Christmas when I then have
to dread taking down my Christmas crap, I mean spirit.

And I still wonder,
where is my ice storm today?

That’s it for this one! 
I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Even though a car crash delayed The Dude on the Right’s arrival to the concert, and even though it took The Dude an hour to get his car out of valet after the show, he still had a fabulous time during the Shaw/Blades concert portion of his evening, and tells you so in his review. If you are a fan of acoustic guitar and harmonies, The Dude highly recommends you check the boys out, but in the meantime you should read The Dude’s review.

By:

The Dude on the Right
Well my getting back to seeing concerts has gotten off to a shaky start. First
my going to see Jonathon Brandmeier was derailed by some bad tacos, then I lost
my ticket for seeing Garth Brooks on a movie screen, but at least seeing
Shaw/Blades last night went swimmingly great (other then the fiasco after the
show thanks to the valet parking people), but if all goes well my review of
Shaw/Blades should be posted tomorrow, along with an explanation of said fiasco.

Right now, though, as bummed as I was at missing Garth on the movie theater,
this afternoon, after I got back home after seeing "No
Country for Old Men," it’s probably better that I lost my ticket. Why?
Because rather than just feeling that I set a lighter to a ten dollar bill, had
I gone to the Garth Brooks’ movie show my concert review might have started
something like "I used to be a huge fan of Garth Brooks, but now I’m just a
pissed-off fan. Here’s why…"

"Why" would have been because from the news reports, and the message boards,
during the final show in Kansas City that was broadcast at the theaters, after
about an hour and a half Garth played "The Dance," the simulcast ended, and the
folks in the movie theaters around the country were sent home, yet Garth Brooks
was still playing songs in Kansas City, for what one news story said was about
45 minutes more, which, as a fan of music, a fan of concerts, and a fan of
Garth, would actually have been the 45 minutes I would have wanted to see. He
still did some songs we know, but it’s when he does non-Garth songs, and an
impromptu "Happy Birthday," those are the things fans dream about seeing.

Looking back, on the memory of, oh, wait, I guess I got caught up in the
moment of Garth, but there was nothing in the press release I read that said
anything about "You will get to see most of the last Garth Brooks’ concert if
you spend your ten bucks to see him on a movie screen, but if you want to see
the entire show maybe you should make your way to Kansas City because there will
probably be some scalpers selling tickets for the show." The only thing I can
guess is the Garth Brooks’ machine was worried about people trying to bootleg
the entire concert in the theaters, what with internet piracy and all, but if
Garth puts out a DVD of the Kansas City shows, with everything he played (or at
least some of the medleys), I would almost bet my townhouse that it will hit the
internet before it’s actually released.

The press release also mentioned that more than 150,000 people would be
seeing the show via the movie theater, and I don’t know if that number was
accurate after the fact, nor how the $1.5 millionish gets divvied up, but the
almost odd thing is that Garth fans have been so jonsen for anything live from
Garth Brooks that they (the movie screen concert folks) don’t seem to care much
that they missed the last 45ish minutes of the show (my calculation is that each
person at the theater was gypped a little over three bucks), and they also
missed what actually sounds like the coolest part of the concert. I only get
this indifference from the message boards where I read postings from people who
went to the movie theater shows being disappointed at not seeing the entire
show, but they were just happy to see Garth live.

Me, I would have just been pissed.  And yes, happy to see Garth live.

Luckily for Garth I can’t return my already opened CD/DVD set of "The
Ultimate Hits," and I pretty much set a torch to my ticket (by losing it)
without seeing him on the big screen, but it does make me sad that folks who
went to the movie theater only really saw two-thirds of Garth.

I didn’t mean for this blog to get this long, but even though I didn’t make
it to my movie theater because of my own boneheadedness, a whole lot of people
did and missed Garth going from "stiff" to an ending that sounded fantastic. If
the 150,000 count of movie people is accurate, at least 149,999 people missed
fantastic.

That’s it for this one! 
I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!