On Fantasy Football, Week 1:
Not so hot, thanks to the RB core. Jamal Lewis was largely
ineffectual against the COLTS D (good sign, there.. my buddy
John F. joked that perhaps he needed some more time to work out
in the yard), but the real stinker was Mike Anderson of the
Denver Broncos. The story is the guy hasn't had a solid season
since 01' but made a real effort in pre-season and was impressive
enough to win the starting job. However, after four carries
against the Miami Dolphins he decided that a dinged up rib was
enough to call it a day. What a hero. Byron Leftwich won a
game for Marshall with a broken leg where his O line had to
carry him to the line of scrimmage. Welcome to the NFL, buddy.
Its a collision sport. Maybe you should try your hand at
shuffle board.
At any rate... pulled young Pittsburgh phenom Willie Parker off
the wire, he should deliver some solid numbers as long as
Staley and the Bus are incapacitated.
On Television:
Did I mention that my new favorite show is HBO's Entourage,
(though, I don't currently have cable, so there isn't much
competition.. you can read between the lines on that one if
you'd like) and if Jeremy Piven doesn't get an Emmy for
his role as Ari, there is no justice in the world? I think
I may have. However, as I am still gainfully unemployed, I
am quickly running out of unseen episodes. The good news is
that the show has been renewed for a 3rd season. Seriously,
you can jump in this series at pretty much any point, and if
you haven't seen Episodes 17 "I Love You Too" and 18 "The
Batmitzvah" I highly recommend those gems to get you started
down the road to blissful addiction. Good to know that HBO
can put together a quality series from time to time, cus
97% of the rest stuff out there is complete and total garbage.
But I wouldn't really know that because I don't have cable.
On Presidential War Powers:
A real problem for Democracy In America that is gettin' some much
needed attention. I intend to read or pick through a new book
on the subject by Peter Irons entitled, "How The Imperial Presidency
Hijacked the Constitution" but don't intend to learn too much or
disagree with anything. Funny how it works.. we certainly have a lot
of gridlock in Washington, but when checks and balances ain't
working, bad things tend to happen. The Legislature's unchecked
encroachment on the Judicial Branch via mandatory sentencing has
spawned the world's largest prison population and an endless sea
of crappy crime dramas on TV (there is a parabolic connection of
a sort, just stay with me...); the Executive's unchecked usurping
of the de facto power to start and end wars has delivered our
country absolute train wrecks of foreign policy including Vietnam,
Iran Contra, and Gulf War II. This shit needs to stop. I was
thrilled to see Senator Lahey of Vermont lead off his questioning
of Roberts today with this exact issue. I'll blog about it some
other time, but I think one solution is, perhaps, that the Armed
Forces Generals cast an anonymous vote, promulgated to the people,
on whether they support a President's decision to go to war.
No, its not crazy. It has its has merits. At Syracuse, I was
going to put the question to an ex-4 Star, but ended up asking
some PM Question Hour type "Question" which just trashed W and
Rumsfeld. And believe you me, worked like a charm. I think I
almost had the guy in tears. At any rate, let me try to get around
to fleshing this one out sometime later in the week... I think I
can find a couple holes in my schedule.
On Music:
One thing that's pretty gosh darned swell about living in the
NYC is that, if you want to hear a band live, its not a question
of whether that's gonna happen this year, but what venue they're
playing in the next month or so. Last Thursday and Saturday I
caught a couple bands I've been meaning to see for a while, and
will now comment on those groups as well as their openers...
Dr. Uhaul-- Opened up for Tea Leaf at The Knitting Factory.
Talented group, but serving up your standard white bread jam,
nothing fancy, nothing out of the ordinary. But man oh man,
do these guys have some of the best groupie/promoters in the
business. A few gals were going around with sign up sheets and
flyers.. if you didn't give them your hotmail address or promise
to attend the next show in the East Village it appeared they
were going to stomp your ass (politely) right on the spot.
Drums and Tuba-- Opened for Benevento at Bowery. Good stuff.
The tuba largely substitutes for a bass guitar, but I really liked
how they had it miked and how the tubaist (?) was able to work
some wicked sounds out of the thing. I've always thought that--
though indispensable--the bass guitar is too limited. Guys
like Les Claypool and Victor Wooten distinguish themselves by
essentially playing the guitar melody or by busting out a
sublime Tchaikovsky solo in the middle of some standard rock
song. The tuba carried the baseline well but also added a unique
richness to the sound. My only gripe is.. they brought out a
very capable sax player for the second song, which was stellar,
and then sent him packing backstage. Personally, I think that
brass always makes the 3 or 4 piece rock group better, and it
pains me to hear a group rock out with brass, and then have to
readjust to their sound without it. I swear to God, I have a Phish
bootleg from 91' where they are playing some po dunk festival
in upstate New York, and they do this 25 minute Mikes Song-->
H2-->Weekapaug Groove with the Giant Country Horns, and it is the
absolute greatest music I've ever heard. And I'm not kidding. While
I'm excited that I caught Phish with B.B. King and friggen
Jay Z, I'm profoundly disappointed that they didn't tour with
brass more, and that I never heard them with Carl Gearhart or
Tower of Power at the 15 or so concerts I attended. At any rate,
I digress. Apparently D&T has been around for a decade, and I
hope they are finally getting some well deserved attention. The
New Yorker had a very nice write up on them this week and plug
for their show at The Pit in Red Hook.
The Benevento Russo Duo-- Uhh... yeah, they were pretty spiffy
and had a neat sound. Two guys, a drummer and a keyboard player.
The drummer plays along with drum sound effects from a computer,
but he's solid on the real instruments and rocks with a Keith
Moon type intensity. The keyboard player compliments him well and it
makes for a steady barrage of amenable rocky-jam sound. My
only complaint here is that sometimes the keyboard player would
get real scaled back and minimalist and pay more attention to
nifty sounding effects and the sound would begin to boarder on
techno. On the whole, though, a group worth seeing. I'd be
interested to hear them groove out with Mike Gorden or Charlie
Hunter or whoever.
Tea Leaf Green-- Now, here's a super-talented band with a great
sound capable of putting on a powerful three or four hour concert.
Maybe all that's missing is better management. After being blown
away with them on Sat. night I went hunting for their most
recent album and couldn't find it among the biggest, most
inventory-laden music stores in Manhattan, and if you're not going
to find something there, well... ended up buying online and its
shipping from Oregon. Someone needs to be working much harder to
get the word out about this group. Without saying too much, if
you have the opportunity, you should check them out. Unless your
thing is Kabuki theater or country music, in which case I'm really
surprised your reading this. Most fun of my Saturday night was
when the group of 3 guys I was with at the concert conspired to lie
to the above mentioned John F.--who was revved up to see the show
but got called in to bartend--, and convince him at 3:30 am that
Willie Nelson had come on to play the encore, which was comprised
of 'Touch of Grey' and a 20-minute version of 'These Boots Were
Made For Walking'. I think he only bought it for 10 minutes, but
that window of time was solid gold.
Well, this has been a long-arse posting, eh? Thanks for reading.
You stay classy.
Jeremy Piven: A funny, funny, funny man.
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