Stay Eager

Heathrow's Got A New Drummer - June 28 Is Go-Time

2008-06-14T22:39:00.000-07:00

More than pleased to announce Mr. Bill Shupp to the Heathrow fold as our new sticks-man. He brings beaucoups experience to the band as a former session drummer with MTV kids that I'd mention, if it didn't mean I'd lose opportunities with chicks at future shows. So I won't. It's okay - he's married, he's not losing out.

Anyway, the band is VERY excited to usher in a new era, and Bill is already contributing to the new songs like we never could have expected. Feel the love. Feel. The. Love.

Bill's first show with the band is Saturday, June 28, at the Rockit Room in the Inner Richmond in San Francisco. Should be a very fun show - we haven't played in a while due to, um, no drummer, so we'll be firing on all cylinders. Buy me a drink - I'm good looking enough...

Elliott Smith Rant

2008-06-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, you got me - I published a very similar post last year regarding Ernest Hemingway's candidacy for a Capote-style feature movie, but wouldn't late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith be an IDEAL target for a Hollywood blockbuster (okay maybe not BLOCKBUSTER, but y'know...).

I mean, dude grew up in Texas, cut his teeth in grunge-saturated Seattle, had a penchant for melody on a par with the Beatles - yup, I said it - was a total strung out, alcoholic fuck up (I had college friends who accompanied him on tour and can confirm this sentiment), and died amid shady circumstances.

Listen to "I Didn't Understand" from the album X/O and TELL me he's not a genius. Get Ethan Hawke or someone like him to play lead actor. Done and done.

NYC love

2008-06-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

So I visited New York City for the first time last weekend - I'd been meaning to go for years as a die-hard Yankees fan but hadn't yet made it out there. But it must be said that I'm convinced that if I didn't live in bad-ass San Francisco, I'd move out there in a heartbeat. The entire city is so vibrant, diverse, and interesting, that I don't think I'd ever get bored there - which is EXACTLY how I feel about San Francisco.

Oh, and I caught a Yankees game in person for the first time. Yeah, so they lost, whatever - it still kicked ass.

So, guess what? God. Bless. America. Or, at least, SF and NYC.

I Listened To Weezer's Green Album Today, And...

2008-06-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

...Discovered someting very interesting.

Look, Weezer are cool. They're the kids in high school who are smart enough to snooze through their classes and get B's, while also having the best weed. If you say you DON'T like Weezer, you potentially face a barrage of semi-emo kids' guffaws and debukes. However, as this post title suggests, I listened to the band's third album and second self-titled effort (the Green Album) today, and realized something not only interesting, but I'd argue, unprecedented.

Um, every single guitar solo on this album mirrors the vocal melody of its song. OK, I get it, I didn't just divulge the meaning of life, but seriously - listen to this record, and tell me you DON'T think the lead guitarist was majorly dogging things. There's a time and a place for a guitar solo that's a vocal melody replica - the Beatles did it, for God's sakes. But every solo on an entire album??? Really???

I don't think I'm alone in stating that guitar solos are very hit and miss, and certainly not every song dictates one. But Weezer, in its history, has recorded some VERY cool lead guitar parts - I'm looking at you, debut album - so I expect something comparable on subsequent records. What blows my mind about this 3rd album is the thinking behind this - was the band rushed? Was the lead guitarist being plain lazy? Was it an oversight? Was this their intention? I mean, like I said, to employ this tactic once in a while is fine, but across the span of a whole album? Wow. Just, wow. And hey, Mr Recording Engineer, where the fuck were you to catch this? Or was he bought off, too???

Guess I'll never know...

Compromise Your Fanbase's Trust At Your Own Peril

2008-06-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

What is the business-related and PR fallout when the moral pillar of a certain company, and primary symbol of trust amongst its customers, is weakened to the point of disintegration? What are the far-reaching consequences of an outcome so undesirable? For all intents and purposes, the National Basketball Association is about to find out.

Long chastised by fans and media alike, the NBA’s referees are widely believed to be the most incompetent officiating outfit amongst America’s Big Three sports - namely; football, baseball, and basketball. In the referees’ defense, an NBA foul may be the most subjective call in all of sports – questions such as the placement of blocking defenders’ feet, whether the offensive player lowered the shoulder, and if a shooter’s hand was impeded in the act – are routinely difficult to answer. (This problem is exacerbated by certain players’ tendencies to milk the fouling rules.) However, since its inception the league has had to deal with these officiating intricacies, and spectators on a whole have accepted them as par for the course. That is, until disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy announced this week that he, among other still-serving NBA referees, had a decided hand in determining the outcome of past NBA playoff games, all in the name of advertising, and worse, alleged gambling, dollars.

To paint the encapsulating picture of the gross problem the NBA has had fall into its lap, one need go no further than the case of former baseball player and manager, Pete Rose. The all-time leader in MLB hits, Pete Rose was forever banned from the sport in the 1980’s upon discovery of his betting on baseball games in which he managed (though he claims he always bet ON his own team). Then-MLB commissioner Fay Vincent, in punishing Mr. Rose, looked to deliver a clear message – sports, in their essence, can only exist as a form of mass entertainment and a lucrative business venture if the ultimate sport/fan agreement is upheld – that being, that the game spectators are enjoying is legitimately competitive. Once that agreement is compromised, the whole dynamic dissolves, and as spectators we’re essentially watching sports as grandiose theater.

This week the NBA has been thrust into the above precarious position, and the timing couldn’t have been worse (or in Mr. Donaghy’s attorneys’ cases, any more calculated). The sport was in the midst of an NBA finals championship series which featured its two most storied franchises, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, meeting on the sport’s ultimate stage for the first time since the 1980’s. It was a PR dream, and one on which the NBA’s marketers were looking to cash in. Instead, the entire series has been overshadowed by the implications of Mr. Donaghy, who, it must be mentioned, is facing significant jail time due to previous admissions of inside gambling while officiating NBA games. But, while easily brushed off as a felon’s attempts to lesser their prison sentence, this whole “crooked refs” affair potentially represents a PR nightmare for the NBA. This week AdAge published a 1,000-recipient survey which revealed that a whopping 37% of respondents - over one-third – believe that the NBA “somewhat or very likely” alters the outcome of its games. Whether Mr. Donaghy is the lone voice in muddying the NBA’s legitimacy claims is clearly not the issue, as the sport’s fans seem to be significantly wary of referees’ authority and intentions.

Current NBA commissioner David Stern is as savvy and sharp as anyone in the business, and he’d be the first to acknowledge that in this refereeing controversy he has a major issue on his hands. As a former lawyer, he knows his way around policies and practices, as well as presenting his case to those he needs to convince. But riding on as slippery a slope as losing one’s fans’ and customers’ trust and moral buy-in to one’s product cannot leave Mr. Stern feeling comfortable or secure in his position in any way. The NBA, in regards to the age-old and vital fan/sport competitiveness agreement, is in a most precarious spot, and the outcome of the Tim Donaghy affair could prove to be a tipping point in the sport’s relevance to the sports-viewing public.

The Fuckin Red Sox

2007-10-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm a Yankees fan. I HATE the Red Sox. There's no team, in any sport, that I despise more. Every game they play, I hope they lose, and lose BAD. But tonight, folks, the Red Sox won the World Series in convincing fashion. Normally, I'd throw the remote at the TV and curse not only my Yankees for not thwarting the Red Sox' effort, but the lousy NL team that fell prey to the Sawx. But this year was different. A colleague of mine, and good friend, was in attendance to see her Red Sox win the WS. The Yankee fan in me tells me that I hope she witnesses her team choke at the worst possible moment. But I'm a baseball fan, above all else, at heart. And in light of the Sox winning tonight, she's basically experiencing the greatest night of her life as a baseball fan. If that was me, I'd be PLASTERED and in the greatest mood ever. I hate the fact it's not me, but have the utmost respect for the fact that she's probably shit-canned right now, and SHOULD be. I wish it were another team, but as a baseball fan, my envy of my co-worker transcends team affiliations.

REDACTED - I Am NOT An NFL Gambling Genius

2007-10-15T12:41:00.001-07:00

Two words: Bengals. Cardinals.

May those teams lose every game and suffer humiliating defeats. I, for one, will never bet on them again, and may God have mercy on their souls. Made watching New England embarass Dallas at home even more frustrating. From 6-1 and $250 up, to 8-3 and only $80 up, in the space of four hours? Rough to say the least.

Lady luck is a cheating whore.

Radiohead - In Rainbows

2007-10-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

More like "In-Consistent". Har har. 4 killer songs on this record - Videotape, Weird Fishes, Reckoner, House of Cards - don't save it from being a letdown. I mean, some of the tracks have interesting elements for sure, but they're nothing to get too excited about because the songs themselves are pretty weak, and All I Need is flat-out BORING. I prefer the album to Hail To The Thief, but really that's not saying much - the weaker songs hearken back to the average Kid A and Amnesiac, and it's even more frustrating because offerings like Weird Fishes demonstrates that the band's still got what it takes. So why can't they do that consistently for 10 tracks???

Foo Fighters, Kanye West disappoint, Radiohead next?

2007-10-07T18:51:00.000-07:00

Foo Fighters - you're the Philadelphia Eagles of rock n roll. Everything is there that would suggest you would kick ass in your field, but some unidentified element is missing. Foos are one of my favorite bands, but as their latest offering, "Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace" illustrates, it's not good enough. There's 4 strong tracks on this record. Four songs does not a good record make.

Kanye's latest is disappointing for a different reason - he's trying to hard to be an Usher-like club banger dude. Synthesizers overload this album, and it totally takes away from the tracks themselves. Perhaps Kanye should've listened to "Touch the Sky" from his second album to get an idea of how a club anthem should be composed. It just doesn't sound like good ole Kanye.

Radiohead's 7th album is released online this Tuesday. It won't suck. It CAN'T suck. Do me proud, Radiohead. OK-Computer-proud.

I Am An NFL Gambling Genius

2007-10-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

So far this season I'm 5-1. Of the six games I've fired on, the only one I lost was an explicable-at-the-time-but-now-understandable early season loss by the San Diego Chargers. Who I now realize have the absolute worst head coach in the league, a guy who could poison the most coherent team.

Back in the saddle next Sunday, but at this point it's stupid funny how well I'm calling these games.

MTV drops the ball

2007-09-09T22:52:00.000-07:00

So, MTV has been losing the plot for years at this point. It's useless to long for the days when the channel played music videos - that was SO 1997. But MTV has always taken pride in its VMA awards show, and up until the last couple of years, it was the sole last entertaining element of the channel.

Basically, though, the VMAs have sucked the last few years. Everything's so scripted, the presenters/guests appear seriously disinterested, and the whole thing ends up feeling thrown together. So this year, they decided to hold the show in Vegas, and give the show a more accessible feel. Many of the performers played from suites in the Palms hotel, and the camera would switch to the performances as the show went to commercial. So you'd end up watching a 10-second clip of Queens of the Stone Age playing their latest single, but it came off as strange - why is MTV marginalizing its performers; the stars of the show? Does the network really think we watch these shows for the award hosts???

While I appreciate MTV's suspicion that the award show needed a shake-up, shortening the live performances is NOT the way to go, and they should have known that. The show was directionless and disjointed; which, by the past few VMAs, is saying something. Back to the drawing board, MTV...

A movie I would kill to direct

2007-08-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

"Capote" was a good flick. It was entertaining and insightful, and featured a stellar acting performance by whatshisname - the dude from "Almost Famous". Also, it took the unique angle of depicting the author during a short period of his life, as opposed to an all-encompassing biography.

Which leads me to the question - where the hell is the Ernest Hemingway movie??? Here's arguably the greatest American writer, a man's man who enjoys hunting and bullfighting, an alcoholic who ended his life at the wrong end of a shotgun barrel. What's Hollywood not seeing here? Yeah, it'd be tough to chronicle his entire life in a feature-length movie, but Christ, take a page out of Capote's book (BAD pun) and focus on a 5- or 10-year span. There's plenty of material...

Instead, we'll get ANOTHER teen movie about the outcast teenage chick who won one over her mean, bullying classmate. Whatever.

New Foo Fighters record

2007-08-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Foo Fighters have arguably been one of the most consistent and quality bands of the last decade, and I CANNOT wait for their new album. That being said, I found "One By One" and the double "In Your Honor" to be disappointing - between the two albums, only Best of You and Times Like These measure to the standard of their earlier records. Here's hoping "Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace" harkens back to late-90's Foo. On a side note, their offering on the "Godzilla" soundtrack, A320, is a FANTASTIC track, and in no way should be buried on some Hollywood-blockbuster-bust's soundtrack album. HOWEVER, if you pick up that record, you'll also be treated to the amazing Air by Ben Folds Five...

Heathrow's second album in first trimester

2007-08-26T18:16:00.001-07:00

As far as I'm concerned, and keep in mind I'm the goddamned songwriter, my band's second album is coming along nicely. As far as the writing goes, by my count we're two (STRONG) songs shy of a quality album. Sure, we have at least 15 written, but unlike almost every band on Earth, we want every song to be good. Good enough so that you don't skip any of 'em. It's time, over the next few weeks, to stare the beast dead red in the eye and knock out two hummable hits. But the birth of a killer song is never an easy one...

Heathrow Press Kit On Its Way

2007-08-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

So, we're in the process of creating the press kit for our band, Heathrow. We just approved our band bio beer coasters, and it's just a case of putting it all together now. Then... it's off to labels, promoters, radio stations, magazines, and anyone else who may have an interest. I'll keep you posted...