Not my normal beat, for sure, and slightly off the beaten track for Robot Panic. But I recently got the chance to take in this duo’s show and I was impressed. There are a lot of acts out there catering to the wee ones, and Princess Katie and Racer Steve are such a band. But I would say this particular duo has a lot to offer adults in the crowd too. At one point in the show, Princess Katie launched into a really lame rendition of “The Wheels on the Bus”. But then she stopped abruptly. “Hey parents, I bet you thought it would be like that today, Yeah, I don’t think so,” before kicking into another raucous original tune. This band is very energetic, and brash, but not so loud that it’s going to damage the hearing of the youngsters it’s meant for.

In addition to the lively and upbeat tunes, the show featured a few comedy elements that really got the kids engaged (and provided a laugh or two the those of us who’ve already graduated elementary school). A particular favorite was a large phone on stage and the kids were asked to scream “telephone” when it rang. One of the band members would answer it and perform a little comedy dialogue. It was a small thing, but very effective in maintaining variety in the show.

I’ve said a bit already, but I haven’t mentioned the best part of this show. Though it’s constructed for kids – young kids – this is a rock show and it’s not shy about saying it either. As I was sitting there, taking it in, I wondered why we didn’t have anything like this when I was a kid. It would certainly have inspired me to pursue music education at a younger age, and even encouraged me to stick with it. On top of which, you could see on the kids faces how much they were loving this show and totally getting into it. If you like rock and want to see it sustained by the next generation, Princess Katie and Racer Steve are like these great ambassadors of rock for the future of the genre, and they do it by instilling a love of rock into the youthful youth of today.
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As many of you have now guessed, Halloween is my favorite holiday; and it has been ever since I can remember.  Maybe it’s the change of seasons, the briskness in the air, or how for some short period of time it’s ok to be spooky and dress up as someone else. My friends and I would talk about what were going to be for weeks and the annual Halloween party at school was always a blast.  Of course, trick-or-treating would last a couple of hours as we scrounged the neighborhood in search of candy.

Sadly, many of those things that made Halloween so great from my youth have long since disappeared. Most schools no longer have Halloween parties (they call it a “Fall Festival” or some other crap) and a lot of neighborhoods are eeriely quiet and devoid of trick-or-treaters. But in the midst of my sadness comes an event aimed at adults like me who yearn for Halloween greatness. You can find it on select nights in October at Universal Studios in Orlando and Hollywood and it’s called Halloween Horror Nights (HHN).   The greatness of this event is one that must be experienced, but I will do my best to try and summarize my experience in hopes that other like me might make the trek down for future spooky good times. 

For those who have never been to either theme park, Universal Studios celebrates movie and television in an extremely fun way. Unlike Disney, these parks pander to a more intense experience with wilder roller coasters and more elaborate stage shows. I have visted both Disney and Universal several times and my family has always enjoyed their stay at Universal more. The one thing about both theme parks that few people realize is that they are working studios. The Hollywood park was several working movie sets and many films are shot there everyday. The Orlando location films most of the live Nickelodeon shows and is also the home for TNA wresting. Having large sets at your disposal is something important to remember as we discuss Halloween Horror Nights.

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Hey everyone, sorry for the extensive delay to the summer film festival. Between pneumonia, people being out-of-town and other scheduling conflicts, the festival has had to take some unexpected time off. But god willing, it will be back soon. We’ve scrambled things around a bit and come up with a brand-new schedule. Here’s when to look out for the podcasts:

• August 20 – Breathless and Jules & Jim (French New Wave Spectacular)
• August 27 – Harold & Maude and Punch-Drunk Love
• September 3 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Triangle
• September 10 - Brick and 8 1/2

Since the dawn of time, man (especially Drunk Man) has dreamed of flight.  And before Wilbur and Orvil got it right in Kitty Hawk, several people tried and failed gloriously to achieve even moments of gravity-defying greatness.  Nowadays, flying is something most of have done and we tend to take for granted.  But there are those who choose to chase the elusive dream of flight in spite of its prevalence in today’s world.  Where can you find these creative and somewhat insane individuals?  At a Red Bull Flugtag, of course; an event so wildly creative and addicting fun that it is in my must-experience-before-you-die activities in life. 

The word “Flugtag” is German and literally means “Flying Day.”  It is the brainchild of Red Bull’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz, and since 1991 this unique flying competition has been held every year in over 35 countries.  The contest in simple: design a human powered flying machine, drag it up a 30 foot ramp, and then launch yourself over a large body of water in hopes of flight, or at least a wicked crash.  Your flying machine cannot weigh more than 450 pounds (including the pilot), be constructed of natural materials, and it needs to float so the clean up crew can dispose of it properly. 

Teams aren’t just judged on how far they fly (or fall), but on creativity and sportsmanship.  It’s these later categories that add a real dimension of fun to this sport.  The flying contraptions that I witnessed at the St. Paul Flugtag included a giant mosquito, a Family Truckster (from National Lampoon’s Vacation) and a giant Acme Rocket driven by a Wile E. Coyote himself.  While none of these crafts flew very far at all, they were a ton of fun to watch plummet into the cold Mississippi river. 
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I had the chance to see Rush at Jones Beach Theater over the weekend and just thought I’d share some impressions. Rush is my favorite band and this is not the first time I was seeing them, but I thought the show was enough of a stand out to warrant a little writing.

I cannot quibble with the guys performance. For a band that formed in 1968, these guys still seem to be at the top of their game. I can’t imagine they have many decades left to tour, but I also can’t see them quitting anytime soon either. They rocked the place and the crowd loved it.

On a less positive note, and I’ve seen this mentioned on the boards, there seemed to be sound issues. Before the intermission, I noticed instruments drifting in and out, sonically. They would never go mute, but the levels seemed to be moving up and down a lot, which was very distracting. Also, it seemed like Geddy’s keyboard had even more trouble, I think it was during the song Marathon (but I can’t find a Youtube video to confirm so it could have been another one). Anyway, it got so quiet you almost couldn’t hear it and he seemed really pissed and missed a vocal cue by a few bars, almost as if he was trying to make his crew notice his displeasure. Neil and Alex just kept playing, and I assume, waiting for him to start singing again, which he eventually did.

Later, Alex completely missed one of his vocal cues in the song Subdivisions. You could tell he was embarrassed but totally laughed it off with the guitar techs.

After intermission, they seemed to have fixed whatever sound problems had plagued the first half of the show, and there were no more sound problems. It was still a little too noisy to my liking, but fairly good. Of note was how strong the sub bass signal was, almost like being in a dance club with a really good system. Every bass drum hit or bass guitar pluck hit you squarely in the gut.

There were two major highlights in the show for me. One was the performance of The Camera Eye in its entirety. Since they were playing the entire Moving Pictures album, I knew this would be in the set list and that was a major motivation for me to attend the show. If you are not familiar with this song, it’s very New York and London centric, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been walking around the city when it comes up on the old iPod and I get chills. Anyway, Saturday night, Geddy seemed to put extra emphasis on the words New York and Manhattan and the crowd ate it up. I just settled in for the ride, and was a bit beside myself that they were really playing it after all this time.

The second highlight was the inclusion of La Villa Strangiato in the encore. Again, for those unfamiliar with Rush tunes, it is a super complicated song which they couldn’t even record in the studio the first time without first breaking it into three different takes. It was such a momentous recording, it cause the band to change their whole direction with the following album and lead to the development of the band I like so much. It’s also one of those songs I never expected to hear live, so it was a real treat to see them bring it back.

Neil’s drum solo was great. I didn’t see the Snakes and Arrows tour, so I don’t know if this version is new for the Time Machine tour, or if it’s what he played last time, but it was very different from any of the solos I’ve heard him do before, like he’s evolved it again into a new direction. Same quality as ever, but with a new composition.

As to the crowd, everyone around me was very well behaved. Others have noted the young kid in the second row, and I noticed him too, air drumming in unison with all the adults around him. One can’t imagine he’s had the time in his short life to get so familiar with these old tunes, but clearly he has. I’d love to know his story, but imagine one or both of his parents must be huge fans. Like me, lol.

It was a great show. I didn’t even mention the filmic bits that tied the whole time machine theme together, or the walk-on performances of the rubber chicken man or the Beir Madchen who were ‘moving pitchers’ of beer, or the updated video graphics used throughout the show, because that’s all just icing on the cake. The band played great, reaching deep in their catalog at the same time playing their latest releases and everyone seemed to have a blast, and I was one of them.

We’re kicking off this year’s film festival with a bang with the 2006 French thriller Tell No One. It’s a fitting choice; The reason this film festival was started was to provide smart, entertaining films that counteract the dregs of mindless summer blockbusters. Every year, when I am inevitably let down by the studio tentpole releases, I am chided by friends, who ask me why I can’t just “enjoy the dumb fun.” The reason, in short, is because of films like Tell No One, which provide the same edge-of-your-seat thrills, but do so with an engaging story, well-rounded characters and top-notch filmmaking. It has enough depth for impassioned discussion, but is accessible enough that almost anyone can enjoy it. Despite winning several Cesar awards, making numerous critic’s top-ten lists and holding a 93% rating at Rottentomatoes.com, (100% with top critics) it was tragically overlooked by American audiences.

You can expect the first episode of the film fest podcast to go up this Friday, along with the discussion thread for this week. As is the case with every entry in this year’s film festival, Tell No One is available on Netflix Watch Instantly. To add it to your queue, click the button below.

I was at PAX East over the weekend and good times were had by all. MC Wilson has some delightful pajamas, and I may or may not have made out with some of the L4D2 crew. Conjecture abounds.

All of that aside, there were a number of games and tabletop insanity going on at the Boston Convention Center. Here’s some stuff I played and what I thought about it:

Shank: If I was going to pick a game of show, I think this might be it. You’ve got knives, guns, a chainsaw, and some grenades. Your goal is to make a whole bunch of dudes real real dead. That’s pretty much all you need to know going into the game. The combo system is surprisingly deep, and I really hope the game gives you an opportunity to master it. Also, chainsawing dudes is really, really fun.

Breach: Ok, let’s just pretend that the ten minute speech about how this game is “real warfare” didn’t happen. Breach is a team-based multiplayer shooter with persistent experience rewards, fully splodable environments, and some pretty environments. It’s also coming to XBLA for $15. For that price I’ll definitely go for a moderny 1943.

Monday Night Combat: Hey, remember DOTA (Defense of the Ancients)? What if it had a love child with Unreal Tournament? You’d get this thing. Playtime was limited for me, but it looks like something that I’d enjoy. It has a fantastic cartoony feel and plays crazy arcadey. I’ll be interested to see more stuff about this.

I’m done apologizing for loving Kevin Smith so much. I used to wonder: is it wrong for me to get so much joy out of listening to a guy talk filth all the time? I mean, when you get down to it, Smith’s whole schtick is sex, weed, and movies, and very little else. If he needs a quick punchline, he’ll throw in something about how fat he is. If he wants to get a bit edgier, he’ll talk about sucking a dick or two. And if he’s really on a roll, he’ll throw out a far-too-intimate story about his sex life, either with his wife or solo.

But the schtick never gets old to me. He’s just a charming, funny, and intelligent guy. Yes, intelligent. Anybody can listen to morons tell dick and fart jokes all day – hell, we do it on a weekly basis – but this guy has a supreme understanding of comedy and how to play to an audience. He’s got a knack for humor and a skill for handling the stage, despite being dressed in a bathrobe and spending a good portion of that stage time on a couch. What he does is take the mundane minutia of his everyday life, and make it funny and relate-able. That’s not as easy as it sounds. Because while he does have a stable of go-to stories, his live performances are almost completely ad-libbed. It’s a Q&A format, meaning that anything could happen, funny or not.

Hilden and I saw Smith in September at the State Theater in downtown Minneapolis, and it was then that I really got an appreciation for his skill. I own all the “Evening with” DVDs, so I’m more than familiar with the format. But what you don’t get out of those DVDs are the in-between bits. Those DVDs are edited so you see the good questions where Kevin really shines. But at the State, live, we got to see how deftly he was able to handle the not-so-good moments. When a girl stood up and babbled relentlessly about her new inlaws, Smith was able to turn what could have been an odd and uncomfortable moment into something hilarious. When another woman asked a bizarre question about sexual deviancy, he didn’t laugh or belittle the question, but turned it around on her to the delight of the audience.

Q&A can be a tricky business, especially when you do it in front of an audience that expects to be entertained. Kevin Smith is a master at it, pulling off a consistently hilarious and charming show. Even if you’re not a big fan of him or his films, I highly recommend fans of comedy in general give one of his shows a try.

For several years the 5,000 townspeople of Montevideo, Minnesota have been hosting one of the greatest rock events of the summer. If you are thinking of such awesome tours as Ozzfest or Moondance Jam, then think again as Monty one-ups them with “Rock the Park,” an all day long tribute band show! Up in my area of eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota we obviously do not get that many big acts touring that frequently (though we do have Brittany Spears performing soon, but c’mon now), so in their place we have tribute bands to fill their shoes! My sister lives in Montevideo and invited me down for the event, and I had a fantastic time, so fantastic that I had to go again this year. I attended Rock the Park last weekend, and like the year prior was not disappointed.

Say what you will about tributes and how nothing is as good as the real thing, but the people who put this together did a damn fine job of picking out some quality tribute bands. And after guzzling down countless brews all day it felt like I was at the real thing anyways. Another positive about this being a tribute show meant affordable admission, which meant using those savings on the amazing yet overpriced live event food like Hobo Tacos and Cheese Curds!!

The show kicked off at 1pm with a local cover band, Kill Baxter performing a variety of pop/punk songs from the past two decades to warm up the 1,000+ crowd in Montevideo’s Lagoon Park. They only played for about a half hour and then they and their Kurt Cobain look-a-like front man jammed out with the crowd for the rest of the show.

After Kill Baxter, the first tribute took the stage with Vicious Cycle, a Leonard Skynyrd tribute. Naturally, they closed out with an awesome rendition of “Free Bird” that left many great memories of Guitar Hero II. Following the southern rock beats of Skynyrd, Bad Animals took the stage, a Heart tribute. Being the passionate gamer that I am, I automatically associate Heart with 2K’s Prey from a few years ago and popped huge when they belted out “Barracuda.”

When Bad Animals wrapped up, the Led Zeppelin tribute band, the aptly titled Zed Leppelin took the stage. I never really got into Led Zeppelin, but for some reason as Zed Leppelin was winding down their set list I found myself out of my and jamming out with a steadily growing crowd around the stage area. The crowd was so into them that we got them to come back out for an encore, a first for the one of several tribute concerts I have attended. The final tribute to take the stage was Atomic Punks, a Van Halen cover band, whose lead man was quite flamboyant and encouraged the ladies to continue to throw as many bras on stage throughout their set as possible.

By the time Atomic Punks wrapped up and the show was over it was approaching 1am. At that point I was feeling pretty good from plenty of alcohol throughout the day which prolonged me from noticing my sore neck until morning from 12 hours of headbanging. And since I cannot of a better way to wrap up this article, check out these quick little snippets of amateur footage I shot from my digicam.

Kill Baxter
Bad Animals
Vicious Cycle
Zed Leppelin
Atomic Punks

So, John and I hooked up last Saturday in beautiful Beaver Dam, the Las Vegas of Southeastern Wisconsin. We caught up on old times and decided to make a music video commemorating the event. John is the tall, blond and handsome chap (as usual).