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I think a lot of people take Tom Petty for granted so it’s nice to be reminded of how talented this guy really is. Petty is a bonafide American Rock icon, no doubt. He has recorded fifteen studio albums, most of which went either gold or platinum. And he has toured, along with the Heartbreakers, extensively over the last three decades. Watching the newly released Damn the Torpedoes documentary just reaffirms why Petty and the Heartbreakers have had such a long career in the music business.

First of all, Damn the Torpedoes is Petty’s breakthrough album. It sat at the number two spot for seven weeks on the Billboard album chart and went on to sell over two million copies. With classic songs like “Don’t Do Me Like That”, “There Goes My Girl” and “Refugee”, the album has stood the test of time. And with producer Jimmy Iovine and engineer Shelly Yakus behind the recording console, the record still sounds great even to this day.

If you’ve never seen a “Classic Albums DVD” before, it’s essentially a detailed look back on how a particular album was put together with all the major contributors interviewed on camera. For this Damn The Torpedoes DVD- Petty, Yakus, Iovine, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Ron Blair were brought into a recording studio to go over the multi-tracks of this album. For a “music nut” like me, it’s a huge treat to see and hear what went on “behind the scenes” especially concerning the songwriting and recording of it all.

Petty and Campbell obviously got most of the screentime but it was nice hearing insight from producer Iovine and from keyboardist Tench. It was a bit of a surprise to hear that Iovine demanded full live performances from the band in the studio instead of building songs track by track. But the interplay among the musicians really made the songs come alive which you may not have gotten if they had decided to record the album piece by piece.

Iovine also reveals the “secret” to the song “Refugee”. The key rhythmic ingredient, according to Iovine, is the *shaker* that was added by legendary musician Jim Keltner. Keltner just happened to be hanging out in the studio at the time and they got him to add a shaker to the track and it was like magical fairy dust sprinkled onto the song. heh. funny stuff.

Oh and speaking of “Refugee”, be sure to check the bonus material on the DVD. Studio engineer Yakus explains that the bass drum was intentionally recorded “out of phase” with the rest of the drums. And by doing so, the bass drum stood out in the overall mix, making it almost “pop out” from the speakers.

Another nugget from the bonus material, is Petty’s Rickenbacker guitar that’s featured on the album cover. It turns out that the Rickenbacker is actually Campbell’s. And get this, Campbell bought it used for only $150!! And by the serial number, he found out that it was the next guitar the shop made after they made George Harrison’s famous Rickenbacker. Man, I wonder if the original seller of that guitar ever found out what the guitar was really worth??

Anyway, there’s tons of neat info like that about the band and the album. It’s definitely worth viewing especially nowadays where professional recording studios are going the way of the dinosaur. The classic album series highlights the achievements that were done in a real recording studio using analog multi-track tapes. In this day and age of ProTools and bedroom recordings, a lot of these techniques and methods will unfortunately be lost. Can you imagine 20 years from now when the Classic Albums series features an album from 2010? The documentary will probably feature just some dude in a bedroom looking at waveforms on a computer screen. yikes!

retroGrade: A

Classic Albums: Damn the Torpedoes DVD
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
DVD U.S. release date: August 3, 2010
also available on Blu-Ray
running time: 98 minutes
Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment
Directed by: Matthew Longfellow

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Did you guys catch the premiere of Louis C.K.‘s new show “Louie” on FX this week? They’ve been promoting the hell out of the show for months so it’s great to see that it lived up to the hype. As a matter of fact, “Louie” is probably my favorite new TV show right now. I’m not that pleased with the 11pm time slot but with the R-rated language, I guess that’s what they had to do to be on basic cable.

The show is a bit like Seinfeld with stand-up bits weaved-in with the storylines but there are unexpected left turns (i.e. the opening poker scene and the part when Louie’s date got into a helicopter for a quick getaway. heh) that definitely brings the tried and true framework to another level.

“Louie” is a must-see in my book. check it out – Tuesdays on FX at 11pm.

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During last night’s episode of Family Guy, both Asia and REO Speedwagon got a mention. The interesting thing (and a bit confusing) is that they referenced John Payne as “lead singer from Asia” and then played a snippet of the original version of “Only Time Will Tell” that features John Wetton on vocals. hhhmmmmm…

I think they should of made reference to the two separate factions of the band by saying “the OTHER lead singer of Asia“.

But I have to say that the artists did a great job in creating a cartoon version of John Payne. heh.

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This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of 20th Century Fox. All opinions are 100% mine.

The highly anticipated comedy “Date Night” opens this friday, April 9th. Two of the biggest stars of must-see comedy thursday pair up in what looks to be this spring’s bona fide big-screen smash. Steve Carell and Tina Fey portray your typical suburban married couple deeply entrenched in the day to day routine. They impulsively take another couple’s table reservation at a trendy restaurant one night and that’s when their troubles begin. They’re mistaken to be the ones who stole some information from a mobster and are then chased after by some no-good henchmen.

I’m a huge fan of both Carell and Fey and it’s great to see them work together in this project. There’s some good buzz surrounding the flick and early reviews say the pair have great chemistry together. The neat thing that I’ve heard about the movie is that it has a positive take on the couple’s marriage. Yes, the couple is in a rut and may appear bored with their lives but screenwriter Josh Klausner made it a point to show their marriage in a good light. In fact, he has been quoted in saying that the movie is “a love letter to marriage.” With so many crude and obnoxious comedies topping the box office, it’s actually refreshing that “Date Night” has some heart to it.

The Date Night Movie was helmed by director Shawn Levy who has had a string of hit movies including “Night at the Museum” and “Cheaper by the Dozen”. The movie also features a great supporting cast including Ray Liotta, James Franco and Mila Kunis. It opens this weekend so be sure to grab your spouse and make it a date night. I know I will!

I don’t know why I’m drawn to this crap but I couldn’t help but tune in to the season premiere of Celebrity Apprentice last night. I guess it’s the whole train wreck aspect of it. Come on, watching D-List celebrities humiliate themselves just to get some on air screen time? It’s must-see TV!!

For those that didn’t catch the show, here are the team lineups:

Team Rock Solid (the men) : Rod Blagojevich, Sinbad, Bret Michaels, Darryl Stawberry, Curtis Stone, Michael Johnson and Bill Goldberg

Team Tenacity (the women) : Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Osbourne, Carol Leifer, Summer Sanders, Holly Robinson Peete, Maria Kanellis and Selita Ebanks.

The douche-bag of the night – it’s gotta be Donald Jr. with his big-headed pompous attitude. His response to a question about how he knows who received the most contributions – “I know everything.” what an ass.

The women lost the restaurant task so Carol Leifer got booted. oh well. the Donald rarely fires the more well-known celebs early on so between Lauper and Leifer, it was a bit obvious who the Donald was going to pick.

as for the Donald’s quotables for the night:
- “she’s disgusting!” concerning Lauper’s close friend, Rosie O’Donnell.
- “I think Ivanka saved your beautiful ass.” said to Victoria’s Secret model Selita Ebanks.

celebs already on my nerves:
Bret Michaels (they need to replay his Tony Awards highlight on this show. The clip never gets old!) and Sharon Osbourne.

celebs I’m currently rooting for:
Bill Goldberg and Summer Sanders.

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Last night’s Dancing with the Stars results show proved to us all once again their uncanny ability to stretch what could have been done in five minutes, into a full hour. man, that was painful. viewers had to wait what seemed like eternity to simply confirm the obvious choices for the finale – Donny, Mya and Kelly. And in my opinion, Mya is going to take the trophy home … unless Donny’s faithful fans push him over the top in the end.

Other than getting to the final three, there really wasn’t much else. Obviously there was a bunch of time to fill so they had three musical acts and a dance showcase for the upcoming film Nine.

Alicia Keys screeched her way through her new song “Try sleeping With A Broken Heart”. and then Leona Lewis lip-synced to her new song “Happy” which was a bit of a disappointment since she actually has a great singing voice.

and just when I thought the show couldn’t get any worse, they trot out the two remaining Gibb Brothers to perform “You Should be Dancing”:

yikes! They should simply outlaw anyone over 60 from singing disco music in high falsetto!! it’s definitely hazardous to the ears!

But on the other hand, it was nice to see Cheryl Burke and Chelsie Hightower on the show dancing again. They’re both a treat for the eyes.

as a matter of fact, if it were me, I’d rather watch Chelsie, Cheryl, Lacey Schwimmer and Edyta Sliwinska in those skimpy outfits for an hour and be done with it.

Kudos to the writers of Dancing with the Stars for bringing on the funny in the Dance Center segment on last night’s results show. The twisted take on ESPN’s SportsCenter featured Kenny Mayne and Jerry Rice, who were both former contestants of the show. Judge Len Goodman was also there to help out with the commentary.

The running gag on shoe sizes was hilarious along with some good natured ribbing of the current contestants:
Joanna Krupa – laughs like a seal
Donny Osmond – “acts like a three year old on sugar”
Aaron Carter – “has the lowest pain threshold of any man I’ve ever seen in my life”
Kelly Osborne – “she’s got a cute accent but she swears like a trucker”
Mya – “needs counseling, got anger problems”

And thank goodness Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff are finally off the show. their on-screen antics definitely got on my nerves this season.

At this point it looks like the highly sought after DWTS trophy will be going to either Donny Osmond or Joanna Krupa. at least in my opinion anyway. stay tuned…
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Let me start by saying that I like Taylor Swift. She’s cute, she’s young and she’s got a great sense of humor. But I’m sorry, the girl can’t sing live. It’s pretty obvious she needs a team of producers, studio engineers and pro-tools experts to help keep her vocals in-tune. Check out her appearance from last night’s Dancing With the Stars. ouch. I personally recommend turning down the volume while watching this.

hopefully her upcoming hosting gig with Saturday Night Live will showcase more of her comedic ability than her singing ability (or lack thereof).

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Well, I guess it comes as no surprise since Dollhouse hasn’t been performing that well lately. But still, what other show does FOX have that’ll pull better numbers in the Friday night time slot?

At least this will give Joss Whedon the go ahead to close out the series and tie up all the loose ends. Of course, I’m assuming FOX will still be showing the rest of the episodes this season…

unsolicited career advice for Joss: please stay far away from the FOX network in the future!!

The Ausiello Files: Fox to bench DollHouse during sweeps
This isn’t a good sign: Sources confirm to me exclusively that Fox has decided to pull Dollhouse off the schedule during November sweeps. Joss Whedon’s ratings-challenged drama is expected to return in December and air back-to-back episodes on Friday night.

Bottom line: Barring a ratings miracle, Dollhouse will be shut down for good after it completes its current 13-episode order.
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What a disappointment. After a long, drawn out promotional campaign for the new CBS medical drama Three Rivers, last night’s premiere episode was a bust. Come on, if you’re going to produce another hospital-based show in this post-ER era, you gotta deliver more than just the tried and true storylines that we’ve all seen a dozen times before!!

Three Rivers tried to compensate for the tired formula by featuring gimmicky hi-tech medical equipment and heavy-handed scene transitions. But without unique and interesting content, the series just ends up being a rehash of the same old, same old.

The only positive that I could come up with is that I’m glad to see Daniel Henney on a network TV series after his successful stint on Korean soap operas. Other than that, it just felt like I was watching an expensive infomercial on organ donation.

retroGrade: D-

Three Rivers
network: CBS
Starring: Alex O’Loughlin, Katherine Moennig, Daniel Henny, Alfre Woodard
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