Have you ever been on a business trip and you suddenly need to find a certain shop or restaurant in the area? I often find myself in the Chicagoland area on business and I’m always having to look up local information to find things I need. Finally there’s a convenient online resource that seems to have it all, DexKnows.com. It’s quicker than flipping through a Chicago Phone Book since you have the option to sort listings by name, location and even by ratings. The sorting tool definitely comes in handy especially when there’s a long list of providers under a certain category. So whether you’re looking for Chicago Massage therapists, physicians, auto mechanics or even night clubs, DexKnows can find them for you in a flash. Be sure to bookmark the site today.
the forecast calls for rain on wednesday which means that I probably won’t go see the Regeneration Tour at the local amphitheater. The outdoor venue isn’t covered so if it rains, the audience WILL most definitely get soaked. and even though I was looking forward to seeing all those retro 80’s bands- ABC, Human League, Belinda Carlisle, Naked Eyes and Flock of Seagulls, they’re not really worth the trouble of standing out in the pouring rain for four hours. ABC and the Human League are the main reasons why I’d want to see the show. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to see them live sometime in the near future.
Wearing costumes has always been associated with halloween but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. I’m sure my kids would love the idea of regularly wearing costumes out and about all throughout the year. You should see the kids’ faces whenever they put on their favorite Disney Costumes. My four year old literally seems to be transformed into “Buzz Lightyear” whenever he’s got that spacesuit on. It’s a hoot seeing the lil’ kid running around the house believing he could fly. and I don’t know about you but I DO believe wearing interesting and well made costumes changes things up and can definitely put an extra spring in your step. and who DOESN’T want to shake things up a bit in their dull, boring humdrum lives? I mean, can’t you just imagine wearing vibrantly colored costumes to work each day to brighten up our mundane office environment? that would most definitely make the work week a little more interesting. oh, if only…
well, incidentally, halloween will be upon us soon and so it’s time to decide on your family’s halloween costumes. It’s always better to shop early to get a hold of the better designs. You can even use Coupon code: PPP05BLOG2008 over at halloweenadventure.com to get a 5% discount on your next purchase. oh, and to read up on the latest in the world of costumes, check out the blog on halloweenadventure.com.
Took the kids to watch the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie this weekend. I wasn’t expecting much since the overall rotten tomatoes score for the movie is at a lowly 4%. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the “tomatometer” that low before!! Anyway, my kids wanted to see the movie no matter what the critics said so we went. And not surprisingly, the kids ended up liking it and I was left wondering if there was anything noteworthy to write about in the flick. and that’s just it. all I felt about it was: “meh”. The battle scenes were pretty cool I must say but the story and character interactions weren’t all that memorable. I still can’t recall what went on in the story except for some deception by Count Dooku and some kidnapped slimy Hutt baby. Oh and I can confirm that the character animation in the film definitely has an eerie “Thunderbirds” marionettes feel to them. I’m not sure if it was a knowing “wink” to the old 60’s TV show but it made the characters a bit stiff and odd looking. It’s sad to see that George Lucas has to continue to milk this cash cow but … hey, my kids don’t seem to mind..
To celebrate the end of summer (well, for the kids anyway) and to do something fun before school starts, I took the kids to Morey’s Piers to spend the day at one of the best New Jersey water parks around. The kids had an absolute blast at the Raging Waters theme park. I love the fact that the place is family-friendly with an abundant amount of activities for a wide range of age groups. That definitely helps when you have both the younger set along with older boys in your group. The bigger kids get to hang out around the “rope swing” and “shotgun falls” area. and the lil’ ones are happy to scamper about at “Camp KidTastrophe” where there are water sprayers and waterguns galore. and for us parents, the “endless river” offers a nice relaxing inner tube ride down a long, lazy waterway. and for lil’ bit of fun, I thought the “Sky Pond Journey”, with it’s 4 elevated pools, was pretty cool. It was also a pleasant surprise to find that the staff were helpful and very friendly. At most amusement parks you find teens just working their summer job with attitudes to spare. But we didn’t encounter that here. It’s all the more reason to make Morey’s Piers a “must-see” on your next family beach vacation. All in all, a great time was had by all. For more info and operating hours, be sure to check out their website.
boy, that Todd Rundgren review took a lot out of me. That was probably the most extensive review I’ve posted here. I’m not sure I can be THAT detailed for every album review but for the ones I find special, I probably will. Here’s what I got coming soon here on retroblog: ABC’s Traffic, Rick Springfield’s latest, Extreme, Guthrie Guvan, Fiction Plane and Sam Phillips.
so stay tuned! and please feel free to leave me some feedback. How am I doing so far? the good, the bad. anything you’d like to see on the blog? let me know.
Ahh, it’s back to school time again. I can’t believe the summer’s already over. It just all went by so fast. I’m sure the kids would agree as well. We’re almost finished getting all the school supplies off of the kids’ lists. It’s SO inconvenient when the teachers send the classroom supplies lists just a week before school starts. It really doesn’t give us parents a lot of time to get things together. plus, the local stores are just mobbed with kids and parents, all fighting over the last trapper keeper. One thing, I do want to do before school starts is to upgrade to a faster internet connection. I’m finding that more and more homework assignments are requiring the kids to link up to the school servers from home. I suppose it’s inevitable since broadband internet has become so integrated into our daily lives. and as luck would have it, Charter Communications is currently running a new promotion for their customers called the Charter Laptop-a-Day Giveaway. Folks that sign up for their high speed internet service from now until Sept. 22nd are eligible to win one of 30 brand new HP Compaq Presario C770US Laptops. Man, winning one of these would be fantastic especially since my oldest is entering middle school this school year. Another cool thing Charter is doing is giving away free Shell gas cards on all online orders. So, not only are you getting the best prices on high speed internet and digital phone services but you get free gas PLUS a chance to win a new laptop. Sounds like a great deal to me. To find out more, head on over the Charter Communications today.
Album: Arena
Artist: Todd Rundgren
label: Hi Fi Recordings (U.S.), Cooking Vinyl (U.K.)
release date: September 30th (U.S.), September 29th (U.K.)
review by: retroBlog.net
Back in the early nineties, Todd Rundgren once sang about “the old rocking chair” and how it beckoned him “like a junkie’s needle.” Well, thank goodness he never succumbed to that middle-aged temptation. This year, Rundgren has been busier than ever, touring almost non-stop with his own band as well as heading up a Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers tribute tour. He even managed to find time to record his twentieth solo album, Arena, which will be making its way to stores by the end of September. Arena is probably the most accessible sounding record Rundgren has made since the Nearly Human days. It’s essentially the guitar-rock album fans have long been asking for. You’ll find no church-bashing (i.e. Fascist Christ, Mammon), pseudo-rapping (i.e. No World Order, Individualist) or show tunes (i.e. The Smell of Money) here. You’ll even notice simpler chord progressions just by the fact that the songs are guitar-based rather than keyboard-based. So, those typical Rundgren-esque tone-clusters which are normally an integral part of the Rundgren sound aren’t as plentiful although they do pop up now and then like in the middle section of Afraid or the bridge in the song Today. But don’t get me wrong when I say “simpler” chords. This just means that the songs will have a more immediate impact on a wider range of listeners. Hopefully this new accessible version of Rundgren will allow him to reach a larger audience this time around which unfortunately didn’t happen the last go-round with his critically acclaimed Liars album in 2004.
As with most of his albums, Rundgren focused his material on a particular concept which, on Arena, is all about conflict and how we (men in particular) react to them. Rundgren was quoted in a recent interview that “this record is more about action. Time for talk is over. Now it’s time to actually do something.”
1. Mad
The album opens with a guitar arpeggio reminiscent of Rundgren’s “Buffalo Grass” but then kicks into a straight ahead rocker a la “Black and White”. “This is more than upset, it’s as enraged as I get and you ain’t seen me mad yet, and now I’m mad!” screams Rundgren in the chorus. His vocal performance is amazing here. Is this man truly 60 years old??!?!!?? The energetic performance on this song is that of a man half his age. it’s awe-inspiring. the song also features a tasty guitar solo that recalls the solo from Utopia’s “The Very Last Time”, which in itself was a nod to Tom Scholz/Boston. sweet. The strong album opener is also the first single off the album.
2. Afraid
“Mad” segues right into “Afraid”, one of the more typical “Todd” sounding songs on the album that could have fit right into his previous albums like The Individualist. The highlight is the middle section where Rundgren repeatedly asks “Why suffer for nothing? Suffer for something.” Then the song builds to a nice, restrained David Gilmour-ish guitar solo.
3. Mercenary
The opening metal guitar intro would work perfectly as some wrestler’s theme music on WWE monday night RAW. No one would ever recognize that this is the same dude that came up with “Bang on the Drum”. Rundgren even manages to sound pretty menacing with that Trent Reznor-type distortion on his vocals during the verses. The distortion effect goes away just in time to clearly hear Rundgren scream at the top of his lungs - “How do you like me now that I’ve done your dirty work? How do you like me NOW???” The song is obviously about the Iraq War but Rundgren leaves the door open to let it be just about any type of work being contracted out. You can even take it as some sort of statement about Rundgren’s work with The New Cars, being a “hired gun” and all. OK, that’s stretching it a bit but you get the gist. Oh, and I love the nod to Boston’s “More than a Feeling” in the acoustic-led bridge section. hhmmm, another reference to Boston? Maybe concert promoters should take note of this and somehow arrange a tour package next summer with Rundgren and Boston together? *hint, hint*.
4. Gun
“Gun” just screams ZZ Top with Texas blues riffs galore. Rundgren would say before playing this song at his shows that this is “a FUN song about something really CREEPY”. His stance on gun control is pretty clear with the chorus: “You better run ’cause I’m young, dumb and I’ve got a gun, public idiot number one, ’cause I’m young, dumb and I’ve got a gun!” and the reference to Full Metal Jacket is genius - “This is my rifle, this is my gun, this is for fighting, this is for fun!” and again, another great guitar break in the middle of this song. love it.
5. Courage
There’s a significant shift in the sonic palette once track 5 starts up. With “Courage”, Rundgren channels the 70’s version of himself, complete with jangly acoustic/electric strumming and sugary sweet harmonies. It’s interesting to note that the instrumental intro featuring the flang-y lead guitar seems to be a knowing nod to Moe Berg and the Pursuit of Happiness. A nice change of pace after the first four “heavy” sounding songs.
6. Weakness
“Weakness” is definitely one of the featured tracks on Arena especially after Rundgren dedicated the song to his wife, Michele, when he debuted the song live in Kauai at his 60th birthday bash. The song is a great hybrid of a bluesy guitar-riffed verse (a la Rundgren’s “Mystified”) mashed up with a soaring ballad of a chorus not unlike Rundgren’s “Hawking” (off of Nearly Human). His vocal performance is spectacular here which helps make those clunky superman references in the lyrics go down easier. Unfortunately the weak (yes, had to say it) part about the song is the stiff high-hat that gets pushed to the fore during the verses. It’s too bad Rundgren didn’t get Prairie Prince to overdub the cymbal work on the song because he would have been able to add that extra groove during those sparsely arranged moments in the song.
7. Strike
“Strike” is Rundgren doing his best AC/DC interpretation. There’s not a lot of substance in the lyrics here but it’s a fun song nevertheless with a lot of musical elements added into the pot to keep things interesting. The guitar solo isn’t all that striking (ouch, sorry. it was there.) here but man, that repetitive chorus will burn into your brain and last for days and days. It’s relentless! Listen to Rundgren screaming “Time to STRIKE while the iron is HOT!!” and tell me this guy ain’t 60 years old!!??!!
8. Pissin
“Pissin” is the required novelty track on the album. Rundgren always seems to include one on each of his records. It’s definitely not one of the better songs on Arena but it’s still pretty memorable. I mean, where else are you going to find someone singing the line “and now your dick is in the mayonnaise“??? The modulation into the instrumental section of the song is a nice touch.
9. Today
“Today” sounds almost like a leftover from the Liars sessions with the sequenced keyboard part and the pseudo-techno drum patterns. Here, Rundgren exhorts his listeners to resolve their differences with others, TODAY! It’s a great message and the song is a definite standout on the record.
10. Bardo
“Bardo” has Robin Trower’s “Bridge of Sighs” written all over it. I love the guitar work on this one and the mood that is set here. Rundgren expands on the message from “Today” and brings in a Buddhist concept of transition where you need to confront your own issues in order for you to move on. “You can’t go back from where you came, you must move on and face the flame of the last Bardo.” Rundgren interestingly adds some white noise during the ending guitar solo to create some tension a la the Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s so Heavy)”.
11. Mountaintop
Rundgren has already stated that he would love “Mountaintop” to replace “Bang on the Drum” as a sporting event favorite. and it has potential with the ever so catchy “higher-higher” refrain during the chorus.
Rundgren uses an interesting reverb effect on his vocals (during the verses) as well as on the bass drum that kind of recalls John Lennon’s use of the echo effect on songs like “Instant Karma”. The reverb effect on the bass drum is particularly distracting for me. I’m not sure if the general audience will pick up on it but since I’m a drummer, I notice it. basically, the digital delay on the bass drum is not in time with the overall tempo. I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not but it sure is distracting.
12. Panic
“Panic” is a great song that recalls both Rundgren’s “Yer Fast” and Utopia’s “Itch in My Brain”. Probably one of my favorites at the moment. His sense of humor shines through with lines like: “The zombies awake but it won’t help to panic… your boner goes soft but it don’t help to panic… and you just made a stinky…” classic!! heh.
13. Manup
“Manup” is a strong closer. It pretty much sums up what Rundgren wants us all to do which is essentially to stop our complaining, get up off our asses and do something! The ending guitar solo is sweet but stops short. In fact most of the guitar solos on the album are short and concise but as he has mentioned in previous interviews, that’s how Rundgren views “Arena rock”: very melodic with big hooks and concise to the point guitar solos. I would have given him more leeway with the guitar solos but that’s just me.
- Overall Sound - If you’re familiar with Rundgren’s output over the last decade then you basically know how he operates in terms of recording his albums. Arena was essentially recorded with protools on his macbook utilizing programmed/sequenced bass and drum tracks, virtual guitar amp emulators, etc. Personally I would have preferred real drums over the “canned” drum sounds but that just might be the drummer side of me talking. Those sampled drum sounds just don’t give songs like “Mercenary”, “Strike” and “Mountaintop” the visceral power they need to take ‘em over the top, you know what I mean? Aside from the guitars, the “virtual band” made some of the songs sound a bit more restrained than I would have liked. Not really sure if it was a time or budget limitation but I suppose that’s Todd’s call and who am I to argue, right? And I guess, in the overall scheme of things, the sound of the record isn’t as important as the songs themselves. As long as the songs are well written it really doesn’t matter how their recorded. Just take the timeless Beatles catalog as one example of that. And it’s safe to say with these 13 songs on Arena, Rundgren delivers! It’s definitely the perfect follow up to his 2004 Liars album.
Oh, and for those of us sticklers that still grumble over the use of drum machines and such, Rundgren’s got us covered by bundling the new album with a DVD and CD of Rundgren’s live performance of the new album from the July 14th Boulder Theater show. So the packaged bundle sounds like a great deal. Look for it in stores beginning September 30th.
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listen to an excerpt of Rundgren’s lead off single from the new album Arena - “Mad” (for streaming only):
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purchase Todd Rundgren CDs on Amazon:
— For all things Todd, check out Rundgren on myspace as well as over on the TR Connection. For detailed info on the U.K. Rundgren dates, head on over to the NoblePR Arena page. And be sure to catch Rundgren (along with Rachel Haden, Prairie Prince, Kasim Sulton and Jesse Gress) on tour which starts back up in October.
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You know, for a while there, Jon and Kate plus 8 on TLC was a fun, lighthearted look at what the Gosselins’ life is like raising a set of twins and a set of sextuplets. The kids were cute and we all sympathized with Jon and Kate struggling to keep the kids cleaned and fed. and I’m not exactly sure when it all changed but what used to be an enjoyable lil’ reality show evolved into some twisted money making machine for Jon and Kate to use for their own gain. When things first started out, we saw the family in a modest home with Jon working a 9 to 5 job and Kate staying home to take care of the kids. By season 3 on TLC, we see that Jon no longer works and the family is supported by their numerous speaking engagements, sponsorships and of course their cut off of their reality series. Jon and Kate’s attitude has changed to where they give off this sense of entitlement that has really turned off a lot of viewers. essentially they’ve used their kids to gain a “celebrity type” lifestyle which includes a whole slew of freebies from clothes, meals, trips, vacations, child care to even Jon’s hair transplant!! What’s messed up is that Jon and Kate have no qualms about receiving these at all. In fact, they seem to expect it just because their on TV. It’s pretty sad. And it seems that the lil’ kids are paying the price for all of this.
Interestingly, I’m not the only one that has noticed the bad vibes coming off the show. There’s a growing number of bloggers, websites and forums that are raising their concerns over the show - from their parenting skills (lack there of) to the welfare of the children being on camera for days on end. A good place to start is the blog The Gosselins Without Pity. The latest scoop on the blog is about the Gosselins’ plan to move to North Carolina. Yup, that’s right, they’re moving to my neck of the woods. I guess it doesn’t matter even if they moved in next door to me since it’s commonly known that they don’t take kindly to strangers. But most likely they’ll be on a huge plot of land, isolated from prying eyes. according to this post, they’re currently building a 8000 square foot house with a pool and a separate pool house. Man, TLC most LOVE them!
And if you’re wondering why “Aunt Jodi” no longer appears on the show, be sure to read Aunt Jodi’s sister’s blog - Truth Breeds Hatred. sad, sad, sad. It seems that the Gosselins are burning all their bridges which isn’t that wise since it’s obvious their days on TV are numbered. and where will they be once the TV cameras shut down for good?
man, driving around in my big ol’ SUV is painful nowadays. Filling up this old behemoth is sucking my wallet dry. Unfortunately selling larger vehicles like this with gas prices still sky high is not going to be easy. What I’ll probably do is keep the old SUV around but purchase something more economical and wallet-friendly to drive back and forth to work. I’ve been searching auto123.com for an economical used car. The site is a one-stop shop for all things auto including local listings, reviews and photos of each and every make and model. I like how the site includes both user reviews as well as ones written by professional reviewers. When you’re making a large purchase such as this, it’s always good to get a number of opinions for different sources. I think I’ve narrowed my commuter car down to a late model Volkswagon Golf. The Golf is fuel efficient AND it features a nice european flair that other domestic hatchbacks don’t have. Oh and before I forget, auto123.com is currently running a Drive, Rate and Fly contest where you can win a free vacation. So be sure to head on over to the site and register.
and 
are the main reasons why I’d want to see the show. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to see them live sometime in the near future. 
and as luck would have it, Charter Communications is currently running a new promotion for their customers called the 
, which will be making its way to stores by the end of September. Arena is probably the most accessible sounding record Rundgren has made since the Nearly Human days. It’s essentially the guitar-rock album fans have long been asking for. You’ll find no church-bashing (i.e. Fascist Christ, Mammon), pseudo-rapping (i.e. No World Order, Individualist) or show tunes (i.e. The Smell of Money) here. You’ll even notice simpler chord progressions just by the fact that the songs are guitar-based rather than keyboard-based. So, those typical Rundgren-esque tone-clusters which are normally an integral part of the Rundgren sound aren’t as plentiful although they do pop up now and then like in the middle section of Afraid or the bridge in the song Today. But don’t get me wrong when I say “simpler” chords. This just means that the songs will have a more immediate impact on a wider range of listeners. Hopefully this new accessible version of Rundgren will allow him to reach a larger audience this time around which unfortunately didn’t happen the last go-round with his critically acclaimed Liars album in 2004. 
