May 2008 Archives

It's T.G.I.F. time. Trying to make plans this weekend? Click here, here or here and let FlipSide do the work.
Miss the season finale of "Lost" Thursday night? Read about it or watch it here.
Here's the latest dish to discuss during the weekend:
Is Tyra Banks the new Oprah Winfrey? Clay Aiken is going to be a daddy. MTV will follow rapper T.I. to jail. "Mad Men" is set to heat up summer TV.
Check back Saturday for my take on "Sex and the City: The Movie" and Sunday for a recap of the 2008 MTV Movie Awards. Enjoy Tokyo Police Club's "Tessellate" video. Ciao for now.

Season six of "Last Comic Standing" started last week. It's on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. I caught most of last night's episode. I was so excited. It's one reality show I can actually watch because there is minimal drama. They actually let the comics do the routine.

"Sex and the City" opens in theaters today and a bunch of girls from work are going to see it tonight. I couldn't wait. In the past two weeks, I've bought - and read - "Sex and the City Kiss and Tell" and bought - and watched - season 2, which adds to my collection of seasons 1, 5 and 6. Waiting until tonight to see the movie just wasn't good enough.

York Little Theatre and Pullo Family Performing Arts Center are teaming up to present Disney’s “High School Musical” at 7 p.m. Aug. 8 and 2 and 7 p.m. Aug. 9 at the Pullo Center, 1031 Edgecomb Ave. in Spring Garden Township. Dozens of local teens recently participated in open auditions at William Penn Senior High School, South Western High School and YLT. To read an article about the try-outs, click here. To see who made the cut, read the rest of the blog post.

Were you out at the bars last weekend? Click here to see if FlipSide caught you hanging out and having a good time. Look for FlipSide taking party pictures when you're out an about. Smile and say "Cheese!"

I used to have a life. It wasn't hard to pull myself away from a TV with only four channels, one of which came in almost clear. But alas, I moved in with my spouse and giving up analog TV for satellite TV, 50 million channels worth, was one of our compromises.

Country Time = crunk times

The long weekend led to massive amounts of fliff.
Friday night, I ventured out to Cobblestones to watch the Phillies game. I almost choked on my beer when Astros pitcher Jose Valverde got nailed in the head with a ball. Luckily, he was fine.
Saturday, I did a mini bar tour and hit up The WaterWay Bar and Grill, White Rose Bar & Grill and Harp & Fiddle.

There are a ton of events going on this Memorial Day weekend. Click here or here to find out what's up. In the mood for some local music? Get to the the York Revolution Game or The White Rose Bar & Grill in York Saturday for battle of the bands.
Miss the "Grey's Anatomy" season finale last night? Click here to read a recap or watch the episode. Watch the new Coldplay video below and enjoy the long weekend.

Wearing matching outfits, Cutie Pie and Baby Face stood side-by-side awaiting the results. Surprise! Cutie Pie, aka David Cook, won by 12 million votes. He went in for the bro grab with Baby Face before breaking out in happy tears. Actually, the most surprising thing of all was when judge Simon Cowell apologized for his mean comments. So that's it until January 2009. Luckily, the commercial breaks were as plentiful as the shameless plugs. Let's just hope that everyone who voted for the finalists will vote in the presidential election.

One Republic sans hit-maker Timbaland performed "Apologize" and was joined by Baby Face. Based on solely on the hard-core factor, I'd have to be on Team Cutie Pie.

The endless parade of season seven contestants continued at warp speed. The top six guys performed in matching denim ensembles. They were then joined by '80s power ballad singer Bryan Adams. I was finding it hard to believe we were in heaven, too.

"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest revealed that 97.5 million people voted for the show's finale — 23 million more people than voted last year. Strange, considering the show's ratings have been dropping off. Anyway, the results were tallied by the show's opening, but Fox made me wait two more hours for the big announcement.

Make sure you are sitting down before you watch this.

Holy cow!

Baby Face versus Cutie Pie
The first part of the "American Idol" season seven finale was full of comparisons to a championship boxing match. The stream of inspirational quotes between "rounds" was nauseating at best, but I soldiered through. To clear up confusion, I decided to call finalist David Archuleta Baby Face and finalist David Cook Cutie Pie. At the beginning of the show, host Ryan Seacrest asked Cutie Pie what it felt like to be on stage in front of thousands. Cutie Pie responded by asking the crowd, "You tell me." Silly rabbit. I'm sure most people in the crowd don't know what it feels like to sing for thousands of people.
Before the singing smack down, judge Paula Abdul said, "May the best man win." Last time I checked Baby Face wasn't quite a man yet.

If you’re as obsessive about music mixes as I am, you’ll enjoy this Web site. Listen, critique and download a variety of original musical hodgepodges.
There are rumors of a "Donnie Darko” sequel. Random. I’m not sure how the plot will work or if it’s a good idea, but the first one was amazing.

Green Day got bored of being, well, Green Day and tried to pull a fast one by releasing a CD as “the garage rock side project” Foxboro Hot Tubs. Clever? Not really. Confusing? Yes.
Check back tonight for some deep thoughts about “American Idol.” The Davids better bring it.

I headed back east again in the rainstorm Friday. (If I get another invitation in the mail, I'm changing my address.) Thanks to my parents' Comcast On Demand, I was finally able to see "Atonement." I was feeling it until the last 20 minutes. I didn't cry. I was just confused about how such a great movie could tank so fast.
At an open house Saturday, I got sunburned, showed off my volleyball skills and tasted Bud Light Lime for the first time. I also saw Big Brown win the Preakness Stakes. After applying aloe, I was off to Bahama Breezes in King of Prussia to drink and dish with a friend.
Sunday found me driving in the rain on the Turnpike again. Thank goodness I had the new Death Cab CD. Gas prices will no doubt keep me local for a while.

Still trying to figure out what to do this weekend? Click here or here for some fun ideas. Check out a ton of local bands for a good cause here. If all else fails Friday night, see who the "Hottest MCs in The Game" are. If you want something to distract you from the rain, read a recap of "The Office" season finale here. Find out what fall TV schedules look like here. Read the latest from the Cannes film festival here. That should tide you over until Monday.

OK, so I know I'm a almost year late, but various things: Giant piles of paper around my desk, obsessively checking www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com and planning a wedding have prevented me from writing about Rilo Kiley's 2007 release "Under the Blacklight."

Specifically, extolling "Breakin' Up," Jenny Lewis' kiss off to, I suspect, Mr. Bad News of "Portions For Foxes" Fame.

Read the latest from the Underwater's European tour. Sounds like they're still having a blast.

May 11
we arrived really early this morning to interlaken, switzerland, at the mattenhof resort. the view is unreal. we are surrounded by steep, snow covered mountains. the weather is gorgeous, sunny, high 60's, low 70's. yesterday was an interesting day... we had a 12 hour drive from slovakia to somewhere near zurich, switzerland. we were stopped by drug enforcement and our vehicle and bags were searched by a dog. they found nothing illegal (at least in germany, hah). we played a fun show to an enthusiastic crowd that was actually familiar with the underwater's previous album, so we did an encore that included songs from "bleed me blue".

Thursday night, I headed up to Harrisburg to catch my first show at Dragonfly Club. Openers and Tuscaloosa, Ala. natives the Dexateens exploded onto the stage with a torrent of southern-style tunes. They sounded like a cross between Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jet. The Georgia quintet Drive-By Truckers followed with an equally-impressive set of soulful jams.

Don't get left out of the loop. Read about Thursday night's episode of "The Office" here. Read about plans for The York Museum of Art here. Get the low-down on weekend festivities here and here. Watch the awesome video for my jam of the moment, "Love in This Club" by Usher, here. Now you're good to go. See you Monday.

Usher wears his sunglasses at night and in this club.

Here's another update from York-turned-international act the Underwater. Sounds like they're enjoying the scenery in Germany. Check back for more updates.

May 5
hey. i am writing from jena, germany. we are staying here for a few days until our next show thursday in czech republic. lots of pretty girls! there is a university here. our string of german shows are over now. we were treated very well and made a lot of friends including one of our support acts, zen zebra. we just picked up our friend dale from the airport in berlin. all of the drives are beautiful... lots of big yellow fields and windmills. wind power is huge here. our tour manager, freddy, is hilarious. he caught on to our sarcasm and is just as bad and insulting as we are. go to our band myspace page and check out pics from the tour so far at www.myspace.com/theunderwater.

Cinco de Mayo extended my weekend of firsts. It marked the first day of drinks outside on the patio at WaterWay this year. The momentous occasion wouldn't have been complete without a strawberry margarita or two.
Skipping back a few days, I attended my first wedding of the season Saturday. (Two more to follow.) After a brief interlude to catch the Kentucky Derby, it was back to the dance floor where I spent the rest of the reception shouting, cha cha sliding and shaking my booty. (Not a first for me.)
However, Sunday marked the first time this year that I had to apply sunblock. Fliff Friday was also the first time for Andy (Steve Carell) in "The 40 Year Old Virgin," the movie I watched that night. I honestly forgot how hilarious it was.
There were some important firsts in the rest of the world as well. "Iron Man," the first summer blockbuster, raked in $98.6 million this weekend at the box office. MTV announced the 2008 MTV Award nominees. The awards will be handed out on June 1.

Here's another e-mail update from the Underwater. Aren't you just a little bit jealous that you aren't on the road with them yet? Check back for another update soon.

May 3
greetings from dresden, germany. we are on our 4th show of the tour and things are going well. crowds have been so receptive. despite a small crowd last night, we played an encore set and sold cd's. it's been a lot of fun so far. our support act, the bianca story (from basel, switzerland) is really nice. they're good people to have around, especially given all the down time. german beer is killer. i've only spent about $5 of my personal money since sunday - almost a whole week - since hospitality is amazing here.

Want to know what to do this weekend? Click here or here. Still wondering W.W.J.H.D (What Would Jim Halpert Do)? Click here.
Here's another update from the Underwater. Sounds like their show in Amsterdam went well and they aren't starving. Check back for more updates.

April 29
a quick recap. we played to a large crowd of screaming girls around age 15. if you walked to the front of the stage they would grab your legs/jeans and scream. it was nuts. hospitality was great. they fed us very well and gave us 2 cases of heineken. the guys from kill hannah and aiden were a lot of fun and treated us well. the town of amsterdam is amazing. we are now in belgium, staying at our tour manager's house before we head to germany thursday... we got a couple cases of beer and rehearsed in his garage. he is feeding us very well too. so far, so good.

Here is an unedited update from Derek Euston, bassist for York band the Underwater. Check back for more news from the guys as they tour in Europe.

April 27
hey! i have internet access so i thought i'd say what's up. we arrived early this morning (sunday) in amsterdam. didn't get much sleep at all, but enjoyed each other's company and many glasses of wine on the flight over. i'm writing from the club, melkweg. i'd say it's comparable in size to the chameleon club in lancaster. it's already a sold out show.