The Dude on the Right is flying solo for this weekend wrap-up podcast, and as it turns out, the podcast isn’t about his weekend at all. Nope, this podcast is about music and Oprah.
On the music side The Dude comments about the passing of Jeff Healey, a fantastic guitarist who also happened to be blind. You might remember his hit "Angel Eyes," but if you love guitar, he is so much more. Continuing on the music side The Dude talks about Van Halen maybe not canceling their tour, just re-arranging a few dates, and laments that he probably won’t be seeing Jimmy Buffett at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL, because, well, he’s an idiot.
And what would a podcast be without him commenting on Oprah’s latest conquest, namely "Oprah’s Big Give" winning the ratings for Sunday night Primetime TV.
Author: Andy Labis
RIP Jeff Healey, GWS Eddie Van Halen, Oops Jimmy Buffett, and Oprah.
By:
The Dude on the Right
A
lot of this podcast is about music, the rest is about Oprah and her Big
Give, and since Stu Gotz and I couldn’t get together, well, I’m flying solo.
First off, I was saddened to learn of the passing of a fantastic guitarist, Jeff
Healey, and if you don’t know who he is his most noteworthy song was called
"Angel Eyes," and if you think it looks weird in the picture of how he plays
guitar, well, he was blind, this is the way he learned, and like I said, he was
fantastic. Happily
I got to see him and his band back in 1995, at The Skyline Stage in Chicago.
Jeff Healey, R.I.P.
Another guitarist I talk about is Eddie Van Halen, and
with the tons of rumors flying around today, the official Van Halen website
doesn’t give too many answers, only that the Spring tour isn’t cancelled, only
that some dates are being rescheduled.
And in other music news I talk about
how I might not be seeing Jimmy Buffett this summer because I’m an idiot.
Finally, because as much as I poke fun, you still have to give credit to Oprah
because she is one smooth businesswoman and now had the highest rated show last
Sunday with
"Oprah’s Big Give." I hate her. I love her. I envy her.
My Oprah feelings are so conflicted.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
 |
Subscribe Here      |
25+ Gallons of Saltwater in My Living Room – Almost
By:
The Dude on the Right
I normally don’t blog as much I have been lately, but there weren’t many movies
I wanted to see over the weekend, even though I probably should have caught up
on a few from the week before, and after seeing
"Semi-Pro," I actually wasn’t in a movie-seeing mood. But I did need
to do some cleaning around the Dude-Pad so I opted for that, and in the process
almost had 25+ gallons of saltwater soaking in to my living room floor, probably
resulting in the killing of my kids.
Yup, my kid’s house needed some cleaning and maintenance of its own, and part
of that was re-installing a protein skimmer that, well, it’s a long story, but I
took it off some time ago, but with my hoping to buy a new anemone for the tank,
I knew I needed to get it going again. So I put it back together, hung it
off the back of the tank, fired it up, and at first things to be going well,
until, thankfully, I heard a dripping coming from the back of my fish tank.
At first I thought I just didn’t tighten the locking collar enough, but still
the connection at the bottom of the skimmer kept dripping (and not a slow drip,
either). So I had to yank the contraption from the tank, take it to my
kitchen, and investigate. What did my investigation find? Well, low
and behold the o-ring was dried up and showed cracks when it was stretched a
bit. At first I contemplated "How does an o-ring go bad, and since when
does that cause a catastrophe?", but then I remembered that the Space Shuttle
Challenger disaster was caused by an o-ring that failed. I guess o-rings
have been something I have taken for granted as part of my fish tank set up, and
used to be something Space Shuttle engineers took for granted as well (at least
some of them), but now I realize their importance again.
I could see Steve, Ashley, and Bamm looking at me like "Dad, what the hell were
you thinking?", but as I said, thankfully the dripping was landing on something
that made noise, as apposed to if it had just been dripping on the carpet,
because then the timers would have shut off the lights on the tank, I wouldn’t have
noticed the water level dropping, and then I would have woken up in morning to
find three kids flopping around, or dead, with my living room carpet soaked.
The Dude pad is almost clean, my kids are still swimming around, I have to
find some new o-rings, and as I have had bad dreams of my accidentally tipping
over my fish tank and hysterically trying to save the life’s of my kids, my
worst nightmare, a slow leak of my fish tank, almost came to life.
And you
thought having a dog as a pet was difficult.
That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Mom, You Better Stick Around for A While.
 |
 |
At first I was going to blog about how I may never shop at Best Buy again,
then I was going to type a follow-up blog about how I found a new scanner
(though I’m still torn between posting pictures at Picasa or Flickr), and then I
was going to blog about my Mom not feeling well, but she better plan on sticking
around a while. Since, though, they are all related, oh hell, let’s
intertwine them all.
The Best Buy and new scanner stories kind of fold together, so this blog
starts with my scanner buying experience. As I mentioned in
a previous blog my scanner shopping was necessitated by needing to scan
medium format negatives, and although liking the Epson scanner, I hated their
software. Best Buy let me return the scanner, which was nice of them, and
then I headed to Staples who had an HP flatbed scanner that almost sounded too
good to be true, and it was. First I was disappointed in the software they
were using (maybe I am just too used to the Photosmart S20 software and afraid
of change), but when it started to look like it would take hours to scan
negatives, well, I started to get worried that my search for a medium format
scanner under a thousand bucks was for naught. Staples took the HP scanner
back (Yay!), but I had one more hope, a Canon flatbed scanner, and that took me
back to Best Buy. The medium format photos in this blog were all done with
my new scanner, a Canon 8800F, and so far I am happy with it because the speed
of the scanning is acceptable for what I want to do, and their software is a
little more intuitive (but damn, I still like that Photosmart S20 format), so I
think I’m going to stick with the Canon scanner. As such, Best Buy, don’t
expect another return from me, at least for this scanner.
 |
But Best Buy, what the hell is with the overly-friendly associates.
In this world where they say the easiest way to get sick is to shake the hand
of someone who has a cold/flu virus, both of my trips to Best Buy were greeted
with dudes overly-enthusiastic to help me, and wanting to shake my hand.
There I am, just looking for a scanner I already had decided I wanted to buy,
but it was "Hi, my name is Joe. What’s your name?" as they extended their
hand for a handshake.
 |
 |
Not wanting to seem like a total ass, I extended my
hand to shake theirs (how do they know I didn’t just pick my nose or scratch my
ass, and conversely, how do I know they didn’t just pick their nose or scratch
their ass), and said "I’m The Dude. I want to buy this scanner."
Suddenly germs were transferred, Best Buy doesn’t have an easy access to Purell,
or those wipes the grocery stores have so you can clean off the cart handle, and
now, in addition to finally hoping this scanner will do the job I want to do, I
have to remember not to let my hands get anywhere near my eyes nor mouth, much
less pick my nose. And if these Best Buy associates are going to continue
this process of wanting to shake my hand I’m going to have to either be an
asshole when I shop there by not shaking their hands, bring my own bottle of
Purell, or just not go to Best Buy anymore and shop online where now all I have
to worry about is if the UPS driver has a cold, but can, at least, easily wash
my hands before I pick my nose.
So what does any of this have to do with my Mom and her sticking around a
while? Well, since I have a new scanner that seems to do the job, I have
over 100 medium format negatives to scan and post somewhere, and the only person
I know who can help me identify the people, places, and things in these photos
is my Mom. For example, from the photos I have posted for this blog, I
have no idea who the dude is with the old car, the delivery truck is for the old
Home Dairy in Lorain, OH, but I’m wondering who is John Lopatkowvich, and have I
always been spelling my Mom’s maiden name improperly, or what happened to the
"w"? The photo of the three children, I’m assuming, are my Mom, my Uncle
Ed, and my Aunt Lily, and I’m 99.9999999% sure the cute girl in the dancing
outfit is my Mom. As I quickly flicked through these negatives they almost
seem to encompass from about 1935 thru the late 1950’s, and Mom, if you’re
reading this, I’ll need your help to identify/place them all, and it might take
a little while. You’d better stick around.
That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
What’s New? A Movie Review of “Semi-Pro.”
The Dude on the Right knew there would come a day when he didn’t like a Will Ferrell movie, and for this movie review of “Semi-Pro” he can’t really explain why he didn’t like it, he just didn’t. Even though he didn’t like the movie that much, he still likes Maura Tierney,
thus remembering he should start watching “ER” some more, and also likes “Big, bouncy, jiggly ‘hearts.'”
What’s New? A Podcast of: Lying is a Crime, Paula Abdul Needs to be Watched, and Dumb Robbers in Australia
For this podcast episode The Dude on the Right is upset that the federal government can’t find Osama Bin Laden, won’t make a decision on the Sirius/XM Satellite Radio merger, but instead seems to be worrying about who is lying, Roger Clemens or Brian McNamee. He is also a fan of the boobs on “Survivor: Micronesia,” but is worried for the safety of David Archuleta on “American Idol” now that Paula Abdul seems to want to decapitate him.
And, oh yea, he tells a story of some stupid robbers in Australia.
Lying is a Crime, Paula Abdul Needs to be Watched, and Dumb Robbers in Australia
By:
The Dude on the Right
Our federal government has nothing better to do like looking for terrorists,
trying to find Osama Bin Laden, figure out how to get out of debt, make a
decision on the Sirius / XM Satellite Radio merger, or take a hard look at the
immigration issue, nope, what’s most important is who lied – Roger Clemens or
Brian McNamee? Yup, baseball seems to be the most important thing for our
government to work on, and I talk about it during
this podcast episode.
I also give a little bit of insight into this season
of "Survivor: Micronesia," and I am worried about David Archuleta on "American
Idol" (who should win this competition hands down) because Paula Abdul seems to
want to decapitate him and hang his head from her rear-view mirror. And
sometimes there is nothing better than a story about stupid robbers in
Australia, complete with bad sound drops via me.
Thanks for listening! And Mom, get well soon!
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
|
|
Subscribe Here |
American Idol – The Ten Dudettes Who are Left
By:
The Dude on the Right
The dudes tried their best for 70’s music, and didn’t do to well, so now it’s
time for the dudettes. Here’s how I thought they did…
Carly
Smithson
– The Irish dudette who had a recording contract before. There’s still
something wrong about that.
– Crazy on You – Heart
– Like the bouncing, don’t like her tats, picked a good song for her, but
I wonder why she doesn’t work the stage more.
Syesha Mercado
– She does do a pretty good baby cry.
– Me and Mr(s). Jones – Billy Paul
– I actually liked the song, even though the judges didn’t seem to like it.
Maybe it came across better on TV than in the studio. She still needs to come
into her own.
Brooke White
– You’re So Vain – Carly Simon
– Almost seemed to be in the wrong key for her because she couldn’t hit
the low notes, but even though, it was good. I still like her, but if she’s
going to be working with the guitar she needs a wireless headset and work around
the stage because this ain’t no coffee shop.
Ramielle Malubay
– We are happy to know she can hula dance!
– Don’t Leave Me This Way – Thelma Houston
– Maybe they aren’t allowed to actually work the crowd because so far
they all just stand in that middle circle, but I am liking Ramielle and thought
she did a great job. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with the judges, but I
liked it.
Kristy Lee Cook
– As opposed to seeing what the dudes are in their real life, we like
knowing what the dudettes are like, and I like that she’s a tomboy.
– You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt
– Nice outfit, and she’s doing her best to work the song. I think she
sings purty as well. Please, voters, keep her around for a while!
Amanda Overmyer
– She’s a bookworm, and a Harley chick, and a nurse.
– Carry On Wayward Son – Kansas
– Sure, she’s a rocker chick, but this was a horrible song especially
with the "American Idol" band being her back-up band. She’s looking scary,
and in the end, that won’t work for this show.
Alaina Whitaker
– Our staff member Big Cooter doesn’t like food touching each other either,
but at least he doesn’t use a different fork for each food.
– Hopelessly Devoted to You – Olivia Newton-John
– Stop the hunch back (it shows in the side shots), fix the gap in your
front teeth, but it just wasn’t a performance kind of song. She was good,
should have done "You’re the One That I Want" from "Grease," in tight leather,
but needs work. Head to the dark side – country music.
Alexandrea Lushington
– If You Leave Me Now – Chicago
– It’s a nice, simple song, but the key to this song is it being from
Chicago, the band. She did a decent job, but nothing spectacular for me.
There are probably so many more songs in the 70’s that she could have done that
are more in her wheelhouse, it was almost sad she did a song from Chicago – the
band, not the city. If she had done a song from the city, not the band,
umm, sweet.
Kady Malloy
– She sings opera – does she know Orff?
– Magic Man – Heart
– Since it seems the singers aren’t let loose to actually work the crowd,
Kady just looks like some chick singing a Heart song. It really didn’t
work for me. She’s cute, but man, bolt into "Carmina Burana" in the middle
and really make the song your own.
Asia’h Epperson
– She was a cheerleader. Ready, o kay.
– All By Myself – Eric Carmen
– It was nice and all, but she couldn’t hit the power ballad of it at the
beginning, instead worked it into the ending. I think she got shorted
because she didn’t seem to do much of the song at all. Simon was right in
his comments, even if she was coming off being sick.
Hell, at least some of the dudes seemed to pick up on what to sing with the
70’s era, but the ladies were all over the place and none of them kept up with
some of the dudes. The voting will be interesting, and I won’t give you my
take on who should get the boot, but unless someone steps up in a huge way, or
he totally fucks up, David Archuleta has this season already in his back pocket.
Then again, if next week is the 80’s, at least some of these folks will be
singing songs released when they were alive.
That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
American Idol – The Ten Dudes Who are Left
By:
The Dude on the Right
So last night was the night for the remaining dudes on "American Idol, and
here’s my rundown of what I thought of the dudes. We’ll see if have enough
gumption to do a synopsis for the dudettes this week. Here we go…
Michael Johns
Jason Castro
notes, and you can’t. I do like that he plays a guitar, but damn, is this a
classic from the seventies with an acoustic guitar you should be trying to
pull off?
Luke Menard
do you do that – you work the stage. Quit standing there.
Robbie Carrico
performance. For me he was lame.
Danny Noriega
he couldn’t sing the song well, either. Maybe the judges heard something
else, but on my TV it was lame.
David Hernandez
well, he doesn’t have soul. Singing-wise he was alright.
Jason Yeager
Everything seems to be wrong with the song choices, or the fact that we
don’t give a damn about he 70’s anymore.
Chikezie
own and might be a force to be reckoned with if he can keep it up. Still
likes busting on Simon though, which might be fun.
David Cook
your backup. Needs to work it more.
but you just sound like an ass.
David Archuleta
the "I’m so humble attitude.
dudes to vote, he pretty much has thing already wrapped up. Somehow he made
"Imagine" his own, and that’s not an easy thing to do.
Some of the dudes showed they might have a chance in this thing, but a lot of
them still don’t know how to pick a song. If next week is about the 80’s,
at least some of the songs might have been put out after these dudes were born.
That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Flickr, Picasa, and Scanner Dilemmas.
By:
The Dude on the Right
As I’m trying to pay attention to "American Idol" tonight, with the dudes
singing classic songs from the 70’s which so far have been bad renditions of
songs from Fleetwood Mac, Andy Gibb, Queen, Foreigner, and The Carpenters, I’m
also in a quandary because I can’t get my film scanning stuff like I want.
First off, I finally scanned all of my concert negatives, got them digitized in
a decent resolution, and slowly plan to update the photos on the website with
the higher resolution versions I now have. That was the easy part, with my
old HP Photosmart film scanner.
But
then I decided I wanted to start digitizing older photos (like this cute girl on
the right), and old negatives, and post them on the internet for family,
friends, and anyone to see, and I have run into many questions, and many
choices.
As far as posting them on the internet, I started by setting up a
site at Flickr, but I have to say that as much as I like it, and would pay the
yearly fee for unlimited stuff, I am worried about the potential takeover by
Microsoft and what that might mean to the photos I post. I also looked at
maybe using Google’s Picasa instead, but from some quick things I have read
there are some copyright/publicity issues Google might be able to enforce.
And as I was investigating Flickr vs. Google, I came upon a bunch of other sites
that seem to do a similar thing, namely set up family photo albums. I’m so
confused.
Then came the problem of a scanner. My old scanner was an HP
Photosmart S20, which has served me well through the years, but it doesn’t
handle the medium format film that my mom had stored in a box. So, today,
I went to get a new scanner, based on a lot of reviews I read on the internet,
and even though I like the scanner (it’s an Epson), the software for it sucks,
and I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend more money for scanning software.
So, sadly, tomorrow, I have to hope the store will take it back, and then I
suppose I’ll go back to an HP scanner (I loved the software that worked with the
Photosmart), I just hope the HP folks kept the same format for the software (or
at least close) that I am used to, and that the scanner works like I need it to.
Now don’t get me wrong, for most people the Epson software will be fine, but for
me, and my photos, it blows (and if the Epson folks want to know why they can
e-mail me), because all I really want to do, before the rest of my older
relatives pass away, is to find out who all of these people are in photos that
are tens, and twenties, and maybe even thirty or forty of years taken before I
was born, and if it takes me that much longer to get the photos digitized and
posted (like the Epson software leaned itself to), those relatives will be dead
before I find out.
If you’ve got any suggestions for digitizing old negatives,
medium format (up to 6 x 12), or if you have an internet site you love for
posting your family scrapbooks, please let me know. Right now I have to
figure out how to box up my Epson scanner I bought, hope the store takes it
back, and then hope again that if I buy the HP version the software will be to
my liking. With my luck the new scanner won’t scan worth a darn but the
software will be great.
That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!