Andy Labis, Author at Entertainment Ave!

Who Cares About Don Imus, O.J. and Jail, Paris Hilton is a Good Girl, and Go Cleveland Indians.

By:

The Dude on the Right
Well, I’m flying solo

for this podcast even though it’s a Monday, because Stu Gotz and I couldn’t
get our schedules to match to do a weekend wrap-up. In any case I tell you
a little about my weekend, namely seeing "We
Own the Night" and "Michael
Clayton," and posting a review of Michael Stanley’s latest CD, "The
Soft Addictions." More of this podcast, however, is about some things
to hit the news today, like O.J. Simpson’s "friend" ratting on him, thus maybe
securing jail time for "The Juice," and how Paris Hilton wants to now
leave her mark on the world, and she’s starting by going to Rwanda. I also
can’t figure out why Don Imus getting a new job is news especially since
I think my podcast can be a hell of a lot more entertaining, and even more so
when Stu throws in his five cents worth. I can’t wait for the first full
radio rating’s book to see if Don has more listeners than we do. Fine, he
probably will, but we’re still more entertaining!

Thanks for listening.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

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What’s New? A CD Review of “The Soft Addictions” from Michael Stanley.

For this CD review of “The Soft Addictions” from Michael Stanley, The Dude on the Right gets a little reflective about living in Chicago and sometimes hearing “Midwest Midnight” on “The Steve Dahl Show.” Then he reviews the CD and likes the fact that Michael Stanley has grown up and has maybe gotten a little more reflective about life. If you’ve grown up with Mr. Stanley you’ll probably like the CD, and if you don’t know who he is, well, you probably aren’t from Ohio or never saw the Michael Stanley Band open up for Foreigner, or Steve Dahl.

What’s New? Movie Reviews of “Michael Clayton” and “We Own the Night.”

The Dude on the Right saw two movies over the weekend, “Michael Clayton” and “We Own the Night.” He really liked “Michael Clayton,” but understands if you think it sucks, and didn’t like “We Own the Night” that much, but understands if you think it’s great. His suggestion is this: For a lot of violence see “We Own the Night,” for thought-provoking suspense you should see “Michael Clayton.” Maybe if you could meld the two movies together you would have something for everyone!

A “Moment of Silence” in Illinois School’s Rant, and My Weekend Goals.

By:

The Dude on the Right
As I head into this coming weekend I have four obvious Entertainment Ave! goals,
some "behind the scenes" work for the site, but before I get to that, and I hate
to sometimes get political, but here in Illinois I want to know "WHAT THE HELL
IS OUR LEGISLATURE DOING WASTING THEIR TIME WITH A LAW ABOUT A "MOMENT OF
SILENCE" TO BE HELD AT ALL ILLINOIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS WHEN THEY CAN’T EVEN GET
A BUDGET DONE?" Yes, that phrase is meant to be in all CAPS because if
this were a podcast I would be yelling, and I don’t even have kids. The

Chicago Sun-Times has a nice article about it, and reflects that "Rep. Will
Davis (D-Homewood), the bill’s chief sponsor, denied he was promoting school
prayer but instead said a moment of silence possibly could avert tragedies like
the recent school shooting in Cleveland, where a troubled 14-year-old shot two
students and two teachers before killing himself. ‘Just think if that student
had an opportunity maybe to sit and reflect,’ Davis said." How Utopian can
you be? My guess is Asa Coon, the 14-year-old dude who shot four people
before killing himself and had

a complete history of a messed up life, would have just used his time to
contemplate things like "I can enter through the south doors, those guards are
lazy and don’t give a damn, and I could easily get to Room…"

The other thing
is that according to the article "But supporters of the legislation, backed by
Concerned Christian Americans and the Illinois Family Institute, said it would
help young people come to terms with the everyday stresses in their lives."
How the hell does this not scream "prayer" in school, and how the f$%# does a
"moment of silence" help young people come to terms with the everyday stresses
in their lives? Do you people even understand the stresses in their lives?

Look, I went to a public school from K-4, and a Catholic school from 5-12, and
whether it was the Pledge of Allegiance or a prayer at the beginning of the day,
or just a lull in the action of the day, there is always a moment of silence in
a school day, and you don’t need to make a law to make that silence. But
had I had a moment of silence at the beginning of the day I’m thinking my
thoughts would be things like:

In the younger grades: "I really hope we get chocolate-chip cookies
today. Those oatmeal cookies are yucky!"
A little older: "Why does Gary keep pulling Mary’s pony-tails?
She’s always nice to me."
In the slightly middle grades: "I thought playing strings meant learning
to play guitar, not the violin. But mom likes me playing violin, so I
guess I’ll stick with it"… Or… "I really wish I could remember how to
spell ‘ate’ (This is complicated because I did spell "8" correctly, but the
teacher was just looking for the word ‘ate,’ and no one asked for the
definition)."
A little older: "Maybe Bxxxx will be impressed if I run home really
fast."
Growing up some more: "Wow, Patty is first chair, and I’d like to be
first chair, but she sure is cute. I guess this violin isn’t a bad
thing."
Somewhere around 7th grade: "We are so much cooler than those 5th
graders."
High school: Pretty much every moment of silence would be about a
girl I liked and was scared to death to let them know…. except….
Every other day, with any kind of test, every thought would be diverted
in that moment of silence to "(Insert various expletive here), I knew I
should have studied more."

Good luck Illinois schools, explaining to your students why they are
having a "moment of silence," but if you don’t want any lawsuits you had
better just let the kids think about, in those few seconds, or minutes, or
hours (hey, the lawmakers didn’t say how long the moment of silence should
be), what any student at that age might think about. The scary thing
is that the silence might be something as simple as what kind of cookie they
might be getting later in the day, but also might be about what is the best
way to get into the school with a couple of guns later next week.

Because this blog has gotten too long, on a quick, lighter note my four
obvious goals for Entertainment Ave! are reviewing the movies "Michael
Clayton" and "We Own the Night," and reviewing new music from Matchbox
Twenty (Exile on Mainstream), and Michael Stanley (The Soft Addictions).
Hell, if I really get ambitious there might also be a DVD review of The
Collector’s Edition of "Knocked Up." And I didn’t even get to some
iPhone ranting or my planning on doing some walking. Maybe next time.

That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

What’s New? A Podcast of: Water Taxing, Weather Falling, Stars Denying, and Wayne’s not Dancing.

The Dude on the Right is flying solo for this podcast and wonders if you might want to be a future guest on the show. He also wonders about Mayor Daley in Chicago wanting to tax bottled water, is sort of liking the fall weather, and wonders about the denials of Pam Anderson, Lindsay Lohan, Angelina Jolie & Jon Voight, and Bobby Brown. At least he knows Wayne Newton isn’t on “Dancing With the Stars” anymore.

Water Taxing, Weather Falling, Stars Denying, and Wayne’s not Dancing.

By:

The Dude on the Right
I’m throwing out the invitation to maybe be a part of

a Thursday podcast since sometimes doing them solo just makes me lonely, so
go ahead and listen for the details.

And as exciting as that is, it’s not
nearly as exciting as my letting you know if you visit Chicago in the future you
might wonder why your bottled water is more expensive that a soda pop, and if
you live in Chicago you probably already know about Mayor Daley’s planned water
tax. Weather has also been a big part of stories for the last week in
Chicago, with runners dropping during The Chicago Marathon last Sunday due to
the heat, and suddenly it’s fall here, with temps tonight maybe getting into the
30’s. Mother Nature, she’s a bitch sometimes.

Today also seemed to be a
day of denials in the entertainment industry as I talk about rebuttals in the
camps of Pamela Anderson, Lindsay Lohan, Angelina Jolie & Jon Voight, and Bobby
Brown. So many people are getting things wrong, but at least we know for
sure that Wayne Newton is off "Dancing With the Stars."

Thanks for listening.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Download and Listen

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Garth Brooks Still Isn’t Touring, but He Might be at Your Movie Theater (sort of).

By:

The Dude on the Right
I can’t believe I wasn’t paying attention on this, but over the weekend
Garth Brooks has so far
lived up to his promise of not touring, yet did sell out nine shows in November
in the musical mecca that is Kansas City, MO. He’s opening up the new
Sprint Center in good ol’ K.C., and had I been paying attention I almost might
have tried to get a couple of tickets and make the 7 hour and 43 minute trip
(according to Google Maps) to catch the show. But, alas, I wasn’t paying
attention, and he pretty much has sold out all nine dates in like 5 minutes
(okay, a little longer than that, but it was Hannah Montana quick).

Now none
of that sounds that weird, I guess he already made a previous commitment to do a
concert or nine there, but the interesting announcement was made a few days
later, at the official opening of the Sprint Center, where Garth announced one
of the shows would be simulcast to movie theaters across the United States.
Most likely it will be handled by
Fathom Events, since
this is already what they do, and they have a quick blurb on their website
announcing it, but no specifics are set yet. The thing is, other than not
actually being at the live event, squinting to see Garth on stage from a million
miles away where you find yourself, a lot of the times, just watching the giant
video screens anyway, might it be almost just as cool to see him on your movie
screen where if you take a picture with your camera phone you might just get a
decent picture of Garth? Okay, fine, I don’t think so either, but if he
still has that kind of demand for live concert tickets, it will be damn
interesting to see the demand to see him on the big screen, and how will the
ticket scalpers handle that?

And you thought getting tickets for a venue that
holds 18,000+ difficult.

For a lot of you Garth fans, seeing him at your local
gigaplex might be your only chance to "see" Garth Brooks, live in concert, at
least until his kids are grown, unless, of course, he has so much fun in Kansas
City that he decides to take his kids on what might be the most exciting "see
the world" experience of their lives. If not, well, hopefully you can
still get free refills on that bucket o’ popcorn when you see him on the big
screen, if you can actually get a ticket.

That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

What’s New? Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up Podcast! The Cubs are Gone, The Bears are Back, “Balls of Fury” is Done, and Stu is “Sim”ed.

For this podcast of “Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up!“, Stu Gotz got to see the Chicago Cubs final game of the season, The Dude on the Right finished the “Stu & The Dude Reviewin’ the Movies for You!” episode of “Balls of Fury.” The Dude was happy the Chicago Bears beat Green Bay, neither of them had any delusions of entering The Chicago Marathon, and Stu might be getting addicted to MySims for his Nintendo Wii.

Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! The Cubs are Gone, The Bears are Back, “Balls of Fury” is Done, and Stu is “Sim”ed.

By:

The Dude on the Right
Stu Gotz was so anxious to get things started for our

weekend wrap-up podcast that he talks over our intro music, but that’s okay
because we both have so much to talk about. Stu got the privilege of attending
the last Chicago Cubs game of the season and witness the culmination of
the last 99 years of Cub history. Me, I had a chance to go to the game but opted
out to feverishly finish our

"Stu & The Dude Reviewin’ the Movies for You!" episode of "Balls of Fury"
before it’s totally out of theaters.

With the Cubs done with their season I
also fill Stu in on the Chicago Bears and how they are turning their
season around and now are destined for the Super Bowl. We also discuss The
Chicago Marathon, especially since neither of us had any delusions of
running in it, even without the high temperatures of the day. Stu, meanwhile,
has become an addict and might need an intervention soon. Nope it’s not alcohol
and it’s not drugs – his lawn still needs mowing because he’s becoming addicted
to the MySims for his Nintendo Wii.

Thanks for listening.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Download and Listen

Subscribe Here

I Can’t Believe I Overslept.

By:

The Dude on the Right
Well, if you are a reader of my
Entertainment Ave! blog, as well as my MySpace blog, you will probably notice that this blog post is the same in both locations. I figured since I usually keep my MySpace blog to my many exercising and eating healthy dilemmas, while the Entertainment Ave! blog is usually about everything else, and since this blog post sort of encompasses both, I would be lazy and just post it in both places. Sorry for my laziness.

Anyway, maybe it was because I was so beaten down by the trouncing the Chicago Cubs took yesterday, or maybe it was because I shouldn’t have gotten sucked into watching “Independence Day” on cable last night, but this morning I overslept and missed The Chicago Marathon. Yup, I had every intention of going to The Chicago Marathon, but of everything to forget I actually forgot to set my alarm. Oh well, I suppose with the heat today it might have been for the best, but not going did allow me to finally finish our animated review of the movie “Balls of Fury” for Entertainment Ave! Sure, the movie’s been out for over a month now, and sure, not many people saw it anyway, but me and my buddy Stu Gotz put forth the effort to write and record the audio, so I figured I might as well get the damn thing finished.

But it did feel good to get that off of my plate, so until the next animated review I can get back to some new music from Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stanley, and matchbox twenty to review, get my movie previews back up-to-date, and catch some concerts. I can also get back to some more consistent exercising (I admit I missed a couple of morning workouts this last week – I could use the animating as an excuse, but that’s just lame), and even shift from all cardio to some actual strength training.

The good thing with the Chicago Cubs out of the baseball playoffs is that at least now I only have one team to cheer on, namely my hometown Cleveland Indians, and if the Chicago Bears lose to Green Bay and Brett Favre tonight, my football season is pretty much complete, and I’ll have plenty of time to get ready for next year’s Chicago Marathon.

I was sort of looking forward to going to the marathon this morning, to cheer on the runners. Please tell me you didn’t actually think I was planning on running in the marathon? First off I’ve only been exercising for a month and that has been on my exercise bike at home and walking outside. By my calculations, even if I could make the 26.2 miles, at my walking speed it would take me around nine hours to finish the thing. Second, I don’t know if my “bowler’s knee” could even survive that pounding. And lastly,
I would probably die. But if the Chicago Cubs had won yesterday it would have been fun to cheer on some of the runners near Wrigley Field and then catch today’s Cubs game in Wrigleyville, with my plan for the Cubs loss to be to head to Chinatown where it is supposedly party central to cheer the runners on, and then get a great Chinese lunch. Oh well, at least I got “Balls of Fury” done!

After last night and this morning, I guess the appropriate phrase for both The Chicago Marathon and The Chicago Cubs is “Wait until next year!”

And that’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!