Author: Andy Labis

Eastern Promises

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:40 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Eastern Promies
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts
MPAA Rated: R
Released By: Focus Features
Release Date: 2007
Directed By: David Bronenberg

The trailer for this film hints at a lot of things going on, from things like maybe the mob over in London, a diary that might have answers to secrets maybe better left not written, and somehow Anna (Naomi Watts) caught in the middle of it all when a teenage girl gives birth and Anna is bent on investigating who the baby-daddy is and that diary is her key, but it’s in Russian, so Anna has to find help in translating it.

This looks to be a movie with tons of suspense, and I like David Cronenberg as a Director (he did “A History of Violence”), so I’m just hoping it makes its way to my local gigaplex since it’s being release on the indier side, Focus Features.

Could be good, could be bad, and part of the rated R-ness is for sexuality and nudity, and hoping it comes in the form of Naomi Watts, but probably not.

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

Eagle Eye

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:57 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Eagle Eye
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Chiklis, Billy Bob Thornton
MPAA Rated: PG-13
Released By: Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Date: 2008
Kiddie Movie: It might make them never use their cell phone again.
Date Movie: She might cuddle with you for comfort or just roll her eyes.
Gratuitous Sex: Nah.
Gratuitous Violence: There’s a lot of people who die, but you don’t see it.
Action: There’s a lot of people who die, but you don’t see it.
Laughs: Only for the absurdity of some of the scenes.
Memorable Scene: Who knew Morse Code could save the world.
Memorable Quote: “We’re already in mid-shitstorm.”
Directed By: D.J. Caruso

While watching “Eagle Eye” I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a day, a few years ago, when a group of friends were getting liquored up, watching a bunch of movies, namely “I, Robot,” “War Games,” “The Italian Job,” and maybe even “Enemy of the State,” and said to each other, in an altered state, “Dudes, we could make a movie combining all of these,” and then, you know what, they did. I would toss in “Live Free or Die Hard,” only I believe that movie was probably already in development by the time “Eagle Eye” was being drafted, but hey, you can’t say that the “Eagle Eye” tunnel scene isn’t reminiscent of the “Live Free or Die Hard” tunnel scene, just substitute a helicopter for a military drone aircraft?

Okay, maybe the premise for the story of “Eagle Eye” wasn’t developed in my fictional universe, but it does takes a lot of premises from a bunch of different movies, with the end result that computers really only do what they are programmed to do. “I, Robot” had the three rules for robots; “Eagle Eye” has the Preamble and Constitution. In the end computers just want to be our friends, and look out for us.

In terms of story, for this one you get Jerry (Shia LaBeouf) and Rachel (Michelle Monaghan). They are ordinary people, in fairly ordinary lives, and then, somehow, their lives become intertwined by the voice of a woman who seems to need them to carry out some dastardly deed. The voice dictates to Jerry instructions that get him in a jam with the FBI and then helps him escape from the FBI, while the voice also turns Rachel into a distraught mother with the fear of her son being killed, thus dictating her actions. And as the movie goes along, Jerry and Rachel can’t seem to figure out how this voice seems to be able to control just about every technological part of their lives, from subway trains to street lights, from junkyard robots to power grids, and in the middle of it all, we start to see a plot developing, which we must suppose is some dastardly terrorist plot, but, ahh, other things are at work here.

And you know what, I’m not going to directly give away what is directly at work here, although I sort of already hinted at it, only to say that most every aspect of this movie is unbelievable in our world, yet somehow believable if the “ringleader” of this story turns out to be who she is.

So, here we go. If you want to totally escape reality, “Eagle Eye” should take you there, or maybe freak you out as to what might be possible in a few years. The weird thing is that I kind of liked it, in the same way I liked the movie “I, Robot,” and loved Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) as the FBI guy who is flustered by technology. There are a lot of things blowing up, you might wonder if someone can really change stoplights at will, who knew that the baggage handling of an area could be so much fun if you aren’t being shot at, and if you live near some electric towers, you might think about moving.

As a Chicago person, in a little aside for this review, in the theater I was unsure if I saw it, but thanks to the DVD and slow-motion, at the beginning of the movie there is a helicopter shot of the Chicago El, St. James Catholic Church in Chicago (where I used to go to mass sometimes when I was in college), and Keating Hall, the “sports center” where I used to do a killer can-opener of the high-dive board in the pool at Illinois Institute of Technology, where, yes, I went to college, and also where all of this reviewing stuff began for me. I know it’s dorky, but for me it’s always cool to see things I am totally familiar with in a movie.

Anyway, “Eagle Eye” is an action-filled movie with tons of seemingly implausible scenarios, but get the DVD realizing this and you should have a good time on your couch, and sure, you might laugh when some things happen, but hey, that’s what movies are sometimes about. And as hard as this might be hard to believe, I was almost ready to give this movie a 4 star rating, until, in Hollywood fashion, the poignant ending I envisioned was changed into a feel-good ending, so I’m dropping it ½ star to 3 ½ stars out of 5 because someone else in this movie should be dead. With that, I was hoping, when watching the DVD, that the alternate ending it contained would be the one I was hoping for, but all it really did was sort of set up a sequel. Blah.

And speaking of the DVD, for the movie-geek crowd, the 2-disc version does have quite a few extras that are interesting if you love seeing how movies are made, especially mixing in seeing behind-the-scene things on location, a nicely detailed “Making of…” features, and a feature with the Director of Eagle Eye, D.J. Caruso, having a discussion with John Badham, the director of “War Games,” with how the movies are similar, yet different. I always love a fun gag-reel and the 2-disc version has it, and as usual, we can see (and be happy) that some scenes were deleted. You also get commentary stuff, if you want it, more scary stuff about your cell phone, and I’m just sad they didn’t have an “On Location…” for Chicago. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to like looking at my old church from above.

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

A3

Date: November 9, 2000
Venue: The Metro
City: Chicago, IL
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

So you are a fan of “The Sopranos” and every week you hear the opening theme song, “Woke Up This Morning,” and say to yourself “Self, I wonder who does that song?” Maybe even one week you actually watch all of the credits to see if they say who does the song, but sadly, it isn’t listed.

You, however, are not as anal as I am, so you just let it go, as opposed to me who starts doing internet searches up the wazoo and finally finds that the song is by a band from across the pond called Alabama 3, for some legal reason called A3 here in the states, and then the challenge is to hit all of the local stores around me to find their CD because I can’t wait a couple of days for it if I order it over the internet.

I buy the CD for one song and find a band that has such a strange mix of influences that I can’t help but like this band.

With that it was with much anticipation that I made my way to The Metro in Chicago to catch a band with so much sound that I wondered how it would fit on the little Metro stage. It was a tight fit on the stage, but sadly not as tight a fit in the audience, and for a band that was able to draw two dudes all the way from Indianapolis, Indiana at this show, as well as one dude from overseas who says that A3 can fill a place five times the size of The Metro back home, it ended up being an intimate show for not too many people by a band that you could see was slightly disappointed in the audience showing, but still gave the show their all.

A3 opened with “Woke Up This Morning” and I, at first, was kinda worried. The crowd wasn’t that big in the first place so I figured that having heard the song they wanted to hear, well, the audience might begin to thin as the night went on, especially since it looked like most of the crowd didn’t really know any more of the band’s songs. But you know how I know A3 did their job? Because it didn’t seem like anybody left until the lights came on after “Sinking…”

Me, I knew a good majority of the songs because “Exile on Coldharbour Lane” had been on a high rotation in this dude’s CD playlist. They didn’t disappoint me with the likes of The First Minister of The First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine, Dr. D. Wayne Love, leading the crowd through “Hypo Full of Love”, then a rousing “Mao Tse Tung Said”, and later “U Don’t Dans 2 Tekno Anymore” showed some of the country in this band’s mix of country, acid, house music with funky blues mixed in. But this hour and a half show also highlighted much of A3’s new material from “La Peste” which has quickly gone to the top of my “must get” list of CD’s. “Too Sick to Pray” hits that great mix of techno and blues that A3 does so well, a nice tribute to the country side with the Hank Williams cover in “Mansion on the Hill,” and at first I thought, as D. Wayne said “I wanna play one we didn’t write,” and the band went into John Prine’s “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness”, and the crowd reacted so well, that “Speed…” should have been the show closer and not “Sinking…”, but as “Sinking…” wrapped up the show, well, it’s just as good a show closer.

Some other highlights included another new song “Wade Into the Water,” which they labeled as REO Speedwagon crossed with Merle Haggard (D. Wayne said he liked REO Speedwagon for their album covers), and I really liked “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlife.”

A3 is a band that to me seems hard to market in the radio environment of today, at least here in the United States. You’ve got techno with your traditional looping and house beat. Then you’ve got some classic country mixed in, the inspirations of people like Merle Haggard and Hank Williams. Now add a touch of gospel. And finally take the inspiration of a bunch of blues greats. All together you get A3, a mix of sound that sadly won’t make the dance stations, is tough to add to the rock stations, is almost too alternative for alternative, and you couldn’t put the country sounding songs on a country station today if God said so. But A3 puts on a great live show and if you like “Woke Up This Morning” from “The Sopranos,” well, I highly recommend picking up their latest CD and trying to see them live. Who knows, maybe they’ll make it on the radio anyway.

Let’s wrap up my preaching and just say that A3 preaches just a little bit better than I do, especially this night at The Metro. The crowd stayed, had a good time through songs they didn’t seem to know, and when a band can do that, well, the band is doing their job. It’s TWO “I’m Converted!” THUMBS UP! for A3 and I really hope more people find them because I look forward to their return to Chicago.

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

Yourself or Someone Like You

Artist: Matchbox Twenty
Listenability Scale: 100%
Released by: Atlantic/Lava Records
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Every now and then you hear a band you just can’t seem to get enough of. You play the CD over and over until you think that it’s all you can take, and then you get to see the band live and all of a sudden now you have images to go along with the songs so you play that CD over and over, again. All of a sudden you forget about all of the other bands you liked because this band is it, and wish there were more bands out there like these guys. Well, the latest band that does this for me has these five guys calling themselves matchbox 20, and the CD is called “Yourself or Someone Like You.”

Why matchbox 20? Why “Yourself or Someone Like You?” Well, maybe my listening tastes need something different from the angry, the world hates us, alternative stuff that has been shoved down our throats for the last few years. Maybe I’m tired of trying to figure out what the Eddie Vedder’s of the world are trying to say and am looking for rock and roll with lyrics that are intelligible (has anyone ever really figured out the lyrics to “Yellow Leadbetter” yet?), a band that tosses in some harmonies, a band using more that three chords for a song, and a band that still keeps the energy level that alternative bands have brought to the stage. All of that seems to happen with matchbox 20.

Rob Thomas leads the five guys by handling the lead vocals and most of the songwriting. Filling in the other four of this talented band are Kyle Cook playing one hell of a lead guitar, Adam Gaynor handling rhythm guitar, Brian Yale on bass, and Paul Doucette pounding out the drums.

So that’s the band, what about the CD? Well, “Yourself or Someone Like You” can probably be over-analyzed by the best of them. Many of the lyrics jump right out at you, making you think one thing, but as you look at the entire song you see something entirely different. But then there are the subtle lines that themselves can keep ringing in your ears, lyric lines like “She thinks that happiness is a mat that sits on her doorway” from “3 am.” It’s just different. Without going into therapy figuring out the lyrics, I’ll just say that the CD is remarkably easy to listen to. From the acoustic driven, cool harmonies, and winding down “Hang” to the electric guitar, up-beat, and in your face “Long Day,” this CD will have you drifting calmly at one point and then singing while nearly banging your head a little later.

It’s refreshing hearing a band drawing on the clean-sounding rock and pop that was present in the eighties, but they’ve changed it a notch to keep it fresh and new for the nineties. The only problem, at least in the Chicago radio spectrum I’m stuck in – is that no one seems to play them. And you know, I don’t think it’s because no one likes them, but in all honesty their sound doesn’t fit the stale playlists that are hitting my radio. That’s really too bad because for a change there’s a band that is fresh, mixing clean rock of old with energy of today, and the number three market in the country has yet to recognize them. But me, I found them, and am telling you that if you don’t want to take a chance buying the CD then head to their web site or the Atlantic Records site and check out some of the audio samples. If you’re still not sure, head to your favorite records store and pop the CD in a listening station. I think you just might like the energy, you just might like the musical stylings, and you just will probably head home with the CD.

In all honesty, I can listen to every song on the CD over and over and not skip any of them – and that’s rare. A very cool band, a very cool CD, and here’s hoping you like them too. I won’t do this often, but it’s a 100% for “Yourself or Someone Like You” from matchbox 20 on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale. It’s good to hear a talented band doing something a little different again, it’s good to hear harmonies and backing vocals again, and it’s good to hear clean intensity for a change. It’s good to hear matchbox 20.

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

Here’s Your Sign

Artist: Bill Engvall
Listenability Scale: 90%
Released by: Warner Bros. Nashville A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Bill Engvall is one funny guy. My appreciation for his humor started when I saw him open for John Michael Montgomery who opened for Reba, and then continued to grow when I saw him play emcee between Jo Dee Messina, Toby Keith, and Joe Diffie. I guess, like most good comics, his talent comes from translating everyday life situations into anything we can laugh at. I kind of liken him to Bill Cosby. Mr. Engvall goes from golf, to the fair, to the family and gives a reason for people to laugh. Now, it’s really kind of hard to review a comedy CD without really listing all of the jokes, but that can’t even relate the jokes because a lot of times it’s in the voice and inflections of the comedian that the jokes take a life. So, I guess I’ll just kind of go through the track by track synopsis thing and kind of abbreviate.

Track #
 Track Title
1.
 Introduction
Just what it says.
2.
 I Love Golf
Who hasn’t played golf, or any other sport with the “self-proclaimed” pro. Bill relates it perfectly.
3.
 Going to the Fair
He puts it simply. “If you’re ever feeling down about yourself, just go to a state fair and look around. I saw people who could be their own dad….” And who does have this talent for butter carving?
4.
 We’ve Got a Full House
The addition of pets to your house, and great comedic differences between cats and dogs.
5.
 Here’s Your Sign
Jeff Foxworthy has rednecks, Bill Engvall has signs. Yep, I agree, stupid people should wear them. And he raises some good points of warnings on products – they’re for stupid people, and if the stupid people wore signs we wouldn’t sell these products to them. Like why does a tube of Preparation H have to have a warning like “Do not take orally,” or “avoid spraying this into an open flame” on a can of shaving cream. This little track also starts with a hilarious take on Texans, especially their language like “I tell you what” being a complete sentence.
6.
 Nobody Disciplines Their Kids Anymore
He’s right, in a comical way, what’s up with this whole “time-out” thing, anyway. Let’s try a knock-out. Where was that “sitting in a chair and thinking about it” when we were growing up?
7.
 Things Have Changed
It used to be fun going out on Halloween, and where were those car seats when we were growing up? Nope, didn’t have them, as he puts it, “we were up there jumpin’ on the front seat.”
8.
 Caught Big Time
A great segment on the trials and tribulations of kids growing up, asking about sex, and parents almost getting caught in the throws of passion.
9.
 I.G. Joe
A cute take on how your children can’t pronounce things, how dinosaurs might just be extinct because of Barney, and where is “white-trash” Barbie?
9.
 Baby Barf and the Turkey Hunt
I think I’ll start to work on the “baby barf” alarm clock, I just hope he doesn’t want any royalties!
9.
 Tell Me What I’m Thinking
There are certain places fingers are not meant to be put.
9.
 Love Magic
Bill does a great take on what keeps a marriage together. Simply put – don’t play board games together.

I like a great comedian as much as the next person, there is nothing like a great laugh, especially when you’re laughing at yourself. His jokes are basically clean, but geared towards adults or at least those who can understand the adult world. The CD is a great representation of his live show, but like just about any comedian, go see him live. Just be sure you wear some adult diapers because you might find yourself peeing in your pants. As a comedy CD, Bill Engvall’s “Here’s Your Sign” is a winner. It’s a 90% on the listenability scale, and if you see his name anywhere near your town, go to see him live – that will tip it to 100%. That’s it for this one, I’m The Dude on the Right! L8R!!

Alchemy – Live

Artist: Dire Straits
Listenability Scale: 95%
Released by: Warner Bros. Records A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Sure, I always liked “Sultans of Swing”, but never classified myself as a Dire Straits fan. That changed when I saw a band called Crack’d Actor play in college, doing a cover of “Expresso Love.” For some reason that song got me hooked, and “Alchemy” is one of those CD’s that I love to crank-up because in my opinion, it’s much better on the louder side.

This is a collection of a bunch of great Dire Straits’ songs, from the mentioned “Expresso Love” to “Romeo and Juliet”, “Solid Rock,” and after you’ve listened to the CD’s a couple of times, who doesn’t yell with Mark Knopfler, “Thank yououou” before a great version of “Sultans of Swing.”

Dire Straits always did a great job of mixing fantastic guitar with great keyboard nuances, and Alchemy is a great live collection showing the multiple talents of one of the great bands.

It’s a 95% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale. It’s better loud – go ahead, bother the neighbors.

That’s it for this quick review. I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Pump

Artist: Aerosmith
Listenability Scale: 90%
Released by: Geffen Records
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Sometimes having a lot of CD’s isn’t a good thing because you forget how much you really liked some of them. Case in point for me was Aerosmith’s “Pump.” As I went from song to song, I realized that every song on this CD is a keeper for me. Sure, there is a similarity in songs, with the usual driving guitar of Joe Perry and the over-the-top voice of Steven Tyler, but if you listened to any rock radio in the late 1980’s and ‘90’s, you can recognize many a tune from this one, namely “What it Takes,” “Love In An Elevator,” “The Other Side,” and “Janie’s Got a Gun,” and along with those you also remember every music video.

This is just a great, rockin’ album, and even past the radio hits, everything is solid and shows the talents of one of the best bands out there. 90% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale.

That’s it for this quick review! I’m

The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Do You Like Trail Mix?

Lately I’ve been on a trail mix kick. Not just a trail mix kick, but tiny twist pretzels and trail mix. The pretzels are pretty standard, usually some Rold Gold as it would be, but the trail mix depends on who has what on sale. The only problem I have is that lately it’s been the Sam’s Club stuff that is the cheapest, but unfortunately their brand also has a ton of raisins. It’s not that I don’t like raisins, because I do, but it tends to have these clumps of raisins, kind of like when you open that small box of Sunmaids, and not enough M&M’s. Yup, I’m weird, especially as today’s daily plight is simply: Do you like trail mix?

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

Aerosmith

Date: May 23, 1999
Venue: The New World Music Theater
City: Tinley Park, IL
A Review by: The Dude on the Right

I really have only one complaint about attending the Aerosmith concert this kinda cool spring evening in May – it was too cool, as in cold weather. And because of that, well, to sound like a male pig, most of the dudettes wearing tight clothing had on coats. Damn. Anyway, enough ogling, about the show…

Aerosmith – what more needs to be said? Not much, but I’ll say some things anyway, like – it was great to see them cover some Rolling Stones, Joe Perry did a way-cool cover of “The Wanderer,” Steven Tyler missed the start of “Walk This Way” but made a fantastic recovery, and Steven Tyler tried to see down some dudettes pants that he brought on stage to dance with him. Ah, sometimes it’s good to be a rock star!

Opening with “Toys in the Attic,” the boys took the crowd through two hours of just about everything they could want to hear. You had your “Ragdoll,” you had your “Living on the Edge,” you had your “Pink,” and they even pulled “out some old shit” as Tyler called it, that I had no clue but seemed to be about the only one because the crowd sure followed along. And all along, even though the last stop on their current North American tour, the boys of the band know what they had to do to keep their fans happy, and they did that with the best of them.

Different from the last time I saw them, there were some changes in the song selection, not as many youngins (their love of “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” is over), and Tyler’s knee brace was gone. But, similar to the last time I saw them, the opening of the show was the same with the curtains and shadows, the pyrotechnics going off, the rotating drum kit, and Steven Tyler shoving his face in the video camera, pelvic thrusting just about everything, and singing his ass off. And you know, that’s about all the crowd could ask for, a band that rocks, and Aerosmith is that band.

There were lots of extended guitar jams, Steven Tyler utilized every inch of the stage, some of the lyrics got changed a little (i.e. “all those late night promises, I guess they don’t mean shit”) and yes, they did play “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” after Tyler instructed the audience “If you love somebody, turn around and give them a big kiss,” which made me kind of weepy, there all alone, and I don’t think the boyfriend of the girl behind me would have appreciated my advances on his girl. So, I just sang along.

Anyway, the show rocked, and that’s all I really wanted, and that’s all the crowd really wanted, and that means “TWO ROCKIN’ THUMBS UP!!!” It’s Aerosmith dammit, and if I didn’t give them a good review the dude sitting next to me who asked what paper I was with and if I liked the band would probably hunt me down and kick my ass (he was a pretty big dude).

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

AC/DC

Date: February, 1991
Venue: The Rosemont Horizon
City: Rosemont, IL
A Review by: The Dude on the Right & The Dude on the Left

The Dude on the Right

Well, it’s finally happened – Bog nights have returned. Finally, instead of having to traipse far and wide to hear a live band, we get to experience the music right here on the safety of our own campus. Last week brought the return of Rude Mood, a Stevie Ray/ZZ Top/George Thorogood type of band.

The mood of the evening was like it always seems to be for the first Bog night, that being everybody just wanting to hang around, renew old friendships, and find our what every one else did over their break. Not really the best audience for a band, but Rude Mood did an O.K. job of entertaining the crowd. Starting the evening in the same manner as their last appearance, “I Drink Alone” by Lonesome George got the show on its feet. The show steadily turned into a lets start this song, throw in an extended guitar solo, and then go back and finish the song. It got a little tedious and just a little boring after a while. Not saying the guitar solos were bad or anything, but it seems like the musical talent could be shown a little better by throwing a few more songs into their set list and laying off the guitar solos a bit.

Well, to rap this up, I’m going to give Rude Mood ONE THUMB UP! Not the greatest start for the semester, but and OK start. It’s not that I didn’t like them, it was just that the show tended to drag on a bit. Oh well!

Once again, the Unknown Reviewers took the streets, and this time our travels took us to the wonderful acoustics of the Rosemont Horizon. The event – AC/DC. Angus and the boys showed up in full force, at full volume, and to such an extent that the echo off the back wall didn’t even make a difference. The evening began with us taking our seats in the Front Row, being told by the big, burly security dudes that we could jump up and down all we wanted, but if we even thought of moving toward the stage, immense quantities of pain would be inflicted upon us, and then we would be thrown out. I guess these guys meant business, seeing as they threw out some guy in the third row no more than two words into the first screaming words of Brian Johnson. Needless to say, we stayed in our respective places. The show highlighted much of AC/DC’s career, spanning the hits like Hell’s Bells, Back in Black, Highway to Hell, and current hits like Thunderstruck and Money Talks. It was obvious who the leader of the show was, with Angus running up ramps to platforms over two ominous gun turrets, and even retreating to a rising platform situated about fifty rows back of us, throwing in the guitar solos as only he can do so well. The show ended with a rousing version of For Those About to Rock (We Salute You), in which the gun turrets brought a deafening roar to the Horizon. All in all, it was a great show, and finally I was able to say “I must be in the Front Row!” I’m going to give AC/DC TWO THUMBS UP!!!!! Yep, there back.

That’s it for this dude’s edition of Reviews, but…… there was one main problem with the Bog show last Thursday, and that has to do with the wonderful Bog light show. I know the wheels are in motion for some new lights, but with the wonderful new addition, I wonder how hard it would be to at move the old lights to where the new stage is. It was a shame Rude Mood had to start with the only lighting being from the moving of light bulbs in the ceiling, and then to no lights when this turned out to be too bright. It’s kinda really hard to get into the feeling of a band when you really can’t see them. Hopefully, this situation will be resolved soon! B.B.M. N.M.B. And , as always, Rellim Reeb, Rellim Reeb!!!

The Dude on the Left

Ahhh, now that’s MUCH more like it. I was beginning to miss those wonderful Friday morning headaches, the dry mouth, the painful lectures! Good thing that the bands are back in the Bog so that my petty little needs can be satisfied. Seriously, the Bog bands are finally back and not a second too soon. The First week? Rude Mood. The Music? A combination of ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. they started out with a rousing rendition of I Drink Alone by George Thorogood and like my partner said, one guitar solo after another. Don’t get me wrong, I love a great guitar solo as much as the next guy, but if I want to see a billion and one guitar solos, at least they could be a little different. How bout adding a slide? So acoustic? SOMETHING???? They played their usual bog type songs that always get good reactions. “Cheap Sunglasses” the quintessential ZZ Top song, and some Stevie Ray, more Stevie Ray, and even more music that sounded like Stevie Ray rounded out the First Set.

The second set opened with a decent rendition of Foxy Lady, followed by Lagrange by ZZ Top. they played some bluesy jam followed by some More Stevie then some Lonesome George. I was kinda disappointed to learn that they don’t know any Steve Miller. How can any band not know ANY Steve Miller? The third set was one straight from the Rude Mood formula… Some Hendrix, some Stevie, and for good measure “Moby Dick” by Led Zep (to highlight the drummer instead of the guitar I guess). The closing song was “Roadhouse Blues” by the Lizard King and the Boys (the Doors).

All in all, it was a pretty decent evening, and if you don’t count the light show and having to walk a zillion miles to relieve myself.. I had a pretty good time. I think I’ll give the bogs first band of the semester hmmm…. ONE THUMB UP!! This gives ’em TWO BIG MOMBO THUMBS UP!! Not bad guys.. Learn “the Joker” by Steve Miller.. and you’ll be set!

Yes, and once again we hit the road to bring the best and the brightest new stars to you, our dedicated readers so that you’ll not be ignorant of things that happen off this wonderful campus. Last Friday, we found ourselves at the beautiful Rosemont Horizon in the Front Row. AC/DC was the band and loud was the volume. I won’t really bore you with the gory details, like my partner did, but I’d like to say that the Front Row is THE place to be. Even if my UNGRATEFUL partner said we were too close… “We didn’t get any money” (ala the video), “We didn’t get crushed against the stage…” and other such complaints were all that I heard for the next few days… Well THPPPPPPPPT! !! It really was a great show thought. I was deaf for a coupla days. And I even though I felt some of Angus’ drool hit me as he flailed about! What a great night. I hate to sound repetitive, but I’ll give AC/DC TWO HUGE THUMBS UP! (They’re professionals what do you expect … less that FOUR THUMBS UP???)

And as a special treat for all you folks that think we’re a coupla beer swilling, uncultured boobs… well THPPPPPT! to you too. This week I hit the road on my own… To the Auditorium Theatre to see Phantom of the Opera. It’s about this guy whos face looks like someone smashed him with a frying pan so he wears this mask (just like Jason is Friday the 13th). Well, he falls in love with this chick that sings in the opera. Now, she thinks he’s butt ugly, but is fascinated by his music. So, he tries to arrange it so that she can sing the lead in this Opera (there’s even a fat chick singing soprano!). Well, she doesn’t , so he drops a chandelier on her head (he missed, otherwise it would have been a short musical). He finally writes an opera for her.. they perform it… he kidnaps her… takes her to the tunnels under the city(just like where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live). Her dude comes to rescue her.. the Phantom puts a noose around his neck.. She screams, cries, begs… and he gives in. He gets all sad at being rejected and disappears. The End.

Well, that brings to the end another fabulous week of fun and culture brought to you by the gracious people at Miller and Tech News. Tune in next week for another exciting episode of the Unknown Reviewers.. and be sure to check out Dear Dudes, our cool advice column. So until next week, C.U.Next Thursday so we can pack the bog to the walls.