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Did you remember to Spring your clock forward for daylight saving time?

As much as I like the switch to Daylight Saving Time it’s always that first night and first morning after the time change that are the tough part. First off, I have enough trouble trying to fall asleep, but with the time change, at least until I get used to it a bit, trying to get to bed an hour earlier than I’m used to kind of sucks. Even though I’m falling asleep at the same time that I used to do body-clock wise for a few days, this isn’t a huge problem, I suppose. The real problem is the waking up the next morning because work calls and it doesn’t really care what time you went to bed. Sleep aside I’m usually pretty good at changing all of my clocks (although I am a little less obsessive about all clocks being exactly the same, down to the second, as I was in college), but today I actually forgot to change my watch so when someone asked what time it was, for a few seconds I looked at my watch and was confused. Eventually things clicked, I was able to add the hour the time on my watch, and then thought I would plight: Did you remember to Spring your clock forward for daylight saving time?

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

Will you be watching “The Bachelor” finale?

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, but I’m a fan of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” series on ABC. There’s just something about the wacky concept of meeting your soul-mate over a TV show, being transported to various romantic locals and falling in love, and then coming back to your normal life and realizing “Why can’t we go to Thailand for a romantic getaway?” “Because we don’t have any money.” “Oh yea. Who are you anyway?”

This season they brought back Sean, whom I still don’t remember that well from his Bachelorette days, and if your name was a version of Ashley (there was an Ashley P., and Ashley H., and an AshLee F.) or a Leslie (or Lesley), you had a pretty good chance of being on the show. As of now there is only Catherine and Lindsay remaining, and my money is on Lindsay as Catherine seems to be the one he kept around for fun on his way to true, found on a TV show love. Of course, in true Bachelor fashion, there is something heart-wrenching going on as we see Sean get a letter from Chris Harrison on the final rose stop in the previews for the finale Monday night, but like all, except for Sean, Chris Harrison, and a bunch of other people sworn to secrecy, we’ll have to wait for the way-too-long finale show, full of thoughtful gazes by our contestants, out into the horizon, wondering if true love for them will be found on a TV show. And yes, I’ll be watching Monday, but I’m also plighting: Will you be watching “The Bachelor” finale?

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

The Soft Addictions

Artist: Michael Stanley
Listenability Scale: 95%
Released by: Line Level Music
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

First an intro… When I moved to Chicago in 1985, the Michael Stanley Band was still big in Cleveland, but for the most part no one I met in Chicago heard of them except for one dude who worked at the campus bowling alley and thought they rocked when they opened up, I believe he said, at a Foreigner concert he went to see. As the years have gone on I’ve seen the band break up, a side project of Ghost Poets, and then Michael Stanley sort of going solo yet still working with many of the same bandmates over the years. I would check out his website, www.michaelstanley.com, every now and then just to see if anything new had popped up (buying most of everything new or re-issued, and reviewing of few of them) because much like 1985, Michael doesn’t get many mentions here in Chi-Town. I say "many" because there is a talk radio dude here called Steve Dahl who every now and then likes to play "Midwest Midnight" because he likes the line about "that bandstand girl," and reminisces about the time MSB opened up for his band, and Steve still can’t figure out why because he thought the Michael Stanley Band was so much better than his band was.

In any case, I’ve been lax on checking out Michael Stanley’s website lately, and then I get a comment from some dude nicknamed "SOK" wondering what I thought about Michael Stanley’s latest, "The Soft Addictions." I had to reply back that I didn’t even realize there was a new CD out there, checked the web site, ordered one and yet got two copies (my bonus).

After having listened to "The Soft Addictions" for a while now, much like a lot of musicians that I’ve grown up with listening to, their sound sometimes gets a little bit more reflective, maybe even a little softer, but Michael Stanley shows he still rocks right off the bat with the "The Curves of Bratenahl," and heads right into the reflective, guitar-driven "Lovers Lane" about a couple growing old together, but sadly not that happily, though the bad times might all be worth it if they could get one more shot at that lover’s lane thing.

Okay, I’d better stop trying to analyze all of the songs on the CD right now, because, well, lots of people interpret lyrics differently, and I’m sure I’ll get something wrong, so lets just say "The Soft Addictions" continues showing Michael Stanley still has a great knack for using his lyrics to tell stories, paint pictures, and he uses it all by mixing up the music with things a little softer like "My Side of the Moment," getting bluesy on "Cadillac Man," almost gospelish on "When It’s Time to Dance Alone," and he doesn’t forget the guitar-rock sound that makes all of us, the instant we hear it, remember back a few years to when we were younger.

I always say I really don’t like doing CD reviews because it is so hard to tell someone if the music is any good because so many people listen to music in different ways, and even though I like Michael Stanley getting a little more reflective here, you just might wish he would put out another "North Coast." Concerts are easier to review because whether I like the show or not, in the end a concert is about pleasing the fans that paid to see it, even though, much to my continued dismay, somehow I keep missing covering Michael Stanley whenever I visit the old homestead. He usually puts on a show around Christmas-time in Cleveland, so maybe he’ll do the same and this year will be the time I finally see him on stage. Sorry, I digress.

In the end I really liked "The Soft Addictions," especially after a couple of plays (I have to admit the first go around I wasn’t paying total attention to the music and when the CD was done at first I thought "I guess it was okay"). Then I took it along for one of my weekend walks and listened to some of the lines in the songs (I loved the concept and thoughts of "Same Blood (Different Vein)"), caught a subtle nuance (like the beer can opening which made me chuckle) during "Drinkin’ In the Driveway" complete with lyrics perfectly painting the picture of the dude "Wearin’ an old Skynard Tank Top Two Sizes Small" and a great line of "Proud that he ain’t bought one damn thing since Floyd did The Wall," and found that my favorite song from the CD is the last official track, "No Rules When You Dream."

There is a bonus track on the CD, simply titled "Michael Stanley," and I’m assuming someone out there in internet land can help me out on exactly what it is because as I’m writing this on a Saturday, well, I can’t call Michael’s radio show, my Google searches only helped me find out what "Otto’s Grotto" is but not the identities of Loopy nor Crispy, and my final investigative avenue is a pending registration on the Michael Stanley message board where it might have been discussed. I thought it might be a portion of a track off of Michael’s first record, simply titled "Michael Stanley," except the commentary mentioned 40 years since Otto’s Grotto and the "Michael Stanley" record came out in 1973 when, sadly, I was only 6 and didn’t have the allowance to go record shopping yet!

Anyway, if you’ve grown up with Michael Stanley through the years, have purchased any of his later CD’s and liked them, I suggest you get yourself a copy of "The Soft Addictions." It’s got some rockin’, it’s got some rollin’, it’s got some reflectin’, and it has one of my new favoritist songs, "No Rules When You Dream." On the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale "The Soft Addictions" gets a solid 95%.

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

Dude Note: And the internet comes through! The bonus track portion, I have come to find out (Thanks Ann via e-mail and Dave from Akron via the Michael Stanley Message Forum), is from Michael’s first album in a band called "Silk" called "Walk in My Mind," and thanks to my getting approved to peruse the Message Forum (Thanks Shea!), I was even able to find out who Loopy and Crispy are. P.S. Go Tribe!

Have you watched a Harlem Shake video?

I won’t drag on and on about the Harlem Shake, much has been reported about this phenomenon and the assorted videos found on You Tube. Instead, the only thing I find fascinating is that as goofy as we all found Gangnam Style, more of us seem fascinated with the Harlem Shake, so much so that when Gangham Style hit a billion views on You Tube, people wondered if that would ever be surpassed. Enter the Harlem Shake, on its way to beat Psy, who now needs a new song to regain the You Tube crown as an internet giant.

I haven’t watched a video yet, just seen the news blurbs, but I do plight: Have you watched a Harlem Shake video?

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

When was the last time you built a snowman?

We are in the midst of a pretty decent snowstorm as I type this, one of those that is bad enough to close a lot of schools, bad enough to screw up a lot of traffic, but not bad enough to cause utter mayhem nor get headlines like “Snowpocalypse,” “Snowmageddon,” nor something boring like “Blizzard.” It’s been a relatively calm couple of winters here in the Chicago area, but the end of February and now early March are seeming to make up for things at least in being persistently a pain in the butt.

My sister shot me a text earlier today saying “Build a snowman for me!”, and I probably should, but instead of trodding out in the snow, I’m deciding to let it be a calm day, working a lot on some website updates here at Entertainment Ave!, and trying to catch up on some 2013 projects I’ve been blowing off. Yet there is still a part of me that says, “Come on, go build that snowman! You know you want to!” The thing is my wife is out in the snowstorm as I type this, and building a snowman right now would mean doing it by myself, which when I was eight year’s old probably wouldn’t seem odd, I built plenty of snowmen and snow forts by myself in my younger days, but as an adult it just seems like it would be a little weird, envisioning the neighbors looking out of their windows saying “Wow, that’s a little sad. Mr. Dude building a snowman by himself.”

There’s still time, I suppose, for me to head outside and heed my sister’s advice, but I’ll probably just keep working, waiting for Mrs. Dude to get home safe, and keep plighting: When was the last time you built a snowman?

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

Have you ever been to a thrift shop?

I know a few people who regularly shop at Goodwill, and when the song “Thrift Shop” from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis blew up the charts I couldn’t help but think of those people, and still can’t, every time I hear the song. Now I’m one for goofy songs, always have been, and “Thrift Shop” is right up there with the “I can’t believe this is a hit song, and why can’t I stop singing along?” best of them. It’s catchy, tells a nice tale, and sure, the non-radio version has some naughty words, but what doesn’t nowadays? The song also introduced me to some terms so I can stay hip with the youngsters, namely phrases like “Poppin’ tags” and “Come up,” and yes, I intend to use them and look like a dork at any instance that one of them may fit.

But back to the thrift shop.

I’m not one to shop at a thrift shop. Sure, I know there are tons of bargains, and every now and then you find something that you can probably sell on eBay for a nice return on your dollar, but for the most part Goodwill has just become a donation place for me for things like clothes that are too big for me now, nicknacks that even I wonder why I still have, and some electronics that still work but don’t work for me. There have been a few times I’ve gone into the store, rather than just drop stuff off, and yes, the hoarder in me could probably walk out of there with cartloads of stuff costing me like twenty bucks, but there is a voice in my head, well, knowing the disapproval of my wife, should I come home with a trunkload of one man’s trash that has become this man’s come up, although if I could get over the fact of wearing someone else’s shoes, if I did come across some gator shoes, those being green, they might just be hard to pass up.

Maybe you won’t shop there, maybe you just browse and wonder who actually owned that lime-green jumpsuit, but I plight: Have you ever been to a thrift shop?

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

Greatest Hits, Vol. 2

Artist: Alabama
Listenability Scale: 95%
Released by: BMG Entertainment
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

One of my favorite country bands of all times is Alabama so it should be no surprise that this is one of my favorite CD’s. As is the case with a lot of country albums, at least according to my secretary, it’s filled with sad songs, like “Lady Down on Love” and “Then Again,” but I must say Alabama does a better job at keeping things upbeat. This CD gives you a “Dixieland Delight,” a “Song of the South,” a “High Cotton,” and even a “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)” which although could have been a really sad song had daddy not been found, does show that sometimes the man upstairs is listenin’. A great live band, and a great CD, this one gets a 95% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale. I would have given it 100%, but I can do without “Hats Off.” Just my opinion.

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

Are you watching All-Star Celebrity Apprentice?

Fine, I’ll admit it, I’m a fan of “Celebrity Apprentice,” and fine again, I plan on watching the “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice.” As I’m typing this plight the show premiers tonight, with The Donald back with an All-Star, well, at least celebrities who have already been on the show cast, including the likes of Gary Busey, Penn Jillette, Lil Jon, Dennis “Kim Jong Un is my Friend” Rodman, and the “celebrity” who won’t go away, Omarosa. I’m not really sure why I like the show, in fact I probably get more enjoyment from the normal “Apprentice” version, but why would Donald Trump want to go back to helping the average go-getter get further in their career when he can more easily let celebrity folks make fun of themselves. The only problem I generally have with “All-Star” editions of these reality shows is that the second, or third, or forth time around, the folks that return know a little bit more about playing to the camera and over-playing the character they developed originally (This is really becoming prominent in this season’s “Survivor: Caramoan Fans vs Favorites” with Phillip and Brandon overblowing their characters to the point of cartoonish, but that’s a topic for another plight), and sometimes it just becomes boring. For me, though, it’s generally a fun way to end the weekend, with some mindless entertainment to put me to sleep on the way to another normal work week.

And so I plight: Are you watching All-Star Celebrity Apprentice?

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

Do you wash your own car?

In keeping with the current theme of cars for these Daily Plights, I have a neighbor who is always washing his cars. Not as much lately as we are in the grips of winter, but once the weather breaks a bit there he is, car in front of the garage, with the hose doing its work and him with a bucket of sudsy water. Part of me is a little jealous as my laziness and prioritizing of other things have taken me away from my desire to wash my car, but I remember younger days, first parking mom and/or dad’s in the driveway to give their car a thorough bathing, and then parking the car under the tree in the front yard for a good wax job where I would undoubtedly put on too much wax and then curse up a storm under my breath as I was trying to get the wax off.

As I’ve gotten older my personal car washing duties have stalled, especially as my living situations changed and it wasn’t as easy to pull out the hose and wash the dirt off the dude-mobile, that and the fact that it seems every gas station now has a quick car wash, and so I can’t really recall the last time I pulled out the bucket and dish soap. Sure, it’s a weird thinking about this in the winter time, but maybe it’s because my car could really use a decent car wash after being coated in road salt, and I’m also wondering when it will be warm enough for my neighbor to cleanse his vehicles, but as much as I miss the joy of washing my own car sometimes, I plight: Do you wash your own car?

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

Do you think of The Brady Bunch TV show when backing up your car?

It occurred to me the other day, when I was backing out of a parking space at the local grocery store, that just about every time I begin to back up I have a quick remembrance of an episode of The Brady Bunch. I guess the episode is called “The Fender Benders” and was originally from 1972, but I probably saw it a few years later in reruns. In the episode Carol is in a parking lot and has a little fender bender with another car. The guy in the other car fakes an injury and takes the Brady’s to court where we learn an important life lesson, that’s it’s important to tell the truth. Like many a Brady Bunch episode things aren’t going that well for America’s family, but just when things seem like a total loss, and Carol would be found guilty, Mike comes to the rescue by dropping a briefcase on the floor causing the “injured” man to turn his head, exposing the liar for what he was.

I guess we all have little triggers of things that cause I to remember parts of our childhood, and for me that can range from a song, to a Brady Bunch episode, to the proverbial “Schoolhouse Rock” short, but for this plight, think about it the next time you are backing out of a parking space and plight with me: Do you think of The Brady Bunch TV show when backing up your car?

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