It’s been how many and a half months since I wrote a blog entry? Two? That’s a lot. Busy with family, busy at work, I’m sure my ones of readers understand.
So, what’s happened since mid-March? Plenty, I’d imagine. Here’s what I’ve got off the top of my head:
The Stanley Cup Playoffs
In the West, the 8-seed LA Kings (a.k.a. the West Coast Flyers) shocked the world (outside of the U.S., where they don’t watch ice soccer), beating the 1, 2, and 3 seeded Canucks, Blues, and Coyotes to make the Finals. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that’s never happened in pro sports before – 8-seeds have made finals, but not by going through the 1, 2, and 3 is my guess.
In the East, my Philadelphia Flyers won the highest-scoring series in the history of time (source: Wikipedia) against the stupid Penguins before completely forgetting how to score goals in the second round and falling to the stupid Devils. The stupid Devils are playing Game 6 tonight against the stupid Rangers. I’m pulling for the lesser of two evils and hoping the stupid Devils advance to lose to the Kings.
My concern about the Kings is that they’ll have been off for eight days by the time the Finals start on May 30 (all games start at 8p.m. ET, check your local listings). That break will help them get healthy, but it will also completely negate their incredible momentum. Here’s hoping they can keep the mojo going. I’d love to see Carter, Richards, Williams, and the rest of the West Coast Flyers get a Cup, even if it’s not with the right team.
Stella Ella Ola’s Free EP
A Canadian band called Stella Ella Ola released a self-titled four-song EP for free. Since it was brought to my attention by Hollerado, whose awesome Record In a Bag album I reviewed here back on March 9, I figured I’d give it a listen. I honestly expected to half pay attention then delete the files. I mean, it’s free – how good can it be? What happened instead is that I was completely drawn in. I now follow the band on Twitter (@_StellaEllaOla_) and Facebook, and I’m very eagerly awaiting the release of their full album (which is, apparently, scheduled to drop in the fall).
I’m going to wait for the full release to do a review. In the meantime, go here to download the four-track EP for free: http://stellaellaola.bandcamp.com/album/stella-ella-ola-ep. Seriously. Do it. It’s a few minutes of your time to get four great songs for free. You’ll thank me later.
The Flawedcast Network
Holy shit did this take off. Congrats to all involved, but especially to Andy Gaston, who’s the driving force behind it.
During my blogging hiatus, I also fell behind on the podcasts, so I missed a bunch of Flawedcast Prime, Monday Night Flaw, and WTNY episodes, but I’m back to listening to those regularly, along with Gamer and Proud and Army of Dorkness. I haven’t heard MMA-Hole yet. I have zero interest in MMA, so I doubt it would be for me, but I hear good things for anyone out there who is interested. I am looking forward to TV for Vendetta. Hope that hits soon.
Seriously, congrats guys. This is a lot of fun. Keep up the awesome.
The NBA Playoffs
I understand that these are occurring.
The Avengers
Wow. This is a very good movie. Not Oscar-good, but popcorn-great. Fuck the Oscars anyway. They don’t concern themselves with “movies.” They deal in “films.”
If you haven’t seen The Avengers, you might be the only one. It’s on pace to become the highest-grossing thing that’s ever been done (source: Wikipedia). I’m not reviewing it here. If you want a review, there are thousands available on that Internet thingy, and Army of Dorkness carved out a tight 6.5 hours of an 8-hour show to talk about it. Just see it if you haven’t. It’s awesome.
Jack White’s New Album
Not surprisingly, Blunderbuss is really fucking good. White’s able to make an album that’s clearly not The White Stripes, but still has the occasional nod to the band. On top of that, it’s clean, language-wise, which is important to me because there’s a dearth of really good music I can share with my daughter. I’d love to have her listening to Green Day, Foo Fighters and Beastie Boys, but you can’t just hit play and walk away. You have to monitor each song as it comes up and be ready to hit FF if it’s swear-laden, which many of them are.
R.I.P. MCA
Speaking of Beastie Boys…
Poor dead MCA. Along with his band mates, the guy entertained me for 25 years. I owe him a huge debt of “Gratitude” (couldn’t resist) for that. I haven’t been this upset about a celebrity death since Clarence Clemons, and those are probably the only two that have really affected me. (Even Cobain didn’t bother me much. It was shocking, but not surprising, and I’d moved on to Pearl Jam by the time it happened.)
I listened to Licensed to Ill and Paul’s Boutique sparingly as a kid. I enjoyed them (and still do), but the band was really a comedy act at that point. They changed that image with Check Your Head, and that’s when I really started paying attention. I love that album. They followed it with the masterpiece that is Ill Communication, and then they fell off a bit. Hello Nasty was merely good, which, to me, was a letdown after back-to-back greatness. Then To the Five Burroughs happened. I guess it’s my fault for expecting more than a love letter to a post-9/11 New York City, but I was really disappointed in this album. Even when they dropped the pure comedy, these guys were still all about fun. Well, not with this album. It’s dark and it’s angry, and it took the band a long time to release another (rap) album.
Seven years after Burroughs, and well into MCA’s battle with throat cancer, Beastie Boys released Hot Sauce Committee Part Two in 2011. What a great album. It goes back to the basics, with the band not taking themselves or their music too seriously – but not sacrificing quality for an instant. A really fun, star-studded video for “Make Some Noise” only added to the excitement I felt for this album. It was getting better and better with each listen.
And then MCA died.
I knew he was sick. I knew this was a possibility. I was still waiting with bated breath for the concert tour announcement. I was really looking forward to seeing Beastie Boys tear up a stage one more time.
But MCA died.
I can’t imagine what Ad Rock, Mike D, and the extended Beastie Boys family have gone through over the past few months. I know it’s immeasurably worse for them than it is for me. But I hurt too. I hurt for them, and I hurt for me. I hurt for everyone who won’t get to see Beastie Boys in concert (again or for the first time). I hurt for the knowledge that there’s no follow-up album to Hot Sauce coming. I hurt for selfish reasons, and I don’t care.
But I’m also thankful. Thank you, MCA, for 25 years of entertainment. I obviously didn’t know you, but everything I’ve ever seen or read tells me you were a really decent human being who was loved and respected by everyone who was lucky enough to know you. There may not be any new music coming, but you’ve left behind an unparalleled library for us to enjoy forever. So thank you.
And that’s it for me. Sorry to end it on a down note. I was just firing stuff out as it occurred to me, but that’s the first I’ve written about MCA, and it made me sad, and I don’t feel like writing anymore now.
If you’ve got thoughts you’d like to share on MCA or any of the other topics I covered, post them in the Comments box. I’m particularly interested to hear what people think of the Stella Ella Ola EP.
And I’m still very open to “Blog-on-demand.” If you’ve got something you want me to spout off on, just let me know.
Have fun. Play safe.
Your pal,
~Hodgey
Most excellent