buhdgeblog

SMiLE!

2004-10-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

I'm back, finally. After the site redesign, and various real life things cropping up, I settled down to my keyboard to write an article about the new SMiLE CD. Then I saw the Showtime Special, Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE, and I started to write about that. Then, I saw Brian and his fabulous band here in the nation's capital this past Sunday night, and I started to write about that. There were points I wanted to make about all three, in relation to each other, so I ditched the three separate pieces and wrote one long piece that incorporates them all. I really put my heart and soul into this one, so please read and enjoy.

Lots more coming up. Honestly, the SMiLE piece took a lot out of me, so everything else I was working on got pushed temporarily aside. Now, those items have been moved to the front burner and, one by one, they'll be written about and I'll share the results with you shortly thereafter.

Now, time for a nap, but first, a piece of advice: Eat a lot, drink a lot, brush 'em like crazy.

Back later.

All TV'd Out

2004-10-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

I admit I have a bizarre idea of what posting daily means. But I haven't been Eric idle; I've been watching a lot of TV while simultaneously gathering materials for future site content. I also wrote my new fufkin column. It's about radio, and it's the first of a series. Click on over to www.fufkin.com and read it (but not today, 'cause it's not up yet. Maybe tomorrow?)

Last night I saw the Smile special on Showtime. I'll have plenty to say about that soon. Now, I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Then, there's tomorrow and tomorrow.

Goodnight, sweet Rodney.

Where Have I Been, Part Two

2004-10-03T15:33:00.000-07:00

So the redesign is complete, and I'm done mucking with things, so that's where I've been, and now it's time to get down to work on content. And so I shall. Look during the upcoming week for new stuff, including, at some point, an article about the new TV season, same as the old, by the way. No big surprise there.

Hope you're not Smiled out. Batten down the hatches, 'cause here comes a new Smile section, to debut soon. I think the release of Smile is one of the most important music events of this or any year, and I'll be telling you why in a lot of gory detail. I'm going to see the Wilson orchestra perform Smile next weekend, and I'll have a review soon after. Based on the clips in the electronic press kit (EPK), I'm certain the experience will be mighty exhilirating. (If you haven't seen the EPK, by the way, go here: http://www.nonesuch.com/Hi_Band/index_frameset2.htm, but be prepared to get eye strain; it's really small).

Not much else to report today, but that doesn't mean there won't be something to talk about tomorrow. I'm aiming to write something for this blog every day, even if it's only to say hi.

Back later.

Where Have I Been?

2004-09-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

Oh, it's only been...two weeks and a day? Yikes! Better get cracking, then.

A very busy two weeks and a day it has been, with very little time available for site work. Plus, I've been watching a hunk of TV, spending time with a couple of new shows and season premieres. Double plus, I've not been happy with the site design; it's too big, I think, or too wide. Or something. Needs a little salt, methinks. It just looks like one big glob to me. So, today, I've been working on a new homepage, and if I like it in the morning (take two aspirins and...), I'll probably redo the rest of the site to match it, which means...yeah, I know, a couple more days of inactivity.

I've got a pile of CDs to review, a couple of DVDs, and a few articles to scribble, so there's plenty to make happen...but until I get the site redone, I'm not going to post anything; it doesn't pay to get something up there and then have to reformat it into the new design. Right? See, I'm one of those people who have to have things just so before I can move on. And so I shall.

Please bear with me. Watch this space for updates. Until then, see ya later.

One more thing: Who's Elaine Stitch?

buhdge film debuts

2004-09-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy day here at buhdge world headquarters, what with all the posting and fixing up around the cyber-house I've been doing. And, I got out for awhile and saw the movie Cellular; my review debuts as we speak in the new buhdge film area. Check it out, why dontcha!

Remember...Jack and Bobby on the Dub, dub, dubya-B at 9 pm EST.

Back later.

Wheat: Good Roughage

2004-09-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

A quick note on this hazy Sunday to let you all know that I've just posted an in-depth review of Wheat's latest album, per second, per second, per second... every second, and a sampler that the band's label, Aware/Columbia, put together to promote them.

Tonight's TV must-see: Jack and Bobby, on the WB. It's getting great advance reviews, and it does have the West Wing pedigree, so how can it miss? We'll see...this one I'm going to watch, and review, so look for my thoughts, won't you?

Back later.

A true, miraculous find

2004-09-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

I've just posted my review of Regan Lane's ICU in Dandylions. Lane is a pop musician from Washington state who knows his way around a Beatlesque pop hook, but what makes his album special is the subject matter, which harkens back to some dark years. Lane turns it all into a positive, and you, the listener will be rewarded. It's a truly spectacular, positive record. Check out the sound samples and you'll see what I mean.

Back later.

It's New, You Know

2004-09-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

Just a short note to say that I'm expanding the remembrance theme I started with my "First Record Player and Other Stories" feature. I'm opening this area of buhdge to you, my beloved fans (air-cooling and otherwise), for your looks back at all things music related. 500 words or less, please. Submit yours to remember@buhdge.com.

First up: a warm remembrance from Gary Pig Gold, all about his first records. Enjoy.

Back later

If Everything Were Automated, Part One

2004-09-09T22:44:00.000-07:00

So, let me get this straight...you have to remember to set the recorder to actually record something? You miss so much when you don't read the instructions...

So, hi, back with ya, after a couple of days' silence, but not for nothing, I must say, because I've been planning for reviews and features and such, and coming up with a way to make the navigation better and...nah, you don't want to hear my bellyaching. Although...that's one of the things these blogs are for, isn't it? People like to read about bellyaching, right?

Well, forget it. I'm not going to continue that trend. I had intended to watch Joey tonight, write a quick review, and get it up on the sight in the interest of timeliness, but I forgot to set the recorder. I had some last minute errands to run, and wound up not doing any of them so I could get home to watch the show and I went right to work on the site and forgot all about the show. Sorry. Won't happen again. Except it will. Probably.

I know, Joey will be on next week, and you can tell us how Joey was then. I caught the promos (how could you miss them? They showed them every five minutes) and I thought they were funny, but Friends funny? Remains to be seen.

What doesn't remain to be seen is what I've just discovered on the wonderful and authoritative Digital Bits site (check the buhdge links page for door-to-door directions). When the third season of 24 comes out on DVD on December 7, there'll be a new, exclusive to DVD, ten minute "episode," featuring the new cast (reportedly, Kiefer Sutherland is the only surviving member from past seasons), intended to allow fans to familiarize themselves with the new lay of the land before the fourth season starts on January 3, which effectively dispels any notions that FOX is not behind the show any more. Not only does this show an enormous amount of faith on the part of the bean counters, but it takes TV on DVD a couple of notches up the ladder in the blink of an eye. FOX has to be figuring there are enough fans of this show to keep it going for a fourth season, and maybe, just maybe, a fifth. This is great news for fans of 24, and for fans of any "cult" show that always seems to be on the bubble, or, in layman's terms, about an inch away from being cancelled. Don't let them down, folks; do your part and buy the third season DVD set. And then line up early for the fourth season premiere.

So, anyway, lots of things coming on buhdge; I'll try to squeeze a few in before the weekend's up. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, laying groundwork for the future, and it's all just little old me, so bear with, will you? My thanks.

And while I'm doling out thanks, I'm in awe of the support you've given buhdge in its first nine days of existence. The numbers are very strong for something that hasn't really been publicized very much, and for that I'm grateful.

Back later.

Progress Report, Volume One

2004-09-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

Just so you don't think I've been goofing off, here's proof, or, rather, the proof is in the pudding smeared across the pages of buhdge, the site. Check it out: In the past two days, I've posted two new reviews: one of Bob Burger's wonderful album, Cymbals at Dawn, and another of two new Beatles Tribute Albums, one from Bullseye Records, and the other from Mojo magazine, which comes affixed to the September 2004 issue. They're all great, and you should head on over to buhdge to read them right away.

During the past two days, I've also been tweaking the site here and there, fixing this and that, adding an updated notation to the home page, right under the navigation, etc. I'm thinking about adding a table that posits or links to a listing of the latest site additions, but I'm weary about micro-managing things. Perhaps the current "New in..." table sufficies. I dunno. I'll keep thinking about it and make a decision sometime before next May...or sooner, whichever comes first.

Anyway, I've been so busy today with things that I haven't even hit the bricks, snacks in hand, for the West Wing marathon on Bravo. Today, there are also marathons going on for Monk (on USA) and for Law and Order (on TNT). I'm just about marathoned out, but I do have much to say about Monk, and I'll be saying it in a piece to be added to the site in the next couple of days. Woe is the Monk fan, is all I can say now...

Back later, cats and kittens.

Monkberry Moon's Not Right

2004-09-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

Still operating under the radar for a few days with buhdge. I'll be spreading the word slowly, like they do with big movies--you know, the ones with tall people.

Anybody out there like Monk? Not the fish, nor the order--the hit USA TV show starring Tony Shaloub. If you've been a fan, and notice I say "if," you've witnessed, as have I, a show that always seems to be in flux. Is it an out and out comedy? No wait, let's be a bit more serious than that and leaven the proceedings with humor. No wait, let's go back to the wacky comedy. Hey, let's give the characters some humanity. No, that's too much. Let's make them do things they would never do. That will get them watching.

It seems the people running this show simply can not make up their minds how they want the characters to act. One minute, Monk is a brilliant detective, very humane and astute; the next, he's a mindless idiot who doesn't have a clue that three-card-monte isn't a legitimate game.

And now, they've gone and upset the apple cart big time--they've gotten rid of the character of Sharona, Monk's "nurse," who acts more like his assistant, sometimes helping to solve crimes that Monk is working on. The creators have decided to go in another direction, and are casting for a thirty-something woman who, I believe, will be working in a bar. Yeah, that sounds like the right direction. Monk can hang around the bar and solve the case of the missing fifth.

Shaloub is a gifted actor, with terrific comic instincts, but he is increasingly poorly served by the scripts here. And he only has himself to blame, at least partially--he is a producer of the show.

The next batch of new episodes bows in January; hopefully, they will have worked out the kinks and bring the show back to its original glories.

Don't miss this weekend's USA Today. The Life section has a guide to the new fall shows; I'm really looking forward to J.J. "Alias, not Felicity" Abrams' Lost (40-something folks gets stranded on an island with a monster and who knows what else). I'm sort of looking forward to what will probably be the last season of NYPD Blue. I'm a longtime fan, and although it's not what it used to be--especially as it was in the Jimmy Smits days--it's still pretty solid. I'm looking forward to the sixth season of the West Wing, only out of curiousity. I'll have more on the new fall shows in a future post.

Back later.

Up, Up and Away

2004-09-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

It figures that, if you are reading this, you're at least aware that buhdge the site has launched. You might also be aware that buhdge the site is operating a bit under the radar; come to think of it, you might not be aware of this at all. Hey, I'mbarely aware of it myself.

Well, it's up alright, and I think I finally got the bugs good and out. (This is why you go live under the radar, folks.) I'll be adding some reviews and articles in a couple of days, and then I'll be telling folks that we're up, up and running at full steam; right now, I'm busy recuperating from all of the last minute this-and-that relating to the launch. I'm also going through some great music that I'm going to review, in particular a wonderful album by Bob Burger, a New Jerseyite who some of you may know as a pal of the great Glen Burtnik, and co-writer with Glen of, among other songs, "My Crowning Achievement," from Glen's Palookaville album. Glen's new CD, Welcome to Hollywood, is also mere days or so from being reviewed on buhdge. Watch out for it.

Anyway, I'm tired and I want to go to bed, so that will be all for today. I didn't get to see any of the new NBC shows, but I'm hearing I didn't miss much. Oh well, next time, then.

Back later.

Pride and Pretzels

2004-08-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

A few more things to monkey with tonight re: the site (I'm poking holes in the navigation, because I can, and I've got to load a sound file onto a page). Do some very last minute fixes if I need to, and tomorrow, voila! Please let me know what you think.

I'll try to catch Father of the Pride on NBC tonight...you know, the new DreamWorks cartoon "inspired" by Siegfrid and Roy. It's getting creamed in the press, but you knew that was coming. If I check it out, I'll let you know what it's all about so you'll feel good about tuning in next week, or tuning out for good.

As for that new cop show, Hawaii...I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks vomit scenes are important to any narrative. Color me tuned out.

Back later.

R.I.P. Laura Brannigan

2004-08-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry to hear about the passing of Laura Brannigan this past weekend. Unbelievably, Brannigan just missed the number one spot on the Billboard pop chart in 1982 with "Gloria." I remember her being on every TV show imaginable promoting that song, pushing her arm up into the air, punctuating the beats. I could have sworn it was a number one. Anyway, she died of a brain aneurysm, in her sleep. She'd been taking care of her ailing mother. She complained about headaches, but didn't go to the doctor. Very, very sad.

Back later.

Time to start dropping the ball yet?

2004-08-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well, two days to go until buhdge launch. I've got enough content to kick off the site; I would have liked more, but that's what big eyes at the table will get you. I'm going to write more later in the week, but, for now, I'm just going to do final testing to make sure all the links work. I may redo the navigation bar (well, navigation shape; you'll see what I mean on Wednesday).

I'm exhausted, man. This thing has been going through my brain and bouncing off the edges of my skull for a long time. I'm going to start small and build, one brick at a time. Just for fun. Remember, it's just for fun.

Back later.

Segall Down Below

2004-08-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post before leaving for work. Caught Steven Segall's Fire Down Below last night, for like the 50th time, on cable's TNT network. This is the greatest movie ever, if you like really bad movies that are really good for the wrong reasons. I'm a Segall fan; his movies never cease to amaze me, particularly with Steve's deadwood delivery and stiff body movements--and ever-expanding gut, covered by his everpresent floor-length black letter jacket.

Fire Down Below has everything you could ask for, and that's not even counting Steve: The Band's Levon Helm as a preacher who's taking money from big, bad Kris Kristofferson; the great Harry Dean Stanton, slumming here as a overalls-wearing hick who dances bowlegged on his porch; Marg Helgenberger from CSI as a poor little country girl who was molested by her brother, who's in on the hazardous waste-dumping shenanigans in town; and Randy Travis, country singer, who here turns in a disastrous turn as a fake FBI agent packing heat the bureau would never allow, although Travis tells Segall's character that because they're out in the country, the bureau lets their guys do whatever they want. I haven't gotten into any of the set pieces yet, like the one where the other fake FBI agent, standing next to his car, after having crashed in it (don't ask), catches a flare that Steve throws at him (by the way, the guy is standing in a puddle of gas that leaked from the gas station pump...oh, never mind). Steve manages to shoot a bullet right at the lit part of the flare and obliterate it. What a talented guy.

Oh, this is just the greatest movie ever. And let's not forget Segall's hot gee-tar playing with Marty Stuart. Marty Stuart!!??

TNT seems to run Fire Down Below just about every week. I'll expound more on Steve in future posts. He's the male Cynthia Rothrock, and if you know who she is, you really need to get a life.

More later.

Eve of the Eve of the Eve of the Launch, or Eve My Kitten Alone

2004-08-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

Yikes. Three days to go until the launch of my third website, buhdge (www.buhdge.com), following Pure Pop and The Golden Age of Pop. You may notice a theme there. When I began Pure Pop I was poppin' fresh; by the time I retired it and Golden Age, I was pooped out. So I went away for a couple of years, into what I self-depricatingly called semi-retirement. Actually, I'm too young for retirement, semi or otherwise, but I needed a break, so I took one.

About five months ago, I started writing a column for fufkin.com, which I call The World Is Round. The idea is that I write about a variety of issues--free speech and the first amendment have been pretty prominent topics--and somehow tie them into music, sometimes in only the most peripheral way. I am always surprised they don't cut me loose, considering I feel as though I am on the outside looking in, but they seem to like my stuff, and I like writing for them, so I continue, unabated, looking for my next soapbox on which to stand.

The writing for fufkin is the first I've done on a sustained basis for a very long time. Thanks to a variety of personal issues, I haven't really felt like coming out of my self-imposed shell. Now, though, I am making a concerted effort to look through the cracks and emerge whole. I love to write, and I need a creative outlet, so here I go, back into the fray. I've still got many of those personal issues, and I'm not guaranteeing I won't retreat a bit now and then, but I'm going to try as hard as I can to stop that from happening.

I'm not putting any big-time pressure on myself. This is just for fun. I'm not going to post new content every day, or every week, for that matter. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll post something every hour. We'll see how it goes. I've got a lot to write about. I've got a list a mile long of subjects I want to tackle, reviews I want to write. I'll chip away at that list, one chunk at a time, and see where this journey takes me. I'm going to at least try to keep this blog going with at least one post every day.

Back later.