MEATLOAF LIVE IN SAN DIEGO!

ROCKY BALBOA (DVD)

Awesome. If you loved the movie - the final chapter in the Balboa saga, you will fucking LOVE this film. It plays more like the first two, with a slow first half and then a heart racing second half leading to the big fight. But this film is much less about the fight than the spiritual quest Balboa is on. If that sounds lame - blame me - the movie is great. The DVD is loaded with tasty extras - a blooper reel - a 20 minute docu on the making of -- another 20 minute docu on the fight scenes - a mini-doc on the computer fight in the film, awesome Stallone commentary on the film itself, and a treasure trove of deleted scenes (all good in their own way - all probably best left on cutting room floor - and an alternate ending that has the fight going a different way (it doesn't work nearly as well as the one they went with.) A must see.
MOVIE: A +

DVD EXTRAS: A

(we could've used Stallone's commentary on the deleted scenes and why he deleted them.

Mark G. Waldman - friend to this blog - uncovered this GEM of David O. Russel going off on Lily Tomlin during rehearsal. CRAZY.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LzqjimUs2RU

AMERICAN IDOL (FOX)
Sanjaya went all the way! But Blake Lewis was pretty damn good with "She's Not There."

PRISON BREAK (FOX)
Another stellar outting. This has got to be the most exciting drama on TV right now. No spoilers, but this is really becoming an event. I have no idea what the ratings are - and the performance of William Fichter is getting better every week.
Grade: A +


The new promos for the Tarantino/Rodriguez GRINDHOUSE look absolutely amazing.


If you haven't seen THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (unrated) do so at once.


DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC)
Cliff Claven looked dashing. Leeza Gibbons was literally as stiff as a board - and the show was simply all about Heather Mills. I'm not sure what I'm more interested in - her prosthetic leg or the fact that she might be the meanest woman in England.


I LOVE NY (VH1)
Chance is ridiculous - he basically sealed that disgusting deal with NY's mom (that kiss was revolting) and I'm not sure what young Tiffany is thinking - because she's using a network dating show to go out with a real 3rd rate hood. Real and Tango would be great choices, but I'm pretty sure NY is way too stupid to ever realize that.
Grade: B


LOST (ABC)
Wow - I started to watch last week's episode and I just had no interest left in the show. If I knew it was ending next year and that everything started to count dramatically - I think I'd redevelop my interest - but it just seems like continually opening doors that never lead to anything - and is now becoming a bit of a cliche of itself.

Grade: C -

LALA'S ON MELROSE
If you like skirt steak and rice - this is the place. Good steak, chicken - in the same league more or less as GAUCHO GRILL (really good) and Bossa Nova (Great) - somewhere in between those two places. Reasonably priced with good service.
Grade: B

KITANO'S on SUNSET
I ate here Sunday night for my friend Jeff's b-day - was probably one of the all time best dinners I've had in FOREVER. Pricey and fancy - they have asparagus wrapped fillet Mignon that will melt in your mouth.
It's a bit of a scene and you don't just go for a quickie - but it's the richest meal i've had in ages. Happy B-Day Cranky Franky!
Grade: A +


THE SURREAL LIFE FAME GAMES (VH1)
I can't really remember what happened - I think Vanilla Ice got really mad like every week - that's all I remember.


SNL: JULIA LOUIE DREYFUSS (NBC)
Bad. Really bad.


HOWARD ON DEMAND: (IN DEMAND TV)
HOWARD TV: THE SIRIUS/XM MERGER
Was a pretty interesting discussion about whether this proposed merger will get to happen, due to the fact that it can be interpreted as a monopoly.
Grade: B

HOWARD TV: JACKIE'S RETURN!
I heard this on the radio the other day but the video was much more interesting. I had no idea Fred harbored so much resentment, but they all still clearly love and loathe each other. If Artie were to leave, I personally think it would be a cheat to the fans to keep Jackie out of that chair. As much as some of the Artie fans will protest (and I'm one of them - i LOVE Artie) - but if he decides to leave - Put Jackie in there for a few months and see how it goes.


HOWARD TV: THE SYBIAN DOCUMENTARY
For those not in the know - the SYBIAN is the orgasm machine in Howard's studio that he gets girls to ride on and hopefuly climax in the studio. This has happened a shocking number of times. Surprisingly well put together 90 minute docu - with PLENTY of footage of Stern & co - and many of the famous Sybian riders. not a must - but it's good. If a little long.
Grade: B -

ADDICTION: CRACKED, BUT NOT BROKEN (HBO)
A documentary on HBO and HBO ON DEMAND thatoffers a portrait of a very pretty 30ish crack whore operating from her Vancouver hotel, fielding prostitution calls while scheming to get more crack and making crack to inject as she's on the phone. Her attitude about it all is so non chalant and rather intellectual you'd think she'd make better choices. The scare sad thing is that she's in a hamster trail chasing herself unless she really wakes up. This is a shame because this woman seems like a real firecracker. I know that sounds weird - but I think if she got off crack she'd actually be okay. This docu is shot in absolute realism.
Grade: A


ARCADE FIRE: (CD)
The new CD is da bomb. Check some tunes out on YOUTUBE and have fun. I've been listening for 2 weeks.
Grade: B


EDMOND (HBO)
The David Mamet play directed for the screen by RE-ANIMATOR director Stuart Gordon - this played even better than the first time I saw it. Bill Macy is frighteningly good in the role and Joe Montegna is superb in his small but prophetic role. While the FALLING DOWN path is familiar, this tale had some nastier aspects that the Joel Shumacker wouldn't dare touch.
Grade: B +


BULLY (DVD)
Re watched this GREAT Larry Clarke film, based on a true story about sex, sleaze, squalor and murder in the teenage set in Hollywood, Fla. Shot, edited and acted brilliantly - this is a completely worthy follow up to KIDS, if not an even better film. Though I really love KIDS for it's lack of story and focus on the kids in their day to activities. In fact KIDS, BULLY and KEN PARK is a one of a kind film trilogy of Larry Clarke that I fully recommend. ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE, the heist film with James Woods and Melanie Griffith is a good film, but not in this category. His latest, WUSSUP ROCKERS, for me, was his first serious misfire.
But BULLY - solid gold.
Grade: A +
The other Larry Clarke Movies:
KIDS: A +
ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE: B -

KEN PARK: B +
WUSSUP ROCKERS: C


My friend JAKE turned me on to this - i don't know why but it's kind of addicting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVMOHJXYI8I


I just started watching THE JANICE DICKINSON MODELING AGENCY marathon on OXY. So far, so good. Janice was so insane on SURREAL LIFE but seems kind of in control on this.

THE REAL WORLD: COLORADO (MTV)
The penultimate episode reminded us all that Jen had a boyfriend. Jen has been a real ho' this season - and by the episode's end, she was a ho' once more!
Grade: B -


THE BAD GIRLS CLUB (OXY)
Is starting to get a little boring after a great start. That girl leaving stripping and leaving the house because the other girls weren't doing anything productive? Give me a fat fucking break. Good riddance, Danielle. Fix thyself - don't look to your housemates to do it - and hurry back to that dancer's pole, where I suspect you'll be headed next. And as far as the visit from Zara's boyfriend - BORING. Lastly, the girls visited TYRA this week - I guess BAD GIRLS has become the highest rated show on OXYGEN - it was fun - Tyra was her usual moronic self - but I liked seeing the ladies made up for TV. Jodie kept switching from beautiful to man-like.
Grade: B


THE STERN SHOW (Sirius)
JACKIE RETURNS!
Jackie "the jokeman" Martling returns to plug an appearance and ends up spending over an hour in the studio with the guy, reminiscing, busting balls - it was like he never left. I even liked his interaction with Artie. Benji's sour grapes aside (he's probably afraid he'd be fired if Jackie came back) - this was a GREAT blast from the past, and with all this talk about Artie leaving - look, I'd be crushed if Artie left because in many ways - he's as much a voice of the show as Howard these days. At the same point, If Artie ever leaves, I personally think it's a no brainer to bring Jackie back. Some of them will scream - but ultimately - it's like THE POLICE or VAN HALEN - people would really respond to the old group being back and this blog would support that 100 percent.
Jackie's grade: A +


SOUTH PARK (COM)
Cartman takes a picture of Butters penis in his mouth to show the world....I can't explain this. Just see it immediately. The new South Park episodes are funnier then ever.
Grade: A


RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (CBS)
Still funny. Still hate the two leads.


JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE (ABC)
I caught a very funny repeat last night - they had a very funny sketch about TO CATCH A PREDATOR that had Chris Elliot and Jimmy re-enacting all the details of the real show. Later, Jimmy had on Jackie Earle Haley Jr. (of both BAD NEWS BEARS and LITTLE CHILDREN fame.) Jimmy had a great chemistry with Jackie Earle and it was a great thing to see him interviewed after all this time. I have my very own Jackie Earle Haley Jr. story. When I was I was about 17, I worked in Woodland Hills at the SAM GOODY VIDEO. I was the manager of the video section and this guy - he always looked a little familiar, walked in. He was this scrawny little guy who always had this very hot blond on his arm. We used to joke in the store about the "mismatch." (I was 17.) Anyway - one day I looked at him, and then blurted out "you're Kelly from the BAD NEWS BEARS." He was devastated - he really didn't want to deal with it. He told me he was headed to Vegas to try and get a production company going - and I learned on Jimmy that he eventually did and was happy for him - because he was really a nice guy and I'm really glad about his recent success.


THE COMEDIANS OF COMEDY (HBO)
Is a really good tour movie of three talented comedians. Brian Phelan from SARAH SILVERMAN, Patton Oswalt from KING OF QUEENS and some other comics. Better then the onstage stuff was just listening to the comics talk abou their lives. Brian was particularly interesting.

AFTER WEEKS OF PROMO-ING - IT'S HERE:

THE MEATLOAF SHOW !!!

(San Palo Casino - 2 weeks ago)
So me and my friend Steven G. went down to San Diego to see the Meat Man live. The San Palo casino is an interesting place. We got there around 3 pm after driving (a drive in which I somehow lost the nicest watch ever given to me in my life) for around 3 hours to San Diego - but it's not quite San Diego - it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. And they do these vintage shows - next week they have Huey Lewis - then Taylor Hicks - they had Cyndi Lauper - it's a weird thing. They must only have about 5 thousand seats - but between the price (about 70 bux a ticket) and the people staying at the hotel for the show - it can probably be a very lucrative one night gig.

Word of warning - DON'T play at the San Pala casino. I don't know what or how they did it - but every single game is engineered to have the dealer win. I lost way too much money in almost no time at all. I think Steven lost a hundred in five minutes and decided to stop. I'm not saying there's something illegal going on there - but I didn't see anybody winning at any point there during my stay. I would never say their games of chance are fixed, but it certainly does seem impossible to win at any given game there. I don't know how that happens. There is no way I could've played the range of games I did and not win a single hand of anything. I'm sure it was bad luck...but it sure seemed strange. Even for a casino.

Anyway - on to the show. I will say that despite their healthy earnings in the gaming room, it was nice surprise that the restaurants within the casino/hotel were shockingly good. Me and Steven had a first rate pizza and pasta dinner and an even better breakfast the next day. The accommodations were pretty nice. There are plenty of worse places to spend your weekend. I would definitely not advise gambling there, however. But other than the casino that never loses, the place was pretty nice.

The show began at 7 30 pm so we got there at 7 and i bought a great Meatloaf hoodie with the SEIZE THE NIGHT TOUR on the front and a MEATLOAF logo on the back. They were also selling a book written by Meat called TO HELL & BACK that I've never seen anywhere else.

The concert hall was pretty amusing - a small stage, a wedding style bar and 5,000 banquet chairs. On line, someone said to me he drove 400 miles to watch Meat sing his two favorite songs of all time - PARADISE BY THE DASHBOARD LIGHT and I'M GONNA LOVE YOU TILL THE END OF TIME. After I informed him that they were the same song, he looked really confused.

Something kind of odd happened at the show, but I'll get to that after the show review.

The setlist, as best as I can remember it, was like this -
1 - All Revved Up (very short intro version)
2 - You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth
3 - Paradise By The Dashboard Light
4 - I'd Do Anything For Love
5 - Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through
6 - Out Of The Frying Pan (and into the fire)
7 - Objects In The Rearview Mirror
INTERMISSION
8 - The Monster Is Loose
9 - Blind As A Bat
10 - Bad For Good
11 - 2 Out Of 3 Ain't Bad
12 - Bat Out Of Hell
Encore:
13 - Life Is A Lemon (And I want my money back)
2nd Encore:
14 - Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones cover)

So, if you're not a real fan - you can skip to the story of the crazy couple in my row. If you're into Meatloaf - here's the scoop.

Meat is now 61 years old. His voice is not what it used to be. While he clearly can belt it out in a studio environment, the live arena is not as kind to his vocal, which was shaky at many points in the night - yet better then you'd expect it to be.

He came out in a football jersey literally looking like he just woke up. They did this sort of quickie-hotel resort version of ALL REVVED UP that didn't really register. Then he tore into TOOK THE WORDS RIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH with the new girl in his band. He replaced Patti Russo after 20 years (details on that are murky) and now has a girl with a great voice, but who might actually be 21 years old. After WORDS they went into PARADISE - which was great, because instead of the 30 minute version we've been getting for the last 10 years, they pared the song back to it's original 8 minute version. But I think this is due to the fact that when Meat used to do PARADISE with Patti Russo, it was age appropriate. To see Meat make out with a 21 year old - was kind of creepy. Still, it was GREAT to hear the song in its original version again.

Meatloaf seemed to follow his BATS ON BROADWAY show, in which he does a few songs from each Bat CD - but really, the show felt like it should've opened with the newer songs.

After PARADISE, he went into the great ANYTHING 4 LOVE. He sounded great - but he took out the middle verse - which, if he was trying to cut for time, cut some of the music - not the words. ROCK AND ROLL DREAMS was one of those songs I used to really like, but it's kind of grown boring over the years, and Meat himself seemed a little bored with it.

By the time he got to OBJECTS IN THE REARVIEW - the stadium (I mean, the 4000 banquet chairs) had gone to pin dropping silence. Meat then talked about the fact that OBJECTS is his 2nd favorite song (his first being FOR CRYING OUT LOUD - which he didn't do, but thanks for teasing us.) Meat's vocals were crystal clear and he did a stunning version - and he left out the 2nd verse. What the fuck! Meat - sing the complete songs. This isn't a comp CD. Still, it was a great concert moment.

Then he did an intermission, then went into BAT OUT OF HELL 3.

PART 2 of MEATLOAF IN SAN PALO cont'd in the next Blog.