Friday, July 11, 2008

Bully


I watched this movie on IFC this evening. I missed a little of the beginning while channel surfing but once I stopped I was hooked. Bully pulled me in and would not let go. It's apparently based on a true story, one that I was not familiar with. There is a ton of sex and drug use in the film, not that I am complaining. But it's the depiction of the teenagers that are so disconnected from reality and their totally clueless parents that was so engaging. It didn't hurt that Brad Renfro was in it. He has always intrigued me ever since his first role in The Client. Too bad Hollywood messed him up so much he ended up dead at 25.

So check out this film if you get a chance. It's disturbing, twisted, dark, funny and perverted. Just my kind of movie.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Martinis and Mini Skirts


Dionne Warwick came to town this week for a rare concert appearance. I could not have been happier. Some of you may be saying at this point, "have I reached the wrong blog?" No you have not. My taste in music varies greatly. We had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Warwick for the first time about six years ago. Her concert appearance back then was at a venue in Galveston. The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston is a great place to see concerts since it's a very small theatre allowing for great views wherever you sit. Our tickets back then were included with a package deal that included several opera recitals and a Greater Tuna show. BTW, the Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston is THE place to see Greater Tuna shows. Anyway, six years ago we went to see Ms. Warwick not really expecting too much. Boy were we mistaken. This lady can work a crowd. So when we saw that she was playing a concert date last week in nearby Stafford Texas (I won't even go into all I could say about Stafford, only to say if you didn't see the sign saying you were leaving Houston you would not know you have crossed over into Stafford). The concert was on a Thursday night (work nights are not the greatest for going out) so we did not immediately buy tickets since we had looked online and seen that there were plenty of seats left about a week prior to the show (such a shame, those tickets should have been snapped up when they went on sale). We waited to see how tired we were on Thursday after work. As it turned out we were both feeling pretty good so we ate a quick dinner and drove the 30 minutes to the Stafford Centre and bought tickets right before show time.
What a fantastic night! The show actually started with a singing impersonator. At first I was saying to myself "oh God this is going to be cheesy". He actually turned out to very good, with his best impression being that of Frank Sinatra signing New York New York. What made it so good was he sang it as if the song were being played in a jukebox and the record kept skipping. I swear this guy sounded exactly like a skipping record. The whole cheesy aspect of the impersonator added to the already 60s feel to the evening. I was being transported back to 1960s Vegas via song.
Dionne came out after a brief intermission. She was accompanied by two keyboardists, a pianist, base player, drummer and a percussionist who played a variety of instruments from bongo drums to tambourines. Her set included songs from her heyday in the 60s, a few Brazilian numbers (she lives in Brazil) and a gospel tune. Everything was flawless. She sounded perfect, her voice taking the audience back to a simpler time when the world just needed Love, Sweet Love. My favorites included Walk On By, Do you Know The Way To San Jose, and I'll Never Love This Way Again. By the end of the concert we were fully involved in the moment, signing along as encouraged by her and tapping toes to the beat. This was one classy evening and a great escape from the work week. I would encourage anyone to leave your preconceived notions at home and go see her if you ever get a chance.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Counting the minutes


Madonna's new CD "Hard Candy" comes out April 29th. I can't wait! "Loves her" as Paris Hilton would say. The first single "4 minutes" is fabulous. The duet with Justin Timberlake is as fun as they get and the video is equally entertaining.

I understand this is the last CD she will release under her current label. She apparently has signed a huge deal to release several more CDs under a new label and she is also going to tour again. I can only hope she comes back to Houston. I saw her here when she began her Blond Ambition tour. It amuses me that Joel Osteen now preaches from the very same building that Madonna once writhed around on stage, faking masturbation while surrounded by men wearing over sized cone bras.

Anyway, I've had my CD pre-ordered on Amazon for some time now and I've already downloaded the song and video from iTunes. The end of April can't get here fast enough.

Friday, March 21, 2008

My Hero!!



I absolutely love Margaret Cho. I can't say enough good things about her. I love her foul mouth, I love her politics, I love her humor, I love her abrasiveness, but mostly I love that she pisses off the people that I tend to hate the most.


I'm very disappointed that she does not have a date in Houston for her current tour. She previewed the show at the Laugh Stop a few month's ago but I declined to buy tickets for fear that it would ruin seeing the show when it came to town. Now I wish I had gone. Perhaps she will add some dates in Houston in the future.