Thursday, July 28, 2005

Is it Friday yet?

Well, the first day of being a non-smoker went reasonably well... I was delusional only a couple of times, luckily only once while I was driving(?)... So I guess that's really not that different from when I was smoking, now that I think of it... Hopefully you understand what I'm saying, it was tough, but I managed...

As I didn't make it to the big show @ First Avenue tonight, I decided to take Ringo, aka Rock n roll dog, for a really long walk around Long Lake this evening instead. This gigantic lake/park is located about 5 minutes from my house... then again we have 10,000 lakes here in Minnesota, so I'm probably never more than 5 minutes away from a lake. Let's just say Ringo had a great time... it was a really beautiful evening...

As my brain is re-adjusting to getting this much oxygen delivered to it on a daily basis, I'm afraid this is a very brief post.


  • Pleeeeeease MSN, remove that fucking gigantic "Lamisil" fungal nail infection advertisement from your home-page!!! It better be gone tomorrow, 7/28/05... Disgusting!
  • The Go! Team will be playing live @ First Avenue, 10/28/05, for the rest of their tour dates you can click here.
  • Music Festivals are finally getting popular in the US, I think... Check out the VooDoo Music Festival lineup, which is held in New Orleans 10/29 - 10/30/05 (over Halloween weekend, spooky!). Not too shabby...
  • In Pitchfork's download area, you can find an mp3 of Bob Mould's new song "Paralyzed", as well as trailer of Minnesota indie band "Low" in Europe. Both are pretty average in my opinion...
  • Check out the You Ain't No Picasso blog for an excellent mp3 collection of "Now that's what I call Indie Covers". Very cool!
  • NME's video section has some great new ones. Kaiser Chiefs (re-released "I Predict A Riot"), Bloc-Party, Magic Numbers, etc... Check 'em out.

Speaking of "riot". If I don't go to bed here soon, I predict a riot tomorrow at work... a riot of 1 that is! Cheers out!

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Day 1

No "quitting smoking" or fitness bullshit today (except for title above). Here's the latest:

  • Damn! I don't think I'll make it to tomorrow's Kings of Leon, The Secret Machines, The Shout Out Louds gig @ First Avenue. I probably won't be attendance because: a) the show appears to be sold out; b) the show starts @ 6pm, doors @ 5pm... fucking all-ages gigs...; c) Can't mention that one due to the constraints I put on myself in the first sentence of this post. Luckily band-mate Anglophiliac will represent myself and the blog at the gig! Hopefully he'll be so kind to grace us with a picture and perhaps even a brief review of the event. I think we'd all be very grateful...
  • Hopefully instead I'll try to make it to the Teenage Fanclub, The Rosebuds show @ First Avenue on Friday.
  • Which local musician may be crazier than ex-localite Har Mar Superstar (who resides in England now)? I tell you who (and it's not me by the way). Mark Mallman! This guy already holds the record for longest rock song every written and performed live, 52.4 hours! Check out his website for more details and other crazy stuff. Now he's at it again... As he's played in Minneapolis/St. Paul for 7 years now, he's doing 7 live shows in a row @ The Hexagon starting last Sunday, 7/24/05, through Saturday, 7/30/05. HowWasTheShow's blog is doing live coverage of the full event.
  • I'm adding My Old Kentucky Blog to my links on the right. Amazing site! His Lollapalooza 2005 coverage is absolutely brilliant, perhaps the best live-music posts I've seen on a blog... Plus you can download new mp3's (BRMC is on there right now) and a lot of other good stuff (check out the "Hear Dat" section for example)... I highly recommend it!
  • DJ Jake Rudh in his weekly email has retrocrush as his website of the week. Kinda' cool, almost as good as PubToilets! Best part is NameThatAlbumCover (which is pretty hard actually) and the very vast Babe Gallery (don't worry it's tasteful). I haven't mentioned this in a little while... I should be the one who is married to Jennifer Connelly!
  • Check out Stereogum for the latest tune by Supergrass and some interesting sex-videotape rumors on Lindsay, among so many other things...
  • Forbes rates the best cities for singles... Minneapolis/St. Paul comes in @ 13 out of 40, click here for the full list. Why is it I still can't find any decent action around here???... Must have something to do with that lucky/unlucky #13 ranking... that's my excuse anyways (among so many other things)...

That's it for tonight... I've got a big day tomorrow, therefore I'm out, right about now...

P.S. Yeah, I messed around with some HTML on this site tonight...

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Mr. Belly Dancer...


(read full post why I posted this picuture)

Lots of stuff to cover today since my pathetic post yesterday. So, let's rock n roll:

Kaiser Chiefs - Oh my God (perhaps the anthem of the summer)
Kings of Leon - The Bucket
Radio 4 - Absolute Affirmation
Babyshambles - Fuck Forever

I'm giving away too much.... Wait a bit longer for the full lineup. Anything you'd suggest? Let me know what you're rocking out to at the moment...

Moving right along... personal news:

  • Quitting smoking is about 24 hours away... The question is, should I buy a "punching bag" tomorrow? You know, like boxers use...?
  • In smoking related news, I'm trying to live all healthy and shite... The thing I'm pretty excited about is "Yoga"! Ok, insert your favorite Sting joke here. But don't you just wish you could have sex (or was it an orgasm?) for 12 hours straight!??? Kidding aside, I did my first work-out last night, "Yoga Stress Relief" and I find it very effective. I'm a bit sore actually... I'm off to do my 2nd workout (in a row) tonight... wish me luck!
  • In Yoga related news... I do this Yoga stuff to the Fitness channel-on demand on my digital cable (very sad once again). The other great thing I found on there last night...... yeah, that's right, a "Belly Dancing Workout"! I tried a couple of moves... trust me this was classic... even Ringo, aka rock n roll dog, was laughing at me! Perhaps we'll leave this workout to the ladies! Quite sexy I have to say though... Sorry, for putting the thought of me belly dancing in your mind... quite disturbing actually!?

I think I've revealed enough for one night. I'm off to go belly dancing... whoops, I mean go do Yoga, have a great day/evening/whatever... Rock on 24 hour party people...

P.S. In case you were wondering. Yes, I wear a pretty similar outfit to the lady above while doing my Yoga...

P.P.S. Is it a requirement to do Yoga to really really slow music? I.e. Enya or something? I'd like to try it to the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bullocks... Then again that's just me... And you wonder why I'm in need of stress relief?!

Monday, July 25, 2005

Old habits die hard


I don't have a lot to post today... therefore an amusing picture above "me and my monkey"...

I hope you all had a nice weekend! It was bloody hot here... looks like the heat is finally coming to an end though. I really only have one major piece of news as of right now:

I'm quitting smoking in 48 hours! Don't worry, it won't affect my "rock n roll star" status, just make me a more healthy "rock n roll star". That's the plan at least. Actually I was going to quit Tuesday morning..., however since medical insurance companies here want you to quit smoking, however don't want to pay for it (bastards), the pharmacy can't get me the drugs, I mean patch, until Wednesday... at least it is covered by my insurance though, most people here are not that lucky.

Actually I was going to take "Zyban" medication as well... But, after doing a bunch of research on the net the past couple of days, I've decided against it... I think it would mess with my head a bit too much in addition to all the other side-effects... and I think we all don't want that! Scary...

So, bear with me here the next few days! I've cut down to about 1/2 my normal amount of cigarettes today... Tomorrow I'll have to go buy a shitload of candy and chocolate... that should help me get through the first few days I hope...

My head is starting to hurt... More to come on a lot of other (way more exciting) stuff Tuesday!

P.S. Wow, this is my first post, perhaps ever, that I didn't have to insert a link... nice for a change!

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Uncle rock n roll star?

Personal news first today:

  • I'm going to be an uncle!!! I actually found out about this a couple of weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to post the info. Yes, my sister-in-law is pregnant! A big "Congratulations!" to my brother and sister-in-law! Due date, as released, is 1/5/06... I guess this means a very "Happy New Year" to them and the rest of the family! Other thoughts about this... You've heard of the "Mozart effect", right? I'm more in favor of the "Lennon effect" (and I'm Austrian?!); ...never to early to start listening to some Beatles! Sister-in-law, I'm bringing the Beatles' catalogue over ASAP! We'll start "Oasis" training at around age 1... (Yes, I'm a great baby-sitter!)

  • In related news... My sister-in-law is starting a new job @ "Wilsons Leather Corportate" on 8/1/05! Again, "Congratulations", I'll miss the discounted hair-care-products from Regis Corp, though!? Maybe I need some leather pants soon...

  • Is everybody coming to Minneapolis/St. Paul the weekend of 8/5/05? So far I have the mighty Queenvick, MetalFan, and "V" scheduled!? How will I ever co-ordinate all of you?! We'll all try to "hang" together... like the "United Nations"... Jan, where are you, by the way?

In music and related info today:

  • Speaking of Stellastarr*... I still have an extra autographed poster by them laying around from last time I saw them here... I'll have to think of some good trivia questions to give this one away soon here on the blog...

  • Again, related to above... both Stellastarr* and Bloc Party are skipping Minneapolis/St. Paul on their upcoming tours! Bastards!

  • I get a weekly email from local DJ "JakeRudh". His site of the week is: MNspeak.com. Pretty cool, I think... You can check out the MNspeak inteview with Jake here. I've met Jake a number of times... It's good to have local people like this around. Funny, in the MNspeak 7 questions inteview he names "Pulp" as one of his favorite gigs... yeah, I was there! Come on, you didn't expect any less, right? JC rules! I still don't quite understand why Jake doesn't start his own blog instead of emailing a bunch of people (I mean hundreds)... Then again, that's me...

That's it for today... I know I've been slacking on music news lately, so I promise to give you a full update of all the weeks' action tomorrow! In the meanwhile, check out Miss Valerie, way more orgazined and up-to-date than I will ever be...

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

"Rockin' the suburbs", not too much longer...

Since I've given you quite a bit of music news and live show reviews here lately we'll change things up a little bit for today. Here's what's going on:


  • For those of you in NYC! Ex-Minneapolis band Shadow Box will be playing @ The Coninental, Tue 7/26/05. You can also check pictures and video from their last gig on their website. I'm not even sure why I keep promoting these guys, the video from the (Arlene's Grocery) gig is 15 seconds of shite...

  • I picked up some new CD's last weekend. Yeah, I spent way too much money...

Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire (EP)
The Raveonettes - Pretty in Black
Longwave - There's a Fire
Radio 4 - Stealing of a Nation

Any locals need a copy? Let me know...

In more personal non-music news...

  • I've been going back-and-forth on this one... However, I think I've decided to sell my house in the suburbs, late this summer or early fall! It's just way too big for me (like 2000 square feet on 3 floors). I'm so sick of home-improvement! I think 2.5 years of that shite is enough... Plus, I'm not a suburban guy... It's damn lonely and boring out here! We'll see where the road takes me next... My top choices right now are: a) Condo in Minneapolis, downtown; b) NYC; c) Boston; d) Move back to Europe; e) Move to Canada; f) Move to under-neath a bridge somewhere (perhaps with Pete Doherty)? I'll keep you updated...

  • As promised last week here's my full interview with "Rock 'n' Roll Dog", aka Ringo, from last week! I decided not to edit it any form as I hate the FCC ... Enjoy ...(RRS = Me, RRD = Ringo)....

RRS: So Ringo, what's going on, are you having a good summer?
RRD: I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love summer! Yeah, it's pretty bloody hot but then again... you're nice enough to play outside with me when you get home... I love it, very different from the time of year when it gets dark outside at 4pm and it's damn cold!

RRS: Yes, I agree. Now that you're 1.5 years old in human-years, any major life changes?
RRD: Well... In my first year of life I noticed you didn't like it a lot when I shit and urinated in the house... Now I do that stuff outside... that's what you want, right? The other things I've learned are how to catch a frisbee, catch and retrieve a ball, become a watch-dog, bark at the neighbors, and beg for food. I think my resume is stellar!

RRS: OK, let's not go that far... Yeah, you've been a good boy lately... Let's switch gears here a little bit... What's going on in your love-life lately?
RRD: Cum' on Steve, what kind of question is that? You remember taking me to the Vet to have me neutered about a year ago, right? I miss my balls! The real question is... how's your love-life? Pretty pathetic from what I see around here... And I mean that in a good way!

RRS: Ringo, ahhh that hurts.... I'm the guy asking questions here by the way... So you're anti-relationships?
RRD: No not at all, life is like "catching a frisbee", sometimes you catch it, sometimes you don't...

RRS: Wow, that's pretty wise... How do you feel about the recent "Work Flow Software", "Open Sourcing", "Outsourcing", "Offshoring", "Supply Chaining", "Insourcing", and "In-forming" going into the 21st century?
RRD: Again, life is like "chasing a ball or catching a Frisbee"... most of the time you catch it and sometimes you don't... What the fuck kind of question is that, what's your problem?

RRS: Sorry Ringo, I've been reading too much of "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman! You want to talk "music" instead?
RRD: Yes, please!

RRS: What's on your mind music-and-entertainment -wise?
RRD:

  • 1) I'm sick that the Libertines broke up, and still can't believe Pete Doherty gets all the press! What about Carl?
  • 2) I really like the new Coldplay record! In non-related new album news I've learned how to bark "Yellow" for future karaoke gigs!
  • 3) You're a pretty cool guy for all this new music stuff you keep playing every day.
  • 4) Is Paris Hilton's dog single?
  • 5) Off the track here... What's this city "NYC" you keep talking about? Is that ouside of "New Brighton"?

RRS: Yes, Ringo, the answer to question number 5... it's ouside of New Brighton, however not that much different!??? I'm sure you'd adapt pretty quickly... "Pissing" on the sidewalk there is considered normal, even for humans!
RRD: Wow, that's cool! We should move there ASAP!

RRS: Anything else on your mind before we go?
RRD: I'm just happy you named me after a band-member of the Beatles, not a piece of fruit! Being a house-dog is pretty cool, in your next re-incarnation maybe you'll be as lucky as me! Then again, you're atheist, so you'll probably come back as a frog!?

RRS: Yes, probably... I wouldn't mind coming back as "frog"!
RRD: I was just kidding! You'll do very well in this life and the next... After all, I depend on you!

RRS: That concludes the inteview with Ringo! His agent is telling me/waving me "No more Questions"!

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

NME photographer etc...

A couple of other updates:

  • NME photographer website, Andrew Kendall. I swear, sometimes when I surf the web I don't know where I end up... I can't even remember how I got to this site... This guy is a professional music photographer for NME. Make sure you check out his main gallery, which is unbelievable! Photographs from T-in the Park, Glastonbury, Babyshambles, Live8, to The Libertines (among so many others). Absolutely brilliant...
  • I'm still working on my Summer 2005 Mix CD. It's taking a bit longer than expected... I've got it narrowed down to about 50 tunes now, which is still way too many, as I don't feel like burning a triple CD for everybody. I'll keep you updated...
  • Ex-Minneapolis (now NYC) band The Hold Steady are playing on Conan O'Brien tonight (Tuesday), and on Carson Daly,Wednesday. I suggest you watch them on Conan as Carson's show is almost un-watchable (yes, it's that bad)...
  • Make sure you check out all my links (especially the other blogs) on the right, for the latest in interesting music (and sometimes not music) news!

The Sights/Caesars live

Here are a couple of photos and a very brief review of the "The Sights", "Caesars" gig from last Monday, 7/18/05, @ Quest Ascot room. I missed the set by "The Golden Republic"...

1) The Sights

Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, this power-trio (guitar/keyboard/drums) put on an amazing performance! Their live sound is very loud and jamming... reminded me a lot of "The Hiss"... meets "Led Zeppelin". Things that stood out for me:

These guys are very young.
These guys are very loud.
These guys are very talented.
The B3 Hammond Organ can successfully be used to replace a bass.


You can stream The Sights' (as well as Golden Repuclic's) Monday afternoon interview/live performance from The Current's studios here. Well worth checking out...

2) Caesars

Even if you've never heard of the band, I guarantee you've heard their tune "Jerk It Out", as featured in the iPod shuffle commercial. If you haven't, go back to your "cave"!?

Hailing from Sweden (not NYC as I thought at the show) the band put on a very good set. Great lighting, great music, great background pictures/video. It all sounded very "80ish" to me...

The most shocking things about both bands, really, was of how few people attended this gig. There were probably no more than 50 people there during the Sights, and around 100 for Caesars. Then again... this made it more intimate for the select few who were there. If you have a chance to catch either band on tour, I highly recommend it...

Hangin' with The Sights

All else to come tomorrow (later on today actually)...

Monday, July 18, 2005

Caesars, The Sights, The Golden Republic

Locals: There was some confusion about this earlier on today... However, it has been confirmed by Quest Club that tonight's Caesars, The Sights, The Golden Republic gig is a go! If Caesars will show up is anybody's guess, as the lead singer has been battling throat problems as of late.

Full report to come later tonight or tomorrow. If you're going to the gig, stop by and say "Hi"!

Doors @ 7pm CST, Music @ 8pm CST. Tickets $12.00. All ages.

Website of the week


As you can see I have a new website of the week: PhotoBlogs.org. This site highlights the vast number of great photoblogs out there... Check out some of the top 100, among others... Wow, some of these photographs are amazing! Some very talented people out there...

Friday, July 15, 2005

In progress

I'm currently in "the studio" recording my 2005 summer mix CD(s).

More to come soon! If you don't check back, have a great weekend!

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Scatter-brained


So, how's everybody's week going? By the time you read this it's probably Friday where you live! Bloody great, right? The picture/album-cover above may help as well...I'm totally "scatter-brained" this evening... so much stuff going on, I don't even know where to begin, let-alone know how to orgazine all this information. Well, I'll try my best:

In music/entertainment news Thursday:

Wow, that was a lot of info, I have to say! I had to single-space that post because there's more coming... Here's what's going on in other related (or not so related stories):

  • I just taped an interview with Ringo (aka Rock n roll dog) a couple of days ago. From my annual "Christmas" email I can tell that people really like this... here's an excerpt from the interview, I'll post the full transcript either tomorrow, or next week: (RRS = Me, RRD = Ringo)

RRS: What's going on in your love-life lately?
RRD: Cum' on Steve, what kind of question is that? You remember taking me to the Vet to have me neutered about a year ago, right? I miss my balls! The real question is... how's your love-life? Pretty pathetic from what I see around here... And I mean that in a good way!

RRS: Ringo, ahhh that hurts.... I'm the guy asking questions here by the way... So you're anti-relationships?
RRD: No not at all, life is like "catching a frisbee", sometimes you catch it, sometimes you don't...

RRS: Wow, that's pretty wise... How do you feel about the recent "Work Flow Software", "Open Sourcing", "Outsourcing", "Offshoring", "Supply Chaining", "Insourcing", and "In-forming" going into the 21st century?
RRD: Again, life is like "chasing a ball or catching a Frisbee"... most of the time you catch it and sometimes you don't... What the fuck kind of question is that, what's your problem?

As you can tell I have a lot of "editing" to do before I can put the whole interview on this site. Rock 'n' roll dog is a bit like Liam Gallagher... good boy!

In other related personal news I'm still working on the following projects:

  • Getting my carpet ripped out of my attic/guest bedroom area. 700 square feet, bigger than a lot of Manhattan apartments! I've been working on this for 6 weeks now...
  • Getting Ringo (aka Rock n Roll Dog) to quit barking so much! It's a new habit he's picked up... barking at the neighbors... well, we're working on it...
  • Still working on Queenvick's website.
  • I love Summer! Most of the time when I get home after work I just chill w/Ringo in the backyard and have a couple of cold beverages (i.e. Beer). Priceless! I wish life could be like this 6 months a year...

Go out and enjoy Summer while you can!

P.S. There's so much stuff I forgot... I'll post tomorrow!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

OK Go

(OK Go, @ First Avenue, 6/1/05)
Interesting Wednesday here today, here are some updates:
  • Thanks to my friend DJMikeT for heads-up on this one... As you may know I saw the Kaiser Chiefs about a month ago, 6/1/05, opening band were the Chicago band called "OK Go", which were quite brilliant. Their closing routine, a choreographed dance-number to Dirty Vegas' "A Million Ways" was absolutely hilirious! Well, DJMikeT found the video online of them doing this... check it out here... Classic! It takes a little while to load, so be patient...

  • DJMikeT (who should really join this blog) also alerted me to this one. The Kaiser Chiefs' set-time @ Austin City Limits got changed from Friday @ 1:30pm to Sunday 3:30, putting them at the same time as The Bravery! Bastards! This is going to be a tough choice... hopefully they're done changing things... I don't want to see Oasis vs Coldplay anytime soon... I'm happy as long as Kasabian shows up, however...

  • If you live anywhere close to Chicago, you should check out the "Intonation Music Festival" this weekend... At least I would... $22.00 for a two-day pass, that's unbelievable!

  • How weird is this? So I change the description of my blog (the line underneath "Rock 'n' Roll Star) every time I post an entry... This week I've totally been stuck on lyrics by Pulp... then news came out today on NME that JC (Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of Pulp) may be appearing or playing live at the event "London United"! Bloody brilliant, therefore I'll continue the "Pulp references" for the rest week... plus, I'm making Pulp the website of the week (what remains), I'm sure Robbie won't mind! Pulp...one of the most under-rated bands from the early 90's brit-pop revolution, don't you think?

  • This is related to music somehow... Please help me boycott "Reality TV"! I caught the last 15 minutes of "Rock Star: INXS" (no hyperlink for that one) tonight (even though I vowed not to, in an earlier post)... Wow, this show is pretty bad, as Noel Gallagher would put it "absolutely fookin' 'orrible, gov'nor"!. Please everybody, quit watching reality TV! Once the ratings go down that will be the end... For you people outside the US, you're quite lucky! At least in Canada you can get the CBC! I have 300 channels + on my cable system, but not one from Canada or Europe...

  • In other news: 1) Queenvick is driving from NYC tomorrow (7/14/05) up to the land of Rock Snob, yes, Toronto, Canada, for a financial seminar; 2) We have a couple of new members on this blog, namely "Deathblow" (that's a "Seinfeld" reference, not a heavy-metal-band)...very cool... I'm sure they'll introduce themselves very soon...

  • Before I go... one of my favorite shows is on hiatus right now "Real Time With Bill Maher" on HBO (yeah, I'm an HBO snob by the way). I love when he does "new rules", can't wait until the show returns on August 19, 2005! In the meanwhile I figured I'd leave you with one of his new rules (you can check all of his new rules right here, they're pretty brilliant):

New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

P.S. I just got done watching the "Shout Out Louds" from Sweden on both "Late Night w/David Letterman" and "Jay Leno". I think that's the first time I've ever seen that... same band on both shows, pretty much at the same time (I know the time change from west coast to east coast)... Luckily I taped both (they played different tunes)... In related news... yes, Katie Holmes was on David Letterman as well... she's actually somewhat normal, surprisingly! Insert you favorite Tom Cruise joke here!

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Show me some G-Love?!

It's been a very slow news days here today, both personally, and on the rock n roll side. However, here are a few highlights from today:

  • I found out the new Coca-Cola Zero song, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", is a re-worked version by "G-Love and Special Sauce", seriously!. I guess everybody has to pay the bills... See my post from Friday, 7/8/05 why I bring this up again... Yes, of course I relates to Oasis!

  • For those locals of you who can't get enough of MN festivals... there's the upcoming "Aquatennial". Pretty pathetic lineup music wise... but then what do you expect? Mike Doughty would be the only one on my list... I guess, Howie Day could be bearable should you be on the right "medication"...

  • You can check out new videos on NME for the following artists (among others) and songs at the moment. Since it's tough to catch a "real" video on MTV now-a-days, I suggest you check it out while you can:

NineInchNails - Only
Oasis - The Importance of Being Idle
Babyshambles - Fuck Forever
Towers of London - Fuck It Up
Bright Eyes - Easy/Lucky/Free
Weezer - We Are All On Drugs

  • Check out this local's blog. He just recently returned from the UK, and has first-hand accounts of the London terrorist attacks and the Oxegen festival in Ireland, in addition to a lot of other things... Yes, he's also the editor of "howwastheshow.com"...

  • Last, but not least, Rock Snob had this story today... Check out Tom Cruise's blog... Yeah, it's fake... but also fucking brilliant and funny!

I'm off to make some home-made pizzas and watch "Rescue Me" on FX.... If you're not watching this show yet, you're missing out!


Monday update...


So I wasted sooooo much time messing around with hyperlinks and other stuff on my site today, I apologize... you may notice a couple of changes...

  • Website of the week: Robbie Williams! I think he deserves it after his Live8 performance! Damn, I mentioned it again... I could have done "Pink Floyd" but they're just kind of boring (unless you're "high")... I'll probably get a couple of comments for that one...

  • I guess the show "Rock Star * INXS" started! I didn't watch it, nor am I going to. However, here's an interesting thing Joan Jett said on the topic of "rock stars". You may have noticed that this blog is called "rock n roll star"... and that's for a reason (which I won't tell you)... Well, here's her opinion, "thoughts from Joan Jett"...

  • Franz Ferdinand hits the US again! You can check the full US tour schedule here. For locals, they'll play here, 9/21/05, a Target Center. I guess they've become popular!

  • More to come Tuesday...

Monday, July 11, 2005

Weekend in review...

Hi kids, did everybody have a great weekend?!!! I did... here's my excitement for the past weekend:


  • My brother Randy had a birthday last Saturday, 7/9/05. Great party, great food, great people. You can check out all the pictures here. Happy birthday again, Randy!

  • I watched/taped a lot of Live8 (again), the re-broadcast on MTV and VH1. I taped 9.5 hours of the full 10 (there's quite a bit of overlap anyways so I didn't miss anything); this time around the coverage was a lot better, commercial free... ok, I'm done mentioning the event, I hope... If anybody local would like to borrow the tapes (2), let me know...

  • I watched all my HBO shows... "Six Feet Under" is by far the best show on TV at the moment...

  • I did a bunch of home-improvement projects, some in extreme heat (that means the weather was hot by the way). I'm pretty sure nobody wants to hear about that though... including myself...

  • No rock n roll shows last weekend, sorry!

Friday, July 08, 2005

Happy Birthday Randy! Etc...


Last update for the week here...

  • Happy Birthday to band-mate Randy (pictured above)!!! ...Technically not until tomorrow, 7/9/05, but let me be the first to congratulate him. I'm looking forward to your BBQ birthday party tomorrow... Yes also, he's the only member on this site currently who really was a rock 'n' roll star for a while...

  • Speaking of band members, Queenvick is in the 48 Hour Film Festival this weekend in NYC. She has some experience with this one as she's done the Boston event a couple of times... Hopefully she'll grace us with a post about the event next week...

  • Not sure what band member Anglophiliac is up to this weekend. I'm just happy to hear that his "rock 'n' roll cat" is doing better.

  • Band member, Rock 'n' Roll Dog is currently busy wondering who "rock 'n' roll cat" is...

As for other interesting news:

  • I've increased my presence on the world-wide-web! You can now also access this site by going to www.therocknrollstar.com! It's a lot easier to refer people to this domain (obviously), so feel free to do so! Also, my sister site (note, not my sister's site) is www.sengelmayer.com. This site will be used to post photo galleries, and things for my "normal" self, like my resume for example. That site is still under construction at the moment...

  • I've talked about Live8 probably too much on this site lately, so hopefully this will be the last of it. In case you don't feel like sitting in front of the TV for 10 hours tomorrow... this site is really cool as it's lets you view and download (yes, download, not stream) pretty much all the performances (Quicktime, .mov format). It says on the site that it's "technically not illegal", however, I'm sure once AOL finds out about it, it will be gone (at least that's my guess). So check it out while you still can... I just downloaded "Bittersweet Symphony", absolutely brilliant...

  • Speaking of large time music events. Both the "T in the Park" festival (Scotland) and "Oxegen" festival (Ireland) start tomorrow. Check out the sites... Too many great bands... It would be a really tough descision to choose who to watch (especially T in the park)... For all the latest from both events check out the NME 2005 festivals site.

  • As you may remember from my post on 6/27/05, I saw the NYC band Longwave on 6/24/05 @ First Avenue in Minneapolis. Of course I was too lazy to give a full review of the event! Turns out they just recently played in NYC, Bowery Ballroom, filter magazine was kind enough to do a detailed review. The pictures I took at the show here are way better however... check the June archive...

  • The best rock n roll city in the world, Manchester, England, has a pretty cool site. Check out the "round for dinner" poll... Liam Gallagher is pretty popular, my choice would be Noel, however. Except for Pete and Kate of course!

  • For those of you in the US. Coca Cola is currently airing commercials for "Coca Cola Zero", I guess a new soft-drink of theirs (haven't tried it). Funny thing is... it uses the song "I'd like to teach the world to sing"... This tune/jingle was also used in Europe in the early 90's! Noel Gallagher, of Oasis, openly admitted he ripped off this tune to write "Shakermaker" on their classic debut album "Definitely Maybe". Listen to it, you can definitely tell! Funny how I can use knowledge from 11 years ago sometimes, yet I can't remember much of yesterday...

  • Scheduled for next week... good stuff, I tell you! I've got a good "website of the week" lined up, we'll get to "offical" welcomes of band members Anglophiliac and Randy, blogger facts, and hopefully a lot of other goodies. I shall ponder this weekend while reading "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman... I know it's tough to believe that I would read an actual book...

OK kids, I'm all done for this week! I think I gave you enough to read for a while. I hope all of you have a great weekend!

P.S. Grüße an die Familie in Österreich!

Austin City Limits schedule grids are up



Bloody great day today, first the Live8 TV thing, now this...

The Austin City Limits schedule grids have been posted! Yes, I'm going with a bunch of friends... You can view/download the full grid here.

Glancing over the grid briefly, here's my personal tentative schedule:

Day 1: Friday 9/23/05

  • 1:30pm: tbd
  • 2:30pm: Steve Earl or Gov't Mule
  • 3:30pm: Mates of State or Mindy Smith or neither...
  • 4:30pm: Robert Earl Keen or Lucinda Williams or neither...
  • 5:30pm: Spoon or Thievery Corp. (this is though one)
  • 6:30pm: tbd
  • 7:30pm: Keane
  • 8:30pm: The Black Crowes

Day 2: Saturday 9/24/05

  • 11:45am: Tegan and Sara (this one's pretty early, doubtful I'll make it)
  • 12:30pm: The Futureheads
  • 1:30pm: Kasabian
  • 2:50pm: Nine Black Alps
  • 3:30pm: The Frames or Martin Sexton
  • 4:30pm: Death Cab for Cutie
  • 5:30pm: The Fiery Furnaces
  • 6:30pm: Jet
  • 7:30pm: Bloc Party
  • 8:15pm: Oasis

Day 3: Sunday 9/25/05

  • 12:00pm: Ambulance LTD
  • 1:45pm: M83
  • 2:30pm: Doves
  • 3:30pm: Kaiser Chiefs or The Bravery (that's a tough one)
  • 4:30pm: The Arcade Fire
  • 5:30pm: The Decemberists or Bob Mould
  • 6:30pm: Franz Ferdinand or maybe Wilco (very slim chance)
  • 7:45pm: The Black Keys
  • 8:30pm: Coldplay

Of these, I'm most excited to see:

  1. The Arcade Fire (seing them for the 1st time)
  2. Oasis (seeing them for the 9th! time)
  3. Kasabian (seeing them for the 1st time)
  4. Coldplay (seeing them for the 3rd time)
  5. The Fiery Furnaces (seing them for the 1st time)

Of course I will further revise my personal calendar as the event draws closer... These American music festivals are pretty organized...

Anybody else going (except for my group)? Give me a shout if any of you other party people would like to meet up down there...

I'm also working on a press-pass for this event...

MTV and VH1 to Re-Air Full Live8

Just in..., I guess everybody's complaining worked... MTV and VH1 will be re-airing 10 consecutive hours (commerical free!) of Live8 this Saturday, 7/9/05. You can get more details here, or of course by going to MTV or VH1.

I'll be taping over my tapes used last Saturday...

2 ladies & JWL...

Unfortunately I'm currently still awake installing "Windows XP Service Pack 2" on one of my co-worker's PC's, which is totally messed up with spyware and viruses. So... I figured I'd give you a few more updates:

  • One of my all-time favorite actors Jennifer Connely is coming out with a new movie today, called "Dark Water". Looks pretty scary, if any of you see it this weekend, let me know... Yes, I'm still pretty angry she got married... life goes on though...

  • My girl Avril Lavigne got engaged! To the lead singer of Sum 41. Again, life goes on I guess... Avril, cum on, you can't get married this early!? Don't you know you're supposed to marry an actor (according to the rock n roll stereotype)?...

  • I watched a lot of coverage of the London terrorist attacks this evening. Last thing I want to do is turn this blog political, however... Here are lyrics from somebody I think you know:

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Shadow Box - Live, etc...


To change things up a little bit I decided to do a post earlier in the day than I usually do. By the time I get home and get things organized I'm usually pretty brain dead. For an example of this just see my post from yesterday... Then again, they can't all be good...

Some random things for today:

  • People of London, my thoughts are with you. I usually try to keep my swearing on this site to a minimum... however, "fuck you, terrorists!".

  • For those of you in NYC! Ex-Minneapolis band "Shadow Box" will be playing @ Arlene's Grocery on Saturday, 7/9/05, 9pm. Their first proper gig in NYC (according to their website). In case you don't know the band... They have a British Radiohead circa "The Bends" era sound. You can judge yourself...sample some of their tunes on My Space. I've seen these guys live a bunch times as my buddy Joe used to be their manager a couple of years back...

  • I updated a few links today, finally...

  • I haven't heard back from a bunch of you regarding joing the site as "official band members". Please email me if you're (still) interested and I'll get you set-up.

  • Speaking of tour dates. Here are some upcoming Minneapolis/St. Paul shows (I'll be setting these up in the side-bar link area at some point as well:
  1. Thu 7/14 - Olympic Hopefuls - Turf Club
  2. Mon 7/18 - Caesars/The Sights - Quest Ascot Room
  3. Sat 7/23 - Dinosaur Jr. - The Quest
  4. Wed 7/27 - Tegan & Sara - Minnesota Zoo
  5. Thu 7/28 - Kings of Leon/Secret Machines/Shout Out Louds - First Ave
  6. Thu 7/28 - Teenage Fanclub - First Ave
  7. Sun 8/7 - Ozzfest - Float Rite Amphitheatre (I posted that one just for you "Metalfan")
  8. Tue 8/9 - The Killers - Roy Wilkins Auditorium
  9. Fri 8/26 - The White Stripes - Orpheum Theater
  10. Sat 8/27 - The White Stripes - Orpheum Theater
  11. Fri 9/16 - Green Day - Xcel Energy Center
  12. Mon 9/29 - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Fine Line Music Cafe
  13. Tue 9/20 - Coldplay - Target Center
  14. Fri 9/23 - U2 - Target Center
  15. Thu 9/29 - The Arcade Fire - First Ave

  • I like this posting in the early evening... Time to go home, though. More to come tomorrow.

Terrorist Attacks in London

I'll let Moby do all the talking on this one.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Weekend review

(Photo, "The Olympic Hopefuls", July 3, 2005)

Ok, better late than never, right? Pretty sad when somebody posts a "weekend review" on Wednesday night... Then again, this 4th of July crap on a Monday has me totally screwed up... I kept thinking it was Tuesday all day, today. Even more sad, here's what I was up to this last big holiday weekend. The high-lights and low-lights are as follows:


  • I house/animal-sat at my parent's house, in addition I was plant-sitting my neighbor's house! I can now add the proud job description of "Waste Removal Specialist" to my resume! (from hanging at my parents' house). I've never seen so much urine/feces/vomit in one place,... well, perhaps maybe on the "X-Files", but that's not real life...

  • Live8! Speaking of urine/feces/vomit... as expected the MTV/VH1, USA coverage was absolutely shite! I think you know what bands I like (and that you like), so check out aol.music for the replay (you can check out tunes by bands, songs-on-demand, pretty cool, huh?). Deep down inside I was hoping the Libertines would re-unite, however that didn't happen... Here's what I liked: 1) Elton John & Pete Doherty, priceless!?; 2) Travis playing "Staying Alive" in addition to "I don't like Mondays" with Bob; 3) U2, Pink Floyd, The Who... really rocking the stage, these guys are pretty old! 4) Robbie Williams for landing the ego where needed! He was amazing... very cool to see everybody singing along to "Angels". Others who I thought were decent: Green Day absolutely rocked "We are the Champions"; Snow Patrol, Razorlight was cool (too bad they came on right before Madonna), ... I could go on and on... To me the questions is...? Where's the coverage of Live8, Moscow? I really wanted to see the Pet Shop Boys...

  • A bird flew head-on into my parents' patio door while I was house-sitting! Luckily the little fellow recovered within an hour (I think he was in shock) and flew off...

  • My friends "M&M" had a really awesome July 4, BBQ/party! See the previous post for a picture. DJMikeT flagged and chalked out a whole bocce ball court, which was really fun to play on. Anglophiliac, you are the man for bring fireworks!

  • Last, but not least, of course I checked out some live rock 'n roll this weekend. Come on, you wouldn't excpect any less, right? I went to "Taste of Minnesota" and checked out "The Olympic Hopefuls" (pictured above with a very enthousiastic dancer) and "Bob Mould". Yes, the latter being of "Husker Du" fame. Both shows were great, preparing me for Austin City Limits... 85 degrees and humidity at around 100%... absolutely brilliant; that's rock 'n' roll for you...

I'm worn out, therefore will hit the rack! Hope your July 4th weekend was as exciting as mine!???

P.S. Bob Mould has a very cool blog.

P.P.S. Yeah... I know. I didn't get to my hyperlink update today.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

I'm back


I've returned from the suburban wastelands of Maplewood, Minnesota to the suburban wastelands of New Brighton, Minnesota. Unfortunately I don't have time this evening for a proper full-length post... too many things to cover. Instead, before I post a bunch of stuff and hyperlink updates tomorrow:

1) A big "Thanks" goes out to my friends "M & M" (pictured above) for their kick-ass July 4th BBQ/party! I believe a great time was had by all who attended. Sorry for throwing those fire-crackers into your "United States Bocce Federation" approved court!!!? Recovering pyromaniac, what can I say...

2) A big "Welcome back" to my parents who were visiting friends in Ames, Iowa, over July 4th weekend. Your 5 animals (Chester, Sigfried, Sammy, Mina, Picasso) really missed you!

Hope you all had a great July 4th as well...

Friday, July 01, 2005

Another new bandmate

I'm very pleased to have been invited to join the "rock n roll" blog of musical mayhem.
My invite is most striking because
...the only instrument I play is the stereo...
...the bands I seem to like the most are destined to break up or never make it...

At the very least, I know what I like.

Put some Mint Royale on this weekend because it's summer and there are precious few bands that say "summer" to me like they do.

Here's hoping that Live 8 doesn't turn out like the last Woodstock . . .

Happy July 4th Weekend!

(5 of the 6 suspects pictured)
My last June entry... I guess by now it's actually July 1st! Well, it's been that kind of day...

Just wanted to wish everybody in the USA a "Happy July 4th weekend"! Are you going up to a cabin? Having a big BBQ? Well, I hope so...

For me... I'm not going anywhere, which is perfectly fine! The month of June has been totally crazy at my work so I'll just relax for the next few days. However, I am house-sitting for my parents who have 2 dogs and 3 cats. This means, with the addition of my dog, 6 animals! It's good I like pets... problem is, my parents don't have cable or high-speed internet. I'll be screwed on Saturday for Live8... I'm thinking of bringing over all the dogs to my house on Saturday and having a Live8/dog party... Yeah, that sounds good...

What are you doing for the big weekend? Put a post on the site or leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!

For those of you outside the US, is it just another regular weekend? Then again, most of you get way more holidays then we do here (come on, I know, I used to live in Austria)...
I'm totally exhausted... I think 14-16 hours of computer work in one day is enough!

Cheers! Be safe!

P.S. If you'd like to join me for my Live8 party (me and 3 dogs) at my house, contact me! You can bet, knowing myself, it will be a "rock n roll event"...