Brian Conan O'Brien, concert, links, Philadelphia, video, YouTube

A night with Coco!

This past Monday night, my wife and I went to the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pa., for Conan O’Brien’s “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television” tour. I love Conan O’Brien and never got the chance to see a taping of his show when he was based in New York and figured if there was any bright side to the whole “Tonight Show” debacle of 2010, it was that this tour would give me the chance to see him live.

But I didn’t really know what to expect. YouTube videos and stories about the tour seemed promising, but I still wasn’t sure how Conan would be outside the context of a television show format. I just knew I wanted to support him during this time of transition.

At the start of the show, Conan told the audience that it was the first time people ever paid to watch him perform (while referencing the fact that people have paid him to go away) and he had set a goal of making the prices we paid for tickets “sort of worth it.” Well, after the show was over, I determined that I may have underpaid for my tickets. Conan and Company were absolutely freakin’ amazing…and it was the best live entertainment event I have ever attended…by far!

Here are just a few notes from the evening:

  • I always knew his band was awesome…but they could pretty much blow any band out of the water.
  • Conan came out wearing a Flyers jersey and soon did a quick impersonation that seemed to be of a certain, unfunny, backstabbing late-night talk show host. But apparently we were mistaken, as Conan explained: “Now, that is not who you think it is…that’s actually my impression of the rapper Ludacris…I hope you all have my back on that one in court.”
  • Andy Richter did a live commercial for a 5-pound Tony Luke’s cheese steak that ended with: “And don’t forget, we also sell 2- and 3-pound cheese steaks…for pussies!”
  • TRIUMPH! It was via video, but the Insult Comic Dog did a bit that included the classic “insert audio of city name, famous restaurant/landmark here” joke, which was hysterical. For instance, “I know everything about the state of [PENNSYLVANIA]…the state animal is [ALLEN IVERSON].”
  • TINA FEY! I kept telling Alison that I thought she would show up since the show was in her hometown, and I was so happy to be right. As soon as he brought out what is now called the Chuck Norris Rural Policeman Handle for legal reasons (on “Late Night,” Conan used to pull this lever and a random clip from the old TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger” would play…with hysterical results) — and said they would need some help, I knew he was going to bring out Tina. And then when he said “the funniest woman on the planet,” Alison and I just looked at each other and started going nuts.
  • OK, and for the finale…during Conan’s final song of the encore, we see him go out into the crowd and I thought to myself, “Damn! I wish I had splurged for orchestra seats” since we were in the first row of the lower balcony. About 20 seconds later, CONAN O’BRIEN WAS STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO US! He ran up to the freakin’ balcony, high-fiving people…I just missed being able to pat him on the back (I came up about 5 inches short). The seats across the aisle from us were empty and there was short wall in front of the first row so he climbed up and stood on top of that, prompting cheers from the crowd. I was too stunned to get my phone’s camera going in time so I lost my chance at an awesome picture.

It was just an amazing night of comedy and music…and Conan proved once again that he has more talent in his floppy red hair than in all of that hack who is still doing Bill Clinton jokes at 11:35. In fact, I will say that Conan O’Brien may be the best entertainer of his generation.

Anyway, here are some videos that members of Monday night’s audience have uploaded to YouTube (and, yes, there is some adult language in these clips)…enjoy:

Conan’s Intro Video


P.S. The song Conan walks out on stage to is “Army” by Ben Folds Five…another element of the sheer awesomeness of the night.

Conan Explains Bringing the Tour to Upper Darby

Conan Talks About His Beard and Making That Night’s Show “Sort of Worth It”

Andy Richter’s Commercial for Tony Luke’s 5-lb. Cheese Steak

Conan Presents the “Bat Out of Hell” Inflatable Bat

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Talks About [PHILADELPHIA]

Tina Fey Returns Home to Pull the “Chuck Norris Rural Policeman Handle”

Conan Sings “I Will Survive”

Brian Brian Kelley, karaoke, links, Todd Rundgren, video, YouTube

I sing Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw the Light”

Here is a short video of my first time ever doing karaoke…this took place at the Hotel Jonas in Jonas, Pa., on April 16, 2010 — the first night of my bachelor party weekend, which included a whitewater rafting trip near Jim Thorpe, Pa. This bar just happened to be down the road from the house we rented that weekend. I wasn’t going to do it, but I found this song — one of my favorites — in the catalog and I had six beers and two shots in me that night…so I wasn’t thinking very clearly. I think I did OK, though.

BK sings Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw the Light”

Brian Artist to Watch, iTunes, Music, video, YouTube

Artist to Watch: Winter Gloves

Winter Gloves
Winter Gloves

Right on the heels of the post I did on Passion Pit the other day, I would like to share with you another artist to watch.

I first heard of Winter Gloves when I happened to catch the track “Invisible” from their “about a girl” CD on XM Radio’s The Verge channel. It was the catchy electric piano riff over a techno beat that drew me into the song. I hit the info button on my radio to find out the artist and saw the name Winter Gloves.

Unfortunately, I never wrote down the name of the band and forgot it hours later. Over the next 48 hours or so, I told my friend Jason and my fiancee Alison about this great song I heard on XM, but that I couldn’t remember the name of the band who performed it.

Then, while at a party for one of Alison’s friends, I checked an e-mail on my phone. It was a message letting me know that WinterGloves was now following me on Twitter. I instinctively blurted out, “Holy crap! That’s the band who did that song I heard! It’s Winter Gloves!”

So thanks to a combination of XM Radio and Twitter, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about the Montreal-based band Winter Gloves, which consists of Charles F (lead singer/songwriter/wurlitzer), Pat Sayers (drums), Vincent Chalifour (synths) and Jean-Michel Pigeon (guitar/glockenspiel).

According to the band’s bio…

Winter Gloves began as one guy’s way of figuring out how to plug himself into life in the big city. It was a single microphone and minimal equipment gathered into Charles F’s downtown Montreal apartment to piece together all the distances he’d covered since growing up in rural Quebec.

A three-song EP (“Let Me Drive”) was offered as a digital-only download and created additional buzz in anticipation of the release of the full-length “about a girl” CD in 2008.

I just bought “about a girl” from iTunes this past weekend and had a chance to listen to it a few times while driving up to Scranton, Pa., for a work-related meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to catch Winter Gloves live in the near future.

Here is a video of Winter Gloves performing “Invisible”:


Winter Gloves – Invisible

Brian baseball, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies, Raul Ibanez, sports, video

Beating the Mets sounds great in any language

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Comcast SportsNet-Philly featured a chat with the lead announcer for the Phillies’ Spanish-language affiliate during last night’s Phillies-Mets game, which the Phillies won 6-3 after Raul Ibanez hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 10th inning.

After Ibanez hit the home run, CSN played the Spanish version of the call, which The Fightins has posted online (thanks!).

Brian artist, Christian Beach, links, Music, video, YouTube

YouTube Playlist: Christian Beach @ The Strand, 2/7/09

Here is the YouTube playlist of Christian Beach’s complete set at the Strand Theater gallery on Feb. 7, 2009, as part of the CD release party for “A Few Uneven Rhymes – A Tribute to Winter Hours.” Enjoy!

(And thanks to Alison for capturing the video with my Flip mino!)

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Christian Beach CD
Christian Beach CD

And, remember, the new, self-titled CD from Christian Beach is available now at CDBaby.com!

Brian BBC, Doctor Who, links, news, video, YouTube

New “Who” announced: Matt Smith is the 11th Doctor!

Matt Smith takes control of the TARDIS in 2010 as the 11th Doctor. (BBC Photo)
Matt Smith takes control of the TARDIS in 2010 as the 11th Doctor. (BBC Photo)

Matt Smith, a 26-year-old actor whose name had not even been mentioned for the role until the last couple of days, has been cast as the 11th incarnation of the Doctor in BBC’s long-running sci-fi series, “Doctor Who.”

Smith will officially take over the role when the fifth series of the show debuts in 2010. Until then, popular David Tennant will continue to star in the title role in a series of specials through 2009 and early 2010. It is expected that the famous “regeneration scene” — in which Tennant’s 10th Doctor will “die” and transform into Smith’s 11th Doctor — will take place in the conclusion of a two-part special that will be broadcast in the UK for the Easter holiday in 2010.

The announcement of Smith’s casting was made during a special episode of “Doctor Who Confidential” on BBC 1 on Saturday.

Smith, who will be the youngest actor to ever play the approximately 1,000-year-old Time Lord, has coincidentally appeared in three series opposite former “Doctor Who” companion Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) — “Ruby in the Smoke”, “The Shadow in the North”, and “Secret Diary of a Call Girl”.

Following Tennant into the Doctor’s TARDIS will be no easy task for Smith. Tennant, who has starred in the titular role since a 2005 Christmas special (“The Christmas Invasion”) has become arguably the most popular actor to ever play the character, even surpassing perennial favorite Tom Baker, who starred as the floppy hat/long scarf-wearing Fourth Doctor from 1974-1981.

Watch an extended interview with Matt Smith below:


Link

Brian baseball, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies, sports, video

Video: Victorino hits grand slam off Sabathia, NLDS Game 2, 10/2/08

Here is video of Shane Victorino’s second-inning, two-out grand slam off C.C. Sabathia that gave the Phillies a 5-1 lead over the Brewers in Game 2 of their NL Division Series on Oct. 2, 2008. The Phils went on to win 5-2 and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

The video is from the TBS broadcast, while the audio is from Phillies radio flagship station, WPHT 1210 AM (featuring Scott Franzke and former Phillies reliever Larry Andersen, who is going nuts in the background).

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Brian baseball, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies, sports, video

Video: Brett Myers’ epic NLDS Game 2 walk off C.C. Sabathia (pitches 7-9)

Here is video of Phillies starting pitcher Brett Myers’ epic, nine-pitch, two-out walk off Brewers ace C.C. Sabathia in the second inning of Game 2 of their NL Division Series on Oct. 2, 2008. The video, shot from the right-field, upper-deck stands, picks up at pitch number 7 of the at-bat. After Myers walked, Jimmy Rollins walked on four pitches to load the bases for Shane Victorino, who deposited a 1-2 pitch into the left field seats for a grand slam that put the Phillies up 5-1 en route to a 5-2 victory. I was at the game in Sect. 431 far down the left field line…and it was freakin’ awesome.

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Brian artist, Ben Folds, links, Music, video, YouTube

More new music (and videos) from Ben Folds

So remember that post about a week ago in which I questioned how good the next Ben Folds CD was going to be based on the single “Hiroshima”? Well, it turns out, Ben put out a leak of “Way to Normal” on various web and torrent sites…but he recorded fake versions of several of the songs (including a title track that doesn’t really exist) and included those on the leaked version of the CD

That being said, “Hiroshima” is a real song…and I’m still not a big fan of it…but it’s not really the first single. It’s kind of a fake first single. The actual first single is the extremely catchy “You Don’t Know Me,” which is a duet with Regina Spektor.

“You Don’t Know Me” – Ben Folds (feat. Regina Spektor)

Anyway, here are videos for “Cologne” and “Hiroshima” from the upcoming CD. A note on the video for “Colonge”: The CD version apparently doesn’t include the piano orchestra intro…and the European music show is obviously fake.

“Cologne” – Ben Folds

“Hiroshima (B-B-B Benny Hit His Head)” – Ben Folds

Ben…you are still a genius!