Brian artist, concerts, Howard Jones, Music, video, YouTube

Recap: Howard Jones in South Jersey, 1/18/08

I went to see one of the musical influences of my youth, Howard Jones, perform last Friday night at the Dennis Flyer Memorial Theatre on the Blackwood, N.J., campus of Camden County College. The venue seats about 600, but — disappointingly — it was only about half-filled. However, that did make for a very intimate performance.

HoJo, better known for his synthesizer-driven pop hits of the 1980s, played digital piano and was accompanied by long-time collaborator Robin “The Itch” Boult on acoustic guitar. I wound up buying a live CD from a show the pair recorded last year in the UK and had HoJo sign it after the show. I would have taken a picture of this brief meeting…except my camera batteries died and I forgot to bring extras with me. D’oh!

Anyway, I found this YouTube video of HoJo and Robin performing “Life in One Day” in Brisbane from a March 2007 show.

UPDATE…After I originally posted this, I found a couple of YouTube videos from the show I attended, plus one of HoJo and Robin performing “Life in One Day” at a March 2007 show in Brisbane.

Enjoy!

Howard Jones “Life in One Day” Live @ Brisbane, March 2007
This video starts out with HoJo telling a story about how the record company forced him to write it because the “suits” didn’t hear any hits on what would become his biggest-selling album (“Dream Into Action”)…and then there is a bit of a false start at the start of the song. But it’s all super fun!

Howard Jones “Like To Get To Know You Well” – Blackwood, NJ (1/18/08)
This video cuts off before the end of the song, but includes a funny story about how a translation of “Like to Get to Know You Well” into Japanese nearly destroyed Howard Jones’ career.

Howard Jones “No One is to Blame” – Blackwood, NJ (1/18/08)
No funny stories here…just HoJo performing his classic hit, “No One is to Blame,” the way it was meant to be heard (i.e., without Phil Collins messing around with it).

Brian Knight Rider, trailers, YouTube

New “Knight Rider” might not be so bad after all

Well, when NBC recently introduced a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR as the new KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) in the latest attempt to bring back the “Knight Rider” franchise — a TV movie scheduled to air next month, let’s just say I was underwhelmed. I mean, the original KITT — a modified, black t-top Trans Am — is an icon from my youth. And today’s Mustang just doesn’t look all that camera-friendly, in my opinion.

However, I must admit that this teaser that showed up on NBC recently has me excited. And Will Arnett is the voice of KITT…how awesome is that? And, just from the two words in this clip, he sounds great!

“Knight Rider” (2008) teaser

UPDATED…just saw that the second “Knight Rider” trailer is now on YouTube…

Brian arts, movies, Speed Racer, technology, trailers, YouTube

Movie Trailer: “Speed Racer”

“Speed Racer” trailer

As you can see, above is the trailer for the Wachowski brothers-directed “Speed Racer” movie scheduled for release on May 9, 2008.

Now, I loved “Speed Racer” as a kid and I’m not sure what to think of this quasi-live action film version. However, despite what most people think of the final two installments of “The Matrix” trilogy, Andy and Larry Wachowski make films that are visually stunning. And, in that sense, it looks like the Wachowski brothers have succeeded once again.

This movie “looks” incredible…whether or not the film is any good remains to be seen, in my opinion. But the trailer is fun, so check it out.

Brian artist, Artist to Watch, Music, MySpace, Oppenheimer, video, YouTube

Artist to Watch: Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer is a duo from Belfast, Ireland, who recently finished a U.S. tour opening for They Might Be Giants.

I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t care at all for opening acts, but I have had pretty good success at seeing openers who went on to bigger and better things. Actually, the first concert I ever went to was when my parents took me and my sister to what was then Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands for a Hall & Oates show. The opening act that night was a yet-to-hit-it-big band by the name of ‘Til Tuesday fronted by Aimee Mann. About a week later I saw their debut album, “Voices Carry” — on cassette — in a local store and bought it. A few weeks later, the album’s title track was all over the radio and on MTV.

So, anyway, I have had a pretty good history with seeing quality opening acts, especially in recent years. I saw Tegan and Sara open for Ben Folds at The College of New Jersey about five years ago and never heard of them before. Now, they seem to be all over the place. Then, I saw The Zutons and The Redwalls open for Keane a few years ago, the soon-to-be-all-over-the-place Nicole Atkins open for Mike Doughty, and the still-up-and-coming Dawn Landes open for Midlake just a few months ago.

And that leads me back to the point of this post: Oppenheimer has joined the list of opening acts I would certainly like to see and hear again…hopefully, as a headliner. They played a really strong set of synth-based, 2-to-3 minute pop songs, and their debut, self-titled album is more of the same.

And this quote from Oppenheimer’s Rocky O’Reilly reminds me of the days when my friend Christian Beach and I use to stand behind our array of synthesizers, samplers, drum machines and sequencers:

I could never imagine Oppenheimer being more than us Oppenheimers. We write and record all our own stuff, the creation is very studio based. It’s the two of us throwing our ideas back and forth at each other and seeing where it takes us. In that way I hope the live show reflects that process, that it is two people creating the sounds. On occasion people are upset that it’s not guitar/bass/drums, but that’s not really what we are about, it’s about pop/electronica and really it’s about having fun!

Here is dark, grainy YouTube video of Oppenheimer performing “This is Not a Test” during a recent CMJ show in New York City…

(photo and quote courtesy of Pixelsurgeon.com)

Brian Artist to Watch, Music, New Jersey, Nicole Atkins, video, YouTube

Artist to Watch: Nicole Atkins

I saw Nicole Atkins open for Mike Doughty a couple of years ago (in fact, keyboardist Dan Chen left Mike Doughty’s Band to join Nicole Atkins & The Sea a few weeks earlier so the set had a bit of a reunion feel to it).

Anyway, I enjoyed what I heard that night and have kept an eye/ear on Nicole ever since. I downloaded her wonderful “Bleeding Diamonds” EP from iTunes some time ago and her recently released full-length album, “Neptune City,” has been garnering tremendous reviews. She has an incredible voice and is an amazingly gifted songwriter.

Nicole Atkins & The Sea made their network television debut Oct. 30 with a performance of “The Way It Is” on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” which you can see in the video above.

Nicole and her bandmates have also been featured in a recent American Express commercial.

More importantly, Nicole is a fellow Jersey Shore native so I really would like to see her succeed. And I think she will. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that 2008 is going to be THE year of Nicole Atkins.

Brian baseball, Pat Burrell, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies, sports, YouTube

YouTube: An intelligent commentary on the Phillies’ Pat Burrell

As a Phillies fan, I am often embarrassed by the “baseball stupidity” of those who root for the Phillies with me. They boo people based on reputation and stories put out there by equally idiotic media types and the cosmically idiotic Dallas Green, instead of actually looking at stats and seeing how productive players actually are.

Philly has a tendency to cheer for the guy with the bloody face and dirty uniform…even though he is batting .240 and has a lower on-base percentage than I do. I actually heard a guy sitting a couple of seats away from me at Citizens Bank Park say, “I love Tomas Perez. I hope the Phillies never get rid of him.”

Now, Tomas Perez sucked…but fans loved him because he would throw shaving cream pies in the faces of his teammates after exciting wins. Ugh.

Anyway, here is a great video that actually offers a intelligent, statistics-based argument why current Phillies left fielder Pat Burrell is undeserving of much of the criticism dumped on him over the past couple of years, but especially as of late.

Brian Monty Python, Valentine's Day, YouTube

Happy (Pythonesque) Valentine’s Day!

This is the best Valentine’s Day I have ever had. First of all, I have somebody with whom I can spend Valentine’s Day…and pitchers and catchers report to spring training! How much better can a day get?

Anyway, since it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought I would post this YouTube video featuring the romance of “Wuthering Heights” combined wiht the comic genius of Monty Python…this sketch is one of my favorites.

The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights

Brian Aqua Teen Hunger Force, movies, trailers, YouTube

TWR readers in Boston, look away now!

Since the very sight of the Mooninites from Cartoon Network/Adult Swim’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” gets certain people from Boston worked into a panic (because, you know, they couldn’t take the time to actually check out what the devices were BEFORE going apeshit all over town while screaming “they’re bombs! they’re bombs!” and blowing up what essentially were Lite-Brites), I will suggest that those people look away from the this movie trailer for the greatly anticipated “Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters.”

Enjoy…

And speaking of that whole ATHF-Boston thing, here is a very funny take on it (includes profanity…very funny profanity)…