Oh my gawd, I just got an email from my pal Shae who is a Lisa Hartman lover as anyone in their right mind should be - anyhoos he sent me a You Tube link to this uber cool little video of our girl Lisa singing with one of my first crushes ever, Andy Gibb! I can't even believe it.. so now all you little computer fanatics out there, how do I get this sucker into an mp3? I'm counting on you (to do it for me) to help me...
I hear it's frickin' freezin' back in good old Wisconsin, and all through the Midwest things are freezing and tornadoes are a blowing - oh yes, no such thing as global warming right? But today is a special day no matter how cold it is back home, cause today is Lisa's Birthday - my bestest friend in the whole wide woild... I won't tell you how old she is today but let's just say the candles on that cake should keep her warm through this otherwise frigid day
I don't know if you know this about me - but I really like buying and listening to new music. The whole buying of CD's is actually a past time I thoroughly enjoy - you can all keep your IPods and Iphones and in fact I too have one but still it's those shimmering silver discs with the artwork and sometimes the lyrics that really excite me. Since I do have such a passion and basically invest in CDs if you will, it's probably no surprise that my house is a bit of a mess when it comes to CD storage. I am constantly running out of CD racks and there are about six different racks in my living room right now.
I told the Leivas the best present ever would be to find a big CD rack that spread across the wall and wasn't too high that could hold all of my CDs in one place. Imagine our surprise when on our look out for such an item we realized they are only making shizz. Overly priced and cheaply made. Since I work for a company that actually makes high end furniture I thought of asking my boss to make me one when the Leivas decided he could pick up a hammer and saw some wood for his beloved Brad.
I know he can do just about anything he sets his mind to so I was all for it. At first he was going to go in steps and try to build me a box of racks to hold my vinyl 12" first but then decided to go full on with the original idea. We took a trip to Home Depot and bought some good wood, some dowels and Alfred went about working. Now it isn't done yet - this is just the frame that he put together before actually gluing and hammering and staining.. but I thought I'd show you the genius that comes with being a Leivas. And you can bet this sucker will be filled with love - and by his latest calculations he's thinking each section will fit about 60 CDs leaving me plenty of room for more, more, more...
When it's actually completed I'll repost it along with a before shot of what it looks like now - but for now I'm too embarassed... oh and if you look beyond the case you will see the wet bar in our guest/media room that was also built by the Leivas and lovingly filled by me and my booze.
In other strange news - it's been raining and raining here in La La Land and last night while watching Ugly Betty we were informed that LA was under a tornado warning and watch. That's right a tornado was up by Malibu and Pacific Palisades and heading to my neck of my woods. It's just like The Day After Tomorrow - check it out:
I try not to get into too many political conversations, particurlarly on the internet as there is always someone who has a different opinion than mine, and that makes them stupid... and I'm getting far too old (yes I said it) to waste time listening to them yammer so why bother .. but with all this election hooplah going on and on I have been waiting patiently to enter my vote. Every night there's more and more news and it's not even election day for me yet. ... but now before I even get a chance to cast my all mighty vote for who I want as the Democratic candidate, my little man - the man I adore - the man I want to run my country is stepping down. No, I'm not talking about the Leivas - he's much too nervous to even enter the race..
Instead I'm referring to my little elfin man Dennis Kucinich. I love this guy. When the Democratic candidates were on Logo during a sit down, everyone had some interesting things to say but it was only Dennis who said and did exactly what I wanted done. When asked about the all mighty gay rights to marry he simply said, it would break his heart and spirit if someone told him he couldn't marry the person he loved so dearly... or something to that effect. Enough for me to tear up and declare him President of the United States Of Bradley.
But now the little dream, the little engine that couldn't is dropping out of the race. It didn't help that the big time news media wouldn't let him get up and voice his opinions while the big wigs of Miss Hil, Obama and John Edwards got to talk and talk..
So Dennis if you're reading this - please get yourself an island and declare yourself King. I will be there on the next tug boat.
Here you can read up on my boy but it probably won't be up long: Dennis Kucinich.
Well 2007 was a big year for my crazy Bubbatunes compilations - we began with Dolly Parton'sHere You Come Again re-issue in January (bub68) and ended with a Swivek single of "Apocalyptic" (bub122) so as you can see by the numbers there was quite a few Bubbatunes I was pumping out and creating including the first series of full on various artists compilations - that's right I made Brad's Trip Back To The 80's - a 10 CD collection of 80's songs for Alf's neice to enjoy as much as I do - Christmas is all about giving... and soon, very soon we will be talking about all those Bubbatunes as I also have a few new releases pending...
but today, I only have time to talk about the other music I've been listening to - the music you too should run out and buy...
Thanx to the Logo channel, I find all my newest and coolest bands - even if a bit later than the other music fans out there. I disovered one of my favs Gossip from there and Cazwell, a dirty dirty boy who I love... and lately I disovered two more extremely great bands which send me in a tizz...
First the best of the best - The Cliks - this band frickin' rocks with everything - led by the strong voiced and strong lyricist Lucas Silveria - a transgender if you will - who can belt out anything including a super cool rocking version of Justin No Balls Timberlake's "Cry Me A River". "Oh Yeah" and "Complicated" are two more gems which have videos out there to see, but you really need to buy the album. Think Concrete Blonde, Garbage and Joan Jett getting together to create an album and you get the gist - oh yeah it's that frickin' good and the voice - god that voice is superb. Get their debut Snakehouse just as soon as you can!
Check out the video for 'Oh Yeah' - and check out the Cliks official website
and there's a performance of "Cry Me A River" here:
Our second Logo recommendation comes in the form of Rilo Kiley - one of those bands that seems to have fallen below my radar though they've been together since '98 and the lead singer even released a solo album. What caught my attention however was the video for "Silver Lining" which at first made me think they were trying to be a harder version of Tori Amos, but the more I got into the song I realized how cool it was, and the rest of the album Under The Black Light is just as entertaining. Not as brutal as the Cliks, and not as eccentric as Tori - they're more of an alternative set of the 80's combining some country-ish hooks with piano laden pop and rock. A bit like Miss Derringer minus the constant old west nods. It's pretty entertaining overall with "The Angels Hung Around" being a fun little highlight but "Silver Lining" is by far the best track - and here's the video:
Our third selection for the day is a little girl from Ireland known as Amy McDonald. This time it wasn't Logo who introduced me and the Leivas to the music, but rather than scampy fun talk show host Graham Norton who had Amy on his show. She sang the utterly engaging "This Is The Life" - fast paced, acoustic laden - basically a full on drinking and/or driving song. It's completely brilliant and fun. The Leivas can't stop playing it. The rest of the album - also titled This Is The Life continues with the acoustic driven poppiness and Amy's interesting voice. The other great standout is the opener, "Mr. Rock & Roll" and though there's a few dry spots - "Youth Of Today" - the rest of the album is still pretty good too and it hit #1 in the UK (if you're into that kind of knowledge) .. but nothing tops the brilliant title cut.
You can listen to "This Is The Life" while staring at an image of Amy here:
and here is the video for her single "Mr. Rock & Roll"
What a weekend! First, have any of you ever done body shots off of a stripper? Yeah, me either. My pal had a little birthday bash this Saturday and all he wanted was a huge bottle of vodka and a male stripper so in the land of La La, dreams do come true and he got them both. I have never been to a house party where a real live stripper showed up. I was of course expecting some beefy man dressed as a cop to jump in and pretend to bust us, but instead we got a skinnier yet pretty buff boy who came in, did some shots, turned on the tunes and did acrobatics all over the guests - it was pretty interesting to say the least - the very least...
The next day the Leivas, I and our pal Tommy did a little brunch at a small cafe on Hollywood Boulevard before walking over to Graumann's Chinese Theater where we sat through Cloverfield - a new monster movie that was pretty frickin' good. I actually loved it, though since its from JJ Abrahams of Lost, I figure I have to see it a few more times to catch all the goods. Though rumor has it, if you watch the ending shot - there's a part where the camera is focused on the ocean and you can see something fall into the water - thus maybe just maybe letting us know where the monster came from. The strange thing is, I thought I had seen something fall in the water and thought maybe it was just me... oh well, if you haven't seen it - go, it's pretty fun. Though the hand held camera work had the Leivas in a bit of a tizz...
and in the saddest part of this Martin Luther King day, one of my favs has passed on. Suzanne Pleshette who made the original Bob Newhart Show so enjoyable died yesterday. You may (or may not recall) that the first time I voted in California the Leivas and I walked over to the fire station to cast our votes and there in line was Suzanne and her husband Tom Poston. I was so excited - it was way more exciting than the time Michael Jackson came into my store.. I mean this was frickin' Suzanne Pleshette...
The whole weekend was topped off by getting a gift certificate for Amoeba from my mom and her boyfriend Bob and a $50 gift card from my father. So of course I hit up Amoeba, though I also (of course) forgot both the gift card and the gift certificate but that didn't stop me from buying some excellant things - okay excellant to me anyway including the vinyl LPs of Cher's Take Me Home and Prisoner, Pointer Sisters' rock album Priority and Melissa Manchester Emergency - don't judge me... I also picked up a ton of 45's for a dollar each including a bunch of Sheena Easton as she had the tendancy of putting out B-sides that never appeared on her albums and I am continually trying to get all of my top 100 singles of the 80's in actual 45 form, I only have a few more to go...
For an extra treat - here is an old video of Man 2 Man's "Male Stripper" - our stripper didn't allow cameras so this is as close as you can get...
I love me a good horror/suspense flick that takes an animal and makes it the ultimate killer - Jaws is of c ourse the granddaddy in the cinematic sense of this genre, but I like them a little more shocking - sure Jaws is great and the whole beginning rocks but then it turns into more of a drama where the sequal Jaws 2 which follows a group of kids on a sailing trip systematically pegged off by a giant shark - now that's a great piece of cinema.
I have a fondness for all of these movies - including the wonderful yet obscure The Bermuda Depths - an eerie little flick about of all things a giant sea turtle, then there's the endless case of snakes, alligators and crocodiles that wreak havoc from the swamp to the urban mecca. Hell there's even Night Of The Lepus, a movie I thought I made up but actually exists, in that one Janet Leight (among others) are terrorized by.... wait for it, wait for it - giant killer rabbits! I know!
Spiders are also a great little animal that gets a lot of starring roles, though I must say that kind of falls into a sub genre of when animals go bad - in which it's the insects taking over...
So for Christmas, my pal Amy Cissell got me one of my all time favs on DVD - the restored version of Alligator - in which a little girl's father flushes her pet alligator down the toilet and the thing ends up eating dogs and cats that are thrown into the sewer by a loser pet shop owner whose sending defenseless cats and dogs to a scientist doing (of course) hormone therapy. Now I won't ruin the movie, but let me just tell you this is one of the more clever ones, as they know they are making a B movie - the dialogue is funny, the whole thing is a tad campy and in one of the more enjoyable twists - little Michael Fairgate from Knots Landing (Pat Peterson) is even in it! For some reason I found the lead character Robert Forster uber sexy, and I'm not sure why? Oh and did I mention the first person killed is sewer worker Edward Norton? Here's the trailer:
After watching Alligator the other day I was desperate for more Animals Go Bad so luckily I had rented a few from my beloved Net Flix. ... but alas there's a story with this one...
When I was but a wee tyke my mom and dad took me to the drive in with them - I think they probably couldn't find a babysitter and figured I'd just fall asleep in the back of our gigantic station wagon.. that's the reason I can think of for them taking me to a double feature horror drive in show where one movie had a couple of old ladies who had some hidden monster in their basement and another movie I thought for sure didn't exist Dogs! Yep, those cute little suburban dogs you find in every back yard of suburbia turn on their masters and make a bloody mess of a small California town... The one thing I always remember of the flick was some poor woman getting chomped on in her shower! For some reason it always stuck with me and I swore it was a gross fest with the blue and white fragments of guts and gore on the shower floor when it was all over... I know what an image.
A few years ago I read an interview with the uber cool Linda Gray - Sue Ellen of Dallas, and the interviewer asked her about her big role in the flick Dogs in which she was killed in the shower! Can you even believe it? Not only did the movie exist but it was frickin' Sue Ellen (Swellin' as I like to call her as it not only is how the Southern accent of her co-stars say it, but it also gives kudos to the characters penchant for booze and more booze) -
So after adding Alligator to my wish list on Amazon (again thank u Cissell) they started adding recommendations and wouldn't you know it - Dogs was on there! On DVD! I couldn't believe it... It took a bit of a hangover to get the Leivas to watch it with me, but we watched it and let me tell you does have some bloody little moments - I obviously did fall asleep cause I so don't remember the ending - and as for Miss Gray's horrible shower scene, it's still bloody but not nearly as disturbing as I had it made it out to be in my mind - and just for you, my fans and friends here is Miss Gray's big scene:
But wait there is so much more because we watched one more little Animals Go Bad and it has to be the mother of all - a little flick from New Zealand called Black Sheep. Let me just say that this movie is complete genius - it's hilarious - including the demise of some of the sheep - a crazy little scene where a bunch of people are attacked which is similar to Alligator - so I'm sure it's an homage and even a scene where a sheep comes flying at someone - it's a frickin' riot - I'm so glad that the Leivas bought it so we can enjoy it over and over again... anyone want to come over and see sheep go baaaad?
Now I'm off to watch Pirahna - not the one where they sprout wings and fly but the original where they just chew up Young & The Restless' Melody Thomas (are these the only kind of movies soap stars are allowed to do?) and make little fishy chirpy noises - it's no wonder I don't go outside with all these crazy ass animals going crazy...
Well here's something you don't see everyday - a little bit of discofied Cher from 1979 - yep a few years before MTV ever debuted, our crazy girl donned her skates and made herself a video full of hunky 70's porn star looking men... need I even tell you how you brilliant I think this is??? I may have to film an homage, I wonder where I would find an outfit like that??
Okay so I know I'm terrible at keeping up but work has been kicking my azz, and I hate that because if there's one thing I really love, it's vacation and I spent my whole Christmas vacation doing all kinds of nothing and really that's what I'm best at doing, and would love to do it every day.
So only a month later I will finally tell you about Christmas - first here are all the presents I had to mail out: and these are the presents that were left behind for me and The Leivas - I know and here I was a bitchin' right before Christmas cuz I didn't think I was getting anything - I mean I didn't feel like it was Christmas. But alas Christmas did come - and I know what you're all wonderin' - tell us, tell us what did you get you spoiled brat?? Okay so you coaxed it out of me..
First I always have a million DVDs and CDs I want but hardly ever get cause people think I'm always shopping for myself and buy what I want - so they don't realize that though I do that, I also tell people specifically which CDs and DVDs to buy so I don't buy them and I don't get doubles... so this year my little sister got me the Golden Girls Season 2 on DVD, I know they're on TV 24/7 but what if I want to watch a certain episode and Lifetime isn't airing it at that precise moment? Also, in a score for bonus points to the Cissell - I got the remastered new edition of Alligator - one of the best in the "animals gone bad" genre I so love. Lisa and Alf both got me "All About Eve" because obviously one of them (the Leivas) doesn't listen to me when I tell him what I told others to buy me... but that's okay it's been replaced by another cinematic classic - "Thank God It's Friday".
The Leivas also bought me two of the best presents - all I wanted was a really nice file cabinet - not the crappy office metal ones but a cool one - and he bought me this awesome wood two drawer file cabinet that became the best place to put my "precious" USB record player - and he got me this awesome Rolling Stone Cover to Cover book which has every single Rolling Stone Magazine on CD - you just pop in the program search for, oh let's say "Pat Benatar" and it shows on which disc and which magazine she appears in. Plus it's the whole damn magazine - every single issue including ads - it's a trip and a whole lotta wasting of time for me... but I love it.
These are only the top of the iceberg in my present recieving as I was such a good boy last year, but I felt I had to share a little bit with you, and so maybe just maybe we'll get together again soon.. maybe tomorrow, who knows... we'll see how these bastards work me ... I am working my digits right to the bone!
One of the great things about living in La La Land is all the shows that you can go to.. Bigger stars will show up in the smallest of places, Courtney Love will throw surprise shows at the Knitting Factory while Beck will start playing at some random Silver Lake hole in the wall and Pink will jump on stage to sing a heavy metal song with a cover band, and if you wait long enough every single tour and show will eventually show up or start here in LA. But usually you have to move pretty damn fast once you find something you want to see, if you don't buy tickets the minute you hear about something chances are slim you'll get in to see them.
But for some reason, tonight was on our side - I'm on a million and one email alerts from every single entertainment place that interests me, including the LA Gay & Lesbian Center who put on shows a lot - we recently went to see Margaret Cho in her run through for her latest show, but I was a tad miffed when I was late getting tickets to see Coco Peru and even later to see Alec Mapa - who puts on a hilarious comedy show... but luckily a bigger D-Lister got our attention.
Only two days ago, I found out Kathy Griffin was playing the Kodak Theater and figured she was way sold out, as we here in LA I would think were her peeps. But the Leivas had an eye doctor appointment yesterday and ran over to the Kodak and got us tickets to tonight's show! I can't even believe it, and the tickets are actually really good seats. I can not even wait.
I always thought Ms. Griffs was a tad rough around the edges when her character was always so mean to Brooke Shield's Suddenly Susan, but I got over it quick enough and once I saw Kathy's stand up I thought she was frickin' hilarious as she tears a new one into just about any celebrity she knows... plus her TV show My Life On The D-List is a complete crack up... and Kathy does have a big following of gays and at every show asks the audience, "Okay where are my gays?" and tonight I get to yell back, "Over here you crazy bitch, it's me, Brad (and Alf) we're your gays tonight!"
Watch a hilarious little snippet of Kath raggin on one big homo who deserves it - Ryan Seacumface...
I'm a terrible blogger - I forget I even have one until I have something very important to talk about, you know like making bootleg copy albums of my favorite 80's rock chicks... and speaking of such, I have something incredibly profound to declare -
today is PAT BENATAR's birthday!!! Yay!!! Though it's not like I'm taking her out to dinner and drinks or anything, but I'm sure wherever she is she's celebrating just like me (get it! it's a pat song, actually a pat cover but, oh forget it...). I can see it now, she's going to put on those tight black leather pants, her striped white and black t, and all that eye make-up saunter around lip synching You Better Run... and even if she isn't you can bet your sweet bippy that's exactly what I'm doing tonight...
so happy Birthday oh idol of idols, Miss one time Andjewski, mrs Giraldo, and the one and only PAT BENATAR!!!
when he lost his friggin' glasses.... can you even believe it?
I blame it all on vanity - I was getting my picture taken at our friendly little bar when I decided, "Hey I look stupid with my hat and glasses on, so I'm taking my glasses off..." and that was the last I ever remember seeing them. The next day I searched high and low and called the bar, walked back to the bar and the conclusion was, my friggin' glasses are gone.
So I call up my doctor and I say, "Doctor doctor I can't see far away anymore, how am I supposed to know what I'm watching on the tv, I can't read the program guide." Understanding my plight they looked up my past order and informed me that my frames are no longer carried at the doctor office and they have to be ordered from France. Who knew I was so Euro trash? So I went back to the doctor's office and could not find any other frames I like. So today it's off to Lens Crafters so I can hopefully see by next week.
It's all so terribly sad, I can still kind of see, I just have to sit really close to the television set. I know what you're thinking, "But Brad that could ruin your eye sight..." Is that irony? I'll have to consult Alanis on that...
Location: West Hollywood, California, United States
SHORT VERSION: Bradley Jacobson is a singer/songwriter, sometime actor, sometime writer, audio engineer and producer, and all around happy dude. He was the singer/songwriter of the electronic trashy punky pop band Swivek, but is now a "solo" artist releasing music under his own name.
