Monday, November 30, 2009

Evel Knievel: Still Dead

Not much to report today, the second anniversary of Evel's death. But this odd old ad has been making the internet rounds, so I might as well post it too.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Happy 60th, Paul!

Paul Shaffer hits the big six-oh today.

I dug his recent autobiography We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives, detailing his amazing career as Saturday Night Live's musical director during the show's 1970s glory years before teaming up with Letterman in 1982, a partnership now in its 28th season. Along the way he's recorded and/or performed with nearly every major act of the rock 'n' era -- Dylan, Springsteen, the Beach Boys, various Beatles and Stones and Zeppelins, etc.

He also played Artie Fufkin:

Friday, November 20, 2009

Happy 67th, Super!

Super Dave Osborne hits the big six-seven today. Here he is with his announcer Mike Walden and stunt coordinator Fuji Hakayito.

Hard to believe Super's still alive, what with all those stupid, bone-crushing stunts we've seen on the Super Dave variety show, the Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire cartoon series, a couple Super Dave TV specials, and the direct-to-video vehicle The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave. And he shows no signs of slowing down, as demonstrated on his current series, Super Dave's Spike-Tacular.

Here's the "Greatest Entertainer Daredevil Superstar of All Time" reading to David Letterman from his book Super Dave's Doggie Goodnights.



And here's some kid in a Super Dave Halloween costume.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Seattle Rock City

I finally got to see Kiss last night -- it was nuts. I might write more about it later, but for now here's a photo that I took, two videos that someone else took, and a set list:

1. Deuce
2. Strutter
3. Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll
4. Hotter Than Hell (Gene breathed fire)
5. Shock Me
6. Calling Dr. Love
7. Modern Day Delilah (one of two new songs they played)
8. Cold Gin (Ace Tommy shot sparks from his guitar)
9. Do You Love Me
10. Say Yeah (the other new song they played)
11. 100,000 Years (Peter Eric drum solo)
12. I Love It Loud (Gene puked blood; sang from atop the rigging)
13. Black Diamond
14. Rock And Roll All Nite (end of main set)
15. Shout It Out Loud (first song of encore)
16. Lick It Up
17. Love Gun (Paul flew across the arena on a zipwire)
18. Detroit Rock City

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Welcome Back Again!

Griffey will play another season with the M's next year.

His 2009 production wasn't so hot, and I suspect next year will be even worse. It's sad when a slowed-down, overweight superstar doesn't know when to call it quits, stumbling along while vainly trying to recapture their glorious youth. But with the fun-loving Griffey, it should be cool having him back anyway, hopefully with more scenes like the one above (from last year's final home game).