The Best of BLOG! 2009

As promised, I published a lot more regularly here on the BLOG! in 2009, while still managing to pump out work-for-hire as the Dallas Celebrity Headlines Examiner. Sure, more than half of all posts were related to either The Mal Thursday Show or Florida Rocks Again!, and while I didn't quite manage five posts a week (more like 2.5), I still kept things up to date.

Here are some of the best posts of '09 (in other words, the ones that weren't playlists):

Two for the Revolutionary Road

Top Ten Car Movies

Harold and Maude

Texas BBQ with Spärhusen

Hail, No!

512 Brewing Company IPA: My New Favorite Ale

Attack of the Giant Leeches

Jeff Conolly Interview, Pt. 1

Jeff Conolly Interview, Pt. 2

Hoppy Birthday, Uncle Billy's!

Garage Hangover

Massholes

S. Darko

"The Oliver Reed Film Festival" Blog

Keith Moon Was Here

The Lonesome Death of the Blizzard

Jesse Garon (1994-2009)

The Year the Expos Almost Won the Pennant!

While My Turntable Gently Weeps

Au Revoir, Yogi

The Biggest Sucker in the World

Of Birthdays, Bootlegs, and Alice

My New Gig: Celebrity Headlines Examiner

Longtime readers of the BLOG! know that my interest in popular culture leans toward the '60s and '70s rather than the vacuous anti-culture of today. For instance, on June 25th, I did not waste a minute mourning self-proclaimed King of Pop, junkie, and plastic surgery disaster Michael Jackson, instead paying tribute to Seeds frontman and Flower Power icon Sky Saxon.

I could give a shit about Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears - I'm more into Tuesday Weld and Mimsy Farmer.

That said, I just got a gig writing celebrity news for the Dallas Examiner. I get paid by the page view, and given America's obsession with celebrities, I should get some decent traffic and make some coin.

I used to do a humor/parody column called "Celebrity Spin," where I'd take actual gossip items and inject them with comedy collagen through gross exaggeration and absurd, made-up quotes. I can't make stuff up for this column, but I'll try to make my headlines "grabbers," inject a little snarky irony, and keep the items entertaining.

So far, I've posted three items this week:

Oversharing Ashton unapologetic about exposing overexposed Demi

NFL star Plaxico Burress indicted for shooting himself

Nic Cage, Screech in tax trouble

I was once a promising writer/editor for serious news outlets, but now I write about Demi Moore's ass (and also her butt)...

So, even if you don't care about celebrities, please subscribe to my RSS feed, because I need the money...

Berkner Rocks Noggin

Laurie Berkner has been called the "queen of children's music" by no less an authority than People Magazine, and if you have pre-schoolers at home (and cable), you've probably seen her band on Noggin's Jack's Big Music Show, where she is regularly featured in a minimalist music videos for such kid-friendly ditties as "Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz)" and "The Google-Heads" (which is apparently about people addicted to the online search engine). Speaking of ditties, Berkner has gained a legion of admirers among not just little kids, but also lecherous daddies who are big fans of her breasts, which do a lot of bouncing up and down (not to mention to and fro) in her videos.

With Let's Hear It for the Laurie Berkner Band, she has moved beyond the three-minute clip to her own full-length special, which premiered on Noggin on Sunday evening. Though the show consists of mostly recycled material, there are three new videos, which are notable not so much for the music as they are for Berkner wearing something other than her usual uniform of two blue shirts and a pair of snot-green pants. Again, the lascivious fathers in the audience (like the guy who waxed rhapsodic about Berkner's "chest pillows") will no doubt applaud the costume changes, which are much more flattering and even show a hint of cleavage.

I myself find her attractive, but she also reminds me a lot of an ex-girlfriend who I was a total prick to, so I feel vaguely guilty when I watch her sing "The Cat Came Back" or "I'm Gonna Catch You."

Turns out she's married to the schlub who plays bass in her videos. He's clearly unworthy, and my sources tell me he's now out of the band, which is a good thing.

But I digress.

I enjoyed the special, despite the guilt pangs regarding my ex-girlfriend, and so did my kids. Noggin followed it up with the Ting Tings' great version of Altered Images' "Happy Birthday" from Yo Gabba Gabba, plus a nice episode of Wonder Pets (my apologies for insulting the show's creators in an earlier column) in which Linny, Tuck, and Ming-Ming save "the Beetles," a group of singing insects from Liverpool.

Renowned KidVid critic JM Dobies is known for his take-no-prisoners approach to reviewing children's programming, whether taking the Wiggles to task for their lazy songwriting and naked greed ("Bring Me the Head of Anthony Wiggle") or savaging lame kiddie fare such as Handy Manny and Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and two small children, and thinks Wow Wow Wubbzy has jumped the shark.

The Ballad of Bill Lee

I did a Google search to see how much of my old freelance writing work was still out there, so that I might present it here for your amusement. Not much, it would appear. But here is a piece from 2001 called "The Ballad of Bill Lee" because it's baseball season, and because it's a funny, bittersweet read, taking place at Le Stade Olympique in Montreal on Opening Day of that year. Sadly, the Expos are no more. Click on title or baseball card to launch:

The Ballad of Bill Lee

The former Boston and Montreal left-hander on the Sox, Fenway, and smokin’ with Dubya

By J.M. Dobies

Originally published April 19, 2001 in The Boston Phoenix Red Sox Supplement, and subsequently as a cover story in both the Portland and Worcester Phoenix. This is the version on my website, jmdobies.com, with the original photos from the piece.

Dedicated to the memory of Les Expos.

Get the DVD of Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey HERE.

"The Oliver Reed Film Festival" Blog

The Oliver Reed Film Festival at OllieFilms.blogspot.com

As anyone familiar with me or the BLOG! can easily tell, I'm a big fan of the late British film actor Oliver Reed, who is a cult hero in the UK, but relatively obscure in the states. My wife is mystified by my fascination with the "creepy" Reed, is "creeped out" by his films, and thinks I'm "gay" for "some dead actor."

But then, one must consider the fact that she doesn't drink.

In the ten years since his death in a Maltese pub, Reed's legend has grown, making him an icon of the ladmags, due largely to his alcohol-fueled misbehavior on British chat shows in the twilight of his career. Whether he was busking "Wild One" or snogging lesbian feminist Kate Millet and telling her, "I've had more fights in pubs than you've had hot dinners," the self-proclaimed "Mr. England" was always good for a laugh.

So I dig Ollie on two levels: first and foremost, for the films, and secondly as a negative role model. If I'm having a pint or two, I find myself channeling my inner Oliver Reed, but not to the point of getting into head-butting contests or anything like that.

Over the years, I've written a number of pieces about Ollie's movies, so now all of my essays, old and new, are being collected in The Oliver Reed Film Film Festival at OllieFilms.blogspot.com, a new blog that focuses on the filmography, the actor more than the drinker. Well, actually, in Oliver's case, the two are more or less inseparable.

If you dig the essays and want to see the films, please visit The Oliver Reed Store for DVDs of Ollie's Greatest Hits.

For your listening pleasure, check out The Mal Thursday Show #6, a tribute to The Girl-Getters (a/k/a The System), with cool sound clips and the rockin' sounds of various British and American beat groups.

The Chunk Records Story: The Complete Saga

"The Chunk Records Story" remains the BLOG!'s finest hour. It tells the true tale of the rise and fall of the label that delivered "Obscure but Rewarding" recordings promising "Medium Fidelity, Extreme Quality." To mark the tenth anniversary of its demise, here is the Complete Saga:

Part One
Chunk Records Is Born

Part Two
Salad Days

Part Three
The Beginning of the End

Part Four
The Decline and Fall of Chunk Records

Garage Hangover

Garage maniac Chas Kit has a great music blog that's right up my alley, and if'n you like '66 garage-type sounds like I do, you will dig it the most.

Garage Hangover features stories and soundfiles of various North American '60s combos, sorted state by state and province by province. As the writer/producer of Florida Rocks Again! and the upcoming Texas Tyme Machine radio series, I always appreciate a regional approach, and as someone who could never afford to collect that many original 45s, I appreciate the cool label shots.

Thanks to the rock scholarship and intrepid sleuthing of Chas and his fellow contributors, many of the original band members have supplied priceless photos and incredible oral history.

There are so many great bands represented on the site, but just for a taste, here's an excerpt from the post on local garage legends the Wig:

Here are a few tracks by the famous Austin, Texas band. The 45 of "Drive It Home" is phenomenal, but the live version makes the studio cut seem tame in comparison! The Wig were Rusty Weir, Benny Rowe, John Richardson, Jess Yaryan and Billy Wilmont.

The Wig - Crackin' Up

The Wig - Drive It Home

The Wig - Drive It Home (live at the Jade Room)

For more, visit Garage Hangover at http://garagehangover.com

Glyph Jockey Baseball Card: Sid Vicious

Here's another in the series of Rock 'n' Punk baseball cards from the incredible GlyphJockey. This time, it's hard-hitting rookie John Ritchie a/k/a Sid Vicious:

Cold Turkey Computer Withdrawal

Loyal readers o' the BLOG! may recall that I had rededicated myself to producing more and better blog entries at the beginning of the year, vowing to knock out five posts a week.

Sadly, we have had some unfortunate losses of late. First, my 4 year old son's old IBM Thinkpad laptop gave up the ghost, then my 2002 Dell desktop shat the bed, its bloated hard drive taking a mess of documents and images with it to the grave. After that, we ponied up the dough for a decent Toshiba laptop, in time for me to finish Florida Rocks Again! #36, but then my wife's HP laptop stopped working, within days of the expiration of her one-year warranty, natch (apparently there's a class action lawsuit in the works, due to this model's faulty soldering).

So I've had to let my wife use my laptop, while I must confine my online activities to working hours, a practice known to HR types as "cyber-loafing."

Not wanting to get shit-canned over excessive cyber-loafing, I have been forced to neglect my bloggery. However, today is one of those days where I have absolutely nothing to do, so a-blogging I will go.

Glyph Jockey Hockey Card: Neil Young

Here's another one from GlyphJockey.com, featuring Neil Young:

Glyph Jockey Rock 'n' Roll Baseball Cards: Iggy Pop

Here are two more Rock 'n' Roll Baseball Cards from GlyphJockey.com, featuring the one and only Igster:

GaragePunk.com Spring 2009 Podcast Schedule

Coming Soon to the GaragePunk.com Podcast!

Tuesday March 10th

Florida Rocks Again! #35:

Mal's Florida Favorites, Vol. 1

Monday March 16th

The Mal Thursday Show #13:

I'll Never Forget What's 'Is Name

Monday April 6th

Florida Rocks Again! #36:
Mal's Florida Favorites, Vol. 2

Monday April 27th
Florida Rocks Again! #37:

Jeff's Moody Monsters

Monday May 18th
The Mal Thursday Show #14:

Texas Time Machine

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO FLORIDA ROCKS AGAIN!

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MAL THURSDAY SHOW

CLICK FOR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE GARAGEPUNK PODCASTS

Don't Miss These Wild Tales from the Archives

(Click on Show Title to Listen):

The Mal Thursday Show #4: Songs the Lyres Taught Us

The Mal Thursday Show #6: The Girl-Getters

The Mal Thursday Show #10: Surprise, Surprise

The Mal Thursday Show #11: All Kindsa Girls, Pt. 1

The Mal Thursday Show #12: All Kindsa Girls, Pt. 2


Florida Rocks Again! #18: Orlando Rocks Again!

Florida Rocks Again! # 20: Florida Time

Florida Rocks Again! #28: Coverama 2

Florida Rocks Again! #31: The Ones That Got Away

Florida Rocks Again! #32: More of the Ones That Got Away

Florida Rocks Again! MySpace Page

Hey, kids, Florida Rocks Again! now has its own MySpace page. The address is www.myspace.com/floridarocksagain.

Be Our Friend!

One of the cool things about the MySpace page is that the music player launches automatically, so you can listen to all 34 episodes of Florida Rocks Again! from the GaragePunk.com Podcast.

While you're there, be sure to visit Mal Thursday's MySpace Page, where you can listen to every episode of The Mal Thursday Show, or if you're more of a Facebook fan, check out my page there.

And, if you are so inclined, visit The Florida Rocks Again! Swag Shack at Cafe Press and give us a little economic stimulus!

Glyph Jockey Rock 'n' Roll Baseball Cards: Jack White

Here's another Rock 'n' Roll Baseball Card from GlyphJockey.com, featuring the White Stripes' Jack White:

Glyph Jockey Rock 'n' Roll Baseball Cards, Vol. 1

Since Spring Training started this week, I'm going to feature some of the incredible punk/rock baseball cards from the geniuses at GlyphJockey.com on a weekly basis throughout the season.

First up, it's the Kinks' battling brothers, Dave and Ray Davies:

The Best of BLOG! 2008

Here it is, people, The Best of BLOG! 2008. Since I did a lot of writing for money last year, I didn't give much of it away here on the BLOG!

Still, I did have my moments...

Movies:

The Brilliant Early Work of Mimsy Farmer, Volume One

& Volume Two: Devil's Angels

I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname

The Monitors

Top Tens at Viewpoints.com

More Top Tens at Viewpoints.com

Music:

The Chunk Records Story: The Complete Saga

Geezerpalooza 2008 Review and Photos

Podcasts of the Year (Click to Listen):

Florida Rocks Again! #32: More of the Ones That Got Away

Florida Rocks Again! #31: The Ones That Got Away

Florida Rocks Again! #28: Coverama 2

Florida Rocks Again! #27: Miami - Where the Action Is!

The Mal Thursday Show #10: Surprise, Surprise

The Mal Thursday Show #9: Sons of the Stage

The Mal Thursday Show #6: The Girl-Getters

The Mal Thursday Show #4: Songs the Lyres Taught Us

Other Stuff:

A Fundamental Difference of Opinion

Bring Me the Head of Anthony Wiggle

The Return of BLOG!

BLOG! is back.

I know I have neglected it of late, and was phoning it in for much of 2008, but this year I promise to post more than the occasional playlist. 2009 will see a return of the hard-hitting, incisive blogging you've come to expect.

And more playlists, of course.

I will probably be hyping the radio programs a bit more in '09, and will be debuting a third show, working title The Texas Time Machine, which is sort of a Texan version of Florida Rocks Again!, in the spring.

We will be expanding both The Florida Rocks Again! Swag Shack at Cafe Press and the Online Superstore soon and very soon. But buy now and save!

Apologies for not posting the playlists for A Florida Rocks Again! Christmas, or the rocking "More of the Ones That Got Away" episode.

I spent the holidays in sub-zero temperatures in beautiful Southwestern North Dakota. Had a couple of excellent meals at the Dairy Barn and the best soup I've had in many years, the Creamy Tomato Dill, at the Dakota Diner. Read a few books, watched the Criterion Collection DVD of Two Lane Blacktop, and caught Fargo on TV.

The kids saw snow (and plenty of it) for the first time. It was pretty cool.

And bloody cold.

Ping-Backs and Other Blogs About Me

Jolie and Meredith from Viewpoints.com have chosen me as the featured viewer in their Viewpoints blog. I've written 169 reviews for the site, which I urge you to check out, especially if you've got an hour or two to kill. Speaking of killing, check out my review of The Killer Shrews!

Meanwhile, over in Deutschland, Funkwelle FM in Berlin has been featuring The Mal Thursday Show and Florida Rocks Again!, along with other tasty selections from the GaragePunk.com Podcast, on its airwaves. Thank you, Mein Herrs!

By the way, last week marked the one year anniversary of BLOG!, for what it's worth. This is my 171st post. They haven't all been tip top, but I hope you've been enjoying them.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

I have to admit, I was no big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie or the TV show. When I happened to catch the all-singing, all-dancing episode of the Buffy series, I remember saying to myself, "This is bloody horrible," before switching it off. Since then, I have become a fan of Whedon's Firefly series and its big-screen counterpart Serenity, thanks largely to my wife, who is a devoted "Browncoat."

So, when we heard about Whedon's latest venture, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, we were intrigued, to say the least. Concieved during the writer's strike, this comic musical fantasy stars Neil Patrick Harris in the title role as a lovelorn mad scientist, and Firefly's Nathan Fillion as his nemesis, Captain Hammer.

The songs are well-crafted little show tunes that are woven into the plot effortlessly, in contrast to what I rememeber of that Buffy episode. Harris is very funny in the role, and shows a nice singing voice. Fillion plays the role of an egomaniacal superhero, who ends up dating the object of Dr. Horrible's affections, with obvious relish.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a testament to not only Whedon's creativity, but to his frustration with the current mechanisms in place for distribution of his intellectual property. While the Studios were playing hardball with the Writer's Guild, Joss and his collaborators executed this low-budget blow against the empire, as if to say, "We don't need no stinkin' networks!"

Available for free for a limited time at drhorrible.com, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog will then be available through iTunes.

Viewpoints.com Reviews: December 2007

Food & Drink
Kettle Brand - Buffalo Bleu... - jmdobies says "Flavor-Saturated Chip Packs a Wallop..."

Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard Ale - jmdobies says "Potent, Lusty Brew Not for Sissies "

Local Places
Austin City Limits Music Festival - jmdobies says "Eclectic Music Fest Offers..."

Clem Mikeska's BBQ - Temple, TX - jmdobies says "Since 1965, Clem's Has Been..."

Dell Children's Medical Center... - jmdobies says "Understaffed and Inefficient..."

Lubi's Hot Subs - Jacksonville, FL - jmdobies says "Jax-Based Chain Offers Uniquely..."
Rudy's BBQ - Austin, TX - jmdobies says "No-Frills Chain Delivers Tasty BBQ..."

Short Stop - Austin, TX - jmdobies says "Short on Square Footage, Long on Flavor..."
Smokey Mo's - Round Rock, TX - jmdobies says "Austin-area BBQ Chain Does It Right..."

The Austin Film Festival - jmdobies says "Austin Film Fest Celebrates the..."

Wheatsville Food Co-op - Austin, TX - jmdobies says "The Homegrown Alternative to Whole Foods..."
Movies & TV
THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU - jmdobies says "Reed and Rigg in Top Form in..."
BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE - jmdobies says "Snowbound Schlock Delivers Some Shocks..."


EEGAH - jmdobies says "A Girl, a Caveman, and a Beady-Eyed Guitar-Playin' Grease Monkey..."
Friday Night Lights, Season One - jmdobies says "Better Than the Movie, Almost as Good as the Book..."
THE GLORY STOMPERS - jmdobies says "My Favorite Biker Movie...Dennis Hopper..."
HELP! - jmdobies says "The Beatles in Their Prime, in Color!..."
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH - jmdobies says "Vincent Price Battles Italian Zombies..."

TOMORROW NEVER COMES - jmdobies says "Oliver Reed in Canadian-Made Hostage Drama..."

Web SitesGarage Punk Podcast - jmdobies says "A Treasure Trove of Garage Rock..."