Jesse is a friend…

Yeah I know he’s been a good friend of mine.

I’m talking about Jesse Malin, of course. (Shame on you for conjuring up Rick Springfield… actually shame on me.)

Jesse Malin is a rock star, or would be if most of the world weren’t too busy watching American Pop Idol Star Voice crap. Over the course of his long career, he’s put out albums that have been critically acclaimed yet commercially ignored. I’ve seen him in concert a few times, as a solo artist and with a band, and even when the crowd was rather sparse, Jesse gave his all. A recent interview on Bearded.com sums up his attitude:

‘There’s a lot of hard work; long hours, bad food, soundchecks, so much waiting around but the benefits are getting to play your songs for people and having your outlet. You do it all for that hour or so on stage… you get to do things that other people dream of’.

‘Some nights you’re staying in a five star hotel playing to a sold-out house or sometimes you’re playing a Monday night in the middle of nowhere for 40 people and you’ve got to give it to them. You’re staying at the worst hotel, it’s freezing and the van breaks down’ He pauses for a second, ‘But every job has its Mondays’.

You can check out a stream of his new album New York Before The War here: http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2015/03/album-stream-jesse-malin—new-york-before-the-war.html?utm_source=PMNL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=150326

And here’s a great article from TeamRock.com that gives a nice overview of Jesse’s career arc: http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-03-29/the-five-ages-of-jesse-malin

Even the Wall Street Journal is singing his praises: http://www.wsj.com/articles/jesse-malin-a-punk-prodigy-keeps-on-playing-1427754050

Jesse Malin is on tour – if he comes anywhere near you, please go see him. If you’re not completely blown away by his talent, I’ll give you a full refund of your ticket price. But don’t just take my word for it, take it from Mr. Green Day:

malin rave

Here’s the video for a song from the new album:

And now two more of my favorite Jesse tunes…

(One of the best lines ever written: “I sometimes lie awake until sunrise, wondering how we become what we despise.”)

 

 

A passion for fashion

I’m a fashion disaster. The poster child for “What Not To Wear.” I have a black belt in wearing the wrong color belt. Compared to me, Cousin Eddie from the Vacation movies is a GQ cover model.

eddie

My fashionista wife tries her best to cure me, but putting fancy pants on me is like putting lipstick on a pig. However, thanks to my wife and daughter, I now at least know the meaning of words like “jeggings” and “skorts.”

jeggings: leggings that look like jeans

skorts: shorts that look like a skirt

But why stop with those two combos? There are plenty more portmanteaus that should be part of the fashion vocabulary, such as:

Means: mom jeans

snl-mom-jeans-skit-photo

Fahrenhat: a knit wool cap worn even during the hottest days of summer

Flannull: Lumberjack style shirt worn by a hipster even though the only “axe” he’s familiar with is the body spray.

flannull

Fhat: Old fogey hat worn by anyone under the age of 40, like Mr. “Fedora Twins” from the Lowe’s commercial

fedora twins

Blank-top: a tank top “muscle shirt” worn by someone without any muscles at all

blank top

Swapkins: XXXL sweatpants that also double as napkins for wiping chicken wing sauce off your hands

Boob top: a tube top worn during Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans

Say something about Say Anything

Today, we have a very special treat for all you dubbatrubba blog fans (all 2 of you): a special guest blogger. It’s my old pal Mookie.

mooks mookie blay

 

Not baseball’s Mookie Wilson. Not basketball’s Mookie Blaylock. Just Mookie. Here’s his post:

Like most people, when I randomly think about a movie I then look it up on IMDb.com (there’s an app for that). I did that the other day with Say Anything. It’s totally a “number two” of a movie… but it does feature some great quotes. After reading several of the quotes, I realized how well they’ve held up over the years and how prophetic our pal Lloyd Dobler was. 

 Some of my favorite Nostra-Dobler moments:
Lloyd Dobler on Sports: 
“Kickboxing. Sport of the future.” 
Thanks Lloyd for the heads up on MMA’s meteoric rise! Ronda Rousey should sign her entire paycheck over to you.
Lloyd also predicted the Millennials attitude toward work:
I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.
My gosh, it’s like reading a page from Mark Zuckerberg’s high school diary!
 Lloyd’s prophetic words on politics…..
You must chill. You must chill.
Lloyd on Fox News…..
Why can’t you be in a good mood? How hard is it to decide to be in a good mood and be in a good mood once in a while?
Bill O’ Reilly approves of this message.
Lloyd on how to handle the press, social media, etc.: 
I admit nothing.
Lloyd on the assessment of every American foreign  policy decision since “Say Anything” was released: 
That was a mistake. 
Other great quotes:
Constance on the future of American Fast Food: 
Why do you eat that stuff? There’s no food in your food.
Morgan Spurlock, eat your french-fried heart out.
Corey on Ivy League frats…..
Brains stick with brains. The bomb could go off and their mutant genes would form the same cliques. 

Thanks so much for your insights, Guest Blogger Mookie. Now I know how Wally Pipp felt. I really should just change this from dubbatrubba.com to mookie.com. Sadly though, tomorrow you’ll be stuck with more of my drivel.

 

Salt-N-Pepa strike again

This weekend I installed a new handle on our crappy screen door because:

A. the old handle broke off

B. I’m too cheap to buy a new door

C. Even if I did buy a new door, I’d be too lazy to install it.

The old handle had no latch on the inside, so we could open the door just by shoving any part of the door with our hands, feet, butt, whatever. And our dog could escape any time she wanted unless we kept the main door closed.

The new handle does have a latch. Which means our pooch will stay put… but it also means we all have to unlearn our decade-long habit of opening the door any old way we please. To help remind everyone to push on the latch handle, I relied on a Post-It Note and the song stylings of Salt-N-Pepa…

2015-03-24 09.10.52

 

I blame Geico for this.

 

Sweet and Sour 16

My Xavier Musketeers have made the Sweet 16 for the 5th time since 2008, which is great. But Scott Gleeson of USA Today ranked the 16 teams left according to their chances to cut down the nets in Indianapolis, and Xavier finished dead last. 16th out of 16. When pigs fly. Snowball’s chance in hell.

Here’s what I say to you, Mr. Scott Gleeson of USA Today:

Xavier may be at the bottom of Scott’s list, but I bet if he ranked the 16 schools according to their player graduation rates, Xavier would be #1, thanks to a dedicated nun named Sister Rose Ann Fleming. Check out this recent video from the Today Show: http://www.wlwt.com/news/icymi-xaviers-sr-rose-ann-fleming-on-the-today-show/31799486

And here’s another from a couple of years ago:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Let’s Go X! Let’s Go X!