9.06.2008

Genius Doesn’t Discriminate

In the last month, there have been a couple of significant losses to our world that went largely unnoticed. Two men of extraordinary talent passed away, and the vast majority of people would probably struggle to remember their names unless they were the answer to a $1,000,000 trivia question. These two men were Isaac Hayes and Jerry Reed.

Like many, my love for these two artists’ work started with movie theme songs. Isaac Hayes’ Theme from Shaft and Jerry Reed’s East Bound and Down are two of my all-time favorite songs. With Shaft being the epitome of the hardass, sex-machine cop film and Smokey and the Bandit defining car chase movies, Reed’s and Hayes’ songs have become the standard by which movie themes are measured. To this day, when I hear these songs, I walk with a little more soul or I lean into the accelerator and run a red light. These songs not only define a moment in time for me, they define an attitude.

Both men transcended the music industry and became great character actors. Jerry Reed perfected the Good Ol’ Boy and Isaace Hayes became everyone’s favorite Chef. Okay, so their influence on screen was nothing compared to their musical influence. Hayes showed countless musicians exactly how much soul it took to play Soul and Reed was one of the most amazing guitarists to ever pick up the instrument. Like most, I would give my left arm to have even a fraction of the talent these two men had. They were artists in the truest sense of the word and they will be missed.

posted by Jim at 4:16 PM | Comments (0)

9.01.2008

Musicals and Twisted Jim Do Not Mix

I've told the stories over and over again about my experience with musicals. Twisted Parents bought season tickets to Starlight Theater when I was a child. I remember seeing The King and I, The Music Man, Annie and The Sound of Music all with second rate touring companies mixed with local talent. It was exactly as awesome as it sounds. Okay, this looks like I'm blaming my issues with musicals on my parents, or more specifically Twisted Mom. But that's really not the case. I think it is a deep-seeded fear of people spontaneously breaking into song. And when I say "fear" I mean I am deeply afraid of spontaneous singing to explain your feelings. It's almost funny with how much I love music that I suffer from Sociomelophobia.

Twisted Wife took me to see Rent at our local music hall years ago when we started dating. I acted like it was okay, but I can still feel the dread just thinking about it now. At the time, I thought "it's a rock opera, it can't be that bad." Then I remembered how Tommy made my skin crawl. The only difference with Tommy is that the music can actually stand on it's own as rock. I don't think there are many people who will argue that Jonathan Larson is not Pete Townsend... anyone?

Then, there was the whole Moulin Rouge episode. I watched it after all the hype and acclaim, thinking I would get over my fear. I really wanted to think it was good... it wasn't. I even watched it a second time to make sure I hadn't missed that one scene that made it a spectacular movie. Instead, it was four hours of my life wasted.

This weekend, Twisted Wife stopped at the Red Box and brought home yet another musical hoping to erase my fears. She thought, and rightfully so, that the subject matter of this musical would finally make me see the light. This silver bullet was Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Granted, TW hit the mark thinking a bloody mess of a musical may turn me on to the genre. But, she was wrong. No matter where you're sitting, it's still a musical. It could have been written by Kafka, directed by David Lynch, starred Crispin Glover with music by Trent Reznor and it would have still been a musical that was nothing more than cinematic masturbation.

Thank god TW slept through the whole thing so she didn't have to witness my disgust.

posted by Jim at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)

8.22.2008

Shout Outs

It gets a little weird when the people you work with every day find out you have a website. It's usually about 6-8 months into working somewhere that someone types your name into Google and then tells everyone in an important meeting when you are trying to impress a valuable client about how you have a blog. I know this scene well considering I've had three jobs during the six years of Twistedjim.com's existence.

Some people's initial feeling as that you will write about them at some point. So, they check it out for a few weeks and realize that when you say you don't write about work... you really don't write about work. But, thinking that you'll break your rule because they are simply too cool not to write about, they come and ask, "Hey Twisted Jim, when are you going to give me a shout out on your little blog?" Normally, I say, "Never. I don't write about co-workers unless they put up YouTube videos." And since no one wants to potentially embarrass themselves like DMac and Lightning Fingers, the conversation usually ends there.

However, some people are very persistent. They think that I have time to chronicle their lives on my blog, not realizing that I have so many more important things to post here for Twisted Mom and the two or three Twisted Friends that read this thing. I mean, c'mon, Bigfoot body hoaxes and concert reviews don't just write themselves. So, instead of giving a shout out to one of my more pushy co-workers, I decided to give a shout out to someone who actually deserved it. Ahem...

As promised, though a little late, I have to give a big congratulations to one of the Twisted Friends, Lou, for her promotion and subsequent raise. Now she can buy all of us drinks at the next Happy Hour for making her look good and saying nice things about her to upper management. What? She bought an iPhone with the extra money. Hmmm... kinda selfish, don't ya think?

So, congratulations Lou for being the first Twisted Jim shout out that didn't involve embarrassing yourself on YouTube.

posted by Jim at 5:30 PM | Comments (1)

8.19.2008

The Mystery Continues

Of course, the Bigfoot body turned out to be a hoax. I might be a little disappointed, but the truth is I'm mostly happy. Some things are better as mysteries. To me, mystery typifies beauty. And the beauty of monsters is that there is no conclusive evidence of their existence, which helps me preserve a small piece of my innocence.

Aliens that only drunk rednecks see, sea monsters that only drunk Scots and Canucks see and woodland apes that only drunk hunters see, I believe in them all. I've told Twisted Wife and Twisted Friends time and time again my dream job would be chasing these mysteries... and I have a $10 gallon of whiskey ready to go when I retire and begin the chase.

posted by Jim at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)

8.15.2008

Simply Amazing (or Possibly Not)

I don't normally do this from work. But this news is too big. As an amateur ghost and Bigfoot fanatic, I am proud to share... Bigfoot has been found.

posted by Jim at 2:25 PM | Comments (0)

8.11.2008

My Favorite Band from Chicago?

There is an ongoing debate in my head. Which do I like more, bands that never quite made it, or bands that have sold out? This is never more evident than when I discuss my favorite bands from Chicago. On one hand, we have Billy and Co. And on the other hand, we have Smoking Popes. Everyone knows the Pumpkins but, judging from the crowd Sunday night, still not everyone knows the Popes. According to Twisted Wife, this is a travesty. And I whole-heartedly agree.

Smoking Popes: Record Bar 8/10/08
This review was going to be extremely short. It was going to say, "They rocked... and you missed it." How do I know you weren't there? Because I got everyone's name and we're all starting a Facebook group. Granted, Record Bar is not a big place, but I've seen more people there... to see a Journey cover band (no offense, JD). And all I can ask myself is "why?" I've never met anyone who doesn't like Smoking Popes.

So, putting aside the lack of support for this amazing band, I have to to review the show. It opened with Koufax. A solid band from Lawrence, KS. They have come a long way since the first time I heard them and I have to say they are probably the most impressive opening band I've heard this year. Of course, I was eating a very tasty Record Bar burger as they played their set, which helps them immensely. I was sitting right in front, so they had to notice they were my dinner music. I literally could have handed them a french fry, and yet they rocked the dinner crowd.

One thing Koufax did well was cover for the headliner who seemed to be running a bit late. As Koufax played their final song, Smoking Popes were loading in their gear. It was nice being in a small club and seeing this not only play out but be pointed out by Robert Suchan. of course, these were professional bands with years of experience, right? I wasn't going to be waiting 45 minutes while the opener got their ass offstage and the headliner set up and sound checked, was I? Hell no!

Smoking Popes jumped onstage, threw their drums and amps together and started playing hit after hit after new song after hit. It was inspiring. It's been a very long time since I've seen a band walk into a bar and start into their set within 20 minutes, ala Blues Brothers at Bob's Country Bunker. But Sunday night Smoking Popes showed everyone in the crowd of 40-ish how rock music is played. It was easily one of Kansas City's best shows this year. That's right, I said it. This show rivaled The Raconteurs at the Uptown. Sure, Tim Finn won't agree. But then again, I don't remember seeing Tim in the audience.

So, long story short... they rocked and you missed it.

posted by Jim at 11:06 PM | Comments (2)

8.08.2008

Hyperconnected or Just Hyper

It all started with this blog. Then, I got a cell phone. Then, an iPod and MySpace account. Next I started to podcast, and then came a Facebook account and I started to Twitter. And now, I am officially blogging from my mobile device.

It's Twisted Jim 2.0. Next thing you know, I'll be the first to get an RFID or WiFi chip implanted so I don't have to carry a phone, iPod or laptop. I can just think, and it will get posted on the appropriate blog, sharing site or social network. Mmm...thought posting.

posted by Jim at 2:20 PM | Comments (0)

8.02.2008

I Saw You Last Night

I just wanted to thank everyone who came by my table last night at the Broken Brick show. It was great to see old friends and ramble on to others about being a writer in an artist cooperative in a gallery show. There were a few common questions I wanted to answer here in case any of you have come a-visiting today:

1. Do you have some samples from your book Letters from Satan on your site?
Yes. They are right here.

2. I can't hear your videos. Are they on YouTube?
As of today, they are. Below is my favorite of the bunch, Don't Go Near the Rat.

You can find the rest at the following links:
Stop Waving at the Drones, Susie!
Watching His Shoes
(Thanks, Dave, for being a good sport and an amazing 2nd Unit Director)

The Ads:
Letters from Satan
He Kept to Himself, Mostly
Twistedjim.com

Again, thanks to everyone who came out and supported The Broken Brick Group. I had a great time talking to each of you.

posted by Jim at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

8.01.2008

Vacation Log: Las Vegas

This year Twisted Wife and I wanted to visit the surface of the sun. I didn't think it would cost that much due to the lack of tourism and the high probability of complete disintegration. But as you probably already know, only the super wealthy are vacationing there. So, we decided to go to the next best place... Las Vegas. Yep, a desert in the middle of summer. I know, it's genius! I got to sweat like a pig and throw money away, which, by the way, are my two favorite pastimes.

The Week in Review
We ditched the Twisted Kids and dragged along another couple who helped us make this into a fun trip. We probably gambled more than TW and I would have normally. And we definitely walked more and saw more due to one of our friends never having been to Sin City. We also saw Penn & Teller at the Rio. Similar to my last trip to Vegas where we saw Robert Schimmel, I was blown away. Their "non-show" show is not typical in Vegas and it really stands out amongst all the others (all run by Cirque du Soleil apparently).

Another highlight was the official Twisted Jim Search for the Best Casino Waitresses in Las Vegas. The winner was in an unlikely casino. This rag-tag group of up-and-comers really showed how much they wanted to serve me free drinks. The winners are the ladies at Mermaids on Fremont Street. True, they weren't the best looking or the best dressed. however, when I stepped into the casino before even sitting at a game, they had already taken my order and were at the bar pouring the stiffest vodka and seven I had all week. Thank you, ladies, and congratulations!

I can only sum up this vacation by saying I ate too much, spent too much, drank too much and, essentially, did what people do in Vegas... everything to the excess.

SIDENOTE: I did go to a Cirque du Soleil show also. I wouldn't have chosen it for myself, but that's the great thing about going to Vegas in a group. The nutshell review... there was too much going on on-stage for me not to be under the influence of illicit drugs. It left me feeling as if I'd seen the license plate of the psychedelic bus that hit me, but couldn't remember the numbers because of the hypnotic snail at the end.

posted by Jim at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

7.22.2008

Why I'm Voting for the Vice President in 2008

I can't recall in recent history if there has ever been a time when the Vice Presidential candidates were more important. Personally, it will mean the difference in my vote this year, here's why:

The Republicans
If you haven't noticed John McCain is pushing 100. He's old. Now, I'm normally not an ageist. But when it comes to my President, I get a little concerned when they start the job as an old man. If you haven't noticed, the job ages the men who attempt to lead this fine country. Take a look...

Young George

My only advice to Senator McCain, pick a very young running mate that everyone loves. It is your ONLY chance at winning this election. We all know you won't age well. Because, frankly, you can't age any more than you already have. So, choose wisely, old fella.

The Democrats
I never like to give The Onion credit unless I absolutely have to. But they make a valid point in this article. The scenario of an African-American President has not played out so well in our Hollywood simulations. Just be warned... that's all I'm saying.

The other issue at hand for Senator Obama is guns. Ever been to a gun show in the South, or Midwest for that matter? Some of the people who have armed themselves in this country have some issues with African-American leadership. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all gun-nuts are racist. But racists are often gun-nuts, as well as bomb-nuts and domestic-terror-nuts. So, my advice would be to double-up on the Secret Service and pick a young white man as your running mate. You may notice I didn't say "woman." Unfortunately, I would probably be giving this same piece of advice about guns to the Democratic candidate had it been Senator Clinton.

So, that's it. I expect our two candidates will do a great job campaigning as we get closer to November. If I don't see a McCain ad that makes Obama out to be a terrorist sympathizer and an Obama ad that makes McCain out to be a senile old man, I will be deeply disappointed. Regardless, I hope they both pick outstanding running mates that will only have to be Vice President for the next four years. Even though, I will still be basing my vote on who they choose.

posted by Jim at 1:17 AM | Comments (3)