Caribbean on the Brain
The Disco Biscuits played an in-studio set yesterday evening for the Jam On channel of SIRIUS Radio and they sounded tight and in good spirits. Fresh off the Caribbean Holidaze weekend in Jamaica with Umphrey’s McGee, the Benevento/Russo Duo and others, the broadcast was a mix of interviews with the band members, phone calls from fans, and live performances including the debut of “Alter Ego” from a forthcoming album. It’s coming up on nine years since I first saw them at the long gone Wetlands and although having replaced drummer Sam Altman with Allen Aucoin along the way, they remain as one of the last heavy hitters in a waning jam band scene. A quartet of Colorado shows in January followed by an appearance at Florida’s Langerado Festival precede a European tour in March, so give them a shot if you like all-night dance parties and rubbing elbows with sweaty, bug-eyed freaks. Their New Year’s run of shows includes two nights at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC, keep an eye out for a review of the first night next week. Along with The Word at Terminal 5, Soulive with the Greyboy Allstars at Nokia Times Square, and Porter, Batiste, and Stoltz at the Blender Theater there should be more music reviews to come on Wear & Tear in these last days of 2007.
Following the Lakers’ loss to LeBron and the Cavaliers last night, I popped in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End to see how that trilogy wraps up. With a running time of two hours and forty-five minutes, and having only made it a half-hour in before dozing off, this one may take a few days to finish. Today, the Lakers hope to rebound from their frustrating defeat in Cleveland by traveling to Philadelphia for a game against the ‘76ers, where they have lost seven straight. The tip-off is 4 pm Pacific but TV viewers can see it tape delayed beginning at 5:30 pm, on KCAL 9. KCAL holds an interesting contest on game days called the “Lakers Locker” where they provide a three number on-screen code, usually during the third quarter, and before the game is over contestants must visit the KCAL website and enter this code along with their personal information to win prizes including Lakers tickets. Interactive games and contests like this are admittedly fun and keep me engaged more so than a standard sports broadcast on television, so I’ll keep entering and holding out hopes for some good Lakers tickets or a t-shirt.
My Nintendo DS hasn’t gotten too much use in the past few months with the exception of a few games of Metroid Prime Pinball over Thanksgiving weekend, but having received Brain Age 2 as a holiday present on Wednesday, it’s about to get a daily workout. The first Brain Age had a bunch of great mathematical and linguistic mini-games aimed at keeping the mind sharp, alert, and active. This sequel contains an entirely new set of challenging visual and audio puzzles to stimulate mental energy and after the first night of playing I can tell it is going to be hard to put down. While the Wii, Playstation 3, and XBox 360 have all emerged as powerful gaming platforms in recent years, I have yet to try any of them. The Wii may be first to drop off that list next year as I must admit the interest is there regarding its hand-held controller that responds to a player’s movement. Given the choice, however, I’d pick a multiplayer trivia or word game such as Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, and the card game Quiddler over a video game any day, as nothing can compare to actual interpersonal communication.
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