BS Awards - Song of the Year

After way too much consideration, here are the Big Sexy's top 20 songs of 2009. There were plenty more than 20 songs that rocked my world this year, but these are the lucky twenty that get the wide spread publicity of receiving a coveted BS Award.

I have included a link when possible so that you can check it out. A lot of times, I find a particular lyric that I love from a song or that amuses me. I will stick those in my brief capsule of each song as well. I know the artists are very nervous, so without further ado...

1. Got Some by Pearl Jam - Backspacer was an excellent album from one of my favorite bands of all time. I love this song's energy. I was fired up by it the first time I saw it on Conan well in advance of the album coming out. I'd love to see them rock this in concert. My fave lyric is just his low growl mumble after he sings "What's wrong? at the very start. Tres cool. The video is from their Halloween concert. Fun fun fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmBaON1UAns

2. I'm Your Daddy by Weezer - My inner geek loves me some Weezer. Die hard Weezer fans think they sold out into a pop band 15 years ago. I think Rivers Cuomo just keeps busting out fun pop/rock songs that make me smile. I love many Weezer lyrics from the deep to the telling of his daily chores and this one is full of good sentences. The chorus "You are my baby tonight... and I'm your daddy" is a perfect lyric from a guy who knows that he is out of his league and is NOT a cool guy because it is something that would be said by an ultra-confident guy. That's irony, homes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlvLGc6kaUY (No, I don't get the deal with the Weezer Snuggie)

3. East Jesus Nowhere by Green Day - I have already reviewed this album and will speak of it again in the album of the year discussion, so I'll hold off here the best I can. I love Green Day and this is my favorite track on their latest album. I think it's all about the hypocrisy of religion and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff. I do know it rocks. I love the whispering part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVbwVejOics

Bonus footage of Billie Joe saving a kid on stage for a touch of the rock party that is a Green Day concert...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG2eUOX5Ay8

4. Mind Eraser, No Chaser by Them Crooked Vultures - Josh Homme's new superband with fellow BS Entertainer of the Decade, Dave Grohl sounds like a kickass version of Queens of the Stone Age. This is such a driving, rocking hard song. I'm glad I'm not the drum kit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8qBAt_IoIg

5. Available by The National - I find that every year I find out for the first time about bands that have been around for a long time. Best thing about that is I get a new band that I love and they have come out with 3 or 4 albums all at the same time in my mind. The National is my favorite of my new-old bands. The lead singer is very baritone and sings lyrics approaching the brilliance of Craig Finn.

This song has a bit of a U2 jangling guitar feel to it. I love when he gets all screamy at the end of the song when he realizes what's going on. You can feel it building the whole song. He's being dumped after she got him drunk. So many great lyrics in this song like most of The National songs. "Why did you liquor me up just to dress me down? You just made yourself available."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMrMFA2fMYs

6. Use Somebody by Kings of Leon - Similar to The National, KOL is a new band for me this year. I loved all of their 4 albums that were released (in my head) this year. This song got a little overplayed and is but it was still a powerfully emotional song. Here the acoustic version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXk_KVNfInU

Ok, I only did that to needle Ted. That is Paramour covering the song. Must be pretty big if it's already being covered. Here's the real version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d67psrlDtE&feature=PlayList&p=A6949FAA18EA395F&index=1

I know, that was just mean, but how often do you get to hear a Jonas Brother and 2,000 eleven year old girls sing one of your favorite songs. I'm buying a beer to anyone who loves this song and makes it to the end of this version.

Ok, here's the real deal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnhXHvRoUd0 You know, that just sounds so much better after the previous two.

7. The Fixer by Pearl Jam - The first album to repeat on the list. I kept flip flopping on my fave song from this album. Great rock song. Here's a live version with an intro explanation from Eddie. Again my fave lyric is his grunting "hey, hey, hey" at the start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67qFTp7tOOM

8. The Rake's Song by The Decemberists - I'll discuss this album during my review of albums of the year. This is a very literate album and every song is part of a greater story. Kind of a musical set on an album. This song is about the villain of the story and the most rockin' song on the album. It talks about how his life went from great to crap explaining how he is the killer that he is now. Creepy. Here's a live clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dZEo3YyDfQ

9. Don't Stop Believin' by the Glee Cast - I already (prematurely?) raved about Glee on this site. The show is a bit uneven, but I still like it. This song was from the pilot. Lea Michelle knocks this out of the park as she does with most things she snigs. I know this song was the overdone, karaoke song of the year, but it deserves mention on the list. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRAPdLqvcB0

10. Press Hop by DJ Steve Porter - This is a mix of famous sports quotes from press conferences over the past several years set to a kickin' beat. "We talkin bout practice, man". Great on the headphones; Better with the youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I

11. Here's the Thing by Girl Talk - Girl Talk is a DJ walking a very fine tightrope of lawsuit. He puts together whole albums that are just one song mashing into the next. The songs are a variety of today's top hits, favorites from your past and hip-hop I've never heard. This section his latest album is the best digestable section. He only releases his albums digitally and from what I can tell does not get the artists' permission for the songs' use. Pirates! The attached video, put together by a fan on youtube, shows where all the songs are from. (Very cool!) I was hoping to hit a Parisian night club DJ'd by Girl Talk when we were there earlier in the year, but we missed him by a week. I think his party would be off the hook, to borrow from the 90's vernacular. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P3Gu-ksON0&feature=related

12. Horseshoes and Handgrenades by Green Day - The hardest rockin of all the rockin songs on 21st Century Breakdown. This would be a great song to start off a concert or album with. He comes right out of the gate with "I'm not fuckin' around!" It definitely makes you want to go and tear stuff up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI8NYV-GmAg

13. Alcoholics Unanimous by Art Brut - Art Brut is a fun band. I enjoyed seeing them is a small club in SF and talking with lead singer Eddie Argos, his girlfren and family. (Told you it was a small place). The songs are typically funny stories that have a kicking score. Makes me fancyapint and get a basket of chippies. I like the backing vocals singing back to Eddie as he tells his story. "Bring me tea!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8lNyi4_sy4

14. Picture by The Blakes - The Blakes were a big find for me last year and this song was on a very early 2009 mix, but I still think it is a great one so it made the list. I can't get the simple melody out of my head after I hear it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd92tJ8wHiI&feature=related

15. Sugarlumps by Flight of the Conchords - This show ended it's two season run on HBO on a high note. I thought season 2 was as strong as the first. They seemed to get a little more techno this season. This is the best song about balls since Bon Scott.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV0RL7vK44E&feature=PlayList&p=9B3756083BCA40BD&index=0&playnext=1

16. I Don't Wanna Be by LMFAO - Funny/dance music was a bit of a hit this year between this, Flight (above) and The Lonely Island. This funky bit is a bit x-rated but I don't think kids listen to the words. "They say 'wassup', I say 'wassup', we say 'wassup wassup'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gvJIVh06nk

17. Secret Plans by Eagles of Death Metal - The best metal/dance band on the planet was making me shake my money maker through this year with their late 2008 release. I somehow missed seeing them live this year, but they are a great party. Try not tapping your toe or bobbing your head to this. "Hoo Hoo... Hoo Hoo"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_F5-cFcAac

18. I Let It Go by The Thermals - Little band from Portland singing hook-y songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jw9fHEvMDI

19. Cheryl Tweedy by Lily Allen - Cheryl Tweedy is a huge pop star in England. She is a judge on England's version of American Idol and is married to famous Chelsea Footballer Ashely Cole. Allen intended the song as a tongue-in-cheek putdown to Tweedy, but maybe I don't get her English humor as it seems like she thinks Tweedy is perfect. "I wish my life was a little less seedy. Why I am always so greedy? I wish I looked just like Cheryl Tweedy. I know I never will. Never will." Nice bass line in this song, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaVMDXdYFc&feature=PlayList&p=4740B32DD7816AD9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=22

20. Formula 409 by Electric Six - Leave it to the insane brain of Dick Valentine to sing a whole song about a cleaning product. With some bands I would think it was a metophor or something, but not with Electric Six. "You can clean your kitchen, baby. Make it look good all the time." Here's the freaky ass video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ1JhlO2j-g

There it is ... The Big Sexy Top 20. There were so many songs I loved that just missed the cut. More cuts from the above bands plus songs from Lifter Puller, The Pixies, The Lonely Island, She Wants Revenge, K'Naan and Arctic Monkeys to name a few. I can't wait to hear the excellent music that awaits my new ipod in the Ten's.

Artist of the Decade: Musical Performer

I love end of the year lists! This is a bonus year as I get to not only make end of the year list and end of the decade lists. Get ready for a slew of them... I'm starting with musical performers, because they are probably more engrained in my life than any other entertainment. Music fires me up and mellows me out. It makes me feel and it makes me think. It makes me laugh and makes me cry. It makes me feel as big as a Macy's Day balloon and as insignificant as a 42 year old bald guy at a rock club.

Most of these guys have been in multiple acts throughout the decade and they received bonus points for it. Here goes...

1. Dave Grohl - The frontman of one of my favorite bands of all-time, Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters have been putting out great albums since the previous decade, but continued to rock into the 21st Century. Like many bands, their best work is likely behind them, but I find enjoyment is each of their offerings. Dave penned the best song of all time, Everlong. Their music can rock my balls and it can touch my soul.

Foo Fighters used to have excellent music videos. I love videos that tell a story, make me laugh and are at least somewhat related to the song. To complete the musical enjoyment trifecta, Dave Grohl is a remarkable front man in concert. I have seen Foo Fighters live in three states this decade! He is funny and engaging and leaves me contently rocked.

All of that work with Foos would put Dave on this list by itself, but he catapults to the top with his work as drummer for Queens of the Stone Age (see Homme, Josh below) and Them Crooked Vultures. Not to mention his drumming with that one band in the early 90's. He also worked with Tenacious D on their album and stared as the devil in the D's excellent Tribute vid.

2. Eddie Vedder - The frontman of another of my favorite bands for the past two decades. One of the things I like about Eddie so much is that he and his music has seemed to grow up with me. He still rocks hard but he also knows how to drop it down a notch and hit my tender side. Pearl Jam albums seem to be just as good now as ever. You'll read about Backspacer on this blog later during the BS Album of the Year article. His solo soundtrack for Into the Wild completely made that movie. I loved it. How he didn't win an Oscar for that I'll never know. Along the same vien, Pearl Jam's Man of the Hour for the movie Big Fish was a very touching song for me during my father's passing. Plus he loves the Cubs and even had a Cubs "fight song" recently.

3. Josh Homme - No musician makes me want to wear shades and have a smoke as much as Josh does with his music. And I hate smoke. I just feel cooler when I listen to him. Josh is one of these musicians that cannot be contained in one band. He is Queens of the Stone Age. There have been about 40 people in that band but Josh is the only constant. I have split his music into two mixes, I Heart Rock and Burnin' Phatties. Queens music wavers from too heavy stoner rock to straight up kick ass rock and roll. From my favorite bands, QOTSA has more songs that I just delete than any others.

His (originally) two-piece, dance rock band, Eagles of Death Metal puts him on this list. I love EODM. Rock music has never made me want to shake it as much as the Eagles. They put on an excellent live show (without Josh) as well. They are the ultimate good-times, partying-hard rock and roll band.

Josh also gets into his studio in Joshua Tree with his friends where they experiment musically (and I assume chemically) in the Desert Sessions. The best songs from those sessions typically make it onto a Queens record. Recently Josh teamed with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones to put out a pretty good album under the band name Them Crooked Vultures. To me if seems like a QOTSA record with a bit of a Zepplin touch.

4. Billie Joe Armstrong - As front man of Green Day, he has been responsible for two of the best albums of the decade. American Idiot won the BS Award for album of the year two consecutive years! As great as those albums are, Billy is here because of the stage. He is just unbelievable in concert. The amount of fun that he has and gives is off the charts. You must go to a Green Day show if given the chance. Despite an overuse of "SACRAMENTO!!!" during the show, he is a good time. Add to his concert presence the stage musical version of American Idiot and he has contributed very much to my musical enjoyment this decade. I cannot wait to see AI on Broadway. Hopefully they will have made a couple of plot tweaks and I will be able to count American Idiot in the top 5 BS Musicals of all time list as well.

5. Craig Finn - Craig would finish higher on the list, but I didn't really get into him until the past few years. But his bands The Hold Steady and Lifter Puller have been in constant circulation for me during that time. Lifter Puller was Craig's earlier group (with Hold Steady guitarist, Tad Kubler). They are similar to The Hold Steady, but they are maybe a little punkier where The Hold Steady is a little more based in classic rock. What makes both bands spectacular are not the rockin' music (which is very good) but the amazing lyrics. I don't even know how to describe them. At different times the lyrics are smart, deep, crazy, non-sensical and can follow a story line from other songs. The "characters" in the songs are not my type of people, but the clever lyrics make me care about them nonetheless.

Putting Craig high on the list is his live performance. Oh my goodness. Dude puts a lot into his stage appearance. I love that he talks to the audience, off mike, during just about every song. He looks like every office's IT guy but from the stories he tells, he has had a much different life than those guys.

6. Jack White - Ok, this was supposed to be only a list of 5, but I couldn't talk about musical powerhouses of the decade without mentioning Jack White. He carries his sister/wife though the White Stripes. The White Stripes are an excellent mix of blues and hard rock that are led by Jack's excellent ax work. The songs seem simple and not over-produced. Jack also team up with actual musicians to form The Raconteurs, a band name that enhanced my personal vocabulary. The Raconteurs sounded a lot The White Stripes with a full band. Very good music there too.

As you read previously, I am a sucker for good music videos and Jack was in two of my favorite music videos of the decade. One involving a bull fight (Conquest) and the other a soap box derby (Steady As She Goes). There were a couple of other cool ones, one directed by Michael Gondry of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind fame and another featuring all legos. I wasn't bowled over by White's recent collaboration with the Kills singer to form The Dead Weather. Meh. I did enjoy him in the music documentary this year, It Might Get Loud. See it. It is more about people with passion for something then it is about technical guitar playing.

Jack's the only guy on this list I haven't seen live. I not sure I want to. He is an odd duck and I'm not sure he'd put on a very entertaining show outside of a bunch of kickass music.

Theatre Review: American Idiot

Those who know me know these three things about music and me: 1. I love musical theatre, especially rock operas 2. American Idiot is my favorite album of the decade (list will be published soon!) and 3. Radiohead's genius cannot be realized without proper headphones and spiritual peace. Well, forget about number 3 for this report. This review is about the new rock opera Green Day's American Idiot playing at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre through November 15.

American Idiot was released in 2004 and won the BS Award for Album of the Year an unprecedented two consecutive years. Everyone knows this album by now, but it was an ambitious rock opera about the angst of growing up in Bush's America. From being lied to by the media on TV (American Idiot) to being against an unjust war (Holiday) to losing your innocence in the face of a father's death (Wake Me Up When September Ends), all of the songs were very emotional and powerful.

I craved to see how the whole album could unfold as a story. I wanted to know if the Jesus of Suburbia and St. Jimmy were the same person. Did Whatshername ever marry old Whatshisface? Then it was announced... not only would Green Day be making the album into a rock musical, but it would be directed and co-written by the director and co-writer of my favorite musical of all time, Spring Awakening. The lead actor would be one of the leads from the original cast of Spring Awakening. My musical theatre chubby could be seen from orbiting satellites.

We had front row, center seats in the balcony. Perfect seats for this energetic musical that did not limit itself to the floor. Scaffolding and stairs were used consistently, adding a cool 3 dimensional effect to the show. As the lead song, Amercian Idiot, rocks the theatre we are introduced to the shows three main characters, Will, Tunny and Johnny (the Jesus of Suburbia). The immediately following Jesus of Suburbia set of songs and Holiday give you the idea that these three kids are living in a world that they do not feel they fit in. All the songs are performed by the entire company and are ultra high energy and sets the tone for the show to follow. The three friends want to find their way in this mixed up world. They are going to form a band and move to the city. I'm not going to get into the whole story, but needless to say, it doesn't all go that smoothly for the trio. Will's a baby-daddy, Tunny joins the army and Johnny meets St. Jimmy and goes down a dark road of self discovery.

All of the songs from the album, American Idiot are here in order. Along the way B-sides from American Idiot, 4 songs from 21st Century Breakdown and an unreleased love song that Billie Jo wrote for his wife almost 20 years ago are mixed in. There is so much emotion in the music and the songs are performed very well by the onstage band and the actors. I was a little concerned that not hearing Billie Jo's voice on the songs would distract me, but it didn't at all.

Fun side point, at one point of the show, Michael Mayer goes to his Spring Awakening roots and put a pretty graphic sex scene on stage. (BTW, this show and Spring Awakening aren't shows to bring the kids to. Greg) Whatshername rides Johnny for quite a while and when Johnny needs to get up and sing, he's very up for the scene, ifyouknowwhatimean.

The show is only 90 minutes long and seemed much shorter than that. My main criticism of the show is that I thought they could have done a better job of developing the characters. I think the songs would have been even more powerful. None of the characters are very sympathetic. So you don't have anyone to root for. My hope is that they are still developing the musical to be a two act broadway show and it will be fleshed out futher the next time I see it. The contrary point of view is that, like a good rock album, much is left to the audiences interpretation of the events. I get it, but I want to feel for Jesus of Suburbia more than I do.

Overall, I loved the show. The music was awesome. The set was perfect for the story. The actors were excellent. It was loud, colorful, energetic and full of all the passion and more that I felt listening to the album. I'm giving 4 red heart grenades with a chance to add the 5th when I see it on Broadway. Kill all the fags that don't agree.

We talkin' bout practice?!?

I love this viral video so I thought I'd throw it on here. Who thought my boys (and me!) would be walking around singing a press conference. It goes a little long. Should've just left out T.O. portion. This is an auto-tune mixup of various famous sports press conferences. It taps my toes and bobs my head. It is done by DJ Steve Porter. Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I

I've download to the pod and enjoy rockin it. I've give it 4 "Playoffs !?!?!" out of 5.

TV Show: Superstars

Fail! I was very much anticipating this as a good show to watch with the boys. Both Mrs. Sexy and I told the boys of our fond memories of watching this show and Battle of the Network Stars when we were their age. It was light-hearted and it was neat to see all the sports and tv celebrities doing doing different competitions. Of course, I loved the the Laff-alympics too. That Dasterdly Dog always got his in the end...

The Superstars included a pretty D-List of athletes and celebrities. The only real star is Terrell Owens. On my athlete dislike scale, he falls somewhere between Chad Ochocinco and Chris Pronger. I only want bad things to happen to him but I gotta get in line behind karma, who has a laundry list of T.O. butt-kickin to do. I am going to admit I liked his I Love Me Some Me t-shirts from Hard Knocks last year. It is telling that my favorite team might be Jeff Kent and Ali Landry. I have always disliked Jeff Kent. Perhaps unfairly as it all started with the Giants trading my favorite baseball player, Matt Williams for him. Then it continued when he was a tool. I had to IMDB Ali Landry. I've heard her name, but she didn't look familiar. You know what I found out. She hasn't been in anything! She seems nice though.

It really wasn't the contestants that makes this suck. It is the horrible production value. John Saunders is over selling the play-by-play. He needs to loosen up and have more fun with it. The editing is poor, but most of all, I HATE when a show teases what's coming up every 5 minutes and when they come back from commerical shows you the last 5 minutes of the show. The show is 90 minutes long and it has to be about 15 minutes of actual show.

The Big Sexy says AVOID. 2 D-List Stars out of 5.

Band of the Month: The National

"I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders... I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope. I won't fuck us over. I'm Mr. November!"

It seems like every month I have a band that I can just not stop listening too. I will listen to them at work, in my car, on the eliptical and doing chores. When I'm not listening to them, I'm singing some of my favorite passages, like the one above, from the band off key. This month's Big Sexy Band of the Month is The National.

The National have been around for several years. They were critically acclaimed and when their latest release came out a couple years ago, I gave it a cursory listen and then dismissed it. But the more you listen to them, the more they etch into your soul. Matt Berninger sings with a very soulful baritone, that is not immediately appreciable. However, he is a strong poet. The meloncholy yet catchy rhythms of their songs highlight the emotions in the songs. I am a big sucker for excellent lyrics and it seems like every song has a line or two that lands somewhere between cool and brilliant.

Check them out!

Previous Big Sexy Bands of the Month...

January - Kings of Leon
February - Lifter Puller
March - Radiohead
April - Kings of Leon
May - Green Day

Movie Review: Up

I love going to the movies. Even kid movies. For the most part, I would want to see most of the kid movies even if I didn't have kids. While I have been suckered into a few very bad kid movies over the years (I'm looking at you, Speed Racer), I have more than made up for it by seeing absolutely wonderful films. One of these wonderful films is the newly released Up.

Up is the latest jewel from the fabulous Pixar studio. I usually like the Pixar films, but this is right up there near the top for me. I'll admit, I completely missed the boat on Wall*E. I got the message there, I just didn't care for it. Yet it garnered scads of spectacular reviews and won an Oscar. Therefore, despite knowing good reviews going in, I wasn't confident it would find a place in my heart. I was wrong.

Up isn't based on a marketing strategy or distributed with the focus of selling more Happy Meals or action heroes. The story is a very heartfelt one about an old man dealing with his last years and the loss of his soul mate. It felt deep and layered. The essense of the story was much more than just the action scenes involving his flying balloon house or being chased by dog. The real message here is that your life is an adventure. It doesn't matter what you possess or where you go. As long as you are with the people you love, life is all the adventure you need. That is such a great message!

I loved the wordless montage at spans Carl and Elly's life together through her death. It isn't often at an animated picture that you cry more than once. The movie has remarkable animation that I have come to expect from Pixar. There are also many funny lines and good action for the kiddies. I love Doug the Dog whose collar allows him to speak his thoughts. He's very cute and funny.

I recommend Up to every type of person, regardless or their age or political affiliation. Even Republicans would like it! I'm giving it 4 big, colorful floating balloons (out of 5).

TV Review: Glee

I never thought I would love a show that was based in a high school. I have never even watched the TV show Friday Nights Lights and I loved the book and enjoyed the movie. I know it was only one pilot episode so I should maybe allow the show to breathe a bit and grow some legs. The pilot episode of Glee was outstanding! I'm ticked that Fox screwed with me by not having another show of Glee ready until the Fall. They just wanted to tease me. F'ing Fox.

Some shows about high school make you fondly recall your high school days. They make you relive your own experiences or imagine yourself in situations you wish you would have been in. That's not the case with me. Maybe if there was a 40 year old version of high school, I would try out for some kind of theater but I never had any wish to have done that back in the day. Glee is just a good opportunity to mix television and musical theater. It has never been sucessfully done but I hope this is one that makes it.

I'm not a big fan of network tv. Sure, I LOVE 30 Rock. I like-like How I Met Your Mother. I've decided to remain friends (with benefits?) with The Office despite a rough stretch. I was ready to be mildly amused by, but be able to take or leave Glee. I am actively taking right now! It is right up my alley. The only negative I have with it right now is I don't really like any of the characters. Not that I dislike any of them.They all have their foables, but maybe that will make them that much more three dimensional as the show grows.

The pilot episode introduced us to a collection of characters and some of their motivations and situations as we currently find them. I'm not sure if a big glee club competition actually exists or if high schools even have glee clubs. When I think of Glee Clubs, I think of fancy-pants ivy league gents forming clubs with name like "The Aca-fellas". But on Glee, the collection of high schoolers from a variety of backgrounds and motiviations are forming a club to win the district title and save the club from elimination. The stage has been set for many paths to follow of the ensemble class.

I love musical theater. My favorite musical of all time is Spring Awakening. It is coming to Sacramento in November as a special birthday present to me. I am very nervous about the set and production at the Community Center Theater after seeing it twice on Broadway (once from on the stage =o) ). I strongly urge you to check it out while it is in town.

Subset list... Big Sexy's Top 5 Musicals

1. Spring Awakening

2. Rent

3. Jesus Christ Superstar

4. Avenue Q

5. Chicago

Back to Glee... The pilot episode (and I expect each episode) includes a glee club version of a couple of songs and some snipets of others. They rocked Don't Stop Believin by Journey as the main piece but also Rehab by Amy Winehouse. Clearly the best singer is Lea Michele. Lea plays the student who has been groomed for this all her life. She shined on Don't Stop Believin! It made the hairs on the back of my back stand up. And I'm not surprised. Lea was the female lead, Wendela, in, wait for it, Spring Awakening.

I'm giving Glee 4 1/2 High Notes (out of 5). Can't wait for new episodes!

DVD Review: Happy Go Lucky

I wanted to like this movie. I wanted to see it when it was at Tower. It just screamed "feel-good" movie to me. I knew I would finish seeing the movie and be a happier and better person for the experience. Looking at all of that, how could a little British movie not be a little disappointing? It had to be. Sorry for the pressure, mates.

Happy Go Lucky centers around Poppy, a 30 year woman who is unendingly positive and happy. There isn't too much of a story so much as her interactions with various types of people in her life. I would expect that through these interactions either Poppy or the people that crossed her life would change, for better or worse. Thing was, they really didn't. Pricks were still pricks, homeless people were still crazy and she was still living with rose colored glasses. I suppose that is a testament to it being good filmmaking and not something that ended up being cliche'.

I very much appreciate her outlook on life and I try to a positive and happy outlook on my own life. But not very long into the movie, Poppy was very annoying. It wasn't her positivity or joy, per se. There was just something about her that made me want to choke a bitch. I was surprised it took more than 90 minutes into the movie that someone actually acted on my impulse.

Overall, it was an ok movie. It didn't make me unhappy but it didn't move me as I'd hoped. I'll give it 3 smiley faces (out of five).

CD Review: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

I admit it. I was apprehensive about the release of the new Green Day album. I have loved them for so many years... There was a good long stretch where they disappeared from my musical radar. They fell into the cracks of so many excellent bands of the 90's that I wished would just stop making new music and let me remember them for who they were. Then Green Day knocked my socks off. American Idiot won the Big Sexy award for album of the year two straight years! Some may say that's impossible. Mrs. Sexy says it cheapens the integrity of the BS Awards. But I say "Nay!" It was my favorite and most listed to album for that long of a span.

Green Day took a while to put together 21st Century Breakdown. How could they follow the powerful and wonderfully constructed album that was American Idiot? Well, I don't know how they can do it or I'd be rockin' a Fender right now. What I do know is they did. Like AI, 21st Century is a flowing album that is better than the sum of it's parts. However, the album in not just American Idiot 2. I can't quite follow the story lines as I will be able to after the 50th time I listen to it. That's why this album is a lock for BS Album of 2009. For now, I am still emotionally manipulated by the music. I can't imagine how powerful it would be if I was a disenchanted 17 year old boy.

This album helps me bust it on the eliptical, mow lawns, go on a long bike ride or just rock out in Olive the Highlander. It's angry, it's remorseful, it's celebratory, it's defiant, but most of all it is a great rock album. I have my tickets purchased for their concert that promises to be most excellent. Check out that review in 3 months.

5 Leather spike bracelets (out of 5) held high just below my fist.

Big Sexy Reviews

Because I like to be entertained and like to read my own writing, I present to myself Big Sexy Reviews! Here I will give a quick capsule review and ranking of various things that have entertained me. It will include movies, DVD, live theater, concerts, albums and maybe even just amusing things that I have stumbled across. This will make it easier to look back and relieve the good, the bad and the sexy from days past.


I'm going to kick this off with a link to my favorite hockey commercial of the year...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cr89xbl26g



I have ALWAYS wanted a bear suit! I love when he whispers to the bear "But she's so pretty". Great hockey fandom. 4 paws up.