Because I have the phone contact list of a major media mogel, I was able to get Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphy’s on the phone today to talk about their new benefit EP for Marathon victims. Here’s what he said:
How did the duet with Bruce Springsteen, “Rose Tattoo”, come together: We knew Bruce was a guy who has a big place for his heart for Boston, alot of people that work for him are from the area and his son went to school here. I didn’t want to bother him, so our manager asked his manager and his manager said he couldn’t do it because he was busy. But then his manager came back the next day and said “surprise, surprise he’ll do it”
Did you record it together or exchange vocals digitally: We were at Coachella and we sent the song to him, and he ended up laying down his vocals the day he was leaving for a norwegian tour.
Is it hard for a singer, even if it’s Bruce, to do that without the band there: the engineer said he knew the song and did it in one or two takes
For those who don’t know, how did the band’s relationship with Bruce begin: He first came to see us about 9 years ago. His son, Evan, was a fan, so thank you Evan. He came to the show and we struck up a friendship. Now, he shows up when we’re in Jersey or New York. We’ve played with him on stage and as you know, he’s played with us. It’s a mutual like of each other’s music and we’ve become friends.
All of the proceeds from the sale of the EP go to victims: All the proceeds! Believe it, or not, even Apple and ITunes have waived their fees, which is cool. We have already raised 250 or 300,000 through the concert and tee shirt sales, which we are starting to distribute so this should raise even more.
Where were you on April 15th: I was in Santa Cruise, California on tour, and it was my birthday. I looked at my phone saw 20 text messages and I thought they were birthday wishes. Then I read them and realized what had happened. There’s a moment of disbelief and then concern because my family and kids were at game, and I couldn’t reach them. I didn’t know if they had gone to watch the finish after the Sox game. Plus, McGreevy’s is down there so all that goes through your head. It’s a surreal feeling to be on the other side of the country and you’re so close to so many people there. It’s horrible but it was very cool to see the support on other side of the country. People had signs every night and a compassion and desire to help.
Download the EP for $1.29 on ITunes and all the proceeds go to Marathon victims via the Claddagh fund.
I’d like to get into current TV shows. I’d like to feel that week to week anticipation of the next episode. I’d like to suffer through the season break… waiting in agony from one season’s cliffhanger to the next season’s premiere. But… I don’t. I’m a creature of habit and repetition. I watch the same thing… over and over… and over… and over… and over again. Occasionally, I might even consider flopping down and watching an entire season of a show at a time to catch up to the current timeline. But, I don’t.
Many people have active DVRs. They are constantly adding new shows and catching up on their weekly recordings. Not me. My goal is to amass as MANY episodes of my favorite shows as I can, and then I re-watch the crap out of them. Television for me is mostly background noise. I usually put it on when I’m doing other things… cleaning, getting ready to go somewhere, bottle feeding kittens, etc. I don’t really ever sit down just to WATCH TV. If I do, I usually just watch YouTube videos about cooking or fitness or other stuff on my Smart TV.
What kind of stuff do I watch? Well, if you listen to the show, you know I always have either a Seinfeld or Arrested Development reference at the ready. That’s because I’ve seen every episode of both shows more times than I care to admit. Same goes for Little Britain. (If you even have a SHRED of attraction to British comedy, you must try this series immediately. David Walliams and Matt Lucas are genius.) Add to that most episodes of Good Eats and Frasier, and there is my DVR rotation. I know. It’s probably a little weird. There must be some people that do the same thing as me, no?
I am as excited for the May 26th Season 4 launch of Arrested Development as Buster is to have juice. Don’t expect to hear much from me that weekend. I am also a little nervous. It’s been so long since the last season… will this Netflix exclusive live up to the hype? I certainly hope so. Who else is excited? It’s the FINAL COUNTDOWN!
My mom. That is a saying we love on the Hill-man Morning Show. It’s so juvenile… yet we can’t help but laugh anytime someone says it. (Well… at least Spaz and I can’t help it.) Since Mother’s Day is this weekend, it got me to thinking about the differences between all the moms I know. Not necessarily friends who are mothers, but THEIR mothers. Women from all different backgrounds, who practice different customs.
There is no doubt in my mind that you have different traditions in your family than those of people you know. We all had different experiences growing up, and our moms said or did different things. I grew up in an Italian household, and it was just me and my mom. My grandmother always was very close by, living either in the apartment above me when I was younger, or with me when I was a little older and she became incapacitated with Parkinson’s Disease. I became used to certain things in my household that no one else seemed to be familiar with or understand. There were also things that others did or had that were foreign to me.
Many of these foreign things revolve around food. For instance, the only canned tuna I ever ate when I was growing up was Pastene oil-packed tuna. I don’t even think I KNEW that water-packed tuna existed. Solid white albacore in water? HUH? Chunk light in olive oil? OH. Duh. We always had our tuna with celery. That was it. The oil was like a dressing, and to this day it is one of my favorite snacks. I remember one day in fourth grade coming home and asking my mom why the other kids had tuna SANDWICHES on white bread (gross!) and why they were white INSIDE. She explained to me that they were made with mayonnaise.
Stop.
Freeze.
Excuse me? What the f is mayo? We NEVER used it in my house. Ever. Sandwiches were never dressed with any kind of spread except maybe Gulden’s brown mustard. The only sandwich I ever really ate was plain Genoa salami on Scali bread. We never had stuff like Wonder Bread and mayo in the house. My grandmother used to make me run into Twin Bakery in Winthrop on the way home from school to pick up a sliced Italian bread every couple of days. Oh, and don’t forget to throw in a couple of spuckies for my grandfathers lunch. (For those not in the know, a spuckie is like a football shaped roll… almost a small loaf of bread. Bigger than the average sub roll. My grandfather used to have two packed in his lunch every day filled with cold cuts.)
There was a lot of Italian flying around the house. My mom didn’t really speak it but my grandparents used to speak fight in Italian all the time. One of the first things I ever learned to say in Italian was “non ti voglio sentire!” (I don’t want to hear you!) My grandparents loved each other dearly, but they were old school. While my mom doesn’t speak Italian, she does speak DRAMA. No one can set up a phone call or voice mail quite like her. No matter what it is, it sounds like the world has just come to an end. Here’s an example of a conversation between my mom and me:
ME: ”Hello?”
MOM: ”Hi honey, are you busy?”
ME: ”Just doing some production at work. What’s up?”
MOM: ”You’re not gonna believe this…” *dramatic pause*
ME: ”What?”
MOM: ”I still can’t believe it…” (Can’t is said like cahhhhhhhn’t)
ME: ”What? Are you ok?”
MOM: ”I’m really upset about this…”
ME: ”Ma, WHAT? Who died? Is Auntie Yvonne ok? What about Regina?”
MOM: ”I was in the house by myself this morning… I can’t even…”
ME: ”CUT TO THE CHASE AND TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED? Were we robbed? Did the house burn down?”
MOM: *thoughtful pause* ”I killed an ant in the foyer.”
ME: ”An ant.”
MOM: ”Ya. That’s the third one in two days. I’m gonna have to call an exterminator.”
ME: ”Mom… it’s spring. Ants come out. It happens.”
MOM: ”Ya but this is an infestation.”
ME: ”It’s three ants mom. It’s not an infestation.”
MOM: ”I bet its because of the cats. They attract bugs. Remember that time I killed a fly in the house?”
ME: ”Ma, you don’t even have any cats at the house. They live with me.”
MOM: ”Well I’m still gonna have to call an exterminator. I can’t believe this. I just had the house done last year.”
ME: ”Ok, mom, I have to go. I love you, watch out for the ants.”
MOM: ”Ok, I’m making chicken cutlets for dinner and broccoli rabe if you want some.”
ME: ”Sounds good, make me a Tupperware.”
MOM: ”I gotta go. There’s another one. That’s FOUR.”
ME: ”Bye mom.”
All in all, I love my mom to pieces, and I wouldn’t be where I am now without her. She worked very hard as a single mom to bring me up and give me everything I ever needed. There is no way I could ever repay the sacrifice she has made for me over the years. So I guess I’ll just do my best to take care of her later in life. Go do something nice for your mom, and do it more than just on Mother’s Day.
With that, I take my leave of you. Here are some mom videos with which you might identify:
I’m a dreamer. I don’t mean in the “I’m gonna do so much in this world” sense. I mean in the “I’m asleep and what the Christ was that dream I just had supposed to be about?” sense. I usually have pretty vivid dreams and can tie in a lot of the things that appear in them to what’s going on in my life. I also am usually able to find some fun things online or in dream dictionaries when it comes to interpretation of my dreams.
The weekend is almost here, but before I go, I wanted to share my three favorite stories of the week, and why I like them:
1)EL DENTISTA. This week, Santa Fe police arrested 36 year old Eliver Kestler for practicing dentistry without a license. Oh, and he was practicing it from his car. With dentistry tools he kept in a fish tackle box. And one of the victims paid $400 to have four of her teeth extracted. I understand the economy is tough, many don’t have dental insurance, but if your “dentist” reached into his trunk and pulled out an allen wrench to take your teeth out, wouldn’t you be a little suspicious? I guess it does make it easier if you need an oil change at the same time but, personally, I have such an irrational fear of the dentist, I’m choosing one who had an office, and sterile tools, and not getting my next root canal at Speedy Oil Change. Warning: if your dentist has to plug his drill into the cigarette lighter of an 84 Monte Carlo, you may want to check his credentials.
2)TUBS OF FUN. NH resident Henry Gribbohm was aghast this week, apparently, when he learned that carnival midway games may be rigged in the carny’s favor. The 30 year old father is upset that his lost his life savings at the Manchester Carnival playing the game called Tubs of Fun. You know the one where you throw the ball in the tub. And the ball bounces out. I mean, I see that game when I’m at the amusement park with the kids in Maine, and I immediately think “where’s the catch?” If it was just throwing a ball in a bucket, everyone would win. The “tubs of fun” people would go out of business. Of course it’s rigged! It’s probably the old rubber bottom trick. Oldest carny trick in the book. The worst part of the story is that Mr. Gribbohm lost $300, and wanted to win so bad, he went back to his house to get his $2300 life savings, and then lost that. There should be a carnival game bartender who shuts people like this off when they’ve lost too much.
3) FINDERS KEEPERS. Epic week for New Hampshire, by the way. Derry police are investigating an incident involving Ruben Pavon, who was caught on videotape stealing a grill from a thrift shop called “Finders Keepers”. Proceeds of sales from the store go to assist military families and the owner says they have never had anyone try to use the excuse this guy did. “The sign did say Finders and Keepers”, Mr. Pavon said, “I thought it was there for the taking”. Yes. So true. That’s how most stores are. You just take whatever you want, whenever you need it. I mean, I’m not sure how they make any money to give to the military families since everything is free, but whatever. My personal opinion is this excuse loses some validity because the “borrowing” of the grill occured during the nighttime hours. If this man thought everything was “there for the taking”, wouldn’t he have gone during daylight when it would be a little easier to move a grill? But that’s just me. I’m one of those idiots who pays for things I see at the store.
Since the news yesterday of the Sports Illustrated article in which NBA free agent Jason Collins comes out as gay, there have been a lot of comments flying around the interwebs. Many are giving virtual high fives to Jason, saying that news like this is long overdue. People across the country are touting it as a victory for the homosexual community and a signal that more change is to come. But even more people are asking the following question:
“Who Cares?”
There seem to be two sides to the “who cares?” question. There are the people who don’t care because they have an issue with homosexuality. They would rather stick their head in the sand like an ostrich and pull the old, “if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.” And then there are the people who just don’t care either way, because it’s none of their business. It doesn’t interest them that Jason prefers men to women. They don’t see it as a reflection of his ability as an athlete, and don’t feel that it should have any effect on his performance on the court.
I think that some people are ambivalent not because they couldn’t care either way, but because it’s not as high profile of an athlete that would cause an even greater stir. Granted, Collins has been in the NBA for 12 years now, so it’s not as though he’s tripping off the stage at the end of draft day and suddenly announcing to the world, “hey, by the way, I’m gay.” I already feel that most of the buzz surrounding this announcement (and others to come) is a frenzy that has been created largely by the media. Certainly it is an unprecedented event, but if you think that the four major sports have been existing for all this time without any gay players, you are out of your mind. But I think that the reaction of the public would have been a little stronger if the person were, say, a high-profile NFL name.
The sneaky conspiracy part of my mind also wonders if there was any truth to the rumor over the last couple of months that someone in the NFL is planning to come out. Because if I were a PR person, I’d certainly float a fake story in one league just to test the waters in advance of one of my clients in another league possibly making a revelation as to his sexuality. Like, “ok, NBA guy, you wanna do this… let’s grab a trusted source and say one of the NFL guys is gonna do it and see what the public’s reaction is first. Then if it is positive, we can go with it on our own.” That’s just my crazy brain though. Plus, the endorsements deals that will be landing on Collins’ desk now that he’s the “first” will come fast and furious. I think it’s great that he is embracing life and being the person who he truly IS, but you can never underestimate the power of PR and money, especially when it comes to people involved in a player management role.
Now that we have broken the ice, is it no big deal anymore? It really shouldn’t be in the first place… it’s 2013 and the fact that the general public has yet to embrace homosexuality is really disheartening to me. I understand that people have their views, and just as it is ok with me, it is not ok with others. But it is really disturbing to see people fight for the “sanctity of marriage” for (straight) people who continue to defame that very institution, and fight against loving gay couples who can’t even get benefits or even visitation rights in some cases because gay marriage is not recognized or even legal in a federal context. (And please don’t give me the “well if gays can marry then I should be able to marry my cousin or my dog” argument, because it’s effing ridiculous.)
I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent there, but the bottom line is that the sports fan AND the professional athlete are now both presented with scenarios that are new to them. It’s not like Jason Collins suddenly turned gay overnight. People have been playing alongside him and cheering for (or against) him for 12 years, so I don’t think his sexual preference should make any of those experiences any different. But the interpretation lies in the brain of the person on the other side.
Do you think this will become an issue with players… knowing a teammate is gay? What about with fans? Let me know your thoughts, and please be respectful of others’ opinions.
