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The hype surrounding the band Vampire Weekend has been percolating since this past summer with mentions in Band on the rise-type articles across many music periodicals. The fall and autumn saw an increase of press and some radio play and has come full boil with the recent release of their eponymous debut album. As fellow Columbians, congratulations are in order; Vampire Weekend is omnipresent in music media, they are the new IT band.

The problem though, is that Vampire Weekend’s ascension to the role of indie rock darlings seems in some ways to be too perfect. Their image, ivy league prepsters with a sense for African drumbeats and arcane trivia, as portrayed in their press seems to be too clear and defined. Their music, while catchy and crisp, seems a little too clean and assembled. Even their group pictures have a sense of being choreographed and arranged delicately, down to the pleat in the drummer’s khaki or manner in which the lead singer’s shirt is tucked. To unnecessarily adapt Shakespeare, something is rotten in the band of Vampire Weekend.

The words contrived and artificial, not nuanced and quirky, come to mind after reviewing Vampire Weekend’s full collection of press and music releases. These four highly intelligent corroborators manufactured a ready-to-sell image and accompanied it with equally marketable music with “exotic” influences and peddled this package to the indie music world. The end result is an album and a band that epitomizes precisely what indie music isn’t and art in general should never be.

Every Vampire Weekend interview or profile seems to be written with the help of a band provided crib sheet. The foursome, Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson, and Chris Baio met during their undergraduate studies at Columbia University. The band is always noted as being preppy and New York with a self-awareness of their image. They are keen to make sharp references which display their vast ivy league-bred base of knowledge. Their music is always noted to be a fusion of Afro-pop and indie rock, with influences from Paul Simon’s Graceland album and the Talking Heads. Here are a few snippets of ink exhibiting the constructed story of Vampire Weekend:

‘The guys are just as studied when it comes to fashion, with a preference for blazers, button-downs and other blue-blood affectations. Mr. Koenig said he had found his cardigan, decorated with embroidered pheasants, at a Ralph Lauren boutique in Palo Alto, Calif. “I’ve got another one that’s yellow with dogs on it,” he said.

“That’s what the kids are wearing these days,” said Mr. Tomson, whose cardigan was free of ornamentation.

Hardly keeping vampire hours, Mr. Koenig, the only member who still lives uptown, bade farewell to his Brooklyn-bound mates around 10 p.m. But not before reminding them of their plans for the following day: a field trip to Lacoste.” (The New York Times Style Section, 1/27/08/)

“Koenig is smart and lucky, in that he gets to play the preppy angle both ways: Like a guy who’s read a lot of Cheever, he can summon up the atmosphere of kids whose parents use ’summer’ as a verb and give it all the hairy eyeball at the same time.” (Pitchfork, Album Review 1/28/08)

“Fans describing Vampire Weekend often mention “Graceland” — the album, not the estate. It’s an inexact reference point, but an effective one, evoking 1980s nostalgia (it’s getting harder to find people who pretend to dislike that Paul Simon masterpiece) and an unfussy approach to Afro-pop.” (New York Times, 6/18/07)

“Long story short: After graduating from Columbia, the men of Vampire Weekend began cobbling together their debut, a giddy indie pop album with an African backbeat. They dubbed their style “Upper West Side Soweto” (because they’re clever like that — and because they couldn’t let poor Paul Simon have this one thing).” (Washington Post, 1/28/0

“You can really hear that most in the live percussion, Graceland clearly seeming like the strongest reference point.
EK: It’s true. The music that Paul Simon listened to then is the same we’ve been listening to.

RB: But Paul Simon didn’t just listen to that music, he used it as a structure to work from. We haven’t done anything like that. All our music is pretty original, I think.

CT: That’s not to hate on Graceland, but there is this compilation called The Indestructible Beat of Soweto and there is a song on there with this “Gumboots” sort of beat and there is a song on Graceland with the same band and same tune, but with Paul Simon’s lyrics over it all. There are elements and little bits that we try to work in, but we don’t copy.” (The Fader, 6/7/08) (Note: EK, RB and CT are the initials of members of the band)

These quotes left me with the idea that Vampire Weekend is nothing more than a cast of characters all scripted to be prep, hip and charmingly witty. The truth though is that these four are just a band of bluebloods with the saavy to concoct an image that sells because they are another white band playing black music, and advertising it as such.

Notice that I have yet to dismantle the music of Vampire Weekend. To be honest, their music, though not the masterwork suggested by some critics, is well produced and very together. Songs like “A Punk” and “Mansard Roof” will stay in one’s head for days on end. The music is readily listenable and shows off their trivia recesses and legwork done on Paul Simon’s Afropop.

When asked about their music though, Vampire Weekend seems only reveal two nuggets of information; their African an indie rock influences and that their music is original. This emphasis on originality is entirely unnecessary and comes across as music snobbery in my opinion. All music should be made with the intent of being original. Even a cover of someone else’s song is meant to show the cover artist’s own original interpretation. Below is their music video for A Punk, a song and video that just seem ripped from any of a number of 80s pop songs. (Pete Townshend and Peter Gabriel of that era immediately come to mind.)

To proclaim your own outright originality is indulgent and boorish. VW though, makes these statements in order to give their music proper respect and almost worship among rock critics. The critics and media types have eaten this bands musicality up with a table spoon and served it back to the public out tenfold. Nevermind that Vampire Weekend’s self-indulgence shrugs off Paul Simon’s previous efforts and unnaturally references modern hip-hop artists like Lil’ Jon within its lyrics.

The combination of a manfactured image and neatly packaged music leads to the ultimate problem with Vampire Weekend; they are precisely what Indie Music is not supposed to be. There is some ambiguity over what Indie Music is, but the genre is definitely not contrived, substance-less and artificial. It never reeks aristocratic, ivy-league or proper.

Thus while the music world genuflects on bended knee for Indie Emperor Vampire Weekend’s genius, I only see a band with no clothes. Just artifice and Sperry Top-Siders.

For anyone still interested in purchasing Vampire Weekend’s debut album, Vampire Weekend, it may be purchased at Target, according to the banner adorning their myspace profile. Be sure to buy quickly though, as this same banner advertises it at a sale price of $8.99 only through this week, and only and indie music’s superstore, Target.

I decided to post two “albums of the week” this week, partially due to my lack of an “album of the week” last week. Mostly though, I decided to include a second album this week because I so badly wanted to praise Beck’s re-release of Odelay even when I had already slated Rhymefest’s “Michael Jackson Dedication/Mashup” mixtape, Man in the Mirror to fill this weeks post.

Man in the Mirror

One of the more perplexing issues in Pop Music History is where to draw the line between the Michael Jackson’s obvious musical genius and his equally apparent personal problems. I love Michael Jackson’s music, but I can’t watch the Thriller music video without squirming at the thought of some the more perverse accusations made against the King of Pop. In Man in the Mirror, Rhymefest balances Mike’s great musical talent and bizarre persona by sampling deep into the Jackson catalog and also splicing in Jackson sound bites for hysterical skits that acknowledge the off the wall behavior of Michael Jackson.

The album, available for free via Rhymefest’s website, is produced as a Michael Jackson/Rhymefest collaboration, even though Michael Jackson has nothing officially to do with this project. Rhymefest is not profiting off this mixtape, which is unfortunate given the quality of it, but this pro bono effort prevents a potential cease-and-desist lawsuit from MJ. Regardless, the work done by producer Mark Ransom is phenomenal as the album legitimately sounds as though Rhymefest and Michael Jackson met in a studio for a week to hammer this out.

One of the tracks I really came to like on this album was Dancing Machine. Dancing Machine, based on the Jackson 5 track of the same name, is a fun song that samples the sweet horn solo where Michael Jackson would often break out a Robot Dance during a live performance. Though only a minute and a half, Rhymefest provides the lyrics for what would be a sure club banger if it were just a minute longer. However, in the construct of the album, it feels perfect. The whole song makes you want to emulate Mike at about 0:54 in the video below.

A track that I think best shows the musical interplay between MJ and Rhymefest is Set The Mood, a nice slow-it-down track performed with a smirk. Please enjoy it below.

The skits are where its at on this album. They nearly outdo the music itself, but thats more a compliment of Rhymefest’s great comedic sense. The skit track that sums up the whole Jackson-Rhymefest dynamic is the Mike the Mentor track. Rhymefest took some of the best excerpts from Jackson’s press statements and used them as answers to questions he would ask Jackson, highlighted with this excerpt:

Rhymefest: Ya, thats cool, but sometimes, I feel embarrassed to be black, G, like, I’m ashamed to say it, but how do other cultures perceive us?…

Michael Jackson: Well lets reverse it , what about all the million of people who sit out in the sun, become darker, become other than what they are. No one says nothing about that…

R: Ya, you right, I mean, I can’t even argue.

Hilarious.

With other awesome skits, not to mention a full selection of Jackson-based hip-hop gems, including songs with Camp Lo, Talib Kweli and Ghostface Killah (With Mary J. Blige), Rhymefest’s homage to the King of Pop is on point and shows the creative talent of Rhymefest in full.

Odelay (Deluxe Edition)

A Best of the 90’s album list without Beck’s 1996 Odelay is simply incomplete. Beck’s magnum opus still sounds fresh today, twelve years and a trip through most original listeners’ puberty. Devil’s Haircut still gets airplay on most rock stations.

I’m not posting on Odelay because I’m nostalgic for my middle school years. (I don’t miss my bowl cut or my low self-esteem thank you). Rather, the b-sides and unreleased tracks included on the 2008 Deluxe Edition compelled me to sing Beck’s virtues.

The two-disc set features the original album on disc one, along with three unreleased tracks, while disc two is chock full of Beck b-sides and more unreleased diddies. While I am a fan of Beck, I’m not the b-side aficionado, so most of disc 2 was completely new to me, except for some remixes of original Odelay tracks.

The first three tracks on disc 2, which are remixes of Where Its At (Track 1) and Devil’s Haircut (Tracks 2 and 3), are just ok at best, but the rest of album plays like a great companion disc to the original Odelay. My favorite of the b-sides was Thunder Peel, a track that combines driven rock music, some synth and the full range of Beck’s singing styles; that is at some points he is basically talking while at others he is screaming.

I have attached a music video from the deluxe edition for the song Deadweight, one of the unreleased tracks. The video is worth a watch just for Beck’s odd tastes in visual storytelling, as its tough to make out much of a plot based on the video. But its wacky and cool, plus its Beck so I give it a thumbs up.

Odelay (Deluxe Edition) is the rare reissue that actually adds value to the original album. Most often, these albums are just put back on the shelf with a new cover art and “digital remastering in the latest technology”, but little else worth spending $14 (sometimes more like $20) for an album already owned. Beck gives lots with the latest edition of Odelay. Its strange that it was released twelve years after its first release, both because its relatively soon and lacking any 5 or 10 year anniversary milestone, but who cares, its Beck!

Like I have said before, every so often I have some things on my mind that I just feel the need to tell you about. That’s why I have this website after all, because there are things that bother me and not enough people give these issues their due. I would say I’m a little bit like the muckrakers from back in the day, but I don’t go searching for stories and I don’t do much fact checking. I do read a lot and, diatribes aside, the following issues bothered me for one reason or another today.


Soulja Boy, Crank Dat Displeasure - By now you might wonder who is that dashing young gentlemen at the top of this post? Why that’s none other than Soulja Boy Tell’em. And yes, that’s his actual name. Soulja Boy is best known as the mush mouthed rapper with the #1 song this past year, Crank Dat (Soulja Boy). In an article on vh1.com recently he voiced his displeasure on not being included in MTV new’s Hottest MC’s in the game list, saying quote “Today, January - whatever the date this is - 2008, yes [I am the hottest].” Following that up with my favorite, “The first person who started this, what we call hip-hop, opened the door for me. It probably wasn’t a party track or a ‘Crank That,’ it probably was something way, way, way different than what I’m talking about, but he still opened the door for what I’m doing, and if I never would have did this, [the next] wouldn’t come.” To translate, Soulja Boy thinks that he is the new face of hip-hop.

If you happen to be unaware of Soulja Boy’s meteoric, last summer he went from nobody myspace artist to #1 ringtone artist in a matter of weeks. Using such great lyrics as,

I finally saw There Will Be Blood starring Daniel Day-Lewis this weekend and of course I had to tell my faithful readers all about it. Simply put this movie is an experience. You are brought into the world of oilman Daniel Plainview, played by Day-Lewis and you follow him from his humble beginnings as a prospector in 1898 up until the 1920s when his wealth has been realized. In between you are taken on a journey of perseverance and madness. Accompanying you is the haunting score by Jonny Greenwood, better known as the lead guitarist for Radiohead. This is by far Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movie to date.

This movie tells a simple story, and a very American story. Daniel Plainview is on a mission to obtain his riches and, along with his son H.W., he comes up with the perfect business plan. By selling himself as a family business and by overseeing production himself, instead of contracting out, he is able to sell his something as more than just a greedy corporation. His family angle allows him to ingratiate himself to the small towns he moves in on. Plainview’s relationship with his son is one of the true pleasures in the film. It is made obvious that he loves the boy, but their relationship can also be described as one of business. When an accident befalls his son, it is amazing to watch their relationship change.

If nothing else this is a film propelled by the characters in it. At the heart is the battle of will between Plainview and Eli, a young preacher played by Paul Dano. These are two men who have a vision and two very divergent ideas about how to achieve success. They battle throughout the film and each may lose a battle or two, but only one wins the war. Paul Dano is a fine young actor who stands toe to toe with the great Daniel Day-Lewis. The future looks bright for Dano.

One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that they build what seems to be a fully working oil derrick. This movie does a great job of showing how hard it was to work these jobs and takes us back to a time when the hard work was done by people, not machines. What always amazed me about the turn of the 20th century is that a man could become successful based solely on hard work and drive. These days it seems like social movement has dampened a bit as people don’t always move up based on merit. Plainview is the type of man who threatens his competitors as well as those he is trying to buy land from. His wild man tactics would most likely get him arrested or sued today. Back then it was about men sitting out a table and hammering out deals. People signed contracts but could also be held to their words. In this movie, the law is nowhere to be seen.

What is amazing about this movie is that you learn very little about Daniel Plainview’s past or where he came from and yet you become very interested in his life for as long as you are a part of it. In the first 15 minutes of the movie not a word is spoken and yet you are enthralled. This of course is a tribute to the Director Anderson, but even more so to the actor Day-Lewis. You can read his face, feel his pain and watch his actions as he struggles to dig under the ground for the liquid money that flows beneath.

So go to watch the performances by Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano, or go to see the story, or you can even go for the scenery. Bottom line, you have to go. Does it help that this movie was nominated for best picture?

Video courtesy of youtube.

It’s official, Rex Ryan is back with the Baltimore Ravens. He has been resigned to a 3-year deal and retains his position of defensive coordinator and gets the added title of assistant head coach. Rex had been interviewed by the Dolphins and the Falcons for their coaching vacancies, but was passed over. He was never interviewed for the Redskins job. So what does this hire mean?

The easy answer is that Rex returns to head one of the best defenses in the NFL for the past few years. His defense even brought the mighty 2007 Patriots down to the wire. As a Ravens fan I am very excited to continue the defensive dominance that has become the calling card of this Rex Ryan led squad.

I think my biggest surprise was that nobody saw fit to hire this man as a head coach. Even the Ravens themselves decided to go with a coordinator with no previous head coaching experience. New and unproven seems to be in vogue this year. The Ravens were smart enough to retain Ryan and by giving him the title of assistant they show him that they respect him and what he has done for the team. With Cam Cameron coaching the offense and Ryan holding down the defense, the future looks bright for the Baltimore Ravens.

Image courtesy of The Baltimore Sun (photo by Gene Sweeney Jr. / August 15, 2007).

The 2008 Australian Open gave the world a new Grand Slam winner in Novak Djokovic, as he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the upstart, Muhammad Ali-lookalike, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(2). It also showed that Roger Federer might lack the invincibility that carried him to an unprecedented 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals as Djokovic knocked off the greatest men’s tennis player of all time in the semis.

With Djokovic’s rise to the top, Federer’s signs of mortality and further disappointment for U.S. Men’s Tennis, the Aussie Open has given a rise to more questions than answers as the 2008 ATP Season gets going.

1) What happened to Roger Federer and where does this leave him for 2008?

Federer entered the Australian Open after recovering from a stomach virus/flu, so he was not at his best for the fortnight. This was apparent as he struggled to beat Djokovic’s fellow Serb, Janko Tipsarević, in the 3rd round. He did rebound to beat Tomas Berdych and James Blake, each in straight sets, to reach the semis and seemed to regain form before running into Djokovic.

Versus Djokovic, Federer ran into a buzzsaw. Djokovic took advantage of the new slow hardcourt used at this years’ tournament and negated some of Federer’s aggressiveness. He also showed off his return ability.

That said, its ridiculous to even question Federer’s place in tennis currently. He’s still the best, its just that he’s been proven to be human.

While he has dominated all Grand Slams except the French, the Aussie Open is Federer’s next weakest Grand Slam event (He’s still won three times in Melbourne!). Roger could dominate in tar, but he’s best on the fast grass courts at Wimbledon and the true hard court at Flushing Meadows.

The French Open is still a challenge for Federer, but he could’ve lost in the first round of the Australian Open and still be the favorite at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, where he has combined to win 9 of his 12 Grand Slam events.

2)Where does Novak Djokovic fit into men’s tennis after getting his first Grand Slam?

He is Federer’s toughest challenge and the biggest hurdle Roger will face in his quest for Pete Sampras’record 14 Grand Slam championships.

While a successful 2007 has already made Novak Djokovic a big name in the sport, he is still just 20 years old.

Djokovic will be a force at Grand Slams for a long time coming, which is especially good news given his humorous and emotional personality. He’s a real ball of energy out there, with charisma to boot. Take a look at his karaoke skills below, as he belts out the Gloria Gaynor classic, I Will Survive.

3) What about Nadal, I thought he was Federer’s toughest competition?

At the French Open, Rafael Nadal is still the guy to beat. But after a disappointing loss to Tsonga in the semifinals, Nadal remains without a Grand Slam away from the clay. Tsonga is going to be a great player as well, but Nadal seemingly had a great shot to win in Australia, especially with the switch to a slower hardcourt.

When Djokovic won the tournament, he leapfrogged Rafael Nadal, because Novak actually beat Federer on a hard court, something Nadal has never done in a Grand Slam. Furthermore, Nadal seems to get chewed up by the hard court at the U.S. Open annually. He has only made it as far as the quarterfinals once in New York.

In contrast, Djokovic has reached the semifinals in all four grand slam events, which is a rarity given how common it is for even great players to struggle on a particular surface (Sampras on clay, Bjorg on the Aussie hard court, etc.).

So yes, Djokovic surpassed Nadal, because he could win any of the four Grand Slam events.

3) Is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for real or has he just had his 15 minutes?

Well, I’m not Bud Collins, but the buzz is that Tsonga is legit. Why not, he gave Djokovic a hell of a time in the finals, stretching him out to four sets (the only match where Novak lost a set). He also beat Nadal.

It will make a nice story to see him at the French Open with the home crowd behind him. If he could get a deep run in that event, I will definitely buy in on Tsonga. Regardless, he does resemble “The Greatest”.

4) Are Americans any good at tennis?

After winning the Davis Cup in the offseason, 2008 was looked to with some promise amongst Americans. The Australian Open proved to be a bad omen though, as no Yankee man or woman advanced beyond the quarterfinals.

Andy Roddick again lost in the early rounds and James Blake ended up losing to Roger Federer in the quarters. Worse yet, Donald Young and John Isner, who both showed promise in advancing to the 3rd round in last year’s U.S. Open, both lost in the 1st round. Definitely a disappointing result all around.

If any American man gets beyond the 3rd round at Roland Garros, I’d be amazed as the clay seems to muck up most Americans.

The best shot for an American winning a Grand Slam this year will of course come at the U.S. Open, where a rowdy New York crowd can will a home favorite into the next round. Realistically though, neither Blake nor Roddick have shown the ability to stay with Federer and Djokovic has surpassed them both. I would be disappointed but not shocked if it isn’t until Donald Young develops more (he’s just 1 before an American man wins a Grand Slam again.

5) Why don’t you analyze any women’s tennis?

To be honest, I watch more men’s tennis and would not give good insight on the ladies game. Furthermore, when I was talking about the women’s final to a friend, I couldn’t help but mention how a perfect match would’ve seen Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic make out between set changes. No one needs to hear that. Both women are gorgeous and play great tennis, there is no need to offend anyone by inserting double entendres over a nice “two-handed stroke” or “great skills in mixed doubles”.

Thank you to ESPN and YouTube for the above videos and to Getty Images and ViewImages for the above photos.

Augusta National Golf Club was based off of segregation from the start. The Fruitland Nursery that it was built on was originally a plantation. The plantation mindset still sticks around today. The racial discrimination has soften over the last 30 years beginning with Lee Elder becoming the first black man to play in the Masters in 1975 and the two designers Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, 1971 and 1977 respectively. But it has mostly lessened with Tiger Woods’ domination of the Masters since 1997.

I have talked to two black people one is from Augusta and now lives in Baltimore and the other is from Baltimore and has just moved to Augusta. They told me that Augusta was not a racist town. The Augusta native said “Naw it’s cool”. But when asked about The Masters he said “If you ain’t white, you ain’t getting in. And what color are we?” He was serious about it. He also said “And don’t buy tickets from anyone outside because they’re fake.” So it appears there still is some racial discrimination at Augusta National. And I’m not even getting into the Hootie Johnson/ Martha Burk face-off at the 2003 Masters for their men only policy…Next up Tiger leaves the field hanging.

Last night, the Cool Kids, Kid Sister and A-Trak set up shop in New York’s Museum of Natural History, providing the jams for a hipster-laden crowd of thousands beneath the Hayden Planetarium. The show was part of the Museum of Natural History and Flavorpil’s concert series One Step Beyond. I happened to miss the majority of Friday’s “Coolest Party in New York”, but still managed to still arrive fashionably late as my entrance coincided with that of Kanye West.

kanye west - stronger [live] from kelly reeves on Vimeo.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure, even after getting to the museum, if I was going to stay at the show or not. Though I wanted to see A-Trak and knew that the crowd would definitely be young and interesting, it seemed as though a series of events had been conspired to keep me from going.

For starters, my dinner plans with my friends ran late, as did some after dinner drinks. This is what happens when you make plans that you really want to do while the rest of your crowd is less interested. This turned out to be smallest hurdle I would encounter.

Once I arrived at the museum with my friend Danny, we were informed that tickets were no longer available at the door. Therefore we would have to get on the phone and hustle some to get a pair of tickets. Another one of our friends, Amos, was already there and had extra tickets but communicating with him and the sound of the concert inside was tough to do. After securing a pair of tickets, I made my way through the I.D. check as this was an over-21 show, only to find Danny lacking the proper identification. Every excuse in the book failed to get Danny in the door. Lucky for me he was nice enough to let me go ahead and enjoy the concert while he met up with some of his boys from back home.

With a near clear path to the party I was ready to enter, when I ran into two girls I knew from high school that needed a set of tickets. It had been years since I’d seen Sara or her sister, who’s name I can’t recall. I had one extra on me and knew that Amos had another one waiting at Will Call, but that would involve the surprisingly long Will Call line. Against my more selfish motives, I let me inner-Samaritan get the best of me and got the extra ticket.

After arriving at 10:30 pm, these shenanigans had cost me an hour of the concert as it was now 11:30.

I missed Cool Kids, who I was geeked up to see after listening to them throughout the day. Kid Sister was about done with her set, which left A-Trak to perform. I was about to begin my search for Amos, no small task seeing as how I was looking for one average sized white guy in room full of thousands, when who should walk in but Kanye West.

Mr. West came out and kicked off the set by joining Kid Sister on her Kanye produced song Pro Nails, a song that pays homage to girls and their nail polish. The room is absolutely wild at this point, which is odd to me because its the atrium of a science museum. In the space below the planetarium, there are thousands of New York Hipsters bopping along to Kanye.

The attendees were plenty of entertainment in their own, as seemingly all of Williamsburg had made their way to the Upper West Side of Manhattan. My favorite outfit of the night was the the 1995-96 Damon Stoudamire Toronto Raptors jersey and flat brimmed Raptors cap. I also saw another fella dressed a la Dan Deacon.

Kanye continues one with A-Trak on the turntables, going through his singles from Graduation, first perfoming Can’t Tell Me Nothin’, before moving on to Good Life and the Daft Punk driven Stronger. Kanye flew through the songs and was gone as quickly as he had arrived, but just him showing up jumps the party up a notch. A-Trak takes over, cutting great hip-hop tracks the rest of the night, including Baltimore’s own Young Leek with “Jiggle It Shorty”.

At this point, I finally meet up with Amos who informs me that we need to go see some other friends and get to the planetarium where the museum is showing a Robert Redford narrated show at midnight. Understand, that at this moment the people in attendance are absolutely hyped up on beer (which had sold out), music (Young Leek!) and mob mentality crazy, so a space show featuring Robert Redford sounding like just the thing to keep the trip going.

The Space Show was not Kanye West, but it did not disappoint as its visuals and its opportunity for dumb humorous comments were ample. At this point, someone could yell “And in the Eastern Sky, is the Death Star” or “TIE FIGHTERS” and under most circumstances the crowd would hysterically laugh. This is a vast departure from my last trip to the planetarium, as a 5th grader eager to learn about quasars.

Once the Space Show ended, the concert was winding up, but the energy just spilled out into the surrounding streets where many of the concert goers (myself included) found bars and the like to go and spend some more of the night.

It has recently come out that Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis sent his Head Coach Lane Kiffin a letter of resignation two weeks ago and asked him to sign. Kiffin has refused and has challenged Davis to fire him instead. Lane Kiffin went 4-12 with the Raiders last season, his first as Head Coach, and has two years left on his contract at $2 million per year. If Kiffin does resign he’ll join former Miami coach Cam Cameron in the one and done category. Both Kiffin and Cameron were first time head coaches this past season and inherited cellar-dwellers to boot. Which leads me to my question, how quickly can an owner expect results when the team is as bad as the Raiders or Dolphins?

Now, I’ll admit, I’m one of those guys that can get on a coach after two years of mediocrity. It took me two years at Pitt before I called for the ouster of Walt Harris. My first year there, 2002, he won 9 games and the Insight Bowl and, my sophomore year, he won 8 games and Pitt lost the Continental Tire Bowl to Virginia. The next season Pitt backed into the Fiesta Bowl by winning the Big East title almost by default and was memorably blown out by a Urban Meyer led Utah. Harris was fired at the end of the season and Dave Wannstedt stepped in as coach. His tenure has been considerably worse, as Pitt has failed to make a bowl game and have gone 5-7, 6-6 and 5-7. Yet I am willing to give Wannstedt two more seasons to show what he’s worth before I call for his ouster.

The difference between the two situations is simple. Walt Harris spent 8 seasons with Pitt and every year Pitt failed to challenge the powers in the Big East. Harris did resurrect Pitt from anonymity in the late 90s but after building them into a solid contender the program never made the leap to challenge the teams at the top. Harris had reached his peak and it was time to get a new coach. Wannstedt has struggled early but he has also proven himself a top recruiter, bringing in players such as LeSean McCoy who will star at Pitt for the next 2 -3 years. It is the influx of top recruits that gives Pitt fans hope for the future and allows Wannstedt a few years to coach his players. Every coach needs some time to install a system and a chance to get his recruits to pay to full potential. If in two season Pitt is still missing out on bowl games it will be time for Wannstedt to leave.

Wow, who knew I’d turn this into a Pitt article? Going back to the NFL, it’s tough to judge a coach after just one season. Considering Kiffin inherited a team that nobody thought would contend, his poor record in his first year can’t come as a surprise to owner Al Davis. So why is he already trying to push Kiffin out then? One questionable decision was not starting number one draft pick JaMarcus Russell as the season wore on and it became clear the Raiders weren’t going to make the playoffs. Perhaps the players came to Davis to complain. Or maybe Davis is angry that Randy Moss is in the Super Bowl with the Patriots after setting the TD record for recievers this season, and the Raiders gave him away for 50 cents on the dollar. The more likely reason is that Al Davis has gone senile. Surely Kiffin should be given another season or two to bring in some better personnel and for the players to become more familiar with his new system.

Al Davis is probably the most colorful owner in the NFL and has butted heads with the league itself in the past. Much like George Steinbrenner, the Yankees owner, he has been known to make knee jerk reactions. It has been rumored that Davis plans on bringing in Dennis Green to replace Kiffin. This rumor has been debunked by Green himself but it gives me an excuse to run this video.

My final verdict is this. If the stories are true, and Davis is trying to fire his coach, then he is being foolish. Kiffin is young and he is learning on the job. He can’t be fully evaluated until he has 2-3 seasons to show what he can do and to see if he can improve the Raiders. Calm down Al. Why don’t you take a nice cold shower and cool off a bit before you do anything you’ll regret in the morning.

Note: The article this story was taken from can be found here.

Photo Courtesy Of: ESPN (Icon SMI)

It’s Friday night and you all know what that means, another music video from the vault. This one is called “The Prodigal Son” by Two Gallants. This isn’t necessarily their best song, but it is one of the few that has a music video along with it. The video captures your attention during the 3:14 duration with old footage from the first half of the 1900s. I think the opening scenes are of people tanning but who knows. The song’s title is a reference to the parable of The Prodigal Son from the New Testament and tells the story from the title character’s point of view. So enjoy, and, as always, let me know what you think.

More to come on the Two Gallants in the coming weeks. I’ve been infatuated with this band for the past week and am working on an album review currently.