Monthly Archives: January 2021

The World’s First World Wide Web World Tour with The Hives

Daaaaaamn!, Music
1-23-2021

I think this picture I took says it all about The Hives.

A few months ago the band announced they would be steaming 6 shows in January, each one for a different city around the world. You could buy a ticket for every show if you wanted to, they wisely didn’t geolock them (they played from their home, Sweden).

Fans got to vote for a few songs to be played, they had a hotline to all into and overall it was really great. Even in a warehouse with a few crew members they put on a Hives worthy show through the internet. It was surprisingly fun! The picture broke up a few times with some bad artifacting but the audio was fine for the entire show. It was shot with one camera which was actually a great idea as it made it feel really intimate. The camera operator was basically moving around and through the band the whole time so it felt like I was there and Pelle was talking directly to me.

The only problem was-as always for The Hives-the show was too short! About an hour of sweat and swag. With so many great songs they could go forever but hey, a great way to spend $15 bucks. Solid set list and they played 2 rare/new/unreleased songs, Stick Up and Paint A Picture. Stick Up has been around for a while and is my favorite. Nick Arson’s guitar tone is killer, the riffs are dirty and it’s got the mind tickling moments of the trademark Hives bounce. It’s also like 2:30 long so it flies at you like a smack to the face.

More bands should do this.

Well That Went Well

NY Rangers

5-0

A 5-0 win. The Rangers played the exact opposite of game 1. Fast, aggressive, communication, great passing. Alexandar Georgiev planted his flag into the ice in minute one and had the entire crease on lockdown. His fifth career shutout; his second against the Islanders.

Whatever coach Quinn told them and however practice went after that, it worked. This was the team everyone was expecting. Putting in Phillip Di Giuseppe turned out to be smart, putting Tony DeAngelo in a time out for throwing a temper tantrum and getting a stupid unsportsmanlike penalty in game one…could pay off. It’s up to DeAngelo to get it through his head that he needs to be an adult. Quinn ain’t having that noise this season. He was benched last season for discipline reasons too, enough of the nonsense.

Discipline made the difference in this game. The Islanders got way more penalties. They were the ones who struggled to get any kind of control. The Rangers took the lead right away and it made a big difference. You could see the confidence. Kakko even got a sweet goal!

The future looks bright.

Shameless S11E04

TV

NIMBY

The best part of this episode was the Frank, Kev, Liam team-up. The Milkovich family moves in next door and that is like a slaughterhouse and a nuclear waste dump opening up. Frank is beside himself and quick to say his family is way better than them (the Gallaghers are well known in the neighborhood, to say the least). He wants them out. Kev doesn’t seem too bothered at the start buy quickly changes his mind. Liam is afraid for his life. A few plans are made up and none of them work. This will be a long term problem for Frank.

Another thing with Frank, he has one moment where he loses track of what he’s saying. He repeats himself just a minute later and does his best to cover it. It looked like Kev noticed it. It’s quickly forgotten as the Milkovich issue takes over but I think Kev will see it again and start to ask questions when he realizes it’s something that is happening frequently.

Carl is out on patrol with Janes and her hard stance on “justice” is putting him into more questionable situations. Their beat is Carl’s home so he’s seeing people he knows. He knows what they do and why they do it. He knows the struggle. He wants to give people warnings for the little things when she wants zero tolerance. He now has the power to arrest people and alter their lives forever and I think that responsibility is just dawning on him. Then, Janes takes harassment way too far and his conscience gets the best of him. He goes back after he goes off-duty to help. This is some of the best stuff they’ve done for Carl on the show. It’s interesting to see him redraw his lines and assess his values. He’s done horrible stuff over the years, he’s no saint. But it’s reassuring to see that he has morals and cares about other people.

V and Deb duke it out at the beauty pageant with some much needed comedy. Mad Deb is always fun and I always like seeing V flex her smarts and get things done. She’s a great “stage mom.”

A now unemployed Ian gets stuck following Mickey around. Ian doesn’t want him to carry a gun while he does security for Kev and V (not a good idea for a felon to have a gun) so he has to help Mickey as back up. Two is a bigger show of force anyway and Ian does have military training. They stumble upon a very lucrative job offer.

Lip gets dragged to brunch with Tami to meet up with an old teacher. Turns out they were way more than teacher/student. Lip didn’t even have to ask her the guy is so overt. Lip tells her he’s gross because the guy is a predator and she denies it until they meet his fiance. She can’t deny what this guy is and it makes her think about her past. Who needs to pay a crazy amount of money to a psychologist to reach a mind altering revelation? Not Tami! Well, she probably still does. She has layers. Like an onion.

Well That Didn’t Go Well

NY Rangers

I didn’t think the Rangers were going to win last night. Islanders were better last season, the team is going to be very rusty from not playing in 5 months, and new players means they need to learn how to play as a team.

But losing 4-0 is about as bad as you can get.

The same problems are still holding this team down. Incredibly slow to start. They looked slow. The first period was a disaster. Bad passing. Little coordination. Shesterkin let a soft one go in. Penalties are out of control. Too many many on the ice? Bush league. Tony DeAngelo gets a double minor because he throws a tantrum like a child. You got caught holding, get in the box and don’t cry about it.

I expect Coach Quinn to jump down some throats over that terrible game. There’s no excuse for it with this level of talent. It’s back at it tomorrow night, game 2 with the Islanders.

The NHL is back!

NY Rangers

The wait is finally over! The season started yesterday and the Rangers play the Islanders for the first time today at MSG. I’m so excited and the hype for the new teammates is off the charts.

This is going to be a wild and weird season. Shortened to 56 games and each division is only playing teams in their division to cut down on risky travel. The first week is going to be rough because no has played a hockey game in ages (those that didn’t make the playoff qualifier last year haven’t played in 10 months and everyone else it’s been 4-6 months).

The Rangers have massive potential. The draft picks from years ago are now coming in so the future of this team is being put to the test now. I’ve been waiting for K’Andre Miller for over 2 years now and it looks like he’s ready to become an all star. Number 1 draft pick Lafreniere also gets his debut and it’s needless to say a lot of eyes are on him too.

This squad is young. Just about every player who was on the team for the Stanley Cup against LA in 2014 is no longer with the team. There are a handful of vets that need to help shepherd these new guys. It’s going to be rough. Mistakes will be made. The potential high side is off the charts. The first line is simply monstrous, easily one of the strongest in the league.

But how is the defense? It’s going to be put to the test every night. The Metro division is stacked with killers and every one them is going to be played 8 times. There’s little room for error, every game counts with 26 fewer games in the season. This team has to stop more shots on goal and win faceoffs. Those were abysmal stats last year and both make it harder than necessary to win games.

Let the games begin! I’m so excited.

It’s that 2021 feeling

Life

We can pretty much call 2020 the year of death. It started with Austalia on fire and then the Kobe Bryant helicopter accident sent people reeling. That was before COVID-19 made it’s presence fully known.

Yes, 2020 wasn’t all bad. But for most people it was. And it’s not over. A new calendar doesn’t magically reset everything but the feeling of hope is in the air.

That hope, I think, is everyone looking towards the future. We’ve never had a more important time to work together to move forward. I hope enough people feel and act the same way for us to keep moving forward. It won’t be easy but it can be done. I’d like functioning adults to take the wheel and pilot us out of this.

I think this picture from Times Square last night says it all. We can’t have another 2020, it’s not right.