Somehow this news escaped my attention when it first broke, but John Rutsey (co-founder and original drummer for Rush) died at age 55 over the weekend. Preliminary word is the cause of death was a heart attack possibly related to complications from diabetes, which he had been living with for decades.

Rush fans know the background well - Rutsey helped co-found the band in Toronto during the summer of 1968, along with guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist/singer Jeff Jones. Jones’s stay was brief, and he was replaced in short order by Geddy Lee. After more lineup shifts the trio of Lee, Lifeson, and Rutsey was cemented in May 1971. It was this trio that released the band’s self-titled debut in March 1974.

Rutsey left Rush in July 1974, with the main causes reportedly being health concerns and creative differences. He was replaced later that month by Neil Peart, and the rest as they say is history. While Peart’s impact on the group is immeasurable, I think most Rush fans have always appreciated Rutsey’s very important role in the band’s history. It certainly is interesting to ponder what might have become of the group had he stuck with them.

So thanks, John. In your honor I shall play the Rush album on my drive home, and turn it up to 11.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tags:   Music · RushNo Comments.

New York news anchor Sue Simmons is usually good for at least one or two laughs during every newscast. She’s a capable newsperson, but oftentimes she’ll trip over a word and has a hard time recovering. But last night she enunciated all too well during this bumper for the 11 PM news…

No Sue, the question is what the fuck are you doing?

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tags:   Television · YouTube4 Comments

Starting today and running every Monday until I lose interest, I’m going to feature one album cover that is notable for either being well-crafted, visually striking, humorous, or all of them at once. I am old enough to remember when vinyl still held sway as the dominant format for music delivery, and I’ve always lamented the decline of the format for reasons other than the ones usually trotted out (i.e. it just “sounds” nicer than compact discs).

Back in the day (yes, that dreaded phrase), album covers served as the last chance for a record to sell itself. Would-be owners spent hours thumbing through record racks, waiting for something to pop out at them. A lot of great (and lousy) music was discovered this way.

So with all that out of the way, here’s your album cover for the week of May 12, 2008:

The Sounds of Jimmy Smith, Blue Note, 1957 (photo by Harold Feinstein)

Fans of the venerable Blue Note record label recognize what came to be the imprint’s signature cover look throughout its heyday - an image of the artist cast in a distinctive color (like this). 1957’s The Sounds of Jimmy Smith took a slightly different direction, as it didn’t show a picture of the legendary jazz organist at all. To be honest, I’m not really certain what the image is supposed to be, but it looks like something Nikola Tesla probably invented. Also, it’s really cool.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tags:   Album covers · Albums · Jimmy Smith · MusicNo Comments.

Despite the tragic death of Heath Ledger, the intense ad campaign for The Dark Knight continues. Most of these ads reflect the rather dark and disturbing mood the film is sure to revel in. And for many Bat-fans, this is how it should be. Batman is, at its core, a pretty dark and disturbing franchise about a kid whose parents are murdered and trains for years to become a high-tech vigilante.

But it wasn’t always this way. Despite the gritty origins of the character, ol’ Bats had become a bit watered down by about the mid-1950s. This is due to a number of factors, but chief among them was the restrictions placed on all comics by establishment of the Comics Code Authority in 1954. The height of the character’s neutering came about, however, with the 1966 debut of the Batman television series.

Thanks to the initial success of the show, a feature-length movie was filmed in April/May 1966 and released in July. It was accompanied, naturally, by a host of printed materials such as posters and whatnot. Many of these posters reflect the campy nature of the show and movie. Others are…well, they’re actually rather scary. Let’s take a look… [Read on, Daddy-O →]

Popularity: 16% [?]

Tags:   Advertising · Batman · Movies · RetrotisementsNo Comments.

• Would it unconstitutional to introduce capital punishment for anyone who posts a variation of “First!” to start a comment thread?
• How about for people who use the words “preggo” or “preggers”?
• Is there a bigger oxymoron than Ticketmaster’s “convenience charge”? For whom is it convenient to spend 8-10 bucks to get a piece of paper printed?
• Why is it that most reality shows are more obviously scripted than non-reality shows? As far as I can remember, the only true “reality” show I have ever seen is COPS.
• How did drivers ever find their way around before the advent of portable GPS devices?
• What did people say instead of “drinking the Kool-Aid” before Jonestown?
• WTF is wrong with Carrot Top? At what point does a human being look at himself in the mirror and decide this is a good look?

Popularity: 23% [?]

Tags:   RantsNo Comments.

Oh happy day! After what seems like years of waiting (1 year, 7 months, 17 days actually - but who’s counting?), The Venture Bros. will finally return to [adult swim] on June 1st! But as the last month-plus of waiting ticks slowly by, I can at least amuse myself with the recently released teaser trailer for season 3.

According to Jackson Publick himself, this trailer only draws from 3 1/2 episodes of the season, but man does it bode well for the whole shebang! It’s so good to see many of my old friends - Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend, Rusty Venture, the Alchemist, Master Billy Quizboy, Brock Samson, Hank Venture (no Dean though). And how awesome is that G.I. Joe tribute???

(If the embedded trailer above doesn’t respond, just follow the link in the first paragraph.)

Popularity: 32% [?]

Tags:   Venture Bros.No Comments.

I’m not a huge basketball fan, but being in the New York radio & TV market and being a sports fan has made it nigh impossible to not know something of the disaster that was Isiah Thomas’s reign as head coach and president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks. In four full seasons as the team president and two as head coach, Isiah’s Knicks set new standards in futility, twice tying the team record for losses in a season (59 of 82 games). Playing in a city with a proud sports heritage, the Knicks became the real-life equivalent of the Washington Generals.

But losing was only part of the humiliation - tawdry scandal and general piss-poor decision-making reared their ugly heads at every turn with Thomas. In trying to think of a sports executive who displayed equal parts cluelessness and bad taste, I had to turn to the fictional world of the long-running sitcom Seinfeld, which placed the typically incompetent George Costanza in a cushy assignment with the New York Yankees. A stretch? Yeah, probably. But hey, let’s run with it anyway.

[Read on, Daddy-O →]

Popularity: 38% [?]

Tags:   Baseball · Basketball · Knicks · Seinfeld · Showdown · Sports · YankeesNo Comments.

While you’ve all been consumed with trivial stuff like the Democratic Pennsylvania primary, climbing gas prices, or the little imbroglio over the Beijing Olympics, a pretty major milestone occurred right here on this site. Earlier this morning GFS welcomed its 10,000th visitor since I made the move from my old blog in February 2007. Sure it doesn’t seem like all that much compared to really popular sites, but I’m continually amazed that anyone wants to read my drivel after all this time.

So I didn’t want to let the occasion pass without offering a hearty huzzah and thank-you to everyone who’s stopped by over the last 14 months, whether they visited once or visit often. My solemn pledge is to continue offering the same brand of mediocre humor and warmed-over insight that I am committed to bringing you on a somewhat regular basis.

And in case you’re curious, visitor #10,000 came to the site from Fribourg, Switzerland and landed here. Whoever you are, my Swiss friend, anytime you’re in my neck of the woods stop by and I’ll treat you to the Happy/Value Meal of your choice! Because I’m generous like that.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Tags:   Blogstuff1 Comment

I received an interesting email from eMusic today that challenged me to test my musical intelligence. Naturally I got right on that. I scored a 129 out of 180 (how it’s scored I have no idea), which makes me a Mix-Tape Master (aw yeah!). Here’s what it says about me:

You are a music evangelist: the person in your network of friends who always has the coolest new song, the one whose iPod gets picked to DJ every party. You understand the art of the segue, how the key to the best mix-tape isn’t just the songs you pick, but how they interlock with each other. You also know who the up-and-coming acts are and are quick to recognise where their influences lie and whether they will make it big. You work hard at the pursuit of this knowledge, scouring music blogs, magazines and record stores. Most importantly, you are generous with your passion – and your friends should be very, very grateful. Still, it’s always good to get new inspiration for your latest mix.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Some of the questions were obvious jokes, which I’m a little disappointed in. It’s not like they couldn’t think of 30 serious questions in a row. I guessed on a few, but that’s to be expected. Anyway, here’s the quiz if you’re so inclined. No cheating!

Popularity: 45% [?]

Tags:   Memes · Music4 Comments

District Judge Robert Patterson Jr., who admitted (without embarrassment, presumably) that he found the “magical world” of the Harry Potter book series “hard to follow, filled with strange names and words that would be gibberish in any other context.” (Judge Patterson, by the way, presided over the recently concluded copyright trial involving J.K. Rowling and RDR Books, would-be publishers of the Harry Potter Lexicon.)

Now this is a first - an adult actually claiming that Harry Potter is too confusing. And not just any adult, but one who presumably graduated from law school at some point and is capable of reading and comprehending rather complex legal briefs and literature. And a quick check reveals that, indeed, the Hon. Judge Patterson graduated from Harvard and Columbia Law. Of course that was during the Truman administration, so I guess I can see why he might be so confounded.

So to help the judge to render a fair verdict, I’d like to publish a mini-lexicon of my own for his personal use (please don’t sue me J.K.)…
[Read on, Daddy-O →]

Popularity: 46% [?]

Tags:   Books · Harry Potter · Law · StupidityNo Comments.