I Want: Tofurkey & Gravy Soda

I came accross this while surfing the internets.  I want.  I really do…

When it comes to a holiday meal I am the one who always gets questioned by my family.  I am for the most part a vegetarian.  I say “for the most part” because I like seafood.  I never labeled myself vegetarian, others did, and I am not a vegan because I love cheese (even though I hate milk).  I guess I am just a picky eater.

Regardless, when it comes to Thanksgiving I usually eat the mashed potatoes and the vegetarian stuffing I bring.  I am ok with that.  Sometimes I even bring Tofurky, but only because my family gets a laugh out of it.  They don’t understand my eating habits. 

This year I am bringing something different to the table…

Jones teamed up with the good folks at Tofurky and came up with this:

Turkey and gravy flavored soda? 

As if that is not hilarious enough, it’s vegan! 

You can buy a gift pack just in time for the holidays if you want to liven things up a little.  Each limited edition gift pack includes:

— 1 Bottle of Jones Zilch Black Cherry
— 1 Bottle of Jones Zilch Pomegranate
— 1 Bottle of Jones Zilch Vanilla Bean
— 3 Bottles of ToFurkey
— 1 ToFurkey Metal Lunch Box.

All this for only $11.99.

SOLD.

Also, with each case sold, Jones will donate $1 to PAWS, people helping animals. That right there is a good thing.

If anyone does happen to order this too I want to hear what you think.  I have had some of the Jones holiday sodas before and they were pretty….well…interesting.  I am looking forward to this.

The Awesome: Flogging Molly & Frank Turner!!! (more F’s)

Thanks to Jon @ SideOneDummy for the heads up!!!

FLOGGING MOLLY HAS JUST ANNOUNCED FRANK TURNER AS MAIN SUPPORT FOR GREEN 17 TOUR!!!

November 12, 2009 – Los Angeles, CA – FLOGGING MOLLY has added FRANK TURNER as main support on most of their annual countdown to St Patrick’s Day – the 2010 Green 17 Tour. In addition, the band has announced a new date on the Green 17 Tour in Rochester, NY at the Main Street Armory on February 28th, 2010.

Flogging Molly’s 2010 Green 17 Tour tour is in it’s sixth year running and brings fans the release of the band’s new single and video for “Punch Drunk Grinning Soul” from their latest album FLOAT.

Tickets for the entire Green 17 Tour go on sale to the general public this weekend through normal ticket outlets! Presale tickets with a reduced ticketing service charge are on sale now for the entire tour at http://www.floggingmolly.tickets.musictoday.com

HERE ARE THE 2010 GREEN 17 TOUR DATES:
2/9/2010 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues^
2/10/2010 – Houston, TX – House of Blues^
2/12/2010 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall^
2/13/2010 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle^
2/14/2010 – Tampa, FL – The Ritz^
2/16/2010 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues^
2/17/2010 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues^
2/18/2010 – Charleston, SC – The Music Farm^
2/19/2010 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore^
2/20/2010 – Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues^
2/22/2010 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva^
2/23/2010 – Baltimore, MD – Ram’s Head Live!^
2/25/2010 – Hartford, CT – Webster Theatre^
2/26/2010 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory^
2/27/2010 – Boston, MA – House of Blues^
2/28/2010 – Rochester, NY – Main Street Armory^
3/2/2010 – New York, NY – Hammerstein Ballroom^
3/3/2010 – University Park, PA – Robeson Center Alumni Hall/ Penn State Univ.*
3/4/2010 – Columbus, OH – LC Pavillion^
3/5/2010 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues^
3/6/2010 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore^
3/8/2010 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room^
3/9/2010 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s^
3/10/2010 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant^
3/12/2010 – Milwaukee, WI – The Eagles Club^
3/13/2010 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom^
3/14/2010 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater*
3/15/2010 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom*
3/17/2010 – Tempe, AZ – Tempe Beach Park*

^ Frank Turner is main support on this date

* no Frank Turner on this date
More info on Flogging Molly tickets (click here)

A Whole Lotta F’s (Fun Fun Fun Fest)

Reason 576 why Austin, TX is a cool city… Fun Fun Fun Fest. I am jealous I was not there. Really jealous…  Seriously look at this line up!

I’ve been to festivals that had good line ups in my time but it seems as if Fun Fun Fun Fest takes the cake.  They have some special means of attracting some of the more obscure bands for a weekend of awesome and I only wish something like this could happen in my area.

I took a few moments tonight to look for some fan shot footage.  Here is what I found:

Face To Face was there. They told everyone they were back…

The Jesus Lizard proved that age does not matter…and that chubby is sexy (to some)…

Then there was the Pharcyde

Danzig.  Need I say more???

Then there was Yeasayer

All of the previous bands I would have loved to have seen but nothing would have made me happier than seeing the Gorilla Biscuits live…

Yeah, I am jealous.  I know there was a ton more awesome shows there but I need to stop watching online videos before I sink into a musical depression.

Maybe next year I will hit up Fun Fun Fun Fest.  Just maybe.

Mike Doughty – Sad Man, Happy Man – CD Review

(*Editor’s Note – Thanks to my reliable laptop crashing this was postponed for quite sometime.)

Before I even start I would like to publicly kick myself in the ass for not attending last night’s Mike Doughty concert at the Beachland Ballroom (Oct. 10th).  I know I missed a good time and I am the one to blame for missing it.  I just had too much going on and not enough green paper in the wallet so I decided to sit it out and today am regretting it.  I also had the flu of sorts so it just was not happening.

Luckily I got my hands on his new album so at least I have something to listen to and talk about.

I always admire the musicians out there in the world that have overcome hardship and feed off the fan reaction rather than make music for pure financial purposes. One performer in particular that comes to mind when I think about a hard working true music maker is Mike Doughty.  Doughty, as many know, was the lead man of the 90’s alt rock act Soul Coughing.  Sadly the band called it quits thanks to constant battles with drugs and also financial hardship but Doughty kept going on doing his own thing.

He started recording solo material and soon had a cult following who worshiped his every word and sang along with to every song.  I was one of those folk who took a huge liken to him.  I loved seeing Doughty on stage alone with guitar in hand singing folky and rocky songs to an ever loving crowd.

Doughty took his fan’s reaction to his 2008 solo release Golden Delicious and used it to mold his next release titled Sad Man, Happy Man.  Some of the fans loved the rock pop heavy Golden Delicious while others hated it.  Perhaps the dis-likening came from the more upbeat fun styles that were bursting from the tunes over former albums.

Having such a huge step up from his widely known solo material was credited with Doughty’s “dude theory”, an idea of recording music that sounds like a bunch of dudes playing music for the fun of it. The result of his dude music won new fans and also caused some of the more so diehard fans to go so far as calling him a sellout for doing what he did. Not taking the negative reactions personal he used it to his benefit and began a different approach when creating new material.

In fact he used the responses as a fuel of sorts to making something better in his current release and admitted that his previous album sparked an array of feelings by saying:

“…some hated it, some loved it better than Soul Coughing.  I tend to take sharp left turns. Every time I put out a record, the audience seems to like what I did two years ago better. You’d think I could shrug it off because that’s what always happens, but it always gets to me.”

As a fan of everything Doughty has done since the days of Soul Coughing I have to admit that I was one of the fans who liked Golden Delicious. It was a change in his style but still catchy to my ears.  Just check out my review I did on it.  I was happy from start to finish and the album is still played here and there when I am looking for something fun to jam out to.

When I heard that Doughty was going back to his roots when recording Sad Man,Happy Man I was eager for the release.  After hearing listening to it (over and over I might add), it is clear that Doughty reached back to his solo roots as well as the days when he was in the popular 90’s act and pushed aside that poppy feel Golden Delicious had going on.  This time around there is more of a Soul Coughing vibe and less of the more pop rock he achieved previously.

“Nectarine (Part II)” sequel to song on Golden Delicious was acoustic with a brief add of Irresistible Bliss horns. “(I Keep On) Rising Up” continued with Doughty’s signature raspy hypnotizing voice moving through a more personal jam (he wrote it during hardship in a relationship).  Just after a couple of tracks and it was perfectly clear he was stripped down and focused on the acoustic.

“(You Should Be) Doubly (Gratified)” was a nice smooth rock song with long time touring pal Andrew “Scrap” Livingston taking bass duties.  I should add that this album is just Doughty and Livingston with Doughty providing not just the singing and guitars but also the drum programming and keyboards as well.

“(I Want To) Burn You (Down)” was a poignant acoustic jam reminiscent to the days when Doughty would play shows and would sell CDs himself from the stage after wards when he was trying to get back on his feet. “Pleasure On Credit” clearly reached back to his witty Soul Coughing days. I don’t think it was possible for me to enjoy this song more so than I did the first time I heard it.

Ending the CD with a Daniel Johnston cover completed this album for me. Hearing Doughty’s take on “Casper The Friendly Ghost” had me smiling.  The version was not nearly as depressing as the original schizophrenic take but still held on to Daniel Johnston’s eerie original.

It’s great to see that Mike Doughty keeps on going and Sad Man, Happy Man shows no form of slowing down.  It sounded throughout the album as if he was just having fun without getting too serious and to me that is what I admire him most for.  With all the hell the man has been though he never seemed to stop having fun doing what he loved – play music, and loving it while doing so.

Not just a musician but also an outspoken blogger.  Check out Mike Doughty’s blog site.  He’s not just a clever song writer you know…


Looks like I missed out on a little Q&A at the Beachland…  The tour was called the Question Jar Tour.  Looks like they took it very literally.  Damn me for getting sick!

Blog On: The Vomitus Prime Show According To Kevin

One of my pals since the easy days of sitting on milk crates on Saturday night on the side of a Dunkin Donuts has been telling me a lot about something out there I need to check out.  He even went so far as to asking me to do a little write-up about said entertainment.

I had a better idea.  I told him to do it.  Not because I am lazy and did not want to, but I wanted his excitement for the podcast put into words for all to read.  At first Kevin was hesitant and after strong force and blatant threats he agreed.

So now I turn it over to Kevin…  Thanks pal.


Remember the days when you were a sophomore in high school and you were so into that one awesome band? You listened to them all the time, sported the t-shirt, and told everyone about them just trying to share the love.  Sadly people just gave you an idiot stare while asking if you still had to pee in a cup before school.  The wanted nothing to do with you or that stupid band you were in to.

Shockingly a few months later those same people that you were wildly raving at are telling you about the same new band that they discovered.  You knew deep down inside that you though were the OG of that band, you knew about them all along…

I’m about to relive that glory once again, but not with a band this time.  This time it is with a podcast.

WAIT!  Keep reading.

I know that there is a lot of garbage podcasts out there, especially in the comedy section. Just because you have $20 for a mic and your mom told you that you were talented doesn’t make it OK to have a show. There is talent out there, you just have to look.

For the past few months I have been listening to Bill and Will make some comedy magic on something called The Vomitus Prime podcast.

What is Vomitus Prime you ask?  I took this direct from their site to give you a little insight on what they are all about:

Vomitus Prime has nothing to do with transformable robots. It’s a rotating cast from the tail end of Generation X. They spend about an hour roughly once a week reminiscing their past glories, dreaming up derelict things to save money, and mocking others. Sometimes high-tech, sometimes classless, sometimes culinary. Always worth every cent.

Now that I have your attention…

Bill is currently working on his 121st episode with his 3rd 4th 5th 6th co-host, Will. The show takes place somewhere in the Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin tri-state area, it’s exact location remaining a mystery.

Actually, now that it’s getting into winter you might be able to find the hideout by the glow of the depression light via Bill’s desk. Bill is a man with the social skills of The Unabomber and a sense of humor reminiscent of Bill Hicks. His partner, Will, is an ADD-afflicted nymphomaniac whose curiosity takes the show on wild tangents.

When you get your weekly dose of Vomitus Prime you’ll get a mix of politically uncool humor. Everything is fair game, and don’t worry–you’ll get used to getting the stink-eye from folks at the grocery store when you let out a maniacal laugh from the show.

Listening to Vomitus Prime keeps you at age 25 – forever. Its a time when life’s early milestones have been passed. You are no longer carded because the bartender can see the pleading in your eyes for a drink. Golden and amber refreshment is the only way to replenish the bit of your soul that is taken every day in Cubicleland.

Much like happy hour, an hour of Vomitus Prime lets you rant about the day, laugh about it, and point on the doll where life has maliciously touched you. Its enough to get you through it until you have to go right back at it tomorrow.

In each episode, members of The Vomitus Party call in their Vomications for all of the cool stuff in their world, and vehemently Decepticoning the merciless ways the life can put you through the wringer. Other features of the show are the drunken cooking tips from Wolfgang Drunk, knowing the value of a “dollah”, and remembering all of the awesome things in life that for some reason disappeared in Bringin’ It Back.

It is one of the few podcasts I’ve found that strongly encourages audience participation and they do it with great results. The place where Vomitus Prime eclipses most all other comedy shows is the chemistry between the hosts. You have Bill’s viciously clever wit that melds with Will’s obscure, yet relevant observations.

If you’re new to podcasts this is a good place to start. If you’re still looking for a good comedy podcast that’s more than dick and fart jokes from the morning zoo, (Vomitus Prime have only the finest fancy dick and fart jokes), head over to www.vomitusprime.com or find them on iTunes and see, rather listen to, the nonsense I speak about.