6.27.2002

Blogger is all flaky today. WTF? Anyway, let's take two: Shout-out and props to my New York City co-worker Anthony for sending me this slice of pure poetry.

posted by 12:02 PM

Shout-out and props to my New York City co-worker Anthony for sending me posted by 11:59 AM

6.26.2002

Simply put, this is genius.
posted by 10:44 AM

6.24.2002

"Kings from Queens, from Queens come kings....."
VH-1's Ultimate Albums is starting to be even more entertaining than Behind The Music. Instead of the usual storyline ("band is born, band gets popular, band descends into deep, desolate hell from drinking, drugging and divorcing, band recoveres, band makes terrible music that sells millions"), this show goes into some details about how a particular album was made, the circumstances, the atmosphere and the personalities involved behind the consoles. Last night's episode profiled the making of RUN-DMC's "Raising Hell," which arguably could be called one of the most pivotal pop albums of all-time. "Raising Hell" essentially ushered in the popularity of rap music. Oh sure, The Sugar Hill Gang had rap's first true hit back in the late '70s, but "Raising Hell" brought rap to the mainstream, delivered it to the suburbs and instantly had teens abuzz - all the makings of a pivotal album. Great show last night and a tremendous album. My two favorite parts:

1. The fact that when they were first sampling "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith, they had no idea who the band was or what the song was because all DJs pulled the labels off of vinyl so as not to get caught illegally "scratching" vinyl for copyright reasons.
2. Grandmaster Flash gently ripping on Blondie for her pathetic attempt at rap on the tune "Rapture."
3. Old Rick Rubin pictures. Funny stuff.

Catch the show if you can. If VH-1 had any sense, they'd put the whole Behind The Music and Ultimate Albums series on DVD and watch the greenbacks roll in.

Darryl Kile, All-Star pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, dies in his sleep at the age of 33 over the weekend, apparantly from hardening of the arteries. How is this even possible? Especially a professional athlete. A few things I can comment on here: a) this guy was a bigtime pitcher - I always liked watching him pitch, b) it's beyond me how the medical staff of the Cardinals didn't see any problems. Before each season, these players supposedly undergo very thorough physical examinations - and they didn't find any problems? I would hope, based on the amount of money these baseball players get paid (and how much it costs to insure them) that the exams involve a complete test of the central organ in the body! Apparantly they do not? I don't know. I do know that each player does have a stress test before each season, but I am not sure if they can detect coronary hardening that way. Either way, this is an incredible tragedy. Watching the Cardinals before the game last night was so sad - those guys were still visibly shaken up. Unreal.
posted by 3:22 PM

6.21.2002

My day yesterday: set the alarm for 4:26am. Holy shit. Got up, stumbled around, showered, dressed - even wore a tie - and ate a banana and left for the airport. Time on the clock while in the Sumner Tunnel: 5:12am. As a sidenote, let me tell you what an absolute dream it is to drive on the central artery in downtown Boston when there is nobody on the road. It was surreal. Anyway, hop on a flight to Newark at 6:00am, just before we pull back from the gate, I hear Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold" on the speakers. Very nice. Anyway, the flight was uneventful and we touch down in bee-yoo-tiful Newark, New Jersey around 7am.

One good thing about the Newark airport is their mini-subway system that shuttles people from terminal to terminal, including stops for rental cars, parking, etc. It's an overground monorail and it works to perfection. So I am off to Avis. Avis has great customer service - you know why? Because I don't have to deal with them. I get off the monorail and walk directly to parking space number 55, where there's a big piece of paper hanging off the rear view mirror that says "Jeff Copetas." Perfect. I'm off to the races in my rented Grand Am, with the sweet sounds of Jay Bennett & Edward Burch coming out of the CD player. Always bring CDs when you rent a car. It occurs to me as I am driving on 287 South in New Jersey that it's 8:15am and I've already been awake almost four hours.

First stop, Basking Ridge, NJ. Meeting. We meet. We talk. All of us are white guys in their 30s and 40s. One year from now, it will mean nothing to anybody. Anyway, an hour later, I'm back on the road, heading into New York City. In through the Holland Tunnel and up into the glory of one the world's finest cities. I need to drop off the rental, so I slide down a few side streets and ahead of me I see a large clearing, not sure what this is, but it's odd - this is NYC, after all. Upon approach, I realize what I am seeing - Ground Zero. Right in front of me. I stop the car and look up to where those two towers once stood and tried to imagine, seriously imagine, those towers there, and those airplanes, and the horror. I'm standing right there, and I still cannot even imagine actually being there when it occured or that it even happened. Occasionally I still think it was simply a swift job of video editing or something and that I will wake up and hope it's a glorious morning on September 11th, 2001 and it was all just a disgusting dream. Then we can go back to not casually looking around to see who's on our airplane. So our friends don't have to drive to Florida instead of fly. So we don't have to look at just about everyone of middle eastern descent and wonder. Come to think of it, I pretty much look at everyone and wonder. Or wonder what's inside that truck that just drove by. Or anything. Anything. My first trip to Ground Zero. Glad I went, still just cannot imagine, cannot even fathom or comprehend, how painful it must have been (and still is) for people to have witnessed it.

Anyway, I dropped off the car and went to our NYC office. An hour later, on my way to another meeting, this time on Broadway in the heart of it all. Good times, good times. And DAMN I am tired already! Meeting over, and I've arranged for a ride back to Newark airport at 4pm. I get in the car and the guy says "are you Jeff Copetas?" Now, let me tell you something, okay? When you get into the back of a car and someone says that to you, it feels damn cool. Like I'm something important or whatever. I know I'm not, but for a fleeting minute there, I felt like saying, "yes, yes I am. Please take me to my private jet." Hah. Anyway, all I said was "well, yes, and you even pronounced it correctly," and he responded by saying, "ah, that is because I am not an American, you know?" Oh god. Just what I need. I end up avoiding conversation with him by making several calls which easily could have waited until today. Blah blah blah and I land in Boston at 7:45pm after being assaulted by chatter on the airplane for 40 minutes straight. It's the equivilant of having someone throw small pebbles at you for one hour. Back home and in the door at 9pm and in bed at 11. A 20 hour day.

The good part, I am still in the clothes I slept in, working from home today, awaiting the arrival of our new furniture. And that's all there is.........


posted by 11:05 AM

6.19.2002

Sad news to report - one of baseball's greatest broadcasters, Jack Buck, died this morning. He did play-by-play for St. Louis Cardinals games for 48 years, and although I never got to hear him on a regular basis, I watched enough playoff games over the last 20 years to appreciate just how graceful and fantastic a broadcaster he was - perfect for a game of baseball. I'll never forget watching Kirk Gibson's epic home run in the World Series about 10 years ago and Buck's minimalist comment "I can't believe what I just saw."

With bad news, however, comes good news - SLOAN is coming to Boston on July 23.
posted by 10:47 AM

Sometimes on this blog I tend to get overly verbose. After reading today's edition of The Onion, though, specifically, the interview with David Lee Roth, I really have nothing to say that could match up. Roth is either more intelligent than I thought, or a complete imbecile (remember, that would be the mind and physical capacity of a 7-year old). Either way you look at it, the interview is a must-read.


posted by 10:18 AM

6.16.2002

One of the best things when it comes to music is the discovery process - finding a super-cool band under the radar-screen. Some of them end up making it big, some stay under the radar screen - either way - that whole process of following that band and that feeling of building anticipation when you hear there's a new album coming out, or that they're coming to play in Boston - that's one of the coolest feelings. Another great feeling is the re-discovery process. See, I have about 1600 CD's. That's really fun because the possibilities for great mixes are endless and the supply of good music simply never runs out. It not really fun when you have to move, though. Anyway, I haven't listened to The VolebeatsUp North for quite some time - probably two years or so - and I've forgotten just how much this band meant to me at one time. Which is sad, but okay, because I've re-discovered them. "Up North" is a 13-song collection that is not party music. What it is, though, is 13 songs, skillfully crafted, slightly dark and acoustic, but not depressing and the singer has one of the most memorable voices I've ever heard put on tape. The Volebeats are really a great, great band.

Well, I bought my car two weeks ago and there's already 780 miles on it. For those of you scoring at home, that's an average of 52 miles per day, and I was gone in New York all last week!Alas, the car is awesome.

Speaking of New York, I stayed at an pretty awesome hotel called The Hotel Giraffe on Park Avenue and 26th. I'll be staying there every time I go to New York now (I actually have to go back this Thursday....). It's just..........classy, and priced fairly. They had a beautiful garden deck on the roof where you could sit outside and read the paper and eat (free) breakfast in the morning. They had free champagne, cheese & crackers, and cookies in the afternoon, and a piano player, too, down in the lobby. The rooms were totally swank - silk comforter, dark cherry wood decor (closet, bathroom door, etc). Oh yeah, every night when I got home, too, they had turned down the sheets for me, dimmed the lights, and had the CD player playing at low volume. It was awesome. Quality service. I left the biggest tip I've ever left for a hotel housekeeper.

You see staged shots on television and cartoons of people falling off treadmills, but I've never seen it actually happen in person until this week in New York when I was working out with a fellow co-worker one morning before work. I had just got on the eliptical machine and he had just got on the treadmill, and he turned to say something to me and just about got shot backwards like a slingshot. I couldn't help but laugh, and even he was laughing. He didn't fall off it, but man, was it close....


posted by 11:42 AM

6.14.2002

Yo yo yo. Been away in NYC for work and haven't had a spare minute. But it was a fun, fun trip. More on that some other time.

Anyway, I recently discovered what the difference is between a moron, and idiot and an imbecile. These words were originally designated as legitimate medical terms to differentiate the different levels of mental retardation. Morons were thought to have the mental, physical and emotional capacity of a 12-year old. Imbeciles had the capacities of a 7-year old and idiots were thought to have the capacity of a 3-year old. So next time you need to call someone something, you'll smile to yourself, knowing exactly what you think of them. Idiot is clearly the way to go.


posted by 10:35 AM

6.6.2002

I've gotten access to some early photos of the next installment of Star Wars, due to be released in 2005. Here, special guest star Andre Agassi is getting accustomed to using "the force." Somebody should tell him he doesn't need to make that face to make the tennis ball levitate, but hell, he's still learning.




posted by 11:02 AM

6.5.2002

My top 5 soda flavors:

1. Stewart's Key Lime
2. Fresca
3. Stewart's Cream Soda
4. Barq's Root Beer
5. Sprite

I tried Vanilla Coke on Sunday, and I wasn't overwhelmed, but it was okay. I'm not a big fan of regular Coke anyway, so I'm not surprised that I wasn't overly crazy about it.

My top 5 candy cars:

1. Twix
2. Snickers
3. Kit Kat
4. Mr. Goodbar
5. Baby Ruth


posted by 1:01 PM

posted by Jeff Copetas