and he really went off saying how great it was that after the show was over the sound guy blasted two michael jackson tunes and everyone started dancing and didnt stop.

today Lindsay over at LAist posted some video on her review of the show

It is, I’d wager, impossible to dispute that this was a phenomenal show. In perusing message boards and chatting with others in attendance Sunday night, the consensus is that this show has set for many a new bar when it comes to live gigs in venues on par with the Wiltern, and many will enthuse that this was the best they’d ever seen Phoenix. I would concur, and yet, am of dual mind on the matter, because I sorely missed songs like “Victim of the Crime,” and “Everything is Everything,” which could have blended well into the mix of songs on the evening’s set list. It was an incredible show, and it will be interesting to see how the band takes to the stage come September at the Greek, in a recently announced return visit to Los Angeles.

When the lights flooded the inside of the Wiltern and the band was long gone off stage the energy in the room was palpable, and translated into something wholly emblematic of the time in which this show occurred: an impromptu dance party to Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” and “The Way You Make Me Feel,” thanks to the savvy of the person in charge of the venue’s sound system.

looks like i might have to catch that greek show, despite the fact that So Many great shows are happening in september.

maybe its because they’re focused on cow tails?

via Arnold’s twitter

shows you how busy ive been at work. we’ve been redesigning things, trying to remain the primary source for all things jackson, and continuing to generally rule.

enough about work, lets talk about shopping for, killing, and then eating lobster with karisa.

on friday karisa was all what are you up to? and i was all, i have the possibility to go out with a girl AND her roommate.

she was like, why do you wanna do that? i was all, cuz at my age i want challenges sometimes. some days i want everything super easy, other days i like —

karisa interrupted by saying yeah yeah blah blah less talk more coming over here and having dinner with me.

regular busblog readers will know that usually dinner with tony and karisa involves sushi of some sort. but i was bored of sushi. so i said how about Crab! but karisa is always conscious of what is IN the food and she said that crab is usually prepared with mayo or some sort of fatty sauce. being from Mass she said hey what about lobstah?

i was all, do i look like im made of money? she was all, if we buy it at the store i will make it for us and i even have a nice bottle of champagne. sorry roommates but that offer is a little too good to pass up. so i jetted across town because apparently you cannot buy fresh lobster 1 mile from the ocean after 9pm.

got to karisas, she hopped into the ride, we sped over to Ralphs, where the dude was awaiting and as he fished out the two live lobsters karisa shopped for the accouterments: baked potato, chives, sour cream, fake butter. the dude put the lobsters into separate plastic bags, poked holes in the bags, then put those bags into another bag and poked holes in that too.

made our way to the cashier who was decked out with tattoos and she was all “i need help at register 12”. i was all, what for? she was like, no way am i gonna scan those live lobsters. i dont even wanna touch them! so i said, i will scan them for you.

and i got the bag of live ‘sters and dragged them and BEEP and i was all, there you go. she complained again saying it was “soooo sad” and i was thinking “listen missy, this whole store is filled with animals that were alive either yesterday or earlier this week, dont you and your bad tattoos JUDGE ME for buying things live! there is no difference!!!”

i repeated that to myself when it was my turn to get those suckers in the boiling water.

what helped was that karisa had first put the guys in the freezer. “it’ll stun them and they will fall asleep” she said. and it did kinda work. one guy was barely moving when i slipped him into the hot tub of death. the other guy wasnt stunned at all, but also didnt struggle much.

in retrospect it was a little sad. but i kept telling myself, odds are they were born and bred in a lobster farm. they wouldnt have existed if they werent bread to be food. and in minutes they will be food.

and boy were they. soooooooooooo good!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

it has been interesting having an action hero as a governor during a crisis.

however if you watch the video, drink every time you wanna say “someone shut up that KID!”

heres what ahnold just tweeted at 9:59pm:

It’s almost 10 and they r still running drills upstairs. Trying 2 pass the same bills I vetoed hours ago. We need 2 solve entire deficit.
11 minutes ago from TwitterBerry

using youtube and twitter as your own personal communications beacon is pretty logical, yet still somewhat futuristic because i dont see that many big time politicians doing it.

nice guy who swears he can get me some beastie seats at the bowl.

once upon a time this blog used to be something. it used to break boundaries and get spread around the globe. it used to shake the foundations and rattle the comfortable.

there was a time when kids used to copy what i was doing and try it themselves.

there was a moment when i could do lots of things and people would notice, watch, and participate.

once i dated this beautiful cuban girl with amazing eyes and an unreal work ethic. shed also never been kissed. as time passed i eventually kissed her by saying look over there, is that a UFO? she was balled up and shivvering on the corner of my couch – tanned slick hot legs all curled up and i said that ufo is here to watch my badass moves im fixin to bust.

and then i commenced to busting.

one day that girl said tony i think you should shave off all yr hair. i was all, nah. she was like and not only that but i wanna shave it all off. i said lemme kiss you again and afterwards she shaved off my beautiful afro.

at that point i said you know i really shouldnt just throw my afro into the garbage because some fool might buy this hair if i put it on ebay.

chokey chicken was that fool.

he and his buddy outbid dozens of others and i sent my fro and several other things to the boys and everyone lived happily ever. right?

upon meeting mr chicken and his delightful gf (although he doesnt list her as his gf on facebook so maybe i have a chance) he reminded me that he had bought my hair and during some point his father mistook it for stuff you stuff cardboard boxes with and threw it out.

my beautiful hair! in a west virginian landfill!! shorn by a sultry cubana!

there was a time when the busblog would end posts with time-honored lessons so that all would learn from my ridiculous experiences.

so the moral of this story is: always set a high reserve.

meanwhile Quincy Jones in today’s paper explains how the King of Pop was channeling Bill and Ted well before it was cool to do so:

In 1978, Sidney Lumet pulled me kicking and screaming into doing the music for “The Wiz,” and in hindsight I’m so glad he did. As the scarecrow, Michael dove into the filming of “The Wiz” with everything that he had, not only learning his lines but those of everyone in the cast. Prior to filming, Michael and I were working at my home and he asked if I could help find him a producer to work with him on his first solo album from Epic.

At rehearsals with the cast, during the part where the scarecrow is pulling proverbs from his stuffing, Michael kept saying “So-Crates” instead of “Socrates.” After about the third time, I pulled him aside and told him the correct pronunciation. He looked at me with these big wide eyes and said, “Really?” and it was at that moment that I said, “Michael, I’d like to produce your album.”

It was that wonderment that I saw in his eyes that locked me in. I knew that we could go into completely unexplored territory, a place that as a jazz musician gave me goose bumps.

Q’s remembrance is insightful, touching, and classy. And very sweet.

More Quincy: Upon hearing that the magazine that he founded (and sold) is suddenly shuttering, he tells Ebony that he wants it back. h/t Lynne

even though i hate san dieger i had a good time

while i was there we had lunch with OMG DANIELLE!

she was all, lemme pose for your busblog readers

the food was good, the convo was great and if i never go back to san dieger ever again at least my last time there was quite joyous and beautiful

on friday karisa and i had lobster at her house and bubbly and she passed out and i drew moustaches on her face and laughed and laughed. it was a great weekend.

BobD: Can you moonwalk?

there are no dancemoves that i can pull off other than the bump. im probably the worst dancer of all time. i thought i had the hustle down but i was rudely corrected. i tried the Swim but i nearly drowned. the Twist gave me a slipped disk. it took me a month to learn the macarana but somehow i was doing it backwards.

Matt Welch: Five best MJ songs in the post-Bad era.

Jam, Remember the Time, and Black or White from “Dangerous”, his last good record. You Are Not Alone from “HIStory”, and You Rock My world from “Invincible” his worst record.

timmay!!!!!: is your life worth a painting? is this girl vs. boy with different symbols?

my life is worth a cathedral ceiling. but my afro got a painting a few years ago by the genius brush of mr gregory vaine. in a strange turn of events my truest bought the painting and then sent it to my mother, who has hung it prominently in the “loft” of her home. just the other day my nephew who i adore because he looks like a younger version of me, was pointing at the painting and asking “whens uncle tony coming back here?” and my mom took a picture on her iphone and all was well in the world.

zona: who the f is Ricky Rubio and boom or bust?

no idea about any Ricky Rubio. Only Ricky i care aboooot is the Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero who started off the season with a bang but then got hurt. He’s now back and has gotten wins in three of his last five starts. (He should have had four wins but the Jays were shutout in one of his appearances where he only gave up one run.) In his last 27 innings he has only given up 9 earned runs while striking out 28.

Born and raised in LA, graduated from Cal State Fullerton, the former Titan was drafted by Toronto and will be the reason they go anywhere if they do indeed go anywhere.

Sass: If you could, what would be your famous last words?

If I have to “audition” one more Raiderette tonight I think I will drop dead. But let’s try.

Pete: Why can’t your girl Lindsay find a man in Milwaukee? I thought Wisconsin was for lovers?

Wisconsin is for is for cheese graters. But I must say that I am loving Lindsays dating posts. They are far better than the silence that we were forced to endure when she was mixed up with the billionaire. and way better than when she was pining over the architect. plus, when did we ever get a fashion show followed by a hilarious bad-date post from her before? i hope she keeps dating all summer. not only will she help bachelors everywhere learn what not to do when courting a young lady, but hopefully we will all get to see more in that closet of hers.

Sarah: You, like Michael Jackson, have only gotten lighter over the years? What’s your secret?

while it’s true that i had much darker skin when i was younger:

i was also really lightskinned when i was a little little kid:

meanwhile my sister stayed the same color.

so unlike the king of pop, my skin color darkened and then lightened for no apparent reason. but because i saw this happen, first hand, i was probably one of the few people who believed that michael didnt do anything to change the color of his skin. i have just chalked it up to nature being a freaky thing.

Krista: There’s a spider in my room right now and I’m too scared to get rid of it. What’re you scared of?

the only thing i am really scared of is that i wont go to heaven – if there is a heaven – and that i will go to Hell. i know i have a lot of evil thoughts inside me and i know im not the most perfect person. but i also know that there is a lot of love and good inside of me. so i just hope that theres enough of the latter to get me to Paradise. but i study the bible on sundays just to make sure (and to try to find loopholes).

David: tony…1. will Iphone save civilization? 2. is geovany soto fun to party with?

1. the only thing that will save civilization is terrible tragedy which will lead people to say “never again” and mean it. as humans it appears that the only time we can have bigtime change is to have something horrible happen or our backs to the wall first. then those who want to usher in change have something to point to to say “you dont want that crap to happen again, do ya?” will a phone be the mechanism to that change? no. its the content in that phone. also, it still doesnt beep when you have missed a call when youre in the shower, so it still has a ways to go.

2. i have not had the pleasure to party with the rookie of the year but something tells me that he would indeed be a fascinating party guest.

g/d: I need a new book any ideas Tony?

i havent been reading much lately so i will have to go to the last books i really loved

Anthony Keides “Scar Tissue”
Lynda Barry’s “Cruddy”
Charles Bukowski “The Most Beautiful Girl in Town”

John Wayne: Why would you agree or disagree with the statement that a “photo journalism degree is worthless these days”

I would disagree with it.

Any education is valuable because it’s not always necessarily about the facts in the books or the techniques that you learn. most of the time it’s just as important to understand the people skills involved in getting a diploma as it is in learning the history or memorizing the rhymes.

as a poetry major who has had a fairly successful professional life in jobs having zero to do with iambic pentameters i can totally tell you that all degrees can lead to awesome lifestyles.

it was just a couple summers ago that i spent several days in las vegas with todays birthday boy as he geared up to release Hospital Music, an intense and sensitive studio album. we would go on taco runs and on the last night i was there he played to a select group of friends and fans.

today matt turns 24. imagine creating all that music in that short period of time! truly amazing.

now mr good is poised to come out with a new collection of songs that i cant wait to hear. perhaps he will spend another week in the desert oasis. or perhaps hawaii? maybe cuba?

regardless my fondest wishes go out to him today on his big day and i hope he knows how many people hes touched in major ways, including me.

happy birthday matt!

ok can everyone stop dying please.

youre gonna make me start living for the moment.

nobody wants that.