hi tony baloney full of macaroni. i dont know why im so tired today, my computers broke this weekend and i watched hella tv and got lots of rest for once in my life but here i am fully experiencing the Mondays and maybe this is why people take summer vacations. all i know is im not the man i used to be. i used to have so much life i used to have so many dreams i used to be able to rage against the machine and the machine would stop what it was doing and say damnit tony maybe you have a point and nowadays i rage and the machine just laughs and says oh yr so cute tony and flicks me away. is this why people just do the same old same old raise kids die trajectory? is this why people buy so many honda civics? is this why people sell out? i dont wanna sell out. im gen x inside and out. i know i dont look it any more with this button down shirt. i know ive been wearing blue and brown and working on the clampdown but when genx sells out genx cobains. and i dont wanna go out like that.

yesterday the truest had an outta town guest. someone shes know for 20 years. someone who has MS but who hasnt let that get her down. shes traveled the world. lived in 25 different apartments in 20 years. we went to this Tibetan restaruant and this young lady was able to tell us all about the foods first hand from when she was in india. thats the path we should be on. we should be telling life what its gonna be not the reverse. sometimes i think i should kill my tv. sometimes im glad when my internet doesnt work. blasphemy, i know. sometimes i like it when there is no tap tap tap on my window from some doe eyed busblog fan. sometimes i like to be alone.

sometimes i need to go to the basement and get mad.

and emerge focused.

maybe i need to do that at the end of the summer. maybe i need to take a two week road trip around the nation. maybe i need to stick my toe into the atlantic. maybe i need to kiss a girl somewhere. maybe i need to just head into the desert like jim morrisson and speak to the ancients. maybe i need to shave my head and hitchhike through mexico. maybe i need to start a punk band called the walking man of silverlake.

who killed himself, fyi. in one of the weirdest ways ive ever heard of, he slipped into his hot tub and put the lid over himself and drowned. now news reports say that he had been investigated for giving pills to any druggie in town and that he was under investigation because a patient died. and again, thats not how i wanna go out, and i bet thats not what this doc thought he wanted to go out like neither.

heres how i wanna go out. old. and i want sharks to tear me apart.

i wanna die fighting.

not quitting.

shes 24

we first met during my roadtrip around the world. it was toronto. it was karaoke.

she had a very jealous boyfriend at the time who even through the parked car knew that there was something special between us so he pouted and waited and steamed and jealousized the various different ways that i would steal his girl from his unworthy clutches.

it was true i wanted her. but when i met her i felt oh so unworthy. she was cool she was hot she was so nice. i withered in her presence and was barely able to put together reasonable sentences.

fortunately the music was so loud she couldnt hear me stammer and before we knew it there he was at the door of the establishment telling her it was time to come home.

this past new year we were reunited. this time there was no boyfriend. instead there were lesbians, a hot tub, many large dogs, and a hilariously disgusting friend named Paulie.

we soaked in the tub as the large flakes floated down on us as we sported clockwork orange makeup and reminisced about her air hockey prowess.

for some reason the boys of TO dont see the loveliness of miss c the way i do and she swears that if she ever moves to LA that i would be her california boyfriend.

in the meantime i follow her on facebook and watch her master the fine art of cake making and wonder what the hell is wrong with the gentlemen of the great white north that the path to her front door isnt lined with proper suitors and the skies arent filled with airplanes with signs being dragged behind them professing lines of love.

maybe it means she does have to head south west, young lady.

in the meantime happy birthday carrie cakes, inventor of the two cakes one cup delight that has spread across canada like a bad flu.

xoxoxoxo

yes i know im lucky

rage hasnt played LA in 10 years.

this is going to be awesome and i love conor oberst and the mystic valley band a lot. its a weird combination, but why not something sweet and mellow before the napalm explosion of rock.

back in my day if some kid ran onto the field, MLB security would have put down their footlongs and gladly, if not viciously, pursued the drunken yahoo.

the result would have been violent, painful, and memorable.

but this crew at Baltimore’s Camden Yard seemed more intent on containing the youthful trespasser than cracking skulls.

is this the kinder, gentler world that the republicans promised us oh so long ago?

im not sure i approve.

by the group “rage against the machine”

it will be at the legendary hollywood former dancehall, the hollywood palladium.

there will be no original photos this weekend because i dont dare bring my camera.

or my mobile telephone which has, as you’ve seen this week, a wonderfully good camera.

i once interviewed henry rollins before a show at the palladium and he said when he performs he likes to wear as little as possible: hes barefoot, and only sports black shorts. no shirt.

tonight i want to wear almost exactly that, plus shoes.

i want to go to the pit and run around with the wild.

i want the energy and the fire and the life of that hallowed hall to tear through me and for the music to create magic.

i have seen so many bands this year who have disappointed or barely lived up to expectations.

but rage against the machine? at a hastily arranged concert to raise awareness and funds to protest the controversial new Arizona law? in the center of hollywood on a friday night in the middle of summer?

i predict an earthquake.

should you play there?

Maybe in LA you should rock a smaller venue on your first headlining tour. Like the Gibson. Or better yet the Wiltern.

If you’re Rihanna maybe you should show the entertainment capital that you’re not just a pretty face with great producers behind you. Maybe you should convince us that you’re truly a force that’s going to be around a while and the long legs are just a bonus.

Because what happens when you mostly fill up a basketball arena is you barely please the wrong people and you barely prove anything.

The only message you send is that you’re 21 and gorgeous and you were lucky enough to have Jay-z and endless amount of songwriters around you. I’d that skill? Talent? Or just the Johnny Bravo syndrome of being the right former-model at the right place at the right time?

Personally I want to believe that there’s something special and unique about Rhi Rhi other than her island accent and her ability to wear the most ridiculous outfits and mostly pull them off. Personally I want to believe that she is the sole reason that her pop hits are hits because of something she is responsible for and not her posse.

But tonight at Staples I heard the biggest screams for her special guest star Eminem who joined her for their duet “I love the way you lie” and the second biggest scream for the video image of her maestro Jiggaman who was nowhere near LA.

Sure she said hi to LA the right number of times, yes the production was passable and professional enough, but as Robert Plant once asked “does anyone remember laughter?”. Where was the joy? Where was the pain? The passion?

TELL US WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE YOUNG AND IN LOVE GIRL! AND RICH. AND FAMOUS.

I don’t wanna be a rude boy but after 3 records shouldn’t we expect Rihanna to be big enough, tough enough, and savvy enough to share with an audience some of the emotion of being a pop princess in this disposable world?

No shout out to LA who delivered you youre new love? No defiant rant about how not that long ago you were riding to that very same Staples Center and your life came crashing down – BUT NOW YOURE BACK AND YOU SOLD OUT THE EFFER?

has everyone forgotten the venom in rock? the power of goodbye? What happened to Girl Power?

Was all that replaced by a curious 1 minute cover of a Shelia E 80s hit and outfits that show off your curvy thighs?

Sadly what we got tonight was a robotic, frenzied, hurried tour through all the great (and not so great) tunes of a top 40 diva who can’t dance and can barely sing. And in LA, a town where super pretty young women in hot clothes are everywhere, that doesn’t really cut it.

Jay-Z has a lot more strings to pull in regards to this one. because unfortunately she cannot do it on her own.

baseball is over 100 years old. but the rules are so intricate and beautiful that even those who have been playing it professionally for decades sometimes screw up and ruin everything for their teams.

last night the dodgers were leading the game going into the ninth. their hall of fame bound manager was in the locker room after being ejected previously in the night. the acting manager, don mattingly, walked out to the mound to talk to all-star closer jonathan broxton. after the short meeting donny baseball left the mound and headed back to the dugout.

all was well until first basemen james loney asked a followup question.

mattingly, who had just barely stepped off the mound turned around and stepped back on the mound to answer loney for a brief moment. seconds later he left the mound for a second time and returned to the dugout.

the opposing manager bruce bochy then protested to the umpires that mattingly had actually visited the mound twice which means broxton had to be removed from the game. the umps agreed and forced george sherril, who had not warmed up, to replace broxton. the cold pitcher gave up a series of hits and the dodgers lost.

lessons learned: keep your head in the game, always watch everything at all times, dont improvise on the pitching mound.

and if i was a dodger fan id be wondering why there are two yankees running things for the dodgers. but since im a cub fan i dont really care much.

the Cubs dont suck this year because of you. they suck because theyre the Cubs

and this is not the year.

next year, however, is a different story.

anyway, thanks for the memories.