UNDERTOW 2.13

And so it goes...

I’ll be writing very quietly this week as I have a very sore throat from this past weekend’s activities…

BILLY JOEL TRIBUTE SHOW OF THE WEEK:

Saturday night at the Anglesea Pub with The Strangers, of course. I’ve done a lot of these shows over the years, be it Billy, The Beatles, Bruce and/ or Prince. And I am happy to say that the thrill of mounting a new one never gets old. The nerves, the butterflies, the anxiety… and then the first few notes come out and everything settles in. Although for the first song I have to focus on not pushing too hard, like a Kentucky Derby horse that goes too hard out of the gate and has nothing left for the stretch.

What started as a bunch of texts between me and co-band leader Jerry Kolber wondering whether we could or should, culminated in a kick-ass show on Saturday. I am immensely proud of the whole band, Emily Bryce, Dave Hughes, Al Olivero and the aforementioned Mr. Kolber for learning a HUGE amount of material in a fairly short period of time. And then played the hell out of it live in front of a packed house.

Big thanks to Anglesea Pub owner Sean MacMullan for nudging me off the fence and saying, “Let’s do it.” It was a pretty special night.

Thanks to all.

As for the future of The Strangers, we don’t anticipate this being a one-off gig. I’ll be hitting up all my venue-owning buddies about booking a show here and there, and we will 100% be back at the Pub in some capacity in the relatively near future (post-Labor Day). In the meantime, there’ll be about 100 Terry & Jerry (& Dave, & Jerry & Emily, & Jerry & Dave, & Jerry & Al) gigs to keep you warm between now and then. This week it’s;

Terry & Dave: Jersey Girl, 530-930

Terry & Jerry: Anglesea Pub, 8-1130.

It was a Three Gig Weekend (hence the sore throat), with a new and returning gig acting as the bread in our Billy Joel sandwich (or some other tortured metaphor). Friday night T&J made our debut at Jersey Girl Kitchen & Bar for their opening night of 2024. Jersey Girl is a Morey’s Piers-adjacent restaurant and it was great rekindling some old friendships with some previous colleagues (from 2009-2014 I was manager of the Ghost Ship haunted walkthrough on Mariner’s Landing). We also had a guest appearence from former Republican candidate for president, Vivek Ramaswamy. No words were said, but we exchanged a meaningful look as he departed. Dude is fucking jacked, too.

TV & MOVIE STUFF OF THE WEEK:

I was very much looking forward to Bodkin on Netflix because I love Will Forte (Last Man on Earth was an underrated, underseen gem… find it and watch it when you can) and it’s a murder-mystery set in Ireland, two other things I love, but for me it just didn’t work. There are some decent moments here and there, but it just kind of plods along with one underwhelming “twist” after another and after a while you just kind of want it to end. But you might like it. Who knows? (It’s produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, two things I do not love.)

Baby Reindeer (also Netflix) starts out as (what I thought was) a fictional dramedy that pushes the envelope between funny and psychotic but turns into a based on a true story nightmare of stalking and sexual power dynamics and other things I’m not smart enough to write about. It is at turns hilarious and difficult to watch. Watch the first two episodes. If you don’t like it by then you probably won’t. But I think you will. The lead actors are both incredible.

I’ve been exploring a lot of TV stuff I normally wouldn’t in the last year or so. Some of it pays off (Three Body Problem, Shogun) and some of it does not. To wit, Goodbye Earth. The premise is solid; a giant meteor is going to kill (nearly) everyone on Earth in 200 days. The series focuses on a small South Korean town (it’s a Korean series) and how the inhabitants deal with their upcoming doom. As I said, interesting premise. In execution, it’s a Korean soap opera with a giant meteor in the background and after about three episodes I was rooting for the meteor. But who knows. You might like it.

THE CHRIS STAPLETON SECTION:

A guy I follow on Twitter (now X) posts a song every morning. It’s always some death metal song from some death metal band I’ve never heard of so I never click on it. Well, last week I decided, what the hell? And clicked on it. This was the song;

***QUICK NOTE***

YouTube videos were being weird about copying and pasting correctly this week so I’m embedding instead of linking and just whatever life is pointless…

If It Hadn't Been for Love- Steeldrivers.

This was Stapleton’s band before he went solo and became a superstar with Tennessee Whiskey which, I believe, launched on Yellowstone. I won’t link that one because you’ve probably heard in 1,000 times (thought I will admit to it being one of very few songs that scares me as a singer). But… did you know that Tennessee Whiskey is a cover song?

Tennessee Whiskey- George Jones. 1983.

Jones, whom I’ve become a huge fan of these last 18 months or so, can sing just about anything and is rightfully a country legend. But… did you know that the original Tennessee Whiskey was released by David Allan Coe.

Tennessee Whiskey- David Allen Coe. 1981.

Coe is another country legend, and author of two of my all-time favorite songs, country or no.

You Never Even Call Me By My Name- David Allen Coe

The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised- Johnny Paycheck

So… there’s some music for you to ponder over today. The Stapleton Tennessee Whiskey is clearly the best recording of the three, though Jones’ is quite endearing. But The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised might be the best song ever written.

My weight is hanging around the same 1-2 lb. range (229-231) for a second straight week which is pretty good for me. I’m hoping to maintain through the rest of this week before gearing up for another drop next week. Need to put the 230s behind me for good and start attacking the 220s. The Poverty Diet (outline last week) really has given me some tools to work with. I’ve got money this week, which is nice, but I’m still going to eat like a poor person. Well, poorer.

I've seen those Salt Life car decals probably 10,000 times in my life and all 10,000 times I've thought they said Slut Life and that would be a 100% better bumper sticker. Go on, you slutty sluts! Slut away!

I can't be the only man who takes it as an affront to his masculinity to mow the lawn with the deck raised, can I? It’s emasculating as fuck. The only drawback to my battery powered Kobalt lawnmower, which I love and is still going strong in Year 4, is that I can’t just power through the high stuff and chop it into pulp.

Til next week, don’t get caught in The Undertow.