September 2008

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Hilarious John McCain Blackberry Ad

September 29, 2008 in John McCain, Mike Wechsler, Technology, humor by Chris | No comments

I received a message from a good friend of mine, Mike Wechsler, yesterday regarding his newest creation, a advertisement starring John McCain. For those of you that don’t know, McCain has been receiving some criticism recently for his lack of technological knowledge. In the article that helps explain the inspiration for this advertisement, McCain’s domestic policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin was asked about McCain’s “grasp of high-tech matters.” In response, he held up his Blackberry and replied “he did this.” So check out the video below:

I still laugh every time I watch it and I’ve seen it probably over 100 times since yesterday. This video has also received a lot of exposure from The Huffington Post and The Nation as well. So enjoy the video, leave him a comment on his video and let him know what you think. Also, check out some of Mike’s other incredibly talented work on his website www.MikeWechsler.com.

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Just Vote 2008

September 29, 2008 in Election 2008 by E | No comments

This wont be the first time I post a reminder… Just Vote 2008!

 

FDR’s First Inaugural Address

Resources:
Obama
McCain
Register
Absentee

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Weekend Recap

September 29, 2008 in Random, Weekend Recap, humor by Chris | No comments

So yet again another weekend has passed and it seems like yesterday I was writing up last week’s Weekend Recap. It has been a busy past few weeks for everyone at MicControl. We haven’t been posting quite as much as we would like to but we will get back on it once our schedules slow down a bit. That being said, lets recap the weekend!

Updating last weeks weekend recap, DJ AM was released from the hospital this past Saturday. A spokesperson for the hospital gave no information on when Travis Barker was expected to be released. Both musicians survived a plane crash that killed four but had severe burns on their bodies. Our thoughts and prayers are still with the victims and their families and we wish the musicians a speedy recovery.

I usually come across at least one strange news story that I feel is worthy of giving our readers a good laugh but apparently this weekend was good for strange news and I stumbled across two rather interesting articles.

Charge dropped against man accused of farting

So apparently this guy gets bagged for drunk driving and when the police take him to the station. Must have had some spicy food or maybe rotten dairy products, who knows, and he requests to go to the bathroom and is denied. At this point, nature took its course. Here’s a quote from the article I found particularly amusing:

“The gas was very odorous and created contact of an insulting or provoking nature with Patrolman Parsons,” the complaint alleged.

Cruz acknowledged passing gas, but said he didn’t move his chair toward the officer nor aim gas at the patrolman. He said he had an upset stomach at the time, but police denied his request to go to the bathroom when he first arrived at the station.

“I couldn’t hold it no more,” he said.

How is a smell insulting or provoking? If you’re trying to tell me that by “passing gas” you can be charged for battery, then I have a long list of people that I would like to press charges against. Also, I’m glad they included the quote from this guy being accused. Had they not clearly stated that he “couldn’t hold it no more” I would have been confused on the motive behind this guys attack. Moving on…

End of road for driver with $1.9 million in fines

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Brazilian police reportedly have caught up with a motorist who owes the equivalent of nearly $2 million in unpaid traffic fines.

The news service Folha OnLine said police stopped a 36-year-old man on Wednesday night and discovered he has been ticketed nearly 1,000 times since 2001, the year he bought his current car.

Folha OnLine said the accumulated fines for speeding and running red lights total 3.4 million reals, about $1.9 million.

The man said he never received the tickets because he was always too busy to register the car in his name.

Folha OnLine said the car is worth about $6,600 and was impounded. It will be auctioned unless the man comes up with the money he owes.

Okay, so for those of you out there that aren’t exactly mathletes I decided to break it down for you.

$1,900,000 over a seven year period averages about $271,428.57 in fines per year

Now take that $271,428.57 and divide it by 365 days and you get an average of $743.64 in fines per DAY

And for those of you that still aren’t quite grasping how crazy this is thats about 51 cents per minute in fines

I hope everyone has learned a lesson and will think twice before driving recklessly or committing battery on someone this week.

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Andrew Hoover

September 23, 2008 in Music by Jon | No comments

I was lucky enough to recently play a show (see the review of the Three South show below) with Andrew Hoover as the opening act. Andrew is from Fairfield, CT and has a very enjoyable style of guitar playing mixed with a VERY crisp voice. As a one man act Andrew’s presence is strong as maintains the center of attention of the room for his entire set. If I was to compare him to anyone I have heard before, I would say he most closely resembled Keller Williams with the strong voice and interesting slap style of guitar playing. 

Andrew is currently on tour across the east coast, playing many smaller gigs such as coffee shops, book stores and bars. I  strongly recommend seeing him in such an intimate setting because he seemed to really enjoy interacting with the crowd during as well as in between songs. (His music is perfect for an interesting date too…. wink…wink) 

Check out this track from Andrew Hoover entitled ‘Love Looks’ and make sure to check out his myspace page for tour dates or to buy his EP entitled ‘Getting Out Of The Box’.

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Weekend Recap

September 22, 2008 in Music by Chris | No comments

So, it has been yet another Sunday of watching football all day only taking a break to watch Entourage. There’s something that seems extra special about the NFL this year. It seems like every game isn’t over until the last minute (with the exception of a few). I’ve been spoiled over here in New England and now I finally remember how it feels to watch your team and not know if they are going to win.

In some music related news, after surviving a plane crash which killed four, Travis Barker and DJ AM are expected to make a full recovery. Full article:

BLINK-182 rocker TRAVIS BARKER and NICOLE RICHIE’s ex-fiance ADAM ‘DJAM’ GOLDSTEIN are expected to make a full recovery following a plane crash in South Carolina. Barker and Goldstein were hospitalised after the disaster on Friday (19Sep08) which left four people dead when the plane they were travelling in crashed after failing to clear the runway. Both stars are said to have scrambled from the blazing wreck of the aircraft before emergency rescue services arrived and are being treated for second and third degree burns at a specialist facility in Georgia. Barker was burned on his torso and lower body and Goldstein suffered burns to his arms and a portion of his head, according to Dr. Fred Mullins of the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors’ Hospital in Augusta. Both are in a critical but stable condition in the intensive care of the hospital - but doctors are optimistic that both stars will make a full recovery from their injuries. Dr. Mullins says, “Since both Barker and Goldstein are in overall good health and didn’t suffer from any other crash-related complications, a full recovery is expected.” When asked if the expected recovery time would be a year he added, “I would expect it would be much sooner than that.” And he read out a heartfelt letter from the star’s relatives: “The families wish to thank fans from all over the world for their prayers and concern. Deepest sympathy is expressed to the loved ones of those who perished in the crash. As the two recuperate and mourn this loss, privacy for them their families and friends is requested at this time.”

Everyone at MicControl would like to send our thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families.

In some slightly less serious news, Sir Paul McCartney’s ex-wife Heather Mills claims McCartney “has exceptional taste in women.” We’ve all been waiting patiently for someone to confirm this for us and now it’s finally official. Who’s a better judge then a woman he was married to for six years?

BILLINGS, Mont. - A man was charged with burglary after he allegedly broke into a home, ate cheese from the refrigerator, made a mess in a bathroom and fell asleep on a child’s bed.

Tracy Mullins, 47, of Billings, was arraigned in District Court on Thursday by video from the county jail.

Mullins pleaded not guilty to burglary. Judge Susan Watters set bail at $5,000 after rejecting a request that he be released without bail. Public defender Richard Phillips, who made the request, said Mullins had been receiving mental-health counseling.

Court records indicate a woman awoke in her home Monday at 8:30 a.m. to the sound of snoring coming from her 2-year-old son’s bedroom. Her son had slept that night with her and her husband.

The woman said she found a strange man sleeping in her son’s bed. She woke her husband and left to call police from a neighbor’s house. The husband confronted the man with an unloaded shotgun and held him until police arrived.

This guy is a modern day Goldilocks and it looks like he went with the small bed. Does a two year old still sleep in a crib? How the hell is that more comfortable then the floor or maybe even a park bench? It sucks that this guy got busted because he was snoring, though. If he had been a little more quiet he might have been able to live their for a while eating, sleeping and showering for free. And by the looks of him, he could use a shower.

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Three South @ The Wheelhouse Tavern, Narragansett, RI

September 22, 2008 in Music by Jon | No comments

 

First off I would like to apologies for the late post.

Three South is a resident band at the Wheelhouse Tavern in Narragansett, RI and we play a show there every other Thursday evening from 10pm to 1am. Since I had just recently introduced Three South to the MicControl blog, I thought it could be an interesting read to write about the show from an inside perspective:

The setlist we played was a good one and things started smooth enough, but after a few songs we just didn’t hold together and play as well as I had hoped for. As far as my own played went, I was really feeling Festival of Giants, the third song of the evening. We really hit it off in this song and the funky b-section of the song where we jam was really tight (note: this was the first time I had ever attempted to walk a bass line in the middle of a jam and I think it was pretty smooth). This was my favorite song of the night.

Later in the evening, we did a tribute to Leroi Moore, sax player for Dave Matthews Band, who died a few months ago due to complications stemming from an ATV accident he was in. We covered the song #34 and had a friend come up and sing with us. She was fantastic!… unfortunately that was all that was good about that song. We had spent all week working on it getting the song form down, and even though the song is fairly easy, throwing Jessie into the mix seemed to mess everything up; verses were skipped, back-up voices were off and all around tightness was lost. It was pretty terrible. But it has only made us more determined to work with Jessy again and prove our skills.

From #34 on we seemed very lackluster; something just felt off. I was very disapointed about Vertical Horizon, a song that we had written a few years ago and decided to rework and bring back for this show. The song was good enough, but it was just a little sloppy, which seemed to be the theme of the night, and the jam went absolutely no where.  We played about 7 or 8 more songs and it was not until the last 4 songs when we found that spark again. It all started when we did a cover of phish’s Gotta Jibbo and asked a long time friend and avid Phish Head, Steve Parillo, to join us on stage with his harmonica for a jam. We finally hit the groove during this song and proceeded to play the last few songs of the night very well! We did however learn something from this night. We had spent so much time working on new material that we forgot to rehearse all of the other songs, making everything feel a little sloppy and half-assed.

I hope you all enjoy these tracks (don’t forget to listen to Festival of giants above) from Thursday 9/18 at The Wheelhouse Tavern in Narragansett, RI. I put these ones up because I think we did best with these.  Please listen to them and leave me some feedback on what you think of them or even how we could improve! I am always looking for constructive criticism. 

The Andy Kaufman Song

Kidney For Karl

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T.G.I.F.

September 19, 2008 in FRIDAY! by Chris | No comments

I figured it was only appropriate since it was Friday to post this video:

Don’t get me wrong I’m impressed but I’ve seen a bunch of these videos of fast drinkers and they’re all starting to get old. Start drinking quickly and doing various activities. For example, imagine if this kid pounded 6 beers in 10 seconds while riding a unicycle? Seems like an alright idea to me. In fact I think I’m going to go start drinking quickly while on a pogo stick or strap on one of those beer helmets while doing a back flip off the roof*. Everybody have an enjoyable evening and since we never sleep here at MicControl check back for more updates this weekend.

*Note: MicControl does not condone any irresponsible drinking or dangerous stunts while drinking. That being said if you’ve got a funny video of yourself send it our way to admin@miccontrolblog.com and we just might throw it up on the site.

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Why We Do what We Do

September 18, 2008 in Insanity by E | No comments

This video right here is one of the many reasons why we do what we do here at MicControl– discover and promote indie and unsigned artists. Really, I have nothing against Puff, but if this is any indicator as to what state the mainstream music industry is in, well then our efforts are justified and relevant because this video sure as hell is not. Where is Diddy’s head right now, because it is definately not on his shoulders. OJ on cereal… come on!

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The Return of Mitch Hedberg

September 18, 2008 in comedy, humor, stand up by Jon | No comments

Mitch Hedberg was a dry and eccentric, but brilliant comic with impeccable timing; NO ONE could tell a better one liner than he did. Unfortunately the world lost Mitch to a heroin addiction on March 29th, 2005. Before he died, Mitch was just starting to taste success with a popular stand-up comedy album entitled ‘Mitch All Together’ and various cameos on television shows such as That 70’s Show.

I am happy to announce that Mitch Hedberg has released his final stand-up album entitled ‘Do You Believe In Gosh?’. For those who know his past material, this is a wonderful addition to an already steller, albeit incredibly small Mitch Hedberg collection. For those who are new to Mitch Hedberg, this album will surely give you a taste of one of the funniest men to ever grace the stage. This performance was recorded just two months before his passing, but his flair and odd timing are still intact. I would absolutely recommend picking this album up, and make sure you check out ‘Mitch All Together’. Both albums can be found on iTunes.

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The Marchitect of the New Rap Game

September 18, 2008 in Hip Hop, Music, Rap, Unsigned Music by Chris | No comments

“I’m the illest of the rappers you can find on the Earth, infinite like the time you can’t rewind on the Earth.” So boasts Marchitect, the second half (in no particular order) of the under-heard-of rap group, The 49ers, on the track Around the World in 40 Bars.

I got the opportunity to see Tect perform live as well as talk to him a bit off stage when I used to go to the University of Delaware, in Marchitect’s home base city of Newark, DE. He’s a very (for lack of a better word) chill guy, who’s never too busy to stop and say ‘whattup’ if you run into him walkin’ down Mainstreet at UD. Apart from being a genuine personality, Tect is a true emcee when it comes to his music. I look at him as a rapper with great range, having really relaxed, hip jams like Driving To My Crib ft. Assassinate, and another personal favorite, Champagne while at the same time moving to more edgy tracks like Back 2 Da Lab ft. Jas Mace and the more popular party jam, Yada Yada. Marchitect is an innovative, down-to-earth, master emcee with as much confidence in himself as you can find. The best part? He deserves every bit of it.

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