Farewell, O'Blogger.

Sadly (but not really that sadly), this is the end of Michael O'Blogger.

It's not really that sadly because I'm just starting over with a new blog.  I fell off writing on this one quite some time ago, because new distractions and responsibilities (mostly the new comedy career) got me focused on other things.  But now that I'm trying to start blogging again, at least from time to time, it seemed right to start fresh.

So if you're a longtime reader of Michael O'Blogger, you are hereby notified that the doors are closing.  Thank you for being along for the ride - from tales of my apartment complex drama (and comedy) to summer movie previews and reviews to the post-apocalyptic journals of my power outage adventure to random late-night patio ramblings over good cigars under summertime stars.  Your company was much appreciated, your comments welcomed.

But the good news is you can now follow my ridiculously exciting life, if it please you, over at my all-new blog - The Michael O'Chronicles (www.michaelochronicles.com).  I hope that one will carry on for at least as long - and hopefully longer - is this old gal did.  And remember, you can also follow my comedy stuff at The Michael O'Comedy page, too.  And I've got a Tumblr page that gets some occasional use.  And, as ever, you can always follow what I'm up to on Twitter.  I'm just all over the place.  Kind of like my writing.

All right.  You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.  Good night, O'Bloggerheads, and God bless ye.  See you around the web.

M i c h a e l  O ' B l o g g e r

J u l y  2 1 ,  2 0 0 7  -  J u l y  2 4 ,  2 0 1 2

Current Musical Obsession: Scala & Kolacny Brothers

In the middle of my having many other things to do tonight, I got obsessed with finding a piece of music that I couldn't get out of my head. I had other things to put in my head, so I really needed the space.

A week or so ago I watched the trailer, online, for the upcoming film "The Social Network", the David Fincher directed/Aaron Sorkin written/ Jesse Eisenberg starring story of the creation of Facebook. It's an extraordinary trailer, for reasons that don't necessarily having anything to do with the film. What gives you goosebumps is the opening bit, which is a mix of a slow-to-frenzied stream of images and a haunting and, frankly, badass piece of music. You quickly realize you're listening to a cover of Radiohead's "Creep", but done by some kind of choir. It's both amazing and beautiful, and is completely captivating. The track is mixed in throughout the remainder of the trailer, when we get to the actual footage of the film.

Tonight that track came back into my mind-pod and started playing on continuous repeat, so I turned to the web to hunt down where I could find this song. Turns out the track is done by a band known as Scala & Kolacny Brothers. And what is that band? It's a Belgian all-women's choir (?) conducted by Stijn Kolacny with piano accompaniment by his brother, Steven Kolacny. The group has done whole albums of rock/pop cover songs, and it's their 2002 album "On The Rocks" where this Radiohead track originated (along with covers for Nirvana, Garbage, Wheatus, the Police and more).

The album that, of course, you can't buy on download from either iTunes or Amazon.

I did, however, go ahead and (just now) buy their 2007 CD "One-Winged Angel" on iTunes, another cover compilation (with some originals) that gives their angelic treatment to songs from Depeche Mode ("Somebody"), Bjork ("Joga"), Placebo ("The Bitter End"), Kylie Minogue ("I Believe in You"), The Cure ("Friday I'm in Love"), Marilyn Manson ("The Beautiful People"), Gordon Lightfoot (!) ("If You Could Read My Mind") and others, including more Radiohead ("Fake Plastic Trees"). Looking forward to diving into it.

Is this one of those bands that everyone else knew about but me? I'm finding it hard to imagine that. So if you're going to come at me claiming to have been down with an obscure Belgian girl choir for years, I'm going to make you provide some verification on that. Oh, I'll have questions ready, people...

For those of you not familiar, check out the "Creep" track over the aforementioned "The Social Network" trailer. Hope the film lives up to the promise the emotional weight of this trailer makes.

Michaelocomedy.com - LIVE.

Just a heads-up to you Michael O'Blogger fans that have been following the news on my quest for the comedy lifestyle. You're not going to get a lot more of that here, since that news has been shifted to a different blog.

Michaelocomedy.com is my new site for my comedy stuff. Eventually, it'll be a full-blown web page (that makes it sound dirty, but that's not how I meant it...), but for now, it's just a blog, like this one. It'll have the updates on everything going on with my comedy stuff, where I'll be performing next, and it has handy links to other stuff, like to my new Michael O'Connell Comedy Facebook fan page (over 100 fans so far, bee-yatch! Yeeeeah!). So why not head over there and take yourself a look, hmmm?

I'll still be blogging here with other stuff, of course, so don't take this one off your list either. And, as I always promise, I'll try to get more regular with the blogging. And chances of that increase with two blogs to fill. Right?

Garfield Ave RepreSENT!

So I was just downtown, finishing up catching a night of comedy at Luna's Cafe, and I made the following joke on my Twitter:

"Hanging on the sidewalks of downtown Sacramento, just BEGGING to get mugged. Typing on this phone is probably not helping."

'Cause, you know, I'm from the suburbs. And we fear downtown. We're convinced it's a constant hotbed of crime and malfeasance, that every time we park, our stereo's going to get stolen, and that we're liable to get stabbed if we're within 50 feet or so of a Lightrail station.

So after I survived my few minutes of hanging on the sidewalk, finishing up a cigar and a conversation with a couple of comedians, I got in my van and headed home, back to my nice, safe, quiet suburban hood. Mi gringo barrio.

I was headed east down Madison, almost to my intersection, when a sheriff's car, lights-a-flashy, went booking past me. Okay, then. I pulled over for a sec like everyone else. I just started to go again when another one whipped out from a side street and followed the first one.

Just as I got within eyesight of the Garfield Avenue intersection, I saw them go through the light. And then I saw another flashing sheriff's car shoot through the same intersection, going north on Garfield. Then, right after that? ANOTHER one speeding by, but this one going SOUTH on Garfield.

First thing I thought was, "Wouldn't it be awesome if they all blew the same light and just ran into each other?"

Second thing was, "What, do they not KNOW where the crime is happening? Did someone call on a cell phone and say, 'Help, I'm being robbed! I'm somewhere in the suburbs! Come find me!'?"

Then as I pulled into my complex and got parked, I started coming down my wheelchair lift, and overhead, a police helicopter with its spotlight going buzzed by.

So I guess the point I'm getting to here is...does anyone know of any decent, affordable housing available right now in the downtown area?

You know, where it's safe?

Tommy T's Open Mic Finals - Round 1 Begins!

Some of you may have heard that I ended up in the open mic comedy finals at Tommy T's Comedy & Dinner Theater. By some of you, I mean anyone who's read this blog.

Well, tonight, it all began. All the details just got worked out, the names all got drawn, and round 1 of the finals began tonight. No, I was not in it. There are 18 comics involved, and round 1 is spread over three evenings, with six comics competing against each other each night (with a week between nights). In the drawing, I ended up on night three, which means I'll be up on stage competing on Monday, March 1st! Which is awesome because that gives me a couple weeks more than I thought I had to prepare. Whew!

But tonight, I had to show up to watch and support my fellow comedy peeps! So I headed out to Tommy T's. I just said there were six comedians each night, right? Well, tonight ended up with five. Oddly enough, the sixth guy (Aaron something-or-other) whom I'd never heard of before (I assume he won a competition before I became a regular there) apparently fell out of contact. They just could never reach him. So the competition was down to five, and they just happened to be five of my favorite local comedians, people I've been on stage with before, hung out with, and marveled at for their comedic prowess. So those lucky folks who showed up to watch were in for a big treat.

The comedians competing were Aaron Shine (he of the masturbating and stuffed animals), Willie Mac (the OTHER cable guy), Jennifer Rutherford (the showerhead queen), Ty Anderson (who fakes African accents at McDonald's) and Jason Tate (the big, muscular guy whose dog is a dirty, dirty whore). I got there early to talk to each of them and wish them luck. Great atmosphere in there, full of anticipation and excitement. I also got to talk to the painfully funny Boogee Quinn, another regular there (who I gave a joke to backstage once that he used, so that made me like him even more), who let me know he's slated for night #2. This made me feel much better, because competing against Boogee is not something you want to do if winning is, like, a big thing to you. I'll just have to deal with him in the finals. Optimism! Also chatted with Lou, the manager, and he finally got my headshot that he needed so he can post me up on their website, so that'll be coming soon when the night #3 details go up.

Went alone tonight, as Vlado's out of town and everyone else was busy, and that was just fine with me. Got me some chicken tenders and a Guinn and kicked back to cheer for the whole gang. Everyone stepped it up on stage...instead of the usual 5-minute sets we all do at open mics around town, the first round is 10-minute sets, so everyone had some new stuff. Great jobs by all. But much as I don't want to choose someone out of that list as doing the best? Ty Anderson blew my mind. Ty's a guy who started off, when I first saw him perform, not quite so strong. But Ty never gave up...he kept coming back, kept learning, and he got noticeably better week after week, until he finally won an open mic, putting him in the finals. Ty clearly KNEW he was in the finals and wasn't going to mess around. That man did things on stage I'd never seen him do. He was doing voices. He was doing physical comedy (including a perfectly executed on-stage ninja roll). He was messing with the audience, and the audience was loving it. He was more confident than I've ever seen him. He was loud. He was funny. He OWNED it. Couldn't be happier for that guy!

But, sadly, only three could advance amongst this whole awesome group. At the end, Lou got them all back up on stage and started with the audience voting. This took a while, because it was ridiculously close. There were several re-votes. In the end, the lucky winners were Willie, Jennifer and Ty. They're now going on to round 2, and it couldn't have happened to three better comics. Damned proud of all of them. For now. I, of course, will be forced to destroy them all later...

After this, the after-party was up at Po' Boyz in Folsom, where the regular Monday night open mic was going on. Some people went right up after their wins and did a new set here (like Willie and Jason). Jennifer, Ty and Aaron just wanted to hang and socialize. I wasn't feeling it for going up, as I had my head in the spectator place tonight, so I didn't do a set. Instead, I hung out on the patio and had a cigar and rapped with comics (always the best part of the comedian lifestyle). Oh, and speaking of Willie...he runs a comedy night up at Cafe Nostro in El Dorado Hills, which is booked a couple months out it's so popular. He came up tonight and asked me if I wanted to come up there and do a twenty minute set. Uh, you THINK? So that'll be sometime in April. I'll let you know.

My favorite part of the night, though? After all the other comedians started going in, there was this young guy still out on the patio, smoking. He started talking to me. Great kid. I eventually asked if he was a comic, and he said no, but he's really been thinking about it (which is why he showed up at Po' Boyz tonight, to see what it's about), but had no idea how to get started. And the weirdest thing happened. I became a mentor. I started telling him how the whole thing works, what the Sacramento circuit's like, the best places to go, the important people to know... Did this for over a half hour and totally filled him with info and got him psyched to finally get up and give it a try. In the middle of this, it occurred to me...I've been doing this for not even six weeks yet - and yet here I am talking like a vet. While on the one hand it seemed silly (because I still know so little, really), on the other, I marveled at just how far I've come, how much I've done with this, and how much of learned in so little time. All of a sudden, I'm actually, like...a comedian. What do you know? So here, again, I must give thanks to comic buddy #1 Vlado for calling me up and saying, "Screw it...let's just do it" and getting me started in all this. I'm having the time of my life, and it's all because of the Fist Officer. Thanks, man.

So, again...MARK YOUR CALENDARS. That is MARCH 1ST (Monday) at Tommy T's in Rancho Cordova. I will be doing 10 minutes with all my comedic might, trying to step up to the semifinals. As it's audience voting, I of course would be dumb to not invite as many of my peeps as possible. So as this gets closer, keep in contact with me, and watch this blog. Next week, when I show up to watch night #2 (go Boogee go! No, wait...that's bad for me. Choke Boogee choke!), Lou's going to be handing me a bunch of tickets to hand out to folks. So chances are your name might be on one of them. Would love, love to see you there, but more importantly, I'd love to get as big a crowd there as possible for the benefit of the other comedians who'll be sweating it out with me. A big crowd is good for everyone, and I want to share. So prepare yourself for a great night of local comedy, and a pivotal night in my burgeoning comedy career.

Lest ye be square? Be there!

Comedy takes a sick day

Oops! Scratch that notice from yesterday that said Vlado and I would be doing Laughs Unlimited or Tommy T's tonight. Vlado went and got himself ill, and is home hacking like he's got the SARS. So we had to cancel the comedy for tonight...which works out awesome, since tonight is the season premiere of "Lost"! Hellz yeah!

Stay tuned for details, but it's likely we'll be back on next week at both Po' Boyz (Monday) and Tommy T's (Tuesday). We'll keep you in the loop.

Here's hoping for a "get well soon" experience for the Fist Officer. Remember, Vlado, when it comes to comedy and the flu...you may think it's funny, but it's snot. (You see what I did there?).

The Comedy Odyssey - Part 4 ("The Boyz at Po' Boyz")

Okay, just a quick one tonight, as I've gotten home late from this one.

In the first of our back-to-backs this week, Vlado and I hit the open mic night up at Po' Boyz in Folsom. This is a bar and grille that features live music (mostly blues, I hear), but has comedy nights on Mondays. This open mic is hosted by Cheryl the Soccer Mom, a well-known and hi-larious Sac area comedienne who handed me her card (by way of John Baradin, if you remember that story) on our first night up at Tommy's. With Vlado back in town from his paying job (who needs one of THOSE...?), we finally got a chance to take her up on her offer and head up. Good news - I emailed her first last night, and since she knew we were coming, she just went ahead and put us on the list ahead of time. No need to rush there. Awesome.

So we decided we'd take my van, and Vlado and Babydoll showed up at my place at 7:30ish. We drove up there figuring to eat and drink before the thing started at 9:00. We got there to find all of two or three people there (?!). After talking to the bartender, we found out more people show as the comedians come in at 9:00. Whew! We grabbed some chow (I got tacitos! I've missed tacitos!) and some beverages and relaxed. Well, *I* relaxed. I was just up there to do my same basic 5-minute set with some minor tweaks. Vlado, on the other hand, had decided to come up with mostly all-new material...like, an hour before he headed to my place. Ballsy. So he was still trying to get it memorized. He basically used this is a personal test to see how well he could pull off last-minute material. Right on.

Cheryl and others started to show, and I found out from her that while she was the host, instead of doing any MCing she was just going to have each comic finish their set and have them introduce the next comic coming up. She had me set at person #2. I asked if she could go ahead and put Vlado at #3, because I was the only one in the place capable of properly pronouncing "Vladimir Zeravica".

The crowd was not what you'd call huge, and seemed mostly made up of comedians and their guests, but it was a small place and a closer atmosphere, so it didn't seem empty. I got up and did my stuff, felt it went really good. I liked some of the changes I put in and may hold onto them. I got done and enjoyed getting to feel like an MC by introducing the Fist Officer. And I also enjoyed getting to hear Vlado's new stuff without knowing it all ahead of time for a change. We've been trading routines back and forth and editing each other this whole time. Finally, I got to go in with no spoilers! The new stuff was awesome...more pilot-based stuff, naturally...and even a little bit of Broadway choreography thrown in (whaaaaat? Well, that's what you get for not showing up to see it, isn't it?). We both felt great about the experience, enjoyed the really relaxed atmosphere of a largely-comedian crowd, and were quite happy to be #'s 2 and 3, so we could just kick back for the rest of the night and enjoy the show...you know, and drink.

Very happy with the Po' Boyz experience, and definitely going to do it again. I think I knew every single other comedian there save for one, as all the regulars from Tommy T's showed up - including our perennial host, Ellis Rodriguez, who showed up to do some new material (and material that just killed, dude. The man has skills). This is a great venue, I now realize, to try out new material, so I plan to use it for that purpose. New jokes a comin'! Only downside is the 9:00 PM start on a weeknight. We didn't get done until almost midnight. Not that this is a problem for me with my sleep schedule, but it does muss up things if you want to invite people along. You know, people who HAVE jobs?

Still no final word on tomorrow night, but it's looking more and more like Laughs Unlimited downtown. So seems we'll be hitting the big room in less than 24 hours. Stay tuned here for confirmation and a full report!