Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Shine A Light

Johnny Rzeznik
The Goo Goo Dolls


SHINE A LIGHT

A Special Light of Day Concert Stream Fundraiser for Asbury Park Dinner Table

 Goo Goo Dolls’ Johnny Rzeznik Highlights 19-Artist Fundraiser from Producers of Annual ‘Light Of Day’ Winterfest Extravaganza – Sunday, Nov. 22

 

Proceeds Support Pandemic-Challenged Restaurants and the Food-Insecure in Legendary Seaside Resort

 

Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers, Jim Babjak of The Smithereens, The Weeklings, John Easdale of Dramarama, James Maddock, Richard Barone of The Bongos, Ben Arnold, Danielia Cotton also among Performers

 

"As winter approaches, The Light of Day Foundation shines its light on the growing issue of food insecurity during the Covid crisis in an effort to raise money and awareness to support its spiritual hometown and the great work of Asbury Park Dinner Table”

- Tony Pallagrosi, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Light of Day Foundation

 

The world seems to change on an hourly basis, but there is at least one thing that remains constant: When help is needed, Light of Day’s musical family is always there to lend a hand — and a tune.

 

That’s been the case countless times, and will be once again beginning 11:15 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 22 as 19 Garden State music makers combine their talents for SHINE A LIGHT, a streaming musical event in support of ASBURY PARK DINNER TABLE.

 

The non-profit organization is dedicated to helping Asbury Park’s dining industry — a key component of the town’s stunning rebirth as a leisure and entertainment destination — which has been severely affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and to helping local residents who are experiencing food insecurity as the pandemic rages. The concept behind APDT is that donations it receives are spent at local eateries to purchase meals for those in need.

 

Heading up the formidable talent roster is Johnny Rzeznik, lead singer of superstar rock act, The Goo Goo Dolls. He’ll be joined by 18 other artists including longtime Bruce Springsteen collaborator Joe Grushecky and his band, The Houserockers, Jim Babjak of The Smithereens, Jersey Shore favorites The Weeklings and a host of acclaimed singer-songwriters, among them Richard Barone of The Bongos, James Maddock, Ben Arnold and Danielia Cotton. Each artist will perform one song. See below for the complete list of participants.

 

The event will formally kick off right before 11 a.m. as Tom Cunningham, host of the Jersey Shore Sunday morning radio institution Springsteen on Sunday on 107.1 “The Boss,” will “shine a light” on the presentation and direct his listeners to Light of Day’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxn20nnBJoPVkfyiqxjcLg) channel and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LOD2000).

 

You can also join the APDT Watch Party at https://www.facebook.com/APDinnerTable.

 

This very special event is being staged by the Asbury Park-based Light of Day Foundation (LOD), whose annual January-long concert series in support of Parkinson’s Disease research and treatment have been a Jersey staple for more than two decades. “As winter approaches and the issue of food insecurity during this COVID crisis grows, The Light of Day Foundation will ‘shine its light’ in an effort to raise money and awareness to support its spiritual hometown and the great work of Asbury Park Dinner Table,”  said Tony Pallagrosi, LOD’s executive director and co-founder.

 

“The Asbury Park Dinner Table is honored to have the Light of Day Foundation “shine a light” on us as we now face the Winter months, which normally are stark in Asbury Park, but now are at a crisis stage with the addition of the pandemic. We also thank and appreciate the artists donating their time and talent to this concert fundraiser in the Asbury Park community spirit that many of us know is something very special,” added Allison Kolarik, co-founder, Asbury Park Dinner Table.   

Monday, November 16, 2020

Monday Motivation

Slay!
Jennifer Lopez

About last night...the E! People's Choice Awards happened, unlike fetch which Gretchen Wieners has yet to make a thing, and Jennifer Lopez was honored with the Icon Award.

So how is this Monday Motivation you ask? I'm glad you did, Jennifer is re-writing the book on what it means to be a 51 year old woman in Hollywood. "Yes" that's correct Minions J-Lo is 51 years of age. She is simply amazing, if you ask me, and others as well.

Thus the MM today, while we can't all be like J-Lo, especially if you are a dude. We can all try to be our own personal best. Whatever that entails for you. It doesn't even have to be a physical appearance type of thing. It can be mental or emotional, getting involved in a charity or your community. That's why Jennifer is this week's Monday Motivation poster grrrrrrl. She is a woman of many facets.

Get out there today and the rest of the week and slay like Ms. Lopez in her red hot Christian Siriano gown. You've got this!!!

Jenny From The Block on IG -

https://www.instagram.com/jlo/?hl=en   

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Sunday Funday: E! People's Choice Awards

Happy Sunday Funday! Tonight on E! The People's Choice Awards airs, as in game on, Minions! We could all use a little respite from the chaos that surrounds us and this award show is always informal and fun.

My only complaint is, even thought it doesn't detract from the levity of the event, you always know who the winner is before they announce it. They are the person or persons actually in the audience. 

The list of nominees is way to long to post, but I have poste the movie of 2020 nominees and a link where you can go vote for your favorite. Sunday Funday indeed!!!

THE MOVIE OF 2020

Bad Boys for Life

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Extraction

Hamilton

Project Power

The Invisible Man

The Old Guard

Trolls World Tour

Click here to vote for Movie! 

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Oxygen

Hola Minions! I hope this message finds you well. Here's tip to put a little pep in your mood. The artist known as Vassy has come up for Oxygen, her latest single, sent to you with love. Here's a statement from her to us, enjoy!

"Hi Guys,  It has been a difficult year for all of us with this pandemic, I was stuck at home with a nasty foot injury unable to walk for 6 months. It was miserable and I fell into a funk for a while, As a result I created Ã–XYGÄ–N an uplifting collaboration with Outgang (Showtek) & TwoWorldsApart.....I felt like I was drowning and needed to come up for air... 
I hope you guys enjoy Ã–XYGÄ–N because it saved me!!"

Big Hugs

VASSY xx 


Vassy on the WWW:

Friday, November 13, 2020

Film Buff Friday: Bad Girls

BAD GIRLS
Coming early 2021 - Pre-order HERE

A shocking drug-fueled post-modern female rage-odyssey from acclaimed director

of THE THETA GIRL, Christopher Bickel, and producer Crystal Colligan 

Films Colacitta announces the release of BAD GIRLS, a violent underground film by Christopher Bickel, premiering in early 2021.

2021 is poised to be the year of the underground film. Due to the void of Hollywood content caused by the 2020 pandemic, audiences are clamoring for new and unusual programming.

Heading the charge for unique DIY boutique cinema is BAD GIRLS, an eye-popping artsploitation road movie from acclaimed director of THE THETA GIRL, Christopher Bickel. The film's producer, Crystal Colligan, describes BAD GIRLS as a "shocking drug-fueled post-modern female rage-odyssey."

BAD GIRLS gleefully subverts genre tropes in telling its lurid, hyperreal tale. After robbing a strip club, three desperate teenage girls lead a misogynistic Federal Agent on a lysergic cross-country chase, scoring a duffle bag full of money, drugs, and a crew of willing kidnapees along the way.

BAD GIRLS is an underground film produced by amateurs in South Carolina for $16,000 -- "about one-half of the CATERING BUDGET for a typical made-for-TV movie," Bickel proudly indicates. The majority of that budget (some of which was raised by crowd-funding, some came from Bickel's day-job in a record store) went to pay the cast and crew a modest daily stipend -- something which director Bickel cites as being "of utmost importance to keeping harmony on set." 

Bad To The Bone

Citing influences as diverse as Jack Hill, Russ Meyer, Greg Araki, R Kern, John Waters, and Robert Downey (Sr.), Bickel has crafted a vision more than just the sum parts of those influences -- it is something unique in current underground cinema.

"These are characters people haven't seen before, interacting in a violent world that is almost-but-not-quite our own," says director Christopher Bickel of the "exaggerated reality" of the BAD GIRLS universe. "When you're making a movie for the cost of a used car, you're forced to get creative with the storytelling in ways that Hollywood focus-groups don't allow. You won't find BAD GIRLS in a Walmart because it doesn't belong in a Walmart."

BAD GIRLS will be the second film for underground producer/director Christopher Bickel. His first film, THE THETA GIRL, was widely critically acclaimed and has been distributed all over the world. Though made for roughly the same amount of money as THE THETA GIRL, BAD GIRLS is a much bigger and more complex production. Film Threat's Chris Gore described THE THETA GIRL as "a film that warped my mind," Here's what other critics had to say about Bickel's first film, THE THETA GIRL:

"One of the best exploitation films in a generation" - Nevermore Horror

"This film explodes onto the screen like the lovechild of Ted V. Mikels and Jodorowsky, skull-f**ks you like a tag team of Blue Sunshine and Blood Feast, and when it's done you will say, "Thank you, may I have another." - Psycho Drive-In

"Far, far better than it has any right to be... This is the kind of movie that microbudget indie producers should be studying to up their filmmaking game." - The Slaughtered Bird

"In its wildest moments, you can feel the same sort of creativity and mania of young Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, cobbling together action and horror out of not-much-at-all." - Cinapse

"Perfectly capturing the look and feel of earlier films THE THETA GIRL carves out its own niche by upping the ante with even more sex and violence than we would have seen in the films it clearly loves so much. This is a kind of perfect distillation of the exploitation genre that would have been a cult classic back in the day...and is destined to be one in today... This is one of my favorite (and possibly one of the very best) films of 2018." - Unseenfilms.net

"THE THETA GIRL is a remarkably inventive, psychedelically captivating, micro-budget mind-banger presently mushrooming into the consciousness of indie fright fare fans, particularly those with a bent toward bravura brain blasting derring-do... THE THETA GIRL is a knockout accomplishment by any standards." -- Mike McPadden, Daily Grindhouse

BAD GIRLS stars Morgan Shaley Renew, Sanethia Dresch, and Shelby Lois Guinn as the titular "Bad Girls." Cleveland Langdale and Micah Peroulis star as two cult rock stars kidnapped by the girl gang. Jonathan Benton stars as a geeky hotel clerk swept up in the madness. Mike Amason and Dove Dupree star as oddly-paired FBI agents following the wreckage of the girls' cross-country crime spree.

BAD GIRLS was co-written by Bickel and star of THE THETA GIRL, Shane Silman.This is a first feature for most of the cast members, though Mike Amason, Cleveland Langdale, Dove Dupree, and Shane Silman are returning from THE THETA GIRL.

DOP Stephen Nemeth is known for his camerawork on the extreme horror film AMERICAN GUINEA PIG: BLOODSHOCK (2015)

More information, including the red band trailer, can be found at www.BadGirlsMovie.com.

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Michael's Musings

"Breathe You In 'Til I Hallucinate"
Michael Shinafelt

"I hallucinate when you call my name 

Got stars in my eyes, And they don't fade when you come my way

I'm losing my m-m-m-mind" - Hallucinate, Dua Lipa

You know how ever so often a song gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out? Ya know, Out Damned Song!!! This week, you guessed it Hallucinate via Dua Lipa is that song. There are way worse ones I could be burdened with to be sure. At least I enjoy this one, but there have been those times where that one annoying ditty is lodged in your mind, Baby Shark anyone? Anyone??? 

Since last week we finally have a new President elect and the first woman Vice President ever...Yay!!!

I went to an Elephant Preserve while I was in San Antonio last week. It was a great experience learned a lot, got a photo taken while I was holding the Elephant's trunk...was there with family, good times!

Law & Order: SVU premieres tonight - Can I get an amen???

You say you found Jesus?! You're still a whore

We now know how fascism dies. Between a dildo shop and a crematorium. 

This race has come down to a WAP, trust...

One should live their life in such a manner that the entire planet does not dance in the streets when they lose their job. Just sayin'.

Dear Obese Turtle - You're Fired!


Woman Crush of the Week - you knew it had to be Dua Lipa since her song is on a loop in my mind, right?!

Knowledge isn't answers, rather questions inside questions, forever

Mary needs sugar in her life if she is going to Watusi with the gang

I got on my scale and screamed, "Stop the count!" Didn't work there either 

Murder Hornets inhabit the White House at present, think about it, but not too much

"If Kanye doesn’t run up and interrupt Trump during his concession speech there is no justice in this world" - Whitney Cummings

Interrupt Me, Here:


Wednesday, November 11, 2020