Travis Barker- Busta Rhymes "Don't Touch Me" Remix

The latest and greatest from our drum hero Travis Barker!

Rasheed AF1's, Game 6

Tonight is obviously a "big game". They all are in the playoffs. Momentum swings like a pendulum, which is half of the fun of the NBA playoffs. Before every series starts, everyone talks about how important Game 1 is because it "sets the tone for the series". Then Game 2 is really important because if you go down 0-2, it means you can't win on the other team's court. Then Game 3 is so important because it's the first game home or away... blah blah. They are all important. Period.
One thing I do know is that the Pistons wont lie down. Everyone else knows that too. It's unfortunate that all of my friends who are Laker fans, and plenty of new bandwagon LA douche fans, are all crying for Detroit's head to be severed by Boston. We know why, you are scared. Scared that you could be handed defeat in your cocky purple and yellow jersey's in the toughest city in the USA. You know the feeling, and you don't want to relive it. I understand, I wouldn't either.

In honor of tonight's "big game" I have included photos of my recently purchased Nike AF1 Rasheeds. Sheed is one of the only pro-players I know of that wears Nike AF1's on the court and he has forever. I first heard about these new Sheeds on the great Pistons blog Need4Sheed, and sent the troops hunting for some size 13's (thanks Ed!). The charcoal grey pair are my favorite, the leather was treated with that 3M reflective coating and they are the most subtle of the pack. Yes, I bought all three color ways. Yes, Rasheed is my favorite Piston. Yes, I do think he might get another T tonight because he can't control his mouth. Yes, I don't need any more sneakers and it's ridiculous already.

The thing I admire most about Sheed is his unbridled passion for the game. It can both hurt us and help us, and I was disgusted following last year's elimination. But for a player to care as much as Sheed does and to play hard every game and wear his heart on his sleeve like that is what us fans love. Now, if he was on another team, I'm pretty sure I'd hate him like all of them do. Until then, Sheed will have my support (even when he gets on a terrible roll of shooting and missing 3's from Flint). OK, and no more KG hugging!
BONUS: Rasheed's MTV Cribs Episode (pre-Pistons)

Andy Rooney on Memorial Day

I meant to put this up yesterday, obviously.
Andy Rooney has a good take on this holiday... really worth watching. This isn't my kind of thing normally but I caught it on Sunday and thought it was pretty special.

West & Ritchie

A couple of weeks ago (shortly following the Jay/MJB show) at Madison Square Garden in NYC I went to the Kanye West and Kid Rock shows (a couple of nights apart). Well, let me tell you, what a difference between these. Everything from the crowd to the merch to the flow of the show and the style of sets, etc. was 180 degrees opposite. I know I'm pointing out the obvious, but I've included a personal photo collection to show you what I mean. See if you can guess which photo is from who's show. Duh.
So Kanye's set was pretty awesome. He had one of the best live bands playing hip-hop in the style of the original recordings that I've ever heard. Shame that they were hidden in an orchestra style pit the entire show, only to be revealed at the end. Kanye commanded the stage very well, and his 2001 bits connected the show theatrically. I don't want to give away any surprises, but I missed any puppetry as implied by his supposed work with Jim Henson's studios. The only drawback was that he was up there solo for the entire set until the end when Lupe joined him for "Touch the Sky", which delivered a welcomed freshness. That kid jumps around on stage like a spring.
As for Kid Rock, well I've seen him headline a bunch of times, as he's an old friend from Detroit. From back in the day at Majestic Theater (when a certain rap group opened up for him) to the later shows at Joe Louis and Auburn Hills and even MSG before. One thing you always know with Rock is that he puts on a show. I mean in the old-school give 'em a good time rock & roll sort of way, the guy delivers every time. The great highlights that set this tour apart (for me) of course were the guest performers. On this tour, Bob brings out Peter Wolfe from the J. Geils Band and does "Freeze Frame", "Centerfold" and "Love Stinks". I was a big fan of J. Geils in the 5th grade so this was awesome for me (I had the Freeze Frame album on cassette). Later on, Bob brings out Rev Run and does a Run-D.M.C. medley with him that includes "Here We Go", "Rock Box" and "King of Rock", amongst 5 or so other straight classics. The idea of Run performing these songs without Darryl Mack may put some off, but in this situation with Rock pitching in it just works. I felt like a kid at the Fresh Fest at Joe Louis Arena in '87.

I highly recommend going to check out either or both of these very different shows. At one (because of the surrounding crowd) you may feel a little old, at the other you may feel a little hickish, but if you like either acts' music, you will enjoy them both. Do NOT, however, drink beer through a straw at either.

Hiedly-Ho, Neighbor!

This guy was sitting next to me on my flight from Chicago to NY last Wednesday, hours before The Ankle Incident. He looks EXACTLY like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. If there was ever a contest for Ned Flanders look-alikes, they should holla at this dude. P.S. Imagine how fun this blog is going to be when the new Blackberry with a video camera comes out.

The Trophy, The Champions

As promised, behold the Trophy of Champions for the 1st Annual Shady/G Unit/Sedlmayr & Assoc. Bowling Tournament right where it belongs- at Shady Records' NY office. This trophy will circulate amongst our offices if anyone is good enough to beat us in the next tournament scheduled for September this year. Should be plenty of time to heal up my ankle and take the back-to-back high score title and keep the Trophy of Champions in the Shady building.

Rosenblog Grounded

Yesterday evening, on my wife's birthday, I got out of my truck on a cobblestone street and stepped with one size 13 foot into a pothole of missing bricks. I turned my entire foot under my ankle and screamed bloody murder, then threw my cell phone on the sidewalk and hobbled home. After a trip to the ER last night and the ortho today, I have a severe sprain in 3 places and torn ligaments. The MRI is next week. So, what is a guy to do on Memorial Day weekend when he can't walk? BLOG! I've been slipping a bit lately anyway due to travel, so keep you eyes out for rants and randomness and Pistons encouraging. By the way, what a win tonight in the Gahden for the Bad Boys! Yes indeed.

Smack That In Hebrew

An Israeli artist has done a Hebrew language version of Akon featuring Eminem "Smack That", with an accompanying NSFW animated video. This is really fun to listen to. Don't ask me what he's saying but I think its pretty naughty.

Iron Man Original

I collected comic books like crazy when I was a kid, mainly from the time I was around 9-12 years old. Back then, Iron Man was one of my favorite books. While I read comics plenty, I have to admit that even back then I was interested in realizing profits and investing. I'd always look through the printed annual comic book price guides and estimate the value of my own collection, and dream of owning insanely rare titles like Detective Comics No. 1 where The Batman first appeared. So, when I got a little older and had more than a few bucks a week to buy them, I started looking into picking some of my rarer favorites up. Yes, its like fulfilling a childhood fantasy- so what? I don't think there is anything wrong with that as long as you aren't foolishly spending savings for things like your kids' college tuition. So one of the items that I picked up is Tales of Suspense #39, which was the debut of The Iron Man! I got this through an auction about 5 years ago, and while its not in VF condition (I think it was listed as "fair", there is yellowing and a stupid ink date stamp on the cover) its still something I cherish.
Things in the original book were a little different as you can see... Yinsen (below)was an Asian man, and the story differs in some other regards. But I really like how they made the original, first rough suit look so much like the suit in this comic book. Iron Man 2, they say, is already being written.

Sit This One Out, Chauncey

With Mr. Big Shot sidelined due to a strained hamstring (don't you hate when announcers just call it a 'hamstring' like 'Chauncey is out with a hamstring'... no kidding, we know he has a hamstring), the Detroit Pistons managed to do what no team has done yet this second round of NBA playoffs- they won one on the road. Quite an accomplishment. Kobe and them couldn't pull it off, neither could Boston. Gotta give it up to Rip Hamilton with his 32 points and amazing fourth quarter play, in addition to The D's most solid player thus far in the post-season, Tayshaun Prince (of Compton). Now if Rip can just play that well in the same game that Sheed is poppin' and we have Chauncey back look out. Unbeatable... everyone knows it. Look for the Pistons to put this one away in Detroit on Tuesday night, and have some time to rest up for their SIXTH consecutive Eastern Conference Finals.

Blackberry 9000!

For 'Berry nerds only... equipped with a video camera, youtube viewing capability and a real keyboard. Iphone who?

Tom Sachs @ Lever House

One of my favorite modern-era artists is multi-medium NY genius Tom Sachs. On Tuesday night, Tom had an opening for his new works commissioned by our buddy Aby Rosen for display at Midtown building Lever House. I am proud to say that I own a few of Tom's pieces, but nothing the likes nor proportions of which were unveiled Tuesday night.
Pictured at the top is a "Hello, Kitty!" made entirely from bronze (later treated to turn white somehow), and it stands about 3-4 stories high. I ran around the party asking people to tell me how much this thing weighs (because I have a small bronze piece of Tom's that you can hold in one hand that weighs 40lbs easily). I guessed around 2 tons. Later, to my (still) disbelief, I was informed that it weighs 8 TONS. They had to haul it across Park Avenue with a crane. I wish I was there for that, people must have thought it was Thanksgiving again with a giant Hello, Kitty float.
One of the things Tom has been doing lately is taking interesting objects and casting them directly in bronze and finishing them so that they are identical in size and form to the real objects (unlike bronzed baby-booties say, which just are like a hollow wax mold). The Hello, Kitty!'s on the other hand are also created in bronze, but they are cast from hand-made models that Tom makes out of foam-core type construction material. So, also included in this show were a set of bronze skateboard quarter ramps (which Aby's kids were delighted to be skating on in the lobby of the building), and various stacks of bronzed car batteries (not sure why but they looked cool).

Also, there was this polished bronze mini-garbage dumpster. What a nifty wastebasket! Additionally, the smaller (probably 10' tall) Kitty fountain, complete with water shooting out of its eyes. Go, TOM!

(Please excuse the photo quality, I only had my Blackberry camera).

Jay-Z & Mary J. at the Garden

Tuesday night we went to check out the Jay/Mary show at Madison Square Garden in NYC. This was quite a grown-folk affair which is a little different than other Jay concerts I've seen at the Garden, but still very effective. Both Mary and J had elaborate full bands, Mary with a full string section and Jay with a horn ensemble. The transition between acts was seamless as not only did Jay come out and perform a couple of numbers during Mary's set, but Mary came on later and did the same for Jay. Also, both used the same stage set, which allowed for very little turnover time between them. The difference in the set appearance was accomplished by elaborate video programming on the several LED screens which comprised the majority of the set. The highlight for me was when Method Man came out of nowhere for his special guest appearance performance on "All I Need" with Mary J. Classic material, like this airbrush backdrop concert photo souvenir (insert irony). Thank you Meneilly for the great seats (he could be seen conducting from the sound board).

Shady v G Unit v Sedlmayr Bowling Night

On Thursday, May 1st, 2008, the staffs from Shady Records, G Unit Records and Sedlmayr & Associates met for our first ever bowling competition. There was no prize at stake except for the opportunity to say "we the best!"... which Shady was able to do since we had the highest total average scores.

As this score screenshot shows, yours truly had the 2-game highest 10-frame score, with a 164. I came out of the gate very strong with a "Turkey" (3 strikes in a row). It's probably honestly one of the best games I've ever had... but I'll take it. Our dear friend Theo, as you can see, always wears suits- even when he's bowling. I can't say that I recall ever seeing a man in bowling shoes and a suit- what a treat.
So, we came up with the idea to make a Stanley Cup style bowling trophy that will travel from office to office depending upon who wins the tournament, which it looks like we will commit to hold once per season. Photos of the trophy inside the Shady domain will be available exclusively here, at paulrosenblog.com. Special thanks to Chipper for organizing the whole affair.

The Shrek Incident, Part 2

More of Councilwoman Conyers and the eccentric Charlie LeDuff. If someone told me this was a Saturday Night Live skit, I'd beleive them.