Archive for December, 2009

This is what I woke up to at the inlaws’ place in Western New York Christmas Morning.

So how was your Christmas?

I went into this month with a goal of taking on the holiday straight on.  It’s Christmas Eve, and it’s time to see how my goals panned out.

• Pre-Christmas Avoidance. Wow did this help!  I had to visit WalMarts, KMarts and malls a few times over the last few weeks, and not once was I disgusted with the sight of Christmas all over the stores.  Proof positive that the “extended” holiday season at department stores is hurting it.
• Resurrect that tree. Well.  We did.  I put the tree up.  And there it was.  And there it stayed.  I had hoped to wait for the girls of the house to decorate, but that never really panned out, thanks to schedules and such.  But there’s a tree.  And heck, there’s always Wintereenmas to decorate it for!!
• Christmas Movies. This happened.  I didn’t get to watch Santa Conquers the Martians yet, but I did get to see some Elf, some Charlie Brown and Muppets thanks to Hulu, and Wife Missy gets the best Christmas set ever with Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty, and more.
• Christmas Music. I applaud LB for his Christmas music selections in the weeks leading up to now on the Wrestling Mayhem Show.  I recommend anyone to check out the last few weeks of shows to see what I mean.
• Christmas Participation.  This was light.  I missed the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party thanks to work.  But I had a great time stopping by the Open House for my friends at PennFuture, and, of course, the usual company Christmas Party.  I didn’t seek out Christmas lights, but I may have taken the longer back way home a few times through Mt Lebanon.    The best, by far, was taking some time to go visit the Freak Show guys for Stuff a Bus and Toys for Tots.  The usual craziness of the in laws in New York happened tonight.  And I had a job to do along with it this year…

I haven’t been writing the last few weeks all that much, but one thing I have been doing is reading and listening to interviews.  A lot.  I was never one that had “role models” growing up.  The few claimed names I would throw out was Todd McFarlane, I suppose.  And I’m sure Big Bird was #1 before that.   But, in this day and age, and my aspirations to expand some sort of career out of my skills, a few names have become very big on my radar.

Gary Vaynerchuk – He’s been on the fringe of my viewpoint for a while now, but with his recent online media blitz for his new book, “Crush It”, I’ve become a little more familiar with his story, and his message of making what you love what you do.  While I look forward to his audiobook release, his web site has a great run of recent interviews and convention appearances where he talks about his philosophy in a fairly frank manner.

Mark Cuban – Speaking of frank, there’s this guy.  From right up the road here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, he’s a self made millionaire tied to the Dallas Mavericks, HDNet, and most recently, a date with a table on WWE RAW.  I had a chance to see him represent in front of a panel of FCC chairmen at Carnegie Mellon University in a spirited conversation with a representative from Google.  I’ve fallen out of regular rotation with his blog, but it’s a must read for an atypical view on media and business from the top down.

Leo Laporte – Creator of the one-man network (that’s now several men/shows deep).  This Week in Tech was one of the first Podcasts I started to listen to, inspiring a lot of what we’ve done with the Wrestling Mayhem Show.  I recently came across an interview with him that had a great incite on how his network looks these days.

These, of course, are the big wigs that have been catching my attention, but who can forget those I’ve been inspired by for a while now, Justin Kownacki, Chris Brogan, and Walt Ribeiro, colleagues of Podcamp Pittsburgh.

From Wrestling Mayhem Show…

Chest Flexor preps for his battle with Jason Gory

The International Wrestling Cartel made waves this weekend with the departure of Norm Connors. This week, we are joined by the wave makers in new IWC Owner, Chuck Roberts, and the new IWC Champion, Jimmy Demarco! Then, we are joined by Mayhem Show favorite, Chest Flexor, as he prepares for his battle witih Jason Gory for the Black Diamond Wrestling Title this weekend! Sorg, DJLunchbox,and Mad Mike, talk about Dennis Miller, the TLC PPV, Fantasy Football, and more.

This is Episode 198 for Tuesday, December 15, 2009. You can get the episode here on Talkshoe, subscribe, and as always, stay tuned to www.wrestlingmayhemshow.com for the latest! The Wrestling Mayhem Show is recorded live and can be heard/viewed from 8 PM to 10 PM Eastern on Talkshoe.comand Ustream.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and your thoughts on the wrestling world by emailing us at goodtimes@wrestlingmayhemshow.com! Don’t forget you can find links related to the show’s news stories and more at our Delicious Links Page for Episode 198!

Various
“Xmas In My House feat. Motion Man” (mp3)
from “This Is Your Brain On Xmas”
(troublewith2 productions, LLC)

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General Elektriks
“Raid the Radio” (mp3)
from “Good City For Dreamers”
(Quannum Projects)

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Azeem
“Oakland To Brooklyn” (mp3)
from “Show Business”
(Bomb Hip Hop)

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Courtesy MayhemMissie at WrestlingMayhemShow.com…

We here at the Wrestling Mayhem Show would like to congratulate the now former IWC Promoter Norm Connors on his 16 year run in the wrestling business and we wish him all of the best in his future. Thanks Norm, you will be missed!

Members of the Mayhem Crew with Norm Connors.

A a technological type of person, I’m always experimenting.  New ways to watch TV on my computer.  New methods for producing my Podcasts.  Trying to bring animals in the digital age. This isn’t some LOLCATZ kind of BS. This is for realz…

One of my favorite episodes, by far.  Jimmy Demarco, Norm Connors, and a clip from our interview with Mikey and Big Bob at Stuff a Bus.  From WrestlingMayhemShow.com.

This week, we are joined by “Deeeelicious” Jimmy Demarco in the studio!  Acusations are thrown.  wrestlefan gets an impromtu sex ed on what can be performed with a championship belt, and Jimmy tells us just what he’s going to do to Shiima Xion Saturday at A Call to Arms!

Also, we had a chance to speak to the current promoter of International Wrestling Cartel, Norm Connors, as he talks to us about what’s come from his blog, and his epic journey through this strange world of professional wrestling as he prepares for his final show Saturday at A Call to Arms.

Sorg, DJLunchbox, Mad Mike, wrestlefan and Miss Ashley talk about the NEW Monday Night Wars, Sheamus’ ethnicity, Dixie Carter’s vagoo, TLC, and much much more…

This is Episode 197 for Tuesday, December 8, 2009. You can get the episode here on Talkshoe, subscribe, and as always, stay tuned to www.wrestlingmayhemshow.com for the latest! The Wrestling Mayhem Show is recorded live and can be heard/viewed from 8 PM to 10 PM Eastern on Talkshoe.comand Ustream.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and your thoughts on the wrestling world by emailing us at goodtimes@wrestlingmayhemshow.com! Don’t forget you can find links related to the show’s news stories and more at our Delicious Links Page for Episode 197!

Future Shock
“Milk Money” (mp3)
from “So Sue Me”
(End Of Earth Records)

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CSSR State Philharmonic
“Good King Wenceslas” (mp3)
from “Christmas Remixed 2″
(Christmas Chill)

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Felt
“Protagonists” (mp3)
from “Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez”
(Rhymesayers Entertainment)

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I was ecstatic to find out there was a Jonathan Coulton show c0ming to my town.  So we devised a troupe of Silent Ninja, Chachi, V-Ron, and myself and head down to the Rex Theater for a night of nerd-centric, folky music.   I had some preconceptions going into the night.  Due to my experience going to MC Chris, and at last year’s Con on the Cob where my group, CRAP, performed, I had very low expectations for the crowd and the potential opening bands in the “geek” culture.

Paul and Storm getting their Nun Fight on...

First of all, the venue was a step up.  I’ve attended shows at the Rex since they had seats permanantly installed.  Mosh pits in the small area in front of the stage were certainly uncomfortable.  Shows since they removed were better, but the place suffered from over heated crowds and poor sound from the bands on stage themselves.  There certainly has been an effort since I’ve last visited that the place didn’t feel as low rent in the post.  Both acts that night thanked the venue profusely on their sound and hospitality on stage.  A solid endorsement.

Back to that opening band. Paul and Storm had me at the tossing of panties from the crowd during their opening song, “Opening Band”.  It seems that they regularly open for Jonathan Coulton, and I’m told, used to headline with Coulton supporting them, years ago.  It was a perfect fit of two guys that had a great shtick of comedy and harmony (and one guitar).  Nun Fights, Grandma’s Christmas Dinner (spoiler, it’s the dog), a song about conception, and the guy who invented chicken nuggets.  All of this ending with an interactive pirate song that took about 20 minutes or so to complete.

JoCo supported by Paul and Storm mid set.

Jonathan Coulton was up after a short intermission.  I’m always amazed at a live performer that hits their songs, and replicates them with just himself and a guitar, with such perfection.  After a few tunes, Paul and Storm joined the fun on backup vocals/instruments and some impromptu stand up comedy, it seems.  Coulton even had the most amazing “one man band” instrument I’d ever seen for “Mr. Fancy Pants“.  The whole night was a riot.  I never expected to laugh my ass off so much to a geek show like this.  The Pittsburgh audience was rabid for the show, filling the place in what I believe was a solid 300 strong.  I was happy to see the merch booth swamped in a way that I may have only seen at an ICP show to support these grassroots groups.

From WrestlingMayhemShow.com

We already posted the video for our experience at the Stuff A Bus. So, of course, you know we can’t take Doc Remedy anywhere with out him trying to wrestle something. So, after a long time hiatus. The return of Should I Wrestle That…

From WrestlingMayhemShow.com

This week, Doc Remedy and myself had a moment to head out to check out the Kiss Morning Freak Show Stuff A Bus with Mikey and Big Bob. We decided we needed to bring some Mayhem to the kids, so we went out and did our part to stuff the bus. The guys were nice enough to talk with us a little bit, and allow us to do something…special…to the bus (video to come for that, though).