Life on Mars: Out of order

If Life on Mars wanted to draw fans from their Lost lead, I think they might have done themselves a disservice by airing this episode out of order. Where is Tyler's gunshot wound? What happened after he answered that phone in the mysterious house, telling him to go in the basement? "Take a Look at the Lawmen" was apparently chosen to lead their time slot because it does a better job of introducing characters, leaving "The Dark Side Of The Mook" and it's continuation of the story from the mid-season finale for next week.

As nice as it was seeing familiar faces in Mad Men's Maggie Siff (Rachel Menken) and The Sopranos' Vince Curatola (Johnny Sac), I just couldn't get excited about an episode that pretty much ignored the two month wait in the story line. I really only raised an eyebrow once, and that was hearing the Al Green-like voice of Darondo laying it down while Tyler was going all Don Draper on Rachel...er... I mean Maria. It was only a few seconds of bliss, but the funk of "Legs" made the most of it. Darondo, AKA William Daron "Get That Dough" Pulliam, was an underground legend in the Bay Area, driving around in his white Rolls Royce with a personalized DARONDO license plate, but the range of his fame was pretty much limited.

Playlist: Life on Mars - Episode 1.08
1. "No Time" by The Guess Who
2. "Whiskey in the Jar" by Thin Lizzy
3. "Legs" by Darondo
4. "My Maria" by B.W. Stevenson

Man Man up for Bumbershoot, Day 1

For nearly as long as I've been alive, the end of summer in the Northwest has been shown the door by the Bumbershoot Arts Festival. The 3 (formerly 4) day festival starts tomorrow, and I'm heading in with a difficult challenge.

Remember my challenge of taking a three-year old to the Sub Pop festival? Well, I'm upping the ante and going solo with both my 3-year old (Eli) and my 14-month old (Zane) tomorrow. And, on top of that, trying to utilize a photo pass. I've had zero luck taking photos with Zane in tow, so if anyone's going tomorrow and wants to hold a baby for a couple songs, please contact me immediately. Seriously.

Every year, with kids, there's a list of "I wish I could see" and the more realistic, "I logistically could see." So while there's Beck, Band of Horses, New Faces, PWRFL Power, Neko Case, etc. and the THREE comedian stages, with kids you really have to pick one stage and park, and historically, it's the Broad Street Stage (this year called the 'Rockstar Stage'). So that means we're looking at Throw Me The Statue, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, The Walkmen, Man Man and M. Ward, which is still pretty good. Of course, with a 14-month old, there's no way you can make it that long. So it gets whittled down even more, to probably The Walkmen and Man Man, and a hop over to see Darondo prior to those sets. So, with 40 acts playing tomorrow, I'm hoping to see three. I remember the days when I'd hop around and see nearly 10 acts a day... maybe when the rugrats are older, we can hop together (but not the little lady, boy does she hate to hop).

Playlist: Bumbershoot 2008 - Day 1