Ray Donovan

I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about this show.   Too often we measure new shows by other great shows in the past, not giving premiering shows a chance.  Ray Donovan hits a lot of notes for me:  scumbag characters, violence, sex and the unmatchable on screen charisma of Liev Schreiber.  As much as I wonder why there isn’t a bigger deal made about Ray Donovan, the same goes for Liev Schreiber’s stature in Hollywood.  The guy is such a brooding, hulking force on the show, it’s beyond me why he’s not a leading man in film.  Schreiber plays the titular character, a Hollywood “cleaner” who’s job it is to save Hollywood stars and athletes from ruining their careers when they make a mistake.  More often than not, the mistakes involve hookers, drugs and gay dudes. In between all this, Ray tries to keep his family from his father, played by Jon Voight, an old school  Boston gangster who’s just released from prison and back in the mix.  Ray Donovan is on Showtime every Sunday.  Check that shit out.  For real.

Binge Music Cast Update

It’s been a while since Kupka and I have done a Binge Music Cast.  We apologize but really, it’s hard to lock yourself down indoors these days.  We’ve been enjoying summer after a fucking brutal winter, but we’ll probably do a mid summer show at some point.  We’ll see.  That said, here’s what I’ve been listening to lately.  Some of it may be new, some old:

YACHT

My sister, who likes bands even before they form and write music (love you), sent this to me via Spotify the other day and I’ve been listening to it a lot.  Equal parts Ladytron, Matt & Kim and LCD Soundsystem (one of my favorites of all time), YACHT mixes punk, a smidgen of riot grrrl and electronica for an energetic and never boring sound.  Right now the album I’m listening to is See Mystery Lights.  

The Rolling Stones

I’ve been a huge Beatles fan since I was a kid.  They were my first favorite band, although it was NWA that really spoke to me as a young, angry black kid.  I had always liked the Stones but didn’t get really get into them until my late teens, early 2os, which is when everyone should drop everything and immediately pick them up.  Their catalog is so deep with a wide range of sounds and influences that you realize rock radio knows jack shit about them.  I made an Essential Stones playlist that covers the gamut with singles, covers, early shit, later shit live shit and all the shit in between.  Here’s the playlist with one of my favorite Stones songs, which happens to be one of the best live tracks ever recorded.  Believe.

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Charles Bradley – Victim of Love

You might’ve heard me review the documentary “Charles Bradley – Soul of America” on the BingeCast and expressed my overwhelming love for it.  And that’s not overselling it.  I love a good story, and Charles Bradley has one of the most amazing stories I’ve ever heard that you wouldn’t believe it was real unless you saw the documentary.  Charles didn’t “make it” until he was in his 60s and the documentary details some of the highs, but mostly lows he’s experienced in life.  There are very few people in life that are wholly genuine, and I call those people “the light”, where even in the face of diversity, they radiate positive energy.  Seriously, you can’t even bring his name up to my chick without her heart breaking.  You hear all the heartache and love and positivity in his album Victim of Love.  It’s a roller coaster of emotion and it’s a damn good time.

Drunk History

The new season of Drunk History premiered a couple of weeks ago and I’m glad it’s back.  There aren’t many things these days that make me laugh harder than this show.  It’s a brilliant concept and I think one of the things that makes it so relatable is that we’ve all been piss eyed drunk, trying to explain either a historical event or some other experience.  If you haven’t seen it yet (not sure how you can miss it), I’ll be doing a primer of the show soon on Binge Media.  Stay tuned.

Lil Bug

Last week my chick and I rescued a 7 month old pit bull/lab mix.  Yeah, that’s right, rescued.  From a fucking burning building, and not a single hair on my arm was singed.  I highly recommend anyone that’s in the market for a dog, go to your local shelter.  I was apprehensive at first since some pets can come with some major issues, but I’m glad I did.  I felt a lot better knowing that we chose a dog from a place that, in the event it was never adopted, would be put down.  And it also gave some other dog a chance since it would occupy her old cage.  We chose Lil Bug (formerly Ladybug) because she was super chill and on our test walk, looked at both of us for guidance and made sure that we weren’t separated.  She’s a dog of the people who wants everyone to be together.  She’s like John Lennon, only alive and a dog.

Again, I highly recommend going to a shelter to get your dog, not one of those specialty puppy stores that acquire their dogs through puppy mills.